Atmosphere shared a new track off their forthcoming album
The ConTour Dates
5/11 - London, UK @ Electric Ballroom
5/12 - Amsterdam, NL @ Melkweg
5/13 - Cologne, DE @ Gebäude 9
5/15 - Paris, FR @ La Bellevilloise
5/17 - Berlin, DE @ Hole44
5/19 - Copenhagen, DK @ Pumpehuset
5/20 - Stockholm, SE @ Kägelbanan
5/21 - Oslo, NO @ Parkteatret
w/ HEBL & special guests
Festival Performance Dates
5/25 - Monterey, CA @ Cali Roots
6/16 - Greenwood Village, CO @ Fiddler’s Green with Dirty Heads and Stick Figure
Summertime 2023 Tour Dates
7/6 - Auburn, WA @ White River Amphitheatre
7/7 - Bend, OR @ Hayden Homes Amphitheater
7/8 - Nampa, ID @ Ford Idaho Center Amphitheater
7/9 - West Valley City, UT @ USANA Amphitheatre
7/14 - Mountain View, CA @ Shoreline Amphitheatre
7/15 - Irvine, CA @ FivePoint Amphtheatre *
7/16 - San Diego, CA @ Petco Park
7/21 - The Woodlands, TX @ The Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavillion
7/22 - Del Valle, TX @ Germania Insurance Amphitheatre
7/23 - Irving, TX @ The Pavillion at Toyota Music Factory
7/27 - Somerset, WI @ Somerset Amphitheatre
7/28 - Chicago, IL @ Huntington Bank Pavillion at Northerly Island
7/29 - Sterling Heights, MI @ Michigan Lottery Amphitheatre at Freedom Hill
7/30 - Indianapolis, IN @ TCU Amphitheatre at White River State Park
8/3 - North Charleston, SC @ North Charleston Coliseum (Indoors)
8/4 - Virginia Beach, VA @ Veteran's United Home Loans Amphitheatre
8/5 - Raleigh, NC @ Coastal Credit Union Music Park at Walnut Creek
8/6 - Wilmington, NC @ Live Oak Bank Pavillion
8/17 - Holmdel, NJ @ PNC Bank Arts Center
8/18 - Columbia, MD @ Merriweather Post Pavillion
8/20 - Camden, NJ @ Freedom Mortgage Pavillion
8/24 - Gilford, NH @ Bank of New Hampshire
8/25 - Mansfield, MA @ XFINITY Center
8/26 - Wantagh, NY @ Northwell Health at Jones Beach Theatre
9/1 - Jacksonville, FL @ Daily's Place
9/3 - West Palm Beach, FL @ iTHINK Financial Amphitheatre
* without Sublime with Rome
New Headlining Tour Dates:
6/2 - Anchorage, AK @ Williwaw Social w/ DJ Abilities, Sa-Roc, HEBL
6/3- Anchorage, AK @ Williwaw Social w/ DJ Abilities, Sa-Roc, HEBL
9/17 - Morrison, CO @ Red Rocks Amphitheatre w/ Danny Brown, Souls of Mischief, The Grouch & Eligh w/ DJ Fresh, Mr. Dibbs and Breakbeat Lou Ultimate Breaks & Beats
Minneapolis hip-hop pioneers Atmosphere, composed of rapper Slug and producer Ant, have shared a new track off their forthcoming album today. “Bigger Pictures,” Slug’s honest reflection on his life, is about "zooming in, continuing to figure out who I am by looking at where I’ve been." The track is accompanied by an equally raw video directed by director, writer, and producer Tazbah Chavez, known for her work in numerous popular TV series, including Reservation Dogs, Rutherford Falls, Accused, and more. Atmosphere’s new album, So Many Other Realities Exist Simultaneously is out May 5th via Rhymesayers Entertainment. Pre-order the album HERE.
“Bigger Pictures” follows previously released new single “Okay” which was praised by Stereogum, Consequence, Brooklyn Vegan, 2DopeBoyz, and Flood who wrote that "Atmosphere balance optimism, pessimism, realism, and all other -isms on their latest single.”
