Prefuse 73, Nobody and Beans

According to the urban laws of gentrification, artists and social misfits generally tend to bring a mixed bag of blessings when they move into the 'hood. They add to the local color and do wondrous things to their spaces, but higher rents, baby-toting yuppies and Starbucks cafés always seem to follow them as well. Still, talented iconoclasts such as Prefuse 73's Scott Herren, Nobody's Elvin Estela and former Antipop Consortium MC Beans need somewhere to go. Their up-and-coming show at Rubber Gloves will give all the downwardly mobile heads still struggling in the age of GW Bushco a chance to enjoy the best alternative hip-hop is dishing out before the property values go up.

In the case of Herren, the hype surrounding this former studio tech from Hotlanta has enshrined Prefuse 73 as the mainstream media's point man in the IDM field. Herren's latest joint, One World Extinguisher, collects a passel of stars--among them indie MCs MF Doom and Aesop Rock, as well as former skater/guitarist Tommy Guerrero and buzzed-about prog-techno producer Dabrye--to assist him in a work that has found respect in hip-hop, indie rock and IDM circles for its canny mixture of all three styles. Despite the recent write-ups in places like Entertainment Weekly, Herren still recognizes that he has to show and improve, and keeps on raising his game with every pass he takes of the continent. Joining him is California native Nobody, a lesser-known beathead who aims his sampling triggers toward a more retro psych-rock sound--and yes, that is a cover of the Monkees' "Porpoise Song" you may hear in concert if he feels like paying the publishers. Rapping it up nicely is Beans, currently making his way alone in the world outside the well-respected hip-hop egghead crew Antipop Consortium. Despite all the considerable creativity and avant-garde touches one will be bound to hear here, as these guys will endeavor to prove, it still ain't nothing but a party, y'all. Act accordingly.