Just got back from the show at the Electric Factory. Gotta say, I was
quite pleased.
Started off with Prefuse 73 - but, Prefuse himself was nowhere near the
focus, being rather in the background. Along with a turntablist, he
provided backing beats for one Mister Lim, a wiry dreadlocked MC who moved
like a carnie barker and dropped enough wicked freestyle to expose posers
like Cex for the frauds they are. Sadly, I think Prefuse maybe played 3
beats for about a minute each, so it wasn't a Prefuse joint by any
means. Still highly fresh, though, especially when the drummer from
Tortoise came out for the last song, with the DJ scratching over his
beats as Mister Lim rapped about people in the audience.
Next up: Nobukaza Takemura. I'd heard much about him, but thus far only
heard his work with Jansen and Barbieri. He played an incredibly diverse
set that stretched from experimental noise and ambient soundscaping to
new jack swing and fusion jazz -- an impressive spectrum for only a half
hour set. The highlight of the segment was a song he did with a singing
Speak N' Spell, which sync'd up to the visuals provided by a Japanese
woman whose name I did not catch, and cartoony robots sung love songs to
one another.
Finally, Tortoise, the headliner, came on. Now, most of what I'd heard
from Tortoise came from their collab with The Ex, which was downright
wretched. Boy, was I in for a surprise. The lush, drony sounds often
made my lose my balance in the dark, sometimes reminiscent of gamelan
music, sometimes borrowing chord progressions from old Motown records,
sometimes playing like the incidental scenes from Mary Tyler Moore and
Love American Style -- but always, always incredible. A thoroughly
enjoyable experience all around.
m@2zo
www.thechisa.com
"Like David said in the 23rd Psalm, 'Though I walk through the valley of
the shadow of death.' See, nobody say, 'Hey, man, let's go shoppin' in
the valley of the shadow of death! Let's go buy a condo in the valley of
the shadow of death!'"
-- Mr. T
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