The mind-bogglingly articulate Busdriver just dropped his latest full-length 'Perfect Hair' on Big Dada yesterday! He's also been writing some lines track-by-track over on his Twitter AND you can stream the whole thing here, whilst you read my review for the 405!
Review // Busdriver- 'Perfect Hair'
Eccentric Los Angeles native Busdriver, has been dispensing his hyper literate, oddball hip-hop for over a decade, reconstructing experimental practices by striking boldly when the iron glows hot. A crossover of label affiliations led to projects with Brainfeeder boss Flying Lotus, and his British protégé Lapalux more recently, then there was his ridiculous take on Drake's 'Worst Behaviour' at the tail end of last year, abundant with tongue-in-cheek, stinging delivery. Returning to one of his earlier homes in the form of Big Dada, Perfect Hair comes out of an escape for the flaws found within self-acceptance.
'Retirement ODE', an infectious instrumental with stirring hooks that leer "You never would admit how sick I've become," fluctuates between the crazy and the adamant. Lines such as "I'm a frequent flyer/ and a decent liar/ and that's a lie in itself come on", are laughed off in their overcharged ludicrosity, an element distinctively inherent to his music. Melodic takes from the backing singers he quotes costing $3500 per take, prove their worth before the beat breaks down to a frenetic fury, spitting "I used to wake up at noon to punch the moon" to twist the track into a disembodied truth. If fellow Californian Madlib's mental Quasimoto persona, is defined by smoked-out, high-pitched animation, then Regan Farquhar's Busdriver alter-ego is sharp, not to mention full-throttle.
'Bliss Pilot' is certainly atmospheric and full-bodied, though not vulnerable enough to be emotional, the horns, rippling electronics and arrhythmic delivery, suggesting he wasn't chasing such a label, anyway. Even on the formidable (and brilliant) Jeremiah Jae-produced 'Ego Death', with his raps stabbing over a monster of a beat, the idea of altering your state of consciousness as stated in the title, is met precisely head-on. Double dutching through a hook of "We can make this better/ or not/ yes we will/ we're just looking for something inside us to kill," Farquhar nods back to the song-orientated direction that was present on 2012's Beaus$Eros - boiling hot guest spots from the inimitable Danny Brown and Aesop Rock, planting pop-culture nods to The Prodigy and Marilyn Manson, as if all in this crazy house together.
'Tooth Lined Horizon Blinks' doesn't come up for air in a slanted, almost chant-led iniation, Open Mike Eagle sweeping in to announce his presence with straight-up, old-school flow; a talent concentrated and able to hold its own, even under 'Drivers unassailable stance. Where Perfect Hair has those ballsy moments, lyrically with pushing past an ostracization and arriving at a truth, there are the flashes such as 'Upsweep'- produced by Mono/Poly- to balance out the often unruly collection. Bringing us back round to the poignant at first, the latter track's instrumentals infuse through Farquhar's centre-stage vocal, similarly to 'Bliss Pilot'. Yet as the release plays on, we've always known the persona of Busdriver was an unconventional one, but to the clear divisions throughout Perfect Hair, he has a release that bifurcates between sparkling, let-it-rip takes, over to a self-antagonistic, ball of constructed chaos.
'Retirement ODE', an infectious instrumental with stirring hooks that leer "You never would admit how sick I've become," fluctuates between the crazy and the adamant. Lines such as "I'm a frequent flyer/ and a decent liar/ and that's a lie in itself come on", are laughed off in their overcharged ludicrosity, an element distinctively inherent to his music. Melodic takes from the backing singers he quotes costing $3500 per take, prove their worth before the beat breaks down to a frenetic fury, spitting "I used to wake up at noon to punch the moon" to twist the track into a disembodied truth. If fellow Californian Madlib's mental Quasimoto persona, is defined by smoked-out, high-pitched animation, then Regan Farquhar's Busdriver alter-ego is sharp, not to mention full-throttle.
'Bliss Pilot' is certainly atmospheric and full-bodied, though not vulnerable enough to be emotional, the horns, rippling electronics and arrhythmic delivery, suggesting he wasn't chasing such a label, anyway. Even on the formidable (and brilliant) Jeremiah Jae-produced 'Ego Death', with his raps stabbing over a monster of a beat, the idea of altering your state of consciousness as stated in the title, is met precisely head-on. Double dutching through a hook of "We can make this better/ or not/ yes we will/ we're just looking for something inside us to kill," Farquhar nods back to the song-orientated direction that was present on 2012's Beaus$Eros - boiling hot guest spots from the inimitable Danny Brown and Aesop Rock, planting pop-culture nods to The Prodigy and Marilyn Manson, as if all in this crazy house together.
'Tooth Lined Horizon Blinks' doesn't come up for air in a slanted, almost chant-led iniation, Open Mike Eagle sweeping in to announce his presence with straight-up, old-school flow; a talent concentrated and able to hold its own, even under 'Drivers unassailable stance. Where Perfect Hair has those ballsy moments, lyrically with pushing past an ostracization and arriving at a truth, there are the flashes such as 'Upsweep'- produced by Mono/Poly- to balance out the often unruly collection. Bringing us back round to the poignant at first, the latter track's instrumentals infuse through Farquhar's centre-stage vocal, similarly to 'Bliss Pilot'. Yet as the release plays on, we've always known the persona of Busdriver was an unconventional one, but to the clear divisions throughout Perfect Hair, he has a release that bifurcates between sparkling, let-it-rip takes, over to a self-antagonistic, ball of constructed chaos.
Words by Yours Truly X
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