Doomtree presents BLOWOUT TUESDAY: Curated by DESSA
Presented by 89.3 The Current and City Pages
"As a show-goer, I like events that evoke a range of emotion; I wanna be entertained, moved, provoked, and persuaded in one go. So, for my evening at the 7th Street, I asked 3 totally disparate acts to join me on the bill. I, Colossus will open the show. They're a three-man operation with cool, weird vocal harmonies, catchy hooks, surprising song structures, and the occasional perfectly bratty synth line. I caught one of their sets at Honey (drinking whiskey at a table by myself) and creeped everyone else out with my drunken exclamations of approval.
Whenever I've got the opportunity to pick the bill, Crescent Moon is in Big Trouble has a place on it. Alexei (Crescent Moon) is one of the best emcees in the Twin Cities, and every half-decent emcee who lives here will tell you so. He performs with Sean McPherson, Steve McPherson, Peter Leggett, and Josh Peterson--musicians who composed some really inspired compositions to back Alexei's raw magnetism on stage.
The featured guest of the night will be Hannibal Buress--and I'm feeling like a thug for landing this one. Hannibal is a writer and a comic; he's appeared on Letterman, Comedy Central and he now writes for 30 Rock (having left his position at SNL). I'll close out the evening, backed my trio (Sean McPherson, Dustin Kiel, and Joey Van Phillips) and joined by the crazy-talented Aby Wolf." -- Dessa
Tag your Doomtree-related tweets this week: #BlowoutVII
DESSA
Dessa’s first full-length record, A Badly Broken Code, introduced her to a national audience as a rapper, a singer, and a potent, imaginative lyricist. It earned a binder of superlative reviews from sources like NPR, The Seattle Times, and AM New York. To tour the album, she assembled a small cast of talented instrumentalists to re-interpret the disc for a dynamic live concert. Part rap show and part cabaret, the elegant presentation charmed both audiences and critics—not a negligible feat in hip hop, a genre with its share of purists.
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Castor, The Twin captures these new arrangements for ten of Dessa’s strongest previously released songs. It also includes “The Beekeeper,” the haunting advance single from Dessa’s new album due in 2012. Vibraphone, piano, viola, and stand-up bass give the record a classical, sometimes orchestral sound for a beautiful and somber effect. The album is immediately identifiable as an intimate recording of live players, with fingers sliding on frets and raw, expressive vocals. The organic instrumentation pushes Dessa’s lyrics forward, showcasing the imagery and narratives that define her as a songwriter and an emcee. The album title references the twin brothers Castor and Pollux of Roman mythology, the pair of bright stars in the Gemini constellation. Pollux was part god, a fighter with metal hands. Castor was the mortal of the pair, but the two were inseparable. After cutting her teeth with her Doomtree cohorts behind the boards, this is Dessa’s first record with a wholly organic sound—more tender, human versions of the best material she’s released so far.
I, COLOSSUS
Three men, silhouetted against the dawn, obscured by the spinning remnants of burnt comics and cassette tape march steadily forward through the ruins of a once pristine world. Their feet fall on torn Batman tees and broken bottles, red and blue labels strewn amidst the shards. Here, now, in a land stripped of its beauty, abused by over-exposure and the bottom line, they wander, nay, they seek to find that which is hidden behind the veil.
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They walk in limbo, between past and future, analog and digital, Tron and Avatar, Spielberg and the bastard child Michael Bay, to find that awe-inspiring and elusive paradise. A place they can call home, where a Netflix account still includes unlimited streaming and physical copies under one fixed fee. A land where the dance party never ends and Obi Wan never died. These men are I, Colossus and they march fearlessly toward Oblivion. They march... to glory.
HANNIBAL BURESS
Hannibal Buress is a stand up comedian from Chicago. He currently resides in New York City and he eats lots of Halal food from street carts. It’s delicious. He’s appeared on the Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson, Comics Unleashed with Byron Allen, and Comedy Central’s Live at Gotham. He’ll also be appearing in the upcoming documentary The Awkward Kings of Comedy. He isn’t really awkward though. Sometimes he is.
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“If Steven Wright, Mos Def and Dave Chappelle had a baby, that would be disgusting, but it would sound like Hannibal Buress. The funniest young comic I’ve seen in years.” - Chris Rock
“Hannibal is incredibly funny with a smart, unique style and I am proud to be his father.” - Jim Gaffigan
“I haven’t heard this album, and I never will. But I’ve seen Hannibal do comedy, and if the CD is a recording of him doing comedy, then it’s probably worth getting. I mean, I still won’t get it, but you can. And you might like it.” - Todd Barry
“Hannibal is funny on stage and off stage and right in between, too.” - Demetri Martin
“Hannibal’s debut album is hilarious. Also hilarious - Aziz Ansari’s debut album Intimate Moments for a Sensual Evening, now available in stores EVERYWHERE!” - Aziz Ansari
“One of the best joke writers I’ve ever seen. He’s one of the few performers I’ve come across that creates such electricity in a room that I think ‘this guy is going to be a star FOR SURE.” - Mike Birbiglia, star of What I Should Have Said Was Nothing and author of Sleepwalk With Me and Other Painfully True Stories
