Getting your ‘Blood Pressure’ taken isn’t just for the doctor’s office…

But if I have any say about it, your blood pressure will be through the roof. The Granada is bringing MuteMath (often stylized as MUTEMATH, and preferred that way by this writer) to Lawrence.  This Grammy-nominated alternative rock band is an Odd Soul full of edgy sound, headed up by lead vocalist and keyboardist Paul Meany, drummer Darren King, guitarist Todd Gummerman and bassist Roy Mitchell-Cárdenas. Lately, the band has been touring around the west coast, opening for Incubus and Linkin Park, and rocking the socks off more than 14,000 fans at a time.

But, now that the Honda Civic Tour is winding down, MUTEMATH is gearing up for their Fall 2012 Headlining Tour. And you Lawrencians have the chance to see this epic happy music group perform in a much more intimate venue (aka, The Granada).  For those of you who don’t know (but will now know!), I would describe their sound as a fusion of New Order’s synth-dance epics, the Stone Roses’ shambling shuffle, Radiohead’s spiky chilliness, Air’s serene ambient pop, all mashed up with the booming vocals of mainstream pop/rock… but Billboard.com already beat me to that smashing endorsement. So, all I’ve got to say is this: MUTEMATH has some great performance shindigs and sounds great live. If you don’t believe me, check out this live video of “Blood Pressure” off of their most recent album, Odd Soul.  It is a crazy wonderful earful of interesting.

For those of you who are into this stuff, here’s a quick bio of the group: MUTEMATH started as a long-distance collaboration between Paul Meany in New Orleans, Louisiana and Darren King in Springfield, Missouri (though we here at The Granada won’t hold that against him.) The group has since released three studio albums, the first being self-titled, followed up by Armistice in 2009 and Odd Soul in 2011.

The show is Sunday, September 16.  Doors open at 7 p.m. and the show’s starts at 8 p.m.  $23 for advance tickets, $25 the day of the show.

So get out of the house, get down to The Granada and spend your Sunday night in a fun-frenzy alt-rock bubble. See ya there, Lawrence!

-Alexandria Freeze

Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” with a new spin

Since 2003, Easy Star All-Stars has been known for taking classic rock albums and transforming them into an unconventional reggae-rock fusion, also creating a few all-original albums along the way.

Easy Star All-Stars is a creation of Easy Star Records with a rotating roster of musicians and singers who contribute vocal, instrumental and lyrical inspiration.  The band gained international attention with its tribute albums “Dub Side of the Moon,” “Radiodread” and “Easy Star’s Lonely Hearts Dub Band” released in the early 2000s.

The latest album, “Thrillah,” is the band’s first tribute album not modeled after any form of rock.  The album was made in honor of the late Michael Jackson, mixing reggae with soulful flavor previously produced by the King of Pop.

Along with supporting rock act, Passafire, Easy Star All-Stars is for sure to put on a lively show with musical versatility that you won’t forget.  The Thrillah Tour is promised to bring songs from the latest tribute album as well as previous tribute tracks and originals.

The show is Monday, September 10.  Doors open at 7 p.m. and the show’s on at 8 p.m.  $15 for advance tickets, $17 the day of the show.

 

Here’s a link to my personal favorite All-Stars cover, “Money,” from “Dub Side of the Moon.”

Check it out, and if you like what you hear, you know what to do.

-Angie Soden

The city is my church

Epic. That’s about the only word one would need to describe the M83 show last night. Mount Everest epic. Gilgamesh epic. Listening to the Big Bang epic. Indeed, if you were one of the lucky few to secure a ticket in January’s free-for-all, you were certainly in for a treat last night.

To put it mildly, M83 put on a fantastic show. Any set initiated by a prop alien costume and throbbing, Twilight-Zoneish synthesizer can go nowhere but up; and up they went. In a whirlwind hour-and-a-half performance, Europe’s premier aural export bumped, thumped and jumped through the Granada with a refreshing blend of sincerity and ferocity rare in acts in M83’s echelon.

