Pelican City

Atlanta's Brian Burton is Pelican City. He recorded his debut, The Chilling Effect, while still a student at Emory University and released the considerably more substantial Rhode Island a couple of years later. Playing, producing, and recording everything himself, Burton's Pelican City specializes in expansive, brooding instrumentals. Situated in a hip-hop framework, the music sets a moody, introspective tone before branching out to explore any number of styles and genres. Both Pelican City albums, released independently by Burton, features a fascination with soundtrack and Burton's music has much of that meditative feel. The Chilling Effect was ostensibly a soundtrack and Rhode Island opens with a cover of Alan Parker's "Icefields." In other places, Pelican City samples and remixes liberally, splicing evocative, imagistic melodies together and wedding them to clean bass lines and beats.