Wiley in NYC w/ MRK 1 this FRIDAY!!

TiNy

New member
http://www.unitoneonline.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/10/wiley_eflyer.jpg

WILEY - Roll Deep, Eskibeat Recordings - London, UK
http://myspace.com/eskiboywiley

MRK 1 - Virus Syndicate - Manchester, UK
http://www.myspace.com/mark_one

MESSIAH - Twisted Beats - Manchester, UK
http://www.myspace.com/twistedbeatz


KEITH P - Unit.One, Dub Assembly - Dallas
http://www.myspace.com/keithvip

HOSTED by:

ZINC LARYNX - Manchester, UK
http://www.myspace.com/zinclarynx

KIDDER WALDREN - Manchester, UK http://www.myspace.com/waldren

TINY - Unit.One, Dallas
http://www.www.unitoneonline.com

Knitting Factory
74 Leonard St.
BTWN Broadway and Church St.
All Ages - Doors at 10:30
www.ticketweb.com
www.knittingfactory.com

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OTHER MUSIC
15 E. 4th st. / btwn Broadway and Lafayette
 

petergunn

plywood violin
was this any good?

my two cents, not trying to diss anyone involved, much respect for putting the work in... that said...

the dj's and mc's before MRK 1 and Wiley were pretty terrible... whoever the asian indie-rock MC was, he was terrible... just really really bad... i don't mean to be nasty, but he really had not business being on stage... i was up in the balcony wondering why i was there...

the turn out was pretty bad... i don't know if this is b/c the people doing this were from Texas not NYC, the fact that it was the day after thanksgiving, or just a general cool down on the hype that grime had a few years back, but the place was only about 1/4 full, compared to the Roll Deep show from two or three years ago that was sold out... things got a bit better when Keith P started spinning some grime... he dropped Sidewinder and people got open... i think he should have just dropped a full set of grimey stuff, but he sounded good...

MRK 1 and his boys were ok... i was never a big Virus Syndicate fan, but they had their moments... for lower level dudes, they had one or two good bars and MRK 1 def has a few bangers (albeit monotinous ones)... they were techinal problems thru most of their set, tho, leading to the Coki Marijuana refix being played for like 10 minutes straight (got the biggest response of the night) Serato strikes again! basically the technical problems dragged down a set that was only going OK to begin with...

Wiley came on and performed to a pre-sequenced track, reminding me of seeing hip hop shows in the early 90's when people came out and performed with a DAT tape... I have to say. having no DJ fucks up the flow, especially with grime... no rewinds, no changes, no pauses, no funny Wiley chatter...

anyways, yeah, he performed to one big long track, that to his credit, he had obviously put a lot of time into laying out... some songs he performed all of, others were cut aft6er one worse, going directly into another, like a pre-arranged mix... he did alot of songs from Playtime is Over, like Bow E3, My Mistakes, Gangsters, Eskiboy, 50/50, and No Qualms...

the two songs i was most psyched to hear him do (and was def not expecting to hear ) were Sorry, Sorry, Pardon What (people kinda went nuts it, which i did not expect) and Jack's Not Nimble... let's see Nightbus dubplate was sick and he did quite a few things I didn't recognize, although I am not caught up on anything after Tunnel Vision 5... all in all a good setlist and a very long set, one of the logest i have seen a solo MC do in a while... plus, he barely had any resting time, with the pre-sequenced backing track and all... the minuses were he barely engaged the crowd, just paced the stage; it was like watching someone shadowbox... little eye contact, banter, or stage show... also, he seemed a little tired and his flow was definitely not razor sharp... Wiley always has a tendecy to sometimes fall a bit off beat and this was definitely apparent... plus, for Esiboy, Gangsters, and at least a couple other tunes, he rapped on top of the VOCAL versions, which i think was really weak and unexcusable... i am curious as to what his reasoning was, i mean, he MUST have the instrumentals and it's not like Gangsters is a particually demanding tune to rap...

to close out, he spat over Marijuana refix (i think they were switching computers or something) and then announced the last track... everyone yelled for What You Call it? and Wiley heard them, telling the dude manning the laptop "we haven't done Igloo..." after a false start, traded bars with Zinc Larnyx, who sounded better with Wiley next to him (tho he gets the gasface for selling his CD's to the front row while Wiley was performing... c'mon dude, have some class....)

all in all, Wiley put on a long, solid set, tho i think he would have benefitted from a DJ and some occasionall pauses to catch his breath... and the attendence really made me question is anyone gives a damn about grime in NYC these days...
 

zhao

there are no accidents
meaning that he destroyed the knitting factory with unstoppable lyrical fire.

incidentally in the downstairs room there was a goth night happening at the same time. further proof of goth-step/grime connection???
 

Tyro

The Kandy Tangerine Man
All in all a good setlist and a very long set, one of the longest i have seen a solo MC do in a while... plus, he barely had any resting time, with the pre-sequenced backing track and all...

