It’s a little bit inaccurate in some respects, but thanks is due to The Bassment for their interview with Hidden Fortress for site VancouverIsAwesome.com. Check it here:
http://vancouverisawesome.com/2011/04/08/the-bassment-volume-five-hidden-fortress/#more-77803
And pick up their new album, All That Is, if you still haven’t…
A new channel has just jumped into the fray within the jungle that is YouTube…
www.youtube.com/5DollarRapShow will collect live footage of classic performances at Toronto sorta-monthly hip hop night $5 Rap Show. The channel opens with a posse cut featuring More Or Les, Chokeules, Timbuktu, Wordburglar and Savilion from their new Hand’Solo release The Lost, as well as Buck 65’s “The Wildlife 1,” which was released by Hand’Solo Records on 12″ along with the other two parts of the trilogy, the instrumentals and a hidden bonus track. The favourites section also includes live footage from shows that pre-date but are related to $5 Rap Show.
Check out the channel here: www.youtube.com/5DollarRapShow
And track upcoming events at: www.facebook.com/5DollarRapShow
London, ON rap trio Toolshed (Chokeules, Psybo & Timbuktu) release album number six as a group on Hand’Solo Records. The Lost drops on CD and digital on Tuesday, April 26, 2011, but those in the Toronto area can get an early preview and their very own copy on Thursday, April 21 at the release party hosted by $5 Rap Show. Check the flyer for all the pertinent info:
And here’s the first single, “Irish Carbomb Pt 2″:
Hidden Fortress make their first three releases available for free on their NEW BANDCAMP page:
For the many that missed it, here’s some footage from YouTube of Wordburglar at SXSW in March 2011… Looks like it would have been an awesome show.
Wordburglar and other members of the Backburner crew join some of the best in the nerdcore scene for a showcase at SXSW on Tuesday, March 15, 2011… If you’re in Austin, TX, check it out.
8:00 - The ThoughtCriminals
8:30 - Dual Core
9:00 - Mega Ran and K-Murdock
9:30 - Wordburglar
10:00 - Ghettosocks
10:30 - Timbuktu
11:00 - Jesse Dangerously
11:30 - More Or Les
12:30 - MC Frontalot
12:00 - Schaffer the Darklord
1:15 - YTCracker
@ Flamingo Cantina, 515 E 6th St, Austin, Texas
For those in the Toronto area, Hand’Solo Records, Urbnet Records and Backburner bring you another $5 Rap Show at Rancho Relaxo on Friday, March 4, 2011…
Check out the new video/promo for the Hidden Fortress album All That Is… Let’s just say psychedelia is their strong suit.
Many thanks to Herohill for their fine review of the Hidden Fortress album All That Is… According to The Hill, “if you like your hip hop dark and dense, with thumping beats and lyrics that you can not only sing along with, but that can give you something to think about, I’d suggest you get with these guys.”
Read the rest of the review here: http://www.herohill.com/2011/02/quick-hitters-hidden-fortress.htm
On January 26, 2011, Hidden Fortress frontman nofutureface discussed music and movies with Shameless host Jonathan Brown. The podcast starts out with some garbage from the previous show, but once Shameless begins it’s a great collection of underground hip hop with a children’s story and Hidden Fortress interview thrown in for good measure. Hopefully we’ll hear more Hand’Solo music on this program in the future. In the meantime, check the podcase here:
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Citr–Shameless/~3/fCPoGXCkPqI/20110126-183000-to-20110126-200000.mp3
Big shout out to Z. at Hipster, Please! for showing Hand’Solo some love with their recent reviews for Bassments of Badmen 2 and Hidden Fortress’s All That Is. Not to spoil the anticipation, but Z. loved them, he really loved them!
Of Bassments of Badmen 2 he writes, “the beauty of the compilation is that everyone’s bound to find something that appeals to their own unique ear.”
And he sums up All That Is with: “If you like the unrelenting energy of horrorcore but can’t abide the laughable imagery, or enjoy the verbose linguistics of nerdcore but crave a more holistic, almost spiritual slant, then this is not one to be missed.”
Check the rest of the reviews, along with a third review for Selfhelp’s Broken Shadows, at: http://www.hipsterplease.com/2011/01/provinces-not-states.html
Chomp on some ’shrooms and trip to “Good Hurt” from Hidden Fortress…
Recorded live at The Met, Vancouver, BC by Raven Madd.
