Hypnotic Brass Ensemble @Sydney Opera House (4/6/11)

Mon 6th Jun, 2011 in Gig Reviews

Hypnotic Brass Ensemble claim to be a mixture of their influences: Jay-Z, Miles Davis, Jimi Hendrix and Ron Carter. Their music is a mix of hip hop, soul, rock and roll and jazz intricately orchestrated with a highly unique result. On record the mix of these styles is present but in a live setting it becomes all the more clear with the intense, engaging and ‘hypnotic’ nature of the band; switching from music to politics, culture, comedy and plain feel-good antics. The band put on a night of intense audience involvement, at one stage stating “let’s pretend this isn’t the Opera House; it’s the Hypnotic party house!” From call and response, interactive dancing, hand gestures and frequent directions throughout the night, Hypnotic Brass Ensemble engaged and commanded the audience with a strange sense of casual professionalism clearly resulting from their laidback, but highly experienced nature.

The octet consists of Smoov, Baji, Hudah, L.T, Yoshi, Rocco, Clef and Sid; all of whom brought a certain aspect to the group and throughout the night, each of them found their own way to connect with the audience. In their second track, Ballicki Bone, the band instructed the audience to get up and put their hands in the air, this command alone saw the majority of the audience making the right decision to avoid returning to their seats for the rest of the night. From the second track out, Hypnotic Brass Ensemble had the complete attention, and command of their audience. The band mediated between music and musings with various humorous lectures punctuating the night. Hailing from Chicago, Hypnotic Brass, informed the audience of the use of African Americanisms of ‘Aight’ and ‘Fo shaw’, however, they didn’t avoid topics more serious in nature.

Audience favourite, War, the band turned to a more reflective state asking the audience partake in a moment of silence for those who have died in war. It was clear that the band have not only inherited their father’s musical talent, but also his political activism and strong stance on social issues. As the band moved through War the audience was directed to make the peace symbol with their hands, creating a mesmerizing experience as the band and audience merged in a love for music and humanity. Hypnotic’s hip-hop leanings saw members take turns in rapping to the crowd with brass accompaniment. The combination of both the heavy brass and fast-tongued hip-hop saw the band achieve a ferocity and power that most bands could only dream of.

Whether it was through the shared mic work with rap battles, various members solo raps throughout the show, drum solos or the alternating MC’s throughout the night; the band brought a wide range of different styles, ideas and persona’s to the forefront throughout the show. Hypnotic Brass Ensemble are a band that inspire and uplift their audiences. One of the literal high lights of the show saw the band asking the lighting crew to “Turn off everything. Everything” before asking the audience to turn on their phones to “power the spaceship” a clear tribute to their father’s band, Sun Ra, a group deeply imbued in cosmic exploratory music. The band dedicated the track Pluto, to all the jazz greats who failed to receive recognition until after they died, to acknowledge this.

The band returned to the stage for an encore with the track Party Started. The seriously extended version saw the band couch the audience in dancing, asking them to get down on their knees, telling them to “do that dance you practice in front of the mirror, to afraid to show anyone”. The intense conclusion with an inherent and heavy interplay between all of the bands inspirations, moving from jazz to hip-hop to funk to an incredible mix of all of this, was one of the most memorable moments of the entire festival.

Over the last two weeks I’ve been able to see Spiritualized play their seminal album Ladies and Gentlemen We Are Floating In Space, the Cure play their ‘Reflections’, the much hyped Odd Future, and my personal favourite performance of the festival, the great jazz legend Sonny Rollins, but Hypnotic Brass were far from out of their league. While Eno’s ‘Luminous’ focused on the mysterious and Reed’s the experimental, Pavlovic’s curation of Vivid’s third year has given the festival performances less pigeonholed to a single-genre or theme, but a wider appeal, the success of which should prepare audiences for something even greater in following years.