Ultra: Roni Size and Reprazent bring pure drum ‘n’ bass back

Singer Onallee with Roni Size in Reprazent's first US appearance in seven years.

Roni Size wanted Miami’s Ultra Music Festival to know what exactly it was listening to.

He pointed to the drum kit. “Just the drums! I just want the drums!

“You see, we don’t have no CDs, no backing tracks! This is real drum and bass!” Size said, drawing out the last three words that also define the kind of music that first made him and his group Reprazent stars during the 1990s.

Size reconvened Reprazent last year when he put out a deluxe edition of New Forms, the LP that won him the Mercury Music Prize in 1997. Back in 1997, Size was a massive part of the drum ‘n’ bass scene that also featured Goldie (who was also in attendance at Ultra), Squarepusher and A Guy Called Gerald.

Drum ‘n’ bass is characterized by a bass-heavy, fast sound that got its start in the rave scene in the United Kingdom. Size came from one of the sound’s biggest Meccas — Bristol.

And he proved Friday, in the band’s first U.S. appearance in seven years, that he and Reprazent still had it. Many of the original members are still in the band, including vocalist Onallee and bass player Si John.

With Onallee bringing powerful hooks to life, Size got the crowd hopping in a hot, sweaty cauldron of dance.

They all knew exactly what they were listening to.

Black-Eyed Peas back together with a Boom, a Boom and a Pow

Finally, a great shot of the Peas... hey! Move that camera!

Finally, the Peas are back in the same pod.

Over the last two years, you’ve seen various members of the Black Eyed Peas all over the place. Fergie performed her solo album The Dutchess and appeared in movies; Will.i.am got out the vote for President Obama, released a solo album and produced.

But in returning to the fold, all of the Peas — which also include rappers Apl.de.ap and Taboo — began working their music and style in a different way.

The best example is the band’s brand new single, “Boom Boom Pow”, an extremely danceable song that is nowhere near out of place at Ultra Music Festival in Miami, where the band debuted the song on stage Friday.

“‘Boom Boom Pow’ is a part of experiments I’ve been doing,” Will.i.am said in a news conference before their performance. “I wanted to make a song that was basically one whole verse, and in mid-song pull in an whole new beat, inspiring DJs to play the song the full way.”

It was a highlight of the band’s brief but well-received performance at the festival, the centerpiece of the Winter Music Conference — a week-long electronic music celebration that brings together some of the top DJs in the world.

“The DJ is the most important thing in music today,” Will.i.am said. “When we released ‘Boom Boom Pow’, with the straight version, the a capella version and more, we wanted to give DJs the tools to help ‘Boom Boom Pow’ reach all different kinds of areas.”

“The song is based in the kind of clubs where we know it will live,” Fergie added. “People need something that makes them feel good right now.”

“Boom Boom Pow” is the first salvo of the upcoming The E.N.D. The band members say the new album’s sound is more along the lines of electro, a high-energy sound that also pulls them away from the poppier elements of the Peas’ last two LPs.

“The sound kind of reminds me of what hip-hop was like in 1980,” Will.i.am said. “It’s celebrating the kind of sound of what is happening in the world.”

Showtime!: Broken Social Scene, Club Cinema, Pompano Beach

The unique set-up of Broken Social Scene is such that each performer that joins the band brings something different to the show.

For example, the female vocal part of this Canadian ensemble has been held down by such strong artists as Leslie Feist, Metric’s Emily Haines and Stars’ Amy Millan. But Lizzie Powell had another take on things at Pompano Beach’s Club Cinema. Her sometimes girlish style fit one song — Anthems for a Seventeen-Year-Old Girl — to a tee, while working brilliantly other times as well.

Broken Social Scene's Brendan Canning, Andrew Whiteman and Kevin Drew. (Photo by Jonathan Tully)

That’s the joy of what this group is about: Kevin Drew, Brendan Canning and Justin Peroff — the three men who’ve been at this group’s center — surrounding themselves with some of Canada’s top rock musicians and seeing where each combination takes them.

This particular group not only played some of the Scene’s most appreciated songs — critical and fan favorites on display included “7/4 (Shoreline)”, “Cause=Time” and “Fire Eye’d Boy” — as well as songs off both Drew’s and Canning’s recent solo efforts, but also allowed their members to step forward and have their own moments in the sun.

