Busdriver: Jhelli Beam

Regan ‘Busdriver’ Farquhar’s natural verbosity has won him as many badmouths as it has plaudits in the past, and for album number eight, he seems perfectly content to continue letting his mouth run off.

His supreme ability to over-egg the lyrical pudding resides somewhere between mania and magic, and while it might not find him a place beyond the innovative corner of hip hop’s underground, that’s just fine, as he probably doesn’t really want that anyway.

If he did, he’d avoid throwing down inspired collaborations with Deerhoof’s John Dietrich and sparring with infamous battle rap veteran Nocando, he’d stop creating tracks filled with his vivid, eccentric world views, and he’d avoid putting them all out on a label populated by the likes of Tom Waits, Os Mutantes and Buju Banton. Both smart and smart-ass, claims his press. Right both times.

(Anti-)