Lushlife

Raj Haldar (rapper-producer Lushlife) has had a strange and storied career on the edges of hip-hop and indie music. Starting with Cassette City (2009), he released three critically-acclaimed albums, most recently Ritualize (2016) which featured collaborations with Killer Mike and Ariel Pink and more. Following a Trump-era mixtape, My Idols are Dead and my Enemies are in Power and a collaborative album with the producer, Botany under the name The Skull Eclipses (2018), Raj spent the last few years publishing a #1 New York Times bestselling children’s book P Is For Pterodactyl, which spent 26 weeks on Times’ bestseller list, and the sequel, No Reading Allowed. This led to a TV development deal for his kids’ book projects, as well as a “social horror” TV series set in India entitled, Cult of Aghori. All that to say, he got a little sidetracked on the music front…until now. The new EP recasts classic east coast hip-hop in the context of an astral jazz synth odyssey. The recording is a collaboration with the Irreversible Entanglements quartet, who bring moments of sheer free jazz chaos across the tracks. Lushlife doubles as a producer, creating a universe where gorgeous synth arpeggios and Bomb Squad squeals fit hand-in-hand. With contributions from Dirty Projectors, Felicia Douglass, Hprizm (FKA High Priest of Anti-Pop Consortium), noise-rap god heads, Dälek and more - Lushlife's EP bristles with the energy of an artist willfully deconstructing his sound into something new.