One of the most anticipated debut albums in Australian hip hop, this is the first full length release from CIECMATE (pronounced CHECKMATE) and NEWSENSE, lynchpins of the Australian hip hop scene, long time collaborators and frontmen of HOSPICE CREW.

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times… It was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness… It was the age of ceaseless toil, it was the age of drunken revelry... They were Heaven bound with lofty ideals, they were hell bound on the devil’s coat tails. In Melbourne sat a King with a large jaw at the helm of independent record label. In Canberra, a whimsical jester oversaw a paint emporium.
It was the year two thousand and nine, and these two disparate souls saw fit to unleash a recorded missive that would not be thwarted by the tyranny of distance.
Forging Broken Tooth Entertainment’s strengths in Melbourne, Ciecmate is the beat-breaking crate digger out to make figures. A rhyme writer, verse rehearser and spitter of raps both personal and abstract, his primary responsibility has been maintaining the label’s lofty standard of product since 2003. He’s also their debt collector, account keeping shot caller, income stream manager and release date coordinator. With A Tale of Two Cities clocking in as their 15th release, BTE is now officially one of Australia most prolific and longstanding hip hop imprints.
Lurking in Canberra, Newsense is the Kamboon Lagoon local, looming through the moonlight, known nationwide as a key draftsman of the town’s hip hop architecture. As the label’s target meeter, meagre earnings shuffler, merch hustler and market research conductor, he’s integral to the duo’s increasingly versatile C.V. The ambitious man on a mission is a venerable veteran of the Australian hip hop fraternity, not afraid to stray from common trends and fashions.
These are just a sample of the attributes on the resumés of the two esteemed MC/producers. Both hailing from Canberra, but with Ciecmate now based in Melbourne, the duo are also the frontmen of hip hop supergroup Hospice Crew, who released Storm Warning and Visiting Hours, and the guys behind the sought after “Speaking As One” 12” which was rated 4/5 by UK’s HHC Magazine. As MCs and producers they have collaborated with the likes of Drapht, Funkoars, Pegz, Layla, Downsyde, Bias B, Clandestien, Jase and Reason, and worked closely with labelmates Tornts, Overproof, Bigfoot, Gargoyle, Maggot Mouf and Billy Bunks.

A Tale of Two Cities finds the two men on the move at large in different cities, but tackling the same dilemmas. “They’re Watching” is an examination of the modern day surveillance state, “Club Meds” explores the complex world of recreational substance use and “Men Still Moving” is a global nomad’s travelogue. Judiciously selected guests include Billy Bunks on “Codename Cougar”, an ode to intergenerational love and Diem on the murky “Labyrinth of Shadows”. Finally, a hard hitting posse cut closes proceedings with Bunks, Swarmy of Overproof and Maggot Mouf warning pretenders to “Run For Cover”.
After six years of dedicating their efforts and time to the label and their extended crew, weathering the pressures of day to day life and pushing the BTE insignia out to the world at large, their original plan has come full circle. Through numerous interstate trips and sleepless studio sessions, Ciecmate and Newsense have crafted an album of diverse, neck-snapping beats and incisive, topical lyricism. The result is A Tale of Two Cities, a long anticipated and richly rewarding work from two of Australia’s hardest working hip hop icons.