Beat boxing has always been somewhat of a parlour trick rather than a bonefide art. The human voice is an amazing thing and no doubt beatboxing is a great display of its phenomenal potential, but it’s practiced by artisans more than artists. Cats like Shlomo (there’s an awesome YouTube of him and DJ Yoda), Robeat and our own Joel Turner are all amazing talents, but Reggie Watts elevates it to something else entirely. Sure, he employs a loop machine, but it’s not how he does it, it’s what he conjures up that had the small, slightly confused but vigorous crowd dragging him back for TWO encores. The man was quite honestly the most entertaining and mesmerizing thing I’ve seen live in a long, long time.

Reggie is not a household name by any stretch, and I overheard quite a number of punters vaguely trying to pinpoint his work and where they’d seen him recently (a guest spot on GNW did more for his profile than a coveted spot in the recent Sydney Festival). This anonymity proved an asset however, as curiosity blossomed into full-blown wonder with Watts offering almost 2 hours of comedy, satire and music delivered with fuzzy verve and dynamic unpredictability.

He started with a playful intro of manufactured tech difficulties, cutting off his voice sporadically as if the mike kept cutting out, cutting back in on key phrases and gestures. His timing was great. He then led the audience through a lengthy monologue, meandering through so many subjects and changing so often and so suddenly that I can barely remember any of them! Despite that, it never felt awkward, like he was intuitively following a train of thought that was constantly half a step ahead. We were in that sense a full step behind him, following along eagerly.

His subject matter ranged from loosely constructed characters talking about world politics (kinda), scientific research and tech jargon (kinda) and even a relatively lucid attack on the music industry (a genius moment was his musical tribute to a future tribute band of commercial punkers Fall Out Boy). It was all a bit impressionistic, as if he was doing an impersonation of someone giving a seminar or speaking at a conference. The fun part of it all was the rich vein of anti-establishmentarianism that gave him a playful ‘lighten the fuck up’ edge. The crowd responded well, we all felt that what he was saying (whatever it was) was right.

He broke up his spoken word with loosely related music. He’d do a few bars of rhythm, loop it, spit a funky bass line and loop that before laying some melody and texture over the top, creating some really huge soundscapes that had surprising depth and complexity. He had a great feel for soul, channeling Al Green, and other times he flirted with Autechre’s louder more accessible moments before feeding us a straight up hip hop number. Yeah, I know, but trust me when I say the guy made it all work. He has a 10 octave range if you believe his press (and seeing him I do) and his musicality is up there with the best acts I’ve seen this year so far.

I’m not surprised Reggie has blitzed his way through the Sydney Festival and even wowed Brian Eno recently. Its entertainment that is equal parts cerebral and visceral and if you get a chance to see him live, do it. At the very least, don’t feel guilty wasting company time at work YouTubing him. You’ll dig it, and at the very least you’ll look at beatboxing as more than a simple parlour trick.