Jivin Scientists - "Cicada" 7-Inch Record + MP3
***PRE ORDER SHIPPING INFORMATION***
Please read carefully! ALL pre orders will be held until the ship date. ALL other items in your shopping cart will also be held until the ship date. If you have items that you may want to receive sooner we suggest placing a separate order for those items.
Orders will ship on or around the release date of Monday, July 10, 2023.*
*ship date subject to change in the event of manufacturing delays.
Please check this page for current updated ship date.
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Orders for this product page will receive:
1x Jivin Scientists 7-Inch Lathe Cut Record
***Limited Edition hand-numbered 1st pressing of 30 copies!
- includes 2 songs from the album on the record
1x Jivin Scientists "Cicada" 320kbps MP3 Download
- includes the full 12-song album!
- link to download a .zip file of the mp3s will be delivered to your inbox after completion of checkout within 24 hours
- MP3s must be downloaded on a computer, not a mobile device
1x SFR Sticker [design randomly selected by SFR staff]
1x Bonus Vinyl record from The Great Sage Francis Record Collection Purge of 2023 -or- Bonus SFR Artist CD [feel free to request CD titles/artists - final selection will be made by SFR staff according to availability]
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7-INCH RECORD TRACKLIST
A - Last Stand feat. Marley B
B - Infinite feat. AWOL ONE
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Over 6 years after their signing to Strange Famous, SFR is proud to finally present JIVIN SCIENTISTS' first album on our SFdigi imprint: CICADA!
Cicada is available everywhere you listen to music on June 2, 2023!
Limited edition 7-Inch Records, Cassettes, and T-Shirts are available here.
Download and stream the album at the SFR Bandcamp here.
Through a combination of hard work, talent, and respect, hip hop duo Jivin Scientists (Tucson, AZ) have spent the past 20 years carving out a unique, enduring, and humbly successful career - an impressive legacy in a genre driven by blink-and-you-miss-it trends. The duo of emcee James “Runt” Owens and producer Ryan “Phen” Troncoso have connected with listeners all over the world through the release of ten previous albums (including standout efforts like Monsters, Autumn and The Morning After), a catalog that showcases how Runt’s stellar storytelling and introspective lyrics synchronize beautifully with the heartfelt and rugged boom-bap stylings of Phen’s top tier production.
Check out "LAST STAND," the first video from the album, directed by YungMacFilms!
"This will be the eleventh album we've made, but the first we're releasing through a label. We've spent over 20 years in the underground scene, and we look at this as our first step towards being visible to a much wider audience. That's one reason why 'Cicada' is such an appropriate title for the record," says Runt.
Cicadas are a species of insect that spend their juvenile years under the ground, emerging from below after a period of 17 years of growth. It was not lost on Runt and Phen that their initial deal with Strange Famous' SFdigi imprint was signed as they approached their seventeenth year as a group.
"Like that time spent in the underground, this album is dark, but with spots of light and spots of hope. Those who have been with us for years will recognize our established sound, but they'll also hear growth," Runt continues."We set out to showcase the full spectrum of styles that we've developed, to create something that allowed us to dig deep into what we've learned over the past twenty years. We came to spread a message of love and hope. We want to pump blood into a world that is so evil and decayed."
Much like the cicadas that inspired the album's title, JS never set forth with calculated intent, but rather were driven from within to forge a path to their future: "We never pursued any of this. We never felt that we had a choice, we wake up and create. We really just put the stuff out so that we don’t have to sit with it anymore," Runt explains. "We both work jobs to make ends meet, but the music was always who we were, and will always be who we are. Some people make things for fun, and some create to keep from losing their minds. We've always been part of that second group."
The crew has invited more members of that second group to help with the album, a collection of some of the favorite relationships that two decades in the rap trenches have wrought: they're joined by Marley B on the first single/video "Last Stand," and feature indie rap legend and longtime Strange Famous homie AWOL ONE (ShapeShifters, Fake Four) on "Infinite." Rae.L makes scene-stealing appearances on "Make It Better" and "A Wolf," while SFR O.G. Mopes (formerly known as Prolyphic) joins the posse cut "Load Up" with Def-i and DJ Bonus. These are just some of the collaborators that JS brought on board, bringing together friends from across the industry to mesh with fellow hometown heroes.
