Generally it’s not my style to ask you to buy an album. I tell you what I think, and then you make up your own mind. That’s the way it should be. This time, however, I am going to make an exception in the case of the Philadelphia band Slo-Mo. The reason is simply this; I want to see this band live. For a number of years, in which the band has produced three wonderful albums, I have wanted to see Slo-Mo live. The problem is, jobs, family responsibilities, and other commitments have kept the band from playing outside of Eastern Pennsylvania. Yes, I could take the 90 minute drive to Philadelphia to see them play, but I ...]]> You heard the man, go grab Gimme What You Got while it’s hot! Ken Shane from Pop Dose reviews Slo-Mo’s latest album.

CD Review: Slo-Mo, “Gimme What You Got”
by Ken Shane for Pop Dose

Generally it’s not my style to ask you to buy an album. I tell you what I think, and then you make up your own mind. That’s the way it should be. This time, however, I am going to make an exception in the case of the Philadelphia band Slo-Mo. The reason is simply this; I want to see this band live. For a number of years, in which the band has produced three wonderful albums, I have wanted to see Slo-Mo live. The problem is, jobs, family responsibilities, and other commitments have kept the band from playing outside of Eastern Pennsylvania. Yes, I could take the 90 minute drive to Philadelphia to see them play, but I just haven’t been able to work that out. Besides, I want you to see them too. I want them to come to your city. So I figure if we all go out and buy their new album, Gimme What You Got, they’ll have enough money to tour the world. And even if they don’t, it’s a really good album.

At the core of Slo-Mo is the somewhat unlikely partnership of Mike ‘Slo-Mo’ Brenner, a virtuoso steel guitar player, and a rapper named Mic Wrecka. Together with their band, including vocalist Susan Rosetti, they make some of the more interesting sounds you’re likely to hear these days. For such a talented musician, Brenner has had a tendency to keep his playing understated in the past, allowing the band to create a nice funky, somewhat mellow groove as a back drop for Mic Wrecka’s imaginative, uplifting messages. This time out, Brenner makes it known from the opening track, , that he’s a force to be reckoned with as he unleashes the most torrid playing he’s ever recorded. “County” is another song in this musical vein as Brenner lays down a wicked riff over the martial drumbeat of Mark Schreiber, and Wrecka describes the drama of lockup.

Brenner opens with a gentle country pattern played on dobro before handing the stage to Rosetti whose voice reminds me of the purple majesty of Prince in the ’80s. Then Wrecka enters with a plea to his loved one to end a faltering relationship before it gets any uglier. It’s a heartbreaker that’s presented in a more grown up fashion than we’re used to hearing in breakup songs from the latest teen sensation.

Mic Wrecka is one of the top MCs out there. If he were a comedian, you’d say he works clean. He has no need to use any of the popular tactics that hip-hop artists use to get attention. There are no gangstas, or guns, or bling. There is no talk of bitches or ho’s. His message is powerful and positive. For those reasons and many more, the album’s final track, “Safe 2 Go,” is troubling. In the song, Wrecka presents his last will and testament as a man who appears to be leaving not only the band, but his very life.

Do me a favor, get this album, and while you’re at it, get the older ones too. Maybe then we can all get to see Slo-Mo live in our own cities. Gimme What You Got is available from the Authentic Records Online Store.

World Cafe Live, 3025 Walnut St., noon today and on WXPN (88.5 FM), free, 215-222-1400, www.xpn.org. Also with the Fractals and Adam & Dave’s Bloodline, Johnny Brenda’s, 1201 N. Frankford Ave., 9 p.m. tomorrow, $10, 215-739-9684, johnnybrendas.com.

