Souls Rest is a hip hop

Hip hop

Hip hop is a form of musical expression and artistic culture that originated in African-American and Latino communities during the 1970s in New York City, specifically the Bronx. DJ Afrika Bambaataa outlined the four pillars of hip hop culture: MCing, DJing, breaking and graffiti writing...

 duo based in Vancouver

Vancouver

Vancouver is a coastal seaport city on the mainland of British Columbia, Canada. It is the hub of Greater Vancouver, which, with over 2.3 million residents, is the third most populous metropolitan area in the country,...

, British Columbia

British Columbia

British Columbia is the westernmost of Canada's provinces and is known for its natural beauty, as reflected in its Latin motto, Splendor sine occasu . Its name was chosen by Queen Victoria in 1858...

. Souls Rest consists of an MC (The Rawface) and a DJ (Philamonic), both of these group members produce beats for Souls Rest and also for some other artists. Having recently built a recording studio

Recording studio

A recording studio is a facility for sound recording and mixing. Ideally both the recording and monitoring spaces are specially designed by an acoustician to achieve optimum acoustic properties...

 in British Columbia, Souls Rest released the EP

Extended play

An EP is a musical recording which contains more music than a single, but is too short to qualify as a full album or LP. The term EP originally referred only to specific types of vinyl records other than 78 rpm standard play records and LP records, but it is now applied to mid-length Compact...

, Two Minutes which they gave away as a free gift. The EP contained four tracks. Souls Rest are currently working on a new album which should be released by spring 2011.

The new Souls Rest album will be a full length album at this stage the name of the album has not yet been announced.

Originally based in Liverpool

Liverpool

Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough of Merseyside, England, along the eastern side of the Mersey Estuary. It was founded as a borough in 1207 and was granted city status in 1880...

, UK; Souls Rest have evolved from a live band featuring a DJ and MC to a fully electronic hip hop duo. Their sound though still retains a sense of live music and both members of the group enjoy sampling and writing live instruments when they produce beats.

Studio albums and EPs

• Hip Hop Fun - For all the Family

1. "Got You Down With This"
2. "Wrong Relations"
3. "False Star"
4. "Left God Out The Picture"
5. "The Light"
6. "Intent"
7. "Poison"
8. "Real Hip-Hop"
9. "Living a Lie"
10. "Desperado"
11. "You Got My Love"

• Extended wordPlay

1. "Games"
2. "Damage"
3. "Underground"
4. "Mr. Grey"
5. "Is It The Money?" (internet only track)
6. "I Still Love You" (internet only track)

• Souls Rest

1. "Soldier"
2. "This Is My Prayer"
3. "What Makes A Man"
4. "Trapped"
5. "Writer's Block"
6. "Sister"

• Two Minutes

1. "Two Minutes"
2. "Dance"
3. "City of Shining Lights"
4. "Rising"

• TBA

Tracklisting not yet released.

Tracks 5 and 6 of their EP, Extended wordPlay, were released for free after the CD's initial release from their website to members of the band's mailing list. It is notable for its original packaging, with a 3D textured case and black vinyl-style CD.

The band's third album, self titled Souls Rest, is the band's first release as a three-piece, described in their newsletter to fans as having a "distinct change in sound as [they] move to a more loop-driven style of classic hip hop music".

Official links

• SoulsRest.co.uk - Official Website
• MySpace.com - Souls Rest on MySpace
• UKBands.net - Souls Rest on UK Bands

Other links

• Artist Profile on Cross Rhythms
• Review of Hip Hop fun - for all the family
• Review of Extended wordPlay
• Flyer for Extended wordPlay clubnight