Two years after RoadKillOvercoat, L.A. hip-hop eccentric Busdriver is set to deliver its follow-up. The album is called Jhelli Beam and comes at us on June 9 via Epitaph.
As usual, Busdriver (born Regan Farquhar) has roped in quite a few guests on this one, including Deerhoof, Nocando, Mikah 9 and Islands' Nick Thorburn, who lends his voice to the "almost ELO-flavoured" song "Happy Insider." The record also apparently packs its fair share of genre-jumping, offering up a mix of jazz, electronica, prog and classical, as well as a good joke or two.
According to Farquhar, wrapping up Jhelli Beam was by no means easy and, in fact, the record had to be narrowed down to 13 tracks from the original 30. "The bulk of the songs were written on planes somehow," he says in a statement. "I listened to Sublime Frequencies records, Bollywood soundtracks and electronic music rather than indie rock and rap. I was able to shed a good amount of self-awareness that way. Still, this was definitely the most gruelling stint of recording that I've undergone... I nearly quit doing music twice."
There's no word yet if Busdriver plans to embark on a full-fledged tour in support of Jhelli Beam, but we do have a tracklisting.
Jhelli Beam:
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" (featuring Nocando)
6. "Quebec and Back"
7. "Do the Wop"
8. "World Agape"
9. "Manchuria" (featuring Mikah-9)
10. "Unsafe Sextet/Gilded Hearts of Booklovers"
11. "Happy Insider" (featuring Nick Thorburn)
12. "I've Always Known"
13. "Fishy Face" (featuring John Dietrich)
As usual, Busdriver (born Regan Farquhar) has roped in quite a few guests on this one, including Deerhoof, Nocando, Mikah 9 and Islands' Nick Thorburn, who lends his voice to the "almost ELO-flavoured" song "Happy Insider." The record also apparently packs its fair share of genre-jumping, offering up a mix of jazz, electronica, prog and classical, as well as a good joke or two.
According to Farquhar, wrapping up Jhelli Beam was by no means easy and, in fact, the record had to be narrowed down to 13 tracks from the original 30. "The bulk of the songs were written on planes somehow," he says in a statement. "I listened to Sublime Frequencies records, Bollywood soundtracks and electronic music rather than indie rock and rap. I was able to shed a good amount of self-awareness that way. Still, this was definitely the most gruelling stint of recording that I've undergone... I nearly quit doing music twice."
There's no word yet if Busdriver plans to embark on a full-fledged tour in support of Jhelli Beam, but we do have a tracklisting.
Jhelli Beam:
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" (featuring Nocando)
6. "Quebec and Back"
7. "Do the Wop"
8. "World Agape"
9. "Manchuria" (featuring Mikah-9)
10. "Unsafe Sextet/Gilded Hearts of Booklovers"
11. "Happy Insider" (featuring Nick Thorburn)
12. "I've Always Known"
13. "Fishy Face" (featuring John Dietrich)