— Jonathan Takiff

Slo-Mo featuring Mic Wrecka with the Fractals and Adam & Dave’s ...]]> Philadelphia Inquirer : Slo – Mo

Mike Brenner has been a Philadelphia fixture for more than 15 years, starting with his days in the Low Road and including his role as lap-steel secret weapon with Marah, John Train, and others. As Slo-Mo, he dons a white suit and fronts a funky eight-piece lap-steel/hip-hop hybrid. On Saturday, Brenner and company celebrate the release of the fourth Slo-Mo album, Gimme What You Got. Featuring rapper Mic Wrecka (Doug Jenkins) and sassy, soulful singers Steph Hayes and Susan Rosetti (both of the late Stargazer Lily), it’s a rowdy party-starter that ranges from frat-boy humor (“Skanky”) to Public Enemy-style indignation (“County”) to one deliciously joyful cover (“Groove Is in the Heart,” the Deee-Lite classic). Brenner’s razor-sharp steel guitar threads through it all: He’s the buzzing groove at the heart of this delightful ensemble.
- Steve Klinge

Slo-Mo featuring Mic Wrecka with the Fractals and Adam & Dave’s Bloodline play at 9 p.m. Saturday at Johnny Brenda’s, 1201 N. Frankford Ave. Tickets: $10. Phone: 215-739-9684, www.johnnybrendas.com. Also, WXPN is offering its Free at Noon Concert today at World Cafe Live, 3025 Walnut St. Phone: 215-222-1400. RSVP: http://xpn.org/concerts-events/free-at-noon.

Mike and Mic (get it?) are keeping busy this weekend with a ton of record release partying. The major release party is Sat, Sept 12 at Johnny Brenda’s w/ special guests the Fractals and Adam and Dave’s Bloodline. Also, they’re performing at the Free At Noon concert tomorrow Friday, Sept 11 at World Cafe Live and that same night will be appearing at the Whitaker Center in Harrisburg with David Dye’s Funky Friday Dance Party for another XPN trip out to Central PA.

Sign up for the Friday FAN ...]]> XPN : My Morning Download : Slo – Mo : Full Article

One of our fave XPN locals Slo-Mo featuring Mic Wrecka is back with a new album and better than ever. Slo-Mo (Mike Brenner) and Wrecka’s new album Gimme What You Got is classic Slo-Mo and Wrecka, busting out rhymes and pedal steel lines with girl group harmonies, slow jamz and hot groovers.

Mike and Mic (get it?) are keeping busy this weekend with a ton of record release partying. The major release party is Sat, Sept 12 at Johnny Brenda’s w/ special guests the Fractals and Adam and Dave’s Bloodline. Also, they’re performing at the Free At Noon concert tomorrow Friday, Sept 11 at World Cafe Live and that same night will be appearing at the Whitaker Center in Harrisburg with David Dye’s Funky Friday Dance Party for another XPN trip out to Central PA.

Sign up for the Friday FAN here.
Sign for the Friday evening show at the Whitaker in Harrisburg here.

Many thanks to Mike and Wrecka and their label Authentic Records for letting us lay this fine new tune on you for your MP3 player.

[listen] Home Is Where The Heart Is – Slo-Mo feat Mic Wrecka

At the core of Slo-Mo is the somewhat unlikely partnership of Mike ‘Slo-Mo’ Brenner, a virtuoso steel guitar player, and a rapper named Mic Wrecka. Together with their band, including vocalist Susan Rosetti, they make some of the more interesting sounds you’re likely to hear these days. For such a talented musician, Brenner has had a tendency to keep his playing understated in the past, allowing the band to create a nice funky, somewhat mellow groove as a back drop for Mic ...]]> PopDose : CD Review: Slo-Mo : Full Article

Generally it’s not my style to ask you to buy an album. I tell you what I think, and then you make up your own mind. That’s the way it should be. This time, however, I am going to make an exception in the case of the Philadelphia band Slo-Mo. The reason is simply this; I want to see this band live.

