Ninja Tune in je fisie! Sixtoo, Signify en Blockhead gaven een show in de Melkweg. Zou hun live show even dik zijn als de vele producties? (Tekst: Engels)
Having a show start at 23:00 usually means a couple of things. First of all, it will be very difficult for you to fill up the venue (especially if it’s a Wednesday evening). That is because many people have to work or go to school next day. But if you are a die hard music fan and work for HIJS, you will get your ass up from Zeeland and head towards this show with pleasure (even though you know in the back of your mind that you will be braindead next day due to a lack of sleep and the amount of traveling that you have done). So with great anticipation, I happily headed towards the Melkweg.
As you can see, I really appreciate the 3 men who were hitting the stage tonight. Blockhead, as we all know, has done some amazing production for Aesop Rock, Sixtoo has always been one of the most talented members of Anticon and in my (superior) opinion, DJ Signify’s “Sleep No More” with Sage Francis and Buck65 is one of the best independent albums released in years. But the real question is if these men could combine their talents effectively on stage..?
Around 23:30, it was time for the first act to perform. The Melkweg was not really full, so Blockhead had the difficult task of getting a small amount of people to feel his music. Expecting at least some turntables, all Blockhead had with him on stage was a laptop. When the music started, I didn’t really know what he was doing. Now don’t get me wrong, I’m not a producer or anything but for all I know, Blockhead could have been playing an MP3 while playing Championship Manager on stage. Im sure that this was not the case but it had me thinking deeply. What had happened to music? From the legendary live shows of Metallica, to the musical orgasms of Eyedea and Abilities, I now found myself standing in the Melkweg watching a man play with his laptop. Don’t get me wrong, the sounds that were coming out of the RAM filled machine sounded dope, but I just couldn’t grasp the idea of playing live with a machine that would later on be used to check e-mail or go pornsurfing. If this is a good or bad thing, I honestly don’t know. I will just let you decide for yourselves.
The Melkweg was filling up nicely due to people from the Freestylers show that came to take a look. This was good for Blockhead who now was mixing Micheal Jackson vocals with dope underground beats. What is important when attending a show like this is that you have to be in the right mindframe. You should have a girl with you or something because after a while, it gets boring to be honest. The music is dope, but a bit too repetitive. Closing his set, Blockhead announced the arrival of the next act which would be Signify and Sixtoo as a duo.
Hitting the stage with a bass player, the two producers started off by performing songs off of Signify’s album “Sleep No More.” Signify was on the turntables while Sixtoo was tapping on the MPC. What really made this live performance good was the inclusion of the bass player. This guy (in my opinion) stole the show with his dope riffs to the dark beats created by Signify and Sixtoo. Later on in the show, Sixtoo even got the mic and started MCing. His rhymes were dope and his vocals reminded me of MacLethal. Signify DJ-ed while the bass player continued ripping it up. Just like the Blockhead set, this show was dope but got boring after a while. Signify showed some great tablism skills which livened spirits, and the definite highlight of the evening was the track “5 Leaves Left for Lauren”. The live bass and scratching on top of the melancholy violins sent shivers down my spine. It was a good end of an evening which showed a lot of promise, sort of lived up to its expectation, but got a bit boring at times.
Fixtures:
Hoogetepunt: Bass Player on the Signify-Sixtoo Set
Dieptepunt: None really…
Bier: 2 euro
Toilet: Gratis
Garderobe: 1 Euro
Foto’s: Ja
Geluid: Good
Publiek: Full
Damage: 9,- + Lidmaatschap
Cijfer: 8
