Jamie Lidell @ Becks MusicBox, Perth (12/02/10)

Tue 16th Feb, 2010 in Gig Reviews

Jamie Lidell isn’t your average soul singer. The blurb for Lidell on the Beck’s Music Box website didn’t really summarise what the crowd were presented with on Friday night. Many may be familiar with his song Multiply and whilst it does not deserve to be downplayed it is one of few “normal” songs he sang during his set. For the rest of the time, Lidell appeared uncouth and eccentric.

And why not? He certainly seemed to be enjoying himself as a one man band. It was just him and his machine of beats and loops putting together clever playback beats and self created harmonies. He was like a mad scientist or an autistic artist; enthralled with his toy and leaving the audience feeling a bit voyeuristic as we observed his experimental jam session. He appeared jittery with his hair flopping about as he frantically nodded along. What lyrics there were, fit with the soul expectation, often referring to love and loss.

Whilst he was behind his box, his acknowledgement of the audience was minimal, as if he looked up and exclaimed; Oh, you’re here too! Some people danced a bit, but there were also a lot of different conversations happening, despite whatever Lidell was doing, indicating a certain level of alienation in the audience. When he occasionally set up a beat before gracing the front of the stage to belt out a well known tune like Mulitply, there was enough familiarity to elicit a sing along.

He broke down Where D’You Go into its parts, recording the two main lines “I cried” and “Gonna have to get along without you” over the top of one another. A highlight was new song, I Wanna Be Your Telephone which he said related to libidinal economics. It was a clever metaphor and quite sexy, with lyrics like “Whisper to me, press me to your cheek” set off with the distracting beats and playbacks. The repetitive craziness of When I Come Back Around ended his set and we were left with the news his new record would be out in May.

It was an intriguing show, the kind where you’re torn between watching in curiosity or attempting to dance to the layered beats. In any case, his talent was obvious and an appropriate choice for an inclusion in the Arts Festival.

Becks Music Box is set up opposite to a normal show. There are no warm up acts, but after the show there are different DJs each night at the free after-parties. Friday night’s post-show entertainment was dangerously close to outdoing Lidell himself.

Sampology is an act that can only be appreciated live, because his performance is much about the visuals as the sounds. He combined fun and familiar music with samples of classic and offbeat clips from movies. With the video connected to his turntable he cleverly mixed them live, so that scratching the record “scratched” the video too, resulting in Clint Eastwood saying “go…go… go ahead….go ahead….go ahead make my day”.

Sampology’s set was completely danceable all the way through, with moments of joy at how well it was all put together. Coupled with the fact this Brisbane boy looked about 15 it was very impressive and it was fun and unique way to carry the night on.

See Toxikon’s pictures here