I bought tickets sometime in early November to see Russian Circles on this Saturday. But then I discovered this show around Thanksgiving and had a dilemma on my hands. Actually, it wasn't too tough of a decision, even though I had to eat $30. Russian Circles does indeed kick ass, but I saw them not too long ago at the Bottom Lounge. Meanwhile, Ultraviolet Hippopotamus has hit me like bulldozer and I have been obsessively listening to them for the last few months. And they were just the opening act for a tornado of jazzjam fusion called Garaj Mahal. Yeah... it was an easy decision.
Amy and I arrived at S.P.A.C.E. (in Evanston, just east of the Dempster Purple Line stop) a wet, snowy mess. The weather was total garbage, but this cozy lounge served as the perfect respite. Settling in with a Bell's Amber, we were able to find an open table just right of the stage with an unobstructed view. This was both good & bad because we had a nice place to sit, but it also meant that almost the whole venue was reserved seating and there was no dance floor. In fact, the crowd was almost entirely dressed-up, old white people. This is the second time I have seen Garaj Mahal play in Chicago to a crowd like this. I guess rich white people like jazz no matter how jammed out & psychedelic it gets.
But first up was UV Hippo and this was really the main event for me. I have been hitting this band hard lately and I am continually blown away. These guys maintain such a diverse musical spectrum. They can go from bluegrass to the greatest Pink Floyd & Frank Zappa covers you've ever heard to jazz fusion to the wildest mind-blowing jam rock your little brain can handle. On this night, they played up to the crowd and threw down a fairly reserved, jazz-centric show.
Amy and I arrived at S.P.A.C.E. (in Evanston, just east of the Dempster Purple Line stop) a wet, snowy mess. The weather was total garbage, but this cozy lounge served as the perfect respite. Settling in with a Bell's Amber, we were able to find an open table just right of the stage with an unobstructed view. This was both good & bad because we had a nice place to sit, but it also meant that almost the whole venue was reserved seating and there was no dance floor. In fact, the crowd was almost entirely dressed-up, old white people. This is the second time I have seen Garaj Mahal play in Chicago to a crowd like this. I guess rich white people like jazz no matter how jammed out & psychedelic it gets.
But first up was UV Hippo and this was really the main event for me. I have been hitting this band hard lately and I am continually blown away. These guys maintain such a diverse musical spectrum. They can go from bluegrass to the greatest Pink Floyd & Frank Zappa covers you've ever heard to jazz fusion to the wildest mind-blowing jam rock your little brain can handle. On this night, they played up to the crowd and threw down a fairly reserved, jazz-centric show.
UV HIPPPPPPPPOOOOOOOOOOOO!!
"Colonel Sanders Breakdown" got the blood flowing and threw jazz + bluegrass in the Large Hadron Collider and spawned some mutant musical molecules. This song started to get my jam face on, but then they ripped into a song they declared "Angry Jazz". This song really turned my crank and I couldn't help but mildly thrash in my chair, all the while desperately wanting to piledrive the sport jacket-wearing geezers and shred in front of the stage. At the end of this song you can hear me yelling in the background of the recording of this show on archive.org (which is absolutely amazing, by the way). After this song they launched into a funky, spacey & intense jam that is of unknown title, but of fully known caliber. This ripper built and built and finally released into some wild, Ozric Tentacles-like spaaaaaaaaaaace keyboards that punted my brain into the wall. I must have had the biggest shitgrin on my face because I was totally lost in the music. I almost don't remember this song because I was so into it. I got lost. And it fucking ruled. This ended the far-too-short 60 minute show on a powerfully high note. I could have listened to that for 3 or 4 hours.
Between sets the band started disassembling their equipment right in front of our table. This gave us the opportunity to meet and talk to most of the band, which was an awesome thing. It really redeemed this venue because even though we couldn't really dance at the stage, its intimacy allowed us to meet one of my favorite bands.
