Concert Critique

[Wyvern]

Last night, I went and saw Doomtree, Approach, and Paulie Rhymes perform at the Elbo Room in San Francisco.

 

I was excited about this show since Doomtree is my favorite hip hop group at the moment, and my anticipation was paid off by the quality of the show. Terrific sets by both Doomtree and Approach, which had the fairly large crowd of fans going nuts.

 

Paulie Rhymes took the stage as the opening act, with DJ Mad Hatter backing him up on the scratches and track selections. I’d seen Paulie Rhymes at several other bay area shows under the moniker Public Radio with his producer Dee Dot, and he always struck me as a fairly good MC who was maybe a little too conventional to stand out in a live setting. His set at this show was similar to the other times I’d seen him, nothing overly impressive but nothing terrible either. A little boring at times maybe, but a fairly solid opening set.

 

Approach was the next rapper to the stage, and he proceeded to completely tear the house down with his set! The last few times I’ve seen him live he’s killed it, so his amazing performance here came as no surprise to me. He walked out to a Michael Jackson tune with an “RIP MJ” shirt on, introduced himself as Approach and explained that he makes disco music for people to dance to, and raced straight into the crowd for an extra hype club track. The crowd aside from me and one or two other people seemed a little self-conscious when it came to dancing, but Approach got the rest of the people moving in the span of three songs… At one point, he even sat next to a girl sitting near the front and rapped beside her to see if he could motivate her to move a little. This was the first time I've seen him without a hype man to back him up, and he proved to be just as energetic and captivating solo. Most of his songs are oriented towards live settings, with deep buzzing bass lines to bounce around to, and his accapellas are equally mindblowing. Really great set from Approach, do not miss out on seeing this guy if you want to have an awesome time at a live show!

 

Doomtree stepped out as the evening’s headliner after a short DJ set from their awesome DJ Paper Tiger, and they put on an amazing show. One great thing about Doomtree live is their lack of gimmicks, as the quality of their material speaks for itself and translates extremely well in a live setting. Another great thing about them is the variety of their material, as Cecil Otter, Dessa, Sims, and Mike Mictlan all have very different styles of hip hop that blend exceptionally well together. Despite P.O.S’s absence (he's tour in Europe, and was not advertised on the bill), Doomtree played through one colossal anthem type track after another, starting with the crew track “Drumsticks” and finishing things off with Mictlan’s “Prizefight.” Some stand out tracks included Sims’ “Say It Like You Mean It,” Cecil’s “Black Rose,” Dessa’s “Sadie Hawkins,” and Mictlan’s “Fire on the Watermark.” My favorite part of the evening was hearing some of the new tracks that the crew have been working on, which sounded amazing. Lazerbeak a.k.a my producer hero was in attendance as well playing the MPC live, and it happened to be his birthday that evening which was extra nice! Super quality show, I can’t emphasize how great a group Doomtree is. My only regret is that they didn’t have any new merch for sale… I need a Dessa solo album and a Sims & Lazerbeak collabo album badly!

 

Speaking of Sims and Dessa’s upcoming records, here are live recordings of two brand new unreleased tracks of theirs:

 

New Sims track:

 

New Dessa track:

 

Too much talent pouring out of that crew… it’s unfair to the rest of hip hop!

[Wyvern]

A few nights ago, I went and saw a couple of rock groups that folks I work with at Amoeba Records are involved in… The billing consisted of Grand Lake, Guidance Counselor, and the Super Cutes at the Uptown in Oakland.

 

Got there just as the Super Cutes set was starting, and it was a cool set of traditional poppy rock with some extra nerdy and interesting lyrics. It was neat to see Spensor (the dude pictured on the right) performing his stuff, and I really liked the last two songs they did, which incorporated some neat electronic flourishes. The title track from their new album “Yes, We are the Super Cutes” referenced everything from playing “Hero Quest” to texting people on Facebook. Cool set.

 

Guidance Counselor were the next to perform, and they put on a good set of club-ish electro music that incorporated some rock guitar work and drumming. Their set was definitely dance-worthy with lots of beats meant for shaking bodies and a smoke machine in full effect, it’d be interesting to see how they’d rock a packed house instead of the meager turn-out of this particular show. The lead vocalist seemed to be know how to vibe with the music, and they struck me as a good group, though they were the only band I didn’t know anyone from.

