A Must Have for Those That Consider Themsleves Hip-Hop Heads
sinistrfunkhous | Princeton, NJ United States | 06/05/2003
(5 out of 5 stars)
"Like asking a Sasquatch to taste your Gazpacho. That's a nice watch, bro. Bought it from Costco. God, I like pasta. God is a monster. Monsters are modern. Inventions forgotten. Potatoe-au-gratin. Cradle your thoughts in a stable of oxen, thick ankles for socks and...I'll strangle your Datsun with a Subaru Walkman.
-radioinactive
--The whole album is like this, irreverant, complex, and often illogical lyrics mixed impeccably with well-produced yet odd beats. Its a great experimental, intelligent, humorous, hiphop album that may well point into the direction of a future for this subgenre within california hiphop."
Best hip hop album I've ever heard
sinistrfunkhous | 09/29/2003
(5 out of 5 stars)
"This is simply the best hip hop album I've heard - great
production, amazing rhymes, off the wall humour... A must
have."
Busdriver does it again
taogoat | the mothership | 03/07/2003
(5 out of 5 stars)
"As with all Busdriver releases, this album is an immediate classic. If you've never heard Busdriver, I'm afraid you don't know what hiphop is about these days. Busdriver stands alongside Mikah-9 and Aceyalone and a few others as one of the most stylistically advanced MCs of all time. All of his albums are must-haves: "This Machine Kills Fascists," "Memoirs of the Elephant Man," and "Temporary Forever," along with numerous cameo appearances with CVE, 2mex, Fat Jack, and other Project Blowedians and Afterlifers. Busdriver flows jazz-inspired lightning-quick delivery with a voice as unique and inimitable as Bootsy Collins' and rhymes as intelligent as Paul Barman's. But then again, I'm a fan. Perhaps his style is not for everyone. Some people think John Coltrane "sounds weird." Such people need to stick to their pop music.Enough about Busdriver... This is a band, so to speak -- The Weather -- filled out by the gifted MC Radioinactive and producer Daedelus. Radioinactive (the goat in Beneath the Surface's "Farmer's Market of the Beast") is a perfect match for Busdriver, with a comparable and complementary delivery and quirky intelligence. In short, they are a perfect team. I can't wait to cop Radioinactive's "Pyramidi." Daedelus provides the childlike, bizarre backdrop for all of this beautiful verbal madness. These three guys were made for each other, the whole album is slick as heck. Also check out Busdriver's other work with Daedelus. You can tell these guys listen to a lot of They Might Be Giants. (This isn't conjecture; Busdriver has admitted it in interviews.) This hiphop is so good that it doesn't have to brag about itself. This hiphop can act dorky and still serve you up on a platter like no problem. It is humorous, insightful, poetic, and above all, madly skilled. If you are unfamiliar with these guys and youre not sure that you like artsy hiphop, first start off with Busdriver's "Memoirs" & "Temporary Forever," which adhere a little more strictly to the classic hiphop formula. But if you want some mind-blowing experimental 2003 hiphop, check out the Weather."
Whether or not you like who we are we are the Weather--
taogoat | the mothership | 06/14/2004
(5 out of 5 stars)
"This is one of the greatest hiphop albums of all time! If you like The Weather check out "Live Airplane Food," which is a live EP of Busdriver freestyling over Daedelus and his live band doing music from Invention. Also, 2mex and Busdriver's new live album has Busdriver doing a track from The Weather, "Fine for a Robot.""
Disappointing...
M. Burroughs | USA | 03/09/2006
(3 out of 5 stars)
"Let me preface this by saying that I am a huge fan of all three of these brilliant artists. Busdriver may be on of the greatest free style rappers in the US and Radioinactive's style and ability to use rhyme and alliteration to stream out dozens of words on each beat is damn near godly. Combine these two verbal wizards with Daedelus, who can turn 1940's soundtracks and keyboard sounds into techno benevolence, and you'd think you'd have the recipe to the greatest CD ever. Or not...
Apparently, the grouping of these three mega talents spelled diaster when it came time to produce something worth listening to. This CD starts off with a surprising bang in "Exaggerated Joy" The faux-political humor in "Pen's Oil" mixes well with the children's song used for the melody (a reaccuring theme in this CD). "Carl Weathers" is shocking so much for the speed at which Busdrived and Radioinactive rap IN UNISON as for the drastic change with Daedelus' beats. While B&R keep the lyrics light-hearted and witty, Daedelus scraps the cheerful beats for dreary synth sounds and the clunk of metal. Sadly, the rest of the CD never recuperates from this change. There are some glimmering rays of hope such as the wonderful whistling song "Weather Locklear" which I defy anyone not to whistle all day once they hear it. But it is constant spiral downward from beginning til horrible end. The final track "Barely Music" is exactly that. It is a hodgepodge of the worst sounds ever to be recorded mixed together with Busdriver only adding to the audial onslaught. The inlet provides us with some hint of what went wrong as the last two songs feature completely different lyrics than what ends up on the CD. These two songs are also completely devoid of Radioinactive, as if he knew that they would end up being utter garbage.
Knowing these guys very well and being a huge fan of all of them seperately, I bought this CD with very high expectations. Suffice to say I was extremely disappointed with the final product. Do yourself a favor and buy their solo albums. Might I suggest: Busdriver's "Fear the Black Tangent", Radioinactive's amazing "Free Kamal" (arguably the greatest CD ever), and Daedelus' "Exquiste Corpse".
That said, I hope the trio comes back for a second shot at "the weather" because I know they can do better."