Cut/Shadow @ the Hollywood Bowl
mannybolone
Los Angeles, CA 15,025 Posts
This pefromance is For folks who thought itd just be Brainfreeze Pt. 3, it's nothing like it. I just can't believe they went from doing a Future Primitive Show to headlining the fucking Hollywood Bowl with this.
Comments
I shit you not.
This is, of course, going over the head of prob 10000 people but I'm just bugged out.
Seriosuly, it's kind of impossible to describe the mix of what's happening here. Their opening set was a lot of impalaville sweet soul records, I think, in tribute to this concer happening under the LA summer night sky.
Good for Josh and Lucas tho - get that money!
Zeb
I really wonder what most of the crowd is thinking since this is part of KCRW's world music summer fest and the preceding two acts were very much in that vein.
Hollywooooooood.
i looked at the layout of the hollywood bowl and it looks like some way back screen watching action if you dont got the loot to sit up close
Just met Kim Fowley
But otherwise, I wasn't feeling the lets-play-a-bit-of-every-genre approach, although, they probably felt a little pressure trying to please the large Hollywood Bowl audience. I mean, was dropping Foo Fighters 'Everlong' really necessary? Seemed a bit awkward to hear. Plus, it was obvious they didn't coordinated/practice as much as Brainfreeze or Product Placement. I did enjoy the impalaville classics segment though.
Did they end up doing anything with 'Rock around the Clock'?
Liberace's encore???
sounds like a good time.
not seen the show yet - might try to catch one of the UK shows coming up but, surely this "every genre"approach is the whole point of hiphop - i.e to take bits of music from anywhere - and the sum of the parts is hopefully another genre itself (i.e Hip Hop) - whether it's hungarian prog rock breaks or Turkish psyche through to obscure midwest funk 45s - if played in a certain manner then the origin matters not.
Though I'm not denying I've seen sets where DJs get a bit "too clever" (read: up their own arse) ...and just play a load of shitty obscure, "wacky", music with not even a good beat, in some "ironic" look-at-me-i'm-so-dangerous manner!
Oh, indeed. I just didn't think they selected and executed the set very well. Definitely some interesting records in it, but as a whole it just wasn't very cohesive.
I think that's a fair criticism. It definitely was NOT like BF or PP in that respect. This was far more eclectic and/or ambitious and it also wasn't solely focused on hip-hop or funk headz to get into. To be honest, it felt much more like a "DJ Shadow" show insofar as I found a lot of the musical aesthetics to be more in line with stuff I associate with Shadow vs. Cut.
Personally, I'm glad they didn't try to cook up another BF sequel and that they really tried to do something different. That said, I'm not surprised by folks who didn't find the set as enjoyable for the same reason.
It was kind of cool to catch the moments where you could tell the set got away from them (though I think the vast majority of the crowd wouldn't have noticed); I ran into Shadow afterwards and he was chuckling at it but hell, they were trying an EIGHT turntable routine b/t the two of them that they probably had only finalized a few days ago. Just reminds you: this is live, not Memorex.
It's weird knowing you're one of the only heads in the crowd the "gets it". That crowd is a bunch of hipster Beckys. They should have just cut up some Norah Jones.
No offense, but what's so next level about that?
I think I was subjected to essentially the same routine more than once during the mid/late nineties.
sounds like they were spinning "oldies"
as percieved by a younger crowd
It wasn't that next level. It was more, well, unexpected than anything else. Like I said, it was a pretty strange performance overall, at least for those who were actually familiar with BF and PP and assumed this would be in the same vein. This was a total shift and as others have indicated, not as entertaining (though perhaps, that wasn't the point this time around) and definitely more challenging. I wouldn't be surprised if folks came away feeling disappointed and while I didn't feel that way, I think it's a fair critique.
Oh. Sorry--I misread your use of the graemlin as indicating next leveltude.
And I loved their opening set which was still pretty conceptual...lot of L.A. lowrider soul and given the setting, it was rather perfect. And overall, the performance was kind of next level but that doesn't mean it was "the greatest thing ever performed." As noted, it lacked cohesion (and coherence at points).
Other than that... I had a wonderful time... I could have asked for another 30 minutes.. but hey.. This was a relaxing Sunday evening under the stars with fantastic video footage and a cool vibe..
if you walked away disappointed than that is your problem....
Like I said - I enjoyed it - but I can understand how the night might have thrown other folks off. I certainly am curious what the HB season ticket holders thought.
and for some reason i keep getting this image in my head.
The L.A. show wasn't very L.A. focused besides the opening set and even that wasn't "L.A." per se. But sure, I could see them swapping out the Flamingos for...the Emulations or Masterplan or something. That'd be dope.