Okay, here’s the deal: Decortica are an awesome band from New Zealand. Their new album, Love Hotel, is a goddamn masterpiece. (Read our review here.) And as people, the members of Decortica are nice – so nice that they’re allowing us to give away 5 copies of Love Hotel in the deluxe digital format! Here’s what you get: “Immediate download of 6-track album in your choice of 320k mp3, FLAC, or just about any other format you could possibly desire. Deluxe edition includes digital booklet with full lyrics, iPhone/iPod ready music video for “Monster in a Pretty Dress,” and unreleased photos.” Sounds pretty good, eh?

It is! And all you have to do is go on Twitter and follow a few people. Here’s what you do: follow @decortica, the band’s official account. Follow @assault, where you can get updates about the site, our shirts, and plenty of The After Party Timmy’s liberal views. Then tweet @ both accounts and tell us you want the download! The first five people to tweet it out will get a DM from us with the code and the website where you can redeem it. Not hard at all. Do it now, and start living the dream!

Decortica:

• Official Site
• Blog
• MySpace
• Facebook
• Twitter
• Vimeo

We’ve been lucky enough to commandeer a few copies of the limited-edition 7″ that Editors released for this year’s Record Store Day that we’ve decided to give away to one of our Twitter followers! (We’ve also got their new video for “Eat Raw Meat Blood Drool,” which, if you just scroll down a bit, you can enjoy. No charge or anything. You’re welcome.)

When: Starting Wednesday, May 6th,  until May 13th at Midnight

Where: Twitter!

To enter:

1. Follow us on Twitter @assault
2. Tweet the message “Editors 7″ Giveaway just for retweeting! Go to http://bit.ly/9Zinld and follow @assault to enter!“
3. That’s it!

Already a follower?

“Eat Raw Meat Blood Drool”:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=_T6GhYdwI7g

The Fine Print

On Thursday (5/13/10), 2 winners will be chosen at random to receive seven sweet inches of pure Editors magic! Winners will be notified via Twitter, so keep checking your accounts to see if you’ve won! In order to be a winner you must be following us, and tweet the above message exactly as is.

This contest is only available to people in the United States who follow us on twitter.

Editors:

• Official Site
• MySpace
• Last.fm

Link opens in iTunes

We’ve been lucky enough to commandeer a copy of Cypress Hill’s new album Rise Up that we’ve decided to give away to one of our Twitter followers!

When: Starting Tuesday, April 20th until April 27th at Midnight
Where: Twitter!

To enter:

1. Follow us on Twitter @assault
2. Tweet the message “Cypress Rise Up Album Giveaway Just for Retweeting! http://go.assault.it/20 RT and Follow @assault To Enter!“
3. That’s it!

Already a follower?

Get the album now!

Can’t wait for our little contest? Get the album on iTunes now:

The Fine Print

On Tuesday (4/27/10), 1 winner will be chosen at random to receive the Cypress Hill Rise Up album! Winners will be notified via Twitter, so keep checking your accounts to see if you’ve won! In order to be a winner you must be following us, and tweet the above message exactly as is.

This contest is only available to people in the United States who follow us on twitter.

Cypress Hill:

• Official Website
• Amanda Latina Music Video
• Last.fm
• Get Rise Up on iTunes

Cypress Hill Bio

Cypress Hill has long represented the will of the people. The Los Angeles-based trio of rappers B-Real and Sen Dog and producer DJ Muggs provided distinctive insight into the harsh realities of ghetto life, championed marijuana before it became fashionable and made it acceptable for rappers to use Spanish in their rhymes. Given its visionary bent, it makes sense that the group wanted to call its new album — and its first under the Snoop Dogg administration at Priority Records — Rise Up.

“The term itself is pretty strong, like a call to action for people to stand up for what they believe in,” B-Real says. “With this album, we tried to take an aggressive approach on pretty much the whole thing. I wanted to focus on making some raw, aggressive, in your face hip-hop as well as still touch on that alternative base that we have.”

