The Left

There are at least 3 artists called The Left. 1. While everyone else merges and follows the traffic jam on that nicely paved 4-lane highway to the right, you’ll always have those few who prefer to follow that narrow, unpaved road to The Left, curious to see where it leads. In this case, The Left leads you straight to Detroit. The Left began as a simple phone conversation between two artists displaying mutual respect for each other’s craft. Detroit staples Apollo Brown (Producer) and Journalist 103 (Emcee) turned the prospect of a couple random songs into an album considered by many tastemakers to be the best underground hip hop LP of 2010. Shortly after starting the album in early 2009, the duo brought in DJ Soko to provide cuts for the album and act as the official DJ for The Left’s live performances. Apollo’s hard drums and dirty, static-filled sample chops coupled with Journalist’s rugged, politically charged flow and DJ Soko’s raw, timeless cuts led to the creation of what is now The Left’s debut album, Gas Mask. 2. The Left burst out of Hagerstown, MD in 1983 like a supernova only to implode two years later after the release of their infamous 12” EPS, Hell, It’s the World! and Last Train to Hagerstown. Their Punk sound rooted in both 60s Garage and Hardcore Punk owed a lot to both the Sonics and Stooges as well as their out of the way Western Maryland locale. Outsiders and outcasts in their desolate hometown, they arose out of the ashes of the Embryonic Magnetos and first surfaced with a melodic, tuneful blast of hate, the great “You’re So” which appeared on Bona Fide’s Train to Disaster comp in 1983. The following year saw the release of the now classic debut LP—Hell It’s the World!—a 14 minute slab of unbridled energy, raw emotion, and lots of guitar! Soon they would follow with their second LP Last Train to Hagerstown—another hard rocking kick ass rock n roll record in the spirit of the Stooges. The band broke up before the LP was released. 3. Pop/Rock from Vancouver, British Columbia (www.theleft.ca) Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.