Review: Dan Le Sac v Scroobius Pip
According to the textbook, critical mass is the sociodynamic principle of sufficient momentum to maintain sustenance and growth. It's also quite apt to describe the crowd that amassed at the Rescue Rooms for the double-act Dan Le Sac vs Scroobius Pip.
Hardly a spare piece of floorspace was available as Dan, whose musical artistry is akin to that of The Prodigy's Liam Howlett, dropped us into set-opener The Beat That My Heart Skipped. The song itself, as you would expect, allows Dan to employ a heartbeat rhythm which gets the room bombing right from the off.
Complimenting the cadence is Scroobius Pip, whose name is a nod to the poet Edward Lear, and whose lyrics are testament to his own personal literary expression.
It's a curious, yet pleasing, combination of hip-hop sensibilities and social commentary, which creates a harmonious dynamic which is both informative and acceptable to the mainstream ear.
Mixing tracks from their first proper collaboration Angles and the very recently released album The Logic of Chance, the duo ensured that their seventy-minute set would be a fair gambol through confirmed crowd-pleasers and the new material.
Pip's phraseology is undeniably brilliant, with timing, tense and imagery being the mainstays of an obviously accomplished lyricist. However, the clarity of the performance meant a lot of his magical metaphor and messages were sadly missed in the maelstrom.
Despite those misgivings, the audience seemed suitably impressed with the new output and were particulaly appreciative of established works Thou Shalt Always Kill and Letter from God.
Joel Wainwright
Comments
by Ian, Thorneywood
Thursday, March 18 2010, 2:56PM
“Yep, can't argue with that review. Pretty much spot on.
Dan Le Sac's music was too loud and Pip's vocals too low in the mix though and that did spoil the impact of songs like The Magician's Assistant.
I think the crowd they draw aren't exclusively hip-hop or dance music lovers, more a diverse mix of people who like good music when they hear it and have been moved by the fantastic lyricism of Pip moreso than the music itself.
Strange then, that they amped up and tinkered with every song so the music was faster, louder & more aggresive than on record. But what they're pitching live isn't what drew people to venue.
The crowd, while obviously loving the music seemed to be a bit confused in how to react to the majority of the set.
To be presented on the one hand with dance or drum & bass beats that normally would be easy to dance to but when the lyrical accompanyment is about suicide, self harm, relationship breakdown or making a serious political point it's too poignant or salient to go nuts dancing to but musically too fast & intense to sit back & enjoy the lyrics.
The banter between the two onstage was great and inbetween taking the mickey out of each other Scroobius did acknowledge the contradictory nature of the music & lyrics.
A little bit disappointing for me to be honest. I still really like them on record but live I think they were a bit muddled in how they presented their stuff and in removed a lot of their unique appeal.
The support guy (B Dolan) was a bit nondescript too.
If you're a rapper and the highlight of your set is taking off your shirt to reveal an Evil Kneviel uniform, putting on a cape and leapfrogging a squatting member of the audience perhaps you should re-evaluate your act.
And, amusingly, the girl stood next to me was texting a mate all the way through the gig to tell him how "sh1t hot" it was.
Obviously not sh1t hot enough to divert her attention from the phone for more than 3 minutes at a time or to stop her from nattering loudly to her equally blond mate all the time. Bloody kids.
Weird gig, all in all.”