"Politically charged...Musically relevent. Junkyard Empire insists upon delivering equal amounts of both Hip-Hop & Jazz executed by a 5 piece band. The messages they represent are strong: take control of your own destiny and question what the government tells you; make moving music and have fun doing it! Stamped by an original, dope group name & showing loads of potential both live & recorded, do not miss an opportunity to observe these cats." --Carnage.
COMING SEPTEMBER 1ST!
REQUEST JUNKYARD EMPIRE ON THE CURRENT!!! (651) 989-4893 or e-mail the studios at [email protected]
CHECK OUT THE JUNKYARD EMPIRE BLOG!
RECLAIM FREEDOM is available BY CLICKING HERE!
and at the following locations (so far!):
The Electric Fetus, Minneapolis
CD BABY
Shake It Records, Cincinnati, OH
Dingleberry's, Yellow Springs, OH
Amazon.com
iTunes
"You have a few hip-hoppers in the Twin Cities that actually get it – the genre was not spawned way-back-when by The Last Poets, Sugar Hill Gang and the rest of them for the primary purpose of dogging women out and posturing like King Kong should be scared to meet you in a dark alley. And you have a few bands who play hellified avant garde jazz. Enter two-in-one force of nature: Junkyard Empire. They come with fiercely innovative music that’ll have you nodding along before you know it, and coat-pulling verse that defies society and the government to get real about positive change."
- Dwight Hobbes
Feeding off of the long tradition of American musical artists speaking truth to power, Junkyard Empire is not just a band, they are a social and political platform: TAKING THE COUNTRY BACK FROM THE FASCISTS, ONE SHOW AT A TIME. They strive to be much more than another great alternative live hip-hop band from Minnesota - of which there are plenty - they want to become a musical force for grassroots political and social change in America, playing the music that they hear as the soundtrack to a long overdue social and political revolution in America. They believe music is not, nor should it be treated like nothing more than the proverbial "widget" to be sold to the highest bidder. Adherence to the inherently inhuman conditions of so-called "free market" capitalism has virtually ruined popular music, but the music will not stop getting to the people. NOTE TO AGENTS: If you don't want the audience to hear the truth about the government and the fascist economic system in which it operates, don't book Junkyard Empire. We will charge to perform, but only because we, like all Americans today, live under the tyranny of the bottom line. If we were in it for the money, we would be playing the same tired and lazy crap that pervades the radio waves.
The combination of Brihanu's forceful, yet uplifting lyricism - urging the listener to rise up in opposition to all things unjust - and the undeniable talent of the instrumentalists in the band makes for a blend of influences and intensity that is unlike any other band in this country. Trombonist and keyboardist Christopher Robin Cox, guitarist Bryan Berry, electric bassist Dan Choma, and drummer Graham O'Brien provide truly intense improvisatory explorations, while laying down cold-blooded grooves under Brihanu's verses. The gritty sounds of Miles Davis's Bitches Brew and the funky avant-jazz of the late 1960s often are cited as influences, but if you ask any of them, they will also tell you they listen to a long list of current genre-bending artists too. The wide array of influences and the resulting sound comes from dedicated rehearsals and collaborative song writing second to none.
Junkyard Empire has been together, in one form or another, since 2005. And while they went through many growing pangs early one, like finding the right guitar player and bass player and going through three different sax players, they have persevered. Today they are stronger and tighter than they ever have been before.
Since the inception, Junkyard Empire has been slowly and methodically developing their own unique sound and the buzz that is now building. They have shared the stage with such diverse bands as the Snaps, Watson, Leroy Smokes, the New Congress, Big Ditch Road, Copasetic, Ill Chemistry, Hyder Ali, El Guante and See More Perspective, and Nathan Miller. The varied bills they perform on is yet another wall they routinely break down; that tendency for bands to fall into a click, only playing bills with the bands they are "in" with. Junkyard Empire believes that progressive live hip-hop and jazz is the people's music and should be included on as many bills as possible, the more variant and vibrant the better. The corporatocracy that is the mainstream music industry is out of touch with what true appreciators of the musical arts really dig, so don't expect to see Junkyard Empire trying to "break in". Instead, look for the industry trying to break into what Junkyard Empire is proudly breaking out of. Simple minded, racist, knuckle-dragging, misogynist hip-hop is DEAD in the minds of the musicians in Junkyard Empire. And so is "commercial" music of any kind.
Their debut album RECLAIM FREEDOM was released in December of 2007 and is continuing to sell in Germany, the UK, Australia, and of course right here in the United States. Tracks from the album are being played in heavy rotation on several Internet radio stations around the world, including Emancipation Radio and Gotham Radio in New York City. You WILL NOT likely hear their music on mainstream radio, and the day you do is the day the revolution has begun!
Politically and musically, the current environment in the United States is calling for artists to provide the necessary communication to spark the social movements we have been waiting for in this country. Junkyard Empire makes no effort to hide the fact that they want to join the ranks of Rage Against the Machine, Michael Franti, Public Enemy, and all the rest! People are hungry for what Brihanu and the gang are unafraid to say. In Brihanu's own words: "It's important, when you have the platform, to say something that has substance."
In a few words: REVOLUTIONARY POLITICAL PROPAGANDA, BROUGHT TO YOU IN THE FORM OF CREATIVE LIVE HIP-HOP AND JAZZ.
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