That Buzzing Sound: Showcase: Karmin @ The Troubadour (11/29/12)

Say Hello!, #afterthebreak…

Karmin at Doug Weston’s Troubadour

Special Guests:

DJ Paz

Bryan J

11/29/12

Highlights:

If you follow our daily feed of rants & tangents, then you know that this Karmin Showcase wasn’t suppose to happen. Was extremely close to giving away the tickets to one of my friends. If all plans went accordingly then this would’ve been our first country fried showcase since Stagecoach. That was my goal. A different kind of showcase. And I got it regardless. Funny how things work out because I had a blast rocking with Karmin. Probably more than I would’ve at the Wiltern. For something can be said for showmanship, performance, and good people to Rap / PoP music at my favorite venue. Even the rain couldn’t damper our spirits.

I have been a fan of Amy Heidemann & Nick Noonan (Karmin) since I created B4M two plus years ago. They were one of the first artists I covered thanks to their Rap-Up spotlights that blew my mind. Like almost everyone I have spoken to…their clever youtube covers and incredible hip hop / piano skills are quite noteworthy because of how fun they were. Then they blew up outside the net, sold a few thousand singles & records, named one of the breakout stars of 2012, and now they are at that edge that most new artists face — overcoming the hype. Luckily, their 2012 EP — Hello (Out now) — is merely the tip of their creative ‘iceberg’.

That brings us to last Thursday night where Karmin sold out their first big solo show at one of Hollywood’s most iconic venues — Doug Weston’s Troubadour. (A statement I written more times this year than any year before in our history.) The crowd was early 20s woman over men in every sense. Made shooting the artists 50% easier. Even spotted a bunch of their fans with Amy’s signature hair bun. They even brought along newcomers DJ Paz & R&B crooner Bryan J to help get the party started. Two very different styles which totally showcases Karmin’s style.

Bryan J opened but instead of coming out full throttled as I expected, he quietly took the stage with his guitarist and played acoustically his first couple of singles. He interacted with the front row of ladies with some hand gestures and big pearly white smiles. Even if he didn’t make a impact, he might get some digits. Mad props. Bryan transitioned to his more predictable hip hop style by the end of his very short four song set. That stuff wasn’t that memorable. The lady behind me liked it. Found the acoustic stuff better. Pity that the market is still flawed.

Luckily, EDM is all the rage now and that’s what DJ Paz represents as he brought the electronic waves through the vintage wooden Troubadour walls. Paz’s resume includes opening up for Deadmau5. This was my first EDM performance at the iconic venue and it got kind of lame by the end. Nothing like EDC or Coachella, where it’s just people getting ‘crunked’. Wasn’t Paz Paz’s fault, the girls seemed ready for Karmin half through his “LOUD NOISES” mixtape [performed live, no button pushing] and it just filtered through the crowd:

It started out strong as everyone was kicking it to Coldplay, Calvin Harris, Deadmau5, Drake, Swedish House Mafia…bitches were going insane. That front row of 20 somethings burning a sweat and me smiling as I watched them bounce to some EDMs best artists. I turned to my friend, Picksysticks, and said, “If he plays Kanye West’s ‘…In Paris’, I’m walking out“. At almost every DJ showcase this year I had heard that track and am completely sick of it. No joke. Playing Kanye’s tracks are too cliche. Want my mind blown. He didn’t win points of his ‘Friday’. Never seen so many people stop dancing at a single moment. The biggest pop of the night was when Amy & Nick popped up their curtain and greeted everyone from above.

My biggest problem with this whole EDM craze is it’s a bunch of people, in a room, dancing around to music from someone’s IPod playlist. That’s it. Sure the remixes are inventive and music itself can be quite fantastical…yet it always makes me feeling empty.

I didn’t care what time the show ended, I was staying to the very end. By 10pm, Karmin had hit the stage with their new, non Hello single, Boom! Like they were trying to make a statement. Here we are Los Angeles…Boom. Then ran right into Hello. Very clever. Don’t know if it was Karmin’s intention. What it sounded it like to me. Like every song title made a statement throughout the 1 hour long set. You can watch those two songs and all my other performances before the picture selects along with their covers of Breezy’s “Look at Me Now” (brought a fan on stage for that one) & “Pumped Up Kicks-Journey mashup'”.

Gave the whole showcase nice amount of dept. Was afraid that because don’t have a songs to their name that it was going to be lackluster showcase, but they brought it. Digging into their musical bag of tricks. It’s that Taurus work ethic. Never to be underestimated. Nick was jumping up on speakers. Amy couldn’t stop dancing, high five-ing, and touched every single person she could. If you waited long enough, you even got to meet with fiancés afterwards. Love when artists are open. Won’t last very long if they keep succeeding at this rate. They wanted to give everyone a show worth talking about and it worked. Plus, she got the quick tongue.

My only complaint, a very minor one, is the same one I had with their new EP — short and some of the songs didn’t really connect with this alpha male who respects sugary pop music. As they move forward will be expecting more, but right now even the songs that didn’t connected sounded great and fun live.

My new camera did okay in one of the worst camera environments. Picksysticks had my Canon S100 and got two really amazing long shots of the duo. All the bright lights made guerrilla photography a bit easier. Still wasn’t happy with the new Nikon’s zoom. Made me realize to sick with what is trusted and know. Still got one of of these best posed shots of 2012.

Three Troubadour shows in three weeks. Two with Picksysticks. Jeez. That’s how I’ll remember November 2012. All different showcases with three amazing groups full of great future potential. Karmin won’t be disappearing anytime soon. They have ‘it’. Out of all the acts this year they really have a bright future ahead. And we’ll be there supporting them in way we can. Look forward to next time we crash your party.

Thank you to Amy & Nick of Karmin, DJ Paz, Bryan J, and The Troubadour for putting on another great show. The media below is yours to share in return. Sorry for typos as we end our year on another incredible note in the days to come.

-J

==Fan Videos by Razorstarzz==