After coming off the success of his recent solo album, Molly’s Dirty Water, Hieroglyphics and Souls of Mischief member A-Plus, gives the remix treatment to Deltron 3030′s, Zach De La Rocha-featured track, “Melding of the Minds,” premiering today at Mass Appeal. The original track comes from the highly anticipated album Event 2, the follow-up to Deltron’s underground self-titled classic, Deltron 3030, a group and project consisting of Hieroglyphics alumnus Del The Funkee Homosapien and producers Dan The Automator and Kid Koala. The album delves into themes of science fiction, artificial intelligence, and totalitarianism, and was praised by numerous music outlets.

With Del’s double-timed L. Ron Hubbard-inspired lyrics, matched with A-Plus’ dystopian boom bap production and Zach De La Rocha’s intensity, the track continuously reinvents itself and showcases A-Plus’ creativity, creating 4 remixes at once connected by each verse. “For verse one I did hip-hop style, a musical sample with a live drum swing on the drum programming, kinda dramatic, a lot like the original song in it’s vibe. Verse two I did a glitch-hop swingy style with all hand made sounds, a lot of work there. Verse three I did a club/hyphy bass style, straight-up Bay Area origin style. Verse four was a reprise of the first verse, but with me playing synths instead, to show of some of my musical training from my youth, no samples,” A-Plus states.

A-Plus is one of the founding four members of Souls of Mischief along with rappers Opio, Phesto, and Tajai, as well as the hip-hop collective Hieroglyphics, which include Souls of Mischief, Del The Funkee Homosapien, Casual, Pep Love, and Domino. The rapper and producer has always been ahead of the game, with credits going back as far as the early 90′s including Souls of Mischief’s hip-hop classic, “93 ’til Infinity,” and songs on Hieroglyphic’s seminal work, 3rd Eye Vision.

This is the third release in a remix series that A-Plus began doing earlier this summer, first remixing Que’s “OG Bobby Johnson,” then Meek Mill’s “I Don’t Know.” His most recent solo venture was a concept album entitled Molly’s Dirty Water and was released earlier this year. This comes in addition to the Souls of Mischief collaborative album with Adrian Younge, There Is Only Now, which was released earlier this week and is available on iTunes and in various physical and digital packages. The Hieroglyphics crew are currently on the end of a rare East Coast tour, and have several dates in California approaching, including their annual Hiero Day festival on 9/1.

Bulk Records is thrilled to reveal the video for “Do You Remember,” from Deltron 3030′s triumphant 2013 return Deltron 3030: Event II. The video features an old man in a futuristic wheelchair-turned-rocketship, spliced with clips of Del rapping as he walks contemplatively down a beach – it’s as bizarre as it is apropos.

Deltron 3030 is pleased to release their new video for “City Rising From The Ashes,” off their new album Deltron 3030: Event II, out now on Bulk Recordings. The clip, directed by Lionel Dupont, is the second video released for the track, though it originally jumped out as an obvious winner from the Genero.tv video contest. While the band loved the original, all agreed that the clip would benefit from including custom graffiti from the Deltron crew, now featured in the final version. With the finished version now in hand, FILTER suggested viewers Follow the fresh flow and mesmerizing moving graffiti through a not-so-ordinary parking garage and take the elevator all the way up to floor 3030 (naturally) to make your way into the imaginative realm of Kid Koala, Del the Funky Homosapien and Dan the Automator.”

Deltron 3030 is excited to release their video for “Melding of the Minds,” which premiered via Esquire. Justin Lee directed the animated video, and said the concept for the video was inspired by the song, reminding him of “the feeling you get when you’re out in the city late at night tagging and running in the shadows.” As a result, the video features, in Lee’s words, “a badass little b-girl” being chased by an unidentifiable, though certainly unnerving, monster. The track features Zack De La Rocha and is off the group’s new album Deltron 3030: Event II, out now on Bulk Recordings.

Del, Dan The Automator, and Kid Koala head up to Sway In The Morning at Shade 45, to speak on the release of their new album, Deltron 3030 Event II. In the second clip, Del freestyles alongside Digable Planets’ Ladybug Mecca.

