Troy Micheau
September 15th, 2011 – Rotture, Portland, OR
After sleepwalking through a night and a half of slick, mismatched suburban rock of MusicfestNW, the scent G-funk spilled forth through the weathered slabs of inner SE’s Rotture was like blood in the water for those of us begging for a little grit. The Motherfucking Gaslamp Killer was serving up his hyperactive brand of futurepsychedubhiphop like Moses on the mount and we, the Children of Israel, lapped that shit up. The beats were puckered up and blown out, sown and sown and resown into stuttering brawlers (even sleepytime James Blake came out as a banger when forced through the GLK filter), and then the dude played fucking Black Sabbath. His willingness to throw a dance floor off balance with edited ’60s psych and soul and ability to bring it all back into one plants GLK firmly in the lineage of the adventurous Impulse jazzmen of yore. And I don’t think I’ve mentioned the man’s moves yet. If you’ve heard anything of Mr. Bensussen’s seizure-inducing sets, it’s that he dares you to get down as hard as he does on stage. Dude is like a lighting octopus tornado cat spinning beats with his many tendrils while flailing into the next life. After a disappointing set by Shabazz Palaces earlier that night, which really had more to do with the 15,000,000 14-year-olds who were there to see Macklemore than the Palaces, The Gaslamp Killer’s set was a fresh breath of filthy fun nitrous. Easily the most exciting set of MFNW.
Jake Renn
Vee Hua 華婷婷
Navi Esparza