EOTO at Freebird Live 12/4/2010 - Jacksonville Beach, FL

When you see Michael Travis and Jason Hann of EOTO take the stage, it’s tough to know what to think. The “100% live improvised Dubstep, House & Electro” duo doesn’t have a traditional setup, by any measure. Hann takes the throne of a full drum kit with all kinds of electronic gadgets and goodies tucked wherever there’s space, usually with a djembe close by, while Travis, guitar or bass in hand, steps up to a wall of keyboards, MIDI controllers and touch pads with effects peddles and mixers all around. Both have MIDI synched MacBooks within reach and have the ability to loop and manipulate every organic sound they create. The music that flows through this setup from the minds of this duo shows how far the modern concert and live beat production have come and screams a challenge to the electronic music genre to step up its game and remember the beauty of organic sounds played in the moment.

                  While most current electronic acts spend hours prerecording loops and setting up MIDI controllers, EOTO approaches each concert with a clean slate. This duo uses nothing prerecorded, no set list and no designated songs to speak of. They use a plethora of instrumental and technological options to create and alter loops on the spot. This keeps their live performances fresh and creates entire live tours where no two songs are ever the same. Some mainstream vocal tracks are reused. For example: Jason Hann seems to like to break into the Michael Jackson lyrics from "Startin' Something," frequently at shows as heard in the clip below, but the beat and bass line he drops it onto are ever-changing. Some other popular hip-hop and dance hooks make their way into EOTO songs. You will never hear a straight cover song at an EOTO show, but don't be surprised to hear chopped up lines from songs like "I See You Baby (Shakin' That Ass)" or "Lean Back." These familiar refrains keep the crowd grounded, while every other musical layer of the song sets the fans soaring through the weirdness that is an EOTO set. The group’s improvisational pledge, coupled with the creative melding of the familiar and the alien truly set them apart from the rest of the genre and keep the fans coming back for more. Sure, purely improvised music is a scary prospect; it depends largely on the skill of the specific musician(s), but for these two members of EOTO and The String Cheese Incident who have over three decades combined experience, entirely improvised sets are a good look.

                  When EOTO took the stage in Jacksonville Beach, FL to finish up an impressive home stretch of 33 shows in 33 days, most of the fans in attendance were no strangers to the band. With tickets at $18 at the door, the intimate Freebird Live venue attracted many people new to EOTO, but the majority of the crowd knew what they were in for; Cheese Family was in attendance. As the show progressed, Michael and Jason maneuvered deftly between audio options and instruments, using guitar, bass, keyboards, a drum kit, hand drums and  vocals to create the fully organic sounds and using their electronics to chop the loops and breaks down with the precision one would expect from the two drummers of The String Cheese Incident.

Melody after melody, thick, thumping bass line after bass line, EOTO rocked the beachside venue with a stellar show to cap off their 2010 tour. At one point, Travis donned a cheeseburger hat one of the many happy freaks in attendance offered up. EOTO is serious about making good music, but they also bring an atmosphere of pure fun to the stage. They were having a great time on stage and it showed in the band themselves and in the music. The intimate venue allowed the band to feed off the crowd as much as the crowd was feeding off of the band, and the chemistry between the two on stage was on point.

At one point in the second set, Travis broke out a deep, muddy version of the bass line from the Dead Prez song, “Hip-Hop,” and Hann followed up with a beat and the hook, “It’s bigger than. . .” There was much WOMP, as always: thick, moving bass with endless manipulations to give it the weight and meaning fitting for the jam, but at this particular show, the synth, guitar and vocal melodies were in full effect, leading through the musical landscape of the show. The electro/house sound was what the crowd was looking for, and that’s what they got at The Freebird. Hopefully, in the band’s upcoming time off, they’ll get around to posting this show, as they have with many others, on www.LiveDownloads.com.

As of right now, the only two shows on the horizon for EOTO are a sure-to-be-epic New Year’s Eve bash in Denver, CO and a set at the Summer Camp festival in Illinois on May 27^th, 2011. But if EOTO’s work ethic this fall is any sign of things to come, expect the duo to make an appearance near you sometime in 2011 regardless of where you are; these guys are all over the place. If you’re looking to get your fill of top notch, genre-morphing womp, follow on www.EOTOmusic.com, Facebook and Twitter for tour updates and don’t pass up any chances to catch these guys live.

Miami’s Bayside Rocks Festival 11/20/2010 - Bunny Wailer, Steel Pulse, Toots and the Maytals and many more...

It was another 80 degree, late November day in South Florida. Red-, gold-, black- and green-clad rastas, hipsters and hippies alike gathered in downtown Miami for the first annual Bayside Rocks Festival. The featured three-peat of legendary headliners, Bunny Wailer, Steel Pulse and Toots, had the crowd abuzz with anticipation, but as act after act took the stage, it became painfully obvious that the set breaks and sound checks were taking longer than the actual sets. With a strict midnight curfew at the Bayside Park venue, time constrains forced both Steel Pulse and Toots and the Maytals to cut their sets far too short. Luckily, a few of the earlier acts who did get full sets like Midnite, Cultura Profetica and Bunny Wailer, threw down impressive sets.

