[advertising]

By LAUREN GARBUTT
Staff Writer

The Goldishack Guerillas are a group that need few things to get their work done - a two story shack in East Village, New York, Goldi himself, and a group of talented musicians with the desire for change. The Goldishack Guerillas offer up a refreshing blend of alternative indie hip-hop and rock springing from the depths of Brooklyn for the last few years.

The 3 tracks on their EPK for their full length release, WAR, which itself is just the first in a trilogy of albums, is a creative and thought provoking collection of songs that center around war, politics and the media. It is a weapon against war ... an energetic frenzy of tracks looking to inspire, energize and enlighten.

The first track on the EP is “Lazy Fat Stupid American featuring Rush Limbaugh”. It is the first single from the album, and smartly chosen as the track has reportedly gained them standing ovations at shows from coast to coast. The fact that Limbaugh was actually specifically targeting Goldi makes the track even more impressive, and only draws attention to their cause.

Earlier in the year, the Guerillas were handed some free publicity when popular conservative radio show host, Rush Limbaugh, went on record singling out Goldi as a “...lazy, fat, stupid American...” among other choice words. Goldi called in the show to defend himself, and all hell broke loose.

As a clever retaliation, the Guerillas used Rush’s own words against him by sampling and scratching the quotes, and using them as the hook for the first single. To top it off, they advertised the song as “featuring Rush Limbaugh”, no doubt gaining them a few extra downloads. Samples of Limbaugh insulting Goldi are played during the chorus. The track details the talents of the various emcees and musicians, and the socially conscious lyrics explicitly touch on their views and opinions. It is a solid introduction to the band.

The second track, “War We Bring” and the last track, “Bulldozer” are aggressive, sarcastic, and angry. They are politically charged songs that challenge social norms and are designed to provoke action and emotion in listeners.

One of the major difficulties in making politically fuelled music that’s laced with social commentary, is keeping it entertaining and pleasing to ear without being too “preachy”. In this 3 song demo, they manage to do just that, however maintaining that level of quality throughout a full length release is whole other question!

If they can do that though, they’re good to go, and from the short clips of the other songs on the full length album, it sounds possible. We will have to hear the full length to find out.

As a whole, the three song EPK functions well as a cohesive unit of ear candy that makes you want to listen to the full album. It’s not amazing, but it is really good, and it’s certainly a pleasure to hear some new hip-hop music that isn’t ridden with the same recycled rubbish masked under a horrible autotune effect.