ARTIST: Rondo Brothers
TITLE: Seven Minutes to Midnight
LABEL: Citrus to Citrus Records
GENRE: Hip-Hop
BITRATE: 171kbps avg
PLAYTIME: 0h 51m total
RELEASE DATE: 2007-05-21
RIP DATE: 2007-04-25
Track List
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1. Intro 0:51
2. Crazed 4:00
3. Dune Stalker 3:05
4. El Corazon 2:19
5. Liberation 5:05
6. Hard Rocks The Roof 3:18
7. I Fell In Love 2:32
8. Still Your Ghost 3:09
9. Sing Into The Machine 3:01
10. Houston 3:18
11. New York Kid 2:48
12. Hooked On Hookers 3:17
13. Until We All Fall Down 2:43
14. La La La (Get Out Now) 3:50
15. In The Valley 3:02
16. Come Down To Me 3:38
17. Apologists 1:18
Release Notes:
The Rondo Brothers, San Francisco's leading producer team, is preparing to
release its second album, entitled Seven Minutes To Midnight on May 22nd, 2007.
The recording combines skillful songwriting, great performances and top notch
beat-driven production along the lines of Air, Massive Attack and Neptunes. The
Brothers' first album No Time Left On Earth (War Chant 2005) established the
Rondos firmly in the collective music consciousness as a force to be reckoned
with: a U.S. and Europe tour with Handsome Boy Modeling School put their
eclectic live show to the masses, and since then the Rondos have been in such
demand on the production side that they have hardly been out of their studio.
Defining a new genre deemed "Hawaiian hip hop", No Time Left On Earth was
quirky, forward thinking, and a good balance of moody, cerebral songs with
straight up pop singles. Guest vocalists Daryl Palumbo (Glassjaw, Head
Automatica), Samantha Stollenwerck, Kelly Atkins, Dirty Little Pedro, Vinnie
Caruana (Movie Life, I Am the Avalanche), and rapper Poach Stevens all
contributed to the record, making it a tour de force. Even now, two-plus years
later, Ice Cube has tapped a song from this stellar debut album for his next
movie which drops this summer.
Maintaining the same cast of characters, the pair comprised of studio wizards
Jim Greer and Brandon Arnovick (they're not literally brothers) has made a new
album that is decidedly NOT Hawaiian hip hop, in fact they have gone a wholly
different direction. "We love mixing organic instruments with beats and other
production trickery," says Arnovick. "But this time we wanted to make a darker
record with splashes of light in it. The other one was kind of the other way
round".
Seven Minutes To Midnight is what the team considers an album of
post-apocalyptic love songs -- tunes where all the writers were encouraged to
envision the currently somewhat bleak looking future of the world. "We are very
affected by the war," Arnovick says. "Especially the way people are killing each
other.there's not a single political word on this album, but hearing about women
and children dying every day makes you certainly think about how in our lives we
don't usually have to deal with that kind of heartbreak. If anything we wanted
to pay some respect to all the lousy things happening in the world, to
acknowledge it. So on this album there are dark songs that look into the
darkness, and happy songs that celebrate life. We asked our variety of guest
singers to just channel a little bit of that instead of just writing from
personal terms."
The cover of the album, which is a fantastic piece of artwork by renowned artist
Sam Flores, depicts a couple having a picnic while a nuclear blast goes off in
the background, and that is probably the strongest metaphor for the album's
theme. Material from the new record was tested in December on a three week tour
opening for and playing with Dan The Automator, Chali2NA, A.G., and Casual from
Hieroglyphics.
Also actively scoring commercials and indie films, the Rondos have scored spots
for Toyota, the NHL, the NFl, Chevy, Dodge and several other corporate clients.
In fact, Bengals player Chad Johnson was nicknamed "Ocho Cinco" after the Rondo
Brothers commercial featuring rapper Casual which airs constantly on the NFL
Network. This summer's Ice Cube movie "Are We Done Yet" will feature a Rondo
Brothers track prominently in the film, and Sundance sensation "My Kid Could
Paint That" features five of the duo's original compositions.
2006 allowed the Rondo Brothers to reach some of their widest audiences yet,
thanks in part to laptop prodigy rapper MC Lars (Nettwerk) who tapped the pair
to produce his underground hit "Hot Topic Is Not Punk Rock", and their
contributions to the hit single "World's Gone Mad" from Handsome Boy Modeling
School. Other 2006 projects include the Rondos' contributions to a Killers remix
by Dan The Automator (Gorillaz, Deltron 3030), and a New York Dolls remix for
last year's release on Roadrunner records, commissioned by legendary producer
Jack Douglas (Cheap Trick, John Lennon, Aerosmith), who has also been utilizing
the Rondos regularly in the studio since a chance meeting early in 2006. Artists
seen working at the Rondo studio in 2006 have included seminal guitarist Luther
Dickinson from the North Mississippi All Stars, keyboardist extraordinaire Ivan
Neville (Neville Brothers, Rolling Stones), F Sean Martin of Hatebreed, Casual
from Hieroglyphics, Motion Man from Kutmasta Kurt's Threshold Records, Chali 2Na
from Jurassic 5, Andre The Giant and more.
While rocking the punk and hip-hop worlds, the Rondos' love of all genres has
also allowed them to reach other audiences, thanks to their talent and
versatility. A lounge remix of Ella Fitzergald's "Beginning To See The Light"
was included on several remix compilations, and the Rondos collaborated with
legendary keyboardist Bernie Worrell (Talking Heads, Parliament) on a remix
record for Bay Area jam band Vinyl. V2 records commissioned them for a Madness
remix, and current buzz band Scissors For Lefty (Rough Trade UK) signed the
Rondos up for two remixes for its 2007 release.