Physical pre-orders & package deals now on sale at:
http://tinyurl.com/HouseOfBeesVol2

Digital pre-order now on sale at:
http://tinyurl.com/HOB2Digital

“KING BEE”, the swag-heavy song featured on the HOUSE OF BEES Vol. 2 video trailer, was the intended first single for the album. However, the recent passing of rap legend Adam Yauch (MCA of the Beastie Boys) stopped us all in our tracks and set a different tone among the hip-hop community. As a result, we’ve decided to put bravado aside for a minute and leak a song that’s fit to honor his passing and the moment.

“STILL HERE” is HOBV2′s album opener and acts as a mission statement of sorts. Hit this link to read B. Dolan’s personal statement about the song, or scroll down for lyrics.

LYRICS:
========================

They haven’t killed me yet (get back)
It wasn’t for lack of trying…
black ice backslider
bad man, track driver, bald tire
Tested by the fire
How many times did the light die in one year?
Hundred fifty shows all
before the snow falls
Lost touch with the phone calls
I’ll never go home again.
Search the earth to further the curse,
shepard the name,
author the Word and murder the exchange.
The wages of sin they paid me in have made me rich.
Sick enough to drown in my own spit;
Smother my own flame
Strike a rock to light a spark in your cold heart &
suction my throat;
Emcees will never equal the ether that Dolan wrote!
Overachieving on Buddy Peace beats the overdose;
The rapid-release, active ingredient…
House of Bees vol. 2 that revelation thunderclap sequel shit!
Creature-flick tenacity; dirt in my mouth… reappear!
Up from the Underground
Sum of all Fear
Industry still fucked up
Life still ain’t fair
Rappers are still Trash and I’m still…

Still Here (Still Here)
We. Go. No. Where.
Still Here (Still Here)
You can kill the man but never the Eyedea
Still Here (Still Here)
Still coming to you live from an Era of Fear
(Still Here (Still Here)
Happy New Year.

By the grace of no God and a mountain of debt
Tell ‘em I did what I could and took what I could get
Whether or not they bother to follow the footsteps
I’m not trying to guess
My guest is overdue;
I will set the table and sharpen a knife too.
Occupy Everything, do not move.
They claim that the game is half luck and half skill
They’re faces change shape, the bone structure reveals…
Killing my own meals
Keeping it so surreal
Thirty Years War still on the battlefield.
Lightning, earthquake, living is deadly!
My generation is apocalypse ready!
Blizzard and hurricane, chained to the hunger pains
We ain’t leaving; we ain’t scared!
The end might be near but we’re still…

Still Here (Still Here)
We. Go. No. Where.
Still Here (Still Here)
You can kill the man but never the Eyedea
Still Here (Still Here)
Still coming to you live from an Era of Fear
(Still Here (Still Here)
Put a fist in the air and leave it there.

Doom said it: “Pay dues forever.”
Truth with no edit, aches bruises effort
Forty days of desert
They tell me that you’re jealous.
My heart is in a hospital bed, I’m disconnected.
Diagnosed the day we dropped the ‘Earthmovers’ record
The earth-moved away from my feet, the world ended.
He was facing down death when we met in the cancer ward.
The first words he said were:
“Don’t you dare cancel the tour.”
Told me to live for him. Made me to keep the flame.
Made me the man I am and gave me his own name
I carry it like a cross, so everything that I say
You can put it on my government and put it on my grave:
The last of the ‘Bearhearts’
Who mastered a rare art,
and traveled near & far to mark the path of his tear-drops
Never have what I lost.
Nothing be worth the cost.
Never be unbroken.
Never have him there
But so long as I breathe air B. Dolan’s still here.
Long as I breathe air B. Dolan’s still here.
Long as I’m breathing air B. Dolan’s still here,
Rest in power to our Father.

You’re still here.

(chorus)

Digital pre-order available NOW at http://tinyurl.com/HOB2Digital

STAY TUNED FOR DETAILS / RELEASES IN THE COMING WEEKS.