The duo recently announced Summertime 2023, a North American tour with Slightly Stoopid, Sublime with Rome, and The Movement. Just announced this week are additional headlining dates, including shows in Anchorage, Alaska with DJ Abilities, Sa-Roc, HEBL this June and a headlining date at Red Rocks Amphitheatre on September 17th. They will be joined on the Colorado date by Danny Brown, Souls of Mischief, The Grouch & Eligh w/ DJ Fresh, Mr. Dibbs and Breakbeat Lou Ultimate Breaks & Beats. Atmosphere currently holds the record for the most sold out shows at Red Rocks for any Hip Hop artist with nine sold out shows since 2011. See all new tour dates below.
Ahead of the summer dates, Atmosphere will embark on their European Tour, The ConTour, with openers HEBL and special guests,returning to the US for appearances at Cali Roots in Monterey, CA, and Fiddlers Green in Greenwood Village, CO.
Pre-order / pre-save So Many Other Realities Exist Simultaneously here, and check out exclusive t-shirts, sweatshirts, youth clothing and limited edition vinyl variants available at atmospheresucks.com.
In their 25-plus years as a duo, Atmosphere’s rapper Slug and producer Ant have built a legacy that is embedded in the fabric of underground hip-hop. Rising in the ranks of Minneapolis, their debut album, Overcast! was released in 1997. Presented as a flurry of vignettes, and paired with an unending touring schedule, the album was a springboard from which the group was able to become a fixture in the midwest music scene. It wasn’t long before their songwriting evolved from telling inventive third-person tales to delivering introspective first-person eviscerations, and by the early 2000’s Slug would jokingly birth the phrase “emo rap” in an interview before publications began running with the genre tag to describe them and others.
In the decades since their debut, Atmosphere has maintained a course of rigorous output, releasing over two dozen studio albums, EP's and collaborative side projects in as many years. The venerated duo have built a legacy out of bringing honesty, humility and vulnerability to the forefront of their music. Slug has proven masterful at storytelling and writing compelling narratives, leaving a trail of his own influence while paying homage to the rappers and songwriters that helped shape him. Meanwhile, Ant has skillfully molded the soundtracks with inspiration from soul, funk, rock, reggae, and the wizardry of hip-hop’s pioneering DJ's and producers, creating his own trademark sounds and providing the pulse for songs about life, love, stress and setbacks. At its essence, Atmosphere has been a musical shepherd, guiding generations of listeners through this thing called life.
Their newest album, 2023’s So Many Other Realities Exist Simultaneously, captures perhaps some of Atmosphere’s most personal work to date. The odyssey opens with a gentler approach than recent works, with the lead-off track “Okay” seemingly focused on comforting and reassuring the listener. As Slug raps over one of the most twinkling productions Ant has ever released, the song lays the groundwork for an album-length exercise in fumbling consciousness. Yet, as gently as the album begins, there’s an unmistakable sense of unease from the outset that continues to evolve throughout the project, as Slug and Ant weave the listener through indistinct themes of insomnia and woe.
From the subtle panic at the heart of songs like “Dotted Lines” to the overt anxiety of songs like “In My Head,” the unease across tracks is unmistakable. Yet, as the tears might begin to well, they find resolve again through songs like “Still Life,” whose hopeful outlook undercuts the tensity of the album. All the while, the rhythms on So Many Other Realities are some of the most inventive of Atmosphere’s career. Ant’s playful percussion on “In My Head” acts as a nice counterweight to the roiling writing, while the drum patterns on “Holding My Breath” and “Bigger Pictures” allow Slug to play with his flow to emphasize the anxiety driving the record.
Where previous records in this most recent act of Atmosphere’s career have been focused on emphasizing the parts of life that carry the most meaning—family, brotherhood, purpose—So Many Other Realities is an almost unnerving excavation of paranoia inspired by the general malaise of a pandemic weary society full of civil unrest. The tension in these songs is palpable, but the album’s mere presence is a testament to the hope that has to underpin even the most stressed out epiphanies.
The greatest risk Atmosphere has continued to take across their career is that of being vulnerable and unafraid. The world has inconceivably changed since Slug and Ant entered into the underground hip-hop scene, but despite the seismic shifts in music and culture, they’ve held strong to a foundation rooted in sly innovation and truth. The duo’s relentless release & touring schedules only tell a piece of the story, but spending time with their records—whether you’re a new fan or a longstanding listener—reveals a pair of friends who love to create and live for unabashed self-expression. Their bare reflections on life and the mundane traumas and joys that make living worthwhile are a gift, and that is Atmosphere’s legacy in and of itself. If the music stopped tomorrow, the duo would go down as two quiet titans who changed the course of everyman rap forever.
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