Chris DeLine

Having not since released a solo album since 2000’s Both Sides of the Brain it would be a bit of an understatement to call Del’s forthcoming Eleventh Hour highly anticipated. Dropping albums this year with both Hieroglyphics and Deltron 3030 (rumored) in addition to his solo record, 2008 is shaping up to be not just the year that Del returns to form, but the year that he’s again praised as one of the best MCs out there.

Since I was young and rocked a Nintendo there have been very few video games that captured my interest enough to justify the purchase of an entire system. There are exceptions to the rule and the Tony Hawk series (at least the first few) were beasts, all chewing up a lot of my time when they were first released. Not simply were the games solid landmarks in the sports genre, but their soundtracks were blazing – the first three games reflecting acts from Dead Kennedys to Mr. Funkee Homosapian himself. Slightly prior to hearing Del’s contribution to THPS3 I was just getting into Deltron 3030, his collaboration with Dan the Automator and Kid Koala, so it made perfect sense that I would love his solo work – and I did.

My adoration goes back long before hearing Del grouped amongst AFI and the Ramones however, all the way back to junior high when I was still rocking my walkman too and from school. For whatever reason I went through a couple of copies of this tape when I was younger but the music from the Judgement Night soundtrack has stuck with me to this day. I’d be lying if I said that the Del/Dinosaur Jr. track isn’t one of my favorite songs of all time; to me it feels timeless and resonates so fluently compared to other acts on the album (Biohazard & Onyx…need I say more?). I doubt we’ll hear anything along the lines of “If You Must” or especially “Missing Link,” but I’ll be damned if I can’t dream. Eleventh Hour will fittingly be released March the eleventh.

[This post was first published by Culture Bully.]