Sage Francis

Many millennial pups from the East Coast underground hip-hop scene have hung up their backpacks; Sage Francis is the latest

Many millennial pups from the East Coast underground hip-hop scene have hung up their backpacks; Sage Francis is the latest. A performance poet who filtered his slick, acrobatic wordplay through the foreboding tone and self-mythologizing bravado of hip-hop, Francis adopts a rock stance on his latest, Li(F)E. He worked with members of Death Cab for Cutie, Grandaddy, and Califone, sampling a variety of styles including rootsy twang, smoldering blues rock, hooky keyboard-pop and noisy experimental textures. The album’s eclecticism is distracting at times, but Francis’ dramatic riffs and repeated glyphs are consistently entertaining. He’s joined on tour by a full band.