This Water is Life is a self-sustained and ongoing series of split EPs with two express purposes: to highlight new hip-hop / indie rock music from Southeastern North Carolina, as well as to provide a platform for Cape Fear River Watch and Coastal Plain Conservation Group to deliver up-to-date authoritative reports on the health of the Cape Fear River Basin for both human beings and wildlife.
It is set for release on Earth Day, April 22nd, 2022. (Pre-order HERE) The vinyl release is limited to only 150 hand-numbered copies!
Ever since our forebears crawled up out of the water and drew their first breath, our – which is to say human and animal (and for that matter, plant) – experience has never strayed too far from its life-sustaining force. This water IS life. It will continue to be. But what kind of life? Threats to that water are, in turn, threats to the very life it supports.
Volume I features MindsOne & DJ Iron and James Sardone (of Brickbat, Burnley Brothers, The Jimmy Nations Combo, Loose Jets).
Hip-Hop: MindsOne & DJ Iron
MindsOne, Photo by Ross Langdon Page
Innovative lyrics, heart pounding instrumentals, precise cuts, and intense live shows are what MindsOne has been offering their listeners since 2002. In its current iteration for this project, the group consists of KON Sci and Tronic on vocals with Belgian producer DJ Iron reprising his beatmaking role. Their music embodies the spirit of independent hip hop culture and pays homage to those boom bap masters and others who came before. They have consistently delivered powerful and inspirational music over the years, and have continued to perfect their sound with each project from their debut EP, The Space Time Continuum in 2006 to 2016’s collaboration with DJ Iron on the Phaseology album.
Indie Rock: James Sardone
James Sardone, Photo by Ross Langdon Page
For more than a generation, James Sardone has put his own unique spin on indie rock. Hailing from the Appalachians, the musical magpie has dabbled in an expanding number of genres on a journey that stretched up the eastern seaboard from Wilmington, NC to New York and back again. What started in the late 80s as the irreverent noise of seminal post-punk trio Brickbat — who toured with Jawbox, The Jesus Lizard, The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion — has given way now to electronica-infused, 80s pop-inflected solo work. In between, Sardone honed his craft, evolving in an array of projects from the country-tinged hard rock Burnley Brothers to the rockabilly sensibilities of The Jimmy Nations Combo to Loose Jets’ glammier hard rock. Like music itself, Sardone never rests, never stays in one musical space too long before branching out to his next cacoethes.
Just as clean water helps sustain life on Earth and here in the ILM, your purchase of this record fosters the work of not only hip hop, indie rock and visual artists in Wilmington but advances the advocacy of groups seeking to protect and preserve water and wildlife in the region. This water is life.
Fort Lowell Records Online:
- Cape Fear River Watch ~ Contributor
- Coastal Plain Conservation Group ~ Contributor
- Dock Street Printing ~ Sponsor
- Gravity Records ~ Sponsor
- Ross Langdon Page ~ Band Photographs
- Persephone’s Farm ~ Sponsor
- Pufferfish Print Shop ~ B-Side Artwork
- Josh Putnam ~ Cover Photograph
- Satellite Bar & Lounge ~ Sponsor
- Wild Phoenix Salt Cave ~ Sponsor