Produced by Tom Morello of Rage Against The Machine fame, the energetic title track stands as a clarion call for people to rise up to meet challenges and fight for what they believe in. The song’s rock feel offers the perfect entree for the rest of Rise Up, which masterfully alternates between hardcore hip-hop and rap tunes with a rock sensibility. It’s an approach Cypress Hill introduced on 2000’s Skull & Bones. That platinum collection spawned the smash hit “Rock Superstar” and provided an outlet for Cypress Hill to flex its creative muscle. “I think that it was one of the big moves in our careers to walk that fine line of what is hip-hop and what is rock and roll and be right down the middle with it,” Sen Dog says. “People respect you for that, when you walk on the edge like that. That’s why, to this day, rock and roll is a vital part of Cypress Hill.”

Another vital part of Cypress Hill’s success has been its impeccable production, which has been primarily handled by DJ Muggs. Given the increased rock elements on Rise Up and the group’s overall evolution, the trio decided to open production opportunities to outside producers. The resulting lineup of Pete Rock, Tom Morello, Daron Malakian, Mike Shinoda, Apathy, B-Real and Muggs, among others, provides Rise Up with a stunningly diverse yet coherent sound that incorporates the traditional Cypress Hill grittiness but puts an updated twist on the group’s sound.

A perfect example of this is “Armada Latina,” which features Pitbull and Marc Anthony and came from a recording session with producer Jim Jonsin (Lil Wayne, Beyonce). “I thought he [Jim Jonsin] was just blabbing, like, ‘Oh man, Pitbull and Marc Anthony would sound great on this,’” Sen Dog reveals. “The next morning, he calls me up and he says, ‘Pitbull’s coming in tonight. Marc Anthony’s coming in the next day,’ so I wanted to make sure I was there for when both of the guys came. We put together this bad-ass song. To me it’s like a Latin anthem. It was a natural fit being that everybody’s Cuban or Puerto Rican. I think it’s one of those songs that’s going to be a groundbreaking song, like Rob Thomas and Santana’s hit that they had years ago. It’s on that level.”

Elsewhere, the up-tempo “Bang Bang,” measures up to Cypress Hill’s most confrontational work, while on the haunting “Carry Me Away,” B-Real imagines his life as a gangbanger from the perspective of his mother. He was looking for trouble at the time and not reflecting upon his actions. Living with that type of recklessness also serves as the theme of “Trouble Seeker.” Years removed from life as a gangbanger, B-Real provides some insight into the mentality.

“When you go do bad things, it feels good to you then because the adrenaline kicks in, but after the deed is done, if you’ve got a conscience of any kind, you feel bad about it and you reflect and you’re like, ‘I shouldn’t have done that,’” he explains. “That’s what all of our lives have been pretty much. We get ourselves into stuff and we regret it after. If I could take back all the stuff that I did to people who didn’t deserve stuff being done to them, of course I would take it back.”

One thing Cypress Hill doesn’t regret is its career-spanning endorsement of marijuana. “K.U.S.H.,” “Pass The Dutch,” “Get Higher” and Light It Up” continue the group’s unabashed affinity for herb, which they helped popularize in both the rap world and society in general. “We’ve been dubbed as the Smokesmen, the Reefer Kings or whatever they want to call us these days and that’s us,” B-Real says. “It’s something that we can’t run away from. I embrace it. It has held us back in certain areas of our career here and there, but I wouldn’t take it back for nothing. We constantly find a way to talk about it that’s interesting or funny or educational.”

Indeed, since the beginning of its illustrious career, Cypress Hill has pushed rap’s boundaries. With their eponymous debut album in 1991, B-Real and Sen Dog established themselves as one of rap’s most potent duos. Their creative phrasing, distinctive voices and graphic subject matter, as well as DJ Muggs’ atmospheric, piercing and dusty beats, propelled the trio to superstar status.

As the years passed, the crew’s dynamic stage show — bolstered in 1994 by the addition of percussionist Eric Bobo (also of Beastie Boys fame) — has evolved into one of rap’s most polished, as such aggressive tunes as “Insane In The Brain,” “Rock Superstar,” “How I Could Just Kill A Man,” “I Ain’t Going Out Like That,” “Lick A Shot” and “Real Estate” translated perfectly to the stage. Given this reality, it’s little surprise that Cypress Hill remains a major concert draw, even when they take time off between albums. During these hiatuses, each member of Cypress Hill goes his separate way only to return to the fold more prepared to help the collective.

