[Concert Review]: Flying Lotus w/ Thundercat - Sound Academy, Toronto [May 15]
L.A.-born producer/DJ Flying Lotus has managed to keep a firm grip on his status as one of the most important creative minds in electronic music for quite a while now, owing in large part to his ability to maintain a constant state of evolution both on record and in the live arena. With a pair of collaborative efforts between he and virtuosic bassist Stephen “Thundercat” Bruner due later this summer — the first future-funk leaning singles from which are currently setting the internet ablaze— it was only fitting that the two team up for FlyLo’s latest jaunt. Ever upping the ante in his live performances, the wily sound conductor sandwiched his setup between two screens, the front one of which added soft psychedelic shapes and textures.
Thundercat — who to some was the night’s most anticipated performer — kicked off a set that showed him to be that much more mouth-gaping a musician live than on record. With his fingers dancing at a dizzying pace up and down the length of his 6-string Ibanez, the busy bass man wound his way through expanded versions of cuts like “Daylight” and “Is It Love” from his album The Golden Age of Apocalypse. The finer details of Bruner’s impressive range as both a singer and instrumentalist rang delightfully through the quieter moments, with the bassist often playing his heavily tweaked instrument like a guitar. But it was the many blistering improvisational runs that would provide the set’s most mesmerizing turns, with the synth player out exercising each fraction of the beat when not looking for change cues from Bruner who, lost in his own solos, sounded at times to be covering both synth and bass lines himself. The trio wound things up with new cut “Heartbreaks & Setbacks” before finishing off with the Teddy Pendergrass-styled “Walking.”
It wasn’t long before Flying Lotus took up his position between the twin projector screens to begin his own hour-plus aural assault. Opening with the Erykah Badu-featuring “See Thru To U” amidst a wash of abstract shapes, animated astrological creatures and futuristic symbolism, the lively DJ launched into a stream of menacing, bottom-heavy productions each more ferocious than the last. Quieter cuts from When The Quiet Comes provided strategic moments of restraint, while songs like “Sultan’s Request” and “Putty Boy Strut” earned some of the night’s biggest cheers. While FlyLo was largely an ace at maintaining the crowds high through well-timed beat drops and cuts that threatened to bowl you over if you weren’t careful, the mix tended to lose a bit of steam whenever he reached for his Captain Murphy material, though the rapped tracks did draw him out from behind the visuals to the front of the stage.
That sense of lull, though not persistent, showed itself again at points throughout the set’s final third, with a softening of the material and the repetitiveness of some of the visuals, though tracks like Kendrick Lamar’s “Backseat Freestyle” and Kanye’s “Mercy” ensured the room never settled completely. All of that was set aside for good, however, come encore time, when the producer engaged the crowd at the front of the stage and then brought out Thundercat to help him through their recent collaborations before ending the night with the thunderous Captain Murphy banger “Shake Weight.” The visual accompaniment to FlyLo’s gripping productions is increasingly a truly immersive treat and helps to put what is ostensibly a well-constructed DJ set up on a higher plain. Add Thundercat’s unwieldy bass-led theatrics to the mix and you get a pairing that’s hard to beat. (For Exclaim.ca)
Album Review: Snoop Lion - Reincarnated
4/10
While the humanity and personal growth shown in Snoop Lion’s Reincarnated documentary granted the legendary rapper some sympathetic cover for his dubious rebirth as a reggae-singing Rasta, the eponymous album at the heart of that story affords him no such luxury. The Diplo-directed record is a somewhat sloppy mish-mash of reggae cuts that rarely attain an authentic air, a couple of Rita Ora and Miley Cyrus-assisted pop write-offs, and one bit of Major Lazer-lite in the oddly-placed “Get Away.” Snoop does best when he steers far clear of his weak attempts at Jamaican patois, and some of the album’s better songs come when the rapper opens up his vocal cords for messages of love, positivity and redemption, as in the lover’s rock-moulded “So Long” and reflective “Tired of Running.” Those saving grace moments are in tough, however, against the abysmal “Fruit Juice” and poorly composed “No Guns Allowed,” which, despite its commendable message, is just a bad song on a bad album, of which the track’s hastily-delivered Drake verse is particularly emblematic. (For Exclaim.ca)
