The Roots vs. Antibalas January 29, 2009 Boston, MA @ The Roxy - Red Bull Soundclash Hosted by Akrobatik & DJ Kon AT 943's w/battery module > Archos AV500 > PCMWAV > FLAC 1. Akrobatik (Introduces The Roots) 2. Thought @ Work 3. Here I Come 4. Game Theory 5. Akrobatik (Introduces Antibalas) 6. Government Magic 7. ? 8. Akrobatik Interlude (Round 1 - The Cover) 9. Cheers Theme 10. The Jefferson's Theme 11. Knight Rider Theme 12. Akrobatik Interlude (Round 2 - The Takeover) 13. Star 14. Pay Back Africa 15. Please Don't Go 16. Dirt and Blood 17. Akrobatik Interlude (Round 3 - The Clash) 18. I Will Not Apologize (Reggae Remix) 19. ? (Reggae Remix) 20. In The Music (Jazz Remix) 21. ? (Jazz Remix) 22. The Next Movement (Gospel Remix) 23. ? (Blues Remix) 24. Akrobatik Interlude (Round 4 - The Joker) 25. ? (ft. Rich Medina) 26. Indictment (ft. Rich Medina) 27. Akrobatik Interlude 28. You Got Me 29. Celestial Blues (ft. Gary Bartz) 30. Akrobatik Interlude (The Finale) 31. Sorrow Tears & Blood > Criminal 32. What A Fool Believes The Red Bull Sound Clash experience features two bands with different music styles facing off on two stages positioned on opposite ends of the venue with the audience in the middle. In this case The Roots and Antibalas will partake in this interactive musical performance. In a series of four rounds, the bands perform various tasks, some rehearsed, some improvised, to showcase the array of their musical abilities. The audience participates in the back-and-forth exploration between the bands by judging each round. http://www.okayplayer.com/stories/music/the-roots-vs.-antibalas:-redbull-soundclash-200902027279/ The Roots vs. Antibalas: Redbull Soundclash Posted on 02/02/2009 Remember your highschool's battle of the bands? It's all so fuzzy but I distinctly remember the #1 hotty in the school crooning what surely couldn't have been a better version of Lou Reed's "Take A Walk On The Wild Side," although at the time it sure felt better. The girls swooned, and as I remember it the band actually kept the beat through the entire song. Now take this basic band-battle model and interject one of the most powerful and interesting bands in hip-hop, The Roots, alongside the horn-heavy afro-beat outfit, Antibalas. It's a battle of the bands wet dream. Redbull had exactly the same thought, and this past Thursday, January 29th, after two full days of rehearsals, The Roots and Antibalas traveled to Boston for Soundclash. Picture it, two stages, one room. Each stage is set on opposite ends of the venue, leaving a large amount of floor space in-between for the audience. There's a host (Akrobatik) and a DJ (DJ Kon), and a whole bunch of rules, non of which anyone was trying to follow. There was an intro, "The Warm Up" during which The Roots and Antibalas each played three of their own songs (you can picture the audience swinging their necks from one stage to the other). Next was "The Cover" round, in which both bands cover the same songs (the DJ kicks off each song). In an unprecidented move both bands decide to ham it up a bit with funky fresh versions of Cheers, The Jeffersons, and Knight Rider! The crowd went wild. Round 3, "Carjack," was when each band covered each other's songs. I know The Roots threw "Star" and "Please Don't Go" across the room to Antibalas, who re-worked each into a heavy afro-beat version of the same song. Round 4 was "Style Wars," where the DJ would spin a specific style of song (think doo-wop, or gospel, or afro-beat) and each band would have to play a song in that style. The Roots had fun with this one, jamming to "Apologize" in a reggae style, "In The Music" in a pure jazz style, and best of all, a gospel version of "The Next Movement." The truly took it to church. Round 5 was the "Joker!" or "Wild Card" round, where each band brought out their secret weapon. Antibalas brought up Philly's own DJ Rich Medina, who also graced the stage with some beautiful spoken word, and The Roots came through with legendary saxaphonist Gary Bartz, who had also graced the stage during the Okayplayer Holiday Jammy. Finally Round 6, "Kareoke" or "The Finale" which was when both bands played together on the same stage. They started with "Criminal," went into Fela's "Beast of No Nation," and concluded with The Doobie Brothers' "What If A Fool Believes" (I'm not lying people!). Seeing this kind of talent trading songs across a jam-packed venue, never missing a beat, creating and innovating on the fly, covering each others work and re-working other artist's songs, well, it was magical. I documented the experience as best I could with the photos below. Thinking back there will always be something special about that highschool battle of the bands in your dingy school cafeteria with a crappy PA system and some vodka hidden in your water bottle, but for real music heads this Soundclash was a once in a lifetime experience. - gingerlynn ------------------ http://www.jambands.com/ShowReviews/content_2009_02_20.01.phtml