Anthony Gonzalez’s set list consisted of a balanced blend from the band’s arsenal of songs: several from Hurry Up, We’re Dreaming with a few numbers from Dead City and Saturdays=Youth sprinkled in for added flavor.

Regardless of their place in the discography, however, the sound was flawless.  Though some reviewers (*cough* Spin *cough*) criticized the sound of Hurry Up, We’re Dreaming and the attitude of the songwriting as too big and grandiose for its own good, the change makes for a killer soundscape when heard live. The bass emanating from any of the three keyboards or the bass guitar was potent enough to feel in your chest. The highs were crisp, the lows vocals appropriately cavernous, and the drums—dear God, the drums.

Of course, Mr. Gonzalez doesn’t leave the visuals out in the cold. The light show during the performance balanced the mood of the whole experience; whether it was a somber blue, a curios violet, or a smattering of warms and colds, the 13-spotlight array M83 brought with it guided the crowd and the ambience alike in harmony. Yep, I just used the word harmony.

Then there was the performance of “Midnight City,” a song which the crowd heralded with a well-deserved howl. The finest part of experiencing this song live was the incorporation of that saxophone solo with an actual saxophone. The entire time, I was wondering if a sax player would pony up for that part, and pony up he did; the sax solo lasted about three times longer than the way it does on the radio, ensuring everyone’s thirst for dramatic and megalithic saxophone solos was quenched until M83’s next album.

But talking about music is like dancing about architecture. Here’s a video recap of the show from the Granada’s videographer, the amply talented Mr. Evan McInnis. It does it more justice than any words I could write.

The band dug it. The crowd dug it. The door guys dug it. M83 delivered and all is right with the world.

-Brian Sisk

Q&A with Eric Fain of The Atlantic

Tonight, the Kansas City’s own The Atlantic plays with Lovedrug at the Granada. Known as a rising force in the Kansas City indie rock scene, The Atlantic has made its rounds through Lawrence and Kansas City. The band makes a name for itself with infectiously catchy hooks, a tinge of blues, and some serious vocal elbow grease. Luckily, bassist Eric Fain was kind enough to share some insights with us about the band, his place in it, and the show tonight which will most assuredly bring down the house.

 

The Granada: How did you meet up with the Atlantic? How new are you to the band?

Eric Fain: I met the Patrick and Brandon at the Replay about three years ago.  It was the first show in a slew of gigs my old band did with them.  I loved their sound, attitude, and personalities.  After I was asked to leave my former band, I did a bit of soul searching that led me to Kazakhstan for a few months.  While I was gone, The Atlantic underwent a few different line-up changes that left only Patrick (Guitar/Vocals) and Brandon (Guitar) as “The Atlantic”.  Brandon hit me up a week or so after I got back to the states and we got together for beers at Buzzard Beach in Westport.  That’s where I met Blaire (Drums) for the first time.  The Atlantic had a show already booked with The Pretty Reckless and The Beautiful Bodies at the Beaumont Club, but they didn’t have a drummer or bassist.  Brandon asked us if we wanted to jam and learn the songs so they didn’t have to drop the show. After our first or second practice everyone was very comfortable with each other and the idea of continuing The Atlantic.   Our current line-up is still very young with Blaire and I joining in August 2011, and the addition of our fifth and most handsome member, Jordan Thompson in March of 2012.

G: How’d you guys score the gig with Lovedrug?

EF: I saw Terry Taylor from Mammoth Productions post something about it on Facebook and noticed that they didn’t have any openers and shot him an email.   He’s always super friendly and helpful when we contact him for an opportunity to open for a national act.  We are all fans of Lovedrug and are really excited for the opportunity to share a stage with them.

G: Why the Granada?

EF: Why not? It’s an awesome venue that I’ve seen some of my favorite bands play at on tour.  It’s a cool feeling to play on the same stage I saw Thursday play on when I was 17.

