Dexter, Mu-Gen, King Marong & Afro Mandinko @ The Espy, Melbourne (22/03/08)
The Esplanade Hotel, better known under its abridged name, “The Espy”, can be a bit intimidating for an out-of-towner, as I found out on Saturday night. I had rocked up to witness Dexter and Mu-Gen rip up the decks, and King Marong perform some live afro-beat funk & soul with his band Afro Mandinko. Along with me I decided to bring some friends who were visiting from Sydney, not because I thought they’d enjoy the night and the atmosphere. Actually I had a distinct sense that they would feel out-of-place, but I wanted to show them the artistic side of Melbourne, so where else to go but St. Kilda. Oh, and I think there might have also been a subtle sadistic motivation for enabling the fish-out-of-water situation…cos, well, I kinda hate Sydney, and I like to fuck with Sydney folks whenever they’re down here. Haha! [laughs nervously, looks shiftily from side-to-side, hides knife].
Wait, “hides knife”?? What’s that all about… (remind me to mention this to my therapist). So aside from me being a knife-wielding Sydney-hater, I realised something when I purposely led these pups into the lions den we call The Espy: I fucking love Melbourne. No doubt about it, I love this city. Even after some semi-drunk emo-lookin chick spills beer all over my back at the front entrance, I still love this city. Even when King Marong inadvertently catches me staring at him and looks like he’s gonna open up his mouth and eat me, I still love this city. I love the freedom to creatively express yourself in any way possible, and I love The Espy for being relaxed enough to let us all inside. We’re really blessed cos in my HONEST opinion (and with as little bias as I can say this), we’re living in the best city in Australia. And one of the best places in the world. Granted, I haven’t seen the whole damn world just yet, but I feel confident that I’m right. And I’m always right. Why? “Fuck you, that’s why!” © Alec Baldwin.
It was my first time witnessing King Marong and Afro Mandinko, not to mention I’ve never even heard of them before. So I read the names playing on the night alongside Dexter, who I have seen before, and thought what the hell. I’m adventurous like that. I’m so musically enhanced that I can tell what’s good and what’s not simply by the artist name. I’m so good, I instinctively knew Crazy Penis were a dope production team before I even heard their first remix, meanwhile my friends thought I had started going through a bi-curious phase.
Ebrima “King” Marong is an accomplished artist, a Gambian master djembe drummer (a drum I personally fucks with… That was my gangsta-talk), percussionist, singer, composer, teacher and cultural ambassador. He also scares the shit out of you if you stare at him, did I mention that already? Right, I did. I’m not still scared, I swear. Marong has been performing professionally since the age of 12, hails from West Africa but now calls Melbourne home. He is renowned as being a master of many different drums and drumming styles, and on the night showed off his mastery to the appreciative crowd. He performed with a giant djembe strapped around his neck, which was almost as tall as I was (OK, so I’m not that tall, but still… it was big). Along with his band Afro Mandinko, made up of some of Melbourne’s premier musicians, he got everyone buzzing off the band’s afro-jazz-reggae-fusion style.
Mu-Gen and Dexter held shit down on the wheels of steel (mo gangsta-talk), with Dexter in particular playing some of the most neck-snappingest “ohmygodijustthrewupinmymouthcosthisshitisSOSICK” underground stutter-step hip-hop. Barely 15 minutes into his set, Dexter warned the crowd “it’s nothing but the underground shit tonight!”, and underground it was for I only recognized only one track out of the many. That being a Sa-Ra produced track Agent Orange, offa Pharoahe Monch’s underrated sophomore album Desire. I left the night wishing I had somehow scored a tracklist for everything Dexter played that night, and a number for a physiotherapist to fix my crooked neck. It sounds bad, but it’s a good thing.
Oh, and the Sydney folks? Ended up in the Gershwin Room watching some unknown rock band, either to escape the “colourful people” (their words) in the front bar, or to sit in the air conditioning. Me? I like it hot, sticky, crazy, energetic and, oh yeah, “colourful”. Melbourne & The Espy? You rule.
Kat_in_Japan says...
Wish I'd checked it out.