By Kevin Jones
Album Review: Coultrain - Jungle Mumbo Jumbo
8/10
While his collaborative efforts as a member of Platinum Pied Pipers, and more recently Hawthorne Headhunters, may have brought him a bit more shine over the years, the slow build of Coultrain’s conceptual Seymour Liberty solo projects has long kept ardent fans waiting and wondering. On new disc Jungle Mumbo Jumbo, the St. Louis native finally embodies the unrestrained creative adventurism hinted at on those sporadic solo releases, crafting its outer worldly compositions with exploratory melodies and dizzying musical arrangements, each demanding a few spins before fully settling into place. The echoing creaks, chirps and trudging bass tones that form the untamed digital landscape introduced in “Y Not?” shift and expand as the album progresses, with the singer’s distinctive voice and lyrics delivering tales of mysterious lovers and the fantastic world they inhabit. While his unconventional melodies do meander, at times, they generally make sense atop the gripping, exotic rhythms of cuts like the marching “Delilah,” piercing “Gazelle’s Dance” and theatrical “Batouttahell,” which are just a few highlights from this exhilarating aural feast. (For Exclaim.ca)
By Kevin Jones
![Lianne La Havas Talks Plans for her Second LP, Getting a Phone Call from Prince
By Kevin Jones
The past couple of years in the professional life of Lianne La Havas have proven quite an exciting journey, beginning with a handful of attention-snatching videos and live recordings and eventually leading to opening duties for Bon Iver and the iTunes UK Album of the Year award for her debut disc, Is Your Love Big Enough? Now, with the end of her current tour and a well-deserved break just a few short weeks away, La Havas is already focusing her thoughts and creative energies on her next project.As La Havas tells Exclaim!, fans can expect a slight shift in her coming recordings, to a sound she’s hinted at in a couple of remixes that have trickled out over the past year from producer Two Inch Punch. “He’s a good friend of mine,” she offers enthusiastically, “and I’m going to be working with him one-on-one, which I’m very excited about. I’ve been meaning to do some music with him — I just think he’s so talented, and his vision and his sonic opinion is something that I’m really interested in fusing with my own. I’m just looking to make sounds that I haven’t heard before.”That idea of fusing elements from a number of relatively traditional forms into something that, while not necessarily foreign, is difficult to track down to any one clear influence is central to La Havas’ unique sound and style, and as she explains, is a philosophy that guides her creative hand. “I tend not to like specifics, you know. I like it when you hear something and you can’t trace it back to what it sounds like, ‘cause then it’s not pure. I like the idea of creating a genre, almost.” After all, she asks, “Who says that you can’t just amalgamate everything you like into one piece of music, just to make it sound like a new thing you haven’t heard before?”Her exceptional artistry has earned La Havas the praise of a sizable international audience, including a few notable artists many would consider royalty. “I’ve had a kind of surreal year with meeting my idols,” she begins before recounting the story of surprise phone call from Prince. “Even before the album came out, [he] had my EP, and he called me and just said that he liked it, basically.” Through smiling modesty, she continues, “We talked about music and whatnot, and he’s really into new music — he seems to be championing people like Esperanza Spalding and Janelle Monáe, and for him to be a fan of my music as well is amazing.” (For Exclaim.ca)](http://24.media.tumblr.com/ccf824b8ffe69ee97ef2dd8b11213a99/tumblr_mlpu42WuUk1r1h6ooo1_500.jpg)
Lianne La Havas Talks Plans for her Second LP, Getting a Phone Call from Prince
By Kevin Jones
The past couple of years in the professional life of Lianne La Havas have proven quite an exciting journey, beginning with a handful of attention-snatching videos and live recordings and eventually leading to opening duties for Bon Iver and the iTunes UK Album of the Year award for her debut disc, Is Your Love Big Enough? Now, with the end of her current tour and a well-deserved break just a few short weeks away, La Havas is already focusing her thoughts and creative energies on her next project.
