Roadkill Overcoat

Busdriver | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (January 30, 2007)
• Original Release Date: 2007
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Epitaph / Ada
• ASIN: B000LPR4YE
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Vinyl  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #129,018 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. Casting Agent And Cowgirls

2. Less Yes's. More No's

3. Kill Your Employer (Recreational Paranoia Is The Sport Of Now)

4. Ethereal Driftwood

5. Secret Skin

6. Sun Showers

7. Go Slow

8. Troglodyte Wins, The

9. Pompous Posies! Your Party's No Fun

10. (Bloody Paw On The) Kill Floor

11. Mr. Mistakes

12. Dream Catcher's Mitt

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars I don't join the ranks of ordinary men, January 30, 2007

By 

E. A Solinas "ea_solinas" (MD USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 50 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Roadkill Overcoat (Audio CD)

Busdriver (Regan Farquhar) is one of those rare hip-hop artists -- he has talent, creativity, and he's more interested in abstract lyrics than about more lame shooting/sex/drugs raps.

And he doesn't disappoint in his sixth album, "Roadkill Overcoat." Colourful and quirky, it is equal parts catchy hip-hop, gurgling electronics, and pop sensibilities, and veers through a string of memorable little rhythms.

"You did it/you got it/you wowed the world!/Casting agents and cowgirls/dress up, you're dressed up/to kill yourself," Busdriver says forcefully, before launching into a rapid-fire rap over a catchy little tune.

But he really blossoms in "Kill Your Employers," a tight and danceable hip-hop tune with brilliantly barbed lyrics about war, hippies and the self-righteous. "Cause smearing a salad on a SUV can't/Save the black faces at the refugee camp," he reminds us. "Riddled with neo-expressionism omitted words and arty erasure/You pass out your Green Party favor..."

He tries out a number of other colourful styles -- hazy electro-rock with hip-hop rhythms, sinuous raps, undulating hip-hop, shimmery little electro pop songs, and gloriously funky hip-hop like "(Bloody Paw on the) Kill Floor" and the swaying "Pompous Posies! Your Party's No Fun." Okay, I just wanted to mention those titles.

Though it's basically hip-hop, Busdriver weaves in lots of other music -- quirky techno, funk, blues, ambient stuff, and indiepoppy flavour. In other words, the sort of thing you'd expect from someone who collaborates with Daedalus and the Islands.

Boom Bip is responsible for a lot of the production here, along with Busdriver himself -- tight, sharp rhythms and rough beats, which shimmy along with some hazy electronic fuzz. His marshmallowy duet with Bianca Casady is probably the weakest song on here, but fortunately he gets back to the deliciously funky stuff.

Busdriver himself has a pretty nice voice -- he isn't trying to sound cool or tough, and so he does everything from a meowy whisper to a machine-gun rap. And his songs are equally atypical -- he skewers the music industry, the arty self-righteous, and other parts of modern culture. ("Cause recreational.... paranoia/Is the sport of now, so/Kill your employer!")

Busdriver is no "rapping know-it-all trying to de-politicize those big business ties," and he has talent in spades. "Roadkill Overcoat" has a couple dud songs, but Busdriver is still brilliant.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Dancing on the kill floor, March 6, 2007

By 

E. A Solinas "ea_solinas" (MD USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 50 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Roadkill Overcoat (Audio CD)

Busdriver (Regan Farquhar) is one of those rare hip-hop artists -- he has talent, creativity, and he's more interested in abstract lyrics than about more lame shooting/sex/drugs raps.

And he doesn't disappoint in his sixth album, "Roadkill Overcoat." Colourful and quirky, it is equal parts catchy hip-hop, gurgling electronics, and pop sensibilities, and veers through a string of memorable little rhythms.

"You did it/you got it/you wowed the world!/Casting agents and cowgirls/dress up, you're dressed up/to kill yourself," Busdriver says forcefully, before launching into a rapid-fire rap over a catchy little tune.

But he really blossoms in "Kill Your Employers," a tight and danceable hip-hop tune with brilliantly barbed lyrics about war, hippies and the self-righteous. "Cause smearing a salad on a SUV can't/Save the black faces at the refugee camp," he reminds us. "Riddled with neo-expressionism omitted words and arty erasure/You pass out your Green Party favor..."

He tries out a number of other colourful styles -- hazy electro-rock with hip-hop rhythms, sinuous raps, undulating hip-hop, shimmery little electro pop songs, and gloriously funky hip-hop like "(Bloody Paw on the) Kill Floor" and the swaying "Pompous Posies! Your Party's No Fun." Okay, I just wanted to mention those titles.

Though it's basically hip-hop, Busdriver weaves in lots of other music -- quirky techno, funk, blues, ambient stuff, and indiepoppy flavour. In other words, the sort of thing you'd expect from someone who collaborates with Daedalus and the Islands.

Boom Bip is responsible for a lot of the production here, along with Busdriver himself -- tight, sharp rhythms and rough beats, which shimmy along with some hazy electronic fuzz. His marshmallowy duet with Bianca Casady is probably the weakest song on here, but fortunately he gets back to the deliciously funky stuff.

Busdriver himself has a pretty nice voice -- he isn't trying to sound cool or tough, and so he does everything from a meowy whisper to a machine-gun rap. And his songs are equally atypical -- he skewers the music industry, the arty self-righteous, and other parts of modern culture. ("Cause recreational.... paranoia/Is the sport of now, so/Kill your employer!")

Busdriver is no "rapping know-it-all trying to de-politicize those big business ties," and he has talent in spades. "Roadkill Overcoat" has a couple dud songs, but Busdriver is still brilliant.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars More nerdy than Gnarls Barkley and catchier than Subtle, March 1, 2007

By 

Jason Harrington "Trucker Hater Magazine" (Little Rock, AR) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Roadkill Overcoat (Audio CD)

WOW! This disk took no time to sink in with me. I was hooked by the time I
reached the third song on my first listen. Perhaps "Fear of a Black Tangent"
suggested some new directions, but this is still a HUGE leap into
forward-thinking territory. This is kind of like Bus's version of pop
tinkering, with moments that are even reminiscent of Peeping Tom or Beck's
ideas (they 3 should do a song together). Nobody and Boom Bip have never
sounded more accomplished as they do in this production. Finally Bus seems to
see his niche as well, somewhere near Subtle. I typically go on and on with
my reviews, but Bus is Bus, so start there and then imagine him trying to
make indie music for college rock radio with singing parts and yet still
using plenty of his typical style, but lacing that silly style through
amazingly mature electronica production ideas on a grandiose level like that
of Air. I know, it's hard to picture. This is every bit as creative as Gnarls
Barkley, but driven by that nasally rapid-paced rhyme style that Busdriver is
best known for. Songs like Sun Shower, sparkle and glisten in a rising swirl
of pop brilliance as if Goldfrapp and Bright Eyes were being braided together
with each note and word. I questioned if Bus would ever break out of his
dorky shell, and well...he's still dorky as hell (thank God), but it's making
perfect sense now and there is a beauty that is much harder to deny. I
finally have something to listen to between Subtle, Peeping Tom &
Beck...perfect! I'm totally blown away.