Kevin Drew of Broken Social Scene. (photo by Shaun Flagg/Skope)

Guitarist Andrew Whiteman (also of Apostle of Hustle) sang a great version of the band’s “Looks Just Like the Sun”, while guitarist Sam Goldberg shined when he shared vocals with Drew on a psychedelic song by Goldberg’s Montreal-based band Hawaii. There was also the admirable risk taken by another guitarist, Do Make Say Think’s Charlie Spearin, who introduced an avant-garde piece with the help of saxophonist Leon Kingstone. While it was a cool song to give a listen to, it did halt the momentum of the show.

Fortunately, Broken Social Scene was able to pick up the pace almost immediately, finishing with a crowd-pleasing ending as Drew decided against an encore, instead asking his band to play until they had to clear the club.

Powell started this fun night with her own band, Land of Talk. Sounding like a band at the intersection of the Pixies, Lush and Bjork, Land of Talk was equally at home with cacophonous rock and heartfelt lyrics.

For more photos of this show, check out Shaun Flagg’s gallery at Skope Magazine.

Showtime: Joel McHale, Sunrise Theatre, Fort Pierce

First of all, Joel McHale may well have the greatest job in America.

As the host of “The Soup”, McHale shows clips of a wide variety of TV shows — from talk shows to prime time and even YouTube — and snarks on all of them.

Joel McHale

As I found out on Sunday night, he sometimes doesn’t exactly get away with it. During his very relaxed stand-up set, McHale did allow the audience in on the fact that some folks aren’t too happy with him.

Especially Tyra Banks.

And for good reason — it sure seems McHale tends to save his best stuff for Miss Tyra, the former model and now talk-show and reality-TV host. But then, it’s not like he has a choice… Tyra supplies plenty of ammo with her sometimes odd, many times over-the-top personality. I mean, if you really do have a fear of dolphins, wouldn’t you, gee I dunno, stay as far from dolphins as humanly possible?

Fortunately, McHale’s good nature tends to win a lot of people over (even Kim Kardashian, who almost takes as many shots as Tyra does on the E! show). Even when he skewers someone — and he did Sunday, from Hugh Hefner to Denise Richards — it’s pretty much all in good fun. Gotta make life bearable working for a place that produces — how did opener Chris Hardwick put it? Oh yeah — unwatchable programming.

Chris Hardwick

While E! shows are a gold mine for McHale (and, as it turns out, Hardwick, who works on the same lot as McHale while taping the G4 network’s “Attack of the Show”), he didn’t just stick to that. He also told tales about his family, and how his young son could go from being future genius to future retard and back in the space of seconds.

He was also a very gracious performer, hanging out in front of the theater for photos with fans, including my wife and me. Here he is with her — he’s telling me to “PUSH THE DAMN BUTTON!” I think, as I had a serious “camera fail”:

My wife with Joel! Take the picture, man!

Thank God these photos worked out, as cell pix from inside the theater were pathetically awful:

To see what Joel’s standup is all about (and to get clarification that yes, he does indeed talk about Ryan Seacrest), please to enjoy:

And here’s a bit about his son, Eddie:

Showtime: ’80s Regeneration Tour, Kravis Center, West Palm Beach

I didn't have a photo of ABC's performance, but we found this cool poster from their San Francisco instead.

My God, can Martin Fry wear a suit.

The sartorial splendor of Fry, the lead singer of ABC, solidified the surprising link between the ’80s Regeneration Tour and West Palm Beach’s Kravis Center for the Performing Arts. The Kravis is usually the place for folks to check out ballet, opera, theater, classical music — hoity toity.

But Fry and tour mate Pete Byrne — aka the driving force behind Naked Eyes — ramped up the class in a major way.

Both Fry and Byrne have refocused their efforts into their bands after hiatuses, and the enthusiasm is obvious. That translated to pure magnetism, as the unusual (read, slightly younger) Kravis crowd rushed the stage for both bands’ sets as if it were their heyday.

ABC is no one-hit wonder, and Fry and his tight group trotted out the hits with joy — “Poison Arrow”, “Be Near Me”, “How To Be A Millionaire”, “Tears Are Not Enough”. And by the time Fry launched into his monologue in the band’s biggest hit, “The Look of Love” — asking that after 25 years, whether he’s found true love — he had the crowd in the palm of his hand.

