Dynamic Show Review | NYC |11.8.11 | Kishi Bashi

Your Living Room. A place to chillax at the end of the day. Where you go to zone out, watch the tube and dig into some cheesy gooey home made nacho goodness. Especially with like Doritos, ah Nacho Cheese…Cool Ranch, just pick a flavor. Damn it’s so good! Apologies, on to the review. Last Tuesday at the Living Room (as we know it here in NYC) the intimate venue catered to the musical savvy of Kishi Bashi. With a coffee house vibe, we sat back to see what the Asian persuasion violinist had up his sleeves. It was a lot.

Rosining up his bow, Kishi stepped into it with the song “Turn up the Radio,” singing something about, ‘suddenly you’re inside of me,’ and suddenly we were inside of the set. Easing his way into the evening it became audibly clear that musically speaking, his talent has mad variety. From the violin to beat boxing to looping songs in a crazy foot pedaling frenzy — he’s a successful one man band.

With an ability to play different instruments, comes an aptitude for blending genres. This became apparent when Kishi dropped middle eastern rhythms immediately after and while, displaying his classical prowess on the Violin. Now if that weren’t enough (and it wasn’t for Mr. Bashi) he then decided to take us to a land far far away when leading into “Bright Eyes.” Now when listening to this song on the EP, it dresses itself up as an uptempo morning wake-up happy track. But live, he started the song off by summoning his inner Rahzel. It was more than just a “top of the morning to you” song. For those of you who don’t know, Mr. Zel is considered by many to be the human beat box champion of the world, but Kishi was churning out his own version of the art form, (we kind of want to rename him Kishi “Beat Box Battle Bot” Bashi) as the mysterious musical journey into rock continued.

Sounding Andrew Birdesque at times, Kishi kept experimenting by looping his voice, the violin and the guitar; bringing together a harmonious sound that could only be called, “Kishipella.” And while all this was going on, nothing quite prepared the crowd for the next song, “Just the Tip.” Yeah, he went there and if ever that phrase needed it’s own anthem, it got one from Kishi. Bringing in elements of hip-hop, reggae and ska punk — “Just the Tip” brought down the house. HILARIOUS. The song will be released this Spring, and if it’s not a pop hit, we don’t know what is. Ending the night with “Manchester,” the lead song off his EP, he finished Charlie Daniels strong. Studio albums are indeed one thing, but live shows will always be the barometer by which an artist is measured. This show tested extremely well. Kishi’s innovative exploration of loops, mixed with his witty showmanship and unique rotation of genres is an event you definitely need to see.

Writer: Del Toro Alma

Photographer: Katie Henry

Set List:

Turn Up The Radio (Jupiter One song)

Atticus, In The Desert (new song)

Bright Whites

Smile

Evalyn, Summer Has Arrived

Mystery Man (Jupiter One song)

Just The Tip

Manchester