Beaus$Eros is the 7th or maybe 9th album from sardless favourite surrealist experimentalist hip hop guy Busdriver. It has been almost 3 years since Busdriver's last "official" solo effort Jhelli Beam (7.5/10), however in the meantime he has released the outstanding Computer Cooties mixtape (8.7/10), collaborated with Nocando on the also pretty-good Flash Bang Grenada album 10 Haters (a solid 8.8/10), and did a bunch of other shit like update Facebook and Twitter, dropping free mixes, starting the band Physical Forms and working on an as-yet unreleased album with those dudes. All of these things were awesome and good, but his solo work has always been solid and it is what we look forward to the most. With Busdriver dropping tracks here and there for a while now e.g. 'Bon Bon Fire' last December, 'NoBlacksNoJewsNoAsians' back in Oct' 2011 and 'Ass To Mouth' as far back as waaaaay back in March last year, Beaus$Eros is/was very highly anticipated.

Busdriver has maintained the theme of non-standard spelling as titles of his albums e.g. not sure what a Jhelli Beam is other than a misspelt jelly bean and also how do you say Beaus$Eros? Bows-dollar-symbol-eros? INCORRECT it is "bows and arrows," and if you were smart you would understand that this is a hint toward the heavily emotive content stored within the so-named collection—this album is all about failure and breakups and clinical depression and personal shit like that. Because you know, bows and arrows.

But don't let that talk of depressing shit scare you off! From these dark, dark places Beaus$Eros has somehow become Busdrivers first pop album. And by "pop", it is basically just meant there is little in the way of the traditional/standard... hip hop of the type some might associate with Busdriver, and instead Beaus$Eros combines a profusion of styles from synth pop, R & B, doo wop, reggae, rock, dance and electronica (source). So not really pop at all, but not hip hop either. While Busdriver has often played fast and loose with genres, for example the cheap 90s rave D&B sound on 'Glow Sticks' from Heavy Items Such as Books, Record Albums, Tools, or the pseudo free-jazz of 'World Agape' from Jhelli Beam, somehow (or perhaps yet again) Busdriver has managed to make something that sounds unlike anything he has done before.

The intro for 'Utilitarian Uses of Love' throbs in menacingly with Busdriver kind of gently humming over it before lurching into an abrasive kind of crooning wail. It is a nice song. 'Feelings' too features some odd vocal work from Busdriver, this time he sings in a falsetto about feelings. 'Bon Bon Fire' has a kid or a small woman saying Bon Bon Fire, Bon Bon Fire heaps, then gets all stomping plus has some sweet cheesy European sounding synth action, all kinds of shit going on in that one. 'Electric Blue' has a sort of a dreamy deal and features spots from CocoRosie, Mike Ladd and Belgian electronica producer Joëlle Phuong Minh Lê and has bits in French and other interesting elements.

Outside of this, there is all the usual stuff you expect with a piece of Busdriver work—lyrics delivered at several thousands of WPM, unique and interesting rhyming schemes, several self-conscious and self-effacing moments, as well as plenty of comedy lyrics. Amongst the finest is the track 'Here's to Us', which opens with the lyric You got face like an impaled vagina, You're from a Carolina, Kid you spell your name with an umlaut and parentheses, You embody Foot and Mouth disease. That lyric both rhymes and is mildly amusing.

Overall, to quote a great philosopher, I think Beaus$Eros is cool and very fresh. I love it and I give a damn about what you critically acclaimed critics have to say anything any of these songs or for that matter anything about music. Because you try and scrutinize songs while I go even deeper. So Fuck all of you mother fucking critics.

7.5 /10

Track Listing

1. Utilitarian Uses of Love

2. Bon Bon Fire

3. Kiss Me Back to Life

4. You Ain't OG

5. NoBlacksNoJewsNoAsians

6. Picking Band Names

7. Beaus & Eros

8. Feelings

9. Ass to Mouth

10. Electric Blue

12. Colour Wheel

13. Swandive into a Drinking Glass

14. Scattered Ashes