Adding to what’s already been an incredible summer for indie rap, Dolan and UK mixmaster Buddy Peace present 60 minutes of finely crafted material to shatter all expectations conjured by the word ‘mixtape’. House of Bees v.2instead uses the lost art and it’s unconstrained format to return Dolan to his roots as an emcee, and seems to combine the raw honesty of 2008′s The Failurewith the impeccable execution and bombastic feel of 2010′s Fallen House, Sunken City.

TRACKLIST:

01 Still Here
02 King Bee
03 Film the Police f. Toki Wright, Jasiri X & Sage Francis
04 Which Side Are You On?
05 Bad Things (BP Remix) f. Sage Francis & Metermaids
06 2bad (Epic Beard Men)
07 Colony Collapse
08 100 Bars for SFR
09 Come 2 Jamaica (The Lost Verse)
10 Graceland (by Kwesi Davis)
11 Fight Night
12 Tin Soldiers
13 Feel So Different

14 Leaving NY: Redux (Live w/ Buddy Peace & Dan Le Sac) [Bonus]
15 The Hunter (Mux Mool Remux) [Bonus]

DOWNLOAD THIS MP3 FOR FREE on the homepage of http://StrangeFamousRecords.com right now!

The full press release and links to the Lyrics can be found here: http://strangefamousrecords.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=50582

Keep RTing, Sharing, Redditing, Stumbling, Tumbling, and generally spreading the word.  Thanks for your support!

As promised, some of Today’s Reactions:

B

As promised, a word about one of the most inspiring, overwhelming, and profoundly weird shows I’ve ever had the privilege to attend.

Rob da Bank and the folks at Sunday Best were kind enough to invite me to be a part of this year’s Bestival, and I was so struck by the experience I feel the need to write a few words about the whole thing.

First, the obvious:  the top of the bill was almost impossibly eclectic and spectacular.  Public Enemy, Bjork, PJ Harvey, DJ Shadow, The Cure, Mogwai, Crystal Castles…  The list goes on and on forever.

Where Bestival truly separated itself and won me over was in it’s non-mainstage attractions and considerations though…

It’s amazing to me that you can see a high quality, intimate show with 100 people at the same festival where you can see a world class set in front of 9,000; that you can be blown away by a spoken word poet you’ve never heard of 100 yards from where you see Bjork, and both venues are somehow fantastic.  It’s an incredible testament to the organizers of this show that the details have not been lost in the mix of the massive things going on everywhere.

Just to top it off and make it even more incredible… if there was a massively visibly corporate presence anywhere in the goddamn festival, I didn’t see it in a whole day of walking around.

I’m sure Bestival has got corporate sponsors, but my point is I didn’t feel assaulted by them like I have at other festivals.  In fact, I couldn’t even find them.  While buying my reasonably priced lunch from a kiosk, I suddenly took a second look at the menu and the people running the place and realized that I was dealing with an independent business!  In fact, all the kiosks AROUND him were independent businesses!  Maybe UK readers are rolling their eyes and thinking “of course they were,” but this shit blew my mind.

I kept looking for the PEPSICO stage, or the STARBUCKS PRESENTS booth… Instead, I found a fancy dress parade, and concert goers being encouraged to get performative and spectacular themselves… a roller disco in the middle of everything… a wall of death motorcycle exhibit… an attentive, packed, audience who allowed me to deliver an intimate, fun spoken word set in the middle of a forest… A small audience of 40 or so folks who listened to me and Dan le Sac vs. Scroobius Pip rock a spontaneous performance in a tiny booth, a few hours after Dan and Pip played for 9,000 in the Big Top… All day I saw kids and pets roaming around the grounds seeming relaxed and unhurried… mellow, happy people being treated like unique human beings instead of cattle with wristbands.