G: How busy are you guys right now?

EF: May is going to very busy for us.  We’re playing a Suicide Prevention Benefit Show, a Tattoo Convention, and a radio show for KISS 103.1. On top of that, we are releasing our first music video, live at The Czar Bar on May 10th. After that, we are going to focus on the record.

G: Take me through the day-to-day operations with the Atlantic.

EF: We all have different jobs and lifestyles at the moment.  Patrick, Jordan, and Blaire all live in the same building in KC, so they see each other every day.  Brandon lives up the street in his own place and goes to UMKC.  I live in Leavenworth, which is about 40 minutes away. I’m working on moving to KC in August. We try to practice twice a week but we normally get together about three or four days out of the week to hang out even if we aren’t working on music.  We have a private group on Facebook for us, our manager, and our media suave friends to throw ideas around.  Half of the time it’s just us shit talking to each other and posting hilarious memes, but it helps us communicate better.

G:  You primarily played guitar in other bands you’ve been in. What’s the switch to bass like, and how do you like it? Did you have the gear or did you have to get all new gear?

Eric Fain with his new weapon of choice. Photo and above logo are courtesy of The Atlantic and Todd Zimmer.

EF: I love playing bass.  Looking back at previous bands I was in, I always wanted to tell the bass player EXACTLY what to play.  Now that I am the bass player, I love being in control of the groove of any given song. Switching wasn’t that difficult, it just takes a little time to get your fingers used to such thick strings. I actually had none of my own bass gear.  My old band mates from The Letter Division hooked me up with bass gear to borrow.  Slowly but surely, I’m accumulating my own stuff.  Good gear ain’t cheap man!

G: You’re a relative newcomer to the band. How did you hook up with these guys and how is it different from other bands you’ve been in?

EF: I actually jammed with them in a U-Haul rental space one night shortly after being kicked out of my last band (Le Grand). They weren’t looking for a third guitarist at the time; they were just humoring me because I needed to do something musical. Things just kind of fell into place after I got back to the states and I couldn’t have asked for a better outcome. Musically, it’s the exact style of music I’ve always wanted to write.  Patrick’s voice speaks to me on a level that I’ve only felt from listening to bands like Cursive or Thrice.  He puts his heart into everything we write and it feels good to be able to be part of a like-minded group.

G: What’s the songwriting process like?

EF: Ever-changing. Sometimes Patrick and Jordan will show up to practice and have a full song written after one night of sitting up late with a couple of acoustic guitars.  Other times it will take us a month to write a song. We don’t always play songs the same live as they are in the recording.  That keeps it fun for us.

G: Can we expect a full length album soon? Are you talking to any labels, or would a record be an independent endeavor?

EF: We are currently running over a large list of people that we want to do our next record.  Once we’re done, we have a few indie labels we would be interested in working with. I would love to see what The Record Machine thinks of us when we have a finished product.  They do a lot of good things for bands in this area. But until that happens, we’re gonna keep doing the DIY thing!

G: What are the long term goals for Eric Fain? What are the long term goals of the Atlantic?

EF: As for me, I’m moving closer to the guys in August and want to be financially stable enough to tour full time. That’s a goal we all share as a band; to make music that we love and to hopefully make that our full time job.

-Brian Sisk

April: the most brutal month

April has been quite the month for metal at the Granada. We Came as Romans, the Metal Alliance Tour, and the Decibel Magazine Tour all delivered their quota of shredding riffs, vocals from the gut, and most certainly a breakdown or two. All good things must come to an end though, as the April metal season comes to a close tomorrow night; the good news is, however, that All Shall Perish, The Contortionist, and Fleshgod Apocalypse are seeing the series to a close.

For those not in the know, All Shall Perish is a deathcore perennial, having been active since their 2002 signing with Nuclear Blast Records. If you don’t understand the difference between regular metal and anything with the suffix “-core” on the end, then take a detour to this link and get educated.