 

Grand Lake performed next as the evening’s headliner, and put on a set of a lot of new music they’ve been working on. I’m a fan of their first EP and the lead vocalist Caleb is a cool guy, plus I think he’s got a good personality for the stage. Their new music has a much more experimental edge to it as far as the guitar work goes, partially due to the absence of a keyboard player this time around, but it worked well and they put on a good set. Their new direction seems interesting and I’m looking forward to seeing where they go with it for a full length. Cool show.

 

I also had a chance to witness a free in-store from Jay Reatard the other day, once again on the alternative rock tip, and they put on an awesome 30 minute set. Lots of urgency in the guitar work, some interesting wailing vocal cadences, and some really cool hooks made for a winning set.

[Wyvern]

A few nights ago, I went and saw Blue Sky Black Death, Boy Eats Drum Machine and Boy in Static at the Bottom of the Hill in San Francisco.

 

My second non-hip hop show in a row, I must be getting soft! Naw, but in all seriousness, this was a very good show of interesting electronic alternative rock type acts at my favorite venue in San Francisco.

 

Boy in Static was the first group to get up and perform, and they were one of the reasons I decided to check out the show. I remember seeing them open for 13 & God in Washington DC many years ago, and recalled liking their set of electronic dream pop quite a bit. I was curious to see where their music had progressed to after all these years, and judging by this show they now sound a lot cleaner and more drum-oriented then before. Their set-up consisted of one guy on the drum pads and another guy on violin and vocals, with a sampler and a few microphones thrown in for good effect. For those who doubt the performance of drum pads live, Boy in Static was getting down on them and even explained that their fingers used to bleed over the pads from playing so hard. Despite this energetic playing, their songs were mostly quiet and peaceful electronic tunes with sweet vocals over them. Not as dreamy-sounding as they used to be, but a more refined vision of sound that worked quite well. Nice set.

 

Boy Eats Drum Machine, who I had never heard of, got up to perform next and seriously impressed me with his set. It consisted of one guy surrounded by a whole plethora of equipment, including drums, turntables, saxophone, drum machine, microphone and tambourine. From the very first song, it became clear that this guy knew how to put all of his equipment to good use, with some great uses of record scratching and sampling to back his singing and instrument playing. He had two television monitors hooked up to his drum pad and turntable, so that the crowd could get a close-up view of what he was doing that only made the experience more impressive. Some great beats, some of them very danceable and even encouraging crowd participation, with strong singing vocals and instrumental. Great set, I’m officially a fan.

 

Blue Sky Black Death took things over for the final set as the headlining act of the evening, and were the main reason I came out to the show. I haven’t followed all of their considerable output over the last few years, but their album “A Heap of Broken Images” remains somewhat of a masterpiece in the field of instrumental hip hop. Their beats have a very dark and orchestral sound, which in concert incorporated a violinist, a bassist, a guitarist and a laptop person. They also had the lead female singer from their “Slow Burning Lights” album, Yes Alexander, in attendance and they involved her in all of the numbers. At first I was disappointed at the lack of “Heap of Broken Images” material, but that quickly passed as it turns out Yes Alexander is quite the lead vocalist performer, with a really cool personality and a knack for putting her feelings forth through movement as well as singing. The way she articulated her sound with various dances and motions definitely made her stand out and really enraptured the crowd. Of course, the instrumentation was great as well, as is to be expected from Blue Sky Black Death. Great set to end a great show with!

[Wyvern]

I had a chance to see a free in-store from Wallpaper while working at Amoeba Records yesterday. Last time I saw them, they were the opening act for Subtle and Pigeon John in what still goes down as one of the best shows I've ever seen. While not as good as the other two acts mentioned, Wallpaper impressed me once again with their set, which had a new more dance-oriented direction to it and had the free in-store crowd grooving out. It didn't sound as experimental as the previous set I saw from them, but I the mock disco-ish nature of the new music seems like a natural progression for a group so obsessed with playing around with vocoders. The lead singer and drummer of the group were definitely going at it, sharply dressed and energetic as hell, crooning out comedic auto-tuned anthems catchy enough to get the audience involved in. They also played around with relaying anecdotes while vocoding the vocals up and down, and even supplied the crowd with little pairs of glasses that made everything look glittery and neon. Cool set.

