Gramatik - Live in Times Square

The magic of Times Square at night.
The millions of lights.
The tourists with wide eyes.
The yellow cabs flying past.
This was the atmosphere waiting in line at the Best Buy Theater to see Gramatik, the best producer to come out of Slovenia since....well....ever.

After filling my lungs with city air, an exxxtra long escalator took me deep below the cityscape into the blue-lit depths of the Best Buy Theater.  After waiting in the coat check line for half a millennia (FIX THIS BEST BUY!), I finally made my way into the theater. Ornate glass chandeliers hung from the dark, open ceiling.  A general admission/standing area stretched 50 yards out from the stage, while the back end of the venue had movie theater style seating.

But you don't care about that.  You came here to read about the music. You wanna know about Gramatik.  How'd he do? How was the set?
Don't worry baby birdie. Daddy's gonna feed you... Imma feed ya some FUNK.

Opening artist Goldfish set the precedent.  The electronic duo hailing from South Africa took the electronic scene in a whole new direction, tossing in elements of jazz, funk, that 'big-band-swing' sound and even rock.  Dominic Peters set up his samples and looped them, only to come to the front of the stage and blare funky melodys on a baby alto sax.  Synth player David Poole added to the samples with jazzy solos and blues chords.  At the end of the set, Poole danced alongside an upright double bass and made the crowd scream as he played the bass line from "Play that Funky Music" by Wild Cherry and then "Seven Nation Army" by The White Stripes.

This left the crowd reeling in anticipation. Gramatik is up next....Finally! Gramatik is up next!

And then the moment came.

Accompanied by synth/ trumpet player Russ Liquid and "imaginary friend" Slow Magic, Gramatik laid down a dubstep-heavy set, somewhat to the disappointment of longtime fans hoping to hear funk and blues.  For those longtimers, Gramatik had something special lined up: a 20 minute rendition of Stevie Wonder's Superstition.  With Russ blaring Stevie's famous horn-line (with ease, might I add) Gramatik and Slow Magic turned the song from funk to a dance, then to a chill downtempo and then right back into a climactic funk feel.


This, however, was not the highlight of the show.  Gramatik introduced Mr.Tibble to the crowd, a thin man in a black vest and red button down, crowned with a black bowler hat. With no idea who this vocalist was, I stopped for a second of cynical judgment. But even my impossible standards were blown away.  Using a vocoder, Mr. Tibble 'auto-tuned' his voice to the solo he played on small synth, much like a voice-box for a guitar (popularized by back in the day by Peter Frampton).  His bluesy, electronic robot voice added a killer melody over the top of the lowtemp beats and jazzy chord changes.  Towards the end of the show, Mr. Tibble came back onstage to move his body in a way that made Chris Brown look amatuer.  Not only could this guy sing, not only could he bang out a bluesy solo, but damnnnn could he dance. Think Michael Jackson moonwalking into a hip-hop/ street performer/ b-boy danceoff.

Oh! And of course: Gramatik's rendition of Stairway to Heaven by Zeppelin was KILLER!

All in all a great set, although a little grimey and dubsteppy at points, the funk still cut through.  Check out the videos and thanks for reading.  See you at the next show!

Vaski Live At Toads 06/28/2014

On Friday, June 28th, Toads Place of New Haven CT opened its doors to a small, young audience.  Most standing in the crowd with me were not old enough to wear the house wristbands used to buy beers, and several even seemed young enough to have their parents waiting outside in the car.  Those of us who were old enough to know what an N64 is seemed to have never heard EDM music before. I found myself dancing alone and wondering if the admission price of $30 was worth it.

Vaski, an EDM DJ from Minnesota, played an eclectic mix of genres in a poor attempt to find the audiences' funny bone and shatter it.  He played songs as grimey and intense as Roll Da Beats by Rusko, followed by upbeat, pop-esque songs like IDGAFS by Dillion Francis.  It seemed that Vaski was unable to judge his audience, instead giving up and putting on his personal pandora account.  The 'covers' he 'performed' were even uncut, without the slightest 'Vaski styling'.  Anyone can make a playlist....anyone can press play on iTunes.  Where is the Vaski I saw last year that opened for Excision at the Oakdale? Where is the Vaski that melted my face with his progressive, grimy dubstep? Where is the artist that I became quickly obsessed with?  I guess I may have backed the wrong horse here. Or does the future hold more for this artist?  Time will tell.

Excision - Live At The Oakdale

        They told me to prepare for battle.  They told me to prepare for war.  But they underestimated Excision's Execution Tour.  We all did.

        Twenty-one hundred hours. March 13th, 2013.  We stood silently in our trenches in the dark venue, awaiting for the enemy to arrive.  We had been told at boot camp we were prepared; we had trained for this.  But no amount of training could have prepared us for the onslaught we were about to witness.
        I heard the first explosion about ten feet in front of me.  My rib cage shook.  Some of my men wanted to retreat.  There was a moment of shell-shock.  My ears defended and my vision blurred.  And this was just the first wave...just the opening act.  He called himself Vaski and his tracks blew me away.  His dubstep mixes combined grimy bass, the best of electronic dance and slight influences of prog rock. I managed to film a little of the assault.  The cacophony literally blew the microphone on my camera.

        As Vaski left the stage, he thanked us for being decent victims.  One last blast from the subwoofers and his blitz had ended.  There we were, back in our silent trenches.  Now our eyes had widened.  "I can handle another round," I thought to myself, stupidly.  Little did I know, Excision brought his secret weapon.
        As the house lights rose, a large white sheet dropped from the backdrop of the stage, revealing a massive tank covered in projector screens.  Two massive towers of subwoofers stood on either side, his main weapon for the impending death march.  I found myself covering a young girls ears and grimacing as the first drop shook my bones.  Now we were at war.  Now the beat had consumed us... and there was nothing else to do but join the slaughter.

