Akasha with Hood Smoke and the Drastics Lincoln Hall Chicago, IL February 23, 2011

Hood Smoke is the kind of band that raises standards and that ultimately takes creativity into new directions. Their song “Chrysanthemum Anthemum,” has a dirty compelling backbeat bass line that drives the song under a smooth and carefully crafted guitar line. Other songs like, “Restless,” have some original vocal melodic curves that really create quite an experience. Some songs drag slightly like out of that University jazz school style, however their live show would be the real test of their abilities. Unfortunately, I got to Lincoln hall a bit late, and Hood-Smoke was pushed early because of the freak Wednesday night weather. I will maintain persistence and faith, and I will be making sure to keep them at the top of my long list of bands that are a must-see!

In regards to the rest of the night, I must mention to those who don’t already know me, that I write for those who feel equally inspired by new sounds in the midst of our current oversaturated musical environment of cookie-cutter mediocrity and generic creativity. I write for those daring bands that dare to be different and deserve recognition for it. These kinds of bands will detune their instruments, create songs that aren’t defined by any particular genre, or carefully craft new musical languages. These are the groups that challenge you. However, there will always be a place in my heart for whatever group in whatever genre that is just good! So for that reason, I was happy to cover the night.

I had to reset my disappointment of missing Hood Smoke to get ready for Drastics and really give them a fair chance. Their sound was tight and their drummer was as animated as a cartoon. Their sound is like a mix between Dub, Reggae, and Calypso with a very prominent rocker vibe. The indie reggae rock sound was particularly prominent in the first thirty minutes of their set that were all instrumental with Jazz trumpet and trombone solos. With the crowd engaged and dedicated fans swaying in unison, (By the way, am I the only one that finds dancing to Reggae is like the most awkward thing to watch, much less dance to?), the singer/ MC came on with a Sean Paul voice in a Trinidad kind of way. That sound stayed pretty constant through the rest of their set, and that was about the end of that. It wasn’t bad, it was pretty good, but I wouldn’t say they were great. They were okay.

As I mentioned before, Akasha headlined the event. They came on around 10:30 or so. For a Wednesday night, they managed to attract a pretty decent crowd. Their set was on the feel-good side of the Reggae spectrum. Very melodic vocal lines were very well executed. Well-arranged backing vocals by the guitarist, bassist, and keyboardist provided some unique harmonic colors.

I wanted to get an audience member’s opinion, perhaps a not so critical perspective. Ed Kim described the band, “It’s kind of like Bob Marley, but more melodic. My friend brought me here, and I never really go to these types of things, so I’m not sure. But I don’t really understand their lyrics, and I don’t really like their endings.”

For a person who never goes to music events, I was pretty impressed with his analysis. For me, they were riding on a plateau pretty much from start to finish. It was a steady stream of not necessarily inspiring good vibes, but good vibes nonetheless. That was enough for the filled room of Akasha fans to have a good time, but I personally would have liked to see more risks. They ended their set with an amazing dark and down tempo techno dub beat that was very well arranged and ironically was very high energy and intense. I remember that song vividly. Too bad that’s all I really had to connect with that I hadn’t heard before. So all in all, this critics opinion is that it was a fun but mediocre night, but I will be on the look-out for Hood Smoke.

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