“One reason we’re still together as a unit is because we encourage each other to do solo projects,” Sen Dog says. “When we come back together, it seems everybody has a little bit extra knowledge to add to Cypress Hill. I think that if we didn’t do that, we’d all be frustrated musicians because we have a bunch of stuff that doesn’t necessarily go with Cypress, but it goes with B-Real’s stuff, Sen Dog’s stuff. It makes us a stronger unit.”

Now, with nearly 20 years in the game and its eighth studio album about to arrive in stores, Cypress Hill remains razor sharp – and hungry for success. “We’re always competitive,” B-Real says. “We look at this like a professional sport and each year you’re trying to get the crown. You get close or you do alright and that’s cool, but you want to keep going for the crown.”

Time to Rise Up.

Between the 3 full time members of the Assault elite task force, and the 2-4 part timers, we have attended somewhere around 40,000 Alkaline Trio shows. We figured it’s time to make some new friends, and to do that, we’re going to give away two tickets, and some free drinks on us before the show at the Ginger Man next door. The show is February 28th at  Metro (your favorite Chicago rock venue!). Now, I know what you’re thinking: “You’re just gonna throw away your tickets to this awesome show? That’s retarded.” Well, you know what else is retarded? Your outfit. Now listen:

Alkaline Trio - This Addiction releases February 23rd!

Keeping with our loosely-enforced “Don’t hate, participate!” policy, we’re not just going to hand over the tickets–you gotta work for them. We’re not going to make you buy anything or do anything that we wouldn’t do (although that isn’t saying very much….rimshot!). All we’re asking is that you sign up for our newsletter. On February 18th you will receive our monthly newsletter, and in it you will get a link to a secret page on our site that has directions on how to get the tickets.

Not from Chicago?

No problem, if you find the secret password there’s still a chance to win a limited edition Alkaline Trio/Smoking Popes vinyl split, and a copy of the new album, This Addiction!

The first person to find the secret password will win the tickets, and all you have to do is to sign up for the newsletter, and to follow the directions on the email that is sent to you on February 18th. If you don’t sign up for the newsletter, you’ll never know how to win, so do it now!

The contest may (or may not include) an Alkaline Trio trivia question and/or a secret passcode that will be hidden somewhere on our online store where we sell fucking awesome t-shirts, aviators, and other cool stuff.

Third World Timmy, modeling the actual tickets you could possibly win!

The Goods

Two tickets to the SOLD OUT Alkaline Trio show at Metro Chicago on February 28th. Tickets pictured right. (Yes, those are the actual FUCKING TICKETS!)

Not from Chicago? No problem, there is also a limited edition vinyl Alkaline Trio/Smoking Popes split, and a copy of the new album from AK3, This Addiction!

When will I get my the first clue to the scavenger hunt?

The first clue will go out in our newsletter on the 18th of February that you must sign up for. Don’t forget to add us to your address book so that our emails won’t get caught in your spam filters.

Our newsletter is totally tits mcgee.

It goes out once a month, it has funny pictures of us, hot chicks in our clothing, and gives you a heads up to our best blog posts, recommended music/movies, and deals on all of our new clothing we release.

Derek sporting the Radioactive II T-Shirt from Assault!

Who the hell are you guys?

We’re just 3 guys who love music and make t-shirts. Some people think our shirts are pretty cool (including the guys from the Alkaline Trio) and, better yet, they’re made in the USA.

That’s right, you could win tickets to the SOLD OUT Alkaline Trio show! Better yet, we’ve dropped our prices for our 2 year anniversary sale so our shirts have never been cheaper!

The Fine Print

This contest is a scavenger hunt of sorts. You will need to be a subscriber of our newsletter to get the secret link to where the first clue is for the scavenger hunt. The tickets will be given to the first person to complete the contest who is also 21 years of age. You may need to answer a trivia question about the Alkaline Trio. The tickets, and this contest were not provided for by The Alkaline Trio, or their label. This contest has absolutely no affiliation with Epitaph, or the Alkaline Trio (they didn’t respond to over 40 emails from us asking for an interview and/or permission of some sort so we figured why the hell not!) Winners of the tickets must be at least 21 years of age. Contestants must be in the US.

