Open Mike Eagle/ Paul White - Hella Personal Film Festival

Known for his solo alchemy and collaborations with Danny Brown, Homeboy Sandman and Mos Def, White conjures a psychedelic strain of soul-funk, booming drums, and 21st century crate-digging in tropical attics of the imagination. Recorded in London, Eagle's new album continues where his 2014 masterpiece, Dark Comedy left off. It's anxiety-riddled but whimsical, addicted to and scornful of social media, stuffed with old wrestling in-jokes and film snippets. Self-aware admissions blend into attacks on societal double standards. These are tense anthems for the vulnerable, consecrations to black people with rich internal lives, agnostic prayers for those grappling with pain. They're emotional landmines leavened by the wry bleakness usually only found in great stand-up comedians. Eagle exists in the lineage of They Might Be Giants and Richard Pryor, Freestyle Fellowship and his longtime friend and collaborator, Hannibal Burress.