From my cellphone: The shiny fella is Pete Byrne of Naked Eyes.

But Fry had to have the crowd passed to him out of the palm of Byrne’s hand first. Like ABC, Naked Eyes is basically the original lead singer backed by newer backing musicians, but like ABC, Byrne’s band is tight and talented. Byrne gleefully trotted around the stage with his guitar, charming the audience during the band’s hits “Always Something There To Remind Me” and “Promises Promises”.

Earlier, Tommy Tutone also added their own brand of enthusiasm to the mix. These guys are more on the level of a really good bar band — but honestly, that’s what they were when “867-5309 (Jenny)” hit the airwaves. Tommy Heath, the lone original member, seemed to really enjoy himself, and surprisingly, “Jenny” wasn’t the song that really got me and my friends going. That honor went to the volleyball-themed “Rotate”, which we’ve been singing since.

Unfortunately, the first band, Missing Persons, couldn’t make it a perfect night. Lead singer Dale Bozzio seemed more concerned with the sound mix than the crowd, and her vocals were sloppy and offkey. She even had trouble remembering her band members’ names — never a good sign.

(Sadly, a member of our party took ill before we could finish off the show with 10,000 Maniacs. If anyone had a chance to see them and wants to chat about it, please leave a message in the comments.)

Showtime: My Morning Jacket, Fillmore Miami Beach

I’ve become very appreciative of the Fillmore Miami Beach, the new incarnation of the venerable Jackie Gleason Theater. After enjoying a thoroughly brilliant set by Vampire Weekend earlier this year, I had the chance to see what might well be my personal favorite band, My Morning Jacket, in the chandeliered beauty.

From my cellphone (not bad!), a look at the powerful light show at MMJ.

Of all of the bands I’ve had the chance to see, My Morning Jacket is the only one I’ve traveled more than three hours to follow — I made a 10-hour trip to North Charleston, S.C. to catch the first show of their last tour. So to me, the show at the Fillmore was this year’s golden ticket.

And this show truly was golden, from the word go. As a proper fan, I checked the playlists from the last few shows on MMJ’s tour, and felt confident enough to make a CD package of what I figured to be the band’s set list for Miami for a more neophyte attendee.

Then they go and basically flip it.

And seriously flip it — playing “Touch Me I’m Going To Scream, Pt. 2″ right BEFORE Pt. 1 of the same song as the show’s entre. One of the more adventurous songs on MMJ’s new album, Evil Urges, it worked well as a show opener as it allowed the audience to ease in.

Crowd pleasers like “Wordless Chorus”, “Phone Went West” and “The Way That He Sings” followed, surrounding the new album’s title track — which has a lovely dollop of Prince mixed with their usual Southern gothic sound — and the aggressive “Highly Suspicious.” 

Another change from other shows — a slightly more laid back list, with slower-tempoed songs like “It Beats 4 U” and “Knot Comes Loose” interspersed. Songs like that highlight lead singer Jim James’ voice to the fullest. 

The rest of the band’s shining moment comes during the encore, with extremely good, powerful sounds from longtime concert staples “Golden”, “Run Thru” and “One Big Holiday”. Guitarist Carl Broemel and keyboardist Bo Koster both held strong roles, but to me, the stars of these songs were the rhythm section — bassist Two-Tone Tommy and, especially, drummer Patrick Hallahan. 

Hallahan also had a huge visual role, serving as a sort of human timepiece during “Run Thru” in the band’s remarkable light show.

If you’d like to check out a great photo set from the show, check out Margarita Gonzalez’s album at Prefix. Also, enjoy Shaun Flagg’s photos from Skope… and yeah, that’s this entry as the review…

Showtime!: Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers/Steve Winwood

Who knew that the highlights of a Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers show would be provided by Steve Winwood?

I mean, at first, it wasn’t looking that way. Winwood, the support act for Petty’s tour, was in the midst of a competent but at times dull hour-long Latin-flavored set at Sunrise’s BankAtlantic Center. His band’s best element to that point was Paul Booth, a standout multi-instrumentalist. The thing is, Booth had a couple of flute solos.

And the thing about flute players is….

 

… we tend to make fun of them.

But Booth acquitted himself on both those solos and his sax work.