We bought these tickets with our own money, and if we want to give them to two loyal Alkaline Trio fans from Chicago then god dammit we’re going to do so!

We have a free Cartel CD that we want to give to one of our loyal Twitter friends!

Link opens in iTunes

When: Starting Monday, January 18th until January 22nd at Midnight
Where: Twitter!

To enter:

1. Follow us on Twitter @assault
2. Tweet the message “Cartel CD giveaway! http://assault.it/14 RT and Follow @assault To Enter!“
3. That’s it!

Already a follower? Just click the button below to have the Twitter message posted to your twitter account.

The Fine Print

On Friday (1/22/10), 1 winner will be chosen at random, and will receive the Cartel CD! Winner will be notified via Twitter, so keep checking your accounts to see if you’ve won! In order to be a winner you must be following us, and tweet the above message exactly as is. US residents only!

More Cartel

• Cartel MySpace Blog
• Cartel Official Website
• Cartel iTunes (Link opens in iTunes)

Can’t wait to get the cd? Get it on iTunes:

We have an autographed Skillet CD that we want to give to one of our loyal Twitter friends!

Link opens in iTunes

When: Starting Friday, January 8th until January 15th at Midnight
Where: Twitter!

To enter:

1. Follow us on Twitter @assault
2. Tweet the message “Autographed Skillet CD giveaway! http://assault.it/t RT and Follow @assault To Enter!“
3. That’s it!

Already a follower? Just click the button below to have the Twitter message posted to your twitter account.

The Fine Print

On Tuesday (1/15/10), 1 winner will be chosen at random, and will receive the autographed Skillet CD! Winner will be notified via Twitter, so keep checking your accounts to see if you’ve won! In order to be a winner you must be following us, and tweet the above message exactly as is. US residents only!

Skillet’s New Video, “Hero”

We’ve been lucky enough to hijack a signed Shwayze CD and poster that we’ve decided to give away to one of our Twitter followers!

When: Starting Monday, November 2 until November 13th at Midnight
Where: Twitter!

To enter:

1. Follow us on Twitter @assault
2. Tweet the message “Signed @Shwayze CD and poster giveaway! http://bit.ly/16wA3Q RT and Follow @assault To Enter!“
3. That’s it!

Already a follower? Just click the button below to have the Twitter message posted to your twitter account.

Want to read our review of Shwayze’s new album first? Click here to check it out!

The Fine Print

On Friday (11/13/09), 1 winner will be chosen at random to receive the signed CD and poster! Winners will be notified via Twitter, so keep checking your accounts to see if you’ve won! In order to be a winner you must be following us, and tweet the above message exactly as is.

Shwayze and Cisco

Shwayze have just unveiled the track list for their upcoming album Let It beat. The album features the hit single “Get U Home” and guest appearances from hip-hop heavyweight’s Snoop Dogg, The Knux and Tabi Bonney. Let It Beat is the second studio album from the Malibu based hip-hop duo and will be available for purchase and download on Novemeber 3.

Shwayze and Cisco also had the chance to sit down with MTV recently and talk about their biggest fears, favorite scary movie, and some of their best Halloween memories. Check out the video here to get amped for Halloween and make sure to pre-order your copy of Let It Beat now. Visit www.shwayze.com for more information and a list of upcoming tour dates with LMFAO.

Let It Beat Track List:

1. Livin? It Up (feat. Snoop Dogg)
2. Get U Home
3. Crazy For You
4. Maneatrr
5. Sally Is A?
6. Dirty Little Girl (feat. The Knux)
7. Down At The Motel
8. Daze Like This
9. Wait All Night (feat. Tabi Bonney)
10. Perfect For Me
11. Make a Lil? Love
12. Heart and Soul

Subscribe to the RSS Feed at Film School Rejects and you could win yourself some free Assault T-Shirts! Head on over to the Film School Rejects for all the details.