Strategy is the cornerstone of any good plan. This rule remains intact and relevant regardless of what path you are on, where you are, what you’re doing, or what medium you are working with. If there’s a desired end outcome than a strategy to achieve it is always required. Chess being the ultimate game of strategy, its principles translate well into the music industry and all things it encompasses.
Artist is King. Chief strategist who gives subjects a purpose and job to do (Aid in the growth of the empire being the artists music career.).
Publicist is Queen. Moving in all directions to protect the throne (Artist recognition and time in the media),
The Label are Bishops. Hitting the board from all angles to secure positions of advancement (Strategy development and implementation, revenue streams, new contacts, etc..)
The Distributors are Castles. Moving straight forward to take out obstacles and clear the path for the Kings advancement (Sale into stores, new stores, territories, etc…)
Associates are Horses. Galloping about everywhere to open paths for the Castles, Bishops and Queen to move freely (Friends and word of mouth that generates interest.)
Songs are Pawns. Frontline soldiers who always attack, sacrificing themselves to aid in the fruition of the plan (Leaked songs, the artists music, the product that is being sold.)
But as with all things in life… It’s not just what you’ve got, but how you use it.
So in music, having the illest skills doesn’t mean you’ll get recognition and have a long career as an accepted artist unless you can bring it to the people in an organized manner through channels that actually reach them directly. And ya’ll know what that requires don’t you??
Strategy.
Ciecmate – Game Over LP
Ciecmate is in it for the long haul. His label, Broken Tooth Entertainment, is eighteen releases deep, each one another move in a coordinated plan of attack. Since BTE’s inception, Ciecmate has craftily built a stable of some of Australia’s most influential underground hip hop artists. A scene builder. It’s time for him to reveal the vision he’s been refining over the past ten years.
Game Over is Ciecmate’s magnum opus. Entirely self-produced, recorded, mixed and mastered, with the exception of one track produced by fellow grim soothsayer Tornts, Game Over captures the jagged texture of Wu Tang, and the savage truths of Immortal Technique.
Melodic keys twist and layered synths slide throughout Game Over dramatic string and horn riffs twine through random dark sound stabs and shards of broken mirror as Ciecmate demonstrates his meticulous, bold production. Dauntless sample selection brings a complexity that’s often lacking in local hip hop: we’re left running through a labyrinth of emotive guitar cries, off beat snare trips and dangerous, seething bass as Ciecmate prowls the perimeter, ready to pounce.
You Know the Song, featuring label mate Maggot Mouf, is shrouded in a nightcreeping prickle on the back of the neck atmosphere. A spooky cello meanders through blurry, insistent bass and sprinkled arsenic glints across swiped rough cuts while Ciecmate and Maggot brood over the machinations of modern Babylon.
Legendary Melbourne veteran Bias B joins Ciecmate on Never Walk Away, a ballad to the artform that’s been an obsession and addiction, a temptation down hazardous paths and a slender ladder towards hard-won truths.
The warm, amber coloured tumbling beat of Every Breath thrills in the freedom of “everyone that lives, anything to come, anything that is pure, every step ahead, every breath til dead.” Eyes open, it’s hard not to delight in each step along the way. Each move, each challenge, each set back has been worth it. A tougher soldier, Ciecmate has earned the time to marvel at every breath. But with that serenity comes responsibility. Mad Vexed is the anthem for those who have fought for the right of freedom for each breath. The onion layers of secrets and lies in this post-Wikileaks information age are endless, so hone your tactics.
Rook takes Knight. Bishop takes Queen. This is no place for amateurs. Ciecmate. Game Over.
Tracklist:
1. Intro (Sane)
2. Give You
3. I Aint The One To Fuck With
4. There Goes My Mind Again
5. Mad Vexed
6. Paradigm Misfit
7. You Know the Song (Ft. Maggot Mouf)
8. All That There Is
10. Never Walk Away (Ft. Bias B)
11. Wide Awake
12. Every Breath
13. Up Up and Away
14. Iron Fist (Ft. Diem)
15. Gong Sau (Talking Hands)
16. Where You From
17. Note To Self
18. Game Over
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