Emergency Protocol is a local Staten Island fusion band that blends many too many different styles to count! They recently released a single track called, "Social Butterfly."
The song changes up quite a bit from slow to fast, heavy and light, and even more technical. Musically the song is solid. The guitar solo at the end is great, and the airy almost haunting keys over certain points are fantastic.
The vocals go almost throughout the entire song, and have many parts to it between mostly two vocalists who take turns rapidly or come in together. At times, I feel the vocals are too much and it may take away from the music at at certain times, however, based one track it's hard to figure the dynamic.
I would love to hear a complete body of work from these guys and gal, and I am excited to see what Emergency Protocol can come up with next.
Check out "Social Butterfly" below, and give them a LIKE on Facebook.
One of Staten Island's biggest hardcore/metal bands, A Wake Providence, released a lyric video for their new single,"Psycho," which is off their upcoming EP Insidious. The track features Davis Rider of Immortalist lending screams to the song.
To put it simply, the song is brutal. It kicks you in the face, and then curb stomps you as you get up. It has all the heavy guttural noise AWIP is known for as well as the insane chug chug of the guitars, china ridden double bass breakdowns.
Thematically, the song is very dark as the American Psycho inspired song talks about becoming the monstrous thing they hate. The song look inward to failure and life choices that essentially self inflict pain and torture...you know, light stuff.
New Hope is a punk band from Staten Island comprised of Cedric Brice (guitar/vocals), Justin Alpert (guitar/vocals), Rosario Panarelli (bass/vocals), and Dino Casalino (drums). They are hoping to release their new EP, Unlucky 17, this spring and recently released their first single, "Just Like Yesterday."
"Just Like Yesterday" is a slower song chalk full of punk guitar tones, drum patterns, and vocal work. They mix it up by throwing in a piano part, and musical solo/bridge part.
The chorus is catchy, and the singer's voice goes well with the song. I like the background vocals and harmonies and the "oh-oh's" in the first chorus.
Be sure to give this band a listen if you like 90s punk like MxPx, Slick Shoes, and old Green Day.
Having never heard Diet's music before, I went into this not knowing what to expect after I got a message from vocalist/guitarist Thom Kinnear. With that being said, I absolutely loved their up coming single "Knee Brace."
Diet has a punk sound so familiar and yet so unique at the same time. They are a mixture of the Offspring, Blink 182, New Found Glory, and Nirvana, with the later comparison occurring toward the midway break point of "Knee Brace."
Thom has a great tone and quality to his voice. It's almost like if you mixed Mark Hoppus' and Tom Delonge's voice together, essentially Blink 182 with one vocalist.
At first I wasn't so keen on the mix and levels for the vocals and upon further questioning, Thom told me it was on purpose saying, "The vibe of this song was really personal so we wanted the vocals kinda
low to make it really like unsure of what I'm saying but still hearing
the melody and some words. I kinda wanted it to sound like mumbling
and me being nervous for some reason; the low vocals were definitely on
purpose for this one song."
The song has multiple parts alternating between really fast and slow, melodic and more pulsing. Overall, if every Diet track sounds as good as this first one, then I'm a fan. Great, creative instrumentals with a unique blending of punk sounds and good vocals.
One more thing...I CAN"T show you all the song! But if you want to hear it live and have it made available to you, come on out to the Arts Cypher in Staten Island March 23rd along with Figurehead, my band - Process of Fusion, and others! Info here.
Here's a quick little link drop to keep the masses satisfied!
In case you missed it (most of you did, which is a shame) a pretty famous rapper came through Staten Island last week with his band of merry lyricists. The creator of 2010's big hit, "I'm Awesome," was here with Cam Groves and the Educated Advocates. Check out some video I took of them!
This next video is by a good friend of mine who's just starting to get his music out. Shout out to Antonio Yhap. Here's his mixtape, Immature.
Of course, here's lovable local Backslashes & Bad Ideas. Check out their song Phoenix With an F.
December 21st the world is supposed to end, so go see a last show and check out End Of The World Christmas Brewhorsehorse @Dock Street! Oh yeah, and FigureHead and West of Dennis are going to be there! Here's the Facebook invite and a promo video. http://www.facebook.com/events/466675143384239/
Last but not least a show that is dear to my heart because I created it by some insane miracle and the power of giving...Hurricane Sandy Benefit & Christmas Party! F/T - EveryNightDrive, SpreadThe Rumor, Corrao Q, and More at Full Cup! http://www.facebook.com/events/512183518801567/?ref=ts&fref=ts
This show, December 23rd, is going to be great for so many reasons. #1 and most importantly we will be donating all proceeds to organizations that can help families affected by Hurricane Sandy, especially important during Christmas time. #2, my band was part of a music scene that more less died at the end of 2010, and now I've managed to recreate the "Superfriends" of my era. So to play with my best friends of music is very exciting. #3, EveryNight Drive is back together and the Corrao Q and Spread the Rumor have reassembled for one special night.
Throughout the night there will be raffles and giveaways as well as an after party! Here are some promo videos I made for the event.
An underground hustler and overall dope lyricist, Playdough's new album is going to be on some "next level" stuff. His new single, "King of Queens" samples two legends of music, the Beastie Boys and Queen. He takes an interesting twist of the famous "Bohemian Rhapsody" and totally flips it hip-hop. Check it out below.
Also, be sure to read up on my previous review and interview of Playdough here.
Process of Fusion play "Lights in the Sky" and "Bring Me to Life" at the Bamboozle Break Contest at the Stone Pony.
New album coming soon, Connections EP. Check my band out this Saturday, April 9th at Warriors of Wrestling (The Warehouse)56 Van St. Staten Island, NY 7:30pm - 11:00pm, $6 DEAD MEN DREAMING
PROCESS OF FUSION
RELICS
INCOGNITO THEORY
FIGUREHEAD
Check out the best rappers on Staten Island, Freestyle Fam, as they just dropped their first mixtape. Download here
More news from Dave Incognito of Incognito Theory. Dave has partnered up with long time friend Jason DePalma of Aug and Eastcoast Zero, for a side project. Aptly entitled, Incognito & DePalma, Dave promises a side of him you have never seen before.
The first song "Faith in Me" is expected to be done by March. The project came about as Dave, like many singers, began to grow anxious as the rest of his band in IT is spending time recording their instruments. "It's just something to keep me going," he says.
The music will be a cross between Tantric, Dave Matthews Band, and Jack Johnson meets John Mayer.
IT would also like people to know that the song "Forsaken" from the first ep will be rerecorded with a new twist for the upcoming CD, Silent Pain coming spring 2011 for Romulus X Records.
In other news
A'tris releases a video for week 6 of the weekly song project, check it out.
The Higher Concept
Have released a video using fan footage for their newest song "Toast to Life"
Watch the video below
Lastly, my partner in crime at Broken Records did a few interviews at Jingle Ball that you should check out.
Flo Rida Interview by Scott Vollweiler of Broken Records
Shaolin Spitters is a new mixtape featuring some of the best emcees on the Island. A good friend of mine, Chris "CiG" is featured on a few of these joints. I'll post the ones he's on, and maybe in the future I'll talk to some of the other rappers.
Here's a message from Staten Island based Hip-Hop group Team Alliance:
"Album did well, better than expected. Keep your eyes here for a new solo ep from Agent Lead titled Flawed Logic coming soon. FOR FREE!"
Team Alliance Facebook
To read the original article I wrote about them click here
Finally, if you love Process of Fusion, throw our banners up on your page. Special thanks to our friend Jodi Palermo for making these! If you are interested in having your own banners made, let me know, and I'll pass you along.