Deltron 3030 perform”City Rising from the Ashes” off their new album Deltron 3030: Event II. The group is joined by a 16-piece orchestra and 4-piece band onstage, including special guest, producer Just Blaze on keyboards. Bonus points for David Letterman reprimanding Kid Koala at the end, heh.

After the runaway cult success of Dr. Octagon, an out-of-nowhere 1995 record that teamed Kool Keith with DJ Q-Bert and producer Dan The Automator, the relationship between the crew went sour. While everyone’s got a different take on what really went down, Automator never looked back, and moved forward with a similar kind of project called Deltron 3030, released in the year 2000. The concept of this record was that of a bleak future, as told by Del The Funky Homosapien (aka Deltron Zero), DJ Kid Koala, and king of the beats, Automator, behind the boards. The album helped reinvent Del, much like Dr. Octagon did for Kool Keith, and was another underground smash.

Thirteen years later (damn, it’s been that long??!), the Deltron 3030 collective celebrates their second coming with Event 2, picking up right where the last project left off. The group’s take on the future – stardate 3040 – Del paints a vivid picture of a gloomy world that has been directly affected by today’s problems, i.e. corporate greed, golden parachutes, pollution, racism, classism, etc.

The album begins with an intro by J. Gordon-Levitt, who explains what has happened to the planet since the disappearance of Del and Automator, leading into the epic, six minute magnum opus, “The Return”. Here, Del describes the post-post-apocalyptic setting, while Automator builds a sweeping, etheral track that travels in several different directions, before coming back full circle. Ladies and gentlemen, Deltron 3030 has returned.

The album is much like many of Dan’s post-Deltron works, such as Gorillaz or Handsome Boy Modelling School, as it’s built around collaborations with several of the usual suspects from those projects. Most of these work perfectly, such as the melancholy Damon Albarn / Casual collabo, “What Is This Loneliness” or “City Rising From The Ashes” alongside Mike Patton. The same can be said for “Look Across The Sky” (feat. Mary Elizabeth Winstead) and “My Only Love” (feat. Emily Wells), both driven by somber female vocals, working well in a post-trip-hop landscape. Songs like the funky “Nobody Can” (feat. Aaron Bruno of Awol Nation) and “Talent Superscedes” (feat. Black Rob) throwback to the classic 90′s hip-hop sounds Del’s career was built upon, yet hardly sound dated or “retro”.

In true fashion, the album is sewn together with a series of cheeky skits from various comedians such as David Cross and The Lonely Island, whom commentate on the children of the future, as grumpy old folks of that era. The skits are mind-bendingly ironic, as they metaphorically poke fun at the state of today’s youth, but do so from the perspective of tomorrow’s. Also notable here is Kid Koala’s subtle cut contributions, whose one of kind scratch style acts as the proverbial cherry-on-top.

The original Deltron 3030 album captured a small, specific, yet dedicated audience, many of whom at this point have moved on to other things, like careers and kids. While a legendary record in its own right, it’s curious if these fans still keep up with underground culture, and if they will come back out of the woodwork for Deltron 3030′s return. For the younger generation, Del’s super-scientifical rhymes may go over the heads of kids raised on today’s hip-hop, so it’s hard to say how successful the project will ultimately be. But it’s irrelevant in either case; this is music from the future.

Here’s the video for Deltron 3030′s post-apocalyptic “City Rising from the Ashes.” From the new album, Event 2, hitting Sept. 30th.

Available now at iTunes or Amazon and limited edition physical copies are available at select participating retailers. This is a preview of tracks that can also be found on the forth-coming album, EVENT II, dropping Oct. 1st.

Bulk Recordings is excited to announce the return of Deltron 3030 with the release of Deltron 3030 Event II on October 1st, 2013. The album is Deltron 3030′s long-awaited successor to their self-titled cult-classic debut. Deltron 3030 — composed of a trinity of alt-rap all-stars: rapper Del The Funky Homosapien, producer Dan “The Automator” Nakamura and DJ Kid Koala — are celebrating the announcement with the debut of the album trailer, set to the first track on the record “Stardate.” In anticipation of Deltron 3030 Event II, the band will also release their City Rising From the Ashes EP on August 13th, 2013.