Why? Because knowing is half the battle.

ASP’s 2011 release, This is Where it Ends, topped numerous polls for the best metal album of 2011 when MetalSucks surveyed some other musicians on the international scene. If the whole world believing in you isn’t credibility, then I don’t know what is.

The supporting acts for this show are nothing to balk at either. One can never forget two things about metal shows: 1) they will always be far too loud for modest consumption and 2) there are always more bands on the bill. The “other bands” in this case are Italy’s Fleshgod Apocalypse and Indianapolis’s own The Contortionist.

If All Shall Perish is Budweiser, then Fleshgod Apocalypse is Stella Artois—they’re both lagers, but one is simply classier than the other. In that regard, Fleshgod dwells on a whole different level. Symphonic arrangements lead into blistering shredding and music that is, in the simplest terms possible, totally epic. Their sound is distinctly different from the rest of the bands which share this bill, which lends some enrichment to the whole experience of seeing a metal show. Repetitive metal shows are no fun. Why not get some operatic theatrics, too?

By the way, remember how We Came as Romans came as Romans earlier this month? They’ve officially been trumped. Fleshgod is actually from Rome, and that’s another goal for the Azzuri.

Finally, The Contortionist rounds out this motley line-up with a bit of progressive metal. The Indiana natives are probably not the most well-known group on this bill, but that doesn’t stop them from offering a hefty dose of thoughtful, carefully crafted progressive songwriting. Think of it as a break from the brutality. It’s bob, not bang, your head music.

Follow this link to watch some footage of their live show for this tour.

See April off right. Though May 18 is the Origin show, three weeks at the Granada without metal doesn’t make the house feel like a home. Thus, make it a mosh-pit Monday and take a gander at some of this metal crashing into our stage.

All Shall Perish, Fleshgod Apocalypse, Carnifex, The Contortionist and Renouncer perform at the Granada Tuesday, April 23. Doors open at 6:00pm. This is an all ages show.

Like a lamb…

Slaughterhouse’s website treats its viewers to a few lovely images when it’s pulled up—Crooked I looking menacing yet understated, Joell Ortiz wearing a leather apron (presumably for some slaughtering), Royce da 5’9” covered in blood and holding a shovel over his shoulder, and, of course, Joe Budden wearing a Hannibal Lecter-esque mask and a strait jacket.

These butchers will conduct just such an ominous slaughter, with no pink slime added, for their performance Thursday at the Granada.

Best described as the rap super-group du jour, the collaboration which eventually became Slaughterhouse took shape in 2008 when the four contributed verses to Joe Budden’s album Halfway House on a song aptly titled “Slaughterhouse.” Sensing the chemistry, they decided to form a group (minus Nino Bless, another contributor on the song) and named it after the song.

The rest, it would seem, is history.

Each member had some baggage with their former labels before forming the group; Crooked I with Death Row, Joe Budden with Def Jam, Joell Ortiz with Aftermath, and Royce with Shady. The controversies they faced, however, only steeled their collective resolve to continue making music on their terms. Those terms became their 2009 full-length debut, Slaughterhouse, released on the E1 label.

Recorded over a six-week period, Slaughterhouse’s first record included a slew of producers, including The Alchemist, StreetRunner and DJ Khalil, as well as enough lyrical fireworks to set all their ex-labels alight. What Slaughterhouse brought to the table then is what the four rappers are individually known for—tight beats, lyrical finesse, and a blue-collar work ethic that puts assembly line workers to shame.

The group showed the world that they were greater than the sum of their parts; that, together, the four rappers and their host of producers don’t just throw tracks together. Instead, they sculpt them, and like a butcher with a cleaver, are precise and crushing in the same blow. Highlights from this album include “Onslaught 2”, a scathing track (though they’re all pretty scathing, save “Rain Drops”) in which Joe Budden so eloquently states “If I ain’t better than you I’m harder to beat/Probably ‘cause I live by the art of for-keeps.”

