Andrew Veeder on August 3rd, 2015

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Sam Herring, the charismatic lead singer of Future Islands, is no stranger to rap music, having released tracks under his alter-ego Hemlock Ernst in the past, including guest spots on “Lavender Chunk” from Los Angeles rapper/producer Scallops Hotel, and “Play It Cool” from The Alchemist & Oh No’s side project Gangrene, which appeared on the “Grand Theft Auto V” soundtrack and also featured a verse from Earl Sweatshirt. Madlib, the multi-faceted and prolific L.A. producer/rapper, is no stranger to collaborating with other artists, having teamed with MF Doom for 2004’s classic “Madvillainy,” Talib Kweli for 2007’s “Liberation,” and Freddie Gibbs for last year’s “Piñata,” among others. Now the two have joined forces as the new hip-hop duo Trouble Knows Me, and are set to release a self-titled, 12-inch EP in September via Madlib’s own Madlib Invazion label. The first song to surface is the title track, with Herring spitting a gruff and mellow flow over a dynamite Madlib boom-bap beat full of horn samples and soul snippets. The six-song EP features three more collaborative tracks, “Intro (Sensuous Cause),” “Streetsweeper,” and “Celebrity Vision,” plus two additional Madlib beats, as well as instrumentals.

||| Stream: “Trouble Knows Me”