Sapient & Evil Ebenezer at Sol Collective, Sacramento CA

View From the Front Row, 3/14/13

A little over a week ago, I had the privilege of seeing Sapient's new live show over in Sacramento CA at a little art gallery called Sol Collective. Those who've spoken to me about hip hop recently know that Sapient's new album "Slump" gets my vote for the strongest release of these early months of 2013, so I felt justified in driving the distance to see him after a busy day of work in Berkeley. Accompanying Sapient on this tour was Evil Ebineezer, whose music I also tend to enjoy, so the stage was set for an excellent hip hop gig.

First, a word or two about my impressions of the venue and the picture of the Sacramento hip hop scene that this show painted. On the plus side, the small art space got a surprisingly good turn out of hip hop fans, despite the lack of alcohol or snacks or any of the luxuries typically associated with these sorts of shows. Hell, even the bathroom was a tricky thing to reach, as it was located behind the stage with a narrow window of space to maneuver through if you wanted to get there without disturbing the performers. The art exhibit on display was not particularly good, and the diverse crowd of fans turned out to mostly be friends of the various performing artists, which brings me to the real negative side of this show. There were about seven local Sacramento hip hop acts who were not listed on the bill that ended up performing before Sapient and Evil, and each and every one of them was mediocre at best. I'm not gonna list their names here since I ain't trying to get on the Sacramento scene's shit-list or anything, but sitting through every one of them was a chore and I found myself bored and lounging on a couch in the back, which is not something I typically do at rap shows. One thing that stood out to me beyond the mediocrity of it all was the lack of excitement or passion in what a lot of these openers were doing. It was like they'd just gotten up for work and didn't really want to be there playing a show. Strange, since just the other week I saw a Sacramento based hip hop duo Mad1ne absolutely kill shit live to the point of stealing a show in Berkeley. Guess they just chose the wrong dudes to open for this one. It's all politics when it comes to booking these sorts of events anyway.

Once Evil Ebenezer got up to play, the crowd had dwindled to a much smaller pool of hip hop heads. But like the DJ Abilities and Sadistik show the night before, the fans remaining made up for the lack of a large audience with their genuine enthusiasm and appreciation for the music. I reclaimed my rightful place in the front row before Evil kicked off his first tune, and was pleased with the immediate positive reactions of the crowd, which felt a lot more genuine than the half-hearted applause that the Sacramento openers got. This was my first time seeing Evil play live, and he breezed through a good selection of songs from his "Call Me Evil," "Birds," and "Evil Eye" albums that emphasized his cool rap voice and penchant for poppy hooks and songwriting. There have been points in Evil's recent recordings where his sound has gotten a little too poppy for my tastes, but it seems like he avoided playing any of those tunes in favor of highlights from his various albums. Some stand-outs included "Take Me With You," "Scarecrow, "Wonder Years" and "Liquor Store," which somehow managed to work despite the sobriety of the venue. "Wake Up" was also an excellent mellow way to end the set, and Evil got a good deal of call and response from the crowd for most of his songs that had him in a good mood the entire time. He encouraged people to come visit him at the merch booth after the show even if they didn't want to buy anything just to say what's up. Nice set.

Sapient was up next, and he put on a very engaging and impressive show that really demonstrated how he's grown as a musician. He and his keyboard player/touring partner AED set up various instruments and props on stage, and then Sapient kicked things off with an instrumental set that showcased his production talents live. He churned out some hype synthy sounds with his beat equipment in an unexpected intro to his set, which worked well. Once he'd finished showing off the beats, Sapient picked up his guitar and took to the mic while AED held things down on the keyboards and drum machines for the "Slump" part of the show. This segment of Sapient's set was the highlight of the night to me, as it was awesome to see him and AED translate the sounds of Sapient's new album to a live setting. I wasn't sure if Sapient would be as convincing a singer live as he was on record, but he managed it just fine at Sol Collective. This was only the second or third night of Sapient and AED road-testing the new "Slump" material and there were a few hiccups here and there in the syncopation of the music, but for the most part the songs were played flawlessly and had their own original sound live. "When" and "Monsters Eat Bricks" were stand-outs to me, but "Ello" was definitely a crowd favorite and got a lot of love from folks. After covering about 8 or 9 songs from "Slump," Sapient dropped the instruments, picked the mic up off the stand, and ran through some of his older rap numbers for the hungry fans. He played mostly songs from "Gunwings" and "Barrels for Feathers" and did them justice, though he took it back further to "My Grind is Tech" and "Letterhead" for the encores. Sapient's rapping sounds good live and he gets pretty animated on stage, but the third part of the show was probably the weakest of the three. I really liked the format of the set overall, though, and think that Sapient should stick to incorporating all three of these elements in order to cover the bases and give the crowd a sense of his diversity. If I weren't familiar with Sapient's recordings, I definitely would have looked into them after watching his set. Very interesting and creative performance that lived up to expectations.

Overall, this was a good show despite the questionable string of openers (Sapient even made note during his set that it was like "a little festival"). I recommend checking out this guy's new live show for yourself if you get a chance.

DJ Abilities, Sadistik and Maulskull at Neck of the Woods, SF

View From the Front Row, 3/11/13

Last Saturday, I went to check out Sadistik's most recent tour opening for DJ Abilities at Neck of the Woods (formerly known as Rockit Room) in San Francisco.  The last time I saw Sadistik play in the Bay was early 2011 at a headlining show at Kimo's SF, where he got live in front of an audience of maybe 5 people.  That show was my first experience listening to Sadistik's music, and I've checked out a bunch of his recordings since, including his pretty excellent new release on Fake Four "Flowers for My Father."  I was curious to see him play some of his new material live, and was also interested in seeing what DJ Abilities would bring to the table for his set.  Unfortunately, this event was another under-promoted gig with a pretty minimal turn-out of people, but it didn't stop any of the artists from doing their damn thing and actually made for a pretty special and intimate show. 

