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.”
They Hate Change will release their Jagjaguwar debut in 2022, a press release reveals. In the meantime, the duo will support Shame on their February/March 2022 U.S. tour.
Watch the “Faux Leather” video below (or stream/buy the song here), and find their tour dates with Shame further down.
They Hate Change 2022 Tour Dates:
February
07 – Vancouver, BC @ Rickshaw Theatre
08 – Seattle, WA @ The Crocodile
09 – Portland, OR @ Doug Fir
11 – San Francisco, CA @ Great American Music Hall
12 – Los Angeles, CA @ The Regent
14 – San Diego, CA @ The Casbah
15 – Tucson, AZ @ Club Congress
17 – Austin, TX @ Mohawk
18 – Fort Worth, TX @ Tulips
19 – Fayetteville, AR @ George’s Majestic Lounge
20 – Lawrence, KS @ The Bottleneck
22 – Minneapolis, MN @ Fine Line
23 – Chicago, IL @ Thalia Hall
25 – Columbus, OH @ Skully’s
26 – Lakewood, OH @ Mahall’s
27 – Toronto, ON @ Opera House
March
01 – Montreal, QC @ Fairmount
03 – Cambridge, MA @ The Sinclair
04 – New York, NY @ Webster Hall
05 – Philadelphia, PA @ First Unitarian Church
07 – Washington, DC @ The Black Cat
08 – Durham, NC @ Motorco Music Hall
09 – Atlanta, GA @ Terminal West
11 – Nashville, TN @ Exit / In
12 – Birmingham, AL @ Saturn
13 – New Orleans, LA @ Gasa Gasa