     An unnamed soldier next to me actually dropped to the floor during a remix of Two Chainz 'I'm Different', only to have his body thrown above the crowd and passed around like a holy rag doll.  Another soldier cleared a small circle in the crowd during the slow build in the track 'Execute'.  Once the drop hit, he flipped his body into the air, completing a perfect backflip, landing squarely on his feet.  Immediately his body slammed against the beat while his fellow soldiers rushed in.  The open circle caved in and a light moshpit briefly formed.

     As the night ended it was evident that I was officially deaf.  My comrades seemed exhausted as they trudged back to the evacuation point.  "Best show I've seen at the Oakdale," I thought to myself, before laying down in the back seat of our transport, waiting to return to home base.  "Maybe even the best dubstep show I've seen in Connecticut."

Caspa - Live at Webster Hall (NYC)

by Keelan Freitag

            "In the UK we have something called a moshpit," boasted old-school dubstepper Caspa at his Christmas Eve show in the Webster Hall of Chelsea, New York.  "Do you have that here? Do you know what a moshpit is?"

            And then it began.

            WOB WOB WOB WOB WOB as the bodies in the pit tossed each other like ragdolls.  At one point, even several female-festival-fairies (if you don't know the type, think rave girls) were seen throwing their weight around.

            But I'm getting way ahead of myself. To start this journey we must go back to the beginning of the show: sitting in a club listening to 'I'm Sexy And I Know It' by LMFAO about twenty times in the course of 3 hours.  Absolute torture.  Then came the rollers; the ecstasy mules of the night; with wide pupils that stare like the world is a television set and vision only goes in one direction.  Several times I had to tell an overzealous stranger to stop touching me and scram.  By 1:00 a.m. it was time to either hear some dubstep or get the hell out of limbo.

            Luckily, Caspa went on a half hour later.  Take it from me, walking up the marble stairs to the third floor of the Webster Hall felt like ascending out of the hell of a frat-house dance party and into the arms of a devilish angel.

            Caspa started his set with darker dub, keeping the tempo down and sticking purely to low wobbles and high female vocal style.  Girls with pacifiers and bead bracelets threw their bodies against the slow beat as guys dripping with sweat were caught headbanging. Caspa's cover of La Roux's "The Kill" was my personal highlight of the night.

Check out this vid, taken at the show!

            Halfway through the show, however, Caspa's british accent was heard over the PA system. "Lets turn up the tempo a bit. Lets get this party moving." Thus began the second half of his set, which started off with a couple Drum and Bass tracks.  Again the bodies swam and flailed around each other, caught in flashes of pure white light.  The quicker dance tempo injected a new energy, giving most in the cramped venue a second wind.

            All in all Caspa showed his true talent: injecting a crowd of animals with pure power and excitement, forcing us to rage until the early hours and trudge home sweaty and exhausted.

M.I.A - Teqkilla

Last year M.I.A. dropped the new album, /\/\ /\Y/\, which lead songwriter Maya Arulpragasem called 'schizophrenic' and Rollingstone called "the most abrasive protest music in recent history."  One track on the album, Teqkilla, will get you drunk.  M.I.A. takes a shot of tequila and dances.  The electro-club beat (produced by Dubstepper RUSKO) drowns out Maya's vocals as she plays word games with titles of different alcohols.  The song comes at a perfect time, when dubstep listeners are growing tired and want something new; while youthful revolutions denounce older monarchies in the Middle East and, most importantly, while the national past-time for this country's youth tends to be binge drinking.

The title, teqkilla, is ambiguous in that M.I.A. could refer to tequila or 'to kill her'.

The song is also unique in that Maya's husband is the heir to the Seagrams fortune.  Also check out the 'remixed' version that includes an extra verse featuring 'barbie' Nicki Manej.

Check out the video here; I would recommend a listen while under the influence.

liqueurs referenced in order: Johnny Walker; Jack Daniels; Jim Beam; Pernot; Kahlua; Smirnoff; Captain Morgan; Sparks; Blue Tattoo; Malibu; 99 Bananas; Seagrams; Chivas; wine; Sambuca. 

LYRICS:
Down the drain, down the drain, down down down down down down, make it drop down the drain
We squeeze we sniff we cut it up, to give you the ultimate
Oh its M.I.A. Oh woah, Oh its M.I.A. woah
Rock it, just rock it rock it two for the stage, two the bars, woah


Johnny keep walking, Jacks on coke,
Jim Beam and Jameson, they give me jokes
When I Pernot, I say hell no
Kahlua's a turnoff, I tell him to Smirnoff
Cap'n Morgan jump up for Sparks, when we hang out he shoots arrows through my heart
Blue Tattoo chillin on Malibu, he got 99 Bananas but hes not my boo.


I got that sticky-sticky-icky-icky weed
I got a shot of tequila in me


When I met Seagram he sent Chivas down my spine
Got me on the dancefloor and we started to wine
His ex Sambuca, shes just a hookah
I put it on the chilla, but I want to killa


I got that sticky-sticky-icky-icky weed
I got a shot of 'to kill her' in me.

I got you off your f*****-face, I tell you what to do
You want your mother; you something-or-another
I got you off your f*****-face, youve half turned to another place
Your brother, you f****** nutter.

I got sticky-sticky-icky-icky weed, I've got a shot of tequila in me.(x10)