Following a few thousand bands and labels on Bandcamp means a flooded mailbox on release days. Cues like the band name, genres, tag lines and cover art help us fish for gems, and that’s where we couldn’t ignore Philadelphia’s Old City, a project by producer Justin Mayer and MC/lyricist Tre Marsh aka Tr38cho. Their self-titled debut full-length, housed in a sleeve that we immediately added to our Favorite Cover Art Gallery, is billed as ‘a Punk Rock Paul’s Boutique’ and it lives up to that. Sixteen jam-packed tracks (partly taken from their 2021 EP, like Sixers (featuring MURS) in the video below) are squeezed into fifty-three minutes—genre-bending hip-hop, with old school rap and hundreds of punk samples, but also turntablism, metal, classical and jazz elements, and contributions from a few skilled guests. This record is a fascinating journey of discovery full of ‘Wow!’ moments.

Old City’s self-titled album is out now digitally and on vinyl LP through Get Better Records.

Add to wantlist: Bandcamp || Get Better