Usurper of Modern Medicinepresent Madvillainy LiveTribute @ The Bird

Wed 29th Jun, 2011 in Gig Reviews

To the warm and dusty flicker of projector onto screen, a modest crowd huddle in from Autumn’s winter edge as the sounds of Diger Rokwell fill the cosy confines of the William Street Bird. It doesn’t take long for the lingering smokers and social jokers to wander inside as well. A looming crowd watches a clinical 70s blacksploitation flick on the screen in fascination as Rokwell takes us through a journey of universal sound. Layered behind global samples are strong elements of trip hop, electronica, dub and instrumental beats all providing thick portions of bass and strong rhythmic gestures. Stabbing away at sample pads and immersed in his work, Diger Rokwell is akin to an aging professor deep in his laboratory. The music and visual setting provide a trance like intoxication only to be broken when local emcee Mathas gets up to perform over a piano driven beat. A few comical tempo glitches aside, some of Rokwell’s new work off the upcoming release, Sri Digger (sampling music from Sri Lanka), proved to be the hidden gems amongst a tasty batch with the final song in particular a monstrous effort. Looks like it’s going to be one hell of a release.

A relatively new and destructive force on the local scene are the musically bad-ass beings of Usurper of Modern Medicine; which sees one part Injured Ninja, one part Carbuncle and one part Mongrel Country in a fusion of experimental psychedelic electronica. It so happens that the multi-instrumentalists also like themselves some tasty hip hop and Sunday’s night’s performance saw a brilliant concept come to life. This wasn’t your average Usurper show, but a tribute to a recent visitor to our shores, MF Doom, and his standout collaborative album Madvillainy with producer Madlib. The album was played from start to finish, with the help of local guest emcees Mathas, The Apprentice, Oh! You Pretty Things / ex Stoops songstress Mei Swan and S.O.B / Robin Banks of The Good Boys taking up the duties of Doom and Quasimoto for a show that arguably outshone the real deal.

Letting the The Illest Villains intro play out sampled, as on the LP, the band promptly kicked into the second track and first musical number, Accordion to incredible impact. With a real accordion on stage and a dynamic rhythm section with such rigor and intensity, everyone was unsurprisingly, losing their shit. Some may have never found it again; for the show kept on spiralling upwards into a wonderful climax of psychedelic visuals and brash adaptations. A Doom masked Mathas took first vocal duties and was on fine form. He is blessed with one of the sexiest voices in Perth hip hop, if not Australia (perceptively so anyway; if the occa beats n’ barbies formula isn’t your cup of Joe) and hearing / seeing him perform behind a live band was a very rewarding experience which will hopefully be a future direction he pursues. Mathas’ voice perfectly suited MF Doom’s distinctive style and his strong flow cut across the band with ease making him the standout guest vocalist. He holds all the pieces of a perfect edgy dangerous frontman, eyes bulging in fierce but playful swagger; reading off a homemade coffee stained scroll because he confessed he “couldn’t remember all the lyrics”.

As Doom masks were handed out into the crowd for audience members to wear, it wasn’t hard to feel that the band and all the organisers had successfully brought to life and committed to the mystique of the Madvillan much, much more than the plain polo shirted MF Doom of yesterweek. Whilst musically being a sexy piece of pie, Doom managed to ruin all manifestations with his tacky buy my merchandise visuals, “where the ladies at” conversation and protruding belly that was anything but mysterious. Usurper of Modern Medicine did what all good fanboys do best and made the album and the stories come to life in a much, much more realistic way. This should have been the MF Doom show of Perth!

The Good Boys and The Apprentice were also fun characters on stage but fiery Mei Swan was another standout performer with her rock n roll fuck-shit-up attitude breaking the crowd into vigorous moshing as she contorted about the stage with a violent demeanour picking up the Madvillaniy LP cover to make out with sexually.

With visuals locking perfectly in time to the music and an all in freestyle free flow jam at the end, this show had everything you could wish for. To all those who missed out, and a hell of a lot did; three, two one – kick yourself!