How now all? It is that time of the year again. Easter is upon us. Chocolate will be eaten. Families will argue over the last sausage in the bowl. Religious people will celebrate things that never happened. Happy times.

To commemorate these days of merriment, we have put together the special edition of our album 'Monologues'. The new download contains the full length album at a higher audio quality plus: original CD artwork, 3 art cards influenced by the ICARUS artwork and a bonus track in the form of 'Your Psychopath'. All for free. You can find the download by following the link on our page.

I hope this holiday is suitably entertaining for you all and that you enjoy the new download pack. I recommend playing 'Your Psychopath' at full volume around the family dinner table on Easter day. It'll go down a storm. Grandma will love it. Bless...

How now? I hope people are well in this new year of the upturned 6? Christmas, the shiny side of Christianity, has left me fat and satisfied, pockets crammed with chocolate and silent films from the 1920's. Tasty.

I have a late Christmas present for you all, courtesy of everyone's favourite Irish shit spitter Jee4ce. Its a mixload featuring 19 tracks of heavy hiphop action from Scotland, Ireland and Wales including 'Its Time' by our boom bap counterpart MasterSystem. Heavy flow and fat beats aplenty this mix will definately blow the shit out of your speakers. So if you've not heard much from the scene in the celtic countries, this is a good place to start. Help yourself and pass it to the left. Move as one...

Celtic Underground Session 3 Mixed by Jee4ce

Free Download. Hiphop from Ireland, Scotland and Wales

01. Capital 1212 ft. Mikey Krummins - Shootin Stars (Scotland)
02. Terawrizt ft. Jambo - End Of Dayz (Ireland)    
03. Qred ft. Joe Blow 4dee and Skamma - Lunar Burn (Wales)
04. Respek BA - OH (Scotland)
05. Jee4ce - On The Rise (N.Ireland)
06. Ralph Rip Shit ft. Dubbledge - Kiss The Guns (Wales)
07. Evil Residents - Demonic Soldiers (Scotland)
08. Rubberbandits - Pure Awkward (Ireland)
09. Sweet And Tender Hooligans - I Have Seen (Wales)
10. Intox ft. Jonnyboy - Take Me Back (Ireland)     
11. Skribbo ft. Loki - Heavyweights (Scotland)
12. Nugget - Loser (Ireland)
13. MasterSystem - Its Time (Scotland)
14. Werd & Deeko - Mad World (Scotland)
15. Cullo - Who Am I (Ireland)
16. Dave Gunn - Under The Forgotton Page (Scotland)    
17. Lineage ft. Maverick Sabre - Cambia Tu Fortuna Remix (Ireland)
18. Hoax MC - Rhymin Son (Wales)
19. Holmes - HipHoperation (Scotland)

Download or stream as one track
http://www.zshare.net/audio/53197092138f186f/

Download with tracks separated
http://www.mediafire.com/?dhdymjhcjjo

How now. We have a new track on the player and an accompanying video on the profile to go with it. Titled 'Your Psychopath' the song deals with the completely irresponsible and morally corrupt methods that large corporations have manipulated and controlled every aspect of the public domain for their own gains.

The song is inspired by the film 'The Corporation'. The film relates such companies to psychopaths as both share similar traits in the way that they deal with people. On a personal view I found many aspects draw yet more similarities with organised religion, and as such the lyrics in the song can be taken both ways.

The video is made up of footage shot in an abandoned underground 1950's nuclear bunker. The place was huge, going down 3 levels into the hill, and public access has been blocked for years as its pretty hairy down there (we jumped the fence). The idea of being lost in a maze of industrial decay rang true with the nature of the music and the video was born. There is a full quality version of the music video on youtube (I'll see if I can get a better version loaded up through myspace in the meantime). I'm also doing a more documentary style video of the bunker itself which I'll put on the tube too. I'll shout when I do.

In the mean while, check the song, check the video, and drop us a message with any comments. Check out www.thecorporation.com for more info on the subject at hand.

Move as one...

How do? Snow has arrived. The cold snap has fully emerged to take the piss out of the unsuspecting inhabitants of Great Britain. Its chilly and horses are wearing jackets. I'm jealous in my short sleeved t-shirt and bermuda shorts.