Maulskull of Black Mask was the first of the acts to perform, and took the stage once folks had given up on getting any sort of reasonable attendance.  I'd seen Black Mask play once before at a JFK show in SF and remember enjoying their set, so it's cool to see Maulskull still touring and doing his thing.  He performed a bunch of solo songs from his new album "Us & Them" which highlighted his heavy synth production and energetic flows, and was very approachable and responsive to the crowd.  He played his set mostly off stage and a few feet into the crowd to get closer to the shy spectators, only reclaiming the stage in order to work in a bit of scratching here and there.  Stand-out songs included "Rise" and the very somber "Marionette," which set the tone for Sadistik's set well.  Maulskull was also kind enough to give away hard copies of "Us & Them" to everyone in the crowd, and like Black Mask's album, these freebies were packaged beautifully in glossy digipacks with solid artwork and some impressive guest features.  A guaranteed way to get me listening and paying attention to your album.  Good performance.

Sadistik was the next artist to play, and he put on a strong set of songs spanning his discography that relayed his personality well.  One thing that I really enjoy about Sadistik's music is the moods that it sets through both his lyrics and his choice of production, and these moods are only amplified when heard through booming club sound systems.  Tracks like "Searching for Some Beautiful" and "Russian Roulette" were really brought to life through the surrounding speakers, and Sadistik performed them with a live intensity that one might not expect from listening to his albums.  He played his entire set off-stage next to the circle of fans, which he brought in closer for his songs and frequently interacted with.  Amongst those watching were Young God of Blue Sky Black Death, who Sadistik often pointed to when a track that used a beat of theirs dropped.  Fake Four's label manager DJ Halo was also part of the circle as well, and was nodding his head appreciatively to the performance.   Sadistik incorporated some strong stage antics in a determined effort to impress the small crowd, including one memorable moment where he referenced the serial killer in "Silence of the Lambs" by applying a bunch of chap stick to his lips and asking the crowd "do you love me now?"  He also performed a freestyle that incorporated a couple of topics chosen by the crowd, which was a fun segment of his set, though he was not quite reaching Astronautalis levels of amazing when it came to that game.  His songs "Kill the King" and "Ashes to Ashley" got some very strong and favorable reactions from those in attendance, though it was a little strange to see him perform "Micheal" live, as that track almost feels too personal for a live setting to me.  Never the less, the entire set was enjoyable and went appreciated by everyone in the circle of fans.  A strong performance for sure.

DJ Abilities set up shop at his turntables shortly after Sadistik's set was a wrap, and he threw down an enjoyable DJ mix that incorporated old school hip hop, new school hip hop, classic rock, a touch of reggae and some soul.  His show on this tour was similar to his interludes on the last Rhymesayers tour with Atmosphere, with him mixing up songs as an ill DJ should and keeping the crowd entertained with his picks.  He also incorporated some of his signature class-A scratching between songs, and used some interested vocal plug-in effects to chop some of the songs into fragments.  I used to idolize DJ Abilities as a scratch DJ when I was younger, and Eyedea & Abilities opened at one of the first underground hip hop shows I ever went to back in the day, so seeing him pull some scratch routines is always a treat.  The crowd was sparse, but Abilities' tunes had pretty much everyone who was still there dancing, including my friend B and myself in the front.  The only negative thing I have to say about DJ Abilities is that in my limited experiences chatting him after shows, he's always struck as having a bit of an ego...  After this event, he was going on about how no one is crafting DJ mixes like he is and how it's easy to fill most venues with his name on the bill.  I enjoyed his set, but frankly his routine was not that far removed from the DJ mix sets that friends of mine spin in Oakland on a regular basis.  Still, it was a good show.

Despite the small turn-out of people, this was a very good show.  Met a lot of great folks and had a lot of fun.  Good times.

Louis Logic, Ceschi, Jonny October and Troy Walsh at Union Pool. Brooklyn, NY

View From the Front Row, 2/19/13

I made a little visit out to New York last week and had the opportunity to see Louis Logic's first headlining show in 7 some odd years at the Union Pool in Brooklyn.  Featured in the line-up were the talents of Ceschi Ramos, Jonny October, Troy Walsh and J-Zone holding things down on the wheels of steel. 

The show was scheduled to start at 8:00 PM, so my homie Misha and I decided to schedule our metro ride to arrive down there in the 9:00 PM-ish range, under the assumption that hip hop shows always start at least an hour late.  By some strange twist of fate, Louis Logic managed to get things running exactly on time, which could very well be a first in my hip hop show-going experiences.  Unfortunately, we missed Troy Walsh's set due to our late arrival, and Jonny October was just about wrapping up his performance as we made our way through the crowd.  We did get a chance to see a special guest appearance from rapper Pack FM, who rocked a song or two as an interlude during Jonny October's set and got some pretty good crowd response going.  The few songs I heard from Jonny October sounded pretty good, and he seemed enthusiastic to be on stage opening for some underground heavy-weights.

As for the stuff I was in attendance for, I have to send a special nod of appreciation to J-Zone for his excellent DJ skills and selections between sets.  J-Zone spun exclusively 45s throughout the evening, and laid down some deep funk jams that had folks bobbing their heads and getting loose.  J-Zone's choice selections were obscure and funky as hell, and his interludes between sets were a major step up from your average DJ fare.  

Ceschi was the first of the acts I had the chance to watch from the front row at this gig, and he put on an amazing show that remains second to none in the world of hip hop and beyond.  He kicked things off with one of his signature acoustic rap songs and then grabbed the mic and went straight into "Count On It" to get the crowd riled up.  Ceschi is one of the more impressive acts to see live in my opinion because of the diversity of his songs and the command that he has over the crowd, regardless of what style of music he's playing.  He put on a stellar show, barreling through tracks like "Fall of Captain E.O" and "Bad Jokes" flawlessly without skipping a beat, with fans like myself shouting along to many of the lyrics.  Some highlights of his performance included an excellent rendition of "Black and White and Red All Over," an awesome performance of "Love Song for the Apocalypse" and a crazy finale of "Half Mast," which was performed from the center of the crowd amidst much sweating and moshing.  Louis Logic backed Ceschi up throughout a good portion of his set, occasionally providing back-up vocals and playing keyboards for the tunes, plus always emphasizing how much he loved the man's music.  One of the most memorable moments of the show was when Ceschi abandoned his mic and sat up by the bar to perform "The Way We Grow Back Tails" on his guitar, silencing the crowd to a whisper until the hook brought everyone together in song.  A truly great performance that turned a lot of heads and caused a lot of jaws to drop. I don't think I've ever seen this guy play a set where he hasn't at least partially lost his voice by the end of it all, and I'm always appreciative of how much he puts into his craft and his stage show. 

