You know Dan the Automator—he of Deltron 3030, Handsome Boy Modeling School, and Gorillaz fame, the guy who produced Dr. Octagonecologyst. Maybe you know Emily Wells, too—her album Mama came out last year and made such an impression that several bands felt compelled to take her songs out for a spin, and the Mama Remixed album was born.
But please allow me to introduce you to Pillowfight.
In what honestly has to be one of the least expected collaborations in recent memory, Dan the Automator and Emily Wells teamed up and created Pillowfight, a sultry, downtempo affair that shows off the best of both artists. Dan the Automator’s production is slick and his beats catchy, while Wells’ voice is alluring and mysterious. On first listen you can immediately see why, after three days in the studio together here in Dan the Automator’s native San Francisco, the two decided to make a full Pillowfight LP. They brought Kid Koala on to handle DJ duties and the East Bay’s Lateef the Truthspeaker to handle background vox and to spit a few verses himself.
Pillowfight’s self-titled debut album is officially out today, and you can stream it here.
Since embedding is disabled on their Soundcloud and there is no official music video from the group yet (though apparently muralist and painter David Choe is already onboard to direct a couple videos and contribute other works of art to the project), here’s a short promo video, to give you a quick taste: