Balaclava is a song for the age we live in, and lightly touches on the themes of beauty, hope, pain, corruption and death. By following the thread of an ambitious protagonist without a name, Balaclava is a cradle-to-grave experience, following a man who grew up well, but is willing to put everything on the line for not just a taste of success, but a life where it is sustained forever... Including resort to a life of crime. With a simple, and creeping beat from the talented PGMW (production credits: Ibn Iglor, WELL$), Balaclava's production is pure mood music, allowing relaxed bar delivery to provide a pensive and cerebral feel, with a surprisingly-comfortable dash of claustrophobia. 

Balaclava is the first track released off of WNDRKND's forthcoming debut, 
Golden Age Neoclassical, due out Summer, 2014.

Balaclava (prod. PGMW)

CVTS is a curated selection of tracks created under the collaboration between North Carolina rapper, WNDRKND, & producer, PGMW. Featuring the singles Balaclava, Sorbet, & Deus, CVTS is a brief journey into sound, and produced with progression in mind. It is mood music: dark, spacious, and dramatic, but in the words of engineer, Scram, "its post-apocalyptic."

Featuring dark samples, spacious synths, and dramatic, baroque, lyricism,  CVTS is a project that attempts to pull something beautiful out of a perfectly deconstructed rap aesthetic. Flipped and freaked samples bounce through resonant, aggressive, drums, and serve as the canvas for lyrics about creativity, dominance, greed, life, and god.

We hope that you enjoy CVTS. No, it is not perfect. No, it will not serve to everybody's liking. In fact, it might piss some people off.  And if a lyric or two is fucky, consider this a note for listeners & future rappers: Don't write when you're drunk. But in all, these are the things we also have to accept as artists in order to sleep at night. Either way, no matter the summation of perfections and nuances that make CVTS, it is this much: a start.

Stay Alive,
WNDRKND x PGMW

Credits:
Performed By: WNDRKND
Produced By: PGMW
Engineered By: Scram
Graphic Art: Designed by WNDRKND
Recorded At Nightsound Studios

Special Thanks to St. Wes for his support. Thank you to Ibn Inglor, Well$ & Topiq The Smooth Prophet for feature contributions. Thanks to M4L0N3 for back up VOX on Deus, press photographs and her overwhelming support. Thanks to the earliest supporters: Jolon Spachtholz, Greg Gaines, Salem Ezz & Malcolm Frazier.

The Edge (prod. PGMW)

The Process (prod. PGMW)

Abyss (prod. PGMW)

WNDRKND loves dark tracks. He loves listening to them, he loves making them, and now it’s time for WNDRKND to do what he does best: mood music. “Get That Cash,” his new Single, is just that. It is also unique for the fact that it is the first song released by WNDRKND where he is not just the rapper, but also the producer. Further elaborating on an aesthetic in part crafted by PGMW, WNDRKND builds on solid ground, and also steps out with his own unique flavor for composition. 

“PGMW and I built solid ground with the work that we did together on CVTS, and in doing that project, I got a chance to really explore what my sound should be,” says WNDRKND. “Sure, some of learning how to produce was watching him do it, but I don’t think I could ever copy him even if I tried. When trying to be creative, I take what I can, and leave what I can’t, therefore things are always nuanced. But if I had to describe the difference, I think that he is more post-apocalyptic and, while I still identify my music as being that, my style as a producer is more dark future.”

Get That Cash features solemn pads that compliment a subtle, driving bass that rumbles and hisses through the beat. The lead synth is the main attraction, however, and whines through the high range like a diamond-cut moonraker laser.

Get That Cash is another track released in anticipation of WNDRKND’s forthcoming project, Hope & Fear.

twitter.com/iamwndrknd
iamwndrknd.tumblr.com

Get That Cash (prod. WNDRKND)

Even though the summer is coming to an end, this doesn't mean a shortage of great music from North Carolina's very own, WNDRKND. Teaming up with Chicago-based producer, Hank Iving, of The Turkey Club, the two bring forth their new song PVRP: a fun, smoky, feel-good track to ride out the remaining weeks of summer.

But don't get PVRP confused with the many other purple-laden stoner ballads of the last 2, 5, or even 7 years. While their new joint bears similarities, the difference lies in artistic focus, and overall narrative of the track.

"Smoking weed is more than just an action." Says WNDRKND, "Most music focuses on the sesh, or the culturally appreciated aspects of it: the toke, coughing, puffing, passing, or just plain hanging out. I feel that because people smoke in different settings, and for different reasons (some good, some bad), this is a fairly linear perspective to take on a song. Instead, while I wanted to touch on aspects of the sesh, I wanted to take this moment to talk about the things that we talk about. I wanted to talk about material desire, I wanted to bridge in a narrative about self-worth, and I wanted to talk about social stresses: difficulty trusting people, dealing with problems that feel larger than life and still keeping on. Ultimately, I wanted to make a song about weed, but instead of focusing on the smoke, focus on the things behind the smoke. as opposed to working with it as a seemingly straightforward, rigid & linear concept, why not make a song about smoking where it operates as a subtle common denominator?"

