Here’s a secret. Before he was collaborating with Bon Iver’s Justin Vernon, riding Harley’s for free, and repping Minnesota while enjoying the spoils of indie hip hop stardom, 32-year-old emcee Andy Bothwell was a Jacksonville-claiming rapper cutting his teeth in the Sunshine State scene. I personally remember being 19 years old and working security at the front door of what was once The Masquerade’s Inifinity Room when Bothwell — better known as Astronautalis — handed me a copy of his 2003 LP (You And Yer Good Ideas), imploring me to check it out. To this day, it’s still one of my favorite weirdo rap albums.
Watching him rise to popularity among fans of intelligent, forward-thinking hip hop has been a pleasure, and it all kind of comes full circle again when Astronautalis joins Yoni Wolf — aka WHY? — for a tour that stops at the Orpheum (1915 E. 7th Ave., Ybor City) on December 20. A pair of Florida acts — Ft. Lauderdale’s Bleubird and Tampa’s own Samurai Shotgun — play support, and while Bothwell played the same venue two years ago in support of his 2011 album This Is Our Science, this stop in particular comes in advance of a potential new, 2014 LP, and the already available, long-rumored Bon Iver collaboration released under the Jason Feathers moniker.
Watch "This Is Our Science" below and stream aforementioned collaborative LP via P4K. Doors for the all-ages December 20 show open at 6 p.m.. Tickets are $13-$16, and available here.
