MUSIC REVIEW: AOL MUSIC SHOWCASE - LIVE AT STUBB'S BBQ (SXSW 2011)

A Night of Electric-Funk at the World Famous Venue Wires the Crowd

By: Ramus Dahl

March 18, 2011

(March 17, 2011 in Austin, TX) The AOL Music showcase at Stubb’s BBQ hedged its bets Thursday night on a who’s who of the most recent wave of electric funk and soul fusion.  We caught Portugal. The Man just after they kicked off their set, and we were bowled over with a cacophonous explosion that was bursting from the legendary sound system that has made Stubb’s one of the most renowned outdoor venues in the Western Hemisphere.  The perfect place for the Alaskan quartet--who recently signed with Atlantic and are still riding the wave of their latest LP, American Ghetto--to push the boundaries of their amplifiers but also our perception of rock and roll, soul, R&B, and even the foundational elements of folk and roots music.

Portugal. The Man set a precedent with a roaring barrage of their most noted tracks, such as “And I,” “The Sun,” and “When the War Ends,” while the crowd responded in chorus singing/shouting every line, which left those of us who only boast a vague familiarity with the band hungry to hear, to know more about these guys who were literally pouring their hearts out on the outdoor stage.  

The passion was palpable, and John Gourley, modestly clad in a hooded sweatshirt that hid his face most of the show, expressed, more than once, the band’s undying gratitude for the devotion of their fans and the acceptance of any new converts from the SXSW festival.  The stage setup was designed to let the music speak for itself (which I admired), and the band presented themselves as mere silouhettes set against the backdrop of smoke machines and a hazy purple glow emanating from behind the drum kit, their music providing the primary canvas upon which we could paint their image. 

Portugal. The Man live was an experience more than an event, and whether you knew who they were before entering the front gate or not, they made certain you’ll never forget by the time they finished.

The AOL event continued with Charles Bradley and the Menahan Street Band--an amalgamation of notable musicians from Antibalas, El Michels Affair, the Budos Band, and Sharon Jones & the Dap Kings, who have taken the basic ingredients of the legendary James Brown live shows and put them all in the hands of Charles Bradley, the frontman of the group, to concoct a potent brew of funk, jazz, and soul--a sound as cool as polyester and sideburns.  

The Menahan Street Band set the venue to vibrate with hits such as “Make the Road by Walking” and an incredible take on Neil Young’s “Heart of Gold.”

The next act we caught was TV on the Radio, the Brooklyn group who have undeniably made quite an impression on the first decade of the new millenium.  They took the stage with an energy and excitement that lent a refreshing authenticity to Tunde Adibempe’s salutation, “It’s so great to be back in this city with all of you...” before they took off into a spiraling vortex of delayed effects and driving rhythms as if they were driving us all 120mph through a Phil Specter acid trip at a My Bloody Valentine concert.  

I’ve seen TV on the Radio now for the third time, and what has always impressed me about the band is their ability to seamlessly integrate a myriad of influences into a cohesive sound that seems wholly original while retaining the integrity of artists and genres from which it sprung.  

TV on the Radio closed the night out with a perfect dose of tracks from 2006’s Return to Cookie Mountain and 2008’s Dear Science.  The perfect storm of garage rock grit and electric mayhem twisted up in indigenous African rhythms and vintage soul sated the audience for the time being.  And yet, proper to the quality artists and showmen that they are, TV on the Radio teased out some new tunes from their upcoming album, Nine Types of Light (due out next month), and left us thirsty for more.