Louis Logic took the stage shortly after another J-Zone interlude, once again timing things exactly in accordance to the evening's schedule.  I'd only seen Louis Logic play live once prior to this concert, and it was about a decade ago in Virginia when he was touring with JJ Brown and promoting his "Sin-a-Matic" and Odd Couple albums.  I remember being pretty underwhelmed with his set at that show, partially because of Glue's show-stealing opening performance and partially because of some of his attitude and humor rubbing me the wrong way.  I actually ended up walking out of that show before he had finished, but his music has undergone quite a transformation since then and I was damn curious to see if he'd deliver this time.  When Lou kicked things off with "Up to No Good" and demonstrated how hungry and animated he was on stage, any fears I may have had quickly fell to the wayside.  He performed a very interesting and entertaining set that combined some of his older classics and songs from "Misery Loves Company" with his newer unreleased material, which will apparently be dropping on his upcoming album which if memory serves is tentatively titled "Always Look on the Bright Side."  Lou's old and new songs both worked very well for the most part, and offered very different sides of his music while maintaining his penchant for clever concepts and humor. Out of the older numbers, "Factotum" and "Rule By a Fool" worked super well on stage, and he performed a quality rendition of "The Ugly Truth" on his keyboard despite gripes about promising his fiancee he wouldn't play it that.  Speaking of Louis Logic's significant other, she was in attendance and got on stage to play some instruments for Lou's newer songs, which seemed slightly less grounded in traditional hip hop and featured a lot more singing and live keyboard playing.  I'd be lying if I said I was a fan of all of the singing in the new approach, but the songs themselves were very good and featured a lot of clever concepts, including a track dissing reality TV shows, a track advocating gay rights, and a song reflecting upon his past touring debauchery in a negative light.  The many enthusiastic fans in attendance demanded an encore, and Lou hopped into the crowd to throw down his verse from "Diablo."  Strong set that showed off Louis Logic's personality well, my faith in his live show has been restored.

The vibe of the NY crowd at this thing was great, and definitely benefited from my friends Corina Corina and PremRock being there.  Even got to meet Willie Green before the night was out.  Good times!

Busdriver, Nocando, and Open Mike Eagle at The New Parish, Oakland

View From the Front Row, 10/25/12

About two weeks ago, I went and checked out the Arguments With Dreams Tour starring Busdriver, Nocando, and Open Mike Eagle at the New Parish in Oakland CA.  This was the first show of the tour and it had the misfortune of landing on an unexpected Game 5 for the Oakland A's, which probably drew a bit of the sports fanatic Busdriver fans away from the venue.  Still, the show got a pretty good turn out of top notch people, including a bunch of fans from Nappa Valley who I ended up grabbing a beer with before the show.  Later met up with a few awesome friends of mine at the venue, and happened to bump into Doseone, who distributed hugs in the midst of buying a round of drinks for the performers.  I've seen all of the acts on this tour play many times before (hell, I've seen Open Mike Eagle and Busdriver play a couple of times this year alone), but this particular show felt special since it was my first time seeing these three LA rap talents on a proper tour together.  Given their numerous collaborations and similar approaches to hip hop, the sets that these Hellfyre Club MCs offered up had a special chemistry that made for a really dope show.

Open Mike Eagle kicked things off with some smooth melodic styles that quickly roped the crowd in and won them over by the third song.  After an odd electronic intro rap from "4NML HSPTL," he got into the full swing of things with his track "The Processional," where his skillful musical flows and clever lyrics had folks' undivided attention in no time.  I've seen Open Mike Eagle play tiny dive bars like Johnny V's and huge concert halls like the Fillmore, and he always kills it with his unique soft-spoken style and finds charming ways to banter with the crowd.  Highlights of this recent set at the New Parish included "Neighbor" and his verse off of "Why Pianos Break," though he cut his song "I Rock" cruelly short when he realized that it wasn't really speaking to him that night.  Mike Eagle had the crowd do some proper stretching exercises before throwing down some beat manipulation and dropping the track "Free-Writing Exercise," where Nocando joined him on stage to exchange some heated verses.  The two friends I was with had never seen Open Mike Eagle live, and the Nappa Valley kids had never even heard of him before the set at this show.  All of them left converted fans and told me how much they loved Mike's set.  Dope show for sure.

Nocando was next to rock the mic, and he delivered a more loud and aggressive set of songs that worked nicely on the crowd.  Oakland is one of the two places that Nocando claims as home, and he was clearly the touring artist that felt most at home at the New Parish that night.  The way that Nocando pointed out his friends in the crowd and rocked a beat from an iPod that someone handed him in the front row, he may as well have been killing it in his own backyard.  Still, club-oriented joints like "Where's the Money?" and "All Over a Bitch" (which Nocando openly apologized to the ladies for) got folks rowdy in the front row and made the place feel like a proper dancehall.  He also kicked some of the freestyling he's known so well for, and brought Busdriver out for their collaborative number "Two Track Mind."  This was one of Nocando's first shows back in the states after spending some time in Japan, so it was great to see him vibing so well off of Oakland's energy.  Very good set.

Busdriver stepped up as the evening's headliner, and proceeded to show off his zany styles of rapping to the fullest.  He started things off with a series of solo tracks that spanned his body of work, with a particular emphasis on songs that have impressed people live.  Some stand-outs included "Me-Time," "Casting Agent & Cowgirls," "Avantcore" and "Bon Bon Fire," though just about every song he played was solid.  While this part of Busdriver's performance was great, the highlight of the evening was definitely when Nocando joined him on stage to perform a set of songs as Flash Bang Grenada, where the crazy music took on a new life.  Busdriver and Nocando were having a great time playing together, frequently laughing or bugging out over each others flows and lyrics, and the good vibes translated well to the music and to the crowd.  Tracks like "Beat My Bitch" and "Good Cop, Bad Cop" sounded plenty live through the New Parish speakers, and Open Mike Eagle joined the two of them on stage for a rowdy rendition of their excellent track "In a Perfect World."  My friends and I were dancing so hard that at one point my glasses flew off and somehow found their way onto the stage, where Busdriver stumbled upon them and handed them back to me in the front.  Great set that ended a great show.

