Noah23 - Upside Down Bluejay

While other rappers stress trying to secure label support, distribution, music videos and the rest, Noah23 stays content with a D.I.Y. operatus mondi, churning out a remarkable quantity of fresh music from his basement and periodically tossing it up for his impressive legion of fans to grab. Case in point: Upside Down Bluejay, a new 23-song album released for free via his myspace page, arriving right on the heels of his other “new” 23-song album, Rock Paper Scissors, released only a month or two ago. This kind of humble, anti-capitalist, direct artist-to-fan style is likely the reason the man receives minimal indie-media flattery and zero mainstream attention, yet enjoys a heavy cult-following allowing him to rock big shows in California. Or Arizona. Or Greece. Or Germany…

Upside Down Bluejay has the feeling of an odd-ball collection of rarities, b-sides and collabs that wouldn’t have fit on any of Noah23’s formal, often thematic releases. The usual array of esoteric topics are there, talking game about Fulcanelli, chaos theory and Terrance McKenna, amidst a mind-boggling diversity of producers, including Subtitle, K-the-I, Leon Murphy, DJ Moves, Madadam and Classified, to mention a few.

Highlights: “Help”, which Noah23 has been performing live for sometime and I have been patiently waiting to be recorded and released. “House on Wheels”, another one of Noah23’s forays into quasi-indie-rock territory, it features Gregory Pepper and briefly morphs into a rendition of the Pixies’ “Where is my Mind.” “Best Bitter”, despite its claims to the contrary, is a salty dis track where Noah23 takes shots (I think) at Buck65 and Sage Francis, among others.

While not every track on this release is memorable, overall it’s another fresh gem from Noah23 that demonstrates why people like myself continue to follow his eccentric musical output despite the fact I generally can’t stand most so-called avant-garde rap (e.g. Sage Francis, Anticon).

Download it here: http://www.mediafire.com/?sharekey=e27421f049ac7fcaab1eab3e9fa335cafcb8392ee7c61680