Buck 65 is a musician that can never be accused of always doing the same thing. Over his career Buck has thrown quite a few knuckle balls to loyal fans. The difference between his folky almost country 2004 release Talkin’ Honky Blues and the French influenced avant-garde follow up Secret House Against the World in 2005 left a lot of fans confused. It seems however, every time I fear we’ve lost the fun and quirky low-fi Buck to a more major label sound, he comes back with some unexpected goodness (like the excellent 2008 three part Dirtbike mixtape which is now on Soundcloud part1, part2, part3).
Today was the release of Buck’s much talked about “divorce album” Never Love. The first couple of songs released from the album did not really appeal to me. I had a quick listen to the preview release that was made available last week and in the context of the album it did sound better than I was expecting. I will definitely check out the album as I am sure it will grow on me and will have some great lyrics.
When Buck shared the video for the second single from Never Love titled Heart Of Stone a couple of people commented they respect Buck’s music but were not really liking this song. Buck replied that he understands it may not be for all his fans and that he had another album coming out at the same time as Never Love which may appeal to these people. This comment caught my attention but I did not hear anymore about this other album until today.
The first thing I heard about this album is that it is an entire album about doing laundry. I instantly knew this would be a Buck 65 album that I will like. I don’t really know what inspires an album about doing laundry, maybe he just had time to kill while sitting in a laundromat and started writing and then just went with it. Whatever the case this is a fun album with some great metaphors, wordplay and baseball references. The music provided by Halifax DJ/producer Jorun Bombay has the sound of some jazzy 90’s style hip hop with some familiar samples. The consistent production and fun concept makes for a very listenable and entertaining album.