A Grape Dope: Backyard Bangers

John Herndon is the absolute heart of Tortoise, or possibly its spleen, and his solo album debut came twenty-odd years after putting out his first single as A Grape Dope, when he was living in a massive Chicago loft and mainlining drum and bass. This album should not go so quietly in the world, as it’s full of his kinetic energy and impossible-to-fix spirit. There’s no single genre here, beyond some kind of deep love of rhythm machines and beat glue. There’s very little ponderous stuff here—Herndon loves video game sounds, and there’s even some indie rock singing from a colleague. Fender Rhodes and synth bass and screwed sounds and alarm clock zero bit beats and inverted house music? That’s A Grape Dope.