Ciecmate & Newsense - A Tale Of Two Mcs
Duo Ciecmate & Newsense of Hospice Crew have recently released their eagerly anticipated full-length together, A Tale Of Two Cities. Two weeks after its release, 3D’s Matt Unicomb chats with Ciecmate.
Born out of Canberra’s suburbs in the early 2000s, the Hospice Crew have garnered a kind of notoriety rarely seen in Australian music. A reputation as one of this country’s hardest working outfits has followed the eight-piece throughout their enduring career, and has gone side by side with consistent touring and frequent releases. Fronting Hospice Crew are MCs/producers Ciecmate and Newsense. Often seen as the faces of the outfit, the pair have spent the last few years spearheading the growing Broken Tooth Entertainment brand; an independent label, recording, mixing and mastering service, and events management collective. Having a catalogue spanning a mixture of 15 LPs, EPs and mixtapes, many critically acclaimed, Broken Tooth Entertainment has been responsible for some of the most sought after releases, is one of Australian hip hop’s most sought after labels – upholding a music policy that most labels would be wary to endorse, and have commenced 2009 as this country’s most highly regarded underground hip hop label.
Fittingly, Broken Tooth’s 15th release, Ciecmate & Newsense’s A Tale of Two Cities, may just be the most eagerly anticipated yet. A project that, for years, had been on both MCs’ horizons, is now complete, and is of a higher caliber than most would expect. After dedicating so much time to the day-to-day running of Broken Tooth and the artists calling it home, the duo have done the impossible and scheduled recording and writing time outside their chaotic business diaries. Deciding to dedicate their future availabilities to A Tale of Two Cities upon the completion of Gargoyle’s Saint Sinner, Ciecmate & Newsense spent the next few months working around their demanding calendars, pushing for an unforeseen release date. To add to the bustle, Ciecmate released his solo mixtape, Pre-emptive Strike late last year. “We didn’t really plan to release it at any time,” Ciecmate reflects enthusiastically on A Tale of Two Cities. “We were just working away. It was really weird, because I was living with Newsense in Melbourne, but all we’d do is just get blazed. I’d finally get around to making a beat, but I’d turn around and he’d be asleep on the couch. We never actually made any music. When he moved to Canberra, he got more geed up on music, and he’d come to Melbourne to write. We used to organise secret missions where no one else knew he was coming to town, because they’d always just want him to drink, and that would be the end of it. If he hadn’t moved to Canberra, we probably wouldn’t have gotten the album done.”
A Tale of Two Cities gives us an insight into the lives of Ciecmate & Newsense like no prior release has. A remarkably introspective, grimy passage into the minds of the pair has resulted, complete with political jabs, comical descriptions of smoking antics, battle raps, and perceptive tales of travel and childhood. We have been presented with a Ciecmate & Newsense few casual fans would have encountered.
Taking the past few years into consideration, and the releases that without the dedication of these two MCs would’ve never seen the light of day, Australian hip hop owes Ciecmate & Newsense a great deal of gratitude. It was these two who brought us Billy Bunks and Nick One, Maggot Mouf, Gargoyle, Tornts and Hospice Crew. “It’s been a long time coming,” Ciecmate exhales with relief. “It feels really good, man. I have a weight lifted from my shoulders. Me and Newswnse put a lot of time into it over the years, and have sacrificed a lot. To have something of our own out is really good.”
WHO: Ciecmate & Newsense

WHAT: A Tale of Two Cities through Shogun

WHEN: Out now

MORE: myspace.com/ciecmatenewsense