As La Havas tells Exclaim!, fans can expect a slight shift in her coming recordings, to a sound she’s hinted at in a couple of remixes that have trickled out over the past year from producer Two Inch Punch.
“He’s a good friend of mine,” she offers enthusiastically, “and I’m going to be working with him one-on-one, which I’m very excited about. I’ve been meaning to do some music with him — I just think he’s so talented, and his vision and his sonic opinion is something that I’m really interested in fusing with my own. I’m just looking to make sounds that I haven’t heard before.”
That idea of fusing elements from a number of relatively traditional forms into something that, while not necessarily foreign, is difficult to track down to any one clear influence is central to La Havas’ unique sound and style, and as she explains, is a philosophy that guides her creative hand.
“I tend not to like specifics, you know. I like it when you hear something and you can’t trace it back to what it sounds like, ‘cause then it’s not pure. I like the idea of creating a genre, almost.”
After all, she asks, “Who says that you can’t just amalgamate everything you like into one piece of music, just to make it sound like a new thing you haven’t heard before?”
Her exceptional artistry has earned La Havas the praise of a sizable international audience, including a few notable artists many would consider royalty.
“I’ve had a kind of surreal year with meeting my idols,” she begins before recounting the story of surprise phone call from Prince. “Even before the album came out, [he] had my EP, and he called me and just said that he liked it, basically.”
Through smiling modesty, she continues, “We talked about music and whatnot, and he’s really into new music — he seems to be championing people like Esperanza Spalding and Janelle Monáe, and for him to be a fan of my music as well is amazing.” (For Exclaim.ca)
SHUGGIE OTIS – PHOENIX CONCERT THEATRE, TORONTO ON
APRIL 15
It’s been over forty years since Inspiration Information, the critically acclaimed though commercially overlooked release by then up-and-coming guitar prodigy Shuggie Otis, hit store shelves and kicked off the story of a man whose tightly-held artistic beliefs didn’t quite square with a career in the music biz. But despite that great passage of time, it seems his fans – now a multigenerational swath of ardent music lovers – have never forgotten their man, and they turned out in force to support his latest rebirth at Toronto’s Phoenix Concert Theatre this past weekend.
Opening duties at the highly-anticipated event were turned over to local rocker Ben Stevenson, who set things off with a drawn-out series of white knuckled, tortured-soul ballads helped along by a handful of more bustling and sanguine grooves. With the pain and conviction of his conversational pleas stretched across his face, the towering frontman poured his heart out over a string of soul-licked torch songs, his guitar gripped tightly as he swayed around singing into space like a teenager might do while alone in a room, which was kind of endearing. With a surprise rendition of Kendrick Lamar’s “Bitch, Don’t Kill My Vibe” complete with original lyrics, Stevenson and his band made good on their opening role and left a sound impression on a night when the long-awaited main course couldn’t come soon enough.
Despite an admirable streak of stubbornness that appears to have been the largest stumbling block in his career as a solo artist, Shuggie Otis has always shown himself (at least in interviews) to be an incredibly humble musician. Fans got to see that humility in the flesh at show time when, with his band and stage techs still running through the paces of one final sound check, the modest legend simply walked out, picked up his axe and started limbering up on his own, to the delight of the startled crowd. Anxious to get right to things, the excited virtuoso almost kicked off the opening tune without his bassist, before the band’s panicked trumpeter cut his opening four-count short at the two! After a relaxed chuckle and the bass man’s hasty return, Shuggie reset his count and the seasoned ensemble opened things up with a bright and colourful run-through of the fitting lead-in “Inspiration Information”, the title track from the album that made his name.
Favorites like “Aht Uh Mi Hed” and the slow and sticky “Sweet Thing” were made absolutely radiant in the live setting due in large part to the horn section’s inimitable swagger and the cool, cunning clank of the singer’s chunky guitar. While a few of the more subdued numbers had Shuggie’s voice sounding a little weak, all of that would change once the singer hit upon his primary musical muse, the blues. Through a large portion of the night’s midsection, the biting guitar solos, encouraging organ runs and sympathetic horn wails typical of that tortured genre coaxed the singer along as his voice, by then embolden, became a force all its own. The blues gave way to the 80’s-era funk rock feel of the soon to be released “Wings of Love,” and after a jamming closer, the self-confessed prolific songwriter switched things up once again when he returned to the stage alone to perform an acoustic song written for his brother back in 2001.