Midnite took the stage around 5:00pm and laid down one of their dubbed out, roots and culture beats only to find that the main mic didn't work. Fifteen minutes later, they started up again, in front of a slightly deflated crowd. Before long, their thick, wompy basslines and the wailing work of Vaughn Benjamin had the fans back on board. When they broke into the classic, "Live the Life You Love," off their debut album, Unpolished, the entire amphitheater was bobbing and jamming to their vibe. Unpolished is a good word to describe Midnite. Their bare-bones take on the roots reggae genre is a call back to the early years of reggae before over-production and the excessive use of effects hit the scene. Midnite is touring the west coast and Hawaii in early 2011. More info at www.midniteband.com.

Different festival, same solid groove.

Next to the stage at the Bayside Rocks Festival were the Puerto Rican phenoms, Cultura Profetica. These guys recorded their debut album in the Tuff Gong studio in Jamaica, earning them instant street cred with any avid reggae fan. With some straight roots reggae and some jazz and bosa nova fusion tracks, Cultura integrates a splash of improvisation so rarely found in the reggae genre, and the crowd at the festival loved them for it. Wandering guitar riffs and meandering keyboard fills made their creative chord progressions really pop throughout the entire set. With all Spanish lyrics, some may be turned off at first, but the instrumental music alone warrants a listen.

After another long set break and extended sound check, with the infamous Bayside Park midnight curfew looming, Marcia Griffiths roared onto the stage. Marcia, one of the original I Threes who toured for years with Bob Marley and the Wailers, hasn't lost a step. She won the crowd over with her sheer stage presence. At one point, she stopped and asked for a moment of silence for our brother in music Gregory Isaac, who died less than one month prior, before launching into "Satisfy My Soul" and "Could You Be Loved" with the entire crowd singing along. With midnight drawing closer and three huge headliners to come, Marcia played herself off with a ten minute "Electric Boogie" complete with fan participation on stage, perhaps a questionable move given the circumstances.

By the time Bunny Wailer's band took the stage, setting the beat for Bunny’s grand entrance, the feeling in the crowd that was once anticipation had turned to fear. Rumors about the infamous curfew darted around the crowd as the clock ticked on. Bunny took the stage, glowing in a classic white robe with a striped cane in hand, preaching the "Rastaman Chant" as drawn out and heartfelt as ever. Song after song, the legend preached and healed, ever the crowd-pleaser. "Who remembers The Wailin' Wailers?" He asked at one point before bouncing into the energetic, ska classic "Simmer Down." "How do you know these songs??” Bunny joked, “Your mothers and fathers taught you these songs!" After about a forty minute set, he said he would play himself out to "People Get Ready/One Love," with the whole park singing along, but once he finished, he changed his mind. Bunny called to his band to set the beat, “Set it! Set it!” and hijacked the stage for one last song, a bumping rendition of "Keep on Moving."

Just before 11pm, Steel Pulse introduced themselves in reggae great style, with intergalactic ambient background music and a three minute medley of intros to about ten classic Steel Pulse tunes any self-respecting reggae fan knows by heart. The audio techs still hadn't fixed the loose wires, but David Hinds sang and danced right through it. "Steppin’ Out," "Life Without Music," and a few other classics made it out. The few songs they were able to play were great, but the show was cut far too short at 11:30pm.

Half the crowd had left by the time Toots boomed onto the stage with "Pressure Drop" around 11:45pm with only fifteen minutes to play before the Bayside Park's strict curfew. After an abbreviated rendition of "Sweet and Dandy," the reggae great addressed the crowd, "You all know what happened here tonight, with the time. Now they tell me I can play only three songs, and I'm the headliner." He boomed through another classic, "54-46," taking time to joke around with the crowd and teach them their part in the call and response section of the song. When he attempted to start a fourth song, the powers that be cut the power to the stage. In true gentleman form, Toots stayed on stage to thank the fans and shake their hands.

They cut the power on the godfather of reggae at 12:03am November 21st, 2010 and left a bad taste in the mouth of every fan present. If there is a second annual Bayside Rocks Festival, hopefully the production team can schedule the acts better, and hopefully some of the reggae greats who were at this festival can give the city and the festival another chance to get things right.

UPDATE:

Producer of the festival, Alfonso Brooks, is currently working on making it up to the fans with another, free reggae show in Miami in the spring. More info to come via: http://baysiderocksfestival.com/

Toots and the Maytals promised via Twitter (@TootsMaytals) and Facebook to return to Miami to give the fans a full show soon.