That’s pretty much it in a nutshell. The beauty of it is, though, that these guys aren’t rapping in some vacuum. The album sold well, with 44,000 copies purchased according to the Billboard 200. The world had listened, with the greater hip-hop community listening most intently, and Slaughterhouse collectively got what none of them got on their own: a major-label deal with Eminem’s Shady Records (after Royce concluded his feud with his new label head) for their follow-up album.

Fast forward to February 2012, and the Shady collective announced not only their new album, which is mixed by Eminem, but also a national tour. There is a considerable amount of hype surrounding Welcome to: Our House, especially since Slaughterhouse dropped the first single from the album, “Hammer Dance”. Fans and spectators alike expect much the same and more from Slaughterhouse this time around, though the new effort, slated for release on June 12, promises to be an all-around better record than its predecessor.

“The album’s gonna be larger because we had more time to work with it,” Ortiz noted in an interview with Fuse. “Now, our resources are open because we’re on a label.” Ortiz also noted that the group won’t have to “compromise the pen” to make the records they want. “That’s the beauty of being signed to Shady Records because our CEO is Eminem.”

As for the live show, this reviewer has never seen it. Noting, however, that the four members of Slaughterhouse knew they had tremendous collective chemistry when they did only one song together, there is no way they could put on a bad show live. The footage from the interview they did with Fuse shows a little bit of their live performance, but here’s a bit more for you from SXSW. Judge for yourself.

And if Slaughterhouse doesn’t scratch that hip-hop itch deep down in your who-knows-where, don’t forget that Talib Kweli performs next Friday. Until then, go like a lamb to the slaughter, or put a better pun here that you enjoy.

Slaughterhouse performs Thursday, April 19. Doors open at 7:00. This is an all ages show. Tickets are $18 at the door and $16 in advance. You can buy them here. Remember, slaughter responsibly.

Go ahead and drink the Kool-Aid

Get ready to line up and drink the Kool-Aid. No sense in asking what’s in it or where it’s been—just know that Cults is coming to the Granada this Saturday, and you will miss the comet if you don’t go.

Despite the fact that the name of the band opens itself to a slew of entertaining puns, the advent of the indie-pop San Dieguns by-way-of-New York to our quiet little blue speck in a red sea is nothing short of musical awesomeness. I feel like I say this a lot, and that, in many ways, I am a broken record, but this is one of the many shows the Granada has and will continue to offer that any self-respecting music fan will kick themselves for not going to see.

Cults began in earnest as the collaborative project of Brian Oblivion (guitars, percussion, keyboards) and Madeline Follin (vocals) in 2010 with what has become known as the Cults 7”, a collection of three songs posted to their Bandcamp page with intentions no greater than exposing their music to a wider audience and, you know, just putting it online.

(Here is an interview with Follin about, well, all sorts of stuff.)

Their paltry offerings did more than that, however, as the duo’s exhibition burned through the web like a fever. The question for listeners rapidly changed from “Who is this” to “Where can I get more?”

Fast forward to June of last year; Oblivion and Follin released their 11-song, 34-minute debut, also titled Cults. The full-length record received much of the same gratuity that their 7” release did. It was an eclectic mix of late-50s and early-60s doo wop, some Motown, a little bit of punk, 80s pop, and ambient noise and samples that, according to Metacritic, garnered generally positive reviews.

Reviewers favored the album for many of the same reasons they favored the 7”; Cults paid homage to a sound which, though overdone by many in their scene, they happen to execute with equal parts earnestness and precision.

Reviewers also stated the band made the most of their sampling, which serve to only augment the music, not overpower it or hide bad songwriting. Take, for example, the sample of Jim Jones (get it, cults?) talking about the treachery of life. It doesn’t own the song, but it makes it a whole lot more interesting.

