Busdriver - Jehlli Beam

TRACKLISTING: 1 Split Seconds (Between Nannies And Swamis), 2 Me Time (With The Pulmonary Palimpsets),
3 Handfuls Of Sky, 4 Scoliosis Jones, 5 Least Favorite Rapper (ft Nocando), 6 Quebec And Back, 7 Do The Wop,
8 World Agape, 9 Manchuria (ft Myka 9), 10 Unsafe Sextet/Gilded Hearts Of Booklovers, 11 Happy Insider (ft Nick Thorburn),
12 I've Always Known, 13 Fishy Face (ft John Dieterich of Deerhoof),

OVERVIEW: A dashing young figure in the Los Angeles underground hip hop scene, Busdriver returns with his latest, 'Jhelli Beam' - both smart and smart-ass, theatrical without being pompous, and, as always, funny as hell. BD's legendarily breath-defying flow teeters precariously on top of samples of classical music, jazz drumming and proggy guitar parts, without ever losing sight of the electronic music that helped define his sound, enthralled fans and stood out from the soggy beats that weighed down much of his contemporaries' work. Sound schizophrenic? It's not. And as usual, Busdriver has some heavy friends to help out: legendary underground battle rapper Nocando guests on a classically witty Busdriver track 'Least Favorite Rapper' while Islands' precocious Nick Thorburn's influence can be heard on an almost ELO-flavoured song 'Happy Insider'. The sum of Jhelli Beam's seemingly disparate parts creates a record that is mindfully engaging and booty shaking at the same time - a wholly unique take on what an underground hip-hop album should be.

For fans of Animal Collective, Beck, The Yeah Yeah Yeahs and TV On The Radio.

Busdriver is one of the featured pioneering rappers in the new documentary This Is The Life, documenting the underground scene that evolved around The Good Life Café in South Central LA. The documentary is currently making the rounds of festivals and winning awards.

Guest appearances include Nocando, Islands' Nick Thorburn, Myka 9, and members of Deerhoof.

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