The mojo is on when this Run-DMC redux, plunges onto your broke-ass TV in the form of shattered hip-hop. The people hanging out on stage are part of the slacker-hangers-on, who pick up a mic once in a while and shake their booties a plenty while sipping cocktails. I vaguely recollect seeing a portion of this screened at Sonar (Spain) this year. Part dub, part rap, part electro – it’s all “so L.A.” to me (even though these are Northerners).
“Citizens Nowhere” is like a punk hoedown for the bored and reckless. The crowd eats it up and cuts a rug. Who are all those people up there on stage, perhaps a group of performance art grad students? In many varied ways this is the sort of collective energy birthed in the 80s, complete with one of the better Exene Cervenka impersonations I have yet heard. The audience spares no time getting into the action by throwing papers and things at the stage performers. The players seem silly at times, taking themselves not so seriously, and that is the main infection here, the attraction and repulsion. The girls shake their thangs, the guys taking their inner geek for granted.
This may be the most contemporary cabaret act touring the nightclub scene these days. The groovy beats are all there, the “live feel” is alive despite the small room they are playing in – which seems to be quite full. Here we are emerged in an attitude, more than pop song ditties, though there are some catchy refrains (however illogical they may be). The Bay Area’s Beta Lounge opens their doors to a new DVD series launched with a solid irreverence and kick-ass punch. The pork-pie wearing Topher Lafata is adorable singing fancy-free and strutting through the crowd yelping “what are we looking for?” into an audience that seem more peer-like than your typical fan base.
The muted monochrome flares into color on the closing “Rock the Parti” with the audience in a frenzy, singer on lead guitar, girls dancing gawkily, and a general atmosphere of pure fun leading to a “Who-like” deconstructivist rock ending. Instead of the audience screaming for the encore, the band themselves chant “Gold Chains – Gold Chains – Gold Chains” and yes, they are certainly in the house!
This disc also contains some of their cleanly directed concept videos including “I am From San Francisco” which is just undeniably infectious. It’s a collision of NY subway aesthetics, done sunny side up. Hey, was that Kit Clayton? Must’ve been. Just who is running this show? It’s Madonna or Prince, or maybe Toni Basil, you will be the judge when you unlock the secret online code that will get you the bonus video which is oh so Charlie’s Angels. You know what I mean.
