Issue 53 / March 2015

34
Bido Lito! March 2015
Reviews
Binkbeats (Nata Moraru)
year and haven’t touched since. Inkarta is sort
of like that. After months hibernating away,
the only night to cater to the more esoteric
dance-but-not-dance makes a stylish return
in a venue increasingly used for niche nights.
The (temporary?) move from The Kazimier
to the Blade Factory is also an interesting
choice. Whereas the Kaz lends a carnivalesque
atmosphere to any occasion, the closer,
sweatier confines of the Blade Factory tends
to give any event a more… DIY feeling.
And for Wolverhampton-by-way-of-Leeds
opening act PAPER TIGER, this works well.
Their “future bass music” translates live into
Warp and Ninja Tunes-infused, sparkling posteverything
electronica. Jazz flourishes? Check.
Glitchy hip hop beats? Check. Errant MC? Check.
True to the Inkarta style, Paper Tiger stay close
to head-nodding and gentle bopping vibes,
rather than the outright rave zest preferred
by the venue’s new upstairs residents Haus.
While conceptually interesting at first, this is
a case of artists proving more interesting on
record than on stage; while the music itself is
good, it doesn’t quite have enough gravity to
pull through in the live arena.
The main man, BINKBEATS, is a different
kettle of fish entirely. Famed of late for tearing
apart and rebuilding from the ground up
tracks by other dance-not-dance heroes (from
Caribou to Lapalux and Shigeto), Binkbeats has
landed himself a Beats Deconstructed series
for Boiler Room. Live he uses a dizzying array
of instruments and equipment to tweak and
rearrange to giddy effect. Once again, however,
this proves to be conceptually more intriguing
than in the flesh; watching a man in a dark
room hunched over his contraptions only
works if the music itself moves you in some
way beyond the intellectual. Previous Inkarta
visitor Shigeto managed this through heavy
use of percussive experimentation, but with
Binkbeats it winds up feeling insubstantial.
Considering Inkarta’s previous efforts, this
night winds up a little underwhelming, but
then they have been away for the best part of
the year, so we can forgive them the odd wet
kipper of an event.
Laurie Cheeseman / @lauriecheeseman
history of hip hop. Any self-respecting hip
hop head will surely own copies of The
Pharcyde’s Labcabincalifornia and Jurassic 5’s
Quality Control. These artists have released
and produced some of the most important
music of their genre. There’s also the fact that
Slimkid3’s The Pharcyde were collaborators
with probably the most important figure in
modern hip hop: the late, great J Dilla. This
show is happening on the eve of Dilla Day,
and feels like a monumental tribute to such
an inspiring musician.
DJ Numark makes an impact on the
turntables as he runs through about an hour’s
worth of hip hop history. His scratching skills
are a treat, and the guy clearly knows how
to work a crowd. He drops tracks from artists
such as A Tribe Called Quest, The Fugees, DJ
Shadow and, of course, Jurassic 5 and The
Pharcyde. It is a fevered party as Numark
makes the whole venue move and, without
saying a word, has the entire crowd at his
fingertips.
Slimkid3 joins Numark on stage, finally,
and breaks into a fierce spat of conscious,
effortlessly delivered verses. Tracks such as
I Know, Didn’t I, Bom Bom Fiya and What
Are Words For propel the intense energy of
the crowd. This duo carry a chemistry that is
brotherly. This is hip hop how it should be:
raw and honest with the power to unify all
who listen. Slimkid3 and DJ Numark prove
that they are masters of their trade in a
flawless, cathartic show.
Christopher Carr
BINKBEATS
Paper Tiger
INKARTA @ Blade Factory
Some things taste better when you come
back to them after a while away: last night’s
pizza, that novel you started a month ago,
whatever album you were raving about last
PAPERHEAD
Holy Thursday
Harvest Sun @ The Shipping Forecast
It has become something of a recent rarity
to wander into a venue in Liverpool and
not be greeted with the familiar strains of
repetition and effects-laden guitars. Despite
the neo-psych movement's many pros, it is
all perhaps becoming a bit much. However,
in recent months the furore appears to have
died down slightly, and so it’s with fresh ears
and an open, willing mind that I head to the
Shipping Forecast to take in PAPERHEAD.
bidolito.co.uk