Astronautalis Pushes Minneapolis Hip-Hop in Fresh Directions

Astronautalis’s Andy Bothwell may be in Minneanapolis by way of Seattle by way of Dallas by way of Jacksonville Beach, Florida, but damned if he doesn’t fit right in with the alternative-inspired hip hop community blowing up in the region. Like some long-lost missing member of the Doomtree crew, with the hooks and rapid-fire delivery of Atmosphere, Astronautalis enters the picture with music which refuses to be tied down by any single genre descriptor. Bothwell’s latest release, This Is Our Science, successfully straddles the worlds of underground hip-hop and rock without suffering adversely from the combination, bringing together a virtual who’s who of the Minneapolis rap scene together in the process. Astronautalis’s hip-hop meets electro-rock spectacle to provide the perfect soundtrack for the genre drifter in all of us.