Jivin Scientists take deep pride in their native city of Tucson, and that home has been a major influence on all of their releases. Runt and Phen have shared stages with a long list of legends across North America, touring mostly through their own gumption and passion. They have also served as hosts to some of the Southwest's greatest musical events, while giving a hand up to burgeoning talents that have risen around them along the way. Both Runt and Phen are highly respected members in the Tucson hip hop community, participating in and organizing events and venues designed to facilitate the development of upcoming artists of all kinds.
Always looking to push their creative threshold, Jivin Scientists are proud to release their highly anticipated album, Cicada, on Strange Famous Records. Years in the making, this project remains true to the core nature of Jivin Scientists that has served them for over two decades in the game: their story is their own, and they will continue to live it, write it, and tell it as only they can.
Cicada is available at TinyURL.com/JivinScientists & everywhere you listen to music.
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"We would like to thank all of the people that have supported us on this long ride, you have always given us love and without you we would be nothing. Thank you to our family and friends: you know who you are. Thank you to all the artists that have provided their talent to this project, if you were asked to be a part of this, know that we look to you for inspiration and consider you to be a leader in our world of art. Thank you to uncle Sage, Storm and the whole Strange Famous family for giving us weirdos a home." - JS
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TRACKLISTING
01. Cicada
02. Infinite Ft. AWOL One
03. Deathwish
04. Last Stand Ft. Marley B
05. Make It Better Ft. Rae.L
06. Steppin' Ft. Dewey Binns
07. Load Up Ft. Mopes, Def-i, Dj Bonus
08. A Wolf Ft. Rae.L
09. In the Wood
10. Kings
11. Broke
12. Dreams Ft. Jabee, Cash Lansky
13. D.O.G
All songs written by Runt, except features noted.
Produced by Phen.
Keys by Paul Jenkins.
Bass by Chris Pierce.
Additional drums by Steven Escalante.
No, because "vinyls" don't exist. Don't say "vinyls." Ever. The plural of 'vinyl' is 'vinyl.'
Fine, smartass. Are lathe cut records the same as vinyl records?
They look similar, they both play music when you set them on a turntable and put a needle to their grooves, but they're manufactured from different materials by a different method. This difference in materials and method allows for smaller quantities to be created. Read on for more details.
How do these sound?
Lathe cuts will always have some degree of surface noise/pops/crackles, which tends to largely disappear once the music starts, especially for full, loud recordings. However, these lathe cuts are not audiophile records, or even comparable to standard pressed records. They will sound slightly different than the master, because the plastic reacts to certain frequencies differently. They are made from materials that were never intended to be records. Sound quality varies slightly from one record to the next, and some audio tracks translate better than others. There are many factors that determine the sound of the record; the material, the number of records that have been cut by the stylus, the climate, etc… But we drop-test them all and throw away any that are not up to standard. They are all totally listenable, but intended to be used more as playable art pieces. These lathes are not meant to be the way your track is regularly listened to.
Are these as loud as a normal record?
Unfortunately, No. Our cutter heads are 70 years old and utilize a magnet that has, over the years, degraded a little. They were also made before the loudness war and were never intended to produce the kind of volume that modern stereo cutting heads made in the 70s and 80s were geared for. On top of that, the plastic that is used is harder than a lacquer that is used to master a pressed record, and the heads has to work much harder, resulting in less volume (about 75% that of a modern record). So, you will have to crank up your amplifier a few notches past where it usually sits.
Will these play on any turntable?
These records do not always play well on all turntables, especially lower-end/inexpensive model turntables without a weighted tonearm. However, they have all been play tested to make sure that they track on a properly weighted record player. Lighter tonearm weight and neutral anti-skating works best. Sometimes the needle will get caught in between the grooves and sound awful. You can usually gently nudge the needle sideways into the bottom of the groove, which should fix the problem.
Inexpensive players with red cartridges/needles in particulars tend to have more problems than professional cartridges.
Will these records degrade or hurt my needle?
Absolutely not. These records are made out of hard polycarbonate plastic and will last as long as a pressed record. And your needle will not know the difference between this plastic or the PVC that pressed records are made of. The old adage that Lathe Cuts ruin your needle is a product of lacquer “dub plates” or “acetates”. Lacquers are extremely soft, and with repeated plays, the lacquer would wear off and build up on your playback needle. We DO NOT use lacquers and DO NOT have this problem. We listen to lathe cuts 12 hours a day in the studio, and rarely change out our playback styli.