busdriver - 'fear of a black tangent'
even the title of the album gives the game away. being a non-subtle dig/homage towards hiphop heroes public enemy - however the dude known as 'busdriver' is not into serious political hip hop, oh no. this is off the wall entertainment overload. at first the sheer diversity of styles i found off putting for reasons i will go into later. in fact the album took a while to hit, obviously the laid back sing--a-long grooves of the standout track 'unemployed black astronaut' starts to become the focus of the album from which the rest of the fun hangs off - especially as the track is recalled up towards the albums end, with its laid back psychedelic guitar loops and madcap lyrical lines easily making this one of my fave tracks of the year so far. now, a whole lp of that kinda style would be nice, but wouldn't make the album longstanding, so its to busdrivers advantage that he dips his toes into a whole bunch of other styles of funky loops and moods to keep the listener totally on board. whether its the piano riffed and cutup of 'avantcore', the sampledelica overload of 'workholes', or the wonderful string section enhanced 'mad your psyche', or the daisy age styles of 'befriend your friendless friendster' the album i a scattershot mish mash of weirdness and displaced samples.
a word of warning though. the reason a lot of the album was originally hard going is down to busdrivers style. the man like words. lots and lots of words. sometimes they flow beautifully, and sometimes he just lets rip at a speed that makes listening exhausting .. i realise this speed rap is a style, but it just aint my kind of thing .. well not straight away.
luckily though, busdrivers humour and personality permeates so strongly that as i listened to the album more i began to pick up on the man nuances and began to focus elsewhere and realise that i was seriously falling for the album. for example - listen to the music biz baiting 'cool band buzz' - he's not holding back on the whole hype machine, but doesn't sound bitter - just having fun at the whole shindig making for a refreshing change. so there are sections that i find hard going, but when these are counteracted with such classics as 'low flying winged books' which is a total spaced out freak of a track, and the weirdly titled 'sphinx coonery' (a total on-u sound/little axe rip off if ever there was one) .. then you just know that in a few years time i will still be getting to grips with the far corners of the album.
sometimes instant hook lines are what the doctor orders, sometimes hidden gems are much more fun.
jump on board for the perfect hip hop antidote to the current plastic grooves that dominate the airwaves.
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