BILLY BUNKS’ SPIT & GRISTLE
IN STORES AND ONLINE MARCH 29!

Broken Tooth Entertainment is pleased to announce the arrival of their tenth official release. Since inception, BTE has released albums from Hospice Crew, Tornts and Overproof plus a selection of top shelf 12” and compilation titles. Their latest album is the debut album from notorious Booze Bastard/Hired Goon, Billy Bunks. Spit & Gristle is anchored by the outrageous lead single “Devil’s Clay”, the video for which can be seen on Shogun’s YouTube channel >> . Be warned though, the clip is not for the squeamish. To coincide with the tenth release, the entire BTE back catalogue will be made available on iTunes and other digital stores worldwide commencing March 29. This includes the hard to find 12” tracks from Ciecmate, Newsense and Bigfoot, and the virtually unavailable debut album from Tornts, Adding Insult to Injury. You’ll also find BTE classics including Hospice Crew’s Stormwater and Visiting Hours, Swarmy’s The Appetiser, Overproof’s The High Life, Tornts’ classic Decimation Recordings and last year’s label showcase Dental Records Vol 1.

Billy Bunks’ Spit & Gristle will be available in stores and online on 29 March.

The entire Broken Tooth Entertainment catalogue will be available from all good online music retailers on 29 March.

SWEDEN’S LOOPTROOP ROCKERS
PREP NEW ALBUM

Sweden's Looptroop laid their roots when hip hop was not yet the global movement it was today. In the mid 1990s, most European hip hop was little more than a bleak copy of the American template, but Promoe, Supreme, CosM.I.C and DJ Embee forged a new identity that was international in Its scope while simultaneously reflecting their own unique position in the world. Following numerous cassette and vinyl releases on their own David Vs Goliath imprint, they released a series of seminal albums, expanding their scope from 2000's subway manifesto Modern Day City Symphony to 2005's epic state-of-the- continent address Fort Europa. Now, Promoe, Supreme and DJ Embee are back as a trio with their definitive artistic statement. Good Things is as musically diverse an album as hip hop has ever produced and is as socially conscious and politically fierce as ever, well maintaining an overwhelming feelgood vibe.

Check www.looptrooprockers.com for exclusive content, the video for lead single "The Building" and a whole lot more.

Shogun will also release a special DVD+CD package from Looptroop frontman Promoe. The Standard Bearer DVD includes a full length documentary o the making of his last solo album White Man's Burden, plus a full length live concert film shot In Copenhagen, and seven music videos, including the anthemic "These Walls Don't Lie".

Good Things and Standard Bearer will be in stores across Australia on April 26.



BRAD STRUT & MF GRIMM - AVAILABLE DIGITALLY
Two of this year's most talked about hip hop albums are now available through all good digital music retailers.

Brad Strut's Legend: Official, the long awaited, Trem-produced sophomore LP from Australia's most renowned lyricist has been roundly praised as a tour de force of honest and intense rhymes over sinister boom bap beats. With guest spots from Sean Price (New York, Boot Camp Clik) and Outerspace (Philadelphia, Army of the Pharaohs), the album represents a new standard for Australian hip hop, finding Strut and his cohorts measuring up to their international counterparts.

Meanwhile, New York underground veteran MF Grimm teamed with Australian label Class A Records to release an unprecedented concept album, The Hunt for the Gingerbread Man. Produced by Stricknine with additional beats from Prowla, Metabolis, Aksim and Sammsonite, the album explores the world of Candy Land through the eyes of Grimm's alter ego Gingy Breadman. Praised by The Source and allhiphop.com among others, the record finds Grimm taking unprecedented risks as an artist and succeeding. Grimm is now a contracted writer with DC/Vertigo comics, and word is the Candy Land concept will soon be turned into a graphic novel and possibly even an animated series.

For customers buying through iTunes, both albums include an exclusive bonus track. Brad Strut's "Last Omen" remix was prepared by Trem especially for this release, while MF Grimm's "The Oven" was only available on the limited edition Order of the Baker mixtape released to promote the album.

Click here to buy Brad Strut's Legend:Official through iTunes

Click here to buy MF Grimm's Hunt for the Gingerbread Man through iTunes



ACE OF HEARTS - FEATURE ALBUM ON TRIPLE J!

A-Love's stunning debut Ace of Hearts is this week's feature album on Australia's national radio network Triple J! Listen in all week to hear a selection of great tracks from the album. Also, keep an eye out for the 12" for the single "Love Is", which also features a brand new Nextmen-produced cut "Hush" from Crookneck label head Raph on the AA-side. Ace of Hearts is in stores across the country on Crookneck through Shogun. The "Love Is"/"Hush" double A-side 12" will be available in specalist stores nationally.

