Pre-order Bring It Back Through Sol Clap

Did you catch Illy on his Bring it Back tour, if you did then you will know just how big this next album is going to be! With features from some of the biggest names in the scene and some of the country's best upcoming emcee's including the likes of Grey Ghost, Mantra, Pez, Thundamentals, Elemont and more bring it back is set to be some of Illy's greatest work to date.

Make sure you support the artist and local record stores when buying the album and what better way to do it then to pre order through Australia's number one independent online record store, Sol Clap Records.

Feature Artist Of The Month, April - Pressure Emcee, Hilltop Hoods

After the release of yet another successful record from the Hilltop Hoods, Pressure took some time out to catch up with us and speak all things Drinking from the Sun and Hilltop. Check out part 1 of the interview below and stay tuned for the following parts out later this month.

The three part musical adventure that is, The Thirst is something that you guys haven't really done before, that is a series of short tracks throughout an album. Part one focus's on the past three years or so and what you have achieved since the release of State of the Art. What do you think was your biggest achievement or most memorable moment since the release of State of the Art?

Most memorable moment from State of the art would have to be touring and playing at Glastonbury in England which was a huge highlight for all of us. To play at the biggest and most prestigious music festival in the world. That was an amazing experience we managed to get a crowd of somewhere between 8000 - 10 000 people under a small tent when we actually thought we might be playing to a crowd of 80-100 was amazing.

That must have been an awesome feeling to travel to the other side of the world when you come from a culture that 5-10 years ago didn't have much recognition in its own country never mind world wide.

Yeh its like relating to what you were just saying about The Thirst. I open the album by talking about touring in various parts of the world and how amazing it is to go to a shore where we thought we had no accolades and no one knew us to getting a reception like that it's amazing. Sometimes you have no idea that you are even know in these countries and people come to your shows and know the lyrics to your songs, its a bit of a you gotta step back and pinch yourself kind of thing.

Part two of The Thirst explains what Drinking from the Sun is and how Australian Hip Hop is an underground culture and is drinking from the mainstream above. Do you guys still see yourself as an underground act or a mainstream act that belongs to an underground culture?

I mean the album just went Gold in the first week, I couldn't claim to be an underground act or an underground rapper but i think were true to our roots and make underground music and thats the music we've connected with people for so long and are still prolific in the Australian music scene ten years later.

For sure its evident that through out Drinking from the Sun you can still feel the connection between the tracks and the audience can relate to the tracks.

Yeah well that's it I just think that the matter of making music for yourself and making honest music and i think that it will always connect with people.

Part three of The Thirst is really interesting and most exciting part of the album for myself. The outake at the end of the track says, "from day one we were writing two albums". Firstly when is the part two going to drop? and secondly why did you you decide to write two albums at one time instead of focusing all your efforts on one album?

Basically we wanted to do a double album, I can't give you an exact due date on the next album as I don't know the due date just yet, but its kinda like a to be continued … but i can say that the next album will be out much sooner than the three year gap between State of the Art and Drinking from the Sun.

Was there a reason that there was a three year gap between releases, was it that you wanted to take some time to get away from the music or that we were just going to take our time to perfect this next one?

Nar its funny people are like its been three years since the last album where the hell you been and I'm like were been touring our arses off for a year and a half and then worked rock solidly in some respect weather Suffa was out digging or debris was looking for cuts or practicing scratching. But we were working on that album for a year and a half. A lot happened in that year and a half as well where we went physically away on tour. We did a tour with Eminem, the Big Day Out tour and a tour in Canada we made a DVD and so many other day to day things that unfortunalty is a business element that comes into it when you run your own label and taking care of everything else. We took one month off each in that three year period and after that we worked our arses off cause people don't hear from you in a while the just think that your sitting on a beach somewhere having a holiday but your not.

How was the tour with Eminem I'm sure that it would have been an amazing experience to play with someone of that calibre, I read the interview with Rolling Stone and it seemed as though you sort of got pushed to the side but I'm sure that it would have been an amazing feeling.

Yeh I've actually been an Eminem fan since my ruckas days and i really dig a lot of his music, not all of it but i do dig a lot of it. So to be able to play support for him and who is actually the biggest entertainer in the world at the moment period was just an amazing experience. Its defiantly one of those once in a life time experiences that will be with us for ever.

The Kings are Back

After the release of State of the Art in 2009 the Hilltop hoods certainly set themselves a challenge. It was filled with tracks that were beyond ace and crowned them not only royalty in the Aussie Hip Hop community but Kings. The question left to ask is how could the Hoods step up to the plate and take things up yet another level to top State of the Art. 

Drinking from the Sun is the sixth studio album from the Hoods and is by far the deepest, darkest and most diverse yet. The sounds of the first single off the album, I Love it ft. Sia follow that much of the first single from State of the Art, Chase That Feeling. It has to be the most radio friendly track on the album, however its almost certain that several other tracks on the album will get high rotation across the airwaves, starting with the track that immediately follows I Love It, Lights Out. Lights Out is a clear choice for a future single with huge potential for the second film clip for the album. 

It is clear that on several tracks on the album the Hoods explored new grounds to prove how deserving they are of the title, Kings of Aussie Hip Hop. The track The underground takes it back to the early days with a beat and lyrics that are very much underground, proving that even the best of the game can take a simple old school beat and turn it into a classic. On the opposite end of the scale sees the track Speaking In Tongues which is filled with a jazzy, bass heavy beat. The contrast between these two tracks just goes to show exactly why the Hoods are not only holding all the keys to the kingdom but Rattling The Keys To The Kingdom.

The track Shedding The Balloon is filled with extensive reverberation and solid rhymes from Suffa. Pressure however kills it on the track Good For Nothing which is fuelled by a strong guitar beat which has huge potential with their live performance and guaranteed to be a crowd favourite. Personally I wanna see the hoods take a full band on tour with them or at least Plutonic Lab.

The list of other artist's who contributed to the album do nothing but enhance to the fullest the tracks in which they feature on throughout. The list includes the amazing vocal talents of local Adelaide artist Sia who features on the lead single I Love It. The likes of Lotek, Black Though, Chali 2na, Classified and Solo, One Above and a K21 remix of the track Good for Nothing yet agin show the how the Hoods have raised the bar with their latest release.

Something which we at The Bottom Of The Atlas noticed very quickly when the track listing for the album came out was the three part musical adventure that is The Thirst. Each of the three parts of The Thirst exhibit short rhymes accompanied by samples that are nothing short of an challenge. This narrative which runs throughout the album finishes with the line " from day 1, we're making two albums" which poses the question, do the Hoods already have their next project in the works? Perhaps the reason why they took three years between releases was because they were working on two projects from day one. Who knows though only time will tell. However lets enjoy what we have now rather than speculate on what will come next. 

There is no question that Drinking From The Sun is some of the Hoods finest work to date. There is no reason why this album could not sit on the shelf in your local record show next to global heavyweights in Hip Hop. It is unlike any other Australian Hip Hop album that you have herd before. Go grab your copy of Drinking From The Sun from your local Oz Hip Hop store, Soul Clap Records and sit back and enjoy the tunes. 

Referance: musicfeeds.com.au