Fun times for all involved, my friends and I left smiling and sweaty.  Peep the video footage for "In a Perfect World" live below, and please excuse the less than stellar sound quality.  Now, if I could just start a petition here to get Open Mike Eagle to start performing "Haircut" again in his sets, we could round these shows out to perfection.  Not the best song in his catalog or anything, but that track has been great the few times I've seen him play it live!

Z-Man, Hopie, C-Plus, Rey Resurreccion, Toast and Dregs One at Elbo Room, SF

View From the Front Row, 10/9/12

Been a little quiet on the front row around these parts, but not for lack of hitting shows.  Aesop Rock and co. at the Fillmore and Astronautalis (who opened for the abysmal Flobots) at Bottom of the Hill were both very noteworthy recent shows that I attended, but there are so many shows to cover in the Bay and so little time.  Rather than covering one of the larger tours that I peeped, I figure that a new local performer write-up is long overdue, and Z-Man's recent "album release" show at Elbo Room featured a nice line-up of Bay Area rap talent to cover on this blog.

I put "album release" in quotations since, while billed as an album release party for Z-Man, there is yet to be a new Z-Man album birthed unto the world to my knowledge.  Elbo Room filled up a little slowly at first for this event, but the crowd made up for the initial low turn-out with a pretty great showing of Bay Area rap heads.  Kirby Dominant was in attendance, supporting his gals Toast as well as Z, and one of the performers mentioned that Myka 9 was chilling somewhere in the spot as well.  There were a lot of really hardcore Bay Area hip hop fans in attendance, including some dudes who'd been listening to Gurp City since middle school, and these fools were going extra hard with the support at this show. 

Dregs One acted as the evening's host by introducing each of the acts and getting the crowd appropriately hyped.  He also played a couple of songs as the show's opening act, and kicked a few tracks between sets as the night progressed.  Dregs was pretty excellent at both of his jobs.  As a host, he knew how to properly introduce the performers with class and enthusiasm, and riled up some great responses from the crowd.  He was equally great as an MC, with vivacious stage energy that was rivaled only by the evening's headliner.  Dregs did justice to a couple of tunes from his "Wake Up Call" album, threw down an object-driven freestyle that got some crowd love, and debuted some new songs from a project he's working on with Big Shawn of Bored Stiff.  He also filmed a video for a song off of said project during the show, but had a bit of a hard time getting some of the crowd involved in it.  Here's hoping the footage turned out dope, cus' he deserves it!

Toast was the next act to take the stage, with Kirby Dominant joining them for a verse and supporting them on the hooks.  Toast were clearly having a pretty great time on stage with their raunchy feminine raps, which is why it pains me to say that their music did nothing for me and their set left me feeling a bit cold.  Their style of music, which might be described as a more clever underground version of the White Girl Mob, just doesn't appeal to me I guess.  What's funny is that I was still supporting and dancing up in the front row, and Erica B singled me out a couple of times with some pretty dirty lines that got me smiling a bit.  Not a bad time grooving next to these pretty ladies, but can't say I'd ever be caught dead listening to one of their songs in the comfort of my own home.  Kirby is still the motherfucking man of course, and killed it with his all-too-brief guest verse.

Rey Resurreccion followed after Toast with a solid performance that had a lot of folks in the crowd blazing up some major blunts.  See that haze of smoke surrounding Rey in the pic of him rocking the mic?  That ain't no Elbo Room smoke machine!  Rey Resurreccion put a lot of passion and ferocity into his verses that had dudes who hadn't made their way to the front take a couple steps forward and start bobbing their heads.  His beat selection seemed to bounce back and forth between traditional jazzy hip hop shit and more club-oriented jams, and he handled both styles well.  As someone who is not well-versed in Rey's music, I thought he was very good live.  I hear he's gonna be touring with Bambu in the near future, which will hopefully offer him some new exposure to potential fans.

C-Plus was next to play, and was the only rapper of the night not repping the Bay Area.  I had some mixed feelings about his set.  On the one hand, C-Plus had a dope voice and a pretty great flow, which caught my attention right from the get-go and kept me listening.  On the other hand, he seemed a bit cocky and over-confident on stage, which resulted in his set going on for a bit too long.  He opened by demanding that the crowd get extra hype for an out-of-towner from Sacramento, which was not the right foot to start things off on.  Once he brought up the Giant's and A's victories, he'd silently made amends with the crowd and folks became a bit more supportive.  C-Plus brought a rapper buddy hype-man to the stage about halfway through his set, and dude killed it with his one guest verse but was otherwise an unnecessary distraction.  C took things out on a high note by ending his set with the song "Heaven Is" from one of Ski Beatz's albums, which provided the perfect mellow jazzy note to wind things down with.  Pretty good set overall.

Hopie got on stage once C-Plus had finished, and she delivered an awesome set that felt almost too short by comparison.  From the very first moments that Hopie addressed the crowd and tested their energy with her opening song "Speakers Knock," it became abundantly clear that she had a real connection with the audience and was relishing the opportunity to play.  I've seen Hopie rock it live a fair number of times, and one thing that's always great about her sets is that she really knows how to vibe off of the crowd and how to enjoy her time on stage.  She was in great form with her rapping this evening, and flowed effortlessly through her tracks, with highlights including the charming upbeat ode to Cali herb "Higher, Higher" and the bouncy synth sounds of "Space Case."  Hopie may have gotten the best crowd response of any performer at the show, which is a testament to her ability to connect and have fun with folks during her sets.  She also played an impressive new song from her upcoming "Sugar Water" album as an encore, and I was digging the chill West coast vibes of the track.  Dope set.

