Soul Cannon formed in 2006 with the joining of minds attempting to dramatically alter the world's idea of hip hop. Made-for-radio and the underground alike had too long suffered from the colorless confines of a stale culture bound by genre-based identification. The group-think of an artistically numb music industry, defined by a complete void of originality, created a vast ignorance of the limitless possibilities for music - notes, rhythms, harmonies, sweat, focus, life - to move people in ways still undefined.
The group formed and went to work exploring their collective knowledge and individual impulses to find ways to break through the barriers of mass consumerism. They sought to maintain some of the musical elements that had championed for generations - drive, melody, surprise, climax - and reinvigorated them with some of what had been lost in the shuffle of top 40 hit manufacturing - breath, invention, shape, color, authenticity.
With the creation of the iPod, the proliferation of digital downloading, and the rise of streaming media, the public was obviously listening to music. Soul Cannon sought to give them their time and money's worth.
The result is beyond genre. It is a voice and style all its own, with all the bump, grind, and swagger of hip hop, the frenetic whirlwind of rock and roll, and the noise, chaos, and freedom of improvisation and experimentation of groups like Sonic Youth and WZT Hearts.
They have attracted the audiences of Baltimore's 20 years running weekly underground hip hop radio show, Strictly Hip Hop, on WEAA FM, while at the same time winning praises from Avant Garde/ Free Improvisation connoisseurs like Jason Willett (MT6 Records, Megaphone Records) and Swedish label Umlaut Records. Their CD release show in 2008 was listed by Baltimore's City Paper as one of the ten best shows of 2008, featuring outstanding performances by Baltimore's J-Roddy Walston and The Business and Pittsburgh's Grand Buffet. Soul Cannon and their album, Kaboom, have been positively reviewed by Okayplayer, Government Names, Metromix, and numerous other blogs. The Baltimore Sun reported on them as having given "one of the most energetic performances" in the history of Towson University WTMD radio's in studio performance program, Baltimore Unsigned.
They are as welcome and at home sharing a bill with punk bands as they are with an MC/DJ duo, jazz trio, string quartet, or five-piece metal band.
“analog indie hip hop you can get down with no matter your scene. Check it out and tell me you disagree. If your spirit isn‘t lifted… go back to your emo records and keep sleeping.“
-Any Given Tuesday
“A band that is at once pure jazz-tinged indie rock and political hip hop…rhymes are surrounded by a killer rhythm section that alternates between straightforward, backbeat-laden hip hop and Sonic Youth-esque noise and space drones.“
– transformonline.com
"Time has found a tiny pinhole in the creative envelope and has begun to leak out into the music of Soul Cannon. Only time allows us a deep understanding of the despair and the hope that we all experience every day. Soul Cannon has found a way to collect the time in our lives and express it in their music."
- chiefhigh - t61 02/25/2009
“Soul Cannon doesn‘t fit neatly into any boxes. It‘s the exact opposite of today‘s ring-tone hip hop.”
-BMore Live
