They Hate Change Sign to Jagjaguwar, Share “Faux Leather” Video

Allow Jagjaguwar’s newest signing to introduce themselves: Tampa Bay DIY production/rap duo They Hate Change, i.e., Andre and Vonne, have shared a new song and video, “Faux Leather,” to mark the occasion.

Directed by Xandra Robyn, the “Faux Leather” video is part lyric video and part A Certain Ratio tribute: It emulates the English post-punks’ Early album cover, with Andre, Vonne and their lyrics appearing within that framework. When the song breaks down, so does the video, shifting to slo-mo footage of They Hate Change performing at a Gulf Coast house show.

“Faux Leather” itself is a mesmerizing display of They Hate Change’s sound, which “references footwork, drum-n-bass, jungle, and avant-garde through the veil of Tampa Bay originated Jook music—a style melding bounce, bass and dance hall,” as a press release explains. That blend is positively hypnotic here: The duo rap the song’s first verse in unison, their conjoined voices sliding from one side of the mix to the other as the song’s ethereal beat staggers ahead. Their bars about “precious metal” and “stunting in Kerby” give way to pointed commentary on the treacherous, coldly transactional nature of the music industry: “Got the Bandcamp doing handstands, selling tapes like weight, name your price for WAVs,” Vonne raps, with Andre adding, “DSPs they ain’t worth shit, I’m trappin’ like the old days.”

They Hate Change offer an enigmatic description of their new song in a statement: “‘Faux Leather’ is a bridge to the future from a musical No Man’s Land. Un-ignorable music from the most-ignored origins. The direct result of leaning into confusion.”