Northstar

CONTACT:
Christopher Blueman
Northstar Artist Representative
cblueman@protrx.com
1-888-459-3210 Ex: 88

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Toronto Hip-Hop band takes controversial message of caution in the War on Terror to Canadian university students.

Toronto, ON – January 10, 2007 – Only eight months since their public debut in June of 2006, the Toronto-based Hip-Hop band Northstar is heading out on a Canadian University Tour in support of the release of its self-entitled EP: Northstar. In the short time since their inception Northstar has built a strong youth following around the band’s two key principles of positive lyricism and exceptional musicianship. Unlike most Hip-Hop groups, Northstar performs as an instrumental ensemble fronted by composer and emcee Max Bell.

The basis for Northstar’s debut EP was founded in August of 2006 when Bell and Juno-Award-winning recording engineer Jeff Wolpert constructed a plan that allowed the group to blend live recording with more conventional Hip-Hop production methods. Wolpert, who signed on to the record after being impressed by Bell’s solo release A Requiem for Anonymity, recorded the project and then passed it on to Northstar studio partners Bell and David Whyte who integrated their rap influences into the project.

It was not until the project had been mixed by another Juno-winning engineer Joe Dunphy that the potency of the EP’s lead track Sam’s Anthem was collectively realised. Sam’s Anthem emerged from the project as a fiercely poignant warning that the continued aggravation of the Islamic world by American acts of aggression could lead to deadly consequences. The song which begins with the couplet “You gotta think about Central Intelligence/ Whether or not they fed lies to the president”, paints a clear picture of Bell’s belief that the American invasion of Iraq had little to do with weapons of mass destruction. The central concept of Bell’s argument against the War on Terror can be identified in the first four lines of the song’s third verse:
“You say the Iraq war isn’t part of a crusade/ I say it’s jihad in the holiest way/You say it’s about petrol, national protection/ Do you worship god or your fashion collection?”

Northstar hope that Sam’s Anthem will be able to stimulate Canadian students into discussing and challenging their views on the ever evolving conflict between Western governments and extremist branches of Islam. The band will be performing at universities in London, Waterloo, Toronto, Kingston, Montreal and Sherbrooke within the next month. To listen to Sam’s Anthem and to find more specific information about the band and its tour schedule please visit: www.northstarmusic.ca

To contact Northstar please direct all inquiries to: cblueman@protrx.com
- PROTRX - January 2007

On January 31st, I saw a couple great, high energy hiphop groups.

Both bands had several elements in common: multiple M.C.s, a full line-up of instruments, including horns, and female vocalists to sweeten their sound.

Nomadic Massive has an extremely tight instrumental lineup of guitar, bass, drums, tam-tam drums, a trumpet player, and a turntable-ist. All the musicians were top-notch, as they showed particularly when each had at least one turn to play a lead line. The three male M.C.s all took turns singing lead on most songs. NM also has a couple female singers, one of whom took the lead for a lovely blues torch song that sounded like a dead ringer for Ella, though I believe like everything else they played, it was an original. In general, NM has a hiphop sound that borders on funk.

Northstar has a more poppy hiphop sound, as evidenced by their cover of “Billie Jean”. Their originals are great too, and like NM, have lyrical social commentary. They don’t have a turntable, which also made the sound less old school, but they have two solid male M.C.s, drums, guitar, bass, horns, and a female singer who, like her sister in NM, stole a song or two.

Both bands displayed a great, positive vibe and tons of energy, as mentioned off the top, and the crowd responded accordingly. Nomadic Massive had call-and-response with the audience in every song but the torchy number, and invited the crowd to dance on stage during the closer. Guess who was the first one up?

Northstar also had call-and-response on most songs, and the crowd was dancing, and jumping up and down throughout their set.

These are two interesting, exciting, and flavourful hiphop additions to Montreal’s musical palate.

