We Review The Program: Day Two
First of all, we have grown slightly disenchanted with the SyncLive method of experiencing The Program. Though we were most certainly not enamoured with the Swollen Members and Blue Scholars shows on Tuesday, our friends who were actually there say the energy in the room made a weak set from Swollen 100% more bearable.
And according to the Stranger's Paul Constant, the set from Blue Scholars on Day #1 was "legendary." We stand by our take on the night, but offer Day #2's write-up with the caveat that we watched it through Synclive again and there was a crazily annoying low buzz underlying the last two sets. Seattlest promises we'll actually be at Neumos for the next few nights. At any rate, Day #2 was Can-U, Sleep of Oldominion (doing his Chicarones thing with Josh Martinez), D. Black of Sportn' Life (pictured), Common Market, and, of course, Blue Scholars.
Photo of D. Black via MySpace
Can-U: we missed most of his set, as tonight's show started ridiculously on time, but we caught "Chickada," and that's something. Last Sunday, Can-U pulled this song out of his pocket to perform live on KEXP, which was a surprise to the hosts and fun for the listeners. The song involves Can-U vocally exploring lots of time-honored hiphop phrases (gdang gdang diggy! Chickada da!) either a capella or against piano-heavy light jazz, and it's memorable. The other tracks from him we've heard are also light-hearted, and his rap has plenty of forward-pushing energy, though the crowd wasn't really responding to his crowd-rousing efforts. This is possibly due to some distinctly weak bass, which is also a time-honored hiphop tradition. Check out "Keep It Up" and "Get A Move On" on his website for two of our favorites.
Sleep of Oldominion's set involved suspenders (sported by Josh Martinez), a spirited rendition of "Eye of the Tiger," and an homage to Billy Joel's "For The Longest Time." The Chicarones are playful but pleasantly skilled. When Sleep gets going on that mic, he gets going--super-fast, super-controlled--and it's an honor to experience it, even over the internet. Martinez, a skinny, intent fellow with plenty of experience of his own, brought some extra personality to the stage; he and Sleep have some great chemisty, and we enjoyed it. At precisely 9:44pm, something even more enjoyable happened: the fog machine was turned on! That's right... Sportn' Life in the house! The fog and D. Black rolled in and the night got seriously hiphop for awhile. Black's a little more mainstream-sounding than most of the performers at The Program, but we love his work. We love the shiny necklaces, the sleek but meaty production, and the solid performance. We especially love crowd fave "Get Loose." There was lots of "put your L's up!", lots of "Free Fatal!", and lots of bouncing around being hardcore. It was fun, and we welcome D. Black back to the active show circuit.
Common Market and Blue Scholars, which was basically one long set (albeit a shift in MCs and a slight shift in beats), did well. Both Ra Scion and Geo worked their rapper skillz, sounding professional and inspired. Common Market came in with lots of energy, and it was clear most of the crowd was there to see them; there was some sort of echo effect on the mic, lending a special authority to everything Ra said. Some Beatles were played ("Come Together," which seemed appropriate for Massline), some ten year olds (okay, just the one) were brought up on stage. When Geo came on, sporting the hat again (good call, Geo!), he informed us, "This ain't a show. Don't tell your friends you went to a show. This is a party, a celebration!" Woohoo! Seattlest took that as a cue to refill our glass and get a snack. For awhile, there was piano tinkling behind every song. Annoyingly, Synclive's audio cut out for awhile during Blue Scholars' set and cut back in with the aforementioned persistent buzz. This, in combination with the tinkling piano, gave us a minor headache and we were glad when Blue Scholars finally petered to a stopping point.
Day #3 is tonight, and Seattlest will be at Neumos celebrating Grynch, Khingz (note: special guest alert!), and the Saturday Knights. The Blue Scholars might show up at the end, as well. As in, this night will have an extra-long Blue Scholars set just like the previous two nights, guaranteed. It should be a solid night of The Program, especially with The Saturday Knights getting crazy later in the evening. And Grynch's new album, My Second Wind, is set to come out in late January; maybe we'll get to hear some new tracks. Celebrate good times! Come on!!