Visit A-Love on MySpace
Visit Crookneck on MySpace



BURIAL'S HIGHLY ACCLAIMED SECOND ALBUM - UNTRUE

Of all the artists past and present who claim to let their music do their talking for them, Burial is one of the elite band of whom this truly is the case. In fact, so reluctant is he to engage with the cult-of-personality hoopla that surrounds almost every modern producer and musician of merit, that he remains a genuine recluse; he has never appeared live, only one obliquely-angled publicity photograph is known to exist, and the number of interviews he has given can be counted on the fingers of one hand.

Yet despite this, his music speaks loud and wide, and the world has been listening ever since his ‘South London Boroughs’ EP debut on Hyperdub in March 2005. His eponymous album, which began life as a low-key release in May 2006, is now widely regarded as the benchmark work of the ever-widening dubstep genre, picking up unanimous critical acclaim along the way, and ending the year heavily featured in many ‘best of’ polls.

Now Burial returns with Untrue, a new record of weird soul music, which lovingly processes spectral female voices into vaporised R&B and smudged 2step garage. Vocal lines are blurred, smeared, pitched up, pitched down and pitch-bent until their content is cast adrift from their original context and they whisper their saccharin sweet nothings into the void. The album continues along the path of the debut’s crackle-drenched yearning and bustling rhythmic intricacies, haunted by the ghosts of rave, but also reveals some new Burial treats with a more glowing, upbeat energy.

Opening with the skittering 2step syncopations and vocal science of ‘Archangel’, ‘Near Dark’ and ‘Ghost Hardware’, before long it descends into a space of radiant divas and glowing ambience. Where Burial at first was humid, suffocating and unrelentingly sad, ‘Untrue’ is less sunless. Many of the tracks are so sweet, they become toxic, underscored by the almost geologic rumbles of growling basslines. Unlike the overpoweringly melancholic prevailing mood of before, Burial’s sound is now better defined as a downcast euphoria typified by the epic, muted optimism of the album’s last track ‘Raver’.

Untrue is available now as a full 13 track digipack CD, including recent underground hit ‘Ghost Hardware’, and 9 track DJ friendly double vinyl set, from which some of the beatless pieces have been edited.

Untrue reviewed by The Guardian

Untrue reviewed by Pitchfork

http://www.myspace.com/burialuk
http://www.hyperdub.net



REQUEST A-LOVE & YUNGUN ON TRIPLE J

Melbourne MC A-Love's debut Ace of Hearts is almost upon us. Lead single "So Easy" finds the reigning queen of Aussie hip hop trade bars with the UK's Yungun over a bouncing beat courtesy of BVA. Listen out for it on Triple J radio, or hit the link below to request it. This stunning album includes additional guests spots from Raph (Mnemonic Ascent), Spikey Tee (UK) and upcoming spitter Jim Blah, who's promising skills saw him win this year's Hilltop Hoods Initiative prize for an emerging Adelaide hip hop artist. The album is produced by BVA, with additional beats from Jase, Suffa (Hilltop Hoods) and Mostyn (Reference Point).
Click here to request "So Easy" on Triple J!
Visit A-Love on MySpace


BOOMTOWN'S BEST ARE BACK ON REDTAPE RENEGADES

BOOM! Just as fans were starting to wonder where Brisbane’s premier hip hop group had been hiding, The Optimen re-emerge with their label roster in tow for Redtape Renegades Volume 1. Redtape Entertainment was established to release The Optimen’s acclaimed debut album Boomtown, which garnered them accolades such as the urban trophy in the 2006 MusicOz Awards and earned them frequent play on Triple J and Channel [V] for the breakthrough single “Give It Up”. The praise mounted, The Optimen were invited interstate to support international touring artists and their label grew into a home for the up and coming hip hop talent on Redtape Renegades.

Present on five tracks, Optimen MCs DATS, K-West and Sammsonite and DJ Damage showcase the flows and cuts that made Boomtown one of the most praised and played Aussie rap records of 2006. Producers DATS and Sammsonite also handle beat duties throughout the album, creating an unswerving boom bap aesthetic that underlines the MCs’ verbal dexterity.

Joining the OPs are Brisbane up-and-comers Pure Product whose recent live shows have included support for Necro, Muph n Plutonic and more. 4thDegree, Tendancee, Marvel and DJ Butcher are a new breed of true school hip hoppers who don’t forsake content for form. With their upcoming album Eviction Notice currently being polished for an early 2008 release, tracks like “Addiction” and “Taking It There” find these young firebrands laying all the right foundations.

One of the most talked about MCs in Australian hip hop is Brisbane’s own battle bred Balboa. When he’s not hosting radio shows or hip hop gigs, Robbie Balboa is making noise on tracks with the likes of the Hilltop Hoods, Vents, Mystro and Tommy Illfigga. Renegades finds the biggest concentration of Robbie on record yet, with his ferocious flow featured on four fiery tracks. Two of them are with Canada’s Anonymouz, who recorded and ripped stages with Balboa during his recent visit to these shores.

