Cactus Plant Flea Market

Cactus Plant Flea Market, stylised in lowercase, is a 2022 album by British musician Cactusinthebank. It is considered the eighth and final album in the official canon, which excludes side projects. It was released on December 11, 2022 and features 10 standard tracks, as well as two bonus download-exclusive tracks. The album features contributions from Yvng Danny and Project Lo-Fi.

Content
The sound of Cactus Plant Flea Market is varied, but has been described by Aaron Walker as "final". Much like Tubular, Dude!, the album features a mixture of sample-heavy instrumentation with more coherent, pop-oriented structures, however Cactus Plant Flea Market is more sample-reliant - in many cases, layering several dissonant samples onto each other. There is not a strict theme of samples, though the album reflects a seriousness seldom seen prior in Cactusinthebank projects, with use of spoken word recordings and acoustic instruments becoming more prominent. There is also more focus on atmosphere than percussion, which is usually a driving force for Cactusinthebank projects. Despite the changes, the album still contains pitch-shifted vocals, meme-esque pop culture samples and beat switches, and of course the signature "FBI open up" producer tag.

Opening track "Made a Mess", released as a single before being merged into the album release, is a rock song, with the intro implementing parts of songs previously released by Cactusinthebank on other non-album projects like Cactustimpson 2 and Low Effort: Volume Two. The bulk of the song features a distorted Car Seat Headrest sample, interrupted with disparate, robotic drum patterns taken from a cover of Phil Collins' "In the Air Tonight". Eventually, the recognisable drum sample takes the lead and is combined with the guitar riff and vocals of Nirvana's "Heart-Shaped Box" for a noisy outro.

"Set U(s) Free" features an obscure sample that Cactusinthebank cannot even remember the origin of. This is the case for many samples used in their discography. The sample's lyrics about liberation are echoed yet obfuscated by sound effects and a "harmonising" pitch-shifted vocal ad-libbing over the track, before the looser pop rock song switches into an intense, minimal yet distorted bassy trap rhythm. A sample of Kanye West's "Flowers" acts as the refrain between sections of glitched, decontextualised and chopped-up soundbites from Cactusinthebank's own "Out of Time" from Tubular, Dude!, as well as The Simpsons and Yeat.

"The First One" is segmented into two distinct parts. The first is an upbeat, repetitious loop using acoustic guitars and immersive keyboards alongside vocal soundbites from Kanye West, Estelle and Playboi Carti, and a steady, organic drum beat. After a brief, eerie synth interlude, the second distinct part starts, it being a progressive UK drill track. An acoustic Teenage Fanclub sample loops under an intensifying drill loop until the 808s fully kick in, with Aaron Walker contributing additional vocals. The track then evolves into a cheery remix of Central Cee's "Obsessed with You" until it ends.

Artwork
The cover art features an AI-generated drawing of two cacti with exaggerated lips and pink spikes. A similarly AI-generated image was used for the single art of "Made a Mess", with it depicting a series of plants, all in brown as if carved into wood. The single art for "Filling a Hole" is an inexplicable image of Lucas Shapiro, captioned with "Shittin" and recoloured to look like a deep-fried meme, topped off with a parental advisory label.

Tracklist
If downloaded, the consumer can also listen to two bonus tracks, "Summer Girls" - credited to Abercrombie & Fitch - and "I Love You" - credited to Joe & Biden. "I Love You" is an early version of "This is Not Happening", and "Summer Girls" is a demo mashup that was never realised into a full song.