Just giving you a shout to let you know that the bastard HipHop brother of the ICARUS has reared its head and now has an official myspace. Featuring the return of contemporary boom bap and some serious concious flows, MasterSystem is a treat for anybody who likes beats and rhymes. Check em out, friend em and comment on the tunes. Follow the link below or check em in the top friends. Peace and be at one...

www.myspace.com/mastersystemuk

Good evening one and all. I hope that the sands of time are not too grating, blowing against your vast shins of daily experience. The summer has gone now. I saw him leave and kicked him square in the arse on the way out for not providing Scotland with more sunny days this year. Having said that, I have just returned from a little music festival in the hills of western Scotland, where it only rained once. At night. Since I had an argument with a dancing hedge, fell into the river a total of 5 times, experienced an earthquake in a portaloo and destroyed my friends table, a little rain is nothing to complain about. I am with you now a little more stupid but a whole load happier. Great times.

The reason for these scribblings is to inform you all that the ICARUS have been shortlisted for the 4Talent award for music by Channel Four. We are all very happy about this. The other four artists on the shortlist are absolutely fantastic and as such we fully expect not to win. My vote goes to Fossil Club, who's electronic dabblings are a real treat to the lug holes. I would be happy if he wins. Check out his myspace.

Any way, in the unlikely event that we do succeed in winning the award, we will be helped out with some serious promotion that could lead to us playing inside your brain on the regular. We will keep you informed. Actually, that's not entirely true. If we win, I will let you know. If we loose, you will never hear me mention this again. I will be in a corner, staring intently at the ground, watching for woodlice while nervously nibbling on a giant lemon refreshers bar. The gospel has spoken.

Word up etc. The kind folk at the Skinny have given us our first press review. And a damn fine one at that. Here it is for you all to read:

In a funny twist of fate, this writer has been handed Monologues, the debut album from Edinburgh-outfit Icarus, for review, having just critiqued Daedelus's latest venture, Love To Make Music To. After having listened to it, it's a pleasure to report that Icarus is just as good as Daedelus. Fusing hip-hop, ambient leftfield, rock and even hints of funk and jazz, this trio operates in no set genre. After hearing one song, the album fools your brain into anticipating what you'll hear next, then playing something completely different to what you were expecting to follow. The group handles every genre they deal with well, so that none are compromised. With sounds akin to Massive Attack, Overseer, and even a little bit of Rage, Icarus have created an album that is both curiously different and immensely gratifying. An excellent debut containing some blindingly good electronic beats and magnificent hip-hop tunes, made all the more appealing by its distinctive and intriguing setup. 4/5
[Michael Slevin]

Isn't that nice? Cheesy smiles all round. Big shout out to the Skinny for that one.
Walk your own path.

Friends all. What the devil is happening as they say in some of the more up market ghettos. Some time has passed since communication was thrown into the digital mire of the myspace blog. I wont lie, myspace does get rather tedious. The limits of the program are frustrating and watching a hits counter has lost its appeal. Therefore I decided to do something about it. I've made a website. It didn't take me very long (an evening) and so don't expect any fancy flash animations etc. Raw is as raw does. But this new site will house all the up to date info of what is happening in the world of the ICARUS, plus some extras. Like song lyrics. How very exciting.

www.theicarus.co.uk is the place to be. Fo sho.

In other news, the instrumental for Longing for Reason is being used in the Bones series 3 DVD advert. You know that show with that angel bloke from buffy. Thats what i'm told anyway (i've not seen this Bones). So thats all very exciting too. We are all generally excited. Hurray! Peep the website!

By the way if you need to contact us directly our website is now the main port of call. info@theicarus.co.uk

Hey guys n gals

The Matchstick Men (aka Hiz & Whys) have just finished their album.  It is good.  Please feel free to download it.  We hope you enjoy it.  We think you will.  Be warned, this album may induce a serious 80's snaz attack.

Here it is.

http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?2gmj13kje2m

Aunty Hizzy & Uncle Whys

x

Friends, Romans, countrymen. Lend me your ears. Or at least a moment of your precious time. The wind is high and the clouds pace the sky with sheer determination. Edinburgh has been enjoying some serious heat of late. Although the sun is a lazy bastard, cowardly hiding behind the ever busy cumulonimbus, we still feel the warmth of his cowardice. Oh we do. You cant hide. Just coz I cant look at you doesn't mean I don't know you're there. For real.

I have some spiffing news for you. We have decided to do something marvelous. In light of our being 'for the people' n that, and because a new project is being birthed, we have decided to make the full debut album 'monologues' available as a free download. Thats right. All of it. You can still get the higher quality 320kbps version from tunetribe via the link on our page, but now you can get the mp3 version totally free by following the link at the bottom of these scribblings. Which would in fact be here. Enjoy, let me know what you think. Peace.

DOWNLOAD THE FREE ALBUM FROM: http://www.mediafire.com/?y1fn3ym1zoc