With Pure Product’s debut, a new Optimen album and a national tour on the cards for early 2008, Redtape Renegades Vol 1 primes Australia for big things to come from the label. Whether you’re a River City local or a fan of world class hip hop, you’ll want to cut through the Redtape to get to this cross section of Brisbane’s best.



MORTAR DROPS NEW MATH ON SACRED GEOMETRY

Few MCs really reach beyond the realms of daily experience. Most prefer to stick to the tried and true subject matter that has underpinned the genre since its genesis. Mortar, producer and one of three MCs from Perth’s sinister warriors Clandestien is not among them. Never settling for the same formulae, he looks to more arcane mathematics when constructing his rhymes.

Following last year’s opening solo salvo, Mortarshell Symphony, Mortar martyr delves deeper in the world of the unseen on Sacred Geometry. Underpinned by sinister strings and macabre ambience, the MC tackles the world of the occult with his ferocious vernacular.

From the cornerstone opener “The Foundation”, through the militant “Taking of Rome” to the sci-fi synth funk of “The Answers 2”, Mortar’s solo stylings encompass the lesser-explored realms of metaphor. He continues with a homage to the work of Douglas Adams on ‘Life, The Universe, Everything’, evades all conquering malevolent forces on “Escape from the Planet of the Apes” and enlists fellow Clandestien generals Tomahawk and Graphic on “Release the Flames”. The penultimate track, and lead single, “Jacob’s Ladder” is underpinned by a monstrous avalanche of drums that Mortar pummels into submission with his implacable rhyme schemes.

Sacred Geometry is another twisted piece in the evolving Clandestien puzzle, and Mortar has again proven himself one of the most talented MC/producer double threats in Australia.

Sacred Geometry will be in stores around Australia 27th October on Clandestien Productions through Shogun Distribtion.

Mortar on MySpace: www.myspace.com/mortarmartyr



NEW NECRO ALBUM AVAILABLE NOW

In the wake of Necro's triumphat Australian shows to packed out venues in Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide and Perth, Shogun Distribution and Psycho+Logical Records are proud to present the latest opus from the king of death rap. Necro's new album, Death Rap, is poised to reinvent hip hop and aggressive metal as we know it. Not many other artists have managed to strike a balance between the two styles of music without watering down one or the other. Death Rap pushes both genres to their extremes, far surpassing anything Necro or anyone else has done in the past. Death Rap features more of what fans love about Necro: raw lyrical skill, dirty hip hop beats and an array of guest stars from the current and classic metal scenes. Guest appearances include Mark Morton of Lamb of God, Brian Fair of Shadows Fall, Scott Ian of Anthrax, Steve DiGiorgio of Death, Dave Ellfeson, formerly of Megadeth, and Adam Jackson from Twelve Tribes. In addition to this incredible roster of metal guests, Necro is joined on the microphone by his brother and partner in vile rap, Ill Bill of Non-Phixion and fellow Psycho+Logical-Recordings artist Mr Hyde.

Necro on MySpace: www.myspace.com/necro



THE BEATLES MEET METALLICA!

Although the Beatles certainly had some ‘heavy’ moments (“Helter Skelter,” “Revolution” or “I Want You (She’s So Heavy),” anyone?), they are certainly not considered a metal band. And on the other side of the coin, Metallica is not considered a pop band. But then along comes Beatallica, and the lines between both acts have been erased – as heard throughout their first official, fully authorised album Sgt. Hetfield’s Motorbreath Pub Band. Comprised of members Jaymz Lennfield (vocals, guitar), Grg Hammettson (guitar), Kliff McBurtney (bass), and Ringo Larz (drums), Beatallica has been converting naysayers into believers for years – having made fans throughout the world, even with such renowned headbangers as Dream Theater’s Mike Portnoy and Anthrax’s Scott Ian. Originally coming to the attention of headbangers everywhere with their initial Internet phenomenon story resulting in a million hits to their website and a legion of supporters, Beatallica has signed on with Oglio Records, to release the fully authorized and newly recorded Sgt. Hetfield's Motorbreath Pub Band. As evidenced by such song titles as "…And Justice For All My Loving," "Leper Madonna," and "Ktulu (He's So Heavy)," the quartet's knack for combining both these music giants together remains as sharp as ever. Not just a studio creation, Beatallica has amassed a huge following - known as the Beatallibangers - throughout the world due to their fun, hard rocking live show, as they've played shows with such metal heavy weights as Motorhead, and have even headlined open-air festivals themselves. Video clips are soon to be delivered for the single "Revol-ooh-tion" and "A Garage Dayz Nite." Sgt. Hetfield’s Motorbreath Pub Band is out now on Oglio Records through Shogun Distribution.

Beatallica on MySpace