At the core of Slo-Mo is the somewhat unlikely partnership of Mike ‘Slo-Mo’ Brenner, a virtuoso steel guitar player, and a rapper named Mic Wrecka. Together with their band, including vocalist Susan Rosetti, they make some of the more interesting sounds you’re likely to hear these days. For such a talented musician, Brenner has had a tendency to keep his playing understated in the past, allowing the band to create a nice funky, somewhat mellow groove as a back drop for Mic Wrecka’s imaginative, uplifting messages. This time out, Brenner makes it known from the opening track, [Click to listen] “Skanky”, that he’s a force to be reckoned with as he unleashes the most torrid playing he’s ever recorded. “County” is another song in this musical vein as Brenner lays down a wicked riff over the martial drumbeat of Mark Schreiber, and Wrecka describes the drama of lockup.

Brenner opens [Click to listen] “Baby, Say Goodbye” with a gentle country pattern played on dobro before handing the stage to Rosetti whose voice reminds me of the purple majesty of Prince in the ’80s. Then Wrecka enters with a plea to his loved one to end a faltering relationship before it gets any uglier. It’s a heartbreaker that’s presented in a more grown up fashion than we’re used to hearing in breakup songs from the latest teen sensation.

Mic Wrecka is one of the top MCs out there. If he were a comedian, you’d say he works clean. He has no need to use any of the popular tactics that hip-hop artists use to get attention. There are no gangstas, or guns, or bling. There is no talk of bitches or ho’s. His message is powerful and positive. For those reasons and many more, the album’s final track, “Safe 2 Go,” is troubling. In the song, Wrecka presents his last will and testament as a man who appears to be leaving not only the band, but his very life.

Do me a favor, get this album, and while you’re at it, get the older ones too. Maybe then we can all get to see Slo-Mo live in our own cities. Gimme What You Got is available from the Authentic Records Online Store. Slo-Mo’s album release party is Saturday, September 12 at Johnny Brenda’s in Philadelphia with special guests the Fractals, and Adam and Dave’s Bloodline.

“I think the band’s much stronger than what it reads like on paper,” admits Slo-Mo ’s Mike Brenner. He’s right. On paper, Slo-Mo reads like a bit of a novelty act. Brenner combines his steel-guitar playing with Mic Wrecka ’s hip-hop rhymes. They add in the standard guitars, bass and drums, and a good dollop of female background vocals. The setup works.


“It’s taken us a while to get to that point, but I think we’ve become a great ...]]> Philadelphia Weekly : Umm…Drop: Slo-Mo : Full Article

“I think the band’s much stronger than what it reads like on paper,” admits Slo-Mo ’s Mike Brenner. He’s right. On paper, Slo-Mo reads like a bit of a novelty act. Brenner combines his steel-guitar playing with Mic Wrecka ’s hip-hop rhymes. They add in the standard guitars, bass and drums, and a good dollop of female background vocals. The setup works.
”

“I think the band’s much stronger than what it reads like on paper,” admits Slo-Mo ’s Mike Brenner. He’s right. On paper, Slo-Mo reads like a bit of a novelty act. Brenner combines his steel-guitar playing with Mic Wrecka ’s hip-hop rhymes. They add in the standard guitars, bass and drums, and a good dollop of female background vocals. The setup works.


“It’s taken us a while to get to that point, but I think we’ve become a great band and I think that trumps any kind of, ‘This is cute.’ We want to slam people. I don’t think novelty bands have people coming back gig after gig,” Brenner says. 


Since Brenner released Slo-Mo’s first album in 2000—whimsically titled Novelty —he’s fleshed out the group to an octet and is set to release the band’s fourth album, Gimme What You Got . Gimme ’s 11 tunes balance an upbeat honky-tonk vibe with more aggressive and tense rhymes and raps for a cohesive and powerful album. 


Gimme What You Got , Wrecka says, was made with “no particular formula. We just tried to step further outside the box, as far as what we thought people might want to hear.” The result is one song that bears heavy doo-wop influences, another that takes a nod from dub-reggae and bears closer resemblance to socially conscious indie rappers like Atmosphere and Sage Francis.


