With the video unveiled, everyone in Backburner and at Hand’Solo Records is so excited we’ve decided to celebrate with two additional activities that should hopefully help you become more involved in our excitement:

1. “Heatwave” remix contest.

We’ve decided to produced a collector’s edition vinyl EP of favourites from the album, and we’ll definitely need a remix of “Heatwave” to make the EP that much more special. While the 19-man crew kept everything in-house for the album, everyone is in agreement that it will be more interesting to see what an outside ear brings to this very distinct song. Prospective producers should feel free to experiment. This is YOUR remix. The winner will have their remix released on the vinyl EP as well as receive five copies of the EP. The four runner-up remixes will be featured on HandSoloRecords.com and Backburner.ca leading up to the release of the vinyl Heatwave EP. All submissions must be received by February 29, 2012 and sent to remix@handsolorecords.com.

For further details or to DOWNLOAD THE HEATWAVE REMIX PACK ZIP go to: http://handsolorecords.com/brainonsunrays/

2. “Heatwave” video release party.

Here is all the info you need:

$5 RAP SHOW presents Double Video Release for…
Backburner’s “Heatwave” & Wordburglar’s “Rhyme O’Clock”

with live performances from:
MORE OR LES, WORDBURGLAR, TIMBUKTU, CHOKEULES, THESIS SAHIB, FRESH KILS & MISTER E

Thursday, February 2nd, 2012 @ Rancho Relaxo, 300 College St., Toronto

Doors Open @ 9pm
Only $5!
19+

Facebook Event Page: http://www.facebook.com/events/115866101867243/?ref=ts

Damn! They’ve done it again! Before the year ended, IndieRockMag.com listed Backburner’s “Lifers” as one of their favourite songs of 2011, and early into the new year they followed up with an article listing Hand’Solo Records as one of 12 labels to watch in 2012 (see recent previous posts for the nitty gritty on all of that). Now, they present their Top 11 Albums of 2011, and Backburner’s Heatwave album has made it all the way up to the number 5 spot. Included is a list of further recommendations, and both Toolshed’s The Lost and Angerville’s Warfare make the cut. And as a special bonus, Hand’Solo Records is listed among the Top 5 Labels of 2011. Congrats to the cats in Backburner, and thanks to IndieRockMag.com for once again honouring the label and the ‘Burner.

For your curiosity, here are the Top 11 Albums for 2011 (according to IndieRockMag.com):

See the rest of their recommendations, read the review of each album, or just check the rest of the year end lists at: http://www.indierockmag.com/article17168.html

Shortly after listing “Lifers” from Backburner’s Heatwave album as one of their recommended songs of the year, Hand’Solo Records is honoured to have been selected by Indie Rock Mag as one of 12 labels to watch for 2012. You guys rock! The article is in french only, but the accompanying interview with Hand’Solo label head Thomas Quinlan is provided in both english and french. Thank you Indie Rock Mag for your interest in Hand’Solo Records and in what I had to say. And thanks for selecting us.

As always, just a taste:

IndieRockMag.com: Which artist from the label impressed you the most in 2011, and why ?

TQ: Perhaps this is cheating, but I’m going to have to say Backburner has impressed me the most in 2011. Individually the core members of Backburner have been having a phenomenal couple of years with the consistent release of one awesome album after another, each artist on their own style, but this year it’s gone into overdrive, culminating in the release of their first real crew album at the end of the summer. Heatwave has been on the Canadian College hip hop top ten for 9 weeks running and has been critically well-received. The video for the first single, and title track, will drop before the end of the year, and is sure to warm up the winter. It’s easy for me to say Backburner is the most diverse, best crew in Canada right now, hands down. And props to Ghettosocks and Timbuktu for doing the very difficult and booking themselves a sweet cross-Canada tour.