Z-Man finally came out as the evening's headliner, blue track suit stunner shades and all, and he definitely killed it with a crazy ill comedic set of Gurped out rapping and fancy footwork.  Z took the stage with the very hypest number in his live show repertoire "Fronted On," only to tease the crowd by cutting it short a few seconds in and starting the track over just to make sure fools got extra hyped for it.  Majority of the crowd was fairly tipsy at this point in the evening, and Z-Man generously broke out some bottles of his signature rosé wine with plastic cups to share with folks up in the front.  He refilled people's cups at the start of each song, and I had to slow my roll a little after the third or fourth cup! A lot of folks were a little too drunk to get super hype and responsive to Z-Man's songs, but it resulted in an unusually comedic show that was still fun as hell to be a part of.  Tracks like "Crumb in the Bay" and "OJ Simpson and Courtney Love" went super appreciated by the crowd, and Z busted some pretty sick dance moves and even bent down and flashed his boxers at one point to emphasize some line about ass.  One of the funniest things to witness was Kirby Dominant's reactions to Z-Man's insane stage antics, particularly when the two Bay Area rap legends began complimenting each other on their classy choices of suits.  I've seen Z-Man live countless times, and he really is one of those dudes whose stage charisma you have to witness for yourself at some point if you live in the Bay.  Highly recommend the man's live show.  Great time, guaranteed.



No "album release," but it was definitely a party up in Elbo Room that night.  Super good show.

Edison, Babelfishh, Beastmaster and Home at Ear Peace Records, Berkeley

View From the Front Row, 5/6/12

A few nights ago, I had the pleasure of seeing Edison and friends rock a free show over at Ear Peace Records in Berkeley.  I wasn't planning on documenting this one, but it ended up being such a great time that I felt the need to preserve some of the details to memory here.  I've seen Edison and Beastmaster kill it plenty of times live, but Babelfishh and Home I wasn't as familiar with, and they both really impressed me with their performances.  This show was also awesome in the way that it brought together many friendly faces from both sides of the Bay, with hip hop homies from San Francisco, Oakland and Berkeley all congregated in one tiny lil' record store. Sooo many rad people packed into one space, it was almost unfair to whatever else was going on in the East Bay that night!

The turn-out to this event was pretty good and easily trumped the sparse crowd of the previous Ear Peace Oldominion show, with lots of friends and loved ones of the performers in attendance.  Before the Babelfishh and Beastmaster tour that Ear Peace was hosting got started, Bay area producer Phillip Drummond punched out a mix of beats and other songs from the store balcony above the crowd.  This part of the show was billed as a "Beat Cypher," but with only Phillip Drummond participating it played out more like a warm-up DJ set.  The traditional blapper beats went on for a bit too long, but the set served its purpose in killing a bit of time until more people showed up and the rest of the artists were ready to play.

Home kicked the show off properly with a very brave and original all accoustic hip hop set.   Without the use of any mic or amplifier, Home sat down with his guitar and strummed his way through a gamut of quiet numbers that showed off his songwriting skills.  He rapped over various moods and tempos set by his guitar playing, and occasionally abandoned the rapping altogether for a simple sung folk tune.  The set felt very delicate and personal in a way that made it stand out from your average hip hop or folk show, with Ceschi or David Ramos' softer numbers being the closest comparison I can think of.  Even after breaking one of the strings on his guitar during an upbeat number, Home did all of his remaining songs justice and got a good amount of love from the crowd.  As Edison's brother and one of the members of Paper Vehicle, I guess a certain degree of talent should have been expected, but I was still pleasantly surprised by his set.

Beastmaster took the stage after Home had finished, and brought out a chest of antique toys and a couple of beast dolls for company.  I've seen Beastmaster rap a number of times as a freestyler during Edison's sets, but it occurs to me that this was only the second full set of solo material I've seen from him, with the first being a performance as part of Ecid's "Attack of the Vampire Mermaids" tour a few years back.  Beastmaster began his set with an awesome recording of someone talking about wizards and other fantasy creatures, and from there he went straight into the rapping and kicked a bunch of dense intellectual hip hop numbers for people to wrap their brains around.  He played a number of dope songs, including his track off of Edison's "Full Mustafa" album and another great one that had him chanting a hook about running around with a hatchet.  In addition to his ill creative lyrics, Beastmaster's set was great to watch from a visual standpoint, with his repertoire of toys offering up some memorable moments.  At one point in the set, he leaned down to cuddle his beast dolls while a funny "I Love My Beastmaster" theme song cued up in the background, and at another point he was gripping the mic through giant beast gloves.  Babelfishh joined Beastmaster for a bit of freestyling before the set was done, and the two of them rocked some funny lyrics and flows together.  Pretty beastly stuff.


Babelfishh was up to play next, and nothing could have prepared me for how mind-blowing his set was!  Beastmaster introduced him by saying that Babelfishh was gonna scare the shit out of everyone, and his performance was so damn noisy and intense that the words of warning seemed fitting.  Babelfishh had a suitcase full of beat-making equipment handy on him, and knocked out some extra discordant instrumentals on it while going nuts on the mic.  If Home's music was the folkiest of the night, then Babelfishh's was the loudest and most punk, with rampant verses that frequently ended in brutal screamed hooks.  His rapping was so focused and relentless that he frequently let go of the mic to yell his complex verses at the crowd, and his songs were full of exciting switch-ups and beat manipulations that left people guessing.  He'd successfully seized the audience by the throat after the first three songs, so when he commanded that people take off their shoes and toss them into a pile, a good portion of the crowd responded and a small mountain of shoes was formed in front of him.  Babelfishh experimented with his music in interesting ways during his set, occasionally rocking verses over drone numbers with no drums and even tossing on a good ol' fashioned country sing-along for some comic relief.  By the end of his set, folks were left feeling sweaty, confused and elated.  Excellent show.

  Edison set up his equipment as the final act of the night once Babelfishh was done, and blew people's minds with one of his elaborate live production performances.  His set got off to a bit of a rocky start since his laptop froze up just as he was about to murder some buttons on his first track, but after fixing this slight hiccup it was all buttery beats with a whole lot of incredible sound manipulation.  I've seen Edison play quite a few times now and his songs have become very familiar to me, but somehow he only gets better every time I see him.  I think it has to do with the fact that no two Edison sets ever sound the same, since he toys with the structure of the tracks through his monome pad and improvises in a variety of innovative ways.  Hands down one of the best live beat sets out there in my opinion, and yes I've frequented Low End Theory and all those trendy spots.  Edison invited Beastmaster and Babelfishh up to freestyle for a song while he rocked out some sick beats, and rat masks from Edison's "Cure for the Case of the Wealthies" video shoot were passed around and worn by spectators and rappers alike.  Really terrific music plus very impressive to watch live...  I guarantee you that Edison's "Delayed Reaction Effect" album will be a force to reckoned with when it drops in the Fall.

