Tagged: vice
Brooklyn indie-rockers smell like Team Spirit
![IMG_2634[1]](https://dmvicious.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/img_26341.jpg)
Photo gallery after the jump
When we finally arrived the band was in the middle of its soundcheck and it was immediately clear that this would be an interesting interview. As we waited toward the back of the venue, we had a brief exchange with Peace’s tour manager. After learning we were there to interview Team Spirit, her response was ominous: “Oh, lucky you. They’re characters.”
We could have gathered that much based on the band’s lighthearted, yet sometimes devious music. It is even more obvious when you watch the band’s set of tripped-out animated videos for the tracks off its recent EP.
Team Spirit’s frontman, Ayad Al Adhamy, has already accomplished quite a bit in his relatively short career. Al Adhamy was a founding member of Passion Pit, and–after graduating from Berklee College of Music–he started Black Bell Records and released the Joy Formidable’s acclaimed debut EP. That kind of early success usually leaves musician-types with a jaded, pretentious disposition, but Al Adhamy has an infectious enthusiasm about him and is one of the nicer guys you will encounter in this industry.
The band wrapped up its soundcheck, and the guys headed back to the green room to mack on some chicken wings. We got a chance to rap with Al Adhamy about the band’s upcoming full-length and Michael Jackson’s Moonwalker. Check it out after the jump.
SXSW Re-Cap: The Night That Restored Our Faith in N.Y. Hip-Hop
Photo gallery after the jump.
The biggest takeaway from this year’s SXSW reaffirmed what we have been hoping for some time: New York hip-hop is not dead. Not even close.
Vice Media’s Viceland–one of SXSW’s larger official venues–was proof positive of that point. On Friday night, the venue hosted a who’s who of New York’s past and present: Flatbush Zombies, A$AP Ferg, Action Bronson, Juelz Santana and Ghostface Killah. The only non-New Yorker on the bill was Detroit’s Danny Brown, but he fit in well with the others.
Flatbush Zombies kicked things off and set the precedent for the rest of the evening. The Brooklynites ripped through their set and ended up spending some quality time rapping from the audience. Not to be outdone, A$AP Ferg and his crew took the stage and immediately launched into the audience to stir up the crowd.
To call Danny Brown’s set a downer would be unfair, but there was a noticeable difference in energy between Brown and the first two acts. With that said, Brown did his thing and kept the crowd with him throughout his set.
After Brown, Action Bronson took the stage and tore that motherfucker down. All the way down. Bronson is a force all by himself (we have been over this), but he brought a whole gang friends that took his show to a whole other level. Roc Marciano, Earl Sweatshirt, Vince Staples, Domo Genesis, Schoolboy Q, RiFF RaFF and several others joined Bronson on stage throughout the set.
In what has become a staple at Bronson’s live shows, the Queens MC strolled all through the venue while performing, “Strictly 4 My Jeep.” After rocking a new Alchemist-produced track with the Odd Future boys, Bronson pulled out a plastic grocery bag full of dime bags and began tossing them into the crowd. Have you ever seen when they throw chum to great whites during Shark Week? Yeah, it looked like that.
Proving yet again that he is focused on being a part of hip-hop’s future, Bronson called Chance the Rapper and several other young-guns to the stage for a cypher that concluded the set.
Juelz Santana had the dubious task of following Action Bronson’s tour de force, which may explain why he took his sweet ass time before getting on stage. Despite a deflating wait between sets, Santana eventually showed up and took us back to high school with tracks like, “Hey Ma,” and “Oh Boy.” After peppering the crowd with some Dip-Set classics and his solo hits, Juelz closed out the set with a new track that gives us hope for his new album.
Finally, the evening’s headliner took the stage. Our only gripe is that Vice should’ve billed it as Wu-Block instead of Ghostface Killah. With Sheek Louch in tow, the New York super group covered material from both the Lox/D-Block and Wu-Tang Clan in addition to a few Ghostface solo tracks.
Despite growing up on Wu-Tang Clan and banging Dip-Set anthems through high-school, it was the new, younger acts that we were really stoked on.
SXSWednesday: Action Bronson
Photo credit: Terry Richardson
ERMAHGERD! It is the last SXSWednesday feature! We are beyond stoked to be running wild in Austin next week, but until then check out SXSW artist Action Bronson.
If there are two things we love in this world, it is fine dining and hip-hop music. This would explain our love for Action Bronson, a former gourmet chef turned rapper. Dude sounds like Ghostface Killah on the mic and gets down like Bryan Voltaggio in the kitchen.
Videos after the jump.
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