SPOTLIGHT: MUSIC
HER SPACE HOLIDAY MAY DOCK WITH STARDOM
Anyone who is tired of mainstream hip-hop should check out visitors from the other side as Mush Records' Fall Tour hits Tucson. Hip-hop popster Her Space Holiday, aka Marc Bianchi, will headline the four-act, all-ages show Saturday at Solar Culture Gallery.
Also on the bill are sonic mad professor Daedelus, multi-instrumentalist Octavius and electronic wizard Thavius Beck.
As one of the more innovative independent labels in the country, Mush Records can put together a tour as eclectic and interesting as this one promises to be. Her Space Holiday, whose sole member in Bianchi, is coming off the release of the excellent CD, "The Young Machines." Bianchi pulls off the neat trick of making electronic music sound poppier and more radio friendly than most of his hip-hop brethren. While Bianchi makes his albums solo, Her Space Holiday's live show adds musicians on bass, keyboards and drums to bring studio material to life onstage. You may want to check out Her Space holiday now, since Bianchi soon may be a headliner at far bigger venues.
As interesting as Daedelus is on his CDs, his live shows bring his sonic creations to a whole different level. With his third CD, "Exquisite Corpse," Daedelus has a nice collection of songs to draw on for the stage show. While performing live, Daedelus sometimes straps on an accordion or acoustic guitar while manipulating a mountain of electronic gear.
Even by independent standards, Octavius is different. Octavius' first CD, "Audio Noir," was a perfectly titled aural windstorm, using electronics and live instrumentation to create a captivating sound. Live, Octavius adds visual components - video, lights, written words - to his aural creations and delivers performance art unlike anything else you are likely to see.
Thavius Beck combines computers and traditional analog synths to create a digital, electronic sound that comes across as warmer and more human than one might expect from machine-driven music.
As different as these acts are musically, each brings something to the independent, hip-hop/ electronic scene that makes them worth listening to and seeing.
One advantage of living in Tucson is a music scene that is large and diverse enough to bring a show as interesting as this to a town at a bargain price.
Check it out.
TJ BUCK