Article written by Patrick Henry Golden
Every once in a while we are afforded the chance to watch something special develop. A good show can deliver the birth of a new powerhouse label, a genre taking form, or a new duo collaborating for the first of many future bangerz. The setting; Friday night, March 21st, 2014, in the Grand Ballroom of Webster Hall. The Players; a collection of funk and soul musicians at the direction of a singular mastermind, Gramatik. The result; the exclamatory “Hello World!” of the Lowtemp record label, a defining stamp on ElectroSoul / FuturFunk, and the birth of the sexified duo Gibbzmatik.
ILLUMNTR set the mood by bringing their brand of “Deep Space Gospel”, a blend of funk and trip hop, Eric Clapton meets DJ Shadow, to a crowd of expectant Lowtempers. With Bryn Austin Bellomy and John Wesley Russell filling the room with a combination of velvety vocals, distinct drum kicks and rolling guitar riffs, the crowd was given a chill taste of what was to come. Enough to whet the appetite but far from the dance frenzy that would ensue. Before long, BRANX was dropping “Smoove Operator” and the crowd was starting to buzz. Joined by Orlando Napier, of ‘the Voice’ fame, BRANX supplied funk infused break beat that kicked off the dance party. With the technical chops to satisfy even the most discerning fan of EDM, BRANX was the spark to the reaction that would pulsate from every sneaker sole to speaker reverb the rest of the night. The contrast between the chilled out ILLUMNTR and funked up BRANX was not lost on this attendee.
After a short recess, the stage quickly filled with the members of ExMag, as well as a posse of fans who were lucky enough to jam out on stage with them. “Creep Steady: Part 1” launched the crowd into a futuristic soundscape populated by funky guitar solos, gyrating celestial bodies, soulful baselines and a few surprising twists. ExMag treated us to a funky remix of GRiZ’s “Fall in Love Too Fast” as well as a few bars from Brooklyn based rapper Adrian Lau. The boys of ExMag played through most of their ‘Proportions’ album with renditions of “#Supernicer”, “Junk in that Thang”, and “Bob Illin’”.
At this point in the show I was pleasantly surprised by the minimalist approach to the visuals taken by the entire Lowtemp crew. The extent of the lighting was a starscape background, with a single row of spotlights to give light to the ethereal vibes emanating from every instrument on stage. If you were looking for a captivating TV screen with psychedelic fractals and lasers to entertain you, you would’ve been sorely disappointed. Lowtemp is focused on the best musical experience that they can deliver, a refreshing take on the current live experience.
It was pushing 3 AM when Gibbzmatik finally emerged but I don’t think there was a sleepyhead in the entire venue. Opening with Beatz & Pieces “The Drink is Called Rajika” and swiftly moving into Street Bangerz vol. 2 favorite “Just Jammin’” assured the crowd that this wouldn’t just be a brief introduction to the newest SuperDuo on the block. With GiBBZ taking Eric Mendelson’s customary spot on guitar next to Gramatik, we were treated to a wrinkle in the traditional Gramatik sound.
Not to leave the GiBBZ fans wanting, our favorite vocalist took center stage to serenade us with “Do it For You”, before Gramatik flipped the vibe on us again with “Born Ready” off #DigitalFreedom. The constant play between the sexy disco provided by GiBBZ’s distinct falsetto and the grimy bass blasting from Gramatik’s mixer kept our crowd guessing, never once becoming complacent with the vibe. Case and point (and also my favorite moment) was when out of left field, “Phantoms Pt II” from Justice’s † album started blasting. With a remix of Stevie Wonder’s “Superstitious” and Grizmatik’s “My People” thrown in there, I can officially say I will never be surprised by what Gramatik will do on stage again, because the answer is whatever he damn pleases.
As the show approached 4 AM, Gibbzmatik hit us off with a stellar rendition of “Expect Us”, my personal favorite off The Age of Reason. Eric Benny Bloom (of lettuce and the Pretty Lights live band fame), who must’ve arrived minutes earlier after playing with Soulive at the Brooklyn Bowl, hopped on trumpet and busted out a blaring horn solo. Keeping up with the revolving door of instrumental and vocal accompaniments was threatening to spin my head. Sliding effortlessly into GiBBZ’s party anthem “Again and Again” had everyone singing along, only to be thrown into the intense dubstep of “Illusion of Choice”.
The constant teasing of intense bass and smooth vocals continued with Orlando Napier once again lending his pipes to “Faraway”. After the quick breather, Gramatik launched into a NY favorite “Liquified”, bringing Biggie back to NYC for the evening. As 4:30 approached, the Webster Hall cutoff, Exmag came back out to give us the full Lowtemp feel on “Juke”. The sendoff couldn’t have been better with an extra funky version of “23 flavors” with GiBBZ featured on guitar. The show went out on a high note, and everyone in the room, performer and dancer alike was left breathless, exhilarated and wanting more.
