Del The Funky Homosapien will re-release his debut album this year.
I Wish My Brother George Was Here was originally released by the Hieroglyphics member in 1991 and was rumoured to be an ode to George Clinton. The Oakland MC, who is also Ice Cube’s cousin, will re-issue the album to celebrate its anniversary and will include a bonus poster.
Here’s a classic track from the original:
Cancer Bats have dropped a new video.
The visuals are for the track Old Blood, which is taken from their upcoming album Dead Set On Living, which is due out in April through Hassle.
Sennen will release a new single on March 5th.
The Norwich quartet, now mostly based in London, will release Vultures on 10″ vinyl and digital download on March 5th, giving fans a taste of what to expect on the upcoming album Lost Harmony, out in April. The vinyl is limited to just 500 copies and is sure to go fast.
A video for the track has been made by Ashley Dean, formerly of iLiKETRAiNS which you can see below.
Hevy Fest have announced the first wave of bands for this year’s festival.
The event takes place on the weekend of August 3rd-6th at Port Lympne Wild Animal Park in Kent with tickets costing £96 for the weekend with camping, which includes entry to the Animal Park.
The bands announced so far include Protest The Hero, Converge, Will Haven, A Wilhelm Scream, Sharks, Pianos Become The Teeth and Set Your Goals amongst others. If you fancy some of that, then the place to grab tickets and further information is www.hevy.co.uk
The Alchemist and Oh No have teamed up once again as Gangrene with their new record Vodka & Ayahuasca out in stores right now. But Crossfire has teamed up with label Decon to offer two Deluxe Bundles of the album for two lucky winners.
The Deluxe Bundle includes:
Vodka & Ayahuasca CD
Instant Download of Vodka & Ayahuasca
Limited Edition Gangrene T-Shirt
Vodka & Ayahuasca Shot Glass
Vodka & Ayahuasca Blacklight Poster
Check out the viral videos to see what it’s all about on the Gangrene site Livers For Sale and make sure you click LIKE on the Decon Facebook page. To be in with a chance of winning one of the two prizes, answer the question below correctly.
[competition_28]
Tough Love
(Transgressive)
Pulled Apart By Horses have always been a thrillingly chaotic live band, but on their self-titled debut album, they often struggled to walk the fine line between twisted hardcore genius and the musical equivalent of a ‘death pint’ (i.e. great ideas mixed together in a muddled, slapdash way).
Nevertheless, the promise was definitely there, and on Tough Love they’ve served up a more convincing, confident record, without sacrificing the raw edge that made them so appealing in the first place. Most notably, they now boast great riffs by the bucketload; the kind of filthy, thunderous riffs of which the old guard of the early 90s (Soundgarden, Helmet, even RATM) would surely approve.
For the most part, Tough Love does a fine job of capturing the unhinged energy of the band’s live shows. Those aforementioned razor-sharp riffs, the propulsive drumming, and vocalist Tom Hudson’s signature screech will all sound imposing enough on your stereo, but they’ll no doubt serve even better as a soundtrack to a throbbing mass of sweaty bodies, roaring themselves horse as they tumble over monitors, microphone cords and each other.
It’s not one great big hardcore free-for-all, though. They manage to shift down a gear for the gloriously QOTSA-esque chugging rhythms of Epic Myths, and Tom even manages to sing pretty convincingly on Give Me A Reason. The musical teeth are never far away, though, and it’s testament to the band’s confidence that they can rein themselves in from time to time and still sound unmistakeably like Pulled Apart By Horses.
The first great British rock record of 2012? Quite possibly, but – as you’ve probably gathered by now – it’s in the live setting where PABH truly shine. They’ll be touring the UK in mid-February; check www.pulledapartbyhorses.com for details.
Alex Gosman
Aesop Rock will be dropping his new album this year.
The rapper and producer, announced that his new album will be called Skelethon and is going in to be mixed next week. It marks the first solo album since None Shall Pass which was dropped in 2007 though he was part of Hail Mary Mallon who released their debut album last year on Rhymesayers.
In addition to Skelethon, Aesop is also working on a collaborative album with Kimya Dawson under the name the Uncluded. It’s called Hokey Fright and will also be out this year.
Odd Future will release a new mixtape.
OF Tape Vol. 2 will be released on Odd Future Records on March 20th. The mixtape, a follow up to the crew debut from 2008 will feature Tyler, Hodgy, Left Brain, Domo, Syd, Mike F and Frank Ocean amongst others.
The crew are showcasing it with a US tour and will screen their Adult Swim show Loiter Squad as part of the tour.
The Dreamer, The Believer
(Warner Bros.)
Common has always been a rapper that everyone has enjoyed, he’s had his hits and he’s made a name for himself both in and out of the music world. But when he dropped his new album, The Dreamer, The Believer at the tail end of 2011, there wasn’t a great deal of hype surrounding the record. It’s a shame, as it turns out, as this is a great album, full of big production and an authoritative voice not heard from Common in quite a while.
After an opening salvo from Maya Angelou, Common and guest Nas drop bombs over No ID‘s thumping bass kicking the album off with a bang that doesn’t relent throughout. Lyrically, Common is on point, sometimes being a lot more forward that usual but always maintain his prowess with words in a voice that could only belong to him. With few guests appearing on the album [especially in this era of guests on almost every song], his vocals cut harder and with more meaning, clearly no bad thing.
Having No ID produce the entirety of the album also helps gives the record a consistency that might have been missing if the MC had cherry picked beats from a variety of beatmakers. Whether dropping a sample from ELO’s Mr Blue Sky or crafting a more intropsective beat for the track Gold or a larger epic sound to carry the John Legend guested The Believer, the producer continually finds sounds that fit Common’s delivery perfectly.
If this had been released in the middle of the year, or indeed anytime before the last couple of weeks in December, it would have definitely been in the top 10 of 2011. As it is, I wasn’t able to listen to it as much as I’d like before making my list, but don’t get it wrong – this is a fantastic album and, dare I say it, the best of Common’s already stellar career.
Abjekt.
Burning Bridges
(Boss Tuneage)
For a loosely termed musical genre that developed as a tougher edged take on first-wave Punk, ‘Hardcore’ has been subsequently sliced, diced, and generally misappropriated by a whole host of chancers, eager to put a credible spin on marketing their musical output, and even career aspirations. Gawd help us!
So let’s be clear, Section 13 are very much Hardcore as derived from the source, laying down 13 (what else!) bruising and whipped up blasts of anger driven music, with an attitude firmly rooted in Punk Rock. Singer Ian Murphy goes all the way back to mid-Eighties shining lights Visions of Change (from the then scene hotbed of Leamington Spa) and after time in the wilderness returned to action with S-13 a few years ago, “regrouped, reviewed, came back with strength renewed” – Hell yeah!
Burning Bridges is the band’s debut album and comes to a crunching finish a shade under 30minutes. You do the maths. This is super fresh sounding old time Hardcore, that’s screaming for a change, and banging its head against the wall. The lyrics are introspective, venting spite and frustration at personal failings and being disconnected with a world consumed by hate and division such as “I stand outside all those neat lines, not on the fence, not using that defence”.
It all adds up to fast and melodic Hardcore that keeps the true spirit alive, a reason why I am most certainly liking this album a lot! You won’t read about S-13 in glossy music magazines, they will never (ever) be Flavour of Month, endorsed by a sneaker company, or on a backpack sponsored tour. But they were never playing that dumb game in the first place. No shit, this is the real deal, and I cordially instruct you to go check it out pronto!
Pete Craven