The Boston stop on the Mush Records multi-band fest was surprisingly well-packed, according to the group, whose East Coast dates haven't been bringing out the expected crowds a super bill like this, which also features Labtekwan and Radioinactive on a number of other dates, should be grabbing. Despite the glorious reviews of Boom Bip and Dose One (see last week's issue), Saturday night was embarassingly enough my first exposure to them. Cincinnati-based Boom Bip provided the bulk of the noise while Dose One's lyrical menagerie of superfast beat poetry, storytelling and wide-ranged vocalizations was almost an informational overflow. And it was beautiful, every minute of it.
While I'm generally not a fan of the laptop revolution, Boom Bip carefully avoided all typical clinical "thinness" with a thunderous mixture of low-end sounds and chunky rhythms. Dose One, on the other hand easily sounds like a hyperactive Annie Anxiety! cLOUDDEAD's other rapper, Yoni took the stage next with his funk-based outfit, Reaching Quiet, with two bass/guitarist/singer/keyboard people and one live drummer, all singing and speaking at various points. Yoni's rap style is less emotional and more straight-forward, and while the band is simply amazingly talented, I couldn't help but feel I was watching a much cooler version of 311. cLOUDDEAD's symmetrical setup featured both rappers in the center along with a small collection of gear along with two electronicians on the periphery. The combination of the two rap styles fit like a perfect puzzle while the songs were an otherworldly mixture of styles and genres.
In a time where a number of musical acts and releases are simply boring me to tears, it's a remarkable breath of fresh air to see such a talented crew doing something as original as it is enjoyable. I couldn't help but feel completely blown away in the presence of what is now considered a supergroup of modern underground hip-hop and am still rather shaking from the experience. Do NOT miss this show as they wind their way through Canada and onto the West Coast through the end of this month. Tour dates are located at dirtyloop. People will be talking about this for years starting with "remember when it was underground,..."
