Tomas Olesen checks out the album launch of the incredible one-man-band that is - MC Xander.
The upstairs of Vibe Bar is quietly buzzing in anticipation when I arrive for the Onetaste-organised launch of MC Xander's much anticipated debut album, 'Eyeopeness'. There's a real family vibe in the room, everyone seems to know each other and, as hip hop of the appropriately jazzy variety builds the vibe nicely, the room slowly fills to capacity.
Brighton-based beatboxer, Bunty, kicks things off with a broad range of styles, from a kind of reggae-fied hip hop to electro dubby vibes. There's even a really beautiful cover of Leonard Cohen's tune 'Sisters of Mercy', which is mesmerising despite the chatter from the bar droning in to her set. She could definitely have been a bit louder but really impresses with a dubstep tune that utilises her full array of toys, and she seems to have a lot. Slide whistles and a host of strange little percussion bits and pieces enter the loop vortex she creates for each song – although perhaps it might be more appropriate to call them sound sculptures instead of songs. Personally I enjoy her more hip hop-style stuff but it's all interesting (at worst) and a great way to warm up for the main event.
What's immediately striking about Xander's performance, particulalrly when compared to other loop pedal artists and beatboxers, is the sound quality. It sounds massive and full. After 'Gnois' he goes in to old favourite 'White Light' and it really highlights his big strong kick sound. The other thing that really marks him out from the herd is song structure. All of his tunes have a sense of drama and proper build-ups, drops, and breakdowns. It may be that the slow building intros are actually born out of the process of layering up sounds, but it works to really build tension before the main drop.
He finishes the set with 'Spaceship Earth' which sounds brilliant live; the beautiful almost choral backing he lays down is enough to send shivers down the spine and the moment the warm distorted bass comes in is ridiculous. All of his bass lines defy logic, and I guess he must be feeding the signal through a low pass or something, but tonally there are shades of the bass line for 'Pony' by Ginuwine in this one. It's my favourite track he does and a high to go out on.
A round of rapturous applause from a room full of friendly faces drags him back on stage for a drum 'n' bass encore that leaves me a little underwhelmed, but then I'm knackered and the dancing crew at the front seem to love it. Again the drums are crazily crisp, and his rapping over the top reminds me of watching him MC at Chew the Fat! a few years back. As such it's a timely reminder at the end of his show of just how far he's developed his style and sound.
I watch people in the crowd having a proper rave-up to the sounds coming from one man's mouth and think to myself he's less a human beatbox, more a human DJ. But this isn't imitation dance music, it's full of the human idiosyncrasies that makes live music so amazing and which give it a rich quality that is so often lacking from a DJ set. This is his own sound, and as he adds more bits of kit to his arsenal and refines it further I genuinely can't wait to see what he'll do next.
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