With the unmistakable twin psychedelic guitar line raining in the final tones of the subsequent crowd-pleaser (and Otis’ lone hit) “Strawberry Letter 23”, Shuggie used the show’s remaining moments to unleash his inner guitar hero, going to ground in the throws of one last soaring solo during the band’s rowdy and triumphant final tune. Through it all, the revered musician showed the indelible talent fans have always seen in him through the years. But, more significantly, he came off as a man entirely unbowed and uninhibited by what could have been, and that was very pleasing to witness. (For Exclaim.ca)
By Kevin Jones
![Lianne la Havas Interview: Web Exclusive for Exclaim.ca
By Kevin Jones
The past couple of years in the professional life of Lianne La Havas have proven quite an exciting journey, one that included an opening spot on Bon Iver’s 2011 North American tour, an iTunes UK Album Of The Year award for her 2012 debut Is Your Love Big Enough?, and a spotlight showcase at the 4th Annual ESSENCE Black Women In Music celebration. With her sultry, sumptuous vocals, nimble guitar work, and a genre splicing sound that snatches from soul, folk, and pop, the London-based singer-songwriter has attracted the admiration of enraptured fans on both sides of the atlantic, including a few notable musical heavyweights who’ve called her up out of the blue to sing her praises. Her rapid ascent has been pretty impressive to witness, and while that’s no surprise given her incredible musical talent and richly emotional songcraft, it’s the combination of confidence and charming modesty that makes the rest feel so much more satisfying to take in.
You mentioned on your first EP that you were recording in LA with Matt Hales. How did you end up making the album in the US?
Well Matt moved to America after I met him, but we first started working together in London. He’s a singer/songwriter who had most success a few years ago under his name Aqualung, and I was introduced to him by someone like a publisher or his manager or something, and we started writing songs together. I was a big fan of his already, so it felt like I was working with one of my idols, or someone who I was very comfortable about showing him songwriting [to] and what I could do. And he seemed very accommodating and we instantly connected, but then he moved to Pasadena, which is why I would go back and forth between London and LA to work with him. And eventually, about three years later, we finished the album.
And how did the opening Bon Iver tour spot come about?
When I was releasing my first EP, I got the opportunity to be on Jools Holland, and Bon Iver were on the same bill that evening, so that’s how we met. We didn’t really speak to each other that day, though, but we heard each other’s music that day, and a few days later I was invited to support Justin on the tour.
Had you heard his album before that.
I’d heard his first album - I bought his first album, and his second came out just a few months before I met him, and I was actually listening to the opening track with Matt in the studio one day before we were writing a song. And coincidentally, a few months later I was supporting him, so it’s very crazy!
You get the impression from your videos and live performances that performing is something you’ve been doing for most of your life. Is that try?
Being serious about it, I’ve been playing guitar and singing for my own shows for about maybe three or four years now. Before that, I was in choirs in school, building my confidence, but I never really played in an instrument publicly and sang until I was about 19. But that year that I supported Bon Iver, which was the beginning of 2011, I didn’t have my record deal or anything and was kind of in limbo about finishing the record and stuff like that.
You hadn’t started it yet?
Well, I had a collection of songs, but I didn’t really have a direction at the time. So what I decided to do was just play as many shows on my own as I could find, and the shows just kept coming to me. People would have friends of friends who were putting on a night at a club or whatever, so I would just do maybe three gigs a week or something. I just made the beginning of that year all about practicing and getting comfortable at being on stage and being very self-sufficient. So, when it came to doing the Bon Iver tour, I just felt like this is who I am and felt very comfortable about that.
People seem to be most taken aback by the richness of your lyrics and the messages they convey. Is writing something you do a lot of, even apart from songwriting?
I Love it! I love poetry, and that’s kind of what started me off really, linking the two – music and poetry – because when I was at school, English was one of my favourite subjects, and I was just always fascinated with how you can make something rhyme but also have it make complete sense as well. So, it was kind of a natural progression to sort of start making melodies and songs out of it.
