CFXU @ HPX - Thursday Oct 20
“I see you down there, got no time to be shy”,
I looked up at Lady Wray, a diva by any standard. She was surrounded by her music, facing us, most of whom were there to catch a later act. But she just wanted to make everyone feel good regardless of who they were here to see.
“I can dig it”,
Then I realized she was talking directly to me. I guess I hadn’t noticed that the music had me grooving. Usually I just let myself dance but I have often observed a battle in my mind that I am usually hardly even aware of, one that I think most people can relate to. While at a show there is often a struggle to decide how much you want to stand out in the crowd and Lady Wray wanted everyone to stand out as much as possible.
Good vibes beget better ones and I could tell from the smile on Lady Wray’s face and her goofy leopard ears that she only wanted to ramp up the fun as much as possible. Her newest album “Queen Alone” was released this past September and was the source of most of the material for this show. The album explores the ups and downs of entering in and out of the spotlight over the last 18 years. She has featured on tracks with Kid Cudi and The Black Keys. Her raw R&B centered music comes from a church upbringing and her relatable lyrics stem from experience with both fame and normal life. Her story and her music made me think of background singers who have also experienced both a fair share of fame and lack thereof such as Darlene Love, Merry Clayton and Lisa Fischer. The life of a musician is tough because expectations are always set high and the response is often hard to pin down. Lady Wray got me dancing however and I hope to see her strong vocal performance carry her to even greater levels of fame and musicianship.
Lady Wray’s gospel inspired pop blaring from the stacks of festival speakers eventually came to an end but we were left stunned and excited for more music. Another group of seasoned musicians emerged next. CFXU was generally hyped for this act. We had received Daniel Caesar’s album at the radio station two months earlier and were intrigued because of a BadBadNotGood feature on the track listing. Mr. Caesar did not disappoint. He quietly approached the front of the stage with his beady hair like Lil Yachty adorned in a BadBadNotGood t-shirt. With a voice like Frank Ocean and a tight band playing quietly behind him the feels emanating from the stage were somber and elegant. With a grand total of 2 guitars, bass, drums and keyboards the waves of music that rippled off the stage sounded like a lonely walk in the city at night (or more accurately a walk through Trinity Bellwoods park in Toronto). Daniel Caesar is definitely an upcoming Canadian force to be reckoned with and his music is a breath of fresh air that gears away from the vice grip that Drake has on the 6. His music is beautifully minimal and he can nail the falsettos when needed. At first it may have seemed that Daniel would have a hard time filling the space in the Halifax Forum but he got everyone swaying more and more with each song.
The crowd started to grow in numbers, as we got closer to the main act. Eventually Daniel Caesar gave a silent bow and made room for BadBadNotGood. This group of young jazz musicians, whose unique mix of hip-hop inspired jazz, has made it’s way into the music of notable acts such as Tyler the Creator, Danny Brown, Earl Sweatshirt and Ghostface Killah. The band now consists of 4 members as they have now permanently added their friend and brilliant saxophonist Leland Whitty to the lineup. The BadBadNotGood crew are talented, dorky and down-to-earth. Their music hit hard with songs like Confessions Part. II, which on record features the symphonic and slightly terrifying baritone saxophone of Colin Stetson. But Leland was able to pull the crowd in with an equal amount of tension growling through the amps with his tenor sax. The closest thing to a frontman was the drummer who was able to keep up a complicated beat while belting out to the audience with the goal to get everyone hopping and clapping. I never thought I could mosh or headbang to jazz music but I suppose that’s part of why BadBadNotGood is actually so good. Nothing much needs to be said about BadBadNotGood. By my standards (i.e. once you have roadies) these four talented musicians have “made it”. At the end of the show they all came off stage and chatted with some of us concert-goers who stuck around. By the end of this show we were completely exhausted but we had to stay awake for another two hours in order to stick it out for Holy Fuck who were billed to play the Reflections bar at 1:30am.
Once settled in Halifax’s hottest gay bar it didn’t help my sleepy state having to wait another half hour or so for Holy Fuck to set up all their crazy gear. But the wait and the incurred sleepy feelings were worth it because as soon as the power came on Holy Fuck turned the room into a mind-melting soundscape of the most bizarre order. I had seen this band back in 2010 in Toronto after the release of their album Latin. My memories of that show were completely thrown out the window when Holy Fuck dove into their fuzzy, spastic material drawn mostly from their most recent album Congrats. The band’s sound has tightened to a new level of extreme sonic mastery. The show had everyone moshing hard. I remember at one point someone near me yelling “Holy Shit!” followed by another correcting him saying “Holy Fuck!”. The energy in the room was astounding during the show and I easily moved from a state of exhaustion to a state where my freak flag waved wildly in the currents ripping off the stage. Seriously though.. holy fuck.. what a night! -Brennan Neve