Read the rest of the interview (and article if you can handle the french) at: http://www.indierockmag.com/article17037.html

France’s Indie Rock Magazine has included “Lifers” in their list of 47 recommended tracks for the year, saying of the song: “Une chanson pour faire chauffer l’autoradio sous les sunlights”

Hear the song:

See the rest of the list here: http://www.indierockmag.com/article16855.html

&

And our good friend John “Hex” Carter of The Nerdy Show has placed “Heatwave” on his list of Top 20 tracks of 2011.

Here’s the full list in David Letterman Countdown style:

Here’s the song:

Check Hex’s blog The Hex Dump at http://hexwarrior.tumblr.com/ and the Nerdy Show podcast site at http://nerdyshow.com/. Lots of different ways to waste away your days between those two sites…

Check out more of their video reviews, including a previous review of Teenburger’s Burgertime, at: http://www.justin.tv/thelisteningparty/b/303034569

Hand’Solo Records and long-time supporters Bbarak Magazine have been discussing an exclusive Backburner interview since prior to the release of the album. It took a long time to coordinate due to busy schedules for all involved, but it has finally happened. The interview was conducted between myself and core members Wordburglar, Ghettosocks, Timbuktu and Chokeules. They discuss how they came to be in Backburner, the difficulties of recording an album with nearly 20 members, the prospects of a follow-up, and what their highest recommended Backburner album might be… I hope all the humour and sarcasm comes through… Thanks to Lukas at Bbarak for making this happen.

Here’s a little taste, beginning with the opening questiong:

Bbarak.cz: Mohli byste se úvodem představit a uvést, jak jste se stali součástí Backburner?

Chokeules: Chokeleus, of Backburner and Toolshed. My story is very similar to Timbuktu, but bilingual. I think it was in 2001 when we were on tour with Wordburglar and stopped in Halifax. There we met Jesse and the other boys. They had already toyed with the idea of ​​Backburner. We were subsequently added. When we recorded the album, we were talking more or less constantly.

Those of you fluent in Czech, or if you love using those half-ass online translators, check the interview out here: http://www.bbarak.cz/article-64-backburner-popisuji-vznik-kapely-nahravani-heatwave-a-pripravy-nove-desky-10179

The 8-hour countdown airs on December 24, but in the meantime the rest of the list is available here: http://radio3.cbc.ca/#/blogs/2011/12/R3-103-Sneak-Preview

Here’s the song in question, “Busted Gear”:

Thank you, Adam Finley, for finally putting Hand’Solo Records on PopMatters.com with his (have I mentioned it was fantastic?) review of Backburner’s Heatwave. He gives it 7/10 but the review sounds much more positive. Really. He opens with the headline:

“Eat your hearts out, Odd Future, this is how a true collective works.”

And ends with (spoiler alert):

“Existing somewhere in the space between Atmosphere and Jurassic 5, Backburner’s dozen or more contributors provide feel-good atmosphere and effortless vocal and lyrical calisthenics that reward multiple listens… Especially good are tracks like ‘Lifers’ and ‘Show Of Hands’, where nimble wordplay and deft hands at the turntable combine to create near-perfect old school hip-hop gems.”

Hell fuckin’ yeah! Read the rest of the review right here: http://www.popmatters.com/pm/review/151684-backburner-heatwave/

Thanks to blog Argue Job for their recent review of Heatwave alongside some slick promotion for the local stop of the VIA Rail Presents The Train of Thought Tour with Timbuktu, Ghettosocks, Jeff Spec and Muneshine now just about finishing up their cross-Canada tour. Of the album, they say:

“No shortage of skills there. …There is no way to pick a favourite but perhaps I will note Wordburgy’s verse in ‘Long Story Short’ as most physically revulsive, haha.”

Read the rest of the review here: http://arguejob.wordpress.com/2011/12/01/backburner-heatwave/

Also thank you to Chi Chi (always reminds me of Tachichi) for the honest review and a rating of 6/10. Following some fair criticisms, Chi Chi writes:

“…Heatwave is still a very entertaining album bursting with energy. There’s a ton of talent and great hip hop happening in Toronto and Halifax, and this album serves as a nice introduction.”

