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The Steel Town Sounds Crew gets reviewed in Carnegie Mellon University's Cut Magazine! Pick up your copy now on CMU's campus!
Steel Town Sounds Presents: City of Champions - The Remix LP
Steel Town Sounds, a five-piece Pittsburgh-native Hip-Hop collaboration, has been making music since 1998. The group enjoys a strong local reputation both for their original work and for their fresh, Jazz-inspired remixes of other artists' songs.
Their debut LP, City of Champions, is a complilation of remixes that showcase their signature up-tempo, jazzy sounds. After a perhaps ill-advised speech from American History X, Steel Town Sounds gets into the music proper, and doesn't disappoint. "Steel Town Representin'," an original Steel Town Sounds track, features a funky, scratch and guitar-heavy beat, while MCs Mac Dilly and ID rap about growing up in Pittsburgh. The next cut, a remix of (fellow Pittsburgher) Scotty Cole's "The Heist," pairs Cole's fast-paced delivery with a jazzy guitar line and a subtle Motown sample. on "Get Loose" and "Thrash 'Em," production takes a backseat to the verses, letting Mario Dones and Dynamite take center stage. "Don't Hate" offers a critique of radio music, but then the album slouches with the oddly hardcore "Supaficial." Fortunately, "Take My Hand" picks up the slack, as it is easily the catchiest song on the album. Coupled with the previous track, "The Things I Do" ends City of Champions on a strong note, with Steel Town Sounds' familiar guitars, strings, and horns.
As a whole, City of Champions is strong. At times, the beats drown out the vocals, but are consistently on point, particularly when the guitars and strings show up. City of Champions is at once both original and accessible, making it the perfect introduction to the Pittsburgh Rap scene.
-Rob Perrone https://twitter.com/chuck4prez
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