Once the music was over and the shop was closed up, a bunch of us folks rolled over to Nick's lounge for a few drinks, where there happened to be some karaoke night going on.  A white girl's rendition of Eminem's "Lose Yourself" prompted a couple of us to get rowdy in the front row.  Good times all around.  Great show and a great night, check out some of these freestyle videos from the event to get a better sense of it:

Babelfishh Interlude and Freestyle: 



Beastmaster & Babelfishh Freestyling over an Edison Beat:

Open Mike Eagle, Has-Lo, YDMC and Decayed Mindstate at Johnny V's, San Jose

View From the Front Row, 4/29/12

Last Wednesday, I went and saw Open Mike Eagle and Has-Lo's "Desert Viper" tour stop at Johnny V's in San Jose, CA.  San Jose shows are generally a little out of my range as far as late night trekking goes, but Open Mike Eagle was kind enough to invite me to this event personally, so how could I refuse?  This was my first time at Johnny V's (not to mention my first time frequenting San Jose nightlife), and it was a tiny but comfortable bar that was a major step up from the last venue I saw Mike Eagle play at.  The anime "Ninja Scroll" was playing silently on their TV screen in what could have been a quiet homage to Mike Eagle's lyrics, and I ended up button bashing a bit of old school "Street Fighter II" with Has-Lo and Open Mike Eagle before the show.  No fancy arcade machine, just an old school Sega Genesis that Johnny V's had hooked up to a TV with a couple of half-busted controllers.  That much more fun when you can only half control your fighter.

This show took place as part of Johnny V's weekly Wednesday night cypher series, which is hosted by a cool DJ by the name of Audio Drew.  The event drew a bunch of local San Jose rappers who wanted to get in on the open mic action, and I gotta say that I was a little surprised at how far the San Jose hip hop demographic leaned towards the "street" end of the rap spectrum.  A lot of the dudes cyphering and rapping as openers were some well-built tatted-up thugs who you would not want to run into in a dark alley late at night, and Mike Eagle and Has-Lo were by far the two most down-to-earth and approachable MCs there.  It felt like a gang fight could have broken out there at any moment, but fortunately all of the rappers in the place were friends of one another and the cypher that started the event off got rolling without a hitch.  Lots of local rappers took the stage to playfully trade verses, with some shining on the mic and others bombing pretty hard.  The cypher went on a little too long, but it did seem to be the reason that a lot of folks were there, so more power to the San Jose's unified street scene.

Decayed Mindstate (not to be confused with SF's superior Sequenced Mindstate) was the first group to play a proper set as an opening act, and they didn't do much for me.  I was pretty surprised to learn that Isolated Wax's Haez One was part of the group when the three rappers announced their names, since I remember seeing him open for Megabusive at Club 6 in San Francisco and absolutely murdering his verses there.  I guess I must like his solo stuff more than his group work, because the rappers in Decayed Mindstate honestly seemed like they were trying a little too hard to be hard.  There was lots of aggression and menace in their music, kind of like Non-Phixion if Non-Phixion had emerged from the blocks of San Jose rather than the dark heart of New York, and that style of rugged paranoia in hip hop has never appealed to me.  Their beats were pretty generic drone synth numbers as well, but their set was very short and didn't have me tearing my hair out or anything.

YDMC was the next rapper to take the stage, and he fared a little better than Decayed Mindstate despite not really having a whole lot of material that clicked with me.  It was YDMC's birthday and a lot of the local rappers in attendance had come out to support him, so naturally his set was the rowdiest of the night and got the most love from the crowd.  He had no less than three hypemen on stage with him, including his sister whose MC name I'm blanking on at the moment, and the whole set was very energetic and a little too loud.  YDMC's whiny delivery would probably grate on my nerves if I listened to it for too long, but he was one of the more original voices in the cypher earlier, and the set was still fun to watch since he was clearly having a great time.  One of the oddest moments of the night was when he asked how many people in the audience knew The Jacka, which elicited some excitement from folks but seemed commonplace to me since people bump Jacka all the time in my neck of the Bay.  A Happy Birthday was sung to YDMC after one of his hypemen prompted it from the crowd, and everyone left the stage with smiles on their faces as numerous hugs were exchanged.  Always great to see local acts supporting one another.

Has-Lo got on stage to play next, and was 100% honest with himself as he kicked some personal rhymes for the few folks paying attention.  It was refreshing after watching so many rappers act like they belonged to the roughest side of the city.  Hailing from Philly and repping Oddisee's fast rising Mello Music Group label, Has-Lo's laid back meaningful verses calmed the atmosphere of the venue after all the hard-edged opening acts.  This was apparently Has-Lo's first show in San Jose as well as his first tour through Cali, and if I'm not mistaken Johnny V's was also the first stop of said tour.  He was still testing the waters a bit with his track selections, and offered the crowd choices between a few different songs on occasion.  Out of the tracks he played, numbers like "Fiber Optics" and "Forgotten Styles" worked well while heavier tracks like "Subliminal Oppression" fell a bit flat despite having great messages.  A lot of the crowd dispersed after YDMC's birthday set, but YDMC's sister of all people was very supportive of Has-Lo's performance, quasi-hosting the set for him and frequently interjecting that people should listen to what he has to say and show him love.  Overall, the performance was not the most exciting rap set I've ever seen, but it was a breath of fresh air compared to some of the other acts that played. 

Open Mike Eagle was the last to take the stage, and he killed it with the best set of the night.  One thing that occured to me while watching him play is how distinctive and original his stage show has become, as you'd be hard-pressed to find another rapper who performs in the same style.  His smooth delivery is almost like a soulful version of spoken word live, and his witty lyrics tend to catch the audience's attention and elicit responses from people.  At Johnny V's, Mike Eagle performed a couple of new songs from his upcoming "4NML HSPTL" album, along with a strong selection of older cuts.  The new tracks had a heavy electronic feel to them courtesy of UK producer Awkward, with a few of'em sounding like some of the more noisy and layered tracks that Open Mike Eagle has rocked over.  Out of the older songs, "Rent Party Revolution" and "I Rock" worked super well with their humorous lyrics and intricate flows.  He also played the song "Everybody's Birthday" from his "Art Rap Afterparty" EP, which went over super well with the crowd and felt appropriate given the birthday celebration there that night.  Open Mike Eagle

ended his set with the new song "5ree Thinkers" that shouted out Hellfyre Club and Project Blowed in the hook, then went into one of his traditional "Go Home" freestyle cyphers as an encore.  Unfortunately the final cypher didn't go over quite as well as usual, since too many rappers in attendance took the stage to try to get a shot at the mic.  Poor Has-Lo ended up getting cut off by a drum and bass song before he even had a chance to drop a verse.  Still, it was a great set that capped off a very good show. 

