Hopped on the L...

And by some miracle of modern engineering ended up in Brooklyn. Quite an accomplishment for someone who hasn't gone any farther north than 20th St. In fact, this was just my second time on the subway since I have been here. It was also the first time I have left the security blanket that is Manhattan.

So, why would I put myself at the risk of whatever criminal activity goes down in Brooklyn? To see RJD2 and Diplo, of course. Both of these guys are DJs - RJD2's style is most similar to that of the instrumental king, DJ Shadow, and Diplo is a party DJ who is co-pilot of the group Hollertronix. Come to think of it, I'm not so sure that description helps at all. Suffice it say both are talented musicians, even if their primary instrument is a turntable rather than a guitar.

RJD2 and I go way back. In fact, I suffer from the I-found-him-first superiority that afflicts so many hip hop listeners. You know, the syndrome that causes otherwise sane fans to falsely believe that they have some ownership over an artist and to be wary of any album put out by said artist if it garners them mass recognition and/or critical acclaim. My affinity for Diplo, who I just recently discovered on the 'net, is in part based on the fact that his name is a shortened version of Diplodocus, a 90-foot long, late jurassic saurapod (for those who weren't dorks when they were kids: that's a big ass dinosaur). To prove his dedication to archaeology and terrible lizards, he even has a tattoo of one on his forearm. Now that's hardcore.

Diplo impressed the audience by mixing songs that wouldn't normally be caught dead associating with one another. Try Dead Prez's "Hell Yeah" with the Postal Service's "The District Sleeps Tonight." Even if I wanted to, I couldn't even begin to dissect his performance to determine all the songs that played but I recall samplings from the Pixies, Outkast, Little Flip, the Cure, Weezer, Fat Joe, Radiohead, and a bunch of down south "crunk" songs.

RJD2, on the other hand, stuck to his own stuff, faithfully reproducing hits from Deadringer, Since We Last Spoke, Soul Positions albums, and even The Horror. Like DJ Shadow, RJ builds songs from samples culled from obscure records, typically of the soul and funk variety. This particular mix of his songs and many others, which lasted almost an hour and a half, was superb and vfull of energy. So much so, in fact, that he had to take a break in the middle to play "give out free shit," a game in which he donated various pieces of fruit to the audience for correctly guessing a mystery song. Spurred by the audience, he even treated us to an encore, although not of the variety that one would expect at a hip hop show. Rather than jump back on the four turntables and sampler, he picked up a guitar and sang the song about the telephone off his new album , which some reviews have called a "jingle." Despite the song's similarities to an AT&T ad, it turned out to be the perfect end to a great show.

Here are two shitty camera-phone pictures from the show:





Afterwards, we ducked into Sea Thai Bistro, the restaurant used in the beginning of Garden State. There isn't much more I can say about this place than "WOW!" Only pictures, not mere words, would do it justice. Maybe I should have brought that camera I always complain about not using. Damn...