The songwriting on their debut, however, claimed widespread attention as well. The apparent romance between Oblivion and Follin didn’t prohibit the duo’s drawing upon love—with all its faults—as a major source of inspiration. Follin demonstrates the airy, wistfulness of love in “You Know What I Mean” when she says, (as quoted by many a music reviewer) “Tell me what’s wrong with my brain/’cause I seem to have lost it.”

Three things: one, that’s an excellent song title; two, that’s some wordsmithery right there; three, did I mention I’m in love?

Lyrics such as this are rife in Cults, along with enough studio sleight of hand to make David Blaine blush. But what about the live show? Well, being the enterprising young musicians that they are, Cults are touring with a five-piece band, including a drummer, a second guitarist, and a bassist.

As for the live execution, a review from the Orange County Register called a show they played at the Observatory in O.C. a “triumph”. You know who gets triumphs? Roman emperors and top-notch musicians, that’s who. The review stated that the band picked a sort of “best-of” for their set list, and that the addition of a full band gave the two founders a more stable rhythmic base from which the audience could better feel their charming and dreamy songwriting. Cults also treated the audience to some covers (Leonard Cohen’s “Everybody Knows”) and tracks not on the album—“The Curse” and “Slow Song”.

By all accounts, the transition from album to auditorium seems an easy one for Cults, thus making their show all the more worth it to see. Seriously, here goes the broken record again, but don’t miss this show. The promise evident in an act like Cults, going from internet obscurity to legitimate musical force and minor fame, is one not taken lightly. So long as they don’t blow their collective musical load  they could be around for a long time. And your friends will ask you, “Where were you when Cults came? I heard that was an awesome show.” And you should appropriately respond “Front row center, getting doused in sweat and glory.”

Cults performs at the Granada Saturday, April 14. Doors open at 8:30 pm. Advance tickets are $12. Door tickets are $14. This is an all ages show.

–Brian Sisk

April music preview @ the Granada

If you haven’t checked out the Granada yet this month, you have surely missed out. With only one week of April down, the theater’s storied stage has witnessed psychedelic trance insanity, belly dancing world music mashups, and, of course, a little metal. There was also a basketball game, but I don’t recall the details.

Anyway, we here at the Granada figured that, if we want to keep this venue both rocking and rolling through the month, we better give the fans a little bit of a preview of what’s to come from the Granada in the remaining three weeks of April.

For starters, April seems to be the month for metal. Counting We Came As Romans last Sunday, and there are four metal shows in April. That’s more than a sore ass’s worth of kicks to the face, fists in the kidneys, and general cathartic mayhem. Contributors to April’s bruise count include All Shall Perish featuring Carnifex, Fleshgod Apocalypse, The Contortionist and Renouncer April 24.

This coming Sunday and Monday (April 15 and 16) sports a metal double-header of multi-band bills. Sunday features the Metal Alliance Tour, including Devil Driver, The Faceless, Dying Fetus, Job for a Cowboy, 3 Inches of Blood, Impending Doom and Wretched. Monday night offers more, if you’re up for it. The Decibel Magazine Tour features Behemoth, Watain, The Devil’s Blood, and In Solitude. In all honesty, it might be enough metal to stop your heart.

On a much lighter note, the April calendar also has some of the most anticipated hip-hop performances in recent memory. The super group de jour, Slaughterhouse, makes an appearance at the Granada April 19, while reigning alt hip hop champ Talib Kweli performs April 27. Though the two acts couldn’t be further apart in themes, style, or genre, they both represent some of the finer hip hop acts recording and performing today. Hell, Talib Kweli was in Black Star with Mos Def. He’s like the St. Peter of hip hop. As for Slaughterhouse, the buzz about their performance has been circulating around the Granada for quite some time. If you’re a fan of real hip hop, i.e. Wu-Tang Clan, then Slaughterhouse is not a show to miss.

