The resilient city of Portland, Oregon, currently under siege by Trump's goons-for-hire, might not be a city you think of as a source for forward-thinking hip hop, but Bryson The Alien would like to say a few things about that. The wildly-prolific rapper's newest EP, Rumble Pak, dropped recently, and it's a fresh updating on the sort of hip hop we heard a bit of in earlier decades, mixed with a unique modern sensibility. If there's indie DIY, this is hip hop DIY.
"Time" is claustrophobic and layered, a nice mix to these ears of MF Doom and early Outkast, while "Hyrule" is more cosmic. The skewed percussive samples here, and the way Bryson's vocals are sunk in the mix, recalls stuff on PNKSLM, which makes sense since Bryson recently guested on the last Lucern Raze from that outfit. Elsewhere, "Metal Pak Solid" is all bass and rumbling textures, a sinister vibe ruling this one, while "Winky", the brief closer, has a rapid-fire delivery fighting for prominence over a looped, warped sample in the background. Of the four cuts on this brief EP, this is the one that sounds the most unearthly.
Bryson's willingness to experiment with sound puts him at odds with what some portions of the hip hop community are putting out, but that same eagerness to push the boundaries makes his music better than so much else you're going to hear in this genre in 2020. That sense of experimentation reminds this old music fan of bits of early Tribe, or Jungle Brothers records, but those may be outdated comparison points given how bold some of this is. I applaud The Alien's risk-taking here and urge you to get on-board now as the explorations continue with this Portland artist.
Rumble Pak is out now via the link below.
More details on Bryson the Alien via the official Facebook page.
Bryson The Alien is also featured on two tracks on the new mixtape by Just Alfa.