Hank Iving's production brings a sound that is a healthy departure from WNDRKND's traditional, post-apocalyptic sound. Where much of his work has been dark, Hank Iving, by compare brings in a lighter aesthetic: his work feels optimistic and emotional, with swelling synth work and stonerish composition. Thick and stabby drum hits give the beat a healthy swing, while open high hats dance across the high range like distant Christmas bells.

PVRP is a collaborative track between WNDRKND x Hank Iving, if you like it, be sure to check out both of them on Twitter.

twitter.com/iamwndrknd
twitter.com/hankiving


PVRP (prod. Hank Iving)

Tropiqs (prod Malone)

This one is for anybody who enjoys a good smoke, and burns every L down to the very last puff. 

The Nub (prod. WNDRKND)

Counts (prod. PGMW)

Villi (prod. PGMW x MIDAS)

Marching Through The Jungle (prod. PGMW x WNDRKND)

No More War (prod. PGMW x WNDRKND)

I be wit the plug is a collaborative track between WNDRKND and producing team Chango Snow & Levitating Man. 

Following the path of a mystery protagonist, I Be Wit The Plug covers the trajectory of a man moving up through the ranks by associating with the people who put him on.. These same people take risks and utilize their abundance to create opportunities for this individual, which in turn, he leverages to what ultimately becomes his own success. 

While the song may feel reminiscent of the trap lifestyle for some, the theme is much bigger. It is the idea that the quality of the people around an individual is correlated with the quality of one's success. These very people: whether they are your beat maker, a good boss, a business partner, can lead to opportunities that can take someone to the next level. 

I Be Wit The Plug (prod. Chango Snow x Levitating Man)

Insidious Plots (prod. WNDRKND x Sibannac)

"Paranoia" is the first single from Edge of Dark, a collaboration between myself (WNDRKND), and Parisian beatmaker, Yuno Sund.

The song's catalyst is simple. It is about betrayal. Not so much from the vantage point of why someone chooses to betray another, but rather, about how to handle it, and maintain a firm presence of mind in order to persevere.

While the topic that galvanizes my first single is simple, conceptually, its placement is not. My forthcoming project, "Edge of Dark," is an installment in a multi-work piece that attempts to confine the story of my artistic development, into a condensed, chronological product.

The story of this particular EP chronicles my development from just before the time that I started, and makes an attempt at trying to drop the listener off near present day. Because of the structure of this project, Paranoia is actually a song that appears closer to the end of the EP.

So why pick it as a single if there is a story to be told, and by extension a potential plot to spoil? Ultimately, Paranoia is one of my favorite songs. However, I also feel that selecting it as a single was important. I wanted to use this drop as a literary foreboding: that while this EP is a good project, an enjoyable project and perhaps my best ever, Edge of Dark is not a definitively happy project. It doesn't have a happy story. In fact, it is the opposite: It is brooding, it is pensive, it is progressively dark. However, I did enjoy this process, and I think that listeners will as well.

In closing, Paranoia is a song that captures all of the aforementioned elements that represent this Edge of Dark, and the series its a part of, into one addictive potion. I wanted to open with this song, because I also believe that it captures the increased sophistication of this new family of music. I also wanted to make a point of marking this drop as being a part of a new family of music.  Something entirely separate from the work I have done with PGMW and produced for myself in the past. 

My sound is changing, and has been for a while. On the end of beats, my writing, and everything in between. I believe that Paranoia is a song that is one of the best convergences of my skills to date. I am pleased to share this with you.

Performed by WNDRKND
Produced by Yuno Sund

Edge of Dark

Paranoia (prod. Yuno Sund)

WNDRKND (27) is a rapper hailing from Carrboro, NC. Originally born and raised in Brooklyn, NY, WNDRKND grew up listening to the modern-day gods. His continuous selections of Jay-Z, Nas, Eminem & B.I.G. showed an interest in intricate lyricism, but effectively paired with a pronouncedly dark & dramatic aesthetic which, at the time, was only visible through tales of the street. 
While his music isn’t ostensibly “street,” WNDRKND’s flavor of hip hop is markedly unique, described by some as post-apocalyptic, or industrial, rap. Taking departures from standard producing convention, each of his PGMW-laced tracks are cinematic, epic, spacious, dark, and progressive. 

If asked about his philosophy towards making hip hop, WNDRKND would say that it is an almost-religious experience, with creativity as the one true god. But above all else, regardless of ideology, WNDRKND believes that the ability to make music is a profound gift. 

Ultimately, however, WNDRKND just wants to spread the word, and get it out to the masses. While much of it focuses on life from his vantage point, there is something everyone can get out of his music. Whether it provokes thought, inspires dreams or galvanizes change, who knows? To him, all things are good.


I AM WNDRKND

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