A GRAPE DOPE Missing Dragons Ep

• Words: Dave Segal
• Label: Galaxia
• XLR8R Rating: /10

Even more than fellow Tortoise drummer John McEntire, John Herndon has been a key player in Chicago's bustling post-rock/electronic-jazz scenes. Going solo as A Grape Dope, Herndon flexes his precise programming and quirky percussion chops to excitingly diverse effect over this EP's six tracks. Action: Showered Us" splutters out of the gate like a sloshed Squarepusher rupturing out-jazz and drill & bass, while "Red Hot Attack" (with Anticon's Doseone) puts odd Windy City torque to Dirty South hip-hop. Elsewhere, AGD embraces slow-burning digital soul, Microstoria-esque reveries, happy-go-lucky future funk, and a bizarrely tranquil East Asian folk/IDM hybrid.