New Releases from Blue Sky Black Death & Grayskul
Final Week of Free Ceschi Campaign
 From backpacks to snapbacks, the career of Blue Sky Black Death has spanned more than a decade of genre evolution and artistic growth. After starting separately as beat makers during the golden age of indie hip-hop in the late 90s, the duo united and expanded their repertoire in 2006 with the double album A Heap Of Broken Images. The first disc of this album was their first official foray into purely instrumental work. Subsequently they have pursued both avenues, collaborating with several rappers while also releasing two more instrumental suites – Late Night Cinema and Noir. Paying homage to their mutual appreciation of southern rap traditions in a historically unique way, the duo also created chopped & screwed version of these albums, Lean Night Cinema and Noir + Violet.
Striving to continue progress into unexpected directions, Blue Sky Black Death now present their most ambitious and original work yet. Glaciers is a culmination of years of experimentation, a realization of ideas which were only hinted at in their previous efforts. While the tag ‘instrumental hip-hop’ could still be applied nominally, the duo’s appreciation of post-rock, shoegaze and prog-rock makes for a daring sonic blend far removed from the repetitive loops and structures traditionally associated with this genre. This departure from convention is accentuated further by cameos from fellow Fake Four Inc. signees Child Actor and singer JMSN. Their collaborations with BSBD are symbiotic, marked by mutual testing of comfort zones, the guests and their hosts pushing each other beyond boundaries of previous experience.
Even when accounting for the continuously blurring lines between rap production and electronic and ambient music, what happens on Glaciers still stands as nearly unprecedented. Simply put, the aim here is to go big. In one regard this means longer songs, with several tracks reaching over 10 minutes. But beyond just length, there is a sense of operatic grandiosity that imbues even the album’s shorter entries. The group has combined samples with live instrumentation before, but never so dramatically and profoundly as now. The listener is placed directly into the eye of the storm as all around him chords and vocals swell and fall, awash in sweeping waves of synth and bass. The effect is sometimes chaotic but never violent. Blue Sky Black Death craft music of tumultuous beauty; music at once both exciting and soothing. Predicated on this contradiction, their compositions coalesce into a singular harmony. They form a new terrain from disparate building blocks, a vast alien expanse of sound waiting to be explored.
BSBD on
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Grayskul's Zenith
As part of the Pacific Northwest indie rap collective Oldominion, Grayskul made a name for themselves regionally with futuristic sci-fi raps over gloomy, innovative production from the likes of Mr. Hill and Smoke before catching the attention of Rhymesayers Entertainment while opening for Eyedea & Abilities. A host of tour-only releases paired with RSE albumsDeadlivers and Bloody Radio put Grayskul on the national map, with indie rap icons such as Slug, Aesop Rock, Mr. Lif, Cage and Pigeon John making appearances.The time off from Grayskul (after 2009's Graymaker record) gave Onry and JFK the opportunity to polish their respective blades before stepping back into the booth to recordZenith, their first release on Fake Four, Inc. The entire album was conceived, written, and recorded in Momentum Studios in Seattle under the watchful ear of sound engineer Zebulon Dak. Zenith finds Onry and JFK at their storytelling finest, examining school shootings, hollow social media existence, fatherhood, and the false allure of the club under explosive production handled by Aesop Rock, Smoke, Void Pedal, and Moodie Black. Raekwon starts the show in classic Wu fashion with a spoken intro, and the record also features guest shots from Aesop, Solilla, Reva DeVito, and Fake Four labelmate Terra Lopez of Sister Crayon. True to its title, the 17-track Zenith is the masterfully produced and executed crown jewel of Grayskul’s decade in the indie rap game.Grayskul on
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Out now Four Finger Distro: Golden Era!
It began with two guys that didn’t know each other in 2004. One came to Los Angeles because of his military service. The other came to pursue a dream, a career in the music industry. By chance their paths crossed, one needed a place to stay the other had an open room in his rather empty apartment. DJ Push Play was a young and naïve cat, with a penchant for underground Hip-Hop. He DJayed at parties while attending Florida State University and started record collecting. Solrac was definitely the more experienced of the two. He held down a Hip-Hop radio show at Quinnipiac University. He also produced beats and MC’d. A few of his friends moved out to Los Angeles to experience a new way of life. Solrac led the way… An instant connection formed. Solrac and DJ Push Play joined forces with Nick Classic to form Cipharadio, a free underground Hip-Hop podcast. That opened up opportunities for them with artists they knew and respected. It also exposed them to new underground Hip-Hop artists. Although they lived separately after 2005, they knew they had something special to contribute to the Hip-Hop community. In 2010 they moved back in together and started work on this project. DJ Z joined the team at that time. Solrac Tracks, DJ Push Play and DJ Z reached out to the artists and provided them with beats. What happened was a well crafted, throwback album with features from some of today biggest names in Indie Hip-Hop with all agreeing we need to bring the Golden Era back to Hip-Hop. Out now on iTunes, Amazon, Bandcamp and your favorite streaming services Spotify & RDIO.
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Free Ceschi!
Over the last five years Fake Four has been a risk-taking independent record label that is fast approaching its 50th release. Fake Four has put out genre-pushing albums by progressive hip-hop artists, experimental indie poppers, and electronic producers. In early September, Fake Four founder Ceschi Ramos started an 18-month sentence on a questionable marijuana charge. After his family was threatened and he was forced to give a coached statement to police in 2010, he ended up going to court for years. In the end he has taken a reasonable plea bargain compared to the 5-7 years he was facing. Right now, the stability of Fake Four is being threatened by Ceschi's situation and the exorbitant amount of debt that has accumulated due to legal fees.
The indiegogo campaign response has been staggering and is a testament to the community Ceschi has built over the years. There's still one week left in the campaign and rewards including Free Ceschi shirts, a four finger-shaped USB drive filled with all 50 Fake Four releases including the only digital version of Ceschi's very limited Cooler Than Cucumbers release FORGOTTEN FOREVER, a chance to make a song with Factor, and an original prison poem from Ceschi sent to your door. Even if you can't donate, just sharing the link http://igg.me/at/freeceschi and getting the word out is a big help. Fake Four sincerely thanks you for your support.
Sadistik recently released a collaborative track with Ceschi by the name of "Firing Squad" to help raise awareness. You can stream and download the track here.
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