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"Connie Price and the Keystones are to be praised for their originality and brilliance."
- Lalo Schifrin (Grammy Award Winning, Oscar Nominated Composer -- Mission: Impossible, Dirty Harry, Cool Hand Luke, Bullitt, Enter the Dragon, THX 1138)

"Connie Price has the 'Key' to success and a sound that's solid as 'Stone'"
- Big Daddy Kane

"An incredibly talented and open minded bunch of guys with an extensive knowledge and respect for all kinds of music, and you hear it when they play'"
- Juju of The Beatnuts

"Connie Price and the Keystones are the missing link between Lalo Schifrin and Dr. Dre - cinematic music in Technicolor."
- Egon (Stones Throw)

"Yo...incredible!"
- Billy Danze & 'Lil Fame (M.O.P.)

"West Coast hip-hop has ventured into the urban and the suburban communities, taking with it a flavor that is undeniably its own. Connie Price & The Keystones have reached this level of authenticity...offering a unique mixture of live instrumentation, hip-hop heads can appreciate the relationship between MCs and the beats that inspire them..."
- Vapors

"Connie Price and the Keystones live sounded just like our records"
- Lord Jamar (Brand Nubian)

"....it’s the music—an archly deliberate cross between hip-hop and funk, with ’70s-soundtrack instrumentalism a la Lalo Schifrin and Ennio Morricone—that sets CP&K apart from the rest of the new breed of live-band hip-hop."
- Paste Magazine

"...the cast of top-notch, mostly West Coast guests thrives, rhyming atop the rich, cinematic productions of CPK’s Dan Ubick and Co. No doubt, these beats can be enjoyed vocal-free on the accompanying instrumental version of this album...Tell Me Something is the rare live hip-hop project where neither the MCs nor the band gets outshone."
- XLR8R

"...the ultimate formula for a hit record has been found..."
- Slug Magazine

"Tell Me Something packs quite a punch musically, and with a number of MCs on deck this one’s a slam dunk...Even at only 32 minutes in length, this release puts most full-lengths to shame."
- Impose Magazine

"....killing it with a tight funky backdrop from MCs Percee P, Ohmega Watts, Wildchild and others..A nice step from a loose collective that refuses to travel any of the more predictable routes of the funky underground!"
- Dusty Groove

"Best Albums of March 2008...a diverse, intelligent hip hop album that has some of the tightest and most original backing tracks."
- The Wheels Still In Spin

On the follow-up to their Now-Again/Stones Throw album, Connie Price and the Keystones step-up with a heavyweight dynamic soundtrack-inspired hip hop album. While their debut was instrumental, “Tell Me Something” is the opposite, featuring a marquee-filling list of quality MCs. Percee P, Wildchild from the Lootpack, Ubiquity-labelmate Ohmega Watts, Soup from Jurassic 5, Blood Of Abraham, Mykah 9 from the Freestyle Fellowship and Project Blowed, plus vocalist Aloe Blacc provide lyrics n’rhymes.

Having recently recorded an EP for Scion with Big Daddy Kane, and backing-up EPMD, Slick Rick, Redman, M.O.P., Brand Nubian, Kane and Too $hort live, CPK decided to take their live hip hop exploits into the studio. Channeling Wu-Tang and Madlib in equal parts to Schifrin and Morricone the album bobs and weaves through the head-nodding mellower bpms of “Put Your Weight On It” and “Pirates of The Mediterranean” to the more frantic chase-scene tunes like “Hoagies Revenge” and “Master At Work.” “Funk revivalist” and “retro” were apt tags for the music of CPK when they started out five years ago, fleshing-out raw funk 45s that rivaled the old-school collectible nuggets they were inspired by. But “Tell Me Something” incorporates much broader influences and is a product of a deeper vision.

“We have thrown all our influences into the mix, not just funk. We love funky music but to us that could mean Jorge Ben, Can, Dennis Coffey, or the Upsetters. I see us more as Hip-Hop influenced cinematic soul music,” explains Dan Ubick, one half of the main duo behind CPK. “Also, the MC’s and vocalists just make it all that much more dimensional and interesting.”

To achieve the desired fuller sound, fat bottom end and hard-hitting drums all the music was played live, then sampled, looped-up and processed to be gritty as possible. Dramatic strings, brassy horns, and a driving percussion section pack a musical punch and leave a bigger impression often missing from “live” rap records. “I approached this project as a Hip-Hop record, it was more about sounds recorded rather than full performances from the musicians. I got to use instruments that were new to me on this album, like tympani, an old ‘60’s organ with fuzz, acoustic piano, and most importantly real strings,” says Ubick. “Todd wrote some funky string arrangements for four of the tracks which our good friend Steve Kaye played to perfection. We also had some really unique percussion instruments that make each track really stand out. Most of my equipment was made 30+ years ago, but instruments just sound better to me with a little age on them. Sounds that have been good for 30+ years don’t have to be “retro”, used the right way they’re really just invincible,” he adds.

Connie Price and The Keystones was conceived as a recording project, and features music written solely by Dan Ubick, whose recording credits include Breakestra, Madlib’s Sound Directions, along with Todd M. Simon, of Macy Gray, Antibalas, and El Michels Affair fame. A revolving cast of characters from the incestuous and bustling Los Angeles music scene add flavor, including members of Orgone, Plantlife, Breakestra, Beck, DJ Z-Trip, Cake, Rhythm Roots All Stars, David Holmes, David Garibaldi, Macy Gray, The Lions, Greyboy Allstars, Greasy Beats, etc.

Connie Price and the Keystones are currently in the studio working on a full length LP with NYC's finest, BIG DADDY KANE. Look for it in 2009!

CPK x Slick Rick @ The Parish

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