Tag Archives: Reggie Watts

TOTW: Reggie Watts, Flying Lotus & Mark Rebillet

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Sorry for the delay with my track of the week. Over the next four weeks, work commitments are going to be busy and this may have to take a backseat if I can’t find the time.

I’m breaking many a couple of rules this week. Not only is it a few days late, but this isn’t a track. It’s a live performance on Youtube.

I decided to break the rules because I simply had to highlight this performace from three great musicians and fantastic live performers in their own right. Mark Rebillet & Reggie Watts are both best known for thier entirely improvised sets. Flying Lotus more so for his albums and production work.

Over the hour forty five minutes of this performance, we’re shown the fluidity of them working between each other, which creates completely improvised music that is truly a blend of each artist’s sound and style.

It has two different styles of comedic irreverance that both Rebillet & Watts have in their music, along with a smattering of all three artists approaches to electronic music production. Add to that, it’s improvised nature and the musicians’ joyous ireverance throughout, and your left with a video that is not only fun to watch but great to listen to.

Its incredible that technology has got us to a point where this level of production can be accomplished live but technology is not doing the heavy lifting here.

The skills required from the three performers comes from thousands of hours of practicing in the equipment they are using, just like you would any instrument.

Truly a sight to behold; modern virtuosos of their own creative approach to instrumentation and a demonstration of what is possible when musicianship is applied to modern computer technologies.

TOTW: LCD Soundystem Feat Reggie Watts_You Can’t Hide

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LCD Soundystem’s development culminated in their last ever gig at Madison square gardens, whilst they were still at the peak of their careers.

Fortunately this gig was heavily documented and released as feature documentary “Shut Up and play the Hits” which followed front man, producer and musician James Murphy on the 3 days surrounding the gig. The Bonus feature on the release of the Blu-ray was the entire 29 song strong live show which features “You Can’t Hide” my track of the week.

Originally the opening to “45:33” a continuous track on a single CD “You Can’t Hide” was a bit rough arround the edges. But performed live It sums up what LCD manged to do best, apply their unique synth punk aesthetic over another genre. What starts as a arpeggiated synth line breaks into classic disco and the vocal mix of James Murphy and Reggie Watts is magical.

Unfortunately I was late to the party with LCD, only picking up on them seriously after they disbanded. In hindsight LCD soundsytem are a seminal act, Marking the turning point of american music. The integration of synthesis in modern rock, The development of the producer as a frontman and the proliferation of dance influencing mainstream american music are all evident here. LCD were a bellweather for things to come, filling a gap that music needed and all done with Murphy’s over analytical and witty lyrics in songs like “loosing my edge” which seem do define a generation. Their legacy will live on through many acts and the DFA Label which Murphy fronts.