If Houdinne isn't on your radar yet, then here's your chance. Earlier this year he gained a huge buzz off of his debut mixtape / title track "Damn" through viral social media accounts and a spot on Ryan Hemsworth's Cool DJ Mix. Houdinne followed the hype with his own mix for Yours Truly's Other People's Poetry series; a jarring 30 minute session of sped-up rap edits and mashups but lacking new material from the expressionist himself. Now, just six months after Damn's Christmas drop, he surprises us with a new twenty-two track endeavor through his stream-of-consciousness life with Houdinne Tha Third.
Dmitriy Rusanov, the man behind the Houdinne alias, goes in all directions throughout the length of this album – lyrically and musically. If there's any early indication that this collection of songs is set to be all over the place, it's the cover art; adorned with a death metal name logo in front of a black and white religious image of death. The beats on Houdinne Tha Third are no exception, ranging from upbeat and jumpy on "Attitude and Swag", morphing and strange on "Armadillo", to straight up jazz music on "April's Jewels" and closer "Andy Roddick" – while only a select few are self-produced. On one of its most inspiring moments, Houdinne sings in autotune over the widely celebrated "Canon in D", while the lyrics are directly from "Luvin U", a standout from his previous mixtape. Through all his wild yet impressive experimentation with scat style jibberish spit in poignant time and robot sounding pitch-manipulated vocals, the selection of music underneath remains vivid and variable.
Listen to "Armadillo" below and
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