Upfront feat. Mark De Clive-Lowe & Sharlene Hector @ Miss Libertine, Melbourne (21/02/08)
I often wonder whether my favourite broken-beat soul artists and producers would put on a decent live show. This style of music, while topnotch and in my opinion the future of soul music, wouldn’t work live unless it was just played off a recording. I couldn’t conceive how a live show would play out without the aid of a live band. Then around a year ago, I saw live video footage of 4Hero’s Kaidi Tatham going to town on the keyboards. At that point I realised my favourite artists, including all the 4Hero cats, Mark, Jazzanova and others of similar ilk, must possess some pretty tight music skills in order to produce the good shit that they do. They gotta have the talent not just on the boards, but also the ability to play live with the best of em. On Thursday night, Mark showed me and the crowd how it’s done.
Not only playing live on two separate keyboards, Mr. De Clive-Lowe basically programmed whole beats and compositions live on his array of machinery and played along with em as Sharlene Hector beautifully sang to the on-the-spot made tunes. He would start off with each element, programming drums, bass and then keys into a recorded loop, and then free styling over the top with the ebony and ivories. To keep things interesting he would switch the beat up, and insert different programmed elements into the live mix. This was pretty much the ‘one-man-band’ tag on display, as Mark effortlessly programmed track after track live on the spot, throwing in wicked solos on the keys and synths for good measure, and to prove he is, in fact, a musician. Well, the man’s played on over 150 recordings and worked with a vast cornucopia of artists and musicians, he MUST be a true muso otherwise I’m the Pope (for the record, I am NOT the Pope…not yet anyway).
While Mark and Sharlene already had the crowd impressed from the start, people really got vocal for two of the more well-known underground soul songs out there. The first was a song taken from Mark’s 2004 album Tide’s Arising, called Heaven featuring Bêmbè Sêguè, a collaboration which would later spawn an album under the guise of The Politik (look it up and check it out, it’s dope). The opening keyboard chords to the song are so well-known to me now that I recognised the song instantly, and so did the majority of the crowd. Sharlene Hector did great filling in for the original, and dare I say, did a much better job of it. The second one which got me really excited isn’t even a MdCL production, but is in fact DJ Spinna’s vocal remix of Shaun Escoffrey’s Days Like This, a soaring house track taken from Shaun’s 2003 remix EP Soulonica. One hour and a bit into the show, Mark re-created the entire soundscape from thin air (and thick machines), while Ms. Hector pitch-perfectly matched Shaun’s vocals and, dare I say AGAIN sounded better than the original recording. I was not previously aware of Sharlene Hector, but I damn sure am now.
Mark De Clive-Lowe not only has a really standoutish name, but natural talent as well. He has been hailed as the new Herbie Hancock, possessing a highly-developed sense of musicianship along with a diversity of music styles. Sheit, I’m sure at this point Herbie would be itchin’ to work with Mark, if he hasn’t already. This music is the future, no doubt about it. It is infused with elements from all types of genres to create an amalgam so rich in heart and soul, so new and different-sounding yet so familiar, but overall, so phat and full of swagger. Mark will continue to be at the forefront with the vanguards of the future of soul music, and if ever you see he’s playing your town, do yourself a huge favour and witness NOW what will surely become a legend in the years to come.
