TAX LO 6/14/09 - Notes and reflections

Tax Lo Summer Blowout headliner and Bmore native Dan Deacon

The Cullen Stalin and Simon Phoenix collaboration Tax Lo presented an audacious and very aspiring Summer Blowout Party event at Sonar, featuring a solid mix of everything any club music enthusiast could enjoy. For the more urban and bass driven tastes, there was Unruly Records legend Scottie B, Dew Doo Kidz crew member and perpetual Baltimore club motivator DJ Booman and the quickly rising party rap duo he produces, The Get Em Mamis. For people more avant garde, minimally funky and melodic, there was the Swedish duo Thieves Like Us and the French noise and synth driven sounds of DAT Politics, the for those needing hard, deep, bone shattering bass there was Dutch dubstep maestro Martyn, the garage driven, alt rock of Awesome Color and finally, in mirroring the style of the evening's main eventer, the pulsing noise of Black Dice, as a set up for Baltimore native Dan Deacon.

Tax Lo at the best times is a musical carnival that deeply connects with the listeners and dancers, and best illustrates to the partygoers that music is the bridge that creates their similarities as people. As an example, one of the best parties ever and recently thrown under the Tax Lo banner for instance, was the May 12, 2008 rager that featured The Old Haunts, Rye Rye, Blaqstarr, DJ Sega, Bonde do Role and The Death Set. Surely between the experimental garage rock, Bmore club and it's Philly experimentations, crunked out baile funk and balls to the wall new style punk, there's something there for everybody, but, what's more important there is that there's something endemic in the music, and something endemic in the kids that listen to the music, that allows them all to be able to enjoy that, in unison, something groundbreaking, something that made Tax Lo what it has become, THE place to go to get a handle on what has the most potential to be at the up and coming forefront of modern music, or in general, what is the best sounding music of any type, anywhere in the underground universe at any given time.

At it's not so efficient is a night like last night, which had a Lollapalooza feel to it, multiple stages, multiple bands, multiple DJs, but the only single unifying theme being that these bands and DJs were all playing at Tax Lo, so therefore they were important, and therefore were worthy of our time and appreciation. Tax Lo, good, band, or indifferent, is an important rallying point for the "hipster" scene literally nationwide. Countless acts have been launched from those stages, or have come to those stages to seek validation and move forth as more impressive acts for having played the event. The key to Tax Lo's success in the author's eyes is when there is a unifier there, some sort of cultural statement that can be made, that a group of kids can come together and ALL APPRECIATE ALL. A divided house cannot stand, and in creating a situation where there is too much of everything, in yes, creating a sampling of amazing and fabulous sounds there is a positive for music in general, but in attempting to create cultural launchpad or musical impact point, there's something lost, almost making the name bigger than the artist instead of the artist contributing to the name, an almost accidental rebranding in the face of fame.

There's a lot of music out there now, and also in our present recessionary times, new concepts must be used to maintain revenue streams. I'm also certain that it's certainly a different time as well given that everything is so big now, and that everyone that started from Tax Lo's gestation period and growth are now gigantic national acts who gained renown from playing the event, so access to booking an enormous multi-national event, which certainly wouldn't've been possible years ago is absolutely a possibility now. To not make the attempt is to deny one's ability to revel in success.

But onto the music. The Get Em' Mamis' performance was once again solid, as the duo has a great touring set with DJ Booman that they are gaining confidence in. They're making dramatic growth on the English charts, amd it would seem as though their initial international foray couldn't be too far away. They're developing an onstage synergy as well, something definitely important and key in their attempts to garner success. Above all else, they do have terrific charisma though, that being the duo's selling point to any audience, and a key qualifier between acts that make it big, and acts that make another date on a calendar. DJ Booman is sitting on the edge of huge things as well, as, between already producing a Diddy remix (for the album Press Play's "Get Off"), he's producing Bmore two hottest rap acts, MTV Jams reaching Mullyman ("Bmore Go Harder" gets daily airplay) and the aforementioned Get 'Em Mamis, and with both poised for far bigger things, it's clear why he was all smiles onstage Saturday night.

In the main room, French veterans DAT Politics made the most of their Baltimore debut, presenting a volatile and excitable set of quirky synth dance that really turned the Taxlo crowd on their ear. Speaking of turning on ears, Dan Deacon. I will admit that I understand exactly why he is popular, but have absolutely no actual love for his particular brand of music. There's something in the ever pulsing noise he plays that attacks an excited or altered nervous system and makes it do the most spastic things. When I was ten years younger, and inebriated in some manner roughly 50% of the time, his manic, raw, pounding wall of noise would be pretty cool. But, I'm 31 now, and my ability to access that particular brand of music has certainly been feebled considerably. There's an art to what he does though. In creating beats that top out at the 140-150 BPM range, and overlawing that wth rhythms, as rudimentary as they may be, takes an attention and thought that is overwrought with depth and intensity, the type of thought that doesn't create traditional pop, but creates performance art pieces that are almost intentionally inacessible to people except for those who share that minimalist, nihilistic hedonism most necessary to enjoy.

Given their nature as "performance art," Deacon's DJ sets, which feature him on a small table in the middle of a supremely crowded throng of sweaty, altered maddened youths becomes entertaining as well, as between songs, Deacon gives the crowd instructions, commands and demands, literally creating the proper atmosphere or moment in which to best appreciate his music. To create a analagous situation, it would be as if R. Kelly, prior to playing "Bump N Grind" asked a crowd of couples to get naked and commence to foreplay activities. Deacon's artistry at worst is music deconstructed to a point where the artist creates music that has minimal appreciable universal value outside of the live performance. At best it is the ULTIMATE interactive experience, and a rollickingly good time, as if you get it, you get it entirely and fully, and believe in the artist and his aims. Either way, to have an artist like this, who inspires such devotion and underground pandering be again, a Baltimore original, is a testament to the city, and a testament to the creativity and creative push therein.