Columbia Records Set to Release All City, Eagerly-Awaited New Album From Northern State

Columbia Records is set to release All City, the eagerly-awaited new album from the groundbreaking female hip-hop trio Northern State, on Tuesday, August 17.

In celebration and anticipation of the release of the group's new album, Northern State has signed on-board as one of the support acts, along with labelmates the Wylde Bunch, on the upcoming X-Ecutioners tour beginning June 2 in New Haven, Connecticut (see itinerary following).

All City showcases Northern State at its brash iconoclastic best with tracks like "Ignite," "Girl For All Seasons," "Nice With It," "Last Night," "Think Twice," "Don't Look Down," "Siren Song," "Style I Bring," "Time To Rhyme," "Speaking For Me," and "Summer Never Ends." Nearly a year in the making, All City features tracks produced by Northern State, Manifest, DJ Muggs from Cypress Hill, Groove Bros., DJ Mighty Mi, Ahmir "?uestlove" Thompson of the Roots, Pete Rock, and John Fields.

According to Northern State's Hesta Prynn: "We really wanted to take advantage of the fact that we were making an album for Columbia and work with different people and different sounds, try on new styles and use this as an opportunity for real musical growth. All City is definitely classic Northern State in that there is a balance between fun and a message."

"We were involved in the production every step of the way," says Sprout, "and we're really grateful to the people we worked with -- DJ Muggs, ?uestlove, Pete Rock, High and Mighty, and the others -- who helped us get the sound to the level we were envisioning."

The group's Spero agrees, saying that All City "displays an emotional range, musically and lyrically, that wasn't as evident on our previous recordings. I think we've crafted a sound that's more layered, complex, and unique."

Northern State is: Hesta Prynn, Spero, and Sprout. Formed in 2000, the New York-based white girl rap trio performed its first show at the Luna Lounge in Manhattan in April 2001 and proceeded to play more than 20 more New York area shows by the end of that year. The group holed up in Ithaca, New York, to record a four-song demo, Hip-Hop You Haven't Heard, in January 2002, and proceeded to use the demo as a calling card to garner press and book shows at bigger and better venues. Rolling Stone picked the recording as one of the "10 Best Debuts" of 2002, asking the musical question: "Who'd have thought one of the year's best hip-hop records would come from three white Long Island girls with college degrees? Heard has the sass and bounce of the early Beastie Boys."

Before long, Northern State was opening for the X-Ecutioners and De La Soul and sharing bills with Le Tigre and the Donnas before heading to the UK to open a string of dates for the Roots.

During the summer of 2002, Northern State recorded the group's first full-length album, Dying In Stereo. Released first on the indie label, Star Time, Dying In Stereo came out on Columbia Records in May 2003 to unanimous critical acclaim. "Northern State is just what rap music needs right now: young, female-centric insight and intellect that amuses as it amazes," wrote the Village Voice. Rolling Stone gave the group a four-star review, calling Northern State, " ... old school and totally original ... literate and full of New York sass ... deeply catchy and underground in spirit."

               Northern State/X-Executioners Tour Itinerary

  06/02/04          New Haven, CT                 Toad's Place
  06/03/04          Farmingdale, NY               The Downtown
  06/04/04          Portland-Poland Spring, ME    The Asylum
  06/05/04          Providence-New Bedford, RI    Living Room
  06/06/04          Boston, MA                    Paradise Lounge
  06/08/04          Detroit, MI                   St. Andrews Hall
  06/09/04          Cleveland Heights, OH         The Grog Shop
  06/10/04          Lexington, KY                 The Dame
  06/12/04          Chicago, IL                   The Metro
  07/07/04          Asheville, NC                 Orange Peel
  07/08/04          Carrboro, NC                  Cats Cradle
  07/09/04          Norfolk, VA                   Norva Theatre
  07/10/04          Baltimore, MD                 Ottabar
  07/11/04          Philadelphia, PA              TLA
  07/12/04          New York, NY                  Irving Plaza
  07/13/04          New York, NY                  Irving Plaza (Tentative)

   www.northernstate.net
   www.columbiarecords.com

SOURCE: Columbia Records

CONTACT: Media - Benny Tarantini of Columbia Records, +1-212-833-5858,
benny_tarantini@sonymusic.com; or for press materials online, please visit
www.sonymusic/b2b

Web site: http://www.columbiarecords.com/
http://www.northernstate.net/