Article written by: David Schultz - Indy-Ish.com

Interview with Canadian band,
Northstar

Written by Kim Nunley

Friday, 02 March 2007

There have been many artists to successfully intertwine jazz and hip-hop. The Canadian band Northstar, comprised of emcees, producers, and jazz musicians, creates a captivating and unique blend of the genres. Similar to The Roots, Northstar combines their hip-hop lyrics and production with jazz instrumentation. Band members include Conquest and Sir Real as emcees, Elisa Gold on vocals, John Desimini on sax, Adam Saifer on guitar, Adam Hoy on trumpet/keys, Mike Reid on bass, and Josh Lane on drums. This young, but professionally trained group has the talent and passion for their music that make them enjoyable to admire and support. Recently, Conquest took the time to answer some questions I had about his band and their upcoming Northstar EP.
First off, can you please introduce yourselves to all of our readers.


Word up to the hip-hop nation. I am Max Bell, artistically known as Conquest, and I am 1/8th of the Toronto-based Hip-Hop band Northstar. I'm the emcee and composer for the band and I also like to embarrass myself on the keys and the trumpet whenever possible.


Where did your group name, "Northstar," come from?


I think a lot of people read too much into a group's decision to chose a name. Northstar was really just a simple image for what we are and what we are trying to achieve. The "northern" connotation touches on our Canadian identity, which is important to us as musicians and more importantly as people. There is also an element of unyielding force that people attach to stars and that is definitely something we wanted to convey. It's also a throwback to the disenfrachised hockey club the Minnesota Northstars: in a way they were the small-town franchise that struggled to survive, and in an American-dominated Hip-Hop market, that's something we can relate to. But, really, it was just a catchy solution at the time.


When did each of you become a fan of hip-hop?


I can only speak for myself on this one, but, I would say I have been a fan of Hip-Hop for a very long time. It took a long time for me to define what Hip-Hop really meant to me, but I have been listening as a fan for over 10 years now. I laugh at some of the first records I bought back in the day: Will Smith, Mase's "Harlem World", etc..... I think at that point I was only 10 years old and I was just attracted to what was popular at the time. I think when I truly began falling in love with Hip-Hop was when I began listening to the Roots "Things Fall Apart" and other artists like Kweli, Common and some similar Canadian cats. I had been appreciating the music as a fan for a long time, but it was those artists who were speaking a message I could respect and relate to that compelled me to become an artist.


For Conquest and Sir Real, when did you start emceeing?


Sir Real is my high-school best-friend and has been my partner in rhyme for as long as I can remember. I actually got my start rapping in English class. We were studying MacBeth and Shakespeare was just totally blowing my mind at that point in time. We had a weekly assignment with a couple options that were supposed to get us thinking more insightfully about the play. One of the options was to recap a certain scene in a traditional Hip-Hop verse. I tried my hand at one scene and got so into it that before I knew it, I had a verse for every scene in the play and then recorded a tape of all the verses and submitted it to my teacher. He loved it, and played it for the class, and that was really the first time I realized I had a potential gift as an emcee. I had been writing poetry and short stories before that, but I really felt like I had found my craft as a rapper. From there I progressed into just freestyling every time I got the chance and once I found some flows that worked, the writing came naturally.


When did you consciously make a decision to dedicate yourselves to making music?


Long before I started rapping I was a jazz trumpet player, and ever since grade 8 I knew that music was something that attracted my energy. I used to read swing charts and wonder if I could write like Duke or other great arrangers. I always had a better knack for writing and improvising than I did for actually performing on the trumpet, and once I started messing around with beat-making it didn't take very long for me to know that I loved making Hip-Hop. I released a debut EP when I was 17, and by the time I had finished the album, I knew that Hip-Hop was going to be my focus for a long time to come.


What are your musical goals as a group? What do you want to achieve?


We have many varying goals a group. Some of us want to be well-known rappers and producers, others want to be well know jazzers and some use music as a way to escape the daily grind. Our collective goal as Northstar is to fuse all of our varying musical backgrounds into a cohesi - www.thahiphop.com