CZECH MAGAZINE BBARÁK HIP HOP MAGAZÍN RECENTLY INTERVIEWED HAND’SOLO RECORDS HEAD HONCHO THOMAS QUINLAN, ASKING SOME GREAT QUESTIONS ABOUT THE LABEL AND CANADIAN HIP HOP IN GENERAL. FOR THOSE FAMILIAR WITH THE LANGUAGE CHECK OUT THE INTERVIEW:
Už přes 15 let řídí Thomas Quinlan torontský label Hand’Solo Records, kterému prošla rosterem široká plejáda nezávislých i u majoru působících interpretů.
Po loňském stabilizačním roce má 2011 pro Hand’Solo znamenat malý velký třesk. Nově upsaný Alex Dimez zaznamenal úspěšný nástup se svým EP Twenty Dimez a má na své straně kromě evropské i jindy nekompromisní americkou kritiku.
Mimo něj se však CD verze svého vydání dočká i all-star parta Backburner, Toolshed a Wordburglar, vítěz nejlepšího rýmu od CBC Radio z roku 2006 za track “Word Owner“ ze svého prozatím posledního alba Burglarities.
Thomas Quinlan poodkrývá specifika černého koně mezi nezávislými hudebními nakladatelstvími.
READ THE REST AT: http://www.bbarak.cz/bbarak.php?req=contacts
Yet another big merci beaucoup is owed to French website FakeForReal.net for giving such a great review to the re-release of Bassments of Badmen 2. The site sums up the album as such:
“Ils étaient un tel concentré de fraicheur, de diversité, de bizarreries, de beats venus du futurs ou de je ne sais quelle world music obscure, de fantaisies stylistiques, de passages humoristiques, de scratches virevoltants ou oppressants, selon, que tout cela sonne toujours d’actualité.”
The continued love and support is appreciated.
For those who understand French, you can check out the rest of the review here: http://www.fakeforreal.net/index.php/post/2011/COMPILATION-Bassments-of-Badmen-Vol.-2
Top Billin Entertainment Presents:
The 6th Annual XMAS WRAP
A dope night of live hip-hop and holiday mayhem featuring:
TOOLSHED (http://timbuktu.bandcamp.com/ and http://chokeules.bandcamp.com/
WORDBURGLAR (www.wordburglar.com)
THESIS SAHIB (http://www.myspace.com/thesissahib)
MORE OR LES (http://www.myspace.com/moreorles)
WAFFLE & EXIT ONLY (http://www.myspace.com/waffcor or http://www.myspace.com/exit519)
DJ HULLEWUD (http://www.myspace.com/djhullewud)
ONLY $5
19+
Thursday, December 23 at Call The Office (216 York St, London, ON)
Download the DJ Pack for “Stormy,” the second single from Twenty Dimez, produced by Anonymous Twist:
http://handsolorecords.com/wp-content/plugins/wp-downloadMonitor/download.php?id=50
The DJ Pack contains the uncensored, radio edit, instrumental and acapella versions of “Stormy”.
Check out the song:
Alex Dimez discusses the new album, performing with big name artists and having his own line of bongs and water pipes…
Alex Dimez has some interesting things to say in this interview, especially going back to the early years:
The first review for the new album by Vancouver’s Hidden Fortress, entitled All That Is, comes from France. Props to Matthieu at MOWNO for the amazing review. Comparing the album to underground music from the 90s such as Phoenix Orion, his only complaint seems to be the short length of the album. Don’t believe me? Here it is in the original French:
“En résulte logiquement quelques retours rapides aux grandes heures de Phoenix Orion et de tous ces Mcs qui tapissaient avec soin la face underground du hip hop il y a dix ans. …Un défaut majeur pourtant: du haut de ses vingt huit minutes, “All That Is” est beaucoup trop court.”
Or read the full review here: http://www.mowno.com/features-disques/hidden-fortress-all-that-is/
Reviews are starting to roll in for the re-release of Bassments of Badmen 2, and Shawn Alexander Roy once again steps up with some good words for Hand’Solo product with his review for Skope Magazine, giving the compilation 4.5/5 while proclaiming:
“Bassments of Badmen Volume Two is sure to make any stuck-up, half-witted, scruffy-looking nerf herder appreciate Canadian hip-hop.”
Read the rest of the review here: http://skopemag.com/2010/11/10/bassments-of-badmen-volume-2-various-artists
Another frequent supporter of Hand’Solo music is Darcy MacDonald who also has kind words to say about the compilation in his review for the Montreal Mirror. Not sure if hard copies of the issue with the review are still available to pick up in and around Montreal, but here’s his review:
Compilation reviews are always interesting to read in order to see which songs and artists the reviewer picks to highlight, and they’re almost always different. Shawn and Darcy both made some interesting picks that haven’t really been mentioned in any of the previous reviews done when Bassments of Badmen 2 first dropped in 2003. Kudos, guys.