Album Review: Horrorshow - Bardo State

Horrorshow's latest is a sophisticated, sexy, dance-inflected record. It's tough to think of a less likely sentence! But with Bardo State, rapper Solo and beatsmith Adit have managed to explore new terrain. And it's thrilling.

The first three minutes of opener My Time give no hint of the surprise. Those minutes are a neatly conceived, tightly executed bunch of brags, not unlike what we've heard for a decade. Then, 180 or 190 seconds in the world caves in, the spaceship takes off, the curtain drops, and gritty reality gives way to a dreamscape. It's a stunning moment that crowns an exceptional song. Astray is spacious, voluptuous, and properly sexy when Solo tells us "She leans in to me and says, 'Don't be afraid.'" Sex remains in the air later on Never Say Never. Eat The Cake is a funked-out dance jam. So many new tricks! That's not to say the our hosts have forgotten anything: Non-Stop and Ceiling Fan show off Solo's command of lower case "p" politics; he's always breathed rare air on that score. If You Know What I Mean is a searing mission statement. Cherry Blossom is big and bouncy.

Bardo State is saucier and more immediate than anything Horrorshow have shared with us before. This stuff is Old Dogs 2.0.