Australia's premier hip hop crew Hilltop Hoods release ‘State Of The Art', their fifth studio album, through their label Golden Era Records. ‘State Of The Art' follows their 2006 award-winning album ‘The Hard Road'. Alongside the album release they're performing at T In The Park, Oxegen and London's Koko.
It's been a long time coming for Hilltop Hoods - MC Suffa (Matt Lambert), MC Pressure (Daniel Smith) and DJ Debris (Barry Francis) - but ‘State Of The Art' is everything fans could have wished for. It's dark, heavy, challenging, raw and occasionally funny. It's unmistakably the Hoods but quite unlike anything they've ever done before; guitars, strings and unidentifiable sounds interweave in a cutting-edge cacophony of words, rhymes and samples.
"The songs are set to blow the local music scene wide open, cementing Hilltop Hoods not just as the country's premiere hip-hop act, but one of the most defining and influential Australian bands of this decade and the next". Rolling Stone
Prepare to be surprised from the explosive opening track, the aptly-titled ‘The Return', right through to the closing cut ‘Fifty In Five', which sees the last fifty years deconstructed and reconstructed in a flash, right in front of your very ears. Lead single, ‘Chase That Feeling', features a return guest appearance from members from the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra while another key track, ‘Classic Example' is in collaboration with legendary New York rapper, Pharoahe Monch.
In 2006 their fourth album, ‘The Hard Road' debuted on top of the Australian national mainstream charts, an achievement completely unprecedented in the history of Australian hip hop. It was awarded the ARIA Awards for Best Urban and Best Independent Release, as well as taking the 2006 J Award for Album of the Year.
A year later came the groundbreaking remix project, ‘The Hard Road Restrung', which saw the Hoods collaborate with the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra, going on to attain another ARIA Award for Best Urban Release. 2007 also saw the release of the live DVD, ‘City Of Light'. Ever since, the Hoods have worked virtually non-stop on ‘State Of The Art' in their home studios in Adelaide.
‘This is probably the heaviest album we've done,' is Suffa's summation of ‘State Of The Art'. ‘And probably by a fair bit as well'. Pressure concurs: ‘There are definitely some tougher tracks on it' and assertively declares ‘I'm personally more proud of this record than any other album we've done. I think it's definitely our most consistent piece from start to finish.'
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