The intermission was relatively short and Garaj Mahal was on stage in 30 minutes. They are a four-piece band, but Fareed Haque is the ringleader. The word virtuoso gets bandied about quite often, too often in my opinion. Granted, the word means different things to different people. But I don't think there is any question, that no matter the definition, Haque absolutely fits the definition of virtuoso. Show notes: "Sitting half-cocked, perched on the edge of a wooden stool, Haque's left hand dives & prances over the frets of his guitar like a giant Camel Spider. He throws his head back in a powerful expression of musical force and closes his eyes to absorb his own sound. His style is singularly unique and features tumbling, staccato bursts of notes that ooze jazzy energy".
The intermission was relatively short and Garaj Mahal was on stage in 30 minutes. They are a four-piece band, but Fareed Haque is the ringleader. The word virtuoso gets bandied about quite often, too often in my opinion. Granted, the word means different things to different people. But I don't think there is any question, that no matter the definition, Haque absolutely fits the definition of virtuoso. Show notes: "Sitting half-cocked, perched on the edge of a wooden stool, Haque's left hand dives & prances over the frets of his guitar like a giant Camel Spider. He throws his head back in a powerful expression of musical force and closes his eyes to absorb his own sound. His style is singularly unique and features tumbling, staccato bursts of notes that ooze jazzy energy".
Look at Fareed wailing there. He is a shredder.
Between sets I went to retrieve another Bell's. I came back to find the bass player from UVH, Brian, sitting at our table talking to Amy. I was stoked to get to sit down and talk to him for a while. I probably sounded like an idiot, I was drunk and slightly starstruck. I know I called the song "North Coast", "North Shore" and totally the butchered the lyrics about Larry Bell and Kzoo. Still, it was a cool experience and we got to talk about a bunch of stuff. Namely, comparing/contrasting to Umphrey's, the lack of invites to summer festivals (this really concerns me, they absolutely have to be at Rothbury!!), and how the band's general motto is "no genres are safe". I think this is about the best motto a band can have. And these guys dominate every genre they touch.
Garaj Mahal bringing the dank.
GM came back out for a second set and an encore. The keyboardist, Eric Levy, really stood out during this part of the show. He was super impressive and gave me another keys man to consider in the canon of jam keyboardists. He seemed to be floating on the razor edge of jam & jazz and was electrifying for an hour straight. A fog machine hammered home the encore and made the jazzy vibes even swampier. GM definitely blew me away and solidified them in my rotation, but this night was all about UV Hippo for me. These guys are building steam in 2009 and I think they are primed for a massive breakout in 2010. This band is every bit as good as Umphrey's, Bisco, Lotus or any any other top notch jamband you can come up with. Prepare yourself accordingly, UV Hippo will be crushing festival headlines in 2012.
thanks for sharing. i've not heard of uv hippo, but you've definitely got me interested and i plan to check 'em out soon. garaj mahal has been my favorite band for the past 8 years. this week i plan to see 5 of their shows. they come to my hometown seattle dec 30, nye in vancouver B.C., bellingham wa on jan 1, portland oregon on jan 2 and tacoma wa on jan 3. best band ever. i miss alan hertz on drums, but sean rickman rocks too.
ReplyDeleteYES! I am no longer the sole commentor of chicagojamscene. Congrats, J-man, and thank you tmccain for taking notice. I HIGHLY recommend you follow up on the UV Hippo lead. The rare species known as the Ultraviolet Hippopotamus hails from my home state of Michigan and is a musical force to be reckoned with. The Hippo will take you in one direction and then, without notice, sneak up and attack you on an entirely different front... wether you were prepared or not.
ReplyDeleteI had the privelege of catching this same billing a while back in Kalamazoo. UV Hippo was feeling the comfort of a local venue, and GM was out of this world. Fareed has a way of putting you deep, deep, deeeep into a sort of space trance that only HE can pull you back out of whenever he deems it necessary. These guys are the real deal. T-Mac must be psyched. 5 shows in one week = some serious dedication.
St. Jermaine - you continue to enlighten me. I often find myself laughing out loud as I hear some of these words being spoken by you in a specific tone of voice. Keep the content flowing... who knows, you might even have a sister blog on it's way - ATLwhateverthefucktypeofmusicigosee.blogspot.com