Bumbershoot Dispatch: Mistakes Were Made, Shigeto's Beat Virtuosity, and Das Racist's Uneven Antics

THE SIGHT BELOW/THEE OH SEES

Due to a perfect storm of dead cellphones, lost keys, and malfunctioning laptops, I managed to miss two of the best acts playing Bumbershoot this year: The Sight Below and Thee Oh Sees. I'll be kicking myself about this one for a while - The Sight Below’s hushed ambient tones evoke complex, icy landscapes, while Thee Oh See’s psychedelic garage, led by ex-Coachwhips and Pink & Black frontman John Dwyer - is allegedly one of the greatest live shows around right now. I won’t be making the same mistake twice - neither should you. Go see both of these artists whenever and wherever you can.

COM TRUISE/SHIGETO/NORDIC SOUL
It was a major disappointment to hear that Com Truise had cancelled due to transportation issues. Like all things, however, there was a silver lining: Com Truise’s absence meant an extended set from Shigeto, AKA one-man beat machine Zach Saginaw. It ended up being one of the best surprises at Bumbershoot so far.

Shigeto is clearly a follower of the “It’s the beats, man” philosophy - his set envisioned a taiko ensemble of the future, with Saginaw building up a whirling mix of electronic clicks and hisses, then switching over to a live drum kit to lay down thunderous drum breaks. Saginaw was raised on a steady diet of Motown and jazz by his father, and those influences shone through in his live performance - watching the audience cheer on Saginaw after every virtuoso drum solo, it felt akin to watching a funk drummer strut his stuff. Outtasight.

Shigeto finished his extended set, and local DJ Nordic Soul filled in for the remainder of Com Truise’s set. While we had to take off for the next act, his opening track - a gritty edit of Com Truise’s “Slow Peels” - brought the show full circle.

DAS RACIST

For the first 15 minutes of their set, Das Racist was nowhere to be found. Instead, their DJ spun a steady stream of dancehall and raga that, while setting a few heads a-nodding, wasn’t what the crowd came to see. The minutes ticked by. People got restless. In what was the most unintentionally funny moment of the set, everyone in a Macklemore t-shirt got bored and left.

Finally, the trio came out, proceeding to deliver an erratic but immensely entertaining set. Musically, the group clearly didn’t seem to care, rapping over one another, taking breaks in the middle of songs, and air-guitaring over samples of The Dickies.

As entertainment, however, the group redeemed themselves, putting on a comedy set masked as a rap performance. Das Racist clowned hard on the mostly-white, solidly-stoned audience, who often seemed unsure of what to make of the group. The results were hilarious: highlights included getting the crowd to chant “Go Space Needle Go Space Needle, Go!”, almost getting them to chant “USA”, and rapping over a Dr. Dre beat while introducing it as a “brand new Kanye West joint.”

The group pulled it together for a few numbers towards the end - “Who’s That (Brown)” retained all the off-beat swagger of the original, in particular. Ultimately, though, yesterday's performance cemented Das Racist's reputation as talented-when-they-wanna-be smirk rappers and seriously funny dudes. It's just that for this performance, it wasn’t clear that Seattle was in on the joke.