The points made about sexual content are interesting… Read the rest of the review right here: http://www.scratchedvinyl.com/?q=node/553

Blog Beats, Breaks & Big Smiles brought big smiles to Backburner faces with Michael’s review of Heatwave. His rating of 3/5 is nice, but an even higher rating would have brought even bigger smiles. Still, he describes the album as:

“A solid compilation of bangers that got me bumping my head all through the 14 tracks. And that can’t be said of every album out there.”

Read the rest of the review here: http://blog.mrhauer.com/2011/10/backburner-heatwave.html

And way back in October, Kyle Wertz was holding it down for Hand’Solo Records and the Burner in Cleveland with his very kind review of the album. This should have been posted sooner. Thank you, Kyle, for saying of Heatwave:

“…it blew me away. Quick and clever rhymes over rich beats are what makes this group shine. Everyone in this group has their own voice and style, but they all comes together quite nicely. I listened to it several times, and there is not a single track I would skip.”

The rest is equally as good. Read it right here: http://www.clevelandleader.com/node/17643

And another review that has been long-delayed in getting posted was originally posted on BBaRáK back in September. That’s a long time ago. Anyway, thanks to Lukas for the 7/10 review and the final words:

“I přes o trochu slabší druhou část se jedná o kvalitní zářez k letošnímu kolaboračnímu výčtu.”

Which I believe translates as “despite a weak second half, it ranks among the year’s best collaborations”.

Those of you fluent in Czech, check the rest of the review here: http://www.bbarak.cz/reviews.php?id=366&cid=1

First up this round is Thrust performing “Connecting Dots” from The Chosen Ones, his 2011 collaboration with producer Salty Jackson:

And next up is “Whaddup Witcha,” another collab track between The Mighty Rhino and More Or Les, this one from The Mighty Rhino’s new album, which officially dropped at this release party… Nice!

New music from Wordburglar is starting to come a little more frequently lately, with three new songs for free online since the release of Backburner’s Heatwave.

First of these is his collaboration with producer Vince Vandal for “Forward Front Facer,” their contribution to The Nerdy Show’s Marvel vs Capcom 3 Mixtape Melee: Marvel Combatants. See him in the top right corner up there? Now hear his comic-book-inspired song here:

Listen and download this song or any of the rest of the songs that make up the Marvel Combatants half of MvC3: Mixtape Melee at:

http://nerdyshow.com/2011/11/news/contests/marvel-vs-capcom-3-mixtape-melee-marvel-combatants/

tracklisting:

1. Adam WarRock - “Destroyer of Worlds” (produced by Vince Vandal)
2. Wordburglar - “Forward Front Racer” (produced by Vince Vandal)
3. Tribe One - “Gene Trash” (produced by Vince Vandal)
4. Storyville - “X-Men” (produced by MC Squared)

Next up is “So Much Time,” his collaboration with producer Abstrack for the latter’s upcoming album Digital Brain. Wordburglar has made the song available for free on his Bandcamp page.

And I don’t know how I have continued to miss mentioning one of my favourite songs about Star Wars, not just this year but ever… “Dude, Where’s My AT-AT At?” stars The Garthim-Master and Wordburglar as two bumbling stormtroopers who have misplaced their vehicle… From The Garthim-Master’s Ghosts of Nostalgia.

If you like these songs, why not give over a little time to checking out the rest of these artists’ albums, eh?

Thank you to Rabbit and Indierockmag.com, fast becoming one of our favourite resources out of France, for a fabulous review of Heatwave. Aside from declaring Heatwave to be one of the best hip hop albums of 2011, Rabbit also added:

“Car une fois n’est pas coutume le papier tenant toutes ses promesses (y compris celle de voir sa confiance sexuelle multipliée par neuf par simple contact avec le CD, essayez donc de passer en soirée le boom bap enflammé de Freak Show Physics ou l’éponyme Heatwave aussi délicat dans ses boucles de clavier que primal dans ses drums et vous comprendrez) c’est à un véritable festival de punchlines et autres boucles assassines que nous convie la petite troupe.”