April is also the month for Motown and soul inspired indie rock bands, as well. Both Cults and Electric Guest perform at the Granada this month (April 14 and 26, respectively), with each providing ample shares of virulently infectious dance-pop tunes tinged with only the slightest bit of smirking irony. In all honesty, these would bet the two shows to go to if you’re looking for a new indie band to fall in love with, as both of these acts are catchy beyond necessity.

Beyond these two, the indie rock train continues to roll with Lovedrug April 29. Though not quite as infectiously danceable as Cults or Electric Guest, Lovedrug does have their own particular style of unadulterated, guitar-driven rock n’ roll flecked with small bits of power balladry and earnest, sympathetic songwriting. Don’t mind me, though; let you ears do the listening and then decide. Of the three indie darlings coming this month, however, you should, at the very least, pick one and roll with it.

So, there you have it—a brief, albeit inclusive, list of some of the best acts taking the stage at the Granada this month. Take your pick, mix and match, or whatever—just remember that the Granada is, in keeping with the pattern set by the performances earlier this year, providing the best music in Lawrence, hands down.

–the Granada Crew

Why you should go see Shpongle tonight

Let’s face it—the basketball season is over, and now we have to carry on with our lives until next year, when Anthony Davis’s unibrow is hopefully getting smacked around in the NBA. Since the end of March Madness most likely left a cavernous, gaping hole in your schedule, it’s important to think about what you should do to fill it. Thankfully, you can cram a full month’s worth of therapy into Wednesday night’s show, as the psychedelic trance mind blowery of Shpongle takes the stage.

Shpongle is one of the premier acts in the world for psy-trance music, and if you’ve never gone to a show you most certainly know someone who has. Having been around since 1996 and having hit every conceivable festival in the summer music festival circuit as well as concerts around the world since that time, it’s an understatement to say that Shpongle is a big deal.

After their 1998 debut album Are You Shpongled?, the duo has held a merciless grip on the attention of fans and curious on-lookers, impressing audiences with live shows feature the Shpongletron, a massive structure inside of which Simon Posford (aka Hallucinogen) plays with samples, bleeps, bloops,  and all manner of electronic weirdness. Though the group is a duo, the flutes and spiritual guidance of Raja Ram will be absent for the performance tomorrow night. Instead, Posford’s DJ set will represent the band, and the newly revamped Shpongletron (the “masquerade” portion of this performance) will provide the ambience and background projections so necessary for a show such as this.

Bells and whistles are not the reasons an uninitiated listener should go to the show, though. While the experienced fans know what to expect from a band such as Shpongle, the un-Shpongled masses simply do not understand what they are missing out. If you are un-Shpongled, take the time to heed some words of advice. There are, after all, a million and one reasons to go to this show.

For one, Shpongle is a bit of a musical outlier. While Mr. Posford may not implement the same performance art components that a band like, say, Beats Antique (coming soon, by the way) would, the live vibes are nonetheless a major selling point for this show. People drive hundreds of miles to see Shpongle perform solely for the live show. I can recall more than one person in my life describing the feeling of a Shpongle show as close to religious (an argument similar to Posford’s labelmate, Ott). A more apropos comparison would be hard to come by, too: between the people, the dancing, the lights, and the sounds (not to mention the air, or what’s floating around in it) it’s almost like church, save the dancing and techno, of course.

But it’s more than that. A Shpongle show demonstrates how much fun a bunch of people dancing asshole to elbow in a crowded room can have together. When everyone is united in feeling the rhythm—not just dancing, but physically becoming invested in it—the outcome is, well, staggeringly awesome. No one has a bad time at a Shpongle show unless they were too uptight to let loose or too intoxicated to remember.

