Bi-Polar Bear

Genre: Hip-Hop/Rap
Brooklyn, New York USA Contact

Ugly Orwell and August share in the production and MC duties for Bi-Polar Bear. The sound is comparable to Atmosphere, but with the production tending to lean a bit more upbeat. Conversely, they are working with Blue Sky Black Death on their next project, so the sound is ever-changing.

Artist Information

Biography

Ugly, son to the lawless, touched down in Tucson by way of Wisconsin. August, kin to the godless, by way of Connecticut. Two years later, the desert was a memory... the love for a basketball team the only thing either one took with them.

Fast forward four years and you'll find the two reconvening in Madison, WI. The individual journeys that landed them there being far less important than anything to come after, we'll save those lost years for another time. Twelve months in the jewel of the Midwest gave the world an album that the duo coyly avoid discussing in daily conversation. With the "BPB years" still somewhere in the distance and this quick stay in Madison proving unhealthy in different ways, Ugly crept to Florida with August stuck in a classroom (Harlem, NY) chasing a dream that belonged to someone else. A void began to grow with nothing in place to stop it. When that void, which manifested itself in the form of sleepless nights and disappearing appetites, became bigger than the actual lives it was interrupting... well, I suppose you could say Bi-Polar Bear was born.

The group's official re-introduction to the world of music came in 2009, when Today I Found Happy found daylight. Conceived in the coldest of rooms in a picturesque Brooklyn warehouse, this album finally gave the group something to lean on. Reborn in every way impossible, this project marked the beginning of an evolution that is still changing faces. From depression-metaphor raps (see: Fuck Her and almost everything else since then) to the "quirkiness" that put Ugly on the map in 2005 (see: Party Girl, Her for Him, Lollygagger), the Bear decided that it would not allow itself to be confined by the bars of dishonest verses and ready-made hooks.

Instrumentation

Ugly Orwell: MC (occasional producer)
August: Producer (occasional MC)

Discography

When Ledge Is Home - LP (July, 2012)

Today I Found Happy - LP (June, 2009)
- "Fuck Her" - single/video

Strange Passengers - LP (January, 2007) (released under "Horton the Irrelevant & August the Creep")
- "What I Know" - single/video
- "The Why" - single/video

Links

Audio

Video

Photo Gallery

Press

  • RapReviews.com "TIFH" [+ Show ]

    Review available online @ http://www.rapreviews.com/archive/2009_08_todayifoundhappy.html A Bi-...

  • Dane101.com Reviews "TIFH" [+ Show ]

    Available at http://dane101.com/music/2009/08/26/bipolar_bear_brings_beats_to_the_blues_on_today_i_f...

  • AV Club Madison Mention [+ Show ]

    BPB mention and plug on AV Club Madison. Available online @ http://madison.decider.com/articles/...

  • RapReviews.com "SP" [+ Show ]

    Review available online @ http://www.rapreviews.com/archive/2007_06_strangepassengers.html I've...

  • Horton has a hit: rap CD anything but "Strange" [+ Show ]

    Article available @ http://badgerherald.com/artsetc/2007/02/26/horton_has_a_hit_rap.php On Strang...

  • Maximum Ink "Strange Passengers" Review [+ Show ]

    Article can be found online @ http://www.maximumink.com/articles.php?articleId=1111 When the 100-...

  • okayplayer.com Album Review [+ Show ]

    Review available online @ http://www.okayplayer.com/reviews/index.php/weblog/more/strange_passengers...

  • Isthmus Album Review [+ Show ]

    Article available @ http://www.thedailypage.com/music/article.php?article=5645 Madison hip-hop l...

  • Horton & August/ The Wire Article [+ Show ]

    The following is an article from well-known Hip Hop blogger Hastings Cameron and can be found at his...

  • Interview @ www.amiestreet.com [+ Show ]

    Interview can be found @ http://amiestreet.com/blog/post/horton-and-august-the-winterview The fo...

Setlist

BPB prides themselves on their energetic and creative live show. It is a constantly changing set, that can run anywhere from 30-75 minutes. It includes Ugly Orwell on the microphone, August on the turntables and occasionally a live drummer. No covers are done, though now and then Ugly Orwell will do a verse or two of one of his original songs over a favorite beat from yesteryear.

The set list consists mainly of material from BPB's two albums, as well as some of the solo and guest work from Ugly Orwell and August's respective catalogs.

Basic Requirements

Calendar

DateTimeVenueCity
Jul 5, 2012 Thursday 7:00 PM Mercury Lounge New York, NY, US