The prospect of getting a guided audio tour through Afrika Bambaataa‘s record collection by two lifelong music geeks is appealing to even the most cursory of music fans, if the jam-packed crowd that squeezed into Melbourne’s Forum Theater on Friday night is anything to go by. It certainly didn’t hurt that it was helmed by music festival darlings Shadow and Cut Chemist, which made the whole thing easier to digest for those in the audience who haven’t memorised Bam’s original Blues and Soul list of his favorite breaks.
Serving as a curated journey through the development of dance music and hip-hop over the decades, the show covered all the major bases and threw in a few nice surprises, as well as ample displays of enthusiastic scratching and turntable routines. Highlights for me included hearing ‘Trans-Europe Express’ and ‘The Mexican’ played at ear-splitting volumes, a live recreation of ‘South Bronx’ using the original samples, a live drum machine battle (involving the same piece of kit that Flash showcased in ‘Flash To The Beat’) and the part where a hologram of Rammellzee starts singing through a vocoder tube (I may have just imagined that part).
Having played the Mix By Jimmy compilation of some of Bambaataa’s demo acetates for weeks on end, I was also expecting to hear some bizarre obscurities somewhere in the set, but considering that a total of six people in the audience would have appreciated that I can understand why they weren’t featured. The fact that these were the actual copies spun by Bam at Bronx River parties added a certain significance to proceedings that only added to the viable electricity in the air, while the technically-advanced showmanship on display served as a fitting tribute to The Master of Records and the way that his eclectic selections helped shaped the sound of popular music ever since.
Saw this set a few weeks a go in London, was a brilliant night…
i’d love to see/hear this live