As previously mentioned, we were named Grand Prize winners for the John Lennon Awards Session I. Now we are competing against the Session II winner for even more prizes and a shot at $20,000! The winner is entirely fan voting, so please vote for us every day and help spread the word. Thanks in advance!
Congratulations to Macklemore (and Ryan Lewis) for the #1 Billboard single in the country! For those that don't know, we recorded our Nine Triangles album in Mack's studio and he also contributed beats and vocals. Ryan has also done photography and album artwork for us in the past. It's great to see fellow independent artists blowing up and putting the Northwest on the map!
We are now playing all of our shows backed by live band. Below is just a small taste of things to come.
Adam Harris on sax, Thierry Renoux on keys, Elizabeth Yandel on guitar, and Carlito Sway on drums.
Props to Chaz Boatright from Fredericksburg, Virginia, who recently sent us this picture of their new Eastern Sunz tattoo. Very humbling to know that you can have that much effect on someone.
Well, what can we say? It's been a good year for us and we feel very fortunate to be recognized. It was just announced that Eastern Sunz won the Grand Prize for The John Lennon Songwriting Contest for "I Am The Walrus" off of the 2012 EP "Filthy Hippie Music". It feels particularly good to be acknowledged for lyrical content, as that has always been a huge part of our focus. This song is written by Courage and produced by Smoke.
You can listen to the song here:
Eastern Sunz have just been selected from over 16,000 submissions from all over the world as first place winners in The International Songwriting Competition for the Hip Hop/R&B category!
The International Songwriting Competition is an annual song contest for both aspiring and established songwriters to promote excellence in the art of songwriting. The ISC panel of judges includes Tom Waits, Ozzy Osbourne, Tori Amos, Simon Le Bon and Roger Taylor (Duran Duran), Robert Smith (The Cure), Darryl McDaniels (Run DMC), and more.
For more information visit: www.songwritingcompetition.com/winners
Eastern Sunz have been named the overall grand prize winner of the Eco Arts Awards and first place in the songwriting category for "Up In Flames". We would like to thank Smoke who produced the music and has a verse featured on the song, and Ian Stout for directing the music video. We would also like to thank all of our family, friends, and fans for the continued support!
Eco Arts Awards is an annual competition in six creative genres, including songwriting, short film/videos, photography, fine art, functional art, and literature. Its mission is to acknowledge and reward excellence in thematic accomplishment for innovative, edgy, inspiring interpretations of the theme "ecology" - the interrelationship between all organisms and their environment. The winners were determined by a jury panel of industry professionals based on originality, lyrics, melody, arrangement, and impact of ecological theme. For more information go to www.ecoartsawards.com
Our new six song EP, "Filthy Hippie Music" is now available for digital download!
CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE ALBUM
"The Sunz take the game to a whole new level with Filthy Hippie Music, a record aware of its own quirks and eccentricities, and shamelessly self-described on the title track as “concise and relevant.” And they deliver. The six tracks on FHM deal with topics as different as poverty and deforestation in a cacophony of what is called on the album “street knowledge laced with academic concepts.”
FHM drops March 23, at which point fans and skeptics alike will have the pleasure of hearing six of the sharpest, cleverest, and arguably most relevant tracks in the hip hop genre. The Sunz, who took home an Independent Music Award for last year’s Corroded Utopia, have really outdone themselves this time."
-Joel DeVyldere (The Insurgent)
We are pleased to share our third music video with director Ian Stout entitled "Filthy Hippie Music" from the forthcoming album of the same name.
We are pleased to announce that with your help, our album Corroded Utopia has been voted Rap/Hip Hop Album Of The Year by The Independent Music Awards. We were the only nominee from the West Coast, and we beat out some stiff competition, which we couldn't have done without all of your help. We are independent artists by title, but have a great support system and a lot of people helping us along the way. We sincerely thank everyone who took time out to vote and help spread the word. This one's for everyone! As much fun as it was working on this album, and as proud of it as we are, we have a lot of new music in the pipeline, some of which we hope to release soon. Stay tuned...
Here is the new video directed by Ian Stout (who also directed the video for Balance). Produced by and featuring Smoke. Special thanks to Shireen Press (flame-buoyant.com), Raven Michelle, and Brad Cain. Ian Stout is currently working on a feature length film called Self Resue which will be shot this summer, please check out his webite for the project HERE.
This Is Book's Music Blog named Corroded Utopia one of the best hip hop albums of the year! Read the full review here:
THISISBOOKSMUSIC.COM
"You haven't really traveled if you haven't ever been lost."
There are times when making music can leave you feeling discouraged and like nobody is listening. And just when you feel like throwing in the towel, something always comes along to remind you that some people are actually listening to what you say... and that can be a heavy thought. This girl got a tattoo of TravisT's lyrics from a song that he did with Biomecca several years back. YOU CAN LISTEN TO THE VERSE HERE
We are now on Pandora! Be sure to create an Eastern Sunz station and let us know what cool/interesting new music it leads you to.
[TREE-HUGGING HIP-HOP]
Though it was formed in reaction to the Bush epoch, Portland hip-hop duo Eastern Sunz has remained committed to taking liberal politics as its muse, even into this era of increasingly lackluster liberal politics. Add to that conviction an ear for brassy production and you wind up with Eastern Sunz’s strange mix of humble tree hugging and giddy swagger. Tonight marks the release of Corroded Utopia, the fifth album from MCs Courage and TravisT. It favors alternative fuels, danceable production, and some creative web marketing. Why yes, it was made in Portland. SHANE DANAHER
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