Urban haps of a grrrl on a mission to be a better writer, a new music master-blaster and a wonderfully brilliant razor-packing, MAC LipGlass wearing feminista...

Friday, March 17, 2006

J*Davey @The Canal Room, NYC

On Wednesday night I went to see the supa hyped, totally buzzed about West Coast band J*Davey. I've been so curious to see this afropunk duo from La-La Land ever since I read about them here. The article made them sound so fresh, damn near revolutionary in their approach to music that nothing was going to keep me from seeing them this past Wednesday (yes I drank the Fader-aid)-- not a supposed new episode of Lost; not Gladys making her monthly visit-- Nada! My uptown homie Latasha rolled with me for support-- she had never heard of them, but was curious to see some potentially new hotness.

They were supposed to go on at 11pm but didn't hit the stage until 11:35, which meant all the folks that arrived at 9 and 9:30 had been meandering around the cash bar for like 2 hours and had nothing, but foam in the bottom of their Corona bottles long before the lights dimmed on stage. L & I got there around 10:30 and even we were totally exasperated by show time partly because we worked all day, but mostly because the DJ spinning beforehand was awful. Her transitions were abrupt and non-rhythmic and her song selection was wacky.

When Brook D'Leau and Briana Cartwright, nee Jack Davey hit the stage I was relieved that she looked as stylish as she did in Fader and in the pics I had seen from her performance at The Roots pre-Grammy jam session and not jacked like the shots of her in this month’s Urb. Of course it was hard for me to focus on her style much less her set, because in the background there was a porno playing. Yep, they played their entire set against a screen of pornography. And yeah I get it. They are a fresh, cutting-edge ultra sexy band and to play a set of somewhat deliciously funky joints with someone getting head as your backdrop is tre edgy, right? Uuuhhhh, not quite! It was tre distracting, especially if, like me, you’ve never seen the group and you're only familiar with one of their songs, and especially if you’ve only seen like two skin flicks in your life. It's like listening to a politician speak, but his fly is open. Who can concentrate on campaign promises when, as Latasha abruptly pointed out 15 minutes into their set, they're competing against double penetration scenes (that were blurred but not enough to keep our eyes from popping wide open)? This is what Jack had to say about the porn:
okay, so 2 days before the show, cat from URB hit me & asked if we wanted anything projected during our performance, y'know, maybe some old home videos or whatever. i instantly got this idea of blurred silhouetted bodies moving together, so i suggested porn...blurred so folks wouldn't be able to make out exactly what was goin on, but they'd get the point that some shit was goin on. i wanted the color contrast completely saturated. i had it all mapped out in my head. the porn would be an interesting twist because i'm already aware that once i stepped on stage all eyes would be focused on me...people would listen to the music & focus completely on this mohawked creature onstage. then at some point, the eyes would start to scan the rest of the stage, & eventually they would land on the blurry porn & try to make out what was goin on...then (hopefully) the eyes & ears would sync up and people would start to zone out & listen to the music, thus enhancing the overall experience of the live show...maybe it didn't come across like that, but it was a great experiment imo...
Personally it took about 35 minutes and finally by the fourth song, I was able to take my eyes off of the backdrop and listen to J*Davey. Their beats were fiya-- kinda like Goldie meets meets Radiohead. Jack's voihttp://www.blogger.com/img/gl.link.gifce was cute, but kinda uninspiring and totally swallowed-up at times in the crazy loud distorted bass. Brook was looking too fine on synth/keys/ MAC. The fourth and fifth songs in the set were dope though. One had a hook that said something like "Miss J's gonna get her way" and something about "his wifey," but I can't remember now. Did I mention what a sexy muh-fuh Brook is? I’ve d-loaded 2 of their songs-- Mr. Mister and No More (thanks AO!)and I'm absolutely digging them. I so wish I would have liked their live performance more. But I'm your typical jaded, hard to impress New Yawker. Just in that space alone, which was previously Shine, in the last two years, I've seen Floetry, Cody ChestnuTT, Tamar Kali, and Sweetback and they, for the most part, killed it! I'm loving their two tracks and so I'm still open to seeing another J*Davey show. I will just tell myself that this first experience was, like most first sexual experiences, awkward, uneasy and just not good. But I have every confidence that the next time I experience J*Davey in the flesh, we will be in sync and I'll love every minute of it.

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6 Comments:

Blogger lana18 said...

all i gotta say is this...i ain't had sex in a minute now and home girl getting fingered by one cat while she was getting hit by another seemed awfully appealing

it was ultimately a poor choice. if you're displaying images like that, homegirl gotta come with the madness. otherwise...you're just another some chick on the stage with a bikini top on....

Kudu will blast this group the box any day, any time.
http://www.ku2u.com

the keyboardist was tight (and cute) and home girl did have some nice hooks...they'll make some money and get the love for sure....but they so so needed a sound check though...my ears were hurting afterwards

younger bands need to understand this...you simply can't go on stage for your first performance at a venue or a city mad freakin late.

case in point. i went to check philmore brown and 247 SPZ a while back at BAM cafe. Now i've seen the Phillies...they're dope...but not dope enough to roll up in a venue like BAM cafe 10 minutes before they go up, start late and then got the nerve to over the time they need to perform. They went into the DJ's time (Dustbin Brothers...mad luv!) and they had everyone in the audience kinda like "what the fuck"?

mind you, when the rockers from boogie down came on the set, all of Philmore Brown's antics, costumes, face makeup and keys just kinda went to the side.

just 3 cats, guitar, bass and drum...killing it and so much the soundman let them do an extra two songs!

so babies, you don't have any points yet...calm the frack down

3/18/2006 8:37 AM

 
Blogger theHotness Grrrl said...

Yeah La I totally agree! I thought J*Davey was on some Hollywood ish and just being late just because they didn't give a $#@! But after reading Jacks' blog she says she was stressed out about running late and then realized on the way to the venue that they left the charger for their Mac back at the hotel and had to go back. She said that she actually thought they were going to get booed off. That confession did make me feel better about them. I must say I haven't seen anyone get booed offstage in awhile. I think Giuliani killed that attitude when he closed so many NYC music nightspots (ie. Tramps, Spy, The Cooler, Wetlands, etc.). Now New Yorkers are just so happy when we have the opportunity to see and can afford to see a good live show that we've become a bit more docile... except if you are at the Apollo on a Wedneday night!

3/18/2006 2:57 PM

 
Blogger Joel Randell said...

feeling your blog sis. insightful, intelligent, and thought-provoking. all the kinds of stuff i like to read.

3/18/2006 2:59 PM

 
Blogger jb said...

yes...it is a shame we didn't connect since we were both there.

and you're right brook had a style. i loved the way he was jumping up in down. it was almost an amended carlton dance and it seemed rather unironic. i'm so about enthustiastic people. its so uncool its cool but more importantly its authentic. i thinks its hard to be a black man and present yourself in that manner without having to address questions to your sexuality.

anyway. nice recap.

3/19/2006 5:44 PM

 
Blogger lana18 said...

ok, this native Harlemite aka retired club kid aka been there, done that hermit will let them slide....

just checked the site....they're good. can't even front...i'm digging the music and the little video

live performance gotta have some tweeking.

3/19/2006 10:43 PM

 
Blogger lana18 said...

oh and it's http://www.kudu2u.com

3/19/2006 10:45 PM

 

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