[Wyvern]

I went and saw Busdriver, Themselves, and Nocando at the Bottom of the Hill in San Francisco a few nights ago.

 

I was excited for this show since Busdriver and Themselves pretty much epitomize the progressive and insanely talented cutting edge of rap music, both amazing live acts in their own right let alone together co-headlining the same venue. Throw in the added bonus of seeing some of LA's latest talent from Project Blowed with Nocando, and you have quite an impressive line-up at the best venue in the Bay for a mere 12 dollars. Needless to say, this show didn't disappoint.

 

Nocando kicked things off as the opener, with DJ Ambush of the Oakland Faders backing him up on the selections and the cuts. I was familiar with some of Nocando's work, as he's created a nice buzz for himself through the MC battling circuit and through countless guest appearances on more prolific Project Blowedian's albums. Never the less, this was the first time I've seen a set from him live, and he seems like a pretty promising up-and-comer. His vocals and style sort of remind me of an MC from Canada by the name of Cadence Weapon, though his lyrics seemed more comic and conceptual. The beats backing him were very synth-driven and clubb-ish with a darker edge to them at times, though they weren't always the most impressive. The highlight of his set may have been a love song dedicated to his girlfriend, where he went up to said girlfriend in the crowd and danced with her as he performed it. It was a pretty nice opening set overall.

 

Themselves were the next to perform and drew the largest crowd of the evening, filling the venue out pretty nicely. I don't blame the flocks of people who came to see them, because Doseone and Jel are two of the best live performers you're likely to see just about anywhere. Doseone just oozes charisma and talent in everything he does, and Jel is pretty much the end all of live drum pad work. Granted, their set together was not *quite* as great as when the two of them were touring with their live band Subtle, but it was still way way up there. Doseone could seriously have done stand-up if hip hop hadn't worked out for him... he knows how to talk up the crowd extremely well between tracks, though I'm glad he chose rap music as his profession because he is one talented MC. He and Jel were teasing each other trying to get each other to come up with clever things the entire set, which must've lasted around an hour or so. They performed mostly tracks from their new upcoming record "CrownsDown," though they did slip in a few numbers from "The No Music" and the original "Them" record near the end. The new tracks all sounded impressive, and both musicians brought their A-game. Great set, always worth seeing Dose and Jel put on a show.

 

Most of the crowd left once Themselves had finished, which is a shame because Busdriver came on after them and put on a pretty great set as well. The sound quality wasn't as good for his set and he didn't seem to have nearly as many supporters as Dose & Jel, which is really too bad because he's a damn talented rapper and similar to Doseone in terms of originality and style. He definitely put on a really good set regardless of sound difficulties, with Antimc backing him up on the beats and occasional live guitar work. I've noticed that Busdriver is always trying to find new ways to manipulate his voice for every tour, as he was working multiple microphones with different echo effects and switching up his styles continuously in true LA vet fashion. While his whole set was really good, the stand-outs for me were probably the tracks he performed from my favorite album of his "Temporary Forever," as well as "Me Time" from his new record and "Sunshowers" from his "Roadkillovercoat" album. The track "Black Astronaut" is always nice to hear as well. A pretty great set from a top tier MC.

 

Awesome show. Shame I couldn't drag more people to it *coughreveriecough* ;-) I picked up a handmade piece of artwork from Doseone as a souvenir as well, which is pretty sweet!

[Patrick]

Wednesday 4th November 2009, Epica, Lyon

 

The show started with a group called Sons of Seasons, who gave a show reminiscent of my feelings when listening to their album the only time I did...forgettable. Not a very strong showing from the band.

 

Next came a group called Amberian Dawn, who while having great music, don't have the best of stage presences. Compared to the last time I saw them the show had definitely gotten better though.

