Seattlest Pix 09Nov24
Tuesdays are Muppet Days
Seattle to Remain Famous for Coffee and Rain
Thanksgiving Pairing Suggestion: Dessert Isn't Just a Meal
Also, do you know what he means? Apparently Lyrics Born wasn't getting the answers he wanted to those questions, because he just kept asking them last night at Neumo's. Additionally, if you haven't been to an LB concert before, you may not know that he likes to put his hands in the air, and you best do so yourself as well. But we didn't want to put our hands in the air, Seattlest wanted new LB music. And, amazingly we got some.
The problem is, we didn't like it. Like most hip-hop fans with half a brain, Seattlest found his first album was a joy to behold, forged in the lofty tradition of Quannum Project, DJ Shadow's side project collective which has spawned the likes of Lateef, Blackalicious, Lifesavas, opening act Pidgeon John, and plenty of other names we enjoy nodding our head to. But his second album was mostly remixes of songs off the first, and a few new tracks that were nearly indistinguishable from those that came prior. Last night was more of the same, but perhaps even more depressingly so--generally, LB is a bombastic, energetic live performer and while the audience seemed to eat it up, we just weren't buying the same shit, different day songs.
We were most frustrated by the third new song, which was called "Differences" and started with a bad stand-up-comic styled approach to complaining about how many clothes we women apparently have in our closets and how goddamn long it takes us to get ready to go out. By that point--only about the seventh song in his set, yet the second that he'd dedicated to "all the ladies in the house"--we were ready to go home, put all our fucking clothes back in our closet and go to bed. He was on auto-pilot for all we could tell. The band was tight, Joyo Velarde's voice was resonant, but we've decided that LB is best enjoyed live as part of a larger collective group, as when he performs with other Quannum artists like Lateef; then we get some much-needed variety paired with LB's funky noodling vocals.
We would have been happier had Cut Chemist headlined, so we could have enjoyed more than just his time-managed hourlong set. Backed by two giant video screens, he threw just a couple recognizable songs from his current new release "The Audience is Listening ", but spent most of his time doing what he's always done best. A master mixer, he has moved beyond sound to sampling and mixing video in real-time, starting with samples from his new "What's the Altitude" video. At the end of his set--during which he had the audience eating out of his hand, hooting and applauding for every one of his masterful acrobatic turntablist feats--he recorded video of people in the crowd screaming their own names, went back up to the stage and proceeded to mix that very same video in with his trademark loopy, bottom-heavy tracks. Sticking Cut Chemist's inventive, layered, ever-changing, and imminently more danceable mix before Lyrics Born's same-shit/difference-concert-venue schtick was a sadly stifling decision. We trundled home wishing we'd heard more CC, less LB.
Photos courtesy of Flickr users svenwork (LB) and getinet (CC)
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interesting that you note the "Differences" song as when you wanted to go home -- that's when I did go home.. Sounds like it was a good move.