Wednesday, March 25, 2009
picture bloodbaths in elevator shafts
I made it down to the Commodore for the GZA last night. I'm reviewing it for Discorder, so I'll keep it brief here. The Genius was in fine form, although the setlist was a bit front-loaded with Liquid Swords stuff, and while I do like his new material, it's hard to top Liquid Swords, so the pacing was a bit awkward. As with all Wu-related shows, his own material was interspersed with verses from some Clan classics, including the crowd taking most of Inspectah Deck's verse on "Triumph" before GZA did his. The highlight, however, came when Talib Kweli was invited on stage (what he was doing in Vancouver, I have no idea) to freestyle for 10-minutes or so. He remarked that he was "too drunk for this," but an intoxicated Kweli can still get by.
I'm sorry for that terrible pun.
Creaking Planks, Al Mader, the Minimalist Jug Band, Eryn Holbrook, Ehren Salazar, Paul Hendriks, John Barbour, and magician Travis Bernhardt all perform at the April Ship of Foold Birthday Celebration at Cafe Montmartre on April 4th.
Sebastien Grainger plays Richard's on April 5th. Ahead of that, he'll do an instore at Zulu at 3:30pm.
Jon-Rae Fletcher is having a belated CD release party for his latest, the very good, Oh, Maria on April 10th. The Sleepy Sun and Darcy from Ladyhawk support.
Laura Barrett plays Blim on April 11th with the Phonemes and Prairie Cat.
On April 17th, Apollo Ghosts, Collapsing Opposites, Search Parties, Zombie Pistolero are playing at Mel Lehan's Provincial Election campaign headquarters (at Broadway & Trutch). Lehan's attempting the noble, yet rather daunting task of unseating Gordo in May.
Handsome Furs are at Richard's on June 4th.
The next night, Camera Obscura is at the Commodore.
Death Cab plays the Coliseum with the New Pornographers and Ra Ra Riot on July 16th.
Black Lips play the Commodore with Deerhunter on July 23rd. This sounds pretty awesome.
The Church of Very Bright Lights has been added to the Women bill on the 5th.
And, a correction on the May 30th Chain & the Gang/Hive Dwellers gig. It'll now be at Little Mountain. Rose Melberg is now playing as well.
now playing: Fine Mist - Stop or Start
Friday, August 29, 2008
i slayed emcees back in the rec room era
The crowd was also awesome. Made up almost entirely of hardcore Wu-Tang fans, it seemed like everyone there showed up to witness an amazing show, shout along with the Genius, and have a good time. The security guards were packing metal detectors at the door, but the negative stereotypes about hip hop fans that sort of equipment suggests certainly weren't on display inside. But back to the performance...
The many guests on Liquid Swords obviously weren't in attendance, but the GZA, who, rather refreshingly, didn't even have a hype man with him, did a pretty good job of reworking tracks or rapping the verses of his missing Clan members himself. The highlight for me came right off the bat, when the most familiar lines of dialogue from Shogun Assassin for any rap fan gave way to the title track from the Genius' debut, but there weren't exactly any lowlights to speak of.
After he finished a full run through of Liquid Swords he dipped a little further into his catalogue, focusing on Pro Tools (which was out this week), but also pulling from his other releases, including an awesome, impromptu, acapella version of "Fame."
Tonight, Featherwolf, Lord Beginner, and A Pale Blue are at Pat's.
Also tonight, Howlin' Rain is at the Media Club with Small Fame (feat. Dan from Bend Sinister) are at the Media Club.
Tomorrow, Half Alive helps the Biltmore celebrate its reopening with Reflektionss (Jesse from Twin Crystals/etc) and Vapid.
I was going to comment on the whole Biltmore thing, but, fuck it, it's the long weekend soon.
Also on Saturday, Le Gem is at the Astoria for Better than Nothing.
On Monday, if you need more music after the Vic Square Block Party, you can head to the Bourbon for the after party with Bison and Sorcerers. $5 at the door and sure to be slammed.
On September 4th, if you happen to be back at UBC for school, you can check out Leah Abramson for free outside the SUB at noon. You can also grab the podcast of her performance/interview on Thunderbird Radio Hell last night right here.