Red Bull Sound Clash: The Roots vs. Antibalas, Roxy, Boston, MA- 1/29 Nate Leskovic 2009-02-20 It was billed as a battle, though the only true confrontation at The Roots vs. Antibalas Sound Clash throwdown was in the audience’s pummeled minds. Everyone anticipated the ridiculousness of the Red Bull-sponsored one-of-a-kind event, the $15 bargain tickets were going for $100 on Craigslist, and the surprise factor of how it would go down only kicked the hype up another level. We marched up the stairs into the swank Roxy, took our positions on the wooden ballroom floor corralled between two stages and a DJ booth, and accepted our fate. The host for the evening, Boston MC and Mr. Lif partner “A to the Muthafuckin K” Akrobatik, announced the rules of the match from his balcony tower. It would go back-and-forth between bands through different styles, rounds and challenges, like an acid-test game show without the embarrassingly sleazy, womanizing host. Led by front line New Orleans-style sousaphone maniac Tuba Gooding Jr.’s relentless bouncing across the stage, the Roots launched the first salvo of the night. Never attempting to replicate the cut-and-dry boom bap of vinyl, which too many live hip-hop acts try and fail to do, the crew keeps the essential live sound legit and smooth. A few excursions into Sabbath’s “Iron Man” and the classic “Apache” jam got the hands in the air. As the Antibalas Afrobeat Orchestra took over and spun the crowd around, the Roots remained on stage and nodded with the rest of us. Antibalas would do the same during the Black Thought/?uestlove machine’s turn. No one was missing out on this. Though the style collision between urgent Philly soul and laid-back Brooklyn hipster was almost comical, the juxtaposition of hip-hop and afrobeat made for the perfect mix tape. The musicological statement of pitting two wildly different genres against each other, while recognizing both trunks feed from the thick roots of James Brown, was bold and unifying. A round of covers saw each band adapting TV themes from “Cheers,” “The Jeffersons” and “Knight Rider.” In round two they started originals and asked the other to finish up. After the Roots dropped “Star,” Antibalas blasted a trombone-led horn fanfare version of the melody. Then Antibalas erupted with “Pay Back Africa,” their opponents somehow morphing the ululating dirge into a poppin track of their own. The natural tendency of successive bands on a bill to show each other up was annihilated with the Sound Clash format. Instead, the ping-pong parameters continually twisted the intensity tighter as each group fed off the other. DJ Kon led round three by spinning quick samples of hot tracks as inspiration for remixes. Antibalas’ dubbed-out response to Sister Nancy’s “Bam Bam” was particularly tasty, though its swing version of “Who is this America?” faltered (though props for Chris Vatalaro’s confident Buddy Rich flailing drum solo ending). The Roots also found difficulty in the jazz realm, though the hand-clapping gospel mashup of “The Next Movement” killed. The zeal spawned by the Sound Clash opportunity was evident in both bands. Though it may have been presented as spontaneous, the amount of writing, rehearsing and preparation required to pull off the show was impressive. To devote that work to a one-off gig is testament to the artists’ integrity, vision and passion. The finale of the night featured each band with special guests. Antibalas brought in Rich Medina, a Philly DJ who incorporates afrobeat in his repertoire, for a spoken word session. The Legendary Roots Crew pulled on stage alto sax legend Gary Bartz, a member of the Miles Davis fusion band recorded on the classic Live/Evil album, for a spicy rendition of his “Celestial Blues.” But the real highlight of the evening converged through Antibalas’ power grab. The late Fela Kuti’s afrobeat draws its monstrosity from its devotion to justice in this asshole-crowded world, not just its militant horn lines and irresistible, stomping groove. Antibalas stays true to this tradition and equally prospers from its synergistic alchemy. Notably, it was the group’s first show since the election of Barack Obama. “Justice just got a whole lot sexier in 2009,” screamed face-painted frontman Amayo before cutting down the crowd with “Indictment,” the conflict-free-diamond-tipped chainsaw banger. “The bad guys are not forgotten.” Amayo reminisced about the tragic 2004 Boston Antibalas show at the Middle East on election night – intended to be a victory party. I tearfully looked back at that evening and saw myself passed out on a bench by the pisser – impaired by cheap beer and hopelessness. With those thoughts, the Sound Clash quickly became vengeance: serious MacArthur-returns shit. The two bands finished together on one stage, appropriately thrashing through Fela’s “Beasts of No Nation.” Oh, and then a silky version of the Doobie Brothers’ “What a Fool Believes” to giggle about on the way out.