Astronautalis "You and Yer Good Ideas" (Fighting)
By Trey Perkins
Tuesday. Sep 06, 12:10 AM
Is this the happy medium between indie rock, hip hop, and country? Or is this genre schizophrenia?

Indie rap/hip hop provides those who produce music under the said genre to literally melt everything – every form of musical genre – into one homogenized whole. We’ve recently seen this dynamic with Why?’s upcoming release, Elephant Eyelash, and indie hip-hopper Astronautalis proves no different, especially with his latest release You and Yer Good Ideas. Whereas Why? demonstrated to the listener that Yoni Wolf’s rhyming could map itself onto the whimsical pop psychedelia on the order of Syd Barret, Astronautalis bends the urban rhymes and flavor of hip-hop to its farthest, most unfathomable breaking point. Yes, that’s right, Astronautalis finds comfort in combining urban hip-hop and indie rock with its rural other: country. As a result, Astronautalis breaks new ground, but he also opens himself up to the risk that the ground he’s breaking beneath his feet might be ice.

His production and arrangements are nice. Well-timed beats and arpeggios embrace his rhyming. He also possesses a distinctive voice, which suits him perfectly for the specialized rhyming and arranging he sets out to do on You and Yer Good Ideas. On tracks like “Tightrope,” Astronautlis spits out rhymes like Keith Moon bursts out fills. Possessing the voice of a raspy auctioneer, he definitely adds the twang of a telecaster set on high treble. But is this all a good thing? Can you really take someone seriously when they rap with said twang over IDM beat about how they sit in a donut shop with Tupac Shakur and how their father was an engine driver and their grandpa fought the war (“Something for the Kids”)? Given the radical message many find in Shakur’s gritty lyricism, does it do either artist any credit? I think I efficiently cracked the code/meaning of “Something for the Kids”: Astraonautalis talks about “sizing up” and being able to leave his mark, after he repeats that his father is an engine driver and his grandpa fought the war. Juxtapose that with his verses, where he has coffee with Shakur… does he wish to compare himself with other infamous rappers? And does he wish to do it with a country flavor by talking about his lineage?

I admit that the amalgamation of country and hip-hop could be a potentially beneficial marriage. Real country and real hip hop (I say “real” because I realize, at this point, both genres have been heavily commodified, becoming a piece of plastic Henry Miller-esque flapdoodle) have that street grittiness, and also have the potential of revealing how everyday individuals break down and negotiate issues of power, hierarchy, and social injustice. A good listen to Johnny Cash, Drive-By Truckers, Tupac Shakur, and some of the more socially conscious hip-hop artists proves that both genres share this powerful potential, so there is good reason for Astronautalis wanting to be among the first (at least the first that I’ve heard) to mix the two. For that, I applaud him wholeheartedly and wish him best of luck in the future. He’s got talent and he might be worth keeping an eye on. He raps with a twang that makes you believe he’s a weatherbeaten rocker, keepin’ shit real.
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www.fightingrecords.com

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Trey Perkins

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