Read the rest of the review here: http://www.indierockmag.com/article16477.html

Once again I want to thank our good friends over at Herohill who followed up their Deeper Into Music feature on Backburner’s Heatwave with a review of the album. Herohill offers some sound advice:

“If you’re familiar with any of these guys, you know they make that throwback-inspired hip hop: strictly quality production, mic skills and lyrics. No weak club-hop to be found on Heatwave, so seriously, go get this album if you don’t have it.”

Read the rest of the review here: http://www.herohill.com/2011/11/quick-hitters-backburner-heatwave.htm

Thanks to Cheryl Thompson for coming through with another review for Hand’Solo Records, giving Backburner’s Heatwave 3.5 out of 5. Here’s what she had to say on the subject:

Read the review here: http://www.soulmattersmag.com

And major props to Darcy MacDonald for coming through once again with another review for the Montreal Mirror. Thanks for giving it 8 out of 10. Here’s what he had to say:

Read the review here: http://www.montrealmirror.com

Finally, thanks to Flash and RapReviews.com for providing space on their site for a review of another Hand’Solo release. Reviewer Patrick Taylor gave the album 7.5 out of 10 and described Heatwave as:

“It has the bounce of L.A. true school acts like Jurassic 5 and People Under the Stairs, keeping true to the hip-hop tradition of crate-digging and MCing” and “Influence-wise they are part Sugarhill Gang, part Eric B. and Rakim, part KRS-One, part Wu-Tang Clan, with a little bit of Eminem’s smart-ass character.”

Read the review here: http://rapreviews.com/

THANKS TO EVERYONE FOR TAKING THE TIME TO LISTEN AND REVIEW, POSITIVE OR NEGATIVE…

Anyway, for those who can’t make $5 Rap Show or choose to voluntarily miss this great showcase of underground talent, here’s a bit of footage:

And sorry for those in London who were looking forward to CasUno & Esh playing the Black Shire Pub, and to the Black Shire Pub itself for the trouble, please accept my deepest apologies for the cancellation. I wish I could say it will be re-booked soon, but it’s probably not likely in the near future.

Thanks to our fine friends over at Herohill.com for their in depth profile of Backburner’s Heatwave with their feature Deeper Into Music. Actually, the “in depth” part is courtesy of Teenburger (Ghettosocks & Timbuktu) who breakdown the Backburner album track by track. Example? How ’bout what they had to say for track number one…

“Straight out the Vault”
Ghettosocks – I remember when they played this Dexter Doolittle beat in the Vault. Half the squad went nuts and headed downstairs to start writing and half stayed to work on something else. I thought the build up was hype, and Jesse definitely championed this beat. I think you get that impression from his monster howl right at the beginning. I’m not really on this joint so I can’t really speak on it too much. Fester killed the cuts, and Ambition rocked it.
Timbuktu – Yeah, Burgie and I jokingly call this track “Jesse D’s Muppet Show” because of the howl. I really love this track and think it’s a good example of a Dexter Doolittle beat. It’s also one of the two songs on the record that Dex mixed. I believe Jesse, Choke and Ambition threw down on the spot and Bizzy’s raps and Fes’ cuts were added later.

Check out the rest of the article here: http://www.herohill.com/2011/09/deeper-into-music-backburner-heatwave.htm

]]> http://handsolorecords.com/home-bass/backburner-go-deeper-into-music-with-herohillcom/feed/ http://handsolorecords.com/home-bass/angerville-new-highway-of-life-video-cd-review/ http://handsolorecords.com/home-bass/angerville-new-highway-of-life-video-cd-review/#comments Fri, 23 Sep 2011 01:53:48 +0000 doogiehowitzer Home Bass http://handsolorecords.com/home-bass/angerville-new-highway-of-life-video-cd-review/

Thanks to Cheryl Thompson for her review of Angerville’s new album Warfare for music site SoulMatters.com. Here it is in all it’s glory:

Read the review here: http://www.soulmattersmag.com

And for the official 2nd single (and 3rd video) from Warfare, Fortunato teams with gambling man and KOTD co-host Bishop Brigante for “Highway of Life”. The video was also directed by Bishop and filmed and edited by Frameblender Productions. The song was produced by Graphic.