The Good News celebrate their album release at the Bourbon on September 21st. Terror Bird and the Blastramp! DJs join them.
now playing: the Walkmen (who I should have gone to see last night) - the Blue Route
picture bloodbaths in elevator shafts
I made it down to the Commodore for the GZA last night. I'm reviewing it for Discorder, so I'll keep it brief here. The Genius was in fine form, although the setlist was a bit front-loaded with Liquid Swords stuff, and while I do like his new material, it's hard to top Liquid Swords, so the pacing was a bit awkward. As with all Wu-related shows, his own material was interspersed with verses from some Clan classics, including the crowd taking most of Inspectah Deck's verse on "Triumph" before GZA did his. The highlight, however, came when Talib Kweli was invited on stage (what he was doing in Vancouver, I have no idea) to freestyle for 10-minutes or so. He remarked that he was "too drunk for this," but an intoxicated Kweli can still get by.
I'm sorry for that terrible pun.
Creaking Planks, Al Mader, the Minimalist Jug Band, Eryn Holbrook, Ehren Salazar, Paul Hendriks, John Barbour, and magician Travis Bernhardt all perform at the April Ship of Foold Birthday Celebration at Cafe Montmartre on April 4th.
Sebastien Grainger plays Richard's on April 5th. Ahead of that, he'll do an instore at Zulu at 3:30pm.
Jon-Rae Fletcher is having a belated CD release party for his latest, the very good, Oh, Maria on April 10th. The Sleepy Sun and Darcy from Ladyhawk support.
Laura Barrett plays Blim on April 11th with the Phonemes and Prairie Cat.
On April 17th, Apollo Ghosts, Collapsing Opposites, Search Parties, Zombie Pistolero are playing at Mel Lehan's Provincial Election campaign headquarters (at Broadway & Trutch). Lehan's attempting the noble, yet rather daunting task of unseating Gordo in May.
Handsome Furs are at Richard's on June 4th.
The next night, Camera Obscura is at the Commodore.
Death Cab plays the Coliseum with the New Pornographers and Ra Ra Riot on July 16th.
Black Lips play the Commodore with Deerhunter on July 23rd. This sounds pretty awesome.
The Church of Very Bright Lights has been added to the Women bill on the 5th.
And, a correction on the May 30th Chain & the Gang/Hive Dwellers gig. It'll now be at Little Mountain. Rose Melberg is now playing as well.
now playing: Fine Mist - Stop or Start
Labels: gza, show announcements, show recaps, talib kweli
Friday, August 29, 2008
i slayed emcees back in the rec room era
The GZA could have hit the stage on Wednesday and gone through the motions, and frankly, I still would've considered it money well spent. I mean, he was performing the best Wu solo record in its entirety. And while he wasn't David Banner (and it would be weird if he performed like that), he was energetic, charismatic, and most importantly, his flow was impeccable.
The crowd was also awesome. Made up almost entirely of hardcore Wu-Tang fans, it seemed like everyone there showed up to witness an amazing show, shout along with the Genius, and have a good time. The security guards were packing metal detectors at the door, but the negative stereotypes about hip hop fans that sort of equipment suggests certainly weren't on display inside. But back to the performance...
The many guests on Liquid Swords obviously weren't in attendance, but the GZA, who, rather refreshingly, didn't even have a hype man with him, did a pretty good job of reworking tracks or rapping the verses of his missing Clan members himself. The highlight for me came right off the bat, when the most familiar lines of dialogue from Shogun Assassin for any rap fan gave way to the title track from the Genius' debut, but there weren't exactly any lowlights to speak of.
After he finished a full run through of Liquid Swords he dipped a little further into his catalogue, focusing on Pro Tools (which was out this week), but also pulling from his other releases, including an awesome, impromptu, acapella version of "Fame."
Tonight, Featherwolf, Lord Beginner, and A Pale Blue are at Pat's.
Also tonight, Howlin' Rain is at the Media Club with Small Fame (feat. Dan from Bend Sinister) are at the Media Club.
Tomorrow, Half Alive helps the Biltmore celebrate its reopening with Reflektionss (Jesse from Twin Crystals/etc) and Vapid.
I was going to comment on the whole Biltmore thing, but, fuck it, it's the long weekend soon.
Also on Saturday, Le Gem is at the Astoria for Better than Nothing.
On Monday, if you need more music after the Vic Square Block Party, you can head to the Bourbon for the after party with Bison and Sorcerers. $5 at the door and sure to be slammed.
On September 4th, if you happen to be back at UBC for school, you can check out Leah Abramson for free outside the SUB at noon. You can also grab the podcast of her performance/interview on Thunderbird Radio Hell last night right here.
The Good News celebrate their album release at the Bourbon on September 21st. Terror Bird and the Blastramp! DJs join them.
now playing: the Walkmen (who I should have gone to see last night) - the Blue Route
Labels: gza, show announcements, show recaps, wu-tang clan
