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Vast Aire
Wednesday · Top Cat’s
New York-bred MC Vast Aire cut his teeth and made his name as half of the highly-acclaimed group, Cannibal Ox, whose sole full-length, 2001’s The Cold Vein, was praised for putting a more contemplative, peculiar spin on street-wise Hip Hop. That the chief of their label, El P (of the Definitive Jux imprint), happens to be a stupendous producer helped considerably, as he gave the album a trippy yet still visceral vibe that turned more than a few heads around in the Hip Hop underground. Sans his Ox partner, Vordul Megilah, and El P, does a solo Vast Aire have the same punch? He makes a good bid with Look Ma … No Hands, his first solo outing on the Chocolate Industries label, which teams the MC with a multitude of Indie Hip Hop cult-faves, including MF Doom, Madlib, RJD2 and Sadat X. The album — which has received mixed reviews so far — finds the MC further opening up his lyrical canon, mixing street-wise braggadocio and toughness with playfully clever rhymes and Sci-Fi references. Vast Aire makes alternate universe Hip Hop that, like the recent outings from Murs and Atmosphere, strives to be different while still retaining the harder qualities of Hip Hop and the accessibility necessary to build an audience outside of the artsy-favoring Indie Rap nerds. Look Ma might be spotty, but when he’s on the mark, few do it better than Vast Aire. (Mike Breen)
The Grease Factor
Thursday · Jack Quinn’s
No, the Grease Factor is not a new piggybacked Food Network/NBC reality series where chefs have to eat things dredged up from the bottom of the fryer. It’s the name of guitarist Shane Theriot’s brand new N’awlins Funk/Soul band. If Theriot’s name sounds vaguely familiar to fans of the genre, it might well be because he’s been six-stringing for the Neville Brothers for the past eight years and getting great notices because of it.
But that changed with the release of his sophomore solo album last year, entitled, appropriately enough, The Grease Factor, a project which forced him to do more touring on his own and ultimately led him to step down from his position with the Nevilles this past February in order to concentrate on his own band and his increasing array of production and session gigs (one of which ironically is with the Aaron Neville Quintet). Since deciding to form a band and christening it after the title of his well-received 2003 album, Theriot has employed a rotating cast of talent in the Grease Factor, including Meters/Vida Blue drummer Russell Batiste. Earlier this year, the Grease Factor finally solidified (sorry, couldn’t resist) their lineup with Aquarium Rescue Unit drummer Jeff Sipe and bassist Derek Jones, Allman Brothers keyboardist Johnny Neel and renowned percussionist Count M’Butu (who has gigged with the likes of ARU, Phish, Blues Traveler and Parliament/Funkadelic) officially taking the stage with Theriot. In fact, the band recorded a series of shows back in January and the resultant tapes are now in the editing process to be compiled into a live album for imminent release. The Neville Brothers’ loss is the Jam community’s gain; the Grease Factor is ready to slide into town and cook up something funky for the discriminating sonic palate. (Brian Baker)
Zebrahead
Friday · Top Cat’s
A three-year absence for a Grammy-nominated Rock/Punk/Funk/Rap group from Orange County can usually be attributed to one of two reasons. Either some, if not all, members went to rehab, fiddled around with their instruments after being released with a pocketful of Paxil, went back for a little more rehab, thought up a few songs between group therapy meetings, then recorded them before some pre-tour rehab. Or they all took their time crafting the best songs possible to follow up their past accolades with a quality return to form that proves to be well worth the wait. Zebrahead chose the latter of the two. Their latest album, MFZB (Columbia), builds heavy-hitting annexes to their firmly supported structure of seemingly effortless genre fusion. The 15 tracks they decided to put on this album (out of the 90 recorded songs they had) proclaim their suitability as the soundtrack for any skate park attempting to create the riotous SoCal summer environment. If there was ever a niche that needed to be filled between The Offspring and Blink-182, these guys would fit perfectly. But they can definitely stand on their own as young professionals who pump out riffs stronger than a double shot of espresso with anthems that stick in your head without ever becoming annoying. Thankfully some of the kids are alright and they’re making music worthy of respect and, personally, I would love to listen to the extra 75 tracks they have lying around. (Jacob Richardson)
That 1 Guy
Saturday · Mad Frog
When Mike Silverman isn’t helping to make psychedelic Klezmer Pop as envisioned by Echo and the Bunnymen under the auspices of San Francisco’s Billy Nayer Show, he’s creating rumbling Space Funk complete with sound effects utilizing something he calls the Magic Pipe under his alter ego banner of That 1 Guy. Silverman’s side action has already resulted in a solo album, Songs in the Key of Beotch, and a mountain of great press in the wake of his quirky tour stops across the country. Haberdashed like an Amish Punk and accompanied by a six-foot frame of steel tubing and bass strings duct taped together to resemble a discarded prop from Jim Carrey’s Grinch epic, then run through a dazzling bank of processing gear, TOG (as he has come to be known) commences to extract an almost impossible array of sounds from his aptly christened Magic Pipe, filling the air with guitar, bass, percussion, synth and samples, as well as a number of sonic blurts that defy description. Equally difficult to classify is TOG’s specific genre affiliation, since he dabbles in everything from Jazz to Funk to flat out Rock in the service of bizarrely-titled and -themed songs that are somehow perfectly suited to their singular surroundings. Not since Frank Zappa fronted the original Mothers of Invention has anyone had the audacity to offer up songs like “Weasel Potpie,” “Halfassed” and “It’s Raining Meat,” but at least Frank had the sense to surround himself with a big Rock orchestra for that whole safety in numbers thing. That 1 Guy is a musical guerrilla by every definition and no traditional Rock critic yardstick can be applied to what he’s doing. (BB)
This article appears in Jun 2-8, 2004.