The whole thing could not be more opposite the experiences I’ve had with Festivals in the past…  I’m sure I’m not doing a good job of communicating how truly ill this shit is, so just watch this video recap of the day we performed (be sure to keep watching up to the lightning act around 2:53):

To cap things off, myself, Buddy Peace and Dan le Sac ended the night by premiering our set together in the Polka Tent… an honest to god circus tent.  With hay on the floor.  The place was packed, and the crowd was jumping.  I invited a number of friends to share the specialness of the occasion, including Beth Mburu-Bowie who premiered a new song w/ myself and Dan, and the Horndog Brass Band, who joined me for the first ever performance of “Border Crossing” on this side of the pond.   Some crowd footage of that below:

Sincere thanks and respect to the organizers of Bestival, to all the fans that came out,  and also to Dan le sac, Scroobius Pip, Becca Lewis, Beth Mburu-Bowie, Buddy Peace, and Sarah & James for their help with our numerous Bestival performances.

Next up is the UK tour blog.

Til next time, Bestival.

<3,

B

]]> http://bdolan.net/as-promised-a-bestival-recap-review/feed/ 0 http://bdolan.net/b-dolan-merchandise-available-from-sfrstore-com/ http://bdolan.net/b-dolan-merchandise-available-from-sfrstore-com/#comments Fri, 19 Aug 2011 03:31:29 +0000 admin http://bdolan.net/?p=310 read more →]]> If you’ve never ordered from Strange Famous Record’s online store, you owe yourself the experience. Prompt, professional service, combined with rare goodies (like handwritten setlists/lyric sheets, buttons, cds) that have been known to show up in larger orders, make SFRSTORE.COM the best online Hip-Hop store in business.

Click here for an up to date listing of B. DOLAN ITEMS the Strange Famous store is currently stocking.

http://www.urb.com/2011/08/17/urb-premiere-b-dolan-the-hunter-mux-mool-remix/

“I’ve been an avid listener of the electronic musician Mux Mool–and his affiliate label, Ghostly International–for quite awhile, so when the time came to look for “Fallen House, Sunken City” remixes he was on my shortlist.

I was excited to find that not only was Mux a reciprocate fan, but had a background in hip hop and desire to do more work as a producer. With any luck this, his remix of “The Hunter,” will be the first in a number of collaborations between us. He absolutely killed this track, and I’m honored to have worked with him on it.”

B. DOLAN is about to embark on a EUROPEAN TOUR in September of 2011! Catch him on the road with BUDDY PEACE & DAN LE SAC. Details here: http://bdolan.net/2011-world-tour-schedule/

B. Dolan – Hunter (Mux Mool Remix) by Strange Famous Records

The original version of “The Hunter” is available on “Fallen House, Sunken City” through iTunes, or in both digital and physical formats from SFRSTORE.COM

www.BDOLAN.net
www.Facebook.com/BDOLANSFR
www.Twitter.com/BDOLANSFR

B. Dolan & Buddy Peace are currently hard at work on a slate of massive new tunes, as well as new arrangements for their upcoming European Tour w/ Dan Le Sac. One of our favorite pieces from both is presented here as a free download, to celebrate the grand opening of the new BDOLAN.NET site.  Be sure to check it out and subscribe for regular updates, exclusive downloads, lyrics and news.

If you’re loving this version, you should hear it live. Come to Jamiaca, Come to Dubai.

B. Dolan & Buddy Peace – Earthmovers Redux by Strange Famous Records

Designed by Uncle Pete, numbered & signed by the Artist & B. Dolan

With any luck, there will be more Church of Love & Ruin shows in the future, but there will only be one original, and when these posters are gone they will not be reproduced. You can order yours here from Strange Famous Records’ webstore.

For the uninitiated:

The above video, sent into us by Dustin Kuypers, captures perfectly the mood and surreal nature of the song. Kudos, brother. We will be in touch for future work! Dustin’s website is www.thedocumentarians.ca

Next comes a live video shoot that Mr. Dolan put together with the folks at Love Drunk Studios.   Around the same time Love Drunk contacted us, we were also hit up by some kids in Westerly, RI asking us to play a DIY House Show with them.  We put the two ideas together, hit up our good friends Madge of Honor and Cash for beard and makeup, and made this video in one take!

“KITCHEN SINK” is available on B. DOLAN’S “FALLEN HOUSE, SUNKEN CITY” lp, which is available in hard and digital formats from STRANGEFAMOUSRECORDS.COM, or digitally via iTUNES. Support the work if you want to see more of it!