Dan “The Automator” Nakamura began to make plans for Event II shortly after the three principals reunited for Gorillaz, the 2001 multiplatinum debut album of the “virtual band” conceived of by Blur frontman Albarn and illustrator Jamie Hewlett, which Nakamura produced, with Koala providing masterful scratchwork and Del lending his lyrical brilliance to its biggest hit, “Clint Eastwood.” Though initial tracks had been laid down by 2005, it would be another eight years before the record would be finished to their mutual satisfaction. The album will be released in October on Nakamura’s Bulk Recordings label, and when it does, it will open a new chapter in the Deltron 3030 legend – one that promises to be as relevant and resonant now as the first was in the year 2000.

“This time, the album has a specific story,” says Del. “The Deltron world has gone too far with technology. Everything’s destroyed, and you just see the remnants of our technology. The streets are run by criminals, the police are outnumbered and outgunned, and we’re like pirates, running rogue, doing what we do to survive. That’s the scene of it. We’re trying to be as literary as possible while dealing with a musical format. I don’t know if you could even categorize this as a hip hop album – it’s more like a rock opera, but using rap.”

He notes that the words, music and narrative have been deliberately chosen to put listeners into a specific emotional state. “This record took 13 years, and the whole time fans are telling us we better come out with Deltron right now – quit teasing me,” laughs Del. “Well, this is beyond a regular album. Because I would say, me, Dan and Koala, we aren’t limited by what other rap groups do – we’re musicians first. I studied music theory for ten years. Dan and Koala been learning music since they were kids. We’re bringing it all together here, everything, and the fans, the critics, they all going to be surprised by what we got. You’ll see.”

Deltron 3030: Event II tracklist:
1. Stardate (ft. Joseph Gordon-Levitt)
2. The Return
3. Pay the Price
4. Nobody Can (ft. Aaron Bruno of AWOL Nation)
5. Lawnchair Quarterback Pt. 1 (ft. David Cross and Amber Tamblyn)
6. Melding of the Minds (ft. Zach De La Rocha)
7. The Agony (ft. Mary Elizabeth Winstead)
8. Back in the Day (ft. The Lonely Island)
9. Talent Supersedes (ft. Black Rob)
10. Look Across the Sky (ft. Mary Elizabeth Winstead)
11. The Future of Food (ft. David Chang)
12. My Only Love (ft. Emily Wells)
13. What Is This Loneliness (ft. Damon Albarn and Casual)
14. Lawnchair Quarterback Pt. 2 (ft. David Cross and Amber Tamblyn)
15. City Rising From the Ashes (background vocals by Mike Patton)
16. Do You Remember (ft. Jamie Cullum)

Check out the album trailer, featuring Joseph Gordon-Levitt, below.

Looks like that Deltron 3030 reunion is finally happening. Event II, coming soon.

“Deltron 3030 was essential music to me for so long that to have the groups blessing on this remix is more than a honor. Dan The Automator was more than kind enough to send me Del’s studio acapella, and Del gave me the thumbs up on the mix … In short, I am very giddy about this one!

I tried to capture the vibe of the original all while keeping my sound intact. This remix isn’t made for just dj sets… it’s for the people who grew up on this album like I did and still hold that era up on a pedestal.” – FIGURE

Del speaks briefly with AUX TV about his upcoming Deltron 3030 sequel with Dan The Automator and Kid Koala, Event II. He explains the setting of the album takes place in a post-apocalyptic world, free of rule or government.

Just after playing a brilliant but soggy (it rained a lot) Luminato 6 set in Toronto, Dan the Automator and Del the Funky Homosapien of Deltron 3030 discuss playing live again, meeting fan expectations for Deltron Event II (and when it’s coming out), and their future plans, including upcoming dates in Ottawa, Montreal, Quebec City, and Halifax.

Meanwhile, Potholes Music catches an in-depth interview about the Deltron 3030 sequel below via Soundcloud.

BOOM!