 

The highlight of the night was Epica. Already seen this band quite a few times in concert and I'm starting to get used to the quality of their shows being awesome. They did not disappoint this time either, despite the singer having been sick and the group having to cancel a different concert just a few days earlier. Great show, the songs from the new album worked well alongside the older ones and a fun evening was had.

[Wyvern]

Last night, I went and saw the Strange Journey tour starring CunninLynguists, Pep Love, Grieves & Budo, Looptroop Rockers, and Tunji at the Shattuck Downlow in Berkeley.

 

This was quite a good line-up of artists together at the same show, and since I hadn’t seen many of them live before this was definitely a show I was eager to attend. It was a dang good show, though the venue was so packed with people that the lack of space made things uncomfortable at times. The tremendous enthusiasm and energy in response to the performers made for it though… Berkeley gets live!

 

I arrived a few songs into Tunji’s set, and quickly made my way through the crowd to the front row to watch him do his thing. I’d never heard of him, but it turns out that he’s part of a crew called Inverse, who I do know and who are backed by the CunninLynguists’ producer Kno. His set was very strong for an opening act, with lots of crowd participation and a live Bay Area band called The Park backing him for a couple songs, which included a live cover of Common’s “The Light.” Good stuff, I liked it.

 

Looptroop Rockers, a pretty popular rap group out of Sweden, were the next ones up to perform. I’d heard lots of good things about them before from folks, and they were pretty solid live, with the two MCs of the group trading some packed verses while the DJ/producer switched things up by knocking on a drum pad with drumsticks. It’s also worth noting that at this point, a projector had been set up on stage and connected to a laptop, projecting a Twitter page for the Strange Journey tour where fans and artists could post comments from their cells. Very odd choice of set up… distracting at times, but quite interesting to read at times. It was strange to see comments like “Looptroop Rockers are killin it!” appear on the live feed, knowing that someone in the venue was typing that on their cellphone instead of watching the group perform! Anyway, apparently Looptroop Rockers are pretty big in parts of Europe, and it’s cool that they could tag along on this tour. Cool set.

 

Grieves & Budo, the one act in the line-up that I’d seen many times before (and was happy to see again), kicked some good tracks as usual. Their set was not quite as good as the last time that I saw them opening for Mr. Lif, but was still probably stronger than the Looptroop Rockers or Tunji’s set and included some new songs that sounded very tasty indeed. Grieves was really feeling the Berkeley energy in the house, with fans screaming and repeating his hooks louder than any of the other shows I’ve seen him at. He also announced that his new record has been picked up by Rhymesayers, which is very good news for him since they’re one of the biggest and best indie hip hop record labels out there and always promote their albums right. Budo showed off his instrumentation skills on keyboard and trumpet well, and Grieves kicked some good rhymes that were only slightly marred by sound difficulties. Good times.

 

Pep Love, a talented member of the Heiroglyphics crew who’s headlined many of his own shows in the past, was the next to perform and got plenty of Bay Area love. He performed the shortest set of the evening and wasn’t quite as flashy or energetic as some of the acts preceding him, but showed and proved with his impeccable voice and flow. Goes to show that you don’t always have to be a showman to put on a good set. Pep Love also brought out A-Plus from Souls of Mischief (also part of the Heiro crew) as a special guest for one verse, and A-Plus definitely destroyed it in his brief time in the spotlight. A very nice short set.

 

CunninLynguists were the last to perform, and I honestly didn’t know what to expect from them, though I’ve generally dug their work. I was surprised by just how good they were at putting on a live show, as their set was by far the most energetic and entertaining of the evening, with plenty of anthem style tracks that got the crowds chanting along. Deacon the Villain, Natti and Kno spent very little time standing still, in constant motion back and forth across the stage as they delivered a number of their best songs, including “Lynguistics”, “Seasons”, “Nothing to Give”, “Mexico”, etc. If I have one complaint it’s that they were very demanding on the crowd, requesting uproars of noise even when they paused to hydrate themselves with a bit of water. My throat is still recovering from all the yelling. Still, it was an excellent set... they brought up Looptroop Rockers to perform a great collaborative track they recorded with them, and brought up Grieves afterwards to do the same with him. Great way to close out the evening.

 

Edit: Now with video footage I took! Here's CunninLynguists performing the track "Seasons":