Tuesday, October 21st 2008

first day of cmj was amazing! erica and i made our way to the cool kids show which ended up being the first highlight of the week. the first band was free sol and the setup was very gym class heroes-esque. if i had my eyes closed while seeing them i probably wouldve thought travie was on the mic. the singer even had his face/hand motions down pact. i'm sure he wouldnt be happy about being compared to that band but it's the only thing that popped into my head. [side note; there was a band tech there who was black as night but wearing white eyeglasses. somebody done told him wrong]. i'd recommend the band to anyone who likes the style of gch but with a bit more lyrical power. next came skillz aka mad skillz who called himself the backpack millionaire. his style reminded me of dead prez with a bit of eminem mixed in; he managed to be political without the music coming off as a flaming psa. skillz was also able to use the crowd participation to his advantage with his song crazy world about the ongoing changes this country is seeing. although his transition was a bit off [i didnt know when the songs ended] he came off as someone passionate about what he does. that makes an amazing artist in my book.

next were the carps. immediately after they came on i was reminded of underoath as they both have singing drummers. they also played a song called jesus christ which afterwards was accompanied with a sporatic drum solo. the most interesting thing about this band how amazing the singer's vocals are but they become distorted and undistinguishable alongside the drums and guitar. the guitarist also managed to become the keyboardist when the time called but it only caused me to question why they were stretching themselves so thin [being as they are only two people in the band]. when i thought their performance couldnt get any more odd they managed to enact a convenient store shootout where afterwards the keyboardist/guitarist drop kicked the microphone stand. although i am all for self expression and music with a message i think the carps need to be thrown back into the water.
with the crowd on edge after a spectrum of openers the cool kids came out and impressed me. not only did they take crowd participation to a new level [inviting girls onstage for a dance contest and having a joke contest] they managed to keep the crowd's energy up. even the people in the last row of the crowd were jumping around and feeling the beats [i see you red sweater man and bar man!] overall i'd recommend any fan of rap/hip hop to check out a cool kids show to understand what these mainstream emcee's are missing because you will not be disappointed.