Hear the rest of the album on Bandcamp, where the album is available for download for only $5.

]]> http://handsolorecords.com/home-bass/angerville-new-highway-of-life-video-cd-review/feed/ http://handsolorecords.com/home-bass/finally-fan-expo-2011/ http://handsolorecords.com/home-bass/finally-fan-expo-2011/#comments Wed, 07 Sep 2011 06:21:54 +0000 doogiehowitzer Home Bass http://handsolorecords.com/home-bass/finally-fan-expo-2011/ Yeah, Fan Expo 2011 was last weekend, but updates have been hard to get to when also gearing up for the wild Heatwave release party (see earlier news posts for some footage from the show). It’s old news now, but here are a few photos taken around the Hand’Solo table in Artist’s Alley. Oh yeah, we went through approximately 100 Grandpa Funnybook mixtapes and made many new friends. Thanks for asking!

The Hand’Solo table all decked out…

The kind of guy we like hanging around the table, especially when he’s blasting Wordburglar’s “S’Up Burg” from his Stormtrooper regulation space boom box…

Another great Stormtrooper costume, this one with Jawa child in tow…

And since a picture is worth a thousand words, Fan Expo 2011 was…

(hint: It’s Kick-Ass!)

]]> http://handsolorecords.com/home-bass/finally-fan-expo-2011/feed/ http://handsolorecords.com/home-bass/backburner-awesome-reviews-galore/ http://handsolorecords.com/home-bass/backburner-awesome-reviews-galore/#comments Wed, 07 Sep 2011 06:03:19 +0000 doogiehowitzer Home Bass http://handsolorecords.com/home-bass/backburner-awesome-reviews-galore/ Heatwave has been out for a little less than a week but the reviews have been coming in pretty fast, and they’ve been really rather good. Thank you to all of our friends and fans writing nice things about the crew and the album. Your honest - and kind - words are always appreciated. Of course the first one to hit the net was the Exclaim review (found a few posts earlier), but these other four reviews are equally as pleasing to the eyes:

Writing for website 411Mania.com, Micheal Ornelas gave Heatwave a near perfect 9.9/10, but ultimately he describes the album as:

“The bottom line is that some of the best rappers (with whom you’re likely unfamiliar) came together and created an album so dense with great lyrics and rhymes that you’ll discover something new every time you hear a song.”

Read the rest of the review here: http://www.411mania.com/music/album_reviews/200381

Dan Gorman was excited to get a review of Heatwave up on the website for Two Way Monologues, sister event to $5 Rap Show at Rancho Relexo, and aside from comparing it to Jurassic 5’s Quality Control, he also had other nice things to say about the album, too, such as:

“Here’s a bucket full of MCs and DJs who are all stacked with talent coming together to create a crazily enjoyable rap record.”

Read the rest of the review here: http://twowaymonologues.com/2011/09/01/backburner-crew-spit-fire-on-heatwave/

And Heatwave is also enjoying a fair share of positive reviews from the Nerdcore community. Over at Nercore.co, Wyrfxrssn calls Heatwave “an instant classic” and rates it 9/10. He further adds:

“So little is wrong with this album that something huge must be wrong with someone who doesn’t enjoy it. Each member brings a unique style…”

Read the rest of the review here: http://nerdcore.co/content.php?135-review-backburner-heatwave

And finally, but actually, really the second review to see the light of day, Roundtable Reviewers Kaiju, Kincade and XoC provide a detailed, track-by-track review, but it’s Kaiju who sums it up best when he says:

“Everyone needs to cop this album.”

How true! Read the rest of the review here: http://www.nerdcorenow.com/vb/threads/23484-Review-Roundtable-Backburner-Heatwave

Thanks to everyone who has contributed a review to Heatwave so far. And please, keep ‘em coming…

]]> http://handsolorecords.com/home-bass/backburner-awesome-reviews-galore/feed/