Exclusive track premiere of ‘Footprints’ by MindsOne & DJ Iron, taken from ‘This Water is Life’ series, out April 22, 2022 via Fort Lowell Records.

‘This Water is Life’ is a self-sustained and ongoing series of split EPs with two express purposes: to highlight new hip-hop / indie rock music from Southeastern North Carolina, as well as to provide a platform for Cape Fear River Watch and Coastal Plain Conservation Group to deliver up-to-date authoritative reports on the health of the Cape Fear River Basin for both human beings and wildlife.

Ever since our forebears crawled up out of the water and drew their first breath, our – which is to say human and animal (and for that matter, plant) – experience has never strayed too far from its life-sustaining force. This water IS life. It will continue to be. But what kind of life? Threats to that water are, in turn, threats to the very life it supports.

Inspired by photography focused on water in urban landscapes against a backdrop of the evolving GenX (PFAS) water pollution problem in the Wilmington, NC / Cape Fear region, ‘This Water is Life’ is a local multimedia, multi-platform project. It takes what Fort Lowell Records does best – put out and promotes killer indie music of varied stripes – and fuses it with photography and other visual arts alongside river and wildlife advocacy. The goal is a virtuous circle contained within an intended series of records. Packaged together, musical and visual artists from the Port City combined with a separate, serialized and locally-specific environmental message gives rise to the future promotion of other local music acts and further advocacy.

‘Volume I’ features MindsOne & DJ Iron and James Sardone (of Brickbat, Burnley Brothers, The Jimmy Nations Combo, Loose Jets).

Innovative lyrics, heart pounding instrumentals, precise cuts, and intense live shows are what MindsOne has been offering their listeners since 2002. In its current iteration for this project, the group consists of KON Sci and Tronic on vocals with Belgian producer DJ Iron reprising his beatmaking role. Their music embodies the spirit of independent hip hop culture and pays homage to those boom bap masters and others who came before.

They have consistently delivered powerful and inspirational music over the years, and have continued to perfect their sound with each project from their debut EP, ‘The Space Time Continuum’ in 2006 to 2016’s collaboration with DJ Iron on the ‘Phaseology’ album.

Pre-order it here!

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