Album Notes

Optional 2

...are a hip-hop group that takes it back to move it forward: one DJ, one MC, and several messages make for a compelling alternative to modern popular music. The band attends Goucher College in Maryland, USA and makes music because they love it.

Robespierre

...is a composer/producer/DJ from Houston, TX. In addition to playing piano, organ, bagpipes, turntables, guitar, bass, viola, and singing, he's also got a damn good ear. The beats for Optional 2 don't sound like anything else or everything else - they sound like hip-hop through the ears of a kid who didn't even listen to hip-hop as recently as 2003.

Thursday Knight

...is a songwriter/vocalist from Seattle, WA. After cutting his teeth in funk-rap-rock outfit F5 during his high school years, he joined Robespierre and two other Goucher students in forming a successful folk-pop group, New House Pins, during their freshman years. His writing comes from several perspectives, and his deliveries are equally diverse, coming from a kid who always loved hip-hop but wanted to move in a different direction.

Optional 2

...are moving in a different direction. Their self-released debut album, Moment Of Truth, promises a unique outlook on youth ('All Grown Up'), love ('You Were Meant For Me'), life ('Listen To The Girls'), and Bob Dylan ('Don't Think Twice, It's All Right').

Check it out here and at fine stores around Baltimore, Houston, and Seattle.