by John Miller
The beats are slow. Nothing but an Axlom and a MPC. Two
young men clad in impossibly tight black jeans work the quiet crowd. The pieces
are very approachable, safe. Is it rap, pop, EDM? To answer my own question,
the accessibility leads me to believe that it's pop. While there are elements
of the aforementioned genres, it really isn't challenging. I don't necessarily
say that as a pejorative: there is a place for this as the audience is clearly
into this. It is crowded for an opening act but like the music, everyone is so
even keeled, and exceptionally quiet. And to be honest aside from the table to
my immediate right, there is almost no chatter at all. It's odd. But I digress.
Frankly I'm kind of reminded of 1999, while the music never
reaches those levels of awfulness; there is certainly something to be said of
the casualness they slip from lilac bushes, to a very quick rhyme scheme. It's
uncomfortable. This is a lot more challenging than I thought, so it's obvious
my previous statement may have not been all that accurate. After the show I had
a couple of folks talk me down from the ledge and ultimately come to terms with
the performance.
As far as EDM is concerned, modern flourishes and influences
abound. A retro feel coupled with sound design games. It's not that bad but I
have a feeling that we are reaching, if we haven't already, peak 80s influenced
dance. As negative as this has been, and I put that on myself, Tuskha can
clearly play their instruments but I find that the artistry isn’t there, like
they are simply going through the motions.
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