Busdriver
Beaus $ Eros
Los Angeles, CA
(Fake Four Inc.)
“Melodic, spaced-out funk-hop”
Regan Farquhar, better known as Busdriver, has been active on the scene for over a decade now. Since his first album in 1999, he’s been steadily releasing music, but Beaus $ Eros is his first full-length album in two years. Die-hard fans who have been missing his unique delivery and warbling singing voice will appreciate the return of his stutter-then-stop flow and topsy-turvy vocal style.
Switching back and forth between rapping and singing, Busdriver’s latest effort is a kaleidoscopic mix of mid-paced grooves, epileptic breakdowns and intuitive tempo changes. From the song titles to the musical arrangements, nothing about this album is mundane or reductive. Even when Busdriver isn’t rhyming, his lyrical phrasing belies his hip-hop roots on tracks like “Picking Band Names” and the upbeat jam “Beaus $ Eros.”
For listeners expecting an album full of his trademark tongue-twisting lyrical style, be prepared for everything from melodic, sing-songy tunes to full-out, albeit sometimes off-key, wailing. As a whole, the album is obviously carefully orchestrated from the disco bloops on the opening track to the sparkling chimes glimmering on “Bon Bon Fire,” to the sputtering 808s and crisp production quality. The result is an unpredictable yet cohesive album with lots of sounds to explore.