Apostle Of Hustle

Well the world still swirls around us doesn't it? As much as we want it to stop it continues on. The Pentagon launches an attack on Fallujah (safely post election) while Talk of the Nation on NPR talks about the legitimacy of our election process given the long lines, questions about voter registration and provisional balloting. So it is deeper and deeper that I escape into the music. I'm not ready to deal with all the crap yet. I'm still having trouble picking up the AM paper, something that was formerly one of my favorite daily activities. So instead I've been listening relentlessly to Folkloric Feel by Apostle of Hustle. I wouldn't call this music comforting, not in a sugary pop sense anyway. The lyrics are dark, the insert drawings are stick figures of muggings and junkies, but the music is so refreshing as it teeters on the edge of challenging and comfortably melodic. The main figure in Apostle is Andrew Whiteman who plays guitar for Broken Social Scene, and indeed there's alot of similar things going on sonically between Folkloric Feel and BSS's amazing You Forgot it in People. If you have any familiarity with BSS and You Forgot it... you remember what a buzz that record created within the critical community. It was a great record, but Folkloric Feel is easily as good if not better. It's a complex record that's doing so many things within the context of any given song that I just space out listening to it in the car, finding myself driving past destinations or sitting in a parking lot waiting for a song to end before I get out. It's a bit criminal that the record hasn't gotten the recognition that You Forgot it... received. I'm only posting one song which is unfortunate, but I don't believe in giving away entire albums because I want you people to buy from these artists. It's unfortunate because I don't think there's one song here that can sum up the general content of the whole album. I guess I just have to say that you need to trust me on this one. It's worth the price of admission.

From Folkloric Feel, I really can't recommend this album enough. Mad props to the Big Ticket for turning me on to this months and months ago. I wish I'd bought it sooner.

Energy of Death