…ready for war, Shake Down, HjNX w/ NICEMARK Shake Now
HjNX – Shake Down is available at Spotify, Apple Music, SoundCloud.
by Walter Price
Telling you that the last 18 months have been the most bizarre would be redundant. Pandemic, racial injustice, police brutality, political chaos, and being sequestered have taken their pound of flesh in a relatively short period of time. And the debut single “Shake Down” from multifaceted Gregory Ambrose Calderone’s new project HjNX feat. Nicemark is an anthem for a new age.
A quote provided to the GTC, HjNX shares, “From a global pandemic that has seen governments prioritizing the economy over human lives, to abhorrent racialized police brutality, to election campaigns spewing revolting lies, I was fucking furious.”
And the sense of being “fucking furious” comes through loud in clear with this heavy blues-soaked sucker punch track. Calderone’s vocal is akin to a call to arms as that intense bass line serves up a sturdy thump that pulls and twists you along the way. And its social conscience rock n roll on the verge of exploding.
After a long day spent recording vocals for “Shake Down” during the lockdown of early 2020, the sun was setting brilliantly and the birds were singing in the trees, just recently returning from their hiatus down south.
I opened up the windows, cranked up the input level on the microphone, and pointed it out toward the street. Dropping the audio into the outro created a somewhat optimistic conclusion to a rumbling, distorted beginning.
You can stream “Shake Down” as we as “My Kingdom & I”, now at the GTC.
Shake Down, HjNX w/ NICEMARK Shake Now
Artist photo/ quotes courtesy of Auteur Research
HjNX: Gregory Ambrose Calderone / Mark Calderone
Mastered: Montano Mastering
“It was impossible to ignore everything that was boiling over in the world when I began writing “Shake Down,” the debut single from HjNX (a collaboration between my brother, Nicemark, and myself.”