Only Attitude Counts 20 Years Of Attitude double cd celebrates their 20th anniversy as a band. The first cd contains 10 brand new songs, while the second album features 10 re-recorded songs from previous releases. I remember when Only Attitude Counts released their mcd “We Stand As One” on Lost & Found records, all the… Read More
Necro & Kool G Rap first announced their “Godfathers” project and collaboration as far back as 2011. Late November that year, The Godfathers released a digital mix CD, titled, The Pre-Kill. The digital mix consists of fifty previously released songs of Kool G Rap & Necro going back and forth song for song. Not long… Read More
MC Melodee & producers team Cookin Soul first met during a 2011 tour. They immediately click and quickly create a handfull of great tracks, most notably “Check Out Melodee”, “Cha Cha Cha” and “Genius” (featuring Mac Miller). These tracks are compiled on the Whoo Kid hosted mixtape “Check Out Melodee”. Besides Mac Miller the mixtape features Smiff-n-Wessun, Ohno, Mucho Muchacho & many more. Aside from here solo work MC Melodee was also one half of the duo La Melodia, who released critically acclaimed albums “Vibin High” and “Electronic Love”. Unfortunately early 2013 Melodee and producer INT decide to split up. This however leaves more room to focus on her solo offerings.
April 2013 sees the release of Melodee’s first official solo album “My Tape Deck. Fully produced by Cookin Soul they aim to take us back to the 90’s sound of hip hop. Boombap drums accompanied by deep, soulfull basslines and skillfully picked samples. Now I’m a huge 90’s fan anyways but in a time where most hip hop productions sound more like house tracks MC Melodee’s “My Tape Deck” is a breath of fresh air.
Strength Approach have been around for about 17 years, yet somehow always remained just under my radar.. It was only by the time they released the mini cd “Stand Your Ground” on Countdown Records in 2010 that I started to take notice. Hailing from Italy these guys bring us some straight forward, New York influenced, hardcore. Their latest offering “Roma Hardcore State Of Mind” contains four songs.
Vinnie Stigma has been dubbed “The Godfather Of Hardcore” for a reason; he started one of the most influential hardcore bands, Agnostic Front, in 1982. Thirty one years ago, can you believe that!? Agnostic Front is still going strong, they recently released their album “My Life My Way” to good reviews. And what people almost seem to forget nowadays is that Vinnie was also an part of Madball up until “Demonstrating My Style”.
Stigma’s first album “New York Blood” was released in 2009 and surprised many with its contagious mix of hardcore and punk. Vinnie proved to be a great singer and frontman as well. Fast forward four years later and the band is ready to drop their second album “For Love & Glory”. Besides Stigma the band consists of fellow Agnostic Front member Mike Gallo on bass, completed with Larry Nieroda and Sean Killkenny on guitars and Luke Rota on drums.
Respect Your Roots Worldwide is an continuation of the “The Worldwide Tribute To The Real Oi” Part I & II and the “Respect Your Roots” compilation that were released on I Scream Records a decade ago. While “Respect Your Roots” featured only Dutch & Belgian hardcore bands paying tribute to old school hardcore, this new release finds bands from all over the world (hence the “-Worldwide”) doing a rendition of their favorite bands. This time they were not restricted to a genre or a style and this result in a eclectic mix of punk, hardcore, oi!, rock and some metal.
Danny Diablo a.k.a Lord Ezec is quite possibly the hardest working man in hardcore & hip hop. The last few years he has dropped work under his own moniker Danny Diablo as well with his many projects / bands. To name a few: Skarhead, KAOS 13, The Shotblockers, Crown Of Thornz…. Read More
Vinnie Paz, the co-founder of Jedi Mind Tricks and member of Army Of The Pharaohs and Heavy Metal Kings, released his first solo album called “Season of The Assassin” in 2010. Now 2 years later he drops his sophomore solo effort. I had high expectations of “God of The Serengeti” after hearing the first leaks for “Cheesesteaks” and “7 Fires Of Prophecy” feat Tragedy Khadafi.
Olde York return with a new cd called “Shallow World”. Three years after their debut album “Empire State” which was released on Countdown Records.
While their style hasn’t changed much, they still essentially play old school New York Hardcore, the first thing I noticed when spinning “Shallow World” the first time was that their sound and songs have matured a lot, compared to “Empire State”. This can also be contributed to the excellent production by Mike Dijan (Breakdown, Skarhead, Crown Of Thornz, Sai Nam) and mixing / mastering by Dean Baltulonis (who has worked with everybody from Agnostic Front to Converge to Danny Diablo).