When Wiley performed at Cargo london for the launch of ''Playtime Is Over'' he only spat bars for a little over 10 minutes.This was in keeping with the comment Logan Sama made on the 'Rolling Grime Thread' about MCs limiting their time on mic with a view to ''Leaving the crowd wanting more''

While it's good to hear that Wiley is addressing this issue,I'm not sure if the use of backing tracks is the right avenue to go down as spontaneity is a big part of what makes this music exciting in a live setting.



http://www.myspace.com/thekandytangerineman
 
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Logan Sama

BestThereIsAtWhatIDo
The only reason he performed over a tape was because whoever booked the night couldn't afford to stump up for an extra flight and fee for a dj (which would have been me, and I work Wiley hard live, as anyone who has seen us do a show can attest)

It was the same for all of the originally proposed US dates, not just this one. I guess the appalling exchange rate right now makes it financially impossible to bring over a live DJ as well. Especially given the turn out.
 

Chuu

Well La Di Bloody Da
I work Wiley hard live

Guess that was the problem for me, don't get me wrong it was a good night on the whole, but he didn't really seem like he was working, everything got a bit samey after a while.
 
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petergunn

plywood violin
The only reason he performed over a tape was because whoever booked the night couldn't afford to stump up for an extra flight and fee for a dj (which would have been me, and I work Wiley hard live, as anyone who has seen us do a show can attest)

It was the same for all of the originally proposed US dates, not just this one. I guess the appalling exchange rate right now makes it financially impossible to bring over a live DJ as well. Especially given the turn out.

were there any other US dates?

yeah, the exchange rate is really hard, combined with a small fanbase, it's hard to make it work, unless you can get some corperate help (record labels, magazines, certain sympathetic hybrid cars) in paying for flights...

i see D'explicit is finally coming over to spin on his lonesome in January and i know that had been planned for like two years...

there are plenty of people putting on good parties in nyc (trouble and bass, funkworthy) who would love to book grime acts, but unless they can be convinced to see it as a working vacation where you sleep in someone's spare room and not a hotel and basically get a free flight and a chance to see and perform in NYC, it won't work right now...
 

adruu

This Is It
with the exchange rate what it is, im surprised more uk promoters aren't just taking over nyc clubs. smart us promoters would be taking advantage of being a middleman

this is a once in a ten-year period to take advantage of new york's echo chamber.

money!
 

RAISED BY WOLVES

Active member
I showed up wasted, alone, and in super hype mode to see wiley perform like 10 minutes before he was meant to go on.

The room was thinnnnn like Mary kate and ashley. I mean, there was enough room to stroll about as I pleased. Not good. There was this fool on stage kicking some incomprehensible rhymes, who I later gathered was Zinc Larynx (great name, right). After dealing with some tech issues, they tried to get the crowd hyped for Will, but there's a limited amount of hype you can gather with a crowd like that.

Petergunn explained it in full detail, so i don't need to get into his performance too much, but the lack of a DJ (I see you Logan) was painful to say the least. Part of the craft of MCing relies on that beautiful synergy between performer and DJ, and that was sorely lacking.

I'm also really sensative to how a performer is feeling about their performance while on stage. Wiley looked like he was feeling down, and slightly confused. It seemed like he was just going through the motions of a full performance. I mean, it wasn't like he gave a short, shoddy set, grabbed mic for 10 minutes, then split. In a way that made it all the more frustrating.

As for the audience question? I think the NYC audience for grime has always been fickle and fair weather friendish. In '05 I was at house parties in Brooklyn hearing kids talking about young stryder in the coke circles. Now those same kids are blowing lines talking about justice, no age, or whatever else is getting co-signed by Vice and the Fader.

Fuck. I don't know.

It all left me a bit frustrated, so I got a mediocre gyro on canal, hit up a couple tags, and got on the N and fell asleep.
 

petergunn

plywood violin
In '05 I was at house parties in Brooklyn hearing kids talking about young stryder in the coke circles.

i feel like this party was probably at my house...

um, yeah, that is the thing about being into grime in nyc that has been frusterating, is the lack of a REAL fanbase... this is something that i must hand to Dave Q... dude has built a hardcore, dedicated fanbase for dubstep in NYC that is amazing... of course, it's an easier sell, as dubstep is about the beats, grime is more about hearing guys rap in a funny accent...

grime has never had a recognizable audience here... the hipster hoards have been with it since Dizzee's show on top of a tractor trailer at Volume... i remember when DEE, Jammer and Ears played at the record release party for Run the Road at Rothko, it was so swamped that i couldn't get in and i was on the list... as i said, when Roll Deep played the Knit it was packed to the gills with hipster types... these were EVENTS, not concerts... most of the people there don't actually give a fuck about grime one way or another... this is def a NYC problem, fairweather fans...

and,as something cool, grime is no longer happening... blame the lack of anyone other than dizzee to break out, blame dizzee abandoning grime, blame a fickle blogerati, blame grime itself, but the bottom line is, a lot of people aren't checking in anymore...

i must give my friends Funkworthy maximum respect for attempting to build a grime audience from the ground up, with no hipsters at all and by picking up the common ground with dancehall...
 
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