Tiki Taane @ The Hi-Fi,Brisbane (07/05/09)

Fri 8th May, 2009 in Gig Reviews

Check out the pics from the show right here on FL.
“Have you seen Tiki before?” A girl with a thick New Zealand accent enquires after I squash back into my front row spot, compressing her into the next person. “No, never,” I reply. “Well thun, you’ll be ebbsolutely blown away by thus.”

And with this opener, I’m just going to cut to the chase. No frills. No setting the scene. Just straight out.

Tiki did blow me away. He more than blew me away. He swept me up in a cyclone/tsunami/hurricane of musical wonderment.

End of review.

But, as I’ve taken the trouble to write notes, I should probably explain myself. Perhaps with the age-old who, what, when, where, how and why I reached this conclusion, like a good journalist should?

So, who is this, this person that more than blew me away? His name is Tiki Taane, former frontman for Salmonella Dub, Maori New Zealander, tattoo enthusiast, producer, composer, entrepreneur, audio engineer and solo artist with a cracking debut album, Past Present Future.

And, now to the concert. It all starts with Tiki unassumingly taking his position on stage in the darkness, picking up a large conch shell, and then proceeding to play it by blowing in its point, and manipulating the waves of sound with his fingers. The effect is eerie- alike to the deep sea echoes of strange underwater creatures. Three keyboardists then take their position and further the creepy feel by adding some electric resonance; followed by Tiki’s father, who pulls out a traditional, intricately-carved, wooden flute and plays it so sweetly and solemnly. A second vocalist, PDigsss layers a singular lengthened note to the mix, and then finally the drums begin with a resounding – œboom’ to increase the looming sensation the introduction has produced.

At this instant I am hooked. But this instrumentation is only a singular display of Tiki’s mastery of one singular genre. Throughout the night, he shows us he can dabble expertly in anything. His songs range from traditional Maori chants, to 90s rap reminiscent of Marky Mark, to prog rock, garage rock, reggae, dub, and also electronica.

For example, the song Wotcha Got, certainly a crowd favourite, begins very funkily indeed (bordering on Prince funky, which is very funky). Tiki exclaims “break it down” and full throttles into a very, very, very fast rap. Everyone in the audience leaps back a decade just as the synth comes in to – œfuture it up’ a bit.

The second crowd pleaser is Past, Present, Future, an epic song, complete with saxophone and tambourine, that mesmerises the crowd into reflective submission. Tiki dedicates the song “to the people that are gone, so that their existence and light will still shine upon us.” The after effect is sobering, gearing the crowd to shift into reverse, to reflect on things past, and bask in the twilight zone of the song.

…Only to be rudely awakened by the distinctly bright day-time dub of the next tune. Suddenly we are transported from a starlit night to a noisy day on a tropical Rasta island. It takes a moment to adjust, but the crowd soon catches on. PDigsss’ beautiful voice screams “exodus” into the mike over a tinny reggae melody, and suddenly our former stationery selves are all bopping about again.

The second last song is Tangaroa. This is very tribal, and very mouth opening. I have never in my life been to a concert like this, nor have I ever heard a song live like this. Three well-built Maori men, standing in a line, staring at the crowd, and chanting in their mother tongue is a beautiful but scary experience. Like the old cliché of the train crash, you want to look away but you can’t. However, in this sense, the looking away is not in disgust, but an internal fear mechanism that has you poised in predator-prey readiness. At the same instant, I look up, wide-eyed at the men before me, and the need to watch and listen and understand on one level this music- unintelligible to my ears, but certainly resonant in my soul- overwhelms the primal “run!” instinct. At once, I am a part of this display, I belong to it, and yet I am a foreigner fascinated at some unknown ritual.

This would be a hell of a way to end the set, if we were to think that Tiki’s talents ended here. No sooner are we ready to clap the last applause that he picks up his acoustic and the rest of the band leave the stage.

This is where the singalong begins. Within the first few strums, Always On My Mind, is recognised and the crowd whoop and, with anticipation, start singing the first few lines ahead of time.

The concert finishes with Tiki on his lonesome, singing his two most popular Salmonella Dub songs, Love Your Ways and Longtime.

But, just so all of the genres are covered, the band comes back on to help Tiki finish Longtime with a super ska ending.

This gig was like none I have ever experienced before. Just when I thought I would never be shocked, or be in awe, by a new sound- as I have surely – œheard it all before’- an unassuming man from New Zealand comes and throws all my misconceptions out of the window. For a long time, I have not experienced a truly unique artist. Tiki Taane and his band, especially his live performance, is certainly what I have been missing on the music scene. So it is with this advice I finish: if you have not seen this boy live before, I strongly urge you to do so!