If music journalists are frustrated musicians, then are hip-hop heads frustrated rockers? Wishing they were slaying Download with Iron Maiden instead of a studio surrounded by buttons and dials? Maybe not, but Antimc’s potent brew of synthesised punk, frenetic trip-hop and wacked-out fuzzy post-rock beats definitely lends itself to the spandex’d legs-on-monitors pose. Veteran collaborator of underground hip-hop legends Shape Shifters and Project Blowed, Antimc jumps from genre to genre here, from street corner preaching boom-bap to dreamy summer field folk, always maximising his guests, including Busdriver and Andrew Broder of Fog. But this eclecticism flows naturally, and never feels scatterbrained or ADD-fuelled. It’s been nice to see cross-pollination between the US and the UK for this nu-underground hip-hop scene or whatever you want to call it, so it’s especially nice to see this released on local label Knife Fighting Monkeys, home of Penpushers. - Ali Maloney

Who knows why, but when I first heard of Antimc, I thought this dude was a snotty rapper a la Eminem. Some brawler, shot caller. Weird, becuase once you hear the glorious concoction of mostly instrumental (I guess that’s where the Antimc bit comes in), noisy, psychadelic, LA hip-hop, it all makes sense. Matthew Alsberg’s debut record on Mush brings an essence of the glory days of what I consider classic Mush material - cLOUDDEAD, Aesop Rock, Jel, all those complex sampling hip-hop wreckers. Part hip-hop, part instrumental garage punk, It’s Free, But It’s Not Cheap straight-up rocks. Post-post hip-hop? Kinda, but forget about moody introspection, he’s from LA after all and it’s a balls-out celebration of the joy of music. The beats, shattered guitars, twisted samples, and acid synth lines are expertly composed as if it were a live band. Although the record was written entirely by Matthew Alsberg (with vocal contributions from MCs Busdriver, Cadence Weapon, Saafir and vocalists Anthony Anzalone, Fog, and Mark Mitchell) he’s currently touring with multi-tasking LA DJs Desert Eagles and Them Jeans as his backing band. Any you lucky lot who might be heading to Texas for this year’s SXSW can catch them live. He’s also heading out on tour with the style-flipping RJD2 and coincidently, if his Beatles-esque latest effort The Third Hand was too much of a departure for your dusty hip-hop addled minds, this could very easily slip into its plave. To end on a simple note, let’s just say this album comes recommended.

I’ll be playing Friday night March 16 at the Mush SXSW 2007 Showcase. I hit the stage at around 11pm, but you should check out some of the other bands, too. Especially Busdriver, who I also play with. See how I did that? Oh man… If you’re in Austin, and you see me… please buy me a drink, I’m sure I’ll need it.

I’d like to also invite everyone to the Terrible1 Skate/BMX Ramp’s SXSW party (if you’re gonna be in Austin anyway). There’s gonna be some sweet bands (myself and Jeans n’ Eagles are kinda partial to Portal’s stoner metal output), the ramp is gonna be open to shred, and it’s all for a good cause, the gnar.

On Friday afternoon, I’ll also be DJing the Urb Magazine/Puma party at the Beauty Bar. That means I’ll be borrowing some equipment to go ‘head and throw down some moderately danceable chunes. RSVP at the Urb site.

Heavy duty music blog Dr. Clorophyll has posted my LA Mix, giving it yet another title. This time verbosely titled the “L.A. ’80s & ’90s Punk/Metal vs. Gansgta Rap Mix.” Phew! I hope the music lives up to the name. Thanks for bringing this back into the public consciousness Dr. C!