I’ve never done an event review and always said I most likely would never write one but this time I’ll make an exception. I had been planning on writing a review of The Glitch Mob’s latest album and their new live setup but never got around to it because I felt it would cause up only more of a stir. The reason why I always said I wouldn’t write a review of anything is because I’m one of the most critical humans I’ve come across. While this may seem like a great thing it can actually get me in a lot of trouble especially on a blog that has a decent following.
I’ve seen The Glitch Mob three times with two of those events being a few hours apart from each other (Lolla & Smart Bar in Chicago). This was after Kraddy departed and the boys were using the Lemur as their main setup. The occasionally used a drum pad with drum sticks but usually only to close their set. The sets at this time were very similar to their infamous Crush Mode mix. They were high energy and in complete slay mode the entire show. I’ll never forget seeing them rock out like that!
The third time I saw them was when I flew all the way to California for Lightning in a Bottle 2010. Their album Drink the Sea had recently come out and they were tweeting and announcing they had an entirely new setup. Many people had harsh feelings and were skeptical of all this because I feel that many thought that the Drink the Sea album was quite radical from their earlier works. I personally felt that the album was extremely well put together but yes lacking on slay juice. Drink the Sea is an album I cherish tremendously and play it on vinyl on certain nights where I have a smoke and just sit back and enjoy the music in quite environment.
This is the reason I felt a bit offish about their new set when I heard them at Lightning in a Bottle. However I had been warned that they played an extremely laid back set at Coachella and had truly changed their live show dynamics. I personally didn’t mind their set at Lightning in a Bottle but I felt like I was ready for what they were doing and had been given the heads up. I just felt like it was a whole new experience where they skidded away from the slay stuff. Let me not paint a picture that it was all new chill material because it wasn’t. They played some of the old favorite and created a mix of both new and old. The problem I had was that it was a bit too extreme when going to chill laid back beats to the heavy high energy bass. I appreciated what was going on but couldn’t help but thing man what are they thinking?! How can you not notice that you use to have crowd going wild the whole set and now just sit back and watch crowd barely bounce on some of these tunes. I feel like theirs a time and place for those tunes and big environments like that are extremely risky. They pulled it off and feel like they impressed many yet of course disappointed others who might of heard how they were before.
One thing that is worth mentioned about the LIB set was how they incorporated so much more into the live set compared to when I saw them in Chicago. They had edIT rocking his SG guitar, Ooah having two synth keyboards, and Boreta with some more drum pads. They incorporated more instruments without using the Lemur as much as they are known too. They almost felt like a live band but yet didn’t. I have to tip my hat off though because that must take tons of practice and tons of extra work to re-work their whole set to include additional gear on top of their lemurs.
This past Monday I saw The Glitch Mob for the fourth time. I had no idea what to expect. Their new Mixtape had just come out which added a bit more to the Drink the Sea album. It flowed more like a mash up album and totally added more energy to the overall feel of the new tracks. It seemed as if the mixtape could of stand more on its own as an album as well compared to just a mix. After hearing the mixtape and posting it on the blog I wrote how who know what they will do with this. I even suggested that they could even be working these versions of the songs into their live set. They opened up with epic lightning system that they seem to be traveling with. Their setup seemed to be stripped down a bit and they all have an electric drum kit. Drums is definitely a new concentration in this new over-haul again. At the LIB show I felt like they were doing a little less but presenting in a way they were doing more since they using instruments people are familiar with. This time they clearly are going back to the Lemur. edIT is on the top of his games running complex patterns on the Lemur. Boreta is running most of the synth lines and hold down a good amount of affects on board. Ooah is just keeping a clean layer over edIT and doing some fresh work in all aspects of their sound. The three of them are live the whole time and it’s amazing to see it all over again. Every drum pattern, synth line, and sample is being controlled by them. It brought a huge smile to my face when I realized that they really were re-working the new tracks with the mash up version. It’s as if they had completely revamped things to bring more energy using the vocals of familiar hip hop/crunk vocals. One of the highlights of the night which gave me goosebumps was hearing the La Roux mash up from the Mixtape.
Overall their performance was flawless. My only concern was the lack of power on the speaker system. The sound was extremely low. There was someone who literally told me at the start of the set how low it sounds in the back of the venue. I said really?! He replied with I’m using my regular voice and you understand what I’m saying (we were in the front area of the pit). I feel like there could of been a lot more energy put out if the sound was bumping. Another thing I felt like was a bit weak was the crowd. Granted it was a Monday night but I felt a bit ashamed for S.FL. The crowd seemed like they had never heard these tracks before. Honestly I felt like most people weren’t moving or dancing as much because the beats were different style than what they were use too. It’s me over thinking everything probably but felt like if we took photos of every event on the tour and compared them to the S.FL show it’d be a whole different picture. I’m glad that they did make a stop in FL and that I was here to see it.
I want to say thank you to edIT, Boreta, and Ooah for putting on such a show. It takes a lot of work and energy to do a live show like that. I appreciated it beyond belief. I’m totally loving what they are doing now and hands down much respect for evolving so much.
I didn’t get into MartyParty’s set but let me tell you this guy doesn’t disappoint. It was amazing to see him bouncing around and jamming out. He was straight killing it. My only complaint is that his setup was at an angle and not facing the crowd. This might of been the case because The Glitch Mob’s gear was all setup behind him. Hearing some of his unreleased stuff on a big system was fantastic to relive. His set at Lightning in a Bottle had a lot going for it compared to the FTL show but he still rocked out. There’s a ton of new stuff he’s playing out and can’t wait to hear on the new EP due out soon. MartyParty continues to be one of the performers that I look too as a role model. I’ll even admit that half of the tracks he played were tunes that I played at Get Low w/ Lazer Sword. His track selection to me was absolutely perfect. He even dropped the Roxanne remix he did with Love & Light and the Beatles remix by L&L as well. I’m not going to lie I was disappointed when he dropped a Borgore tune but ohh well people eat that stuff up.
Thank you good sir Marty! Thank you for tweeting my post about you as well.
Much love out to you guys! It was great meeting you guys and seeing you in my home state.
Best of luck on the rest of your tour!
Also a big thank you to Def Owl and Chad for everything. It’s risky business to bring acts like these into the South Florida market. Thank you!
-Afro Monk
Afro Monk
September 6th by Afro Monk 
Tags: Batman 12", Get Low, Lando Kal, Lazer Sword, Lazer Sword Batman, Low Limit, Rustie
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