Apart from your full album, you’ve also recording a few songs that carry you in a different direction, Everything Everything’s “Final Form”, or the remixes you did with Shlohmo and Two Inch Punch. Are those different styles something you see yourself doing more of in the future?
It’s funny that you mention “Final Form”, because I recorded that during that time just before I got my album deal. So it’s just, you know, whatever’s available to you in the studio that you like the sound of, and whatever you wanna do, really. I tend not to like specifics, you know, I like it when you hear something and you can’t trace it back to what it sounds like, ‘cause then it’s not pure. I like the idea of creating a genre almost. Who says that you can’t just amalgamate everything you like into one piece of music, just to make it sound like a new thing you haven’t heard before? I did try to do that with the record, but particularly with “Final Form” – that was a chance for me to just really enjoy being in the studio and taking a song that isn’t my own and trying to make it my own, and even though that sounds very different to my album, I still think it sounds like me. With Two Inch Punch, funnily enough, I’m going to be working with him one-on-one, which I’m very excited about. he’s a good friend of mine and I’ve been meaning to do some music with him – I just think he’s so talented, and his vision and his sonic opinion is something that I’m really interested in fusing with my own. I’m just looking to make sounds that I haven’t heard before.
Aside from winning iTunes UK Album Of The Year, have their been any other really special surprises since the album came out and along the tour? Any phone calls from Prince or anything?
Yeah, right (laughs). That was pretty surprising! Just to be acknowledged by anyone that you are a fan of or respect, such as a living legend like that..
Wait, that actually happen?
Yeah! I thought you knew that! (smiling)
No, I didn’t know.
I thought that’s why you asked that. (Laughing again)
No, I had no idea! Well Congratulations!
(More laughter) Well, thank you! I’ve had a kind of surreal year with meeting my idols, ‘cause even before the album came out, Prince had my EP and he called me and just said that he liked it, basically. And we talked about music and whatnot, and he’s really into new music – he seems to be championing people like Esperanza Spalding, and Janelle Monae, and for him to be a fan of my music as well is amazing. So, that was pretty crazy. I also met Jill Scott, about seven weeks ago in LA. She was at the ESSENCE event honouring black women in music. So, I performed, and she was there, and she’s amazing – just everything I’d hoped and more.
(For Exclaim.ca)](http://25.media.tumblr.com/4b18222acdcb5b40ef121c9355ac623b/tumblr_ml96na8y6F1r1h6ooo1_500.jpg)
Lianne la Havas Interview: Web Exclusive for Exclaim.ca
By Kevin Jones
The past couple of years in the professional life of Lianne La Havas have proven quite an exciting journey, one that included an opening spot on Bon Iver’s 2011 North American tour, an iTunes UK Album Of The Year award for her 2012 debut Is Your Love Big Enough?, and a spotlight showcase at the 4th Annual ESSENCE Black Women In Music celebration. With her sultry, sumptuous vocals, nimble guitar work, and a genre splicing sound that snatches from soul, folk, and pop, the London-based singer-songwriter has attracted the admiration of enraptured fans on both sides of the atlantic, including a few notable musical heavyweights who’ve called her up out of the blue to sing her praises. Her rapid ascent has been pretty impressive to witness, and while that’s no surprise given her incredible musical talent and richly emotional songcraft, it’s the combination of confidence and charming modesty that makes the rest feel so much more satisfying to take in.
You mentioned on your first EP that you were recording in LA with Matt Hales. How did you end up making the album in the US?
Well Matt moved to America after I met him, but we first started working together in London. He’s a singer/songwriter who had most success a few years ago under his name Aqualung, and I was introduced to him by someone like a publisher or his manager or something, and we started writing songs together. I was a big fan of his already, so it felt like I was working with one of my idols, or someone who I was very comfortable about showing him songwriting [to] and what I could do. And he seemed very accommodating and we instantly connected, but then he moved to Pasadena, which is why I would go back and forth between London and LA to work with him. And eventually, about three years later, we finished the album.
And how did the opening Bon Iver tour spot come about?