Here's a video of Open Mike Eagle rocking the track "Neighbors" from his "Rent Party Extension EP":

Oldominion at Ear Peace Records in Berkeley

View From the Front Row, 4/10/12

On Easter Sunday, I was lucky enough to bear witness to a damn near private performance from one of my favorite groups in all of underground hip hop, Oldominion. Granted, this show was just a handful of core members from the massive Seattle-based crew, but it was still a line-up that you don't see every day (or every decade) outside of Seattle. A booked spot at the Paid Dues festival in San Bernardino brought these dudes out to Cali, and their mini-tour back in the direction of Portland landed them at Ear Peace Records in the center of Berkeley. It was kind of surreal to see these guys kill it at such a tiny spot with only a few people in attendance, but they delivered a full set worthy of their reputation and had fun regardless of the minimal turnout.

The Oldominion line-up at this show consisted of Onry Ozzborn, JFK, Destro, Syndel, Bishop I and Mr. Hill. Sleep and Rob Castro were scheduled to be part of the line-up as well, but ended up taking a detour off to LA instead, snagging a bunch of clothing tour merch along with them. They ended up being the punchline of a number of well-timed jokes from the other members of the crew at this show, which was hilarious and not done in a mean-spirited way. The turn-out to the event was small to the point where it felt disheartening, with only about three or four fans in attendance, and I include myself in that round-up. The worst part about tiny crowds like this is that they tend to make fans feel self-conscious about getting involved with the music, and I was the only one there doing call-and-response stuff when the artists prompted it. Fortunately, the lack of a hype crowd did not impact the quality of the performance.

Oldominion started off their show with a series of solo sets from a bunch of the talented rappers in the crew. Bishop I went on first to perform a couple of numbers, and really impressed me with the vicious energy of his verses. I'd never seen him live before and wasn't familiar with much of the material he played, but I definitely dug his raw voice and style. JFK stepped up front to watch him play and started mean-mugging him, and Bishop I responded by improvising his verses to playfully diss him, which worked well and had people cracking up. Syndel went on after Bishop I, and switched gears a bit with a smoother and more soulful performance that showed off her relaxed style and confident delivery. She performed songs from her "Enchantress" album along with a couple of Siren's Echo verses, and it was great to watch her do her thing since she was constantly smiling and clearly having a good time rocking the mic for a select few. Destro went on after Syndel, and had the roughest of the three solo sets since his voice was a bit shot from Paid Dues. His boom bap call-and-response hooks felt a little out of place in such a tiny crowd, but he still killed some songs from his "Ill.ustrated" album, particularly "Rest When I'm Dead" which brought the best out of Destro's cadence and rock steady flow. All of these Oldominion solo sets felt like proper sets that you'd see at a concert, with each of the rappers in question delivering at least 5 songs and giving people a full performance of their work.

Onry Ozzborn and JFK teamed up for a set as Grayskul once the solo sets were done, and they really killed it with the best performance I've seen from them as a group to date. The last time I saw Grayskul play was probably opening for Atmosphere on one of the early Rhymesayers tours, and I remember being kind of unimpressed with their set back then. They've released a wealth of quality material since then, and that was reflected in the quality of their set at Ear Peace. Onry and JFK covered some newer songs and some older Grayskul tunes, alternating between performing solo numbers from their various side projects and group songs. Out of their Grayskul material, the songs they played from the Maker-produced "Graymaker" album worked exceptionally well live, with the grimy boom bap beats showcasing the strength of their voices and flows. They also did some serious justice to a couple of older Grayskul joints, including "Prom Quiz" and "Scarecrow," which both sounded great. I haven't always been impressed with Onry Ozzborn's solo stuff live, but he seemed animated and on-point at this show, occasionally throwing awesome head-nodder joints like "The O.O" and "No Hoax" into the mix. But JFK was the star of the set and of the show in general, boasting the best live stage presence and the rowdiest personality of any member of the crew. He was killing every track he touched with his wicked voice and flow, including solo jams like the unfuckwitable "Paranoid" or the poppy Jake One-produced "High School Sweetheart." He was also great at motivating his Oldominion fam to bring their A-game, as his funny dance moves and occasional mock stare-downs brought the best out of his rap brethren's verses. Grayskul finished their set with the track "Missing," where JFK flipped the hook at the end to include "Sleep" and "Rob" in the list of missing people, crooning about how they were off at Disneyland and getting a lot of laughs from the crowd.

But Grayskul's performance was not the end of the show. Everyone from Oldominion who was present came out to play a collective group set as the final act of the night, and they kicked a variety of collaborative numbers you'd rarely get to see outside of their hometurf. Most of the songs they played were improvised reinterpretations of solo tracks from different members of the crew, which each of the rappers took turns rocking verses over. The most memorable out of these cuts was a reworking of Onry Ozzborn's "That Good" that had everyone killing it over Sapient's ill instrumental. Near the beginning of this final group performance, SF resident Karim of Oldominion/Boom Bap Project showed up at Ear Peace to watch his homies play, and many bear-hugs were exchanged mid-set as he mingled with his crew. This added more fuel to Oldominion's fire, particularly for Destro who started killing his verses super hard, as if wanting to prove to his good friend and former partner in rhyme that he was still carrying the Boom Bap torch. JFK and Bishop I were ready to engage in a comic rap battle by the time the music stopped, but it was decided by the rest of the crew that they had rocked it long enough. Great set and show from Oldominion.

