Northern State - Dying in Stereo (8 tracks) +Album Reviews

Hip-hop I hadn't heard

Paul O'Brian | Westminster, CO United States | 01/19/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Here's me: I'm white. I'm 33. Suburban background, Master's degree. Rap and hip-hop never spoke to me, but Northern State's my Run-DMC.The doggerel above isn't meant to suggest that Northern State is anything like as important or innovative as Run-DMC was, but instead to make the point that for at least one listener, they've served as a bridge into a genre that never appealed before. Don't get me wrong -- I have plenty of respect for hip-hop as a musical style, but lyrically, most of the rap songs I've heard in my life seemed, if not outright offensive or stupid, just concerned with things that I didn't much relate to. Then, listening to the BBC via Internet, I heard "At The Party." Hey, female rappers! Who aren't rapping about explicit sex! (Nothing against explicit sex, mind, but it gets a bit dull when every hip-hop woman seems primarily concerned with herself as an object of male desire.) Not only that, did I just hear that woman say her name is Hesta Prynn? As in, Hawthorne's Hester Prynn? This bears further investigation. So I checked out Northern State's website, and learned that they're three feminist college graduates who go by the handles Hesta Prynn (yeah, after Hawthorne), DJ Sprout, and Guinea Love (who's now known instead by her last name, Spero). They formed a rap group for fun and have seen it take off, getting rave reviews from no less a music authority than Robert Christgau, among others. I checked out some of the song clips, and put Dying In Stereo on my Amazon wish list just for the heck of it. My wife bought it for me as a birthday present, and now I can't stop listening to this album. THIS is rap I can relate to -- it's not just funny but smart too, and set to beats that I'm just old enough to feel nostalgia for. At first, Northern State comes on like the Go-Go's of rap (this is a high compliment), an all-girl band whose music is pure fun and appealing energy. But there's more than that here. Prynn frequently injects Shakespearean verses and cadences into her rhymes, and all three of them name-check the likes of Dorothy Parker, Wendell Berry, and Anton Chekhov. There's probably other rap out there that has this level of intellectual engagement, but I haven't heard it. Their lyrics are a refreshing mix of the serious and the silly, like the oft-cited "Keep choice legal / Your wardrobe regal / Chekhov wrote 'The Seagull' / And Snoopy is a beagle." Sometimes their rhymes can feel almost sublime: "I walk a path of resistance / You haven't tried yet / Connect, accept, forgive, forget / With every single breath you will dissolve yourself / Your birth, your name, your deeds, your death" is a lyric that practically paraphrases Buddha. I've seen a lot of negative reviews for this album along with the positive ones, and the common thread that the pans seem to have is that they come from people who love current hip-hop. I read them, and they explain to me why I love Northern State. I could care less about who has the freshest beats, and half the hip-hop argot is opaque to me (I have no idea what Northern State is talking about when they sing "You can't fade me / My signal flow everywhere I go," though it sounds great.) Maybe if you love hip-hop as it is today, then Northern State might not be anything special to you -- they even be the opposite of what you're looking for. But for me, they're the first rappers I've heard who consistently have something interesting to say. Like the title of their first demo tape, they're hip-hop I haven't heard, and I'm glad they're here at last."

Yo Yo... Long Island on the mic???

Paul O'Brian | 07/24/2003

(4 out of 5 stars)

"A bunch of Long Island girls busting ol' skool Beastie Boys style rap with pretty clever lyrics? It's fun, it's ridiculous and I get it. If you've got a sense of humor, dig License To Ill and are down with all things snotty - this is the bomb. For the rest of you, go buy Coldplay and Radiohead and whimper in the fetal position. Rap don't have to be all mad gangstas, y'all."

Girl-power rap that a mother can love

Julie Fanselow | Boise, ID | 07/01/2003

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I am a lifelong music devotee, 41 years old, living in Idaho. I've never been much into hip hop, though, because it just didn't seem to have a lot of relevance to me. But after reading about Northern State in Entertainment Weekly, I ordered this CD, and I can hardly stop playing it. Any women who cite Wendell Berry and Dorothy Parker in their rhymes are fine by me. Northern State are literate, feminist, and politically charged, but they also sound like they're having a LOT of fun. I have a 9-year-old daughter, and while I will refrain from playing her this for a few more years due to some of the cussin' and adult themes, I'll probably present her the Northern State catalogue in a few years. For now, I'm enjoying it myself and spreading the word to every woman I know."

They Have Potential

Barbara Vaughn | Jacksonville FL | 07/26/2003

(3 out of 5 stars)

"I use to be a big hip-hop fan, and when I first heard about this group I was very jaded. Hip Hop for me has been going down hill for the last 5 years. And when I listened to this album, I thought it was horrible. But I took a second listen, and it wasn't that bad. They're lyrics and rhyming need much work but, they're ambitious I like that. Also There style is very much reminiscent of some early Beastie Boys work. Most of all they are different from all other hip hop acts out there. Which will defiantly get them notice (I should know I work in the music industry). Good Luck Girls."

3-1/2 stars -- The female Beastie Boys

Anthony Rupert | Milwaukee, WI | 03/10/2004

(3 out of 5 stars)

"I saw this one store's commercial, calling Northern State the next big thing (that store chain is currently going out of business; I think you know what store I'm talking about). Anyway, Northern State consists of three twenty-something white female rappers, and they decided to show people what they got on their debut album (albeit an EP), Dying In Stereo.I just want to explain right now what I mean by my review title. Now, I'm sure that the ladies aren't trying to be like the Beastie Boys or any other group, but if a casual listener heard this album, s/he might think that's exactly what they were doing. Because depending on how you look at it -- in other words, if you don't have an open mind -- this album could sound like it was made in 1986. But that's okay, because the rap style is pretty decent, especially in tracks like "At the Party" and the title track. The beats by resident DJ Robyn "Sprout" Goodmark aren't bad either.So why only 3-1/2 stars? Well, a lot of the songs suffer from lazy choruses, especially "Signal Flow" and "Vicious Cycle". And the second verse in "A Thousand Words" isn't all that great either. Also, as much as I like the title track, I was slightly turned off when they said, "One step and then another and we're going with the flow/Tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow". Oh well, I still think the ladies of Northern State can hold their own against the other members of the rap world.Anthony Rupert"

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	Northern State Dying in Stereo Genres: Pop, Rap & Hip-Hop, Rock Track Listings (8) - Disc #1 A Thousand Words Trinity At the Party The Man's Dollar Vicious Cycle Signal Flow (You Can't Fade Me) All the Same Dying in Stereo
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