Northern State DYING IN STEREO (STARTIME INTERNATIONAL)

Northern State are a trio of white girls from Long Island with amusing noms de microphone (Hesta Prynn, Guinea Love, and DJ Sprout) and a devotion to old-school hip-hop that translates into a revitalized take on the genre. Vintage keyboards paired with programmed beats, rhyme schemes that flow with ease, and a positive outlook ("We bring the optimism and the opportunity/You can feel the power of the possibility") form the foundation here. On "At the Party," the trio sound happy just to have the opportunity to test the hip-hop waters. And though they do address some serious topics (police brutality, the war in Iraq, feminism), they’re at their best when they’re simply having whimsical fun with words, as on "The Man’s Dollar": "Sprout on the prowl down the center court/Hesta Prynn on the roof with a chocolate torte/Me I’ll be chilling wearing my skort." And on "A Thousand Words," Hesta, with her shrill wail, and Guinea, with her sultry rasp, demonstrate the fun you can have with stereo panning as Hesta shouts out "Where you at?" from one side of the mix and Guinea answers "Ovah heah" from the other.