The extremely low turn-out to this event was a great injustice considering the awesome talent of this collective, but the fact that they gave a complete performance to the couple of fans in attendance speaks volumes about their integrity as artists. Hopefully, future Ear Peace Records in-stores will not be as criminally slept on. Check out Onry Ozzborn and JFK rocking the Graymaker song "Crazy Talk" below:

Sole, Ceschi, Bleubird and Kirby Dominant at Elbo Room, SF

View From the Front Row, 4/4/12

A few nights ago, I went and caught the latest Fake Four North American Tour over at Elbo Room in San Francisco. On my way to the venue, I ran into several crazy hobo musicians on the street, including one who felt the need to beatbox all up in my face and another who was yowling and dancing crazily while going apeshit on his guitar. It was an appropriate prelude to a performance from a headlining act who could viewed as an insane Oakland hippy himself, with over a decade's worth of puzzling left-field rap music to prove it. Sole has put out a lot of albums that I've enjoyed over the years and has had a strong influence on my tastes in music growing up, but hasn't generally impressed me live and wasn't the main draw of this event for me. Ceschi and Bleubird were the two MCs that I was looking forward to seeing the most - Ceschi for his track record of amazing live shows, and Bleubird because I'd never seen him play on a proper stage before.

Another act that I was looking forward to seeing was Kirby Dominant, who kicked the night off with a super entertaining solo performance that conveyed his charismatic personality and got the crowd in a really good mood. Apparently Kirby was booked as an opener since he's so strongly associated with being a local Oakland part of the Fake Four roster, but he's been living in New York as of late and nearly forgot about the show, making the flight out to SF in the nick of time and barely reaching the venue as an opener. Equipped with only his iPod, a microphone, and a stiff drink from the bar, Kirby Dominant breezed through a number of songs from his recent Paranoid Castle album and a few of his older joints with his trademark humorous style. He comically addressed the crowd on songs like "D.U.I," "The Mature Life" and "Red Carpet," even poking fun at his own hooks and wylin' out on stage. He also offered up some hilarious banter between songs, begging one of the many nerdy white people in attendance to hook him up with a proper twitter feed. By the time Kirby was done, the crowd was all smiles. Excellent set.

Bleubird took the stage next, and continued the evening's trend of entertaining personalities with a killer performance that may very well have been the best set of the entire show. When I saw Bleubird play in his RV Van last year I became acquainted with his storytelling skills and charismatic ways of interacting with people, but on stage at Elbo Room he was a different beast entirely. The spacious stage gave Bleubird the freedom to turn the energy of his rapping up a couple notches, and he was in constant motion as he performed his numbers with an intensity that went unrivaled through the rest of the evening. Bleubird kicked an interesting variety of songs, keeping folks guessing by switching it up between quiet personal numbers like "Giehe 1977" and rowdy club affairs like the Chris Brown "Look at Me Now" flip of his song "Hand Holdin." He also did justice to his Swashbuckling Napoleans material with a killer performance of "One Lovely Bastard," and rocked a crazy rap rendition of Billy Joel's "We Didn't Start the Fire" over Lil' Wayne's "A Milli" beat. This left the crowd feeling very hype and appreciative. Like Kirby Dominant, Bleubird was also very skilled at entertaining the crowd with the occasional bit of witty banter between tracks, frequently addressing the dragon statues that Elbo Room had surrounding the stage and even building off of some of Kirby's lines with some improvised comedy. He brought Ceschi to the stage to finish his set with their collaborative song "Time 4Real," which was an amazing closer that had the crowd screaming the hook at the top of their lungs. Awesome set.

Ceschi got up to play next, and worked his way through a strong set of signature hip hop folk songs. Ceschi and the rest of the Fake Four tourers were all deep in the grips of some nasty San Francisco sickness, and he seemed tired when he first sat down to tune his guitar and get his laptop prepped. The lighting of the venue was bright, and he had the lighting people turn the lights off entirely for his set so that he could see the crowd better. This proved to be an awkward decision at first since the lack of lighting made it hard to see Ceschi do his thing on stage, and this is just me speaking from my spot in the front row. But on the plus side, the darkness did add to the intimacy of the set a bit, and Ceschi got into the crowd to perform a number of his tracks where people could see him up close and personal. Despite having a bit of a hoarse voice, Ceschi still performed his songs super well, covering numbers like "Bite Through Stone," "Count On It" and "No New York." He sat on a corner bench next to a bunch of people to perform "Black & White & Red All Over" without the use of a microphone, which sounded good, and he ended his set with a rowdy rendition of "Half Mast" that had him playfully tackling a bunch of his friends in attendance. Not the best set I've ever seen from Ceschi, but definitely a great performance that would have instantly converted me to a fan had I not seen him play before.

Sole was the final act to go on in the evening's line-up, and he once again failed to really impress me in a live setting. For the most part, the set felt like Sole was reaching to achieve the brilliance he caught on record with his verses, but wasn't quite hitting the mark on stage. His noisy and challenging choices of beats were a little overbearing at times, and there were points where the performance just sounded noisy and not that musical or impressive. Sole also tried his hand at witty banter between songs in the vein Bleubird or Kirby, but most of it was boring and it didn't really hold any of the crowd's attention. Having said this, the set did have a couple of major highlights, including an epic half-acapella performance of "I Think I'm Noam Chomsky" that really captured Sole's dense lyrical approach to rap music. He also killed it with a throwback to his song "Year of the $exxx $ymbol," which brought a huge smile to my face since I used to bump that song all the time and he really did it justice at this show. Sole brought Ceschi to the stage for a rendition of "We Will Not Be Moved" which was good, but the high point of the set was definitely when Bleubird joined Sole to play the track "Hustle Hard" from the "Nuclear Winter" mixtape series. That track was the rowdiest moment of the evening by far, and had the entire crowd jumping around and raving to the hook like mad. Overall though, Sole's set was fairly mediocre compared to the other exceptional acts of the show's line-up.

In the end, this was a very good show and another Fake Four event that I'm happy I attended. Another point that I'll definitely give in Sole's favor is that he draws a very odd and interesting crowd... I think about a third of the people at the Elbo Room were members of Sole's message board who were geeking about meeting up at the event, and it was a lot of fun chatting with some of'em and seeing their reactions to Sole's songs. Good times. I leave you with a video of one of my favorite moments of the night - Bleubird and Ceschi performing their collaborative track "Time 4Real" together: