Relentless Approach

9 p.m. Friday, March 23. El Leñador, 3124 Cherokee Street.

Mar 22, 2012 at 4:00 am
Relentless Approach
Jake Hale

Relentless Approach is a Notorious B.I.G.-themed hardcore band. Yeah, you read that right. While the recordings contain no actual rapping per se, the band itself is thematically centered around the late Biggie Smalls and the content of his songs. The name Relentless Approach is culled from the lyrics of "Machine Gun Funk," and most (if not all) of the band's tracks share titles with Notorious B.I.G. ones: "Who Shot Ya," "Juicy," "Hypnotize" — hip-hop classics reimagined as hardcore songs, but not in a cover-band way at all. Relentless Approach writes its own searing music, with lyrics that run parallel in subject matter to the originals.

Party and Bullshit: Relentless Approach contains members of Quad Cities' weed-drenched Lord Green, a now-defunct stoner rock/hardcore outfit and St. Louis favorite. Remnants of that band's sound can be heard in RA; the marijuana is clearly still essential to the process.