The Closest Thing To Death That I’ve Ever Known

Busdriver “Kill Your Employer” – Busdriver raps as if he is imagining his voice as a lead melodic line rather than a parallel rhythm, and the zippy zig zag of his verses lends itself to cartoonish changes in his timbre and absurd lyrical density, as though his primary artistic influence was the super fast enunciation of fine print in radio advertisements. His approach is at home in this busy quasi-electro arrangement, drawing him closer to the likes of the Dungeon Family than what would normally be expected of this sort of aggressively nerdy and political hip hop. The catchy (but slightly off-kilter) chorus certainly doesn’t hurt, though I kinda wish that the title was spelled “Cill Your Employer.” (Click here to buy it from Underground Hip Hop)

The Victorian English Gentlemen’s Club “Dead Anyway” – Playfully morbid, cheerfully bleak, gallows rock. McLusky with ladies, sludge with jaunt, chords like grinding metal and broken gears. Soft to loud for drama and dynamics, not out of habit. The highs feel like standing on the edge of a tall building, the lows are like the hollow feeling in the gut that goes along with imagining hitting the ground from such a great height. (Click here to buy it from Amazon UK.)

Elsewhere: My new Hit Refresh column is up on the ASAP site and features mp3s from Mixel Pixel, Brush, and In Flagranti.

Also Elsewhere: My review of Jesus Camp is up on The Movie Binge.