tankt

I have been itching for some new hiphop lately, but I long ago stopped actively looking for it, and instead rely on serendipity. Prior to today, I only knew of Busdriver by his association with two other Los Angeles based luminaries Flying Lotus and Pigeon John, as well as the incomparable Beans.

I was browsing bleep today, and came across Busdriver’s Cosmic Cleavage release on Big Dada. Since it wasn’t licensed for sale in North America, I went searching for more, ended up on his myspace page, and discovered a gem in “Imaginary Places” from his 2001 album Temporary Forever.

You can imagine my delight in hearing this Busdriver track, with its stripped down sound, breakneck beats, massively deep bass, and one seriously spastic flute. I can’t even read the lyrics as fast as he can speak them:

She doesn’t love me cause I don’t have the right hair cut
I’m misunderstood, I just face it, I’m no good
but I will not appologize for anything that I say
My name is Mr. Busdriver
this is the producer Paris
we did not embarass to admit that we were purchasing a bit
of our own imaginary place

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I have only bought this and one other song so far, but you can bet that I’ll look for more from Busdriver, and I will definitely have to catch his show the next time he comes through town. I know he toured with Beans the last time around, how did I miss that show?