As daunting as a five-hour show can seem, the experience is rewarding when you get the chance to witness the right musicians. Gibbzmatik showed us a new wrinkle to the ever-evolving sound that Gramatik has been cultivating for years, the Lowtemp crew supported each other throughout every set of the night, and I don’t think there was a single disappointed fan in the building. Not sure how they are going to top this, but I was saying the same thing after the Lowtemp showcase in January, and it only took them two months to do it.
We got a chance to talk with both Mike Gibney (GiBBZ) and Denis Jasarevic (Gramatik) about their new soul-child and the future of Lowtemp:
(WRR) How did you two first meet? Was it “GiBBZmatik” at first sight?:
(Michael Gibney) I was working for Denis as his sound guy. I had worked with Break Science, previously, soulive and lettuce, who he really loves. Then we met, and once Denis found out I could make music he was really psyched. So we started making music together. But the first GibbzMatik was out in France. He (Denis Jasarevic) did this show in Paris, I was doing sound. So we were doing this show in Paris, and the after party they booked me to DJ. So alright, ‘Fuck it’, it’ll be my first show ever and it will be in Paris, that’s fucking cool. So we did that show, and there was champagne everywhere and I’m DJing and I’m freaking out like “Oh My God this is nerve wracking!” and then I see Denis and he’s so fucking psyched on the side of the stage yelling “YEA THIS IS THE GREATEST THING THAT’S EVER HAPPENED!” and he runs up and starts fucking with the mixer and just starts yelling “IT’S GIBBZMATIK IT’S GIBBZMATIKKKKK this is what this is! Do you realize?!?!?!”
(MG) We just love the same shit, we love the same music.
(WRR) Can you explain how your collaborations work? Do you both usually start a song together or do you hop on a project you love that the other person started?
(Denis) So far the songs that we’ve made, I had a song I was making and realized GiBBZ would be perfect to sing on this, or play guitar on this, because he can do whatever he wants.
(MG) Get a grip was really cool because, He was working on get a grip all through the night. We were in electric forest, and he was working all night while I was sleeping. In the tour bus, well an RV, we drove an RV from New York to electric forest. And I woke up to him working on it, and I just started singing. We wrote the words together, me dictating.
(WRR) As an alumnus of the Berkley College of Music, have you caught any flack from your former professors or peers for moving into EDM?
(MG) No, not yet, I hope not. If my professor’s gave me shit I’d be so fucking pissed. Oh I’m doin something that makes money to pay off your shitty ass car your asshole house, go fuck yaself. I paid your fucking salary; you should not give me shit. As far as the students with me, nah they wouldn’t either everybody I went to school with is psyched, they love it. I got one kid I went to school with doin a remix of do it for me right now.
(WRR) Mike, did you choose this budding genre (electro pop/disco) and decide to excel, or was there a more natural progression to your music production that surreptitiously landed here?
(MG) That’s just the shit I like to listen to. I could be a real fuckin asshole and say it chose me, but that would be fuckin douchy.
(WRR) Mike, where do you find the confidence to write lyrics with such swagger?
(MG) In a can!
(WRR) There is a very Cherub-esque vibe to your song writing.
(MG) I guess I have to attribute one of my balls to Jordan [Reese Kelley].
(WRR) Denis, How has your musical process changed since you started? The live instrumentation seems to be a growing movement in EDM.
(DJ) Eric started playing with me about a year ago, when I was playing with a different guitarist at the time, but he went back to Slovenia. I always change whomever I want to bring on stage to play with me, because I’m not an instrumentalist, so I would feel really lonely on stage, not being able to play instruments that well. I feel like I have to bring somebody that can, someone who can bring that energy to my live show. And I like to manipulate and make sure the instrument sounds exactly like I want it to sound, like it would when I produce., and sample pepople to play on my shit. So right now Russ Liquid is going to start playing with me, for the spring going into festival season. He’s going to play trumpet, sax, keys, guitar, he’s a multi-instrumentalist and a really great producer, we’re really excited about it.
(WRR) How many projects do you guys make that don’t end up on albums?
(MG) Constantly making shit
(DJ) There’s like gigabytes of data that never get released
(MG) We’re constantly making shit that people won’t hear, because we just want to make it for us to listen to haha.
(DJ) or we made it and we didn’t like it enough to release it, and be able to stand behind it 100%. There’s a lot of shit like that, that won’t ever see the light of day.
(WRR) Denis, what’s can the Lowtemp fans expect next? Any new prospects coming down the pipeline?
(DJ) Branx, Branx’s EP is coming out; Russ Liquid’s album is coming out. We have a bunch of shit lined up. ExMag is dropping another EP, iLLMNTR’s album is on the way.
(WRR) So you guys are at the grindstone all the time
(DJ) There’s nothing else for us to do. If we weren’t doing this I cant imagine where we’d be
(MG) All of us get jobs? That would fucking suck, besides my woodworking.
(WRR) So you can whittle a mean birdhouse?
(MG) Yea actually I whittled bobby brown the other day
(DJ) Nice
(MG) It was really good, you should’ve seen it. I was going to stain it, but I thought it would be racist. It’s a nice, nice alder wood.
(DJ) I gotta see that, you should Instagram it.
Photos: Patrick Hughes Photography
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