Then Winwood’s group — usually a six-man percussion-heavy unit — whittled itself down to three, with Booth on keyboards and Richard Bailey on drums. And they kicked off “Mr. Fantasy”.

And that’s when Winwood became the king of the guitar for the night. Coaxing notes out of his Fender the way Eric Clapton — his showmate at one point this year — can, Winwood was blowing the roof off the place. The crowd seemed pleasantly surprised in its ovation.

Nor has Winwood lost an ounce of that remarkable voice that has held strong since his days as a teen lead singer in the Spencer Davis Group. Joining Petty and co. on stage for both “Can’t Find My Way Home” and “Gimme Some Lovin’”, Winwood actually lifted the show — already at a pretty high level — into the rafters.

Now, Petty was no slouch this night. He was in fine form, clearly enjoying being back in his home state of Florida, and with the crowd in the palm of his hand from “You Wreck Me”, he wheeled the Heartbreakers through a set of recent, classic and cover songs.

Me, I do also go to a Petty show to see two of my favorite musicians — guitarist Mike Campbell and keyboardist Benmont Tench. Campbell was his usual, remarkable self, never overly flashy, with a penchant for the economy of notes, whether it was the staccato of his “American Girl” solo or his always wild work on “Don’t Come Around Here No More”.

(A side note. Tom, sir, please consider reinstating the top hat for this song. It loses something without the top hat. I thank you.)

Few have as great an understanding of how keyboards — and especially piano — fit into rock songs as Tench. He knows what works for Petty, and yet somehow has a classically trained pianist’s sound. Never wonder why he’s constantly in demand for backup work.

Aside from the Winwood bits, the highlight of Petty’s show for me was actually his work on “Saving Grace”, his most recent single from “Highway Companion”. He’s shaped it into a tough, hard-nosed song that I simply can’t get out of my head. Surprised me — I’m a fan of his early stuff, but on this night, a new sound really worked.

Showtime: Harlem Shakes, Miami Beach

Opening for Vampire Weekend at the Fillmore Miami Beach. Pretty decent…

Showtime!: Vampire Weekend

Enjoy this link, as I go out and cover a show in Miami for an online mag:

http://skopemag.com/2008/06/10/vampire-weekend-in-miami/

Showtime: Spoon, The Walkmen, White Rabbits

Britt Daniel… the Tom Jones of the 21st century?

By the amount of bras flying onto the stage at Fort Lauderdale’s Revolution, the lead singer of Spoon looked like he might actually give the hip-swiveling Welshman a run for his money.

They couldn’t be more dissimilar. Tom Jones: burly, curly-haired, tan. Britt Daniel: pale, rangy, straight blond hair. And yet, no one could miss the magnetism Daniel projected to the crowd.

Spoon’s electrifying show completed a bill that went from strength to strength — White Rabbits and The Walkmen both played superb sets as well.

But clearly, Spoon was the band most folks had come to see. The Austin foursome has reached the point where an album release has become a celebratory event for its passionate fanbase. And a Spoon live show — something Fort Lauderdale hadn’t been experienced before — is basically a national holiday.

(I should know. I took the day off because of it.)

Much of Spoon’s 90-minute set came from the band’s last two albums — Gimme Fiction and Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga — both of which may well end up being among the very best of this decade. It seemed as though Spoon could dig as deep as it wanted to on either of these albums and the crowd would totally be into it.

Daniel, longtime drummer Jim Eno, bassist Rob Pope and keyboardist Eric Harvey, also treated more established fans to songs from Girls Can Tell and Kill The Moonlight, albums released at the start of the decade. (Note to new Spoon fans — find these albums — hurt someone if you must — but find them.)

The Walkmen have also been widely acclaimed by critics, but seeing this band live is to see it at its best. Lead singer Hamilton Leithauser practically brings his vocals from the balls of his feet — and that’s a long way to go, because he’s a tall man. Behind him, hyper drumming by Matt Barrick set the music loose — I didn’t think it’d be possible to hear songs like “The Rat”, “Little House of Savages” or “Wake Up” any better played, but they are a treat live.

White Rabbits haven’t been around nearly as long as the other two bands on the bill, but the Columbia, Mo. sextet may well have that kind of staying power. Between the harmony vocals of Greg Roberts and Steve Patterson and the power and groove of songs like “Kid on My Shoulders”, I like their chances.