Backbeat: Blood Orange Plays New Album For Anyone in NYC Who Tweets at Him (And Billboard Interns Take Him Up On It)
Blood Orange(aka Dev Hynes), a New York-based producer/singer best known for his production work with Solangeand Sky Ferreira, took to the streets today to personally give fans a taste of his new album much in the same way a food delivery person might bring you lunch — but for free. Today (July 10), the musician gave fans the opportunity to reach out to him on Facebook and Twitter to arrange a meetup.
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Cruising down 8th Street on his skateboard (apparently he was close by) with headphones and an iPhone in hand, the musician stopped outside Billboard's offices after our intern Sydney Goremessaged him on Facebook. Hynes, who came with friend Keith Murray (We Are Scientists)and had no idea he was meeting Billboarders, shared a few tracks from his upcoming album with interns Gore, James Rettigand Drew Poulsen.
Among the songs he played were collaborations with Caroline Polachek (Chairlift), David Longstreth (Dirty Projectors), and Samantha Urbani (Friends).It's been a long time since his last album "Coastal Grooves"dropped in 2011 and Hynes wants to release this album before the end of the year — "If I had it my way, once the songs were mastered, I'd just put it out," he said. Blood Orange also said plans on shooting a music video for the first singleoff of the album (the collaboration with Polachek).
"It's not every day that an up-and-coming artist personally goes out of their way to play fans music on their day off," the interns enthused. "The whole experience was surreal and welcome in an age of phony at-replies and Facebook comments."
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