And never mind that psy-trance may not be the genre that you would listen to, either. That logic only delivers you to stubbornness and an unwillingness to try new things. I don’t like psy-trance music as a whole. I couldn’t even tell you another non-Shpongle related psy-trance act either. But that doesn’t matter. Just because this is not the music to bump in your car stereo does not invalidate it. While the headphones may be able to introduce one to the music, the critical component—it being live—is missing from the equation. This is a special case where the live performance very much transcends the music, making generic comparisons and generalizations next to impossible to prove. The live show is the only proper representation of Shpongle’s music. If this were anything less than a phenomenal live show, Shpongle, and the movement as a whole, would not have survived this long.

So, in the same vein as Seun Kuti, Ott and Zola Jesus, tonight’s Shpongle show is yet another opportunity to widen musical horizons into places you don’t yet know that you like. For the initiated, I need not say anything else. You have made your decision. For those who are on the fence, take a leap of faith into the unknown. You never know, you might leave the show amazed. It’s well within the capability of Shongle to do that.

Shpongle performs at the Granada Wednesday, April 4 at 9:30. Doors open at 8:30. You can buy tickets here.

Seun Kuti & Egypt 80 take the stage Friday night

Every once in a while, the Granada offers a show that could potentially show Lawrence’s music fans that they’ve missed out on something. It’s not an “I-told-you-so” so much as it is a “hey, friend, take a listen”; the intention not being embarrassment, but rather education. Consider Friday night’s show one of these examples, as Afrobeat’s prodigal son, Seun Kuti, performs with his band Egypt 80 at the Granada.
To say that Afrobeat, the convenient catch-all for Kuti and Egypt 80’s music, is just “cool” would be an understatement. Afrobeat is probably some of the catchiest, blood-pumpiest, most rousing and lively music one could hear in contemporary music. A combination of Africanized jazz and American funk, in addition to the personal preferences and biases of the Afrobeat musician (of whom there are many), Afrobeat music is consummate musical energy. The drums function like some massive rhythmic engine, while the guitar(s) and bass create a bridge between it and bold, brass-peppered melodies. Rounding out the mix is the traditional call-and-response vocals between a lead singer and a chorus, a mainstay of African music.
Kuti himself picks up the tradition where his father, Fela Kuti, left it. Fela was the creator of Afrobeat as a musical movement, making Seun something of an Afrobeat crown prince. Fela was also a fervent political radical, and touches of that are reflected in his son’s music. Take the first track from Seun’s 2011 release, “African Soldier”, which is a commentary on the traditional militarism seen in his homeland of Nigeria, as well as in Africa as a whole.
In fact, Seun more than inherits the mantle left for him by his father. He updates it too. The subject matter of From Africa with Fury: Rise, the aforementioned 2011 release, deals almost exclusively with politics and social issues in Seun’s native Africa. Whether it’s corporate greed (“Mr. Big Thief”), drug policy (“The Good Leaf”) or the expression of general hope for Africa and its people (“Rise”), Seun takes the same frenetic energy integral to Afrobeat and uses it as a vehicle to express his generation’s woes, worries, and hopes.
As a live act, Seun Kuti and Egypt 80 will prove one of the finest to visit the Granada thus far this year. In terms of the band backing, it’s important to note that Egypt 80 is something of an inheritance for Seun Kuti. They played with his father in the 80s (hence, Egypt 80) and are thus steeped in experience. They have played all over the world, from Lagos to London and beyond. The very fact that they bring their 30-plus years of live playing experience to the Granada is quite astounding. Considering the cozy size of everyone’s favorite Lawrence venue, concertgoers on Friday night will surely be in for a treat, watching one of the premier Afrobeat acts in the world with only a few measly feet of separation in between.
In all honesty, this show is not one to be missed. This is the sort of music that we don’t get a whole lot of in Lawrence, and this is the best opportunity any of us, as fans of music, are going to get to see it in its true and proper form. Seun Kuti and Egypt 80 perform with Heart of Darkness at the Granada Friday, March 30. Doors open at 8:30 p.m. Tickets are $18 in advance and $20 at the door. You can buy them here.