With his witty rhymes and nasally voice, Busdriver has been steadily building up and expanding upon the L.A. alternative rap scene since 2001, when his debut, Memoirs of an Elephant Man, came out. With each subsequent release, the MC embellished his already eclectic repertoire with increasingly off-the-wall lyrics and production (the latter handled by a number of different people). On RoadKillOvercoat, his first record with Anti/Epitaph, he continues this trend, branching out even further from more typical hip-hop associations and moving towards indie rock and electronica territory. It's the kind of shift that's likely to bother fans of the MC's fast and intricate delivery, because more often than not, Busdriver ends up singing his lines with a kind of slow whine that would make emo proud. Tracks like "Sun Shower" and "Dream Catcher's Mitt" are pure indie pop, and even the more ap-oriented songs, like "Pompous Posies! Your Party's No Fun" and "Casting Agents and Cowgirls" have strongly melodic, refrain-like hooks. Lyrically, Busdriver is still as cynical and biting as ever, constantly criticizing and making fun of different groups of people and drawing attention to various hypocrisies. He takes an especially hard swing at hippies, mentioning them frequently throughout the album, accusing them of empty actions and simply following popular trends for appearance's sake. But while statements like "these hippies are holier than thou at poorly attended peace marches holding cold veggie dogs.../Cuz smearing a salad on a SUV can't save the black faces at the refugee camp" and "working class heroism is stylish all season" are certainly blunt, they're almost so caustic that it's as if he's mocking himself for, as he calls it in the album's notes, his "niche-based, nonsense ap." That's a fitting description of RoadKillOvercoat, actually, and the MC's ability to recognize it shows a disarmingly candid self- and world-awareness. "I...drive my stretched Humvee through ap fads like an occupied Baghdad" he rhymes in "Secret Skin," and though he may be speaking for a collective "I," he's including himself in it (he is less catholic, however with President Bush, who though is never named directly, is clearly the object of opprobrium and the reference of the epithets "populous Texan," "troglodyte," and "daddy's spoiled son"). The beats on the album, mostly provided by Nobody and Boom Bip, are structured almost like ock songs with clear verse and chorus parts, and work well with all of this, and their synthesized elements fit the MC's nasally sneer nicely. But while Busdriver's refusal to adhere to genre boundaries may be a refreshing alternative to tiresome ap trends, it can also distract from his true lyrical talent. RoadKillOvercoat will certainly win him some fans who have previously avoided hip-hop, but for those same reasons, it might also cost him some, too.
So last Thursday my friends Jason, Mathias, and I went and saw Busdriver perform a show at Neumos in Seattle. While we were waiting in line a redhead girl asked if she could buy a ticket off of us for $40. We declined, and then proceeded to waste her time by talking about exotic fish and animals with her. Later on her boyfriend or somebody arrived and they were offering $100 for a ticket. A lit...
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My first musical obsession of 2007 has been confirmed.One of my resolutions for the year is to actually listen to the mp3s that are offered by the music websites that I frequent and this week I finally started to make good on it. While cruising Pitchfork I encountered an article on Busdriver, an "alternative" hip-hop artist out of Los Angeles (yes, them again) whose sixth record _RoadkillOverco...
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My first musical obsession of 2007 has been confirmed.One of my resolutions for the year is to actually listen to the mp3s that are offered by the music websites that I frequent and this week I finally started to make good on it. While cruising Pitchfork I encountered an article on Busdriver, an "alternative" hip-hop artist out of Los Angeles (yes, them again) whose sixth record _RoadkillOverco...
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So, last Thursday I posted about a rapper who goes by the name of Busdriver. That compelled me to go pick up his latest work, Roadkillovercoat (now mog is giving me music reccommendations from myself, crazy). Anyways, I've got to say, I've been listening to this album all week, and it's really quite something. I don't think I've gotten this worked up over a hip hop album since Outkast's Stankon...
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So last Thursday my friends Jason, Mathias, and I went and saw Busdriver perform a show at Neumos in Seattle. While we were waiting in line a redhead girl asked if she could buy a ticket off of us for $40. We declined, and then proceeded to waste her time by talking about exotic fish and animals with her. Later on her boyfriend or somebody arrived and they were offering $100 for a ticket. A lit...
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OK, so I put a Busdriver track on my MySpace, and you people seem to think you know what he sounds like, and apparently arent impressed. This is a mistake. This new album of his, Roadkillovercoat, is the first album in a LONG time I've been this excited about. And now, with MOG, you folks have no excuse not to check it out. My fav songs are Casting Agents and Cowgirls, Less Yesses More Nos, Sec...
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As some of you may know by now, I'm in the process of counting down my 20 favorite hip-hop albums of all time. Busdriver's RoadKillOvercoat came in at #15. Remember that I grew up on late 90's and early 00's music, so my hip-hop views are probably a lot more modern than a lot of [...]
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 "RoadKillOvercoat")
