81355
Bio
In a city where the echoes of Babyface’s polished R&B and the defiant soul of Etheridge Knight still linger, 81355 (pronounced ‘bless’) doesn’t just contribute to Indianapolis’ music lineage—they disrupt, reinterpret, and transcend it. A coalition of sonic architects—Sirius Blvck, Oreo Jones, and David “Moose” Adamson (Sedcairn)—the trio fractures traditional hip-hop frameworks, forging something that feels both archival and futuristic, urgent and eternal.
If hip-hop is a house of mirrors, 81355 smashes the glass, reassembling the shards into something entirely their own. Their sound moves like an abstract mural in flux, bending echoes of avant-garde boom-bap, subterranean electronic textures, and freeform lyrical incantations. The trio siphons the urgency of early Stones Throw, the cosmic sprawl of Shabazz Palaces, and the deconstructed poetry of the human experience , yet their roots remain firmly planted in the soil of the Indianapolis underground—a scene that has long thrived in the margins, despite (or perhaps because of) the city’s resistance to championing its own cultural vanguards.
Blvck, the baritone-voiced poet-warrior, crafts bars with the weight of manifestos. Jones, an alchemist of genre, weaves hooks like ghostly transmissions from an alternate timeline. And Adamson—whose sonic fingerprints have left smudges across the city’s indie and experimental landscapes—warps the edges, his production morphing from metallic clangs to haunting synth drifts with an almost liquid ease.
To listen to 81355 is to step into a parallel Indianapolis—one where the Midwest isn’t just a waypoint between coasts but a gravitational force in itself, pulling together histories of forgotten stories, Afrofuturist exploration, and avant-garde disruption. In an era of algorithmic predictability, 81355 leans into the unknown, where hip-hop doesn’t just reflect culture but disassembles and rebuilds it. They are not just pushing boundaries; they are erasing them entirely.
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“81355 is in constant motion, shifting casually between soulful rap, textured noise, and pensive folk with grace.” - Pitchfork
“Proudly idiosyncratic and tethered to their local punk and art scenes, 81355 is a compelling reminder that, so often, the most exciting things around the corner for art and music aren't coming from a board room - they're coming from neighborhood clubs, house shows, and basements.” - Consequence of Sound