New York, NY (Top40 Charts) GRAMMY-nominated rapper D Smoke today releases his collaboration "Rhythm Kitchen" with Vancouver's alt-pop band Rare Americans, an animated video for the vivid universe where the artists are embraced in a delicious, psychedelic dreamscape. The single "Rhythm Kitchen" arrives ahead of Rare Americans' forthcoming album Rare Americans 3: Jamesy Boy & The Screw Loose Zoo out November 18th on EMPIRE.
Watch the animated music video created in partnership with Solis Animation for "Rhythm Kitchen": https://music.empi.re/rhythmkitchen
Best known for winning the first season of the Netflix music competition show Rhythm & Flow in 2019, D Smoke, real name
Daniel Anthony Farris, appears as an animated character in the animated world performing his well-known rhymes with an alternative new twist.
This lucid animated universe is a part of the band's forthcoming album Rare Americans 3: Jamesy Boy & The Screw Loose Zoo and invites listeners on a journey of self-discovery, love and acceptance through kaleidoscopic visuals and catchy rhythms; the viewers, along with the characters, feel the pleasant shift into this animated world.
Lead singer
James Priestner looks to Roald Dahl's imaginative abstractism for inspiration as he mixes their music and videos with animated real-life scenarios and majestic qualities. On the song he says: "I remember my brother Jared telling me like 10 years ago, if he were to open a restaurant, he thought Rhythm Kitchen would be a cool name. It painted such a vivid picture in my mind and I thought it would be a great setting for the Rare Americans animated universe. Rhythm Kitchen is an alluring place where self-expressive patrons flock to converse and indulge without judgement. A place for oddballs and misfits. It's whimsical and has the food and fanfare of Beauty & The Beast, mixed with the rollicking piano of Tom Waits."
Whether it's dogs, rats or a cheetah and horse love affair like on the band's song "Hey Sunshine," the storylines found within Rare Americans' music videos are otherworldly yet personable as the band strives to create alternate animated universes solely for their close knit fanbase. From guitar tutorials, behind the scenes clips and personalized voice overs from the band, their YouTube which has over 515k subscribers, has cultivated a close knit fanbase and contains never before seen content. Check out this behind the scenes video from the making of "Baggage" which has racked up more than 6 Million views on YouTube.
Today the band also reveals a collaboration with Canada's Award-Winning Powell Brewery in celebration of "Rhythm Kitchen." It's a hop-forward IPA consisting of Citra, Mosaic and Simcoe that's balanced with pilsner malt and oats. The beer is smooth like the band and easy to drink with citrus, melon, pine and lots of tropical fruit flavours.
"Because Rhythm Kitchen is so much about food and fanfare, we thought making a real life beer would be a great way to introduce the song, says Priestner. "We pitched the idea to one of the best craft breweries in Vancouver, Powell Brewery, and being huge music supporters themselves, they jumped at it. It's an easy drinking IPA with citrus, melon, pine, and tropical fruit flavours. We also added a QR code to the can which directs drinkers to a playlist on the Rare Americans Spotify channel which they can enjoy while indulging in a few 'Crooked Pops' as we titled the beer!"
Stay tuned for more to come from Rare Americans this fall.
Rare Americans began its journey while
James and his older brother of 11 years Jared, a co-writer but not performing member in the band, were on a vacation together in the Caribbean.
James recalls jokingly saying to Jared, "We should write some songs together," to which Jared responded, "Fuck that, what about an entire album?" A week and a half later, the two of them had created 15 songs in what would later become their eponymously-titled debut album. Since then, Rare Americans have rounded out the crew with the addition of Slovak guitarists Lubo Ivan and Jan Cajka, Ginger Chen on bass and drummer Duran Ritz. They've racked up over half a million monthly listeners on Spotify in the process.
Rare Americans are telling their stories directly to anyone who wants - or needs - to listen. These tales are easy to relate to for anyone who's been down or has struggled to keep up, yet are also laced with devilish optimism and hope. "We're trying to inspire and empower our fans," Priestner states while discussing the band's mission. "We're an independent band, the underdogs, and I think a lot of our fans relate to that."
