Thursday night in New Orleans was host to all the funky, soulful wobble you could desire when the up-and-coming GRiZ headlined the most recent edition of Bassik hosted by The Republic. With opening support from local acts, White Noise, and Sir Charles, turnout for the show started relatively late. White Noise’s contagious enthusiasm from the moment he took the stage quickly energized the crowd and got the funky tunes rolling. The intimate nature of The Republic made for a rave-feeling show even without a lot of the lights and production gimmicks of most electronic shows.
Before taking the stage, GRiZ took a few minutes to talk to KLSU’s SaintParty on topics from collaborative work with Gramatik among others, to how he produces and performs his music, and even dropped us an exclusive line on an upcoming project he hopes to undertake. The whole interview will be posted in the next few days, and an edited version will be broadcast on 91.1 KLSU FM Saturday, November 17 from 7-9pm CST on SaintParty’s The Bassment.
While the main event didn’t start until well past midnight, GRiZ’s musical journey was well received in his first show in Louisiana. A rare highlight for an electronic show, GRiZ’s set featured him playing live on saxophone to the accompaniment of recent songs released on his Mad Liberation album. Little bits of sampling from Biz Markie’s “Just a Friend,” to tunes of Lil Wayne and Skrillex created a show that wandered its way through recent decades while drawing on sounds new and old.
With a very warm reception and a sound spreading like wildfire, you can expect to see GRiZ back in Louisiana in no time. If you haven’t heard much from the man yet, he believes in the sharing of music and his whole Mad Liberation album is available for free on his website. He just released a music video for “Digital Liberation Is Mad Freedom,” a collaboration with Gramatik. A truly unique musician in the Electronic music scene, GRiZ is a must for fans of live music.
SaintParty is similar in many ways to an Earthquake hitting 9.0 on the Richter scale, only you know he’s coming from 7-9pm every Saturday night mixing live on the one and only 91.1 FM – KLSU