“I think if anything, we wanted this record to be a little more bumpin’, a little more rockin’,” says Brenner. “It didn’t all have to be danceable in my mind … but we wanted to be able to play all these live and keep people jumpin’.” ■


Sat., Sept. 12, 9pm. $10. With the Fractals + Adam and Dave’s Bloodline. Johnny Brenda’s, 1201 N. Frankford Ave. 215.739.9684. johnnybrendas.com

Slo-Mo is the brainchild of Philadelphia steel guitarist Mike “Slo-Mo” Brenner. Brenner has recorded and played on the road with such artists as Badly Drawn Boy, Magnolia Electric Company, Marah, Melody Gardot, G Love and more, but Slo-Mo is something totally different. Mixing Brenner’s steel guitar grooves with frontman Mic Wrecka’s rhymes and hip hop poetry, Slo-Mo Featuring Mic Wrecka has become a Philly favorite, winning over fans with a slamming live show and uniquely funky tunes backed by a tight 8-piece band.

Slo-Mo’s first disc, “Novelty,” (Bong Load, 2000) was produced by Tom Rothrock (Beck, Foo Fighters, James Blunt) and Beale Dabbs (R.L. Burnside, Lutefisk) and combined electronic beats and samples with Brenner’s dobro playing.

Weighing in on ...]]> Authentic Records’s proudly presents its newest member, Slo-Mo and his latest release, Gimme What You Got featuring the ever so talented Mic Wrecka. Can’t wait for the album to drop? Grab the pre-release!

Slo-Mo is the brainchild of Philadelphia steel guitarist Mike “Slo-Mo” Brenner. Brenner has recorded and played on the road with such artists as Badly Drawn Boy, Magnolia Electric Company, Marah, Melody Gardot, G Love and more, but Slo-Mo is something totally different. Mixing Brenner’s steel guitar grooves with frontman Mic Wrecka’s rhymes and hip hop poetry, Slo-Mo Featuring Mic Wrecka has become a Philly favorite, winning over fans with a slamming live show and uniquely funky tunes backed by a tight 8-piece band.

Slo-Mo’s first disc, “Novelty,” (Bong Load, 2000) was produced by Tom Rothrock (Beck, Foo Fighters, James Blunt) and Beale Dabbs (R.L. Burnside, Lutefisk) and combined electronic beats and samples with Brenner’s dobro playing.

Weighing in on “Novelty,” none other than Bruce Springsteen recently said: “a lot of really great stuff on it…certainly worth checking out.”

The follow-up was “My Buzz Comes Back,”(PHIdelity, 2005) the first disc to feature Mic Wrecka as a collaborator. The Brenner/Wrecka co-written songs “My Buzz Comes Back” and “Shackamaxon” received heavy airplay from Philly station WXPN and the band, now augmented by singers Susan Rosetti and Steph Hayes (of Philly’s Stargazer Lily), set to work impressing audiences with their highly energetic live gigs.

The next disc “Smokey Mountain” (PHIdelity, 2007) continued the evolution of the band and further established Mic Wrecka as the frontman and main lyricist. Songs such as “Shine As You Are” and “Aramingo Takeout” immediately became live show staples.

With their newest, “Gimme What You Got,” (Authentic Records, 2009) the band has created a disc that matches the excitement of their lives shows as well as showcasing the increased confidence of the unit itself. With the addition of keyboardist Daryl Hirsch, the line-up has solidified and bloomed into a band that consistently delivers the goods, night after night.

Slo-Mo Featuring Mic Wrecka is:
Mike “Slo-Mo” Brenner: steel guitar, vocals
Mic Wrecka: words and rhymes
Susan Rosetti: vocals
Steph Hayes: vocals, guitar
Hoagy Wing: percussion
Daryl Hirsch: keys
Mark Schreiber: drums
Steve Demarest: bass