Asthmatic Kitty's Unusual Animals side venture, which up to now has only been used as a vehicle for a couple of vinyl releases, is maturing into a full on side-arm of the label. Unusual Animals' first big release, slated for August 7, will be Land of a Thousand Rappers, Vol. 1: Fall of the Pillars (cover at left). Yes, this means that an offshoot of the label begun by tender folkie extraordinaire Sufjan Stevens will be releasing a hip-hop album. Seems Suf is personally trying to move the apocalypse a few minutes closer.
Land is a long-gestating project from Asthmatic Kitty peeps Michael Kaufmann and Wayne Feldman, who used to perform under the moniker Therefore. On the record, they perform as the characters Future Rapper and The Holy Fool. Guests on the album will include Asthmatic Kitty artist Liz Janes as Queen of Soft and dub producer Ero Gray as Papa Alabaster. The label bills Land as as "complex and obsessively detailed sci-fi epic" that takes up, among many themes, race in American music, afro-futurism, liquid computing, and Mesoamerican civilizations. It's also reportedly the first in an eventual decalogue of albums that will complete the first volume's story. Those Asthmatic Kitty folks are certainly project-oriented.
Go ahead and sound off in the forums on whether all of this sounds like it could actually make for an interesting project or if it sounds more like a case of label-insider-nepotistic-hubris run amok.