When I was releasing my first EP, I got the opportunity to be on Jools Holland, and Bon Iver were on the same bill that evening, so that’s how we met. We didn’t really speak to each other that day, though, but we heard each other’s music that day, and a few days later I was invited to support Justin on the tour.
Had you heard his album before that.
I’d heard his first album - I bought his first album, and his second came out just a few months before I met him, and I was actually listening to the opening track with Matt in the studio one day before we were writing a song. And coincidentally, a few months later I was supporting him, so it’s very crazy!
You get the impression from your videos and live performances that performing is something you’ve been doing for most of your life. Is that try?
Being serious about it, I’ve been playing guitar and singing for my own shows for about maybe three or four years now. Before that, I was in choirs in school, building my confidence, but I never really played in an instrument publicly and sang until I was about 19. But that year that I supported Bon Iver, which was the beginning of 2011, I didn’t have my record deal or anything and was kind of in limbo about finishing the record and stuff like that.
You hadn’t started it yet?
Well, I had a collection of songs, but I didn’t really have a direction at the time. So what I decided to do was just play as many shows on my own as I could find, and the shows just kept coming to me. People would have friends of friends who were putting on a night at a club or whatever, so I would just do maybe three gigs a week or something. I just made the beginning of that year all about practicing and getting comfortable at being on stage and being very self-sufficient. So, when it came to doing the Bon Iver tour, I just felt like this is who I am and felt very comfortable about that.
People seem to be most taken aback by the richness of your lyrics and the messages they convey. Is writing something you do a lot of, even apart from songwriting?
I Love it! I love poetry, and that’s kind of what started me off really, linking the two – music and poetry – because when I was at school, English was one of my favourite subjects, and I was just always fascinated with how you can make something rhyme but also have it make complete sense as well. So, it was kind of a natural progression to sort of start making melodies and songs out of it.
Apart from your full album, you’ve also recording a few songs that carry you in a different direction, Everything Everything’s “Final Form”, or the remixes you did with Shlohmo and Two Inch Punch. Are those different styles something you see yourself doing more of in the future?
It’s funny that you mention “Final Form”, because I recorded that during that time just before I got my album deal. So it’s just, you know, whatever’s available to you in the studio that you like the sound of, and whatever you wanna do, really. I tend not to like specifics, you know, I like it when you hear something and you can’t trace it back to what it sounds like, ‘cause then it’s not pure. I like the idea of creating a genre almost. Who says that you can’t just amalgamate everything you like into one piece of music, just to make it sound like a new thing you haven’t heard before? I did try to do that with the record, but particularly with “Final Form” – that was a chance for me to just really enjoy being in the studio and taking a song that isn’t my own and trying to make it my own, and even though that sounds very different to my album, I still think it sounds like me. With Two Inch Punch, funnily enough, I’m going to be working with him one-on-one, which I’m very excited about. he’s a good friend of mine and I’ve been meaning to do some music with him – I just think he’s so talented, and his vision and his sonic opinion is something that I’m really interested in fusing with my own. I’m just looking to make sounds that I haven’t heard before.
Aside from winning iTunes UK Album Of The Year, have their been any other really special surprises since the album came out and along the tour? Any phone calls from Prince or anything?
Yeah, right (laughs). That was pretty surprising! Just to be acknowledged by anyone that you are a fan of or respect, such as a living legend like that..
Wait, that actually happen?
Yeah! I thought you knew that! (smiling)
No, I didn’t know.
I thought that’s why you asked that. (Laughing again)
No, I had no idea! Well Congratulations!
(More laughter) Well, thank you! I’ve had a kind of surreal year with meeting my idols, ‘cause even before the album came out, Prince had my EP and he called me and just said that he liked it, basically. And we talked about music and whatnot, and he’s really into new music – he seems to be championing people like Esperanza Spalding, and Janelle Monae, and for him to be a fan of my music as well is amazing. So, that was pretty crazy. I also met Jill Scott, about seven weeks ago in LA. She was at the ESSENCE event honouring black women in music. So, I performed, and she was there, and she’s amazing – just everything I’d hoped and more.
(For Exclaim.ca)
