Hot Sugar – Mayday
Hot Sugar – Mayday (2015)
Directed by: Nick Koenig
The innovative and boundary-pushing NYC-based producerHot Sugar (aka Nick Koenig) recently released his debut LP, God’s Hand, on February 24th, 2015 via Break World Records as well as his own Associative Music Label, Noise Collector. God’s Hand is Hot Sugar’s long-awaited first full-length release after a series of EPs and mixtapes, which have been described as “eerie and devastating” (SPIN). Comprised of 16 original songs, the new LP expands upon Koenig’s production style of “associative music” where he records his surroundings and other non-traditional sources and processes the recordings into samples, which serve as building blocks for the songs he creates. Complexpremiered the first track from the album, “Trauma,” calling it,“a serene, warm textured track that will transport you to near-fantasy worlds..”
For his new album, Koenig – who has established a name for himself in the hip-hop underground through his productions for The Roots, Das Racist, Fat Tony, Kitty(formerly Kitty Pryde), Big Baby Gandhi, Antwon, and more – recorded everything from ’snow melting’ to ‘Neil deGrasse Tyson thinking’ using state-of-the-art recording technology. You can watch the trailer for God’s Hand, which has “Mac speech” running through the dizzying list of source material he used to create the album HERE.
Prefix said Hot Sugar is a producer “whose work is instantly identifiable,” while FACT called him an “otherworldly character that – while outside the familiar scope of most hip-hop – is reminiscent of indie rap’s salad days.” Koenig has recently contributed music to Comedy Central’s ‘Broad City’ and a handful of other shows and was nominated for a GRAMMY for his production on The Roots’ ‘Undun.’ Hot Sugar’s penchant for creative and boundary-pushing visuals has further cemented his place as one of the web’s most innovative beat-makers. Whether through his unique musicvideos or interactive web experiences, Koenig’s music exists beyond the traditional realm of audio and becomes a fully immersive adventure.
God’s Hand was released shorlty before the world premiere of the new feature length documentary, “Hot Sugar’s Cold World” at the 2015 SXSW Film Festival. The film was produced by the creators of Eastbound & Down and focuses on Koenig’s exploration of “Associative Music,” a production style using field recordings to create samples with and build songs. It features collaborations with Jim Jarmusch, Martin Starr, Dr. Neil deGrasse Tyson, and members of Das Racist.
