With a bell ding the flight attendant announces “we’ve arrived at cruising altitude and you are now free to move about the aircraft.” We’re aboard BusCrates’ Altitude EP, a mini-voyager orbiting the planet in the liminal space known as the funkmosphere. The colorful notes coming from BusCrates’ Prophet-6 on opener and title track “Altitude” feel like looking out the passenger window to a sunset horizon as the softening reds create blues before blackening into the infinite darkness of space.
Up here, in an atmospheric layer first discovered by afronaut Dām-Funk, BusCrates is at the ship’s control center, guiding our journey with nimble fingers and programming on the Roland S-1, Rhodes, MiniKorg, and Moog Bass. Onboard, his crew includes raps by T.R.A.C. and Kuf Knotz, production accompaniment from C. Scott and DJ Epik, and vocals by Princess Nostalgia, Lailah Reich, Anda, and Christine Elise. The eclectic crew built from connections in Sacramento, Chicago, Philadelphia, and his hometown represent the constellations of funk scenes that maintain strongholds throughout the country.
Space has always been the place for BusCrates. His previous records with Bastard Jazz include Blasting Off and Control Center, both transmitting space age intentions from his beatport station in Pittsburgh, PA. With Brian Eno’s Music For Airports in mind, consider the Altitude EP BusCrates’ funky and exploratory “Music For Space Station Parties” that, for now, can still be enjoyed on Earth.
