''Perfect Hair'' is a studio album by American rapper

Busdriver Regan Farquhar (born February 12, 1978), better known by his stage name Busdriver, is an American rapper and producer from Los Angeles, California. He has collaborated with rappers such as Myka 9, Milo, Nocando, Open Mike Eagle, 2Mex, and Ra ...

. It was released on September 9, 2014, by

Big Dada Big Dada is a British independent record label imprint distributed by Ninja Tune. It was started by reputed hip hop journalist Will Ashon in 1997. It is best known for marketing of prominent British hip hop artist Roots Manuva, poet and play ...

. The album features guest appearances from

Aesop Rock Ian Matthias Bavitz (born June 5, 1976), better known by his stage name Aesop Rock, is an American rapper and producer from Long Island, New York. He was at the forefront of the new wave of underground and alternative hip hop acts that emer ...

Danny Brown Daniel Dewan Sewell (born March 16, 1981), better known by his stage name Danny Brown, is an American rapper, singer, and songwriter. He has been described by MTV as "one of rap's most unique figures in recent memory". In 2010, after amassing ...

and

Open Mike Eagle Michael W. Eagle II (born November 14, 1980), better known by his stage name Open Mike Eagle, is an American hip hop artist and comedian. Originally from Chicago, Illinois, he is now based in Los Angeles, California, where he is a member of the h ...

, among others. The cover art was painted by

John Lurie John Lurie (born December 14, 1952) is an American musician, painter, actor, director, and producer. He co-founded the Lounge Lizards jazz ensemble; has acted in 19 films, including ''Stranger than Paradise'' and '' Down by Law''; has composed ...

. Music videos were made for "Ego Death", "Colonize the Moon", "Eat Rich" and "Motion Lines". On June 20, 2014, "Ego Death" was chosen by ''

Consequence of Sound ''Consequence'' (previously ''Consequence of Sound'') is an independently owned New York-based online magazine featuring news, editorials, and reviews of music, movies, and television. In addition, the website also features the Festival Outlook ...

'' as one of their Top 10 Songs of the Week.

Critical reception

''Perfect Hair'' received generally positive reviews from critics. At

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...

, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream publications, the album received an

average In ordinary language, an average is a single number taken as representative of a list of numbers, usually the sum of the numbers divided by how many numbers are in the list (the arithmetic mean). For example, the average of the numbers 2, 3, 4, 7 ...

score of 74, based on 10 reviews. Adam Kivel of ''

'' said: "Wild, insanely ambitious, and a bit inconsistent, ''Perfect Hair'' encodes and decodes the ideas, opinions, and deconstructions that can only come from Farquhar's brain." David Jeffries of

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databa ...

said, "''Perfect Hair'' contains all the usual reasons Busdriver is wonderful, just with a little more sugar baked in." Grant Brydon of '' Clash'' said, "The rollercoaster ride of his delivery makes it an enjoyable experience rather than a textbook headache." Matt Bauer of '' Exclaim!'' said, "A few duds abound, like the wearisome "Eat Rich", but the album ends strongly with the sci-fi-flavoured "Colonize the Moon". Jack Dutton of '' musicOMH'' said, "Although this album is at times a difficult listen, you can't help but admire Busdriver for his innovation and general wackiness." Nathan Stevens of ''

PopMatters ''PopMatters'' is an international online magazine of cultural criticism that covers aspects of popular culture. ''PopMatters'' publishes reviews, interviews, and essays on cultural products and expressions in areas such as music, television, fi ...

'' said, "''Perfect Hair'' is no doubt a great album, but its tendency to fidget between ideas leaves it the idea of cohesion in a shallow grave."

Track listing

Notes * "Retirement Ode" features uncredited vocals by Terra Lopez * "Bliss Point" features uncredited saxophone by Ben Wendel * "Colonize the Moon" includes a bonus track at 5:13, called "Bone Structure" featuring Open Mike Eagle * "Joyce 1" features uncredited vocals by Joelle Le and Riley Lake * "King Cookie Faced (for Hellfyre)" features uncredited vocals by Terra Lopez and Joelle Le

References

External links

* * {{Authority control 2014 albums Big Dada albums Busdriver albums Albums produced by Mono/Poly Albums produced by Kenny Segal