Two Nights of Toubab: 12.2.10 Denver, CO

-

Words & Photos By J-man
Videos By Carly Marthis

A few hours after the interview, I found myself back at the Bluebird Theater. I was excited. After what I saw the previous evening in Boulder, I knew the Denver show would be stellar. That night I was joined by two of the same three folks from the previous night, with the exception of Sasha, who we traded for our buddy Spuckes. Toubab Krewe took the stage and with the first note, I was dancing. I looked over at Murray, who's eyes were already closed as he danced. Then a glance over to Spuckes would yield a smile and a point to the band with a thumbs up. Lastly, a smile from Carly. The energy felt higher than the previous night.


The instrumentation was solid, as Justin and Drew traded riffs and melodies between the kora and the guitar. You could see the musical chemistry between the two of them as they smiled. In the background you could see Teal looking on, smiling, taking and giving musical queues. Dave even seemed to be more animated than the previous night, as he wandered around the stage with his electric bass, involving himself directly with the jam. I glanced over to Luke to see his facial expressions, that were pretty consistent with most percussionists. He was giving off that look of pain and concentration. He was in the zone, and his playing reflected such.



Toubab is known as an instrumental band, however their vocals are very solid. They did an old Johnny Cash song, as well as an old bluegrass traditional (I believe). The Cash song was done almost precisely in the original style, once again proving that Toubab can step outside of their sound with ease. Not to mention Justin's vocals sounded dead on. The bluegrass song, which was performed the previous night in Boulder as well, was drawn out and had an almost psychedelic sound. The variety and diverse amount of music that Toubab plays is impressive.

I want to take a second and talk about the production of the show. The sound and light engineer(s), have Toubab dialed in. The lights were bold, colorful and stimulating. The sound was near perfect. Not only could you hear all of the instruments at all times, but sonically the balance was near perfect. I want to thank the management and staff for their abilities/talents. Too often we attend shows only to hear muffled sound, horrible balance, see crappy lights, etc. What Toubab does reflects a certain level of caring and professionalism.



There is no other band on the scene like Toubab Krewe. What Toubab does musically, thrills me to the point of not only wanting to see and follow them live, but to tell others about them. If your're looking for a band with raw talent and a diverse multitude of sound; then Toubab Krewe is your band.

As with the previous night, Toubab ended on a drum jam...

www.toubabkrewe.com

J-man's Photo Gallery from the show.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Livetronica Sampler 3.22.11

-
Image
Words by Greg Molitor ( ReMIND Photography ) Ozric Tentacles This British group has proven innovative throughout the years offering a space-rock meets psytrance sound that remains alive to this day. Though never having a major record label, Ozric Tentacles has produced 28 albums of diverse psychedelia throughout its career. The band met at the Stonehenge Free Festival in 1983 and truly fathered livetronica music with its use of sequencers and synthesizers. Simply put, there would be no livetronica without Ozric Tentacles. www.ozrics.com Octopus Nebula Colorado’s Octopus Nebula has certainly hit its stride as of late with its constant touring and increased festival interest. The group expands on the deep sounds of highly regarded acts such as STS9 and Shpongle but also carves a path of its own with its fresh takes on synthesizer tones and sampling in the live setting. Octopus Nebula Live at Cervantes' Masterpiece Ballroom on March 26, 2010. <--- Direct Archive Link www.octopus
Read more

Buckethead: Gimmick or Guitar God?

-
Image
Words & Photos By Nicholas Stock ( phatphlogblog.blogspot.com ) At what point does the gimmick overshadow the performance? The obvious answer is Buckethead. The man is an amazing guitarist but something is not right in this world. The idea a performer who dons a KFC chicken bucket on his head for a concert has always intrigued me, and some of his side projects such as Colonel Claypool’s Bernie Bucket of Brains have been huge successes. However his performance last weekend in Fort Collins simply left me perplexed. From his robotic dancing, to his nunchuck display, to the fact the he performed with an iPod rather than a band all added to my confusion. Going into the show I was ready to be blown away, despite rumblings of disgruntled fans from the previous night’s show at The Gothic. Buckethead had had some sound issues and some missed cues in Denver but I was still trying to be positive for the show in Fort Collins. It did go off without a hitch technically but that was the least
Read more

Billy Strings 4.18.19

-
Image
Salvage Station Asheville, NC Words by Jason Mebane Photos by J. Scott Shrader Photography When asked to write a review of last week's Billy Strings show at Asheville, North Carolina's Salvage Station I almost passed on it. I just wrote a review of his last Asheville show a few months ago and I thought it may be hard to come up with another set of words to describe to the readers exactly what a Billy Strings show is all about. I am sure there are a plethora of other reviews that other people have written focusing on how well he has mastered his instrument. I suppose I could recycle those thoughts and just sit here typing out a few adjectives describing each note Billy and his superb backing band played this past Thursday night, but that wouldn't be fun for me. Additionally I'd imagine a review like that wouldn't keep your attention either. Instead I have decided to focus on a few random parts of the Billy Strings show that seemed interesting to me. One: B
Read more