Busdriver – Jhelli Beam (CD) (2009) (FLAC + 320 kbps)

A little Busdriver goes a long way, which was clear on his excellent Temporary Forever LP and remains just as clear on Jhelli Beam, his ninth album overall and second for Anti-. Unfortunately, there’s a lot of Busdriver on Jhelli Beam, while his themes and lyrics have become even more dense, which makes for a challenging listen that only fitfully rewards the scrutiny. Simply try to scan his opening lines: “The top-hatted Abrahams are shoveling the raisin brand/In eyeballs their bi-laws [sic] are leaping off the laser scan/Into your genotype telling you to deep throat pipe/If you don’t do it, well these hoes might.” The productions come from a varied cast, including impressive contributions from Nobody, Daedelus, and Busdriver himself, but far too often the beats and effects are overwhelmed by Busdriver’s verbal gymnastics, which may be impressive on a purely physical level, but become ludicrous when they’re parsed. If he feels so strongly about the sentiment in his spoken intro (“Conscious rap failed us!”), then why doesn’t he record an album that actually raises consciousness instead of overwhelming listeners with the contents of his id?

Tracklist:

01 Split Seconds (Between Nannies And Swamis)
02 Me-Time (With The Pulmonary Palimpsest)
03 Handfuls Of Sky
04 Scoliosis Jones
05 Least Favorite Rapper ft. Nocando
06 Quebec And Back
07 Do The Wop
08 World Agape
09 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
14 Sorry Fuckers

Download:

FLAC – Wayshare

320 kbps – Wayshare