I was literally watching Lightning Bolt play outdoors in Worcester with Martina on my shoulders when somebody told me about the review in the Times.
First came KaraokeCrime, a boisterous one-man spitfire of interactive singalong. Bounding around the crowd, passing off microphones to audience members, he shouted along with club mixes of Madonna, Celine Dion, Three 6 Mafia and more, inspiring a mix of enthusiasm and revulsion.
“Boisterous one-man spitfire” has to be the best appellation any karaoke-er of jock jams could hope for.
And as for “enthusiasm and revulsion” well, that’s karaoke to a tee (though I’d refine the point and propose that the mechanism here is to push enthusiasm beyond its usual limits by using revulsion to break down inhibitions–like how kinky sex practices use something gross or tacky to arouse.)
Then there was the review’s meta point that the opening bands made the show. Again, what more could I possibly have hoped for? What Cheer? has got to be more used to this than I am, but they have got to be psyched too.
All of this, of course, was totally deliberate on Javelin’s part. They wanted it, they did it and it ruled. The show was super, super fun. I can’t wait to play with them again.
One funny note: usually when I get in a major US daily a bunch of people write me. But who knows I’m Karaokecrime? And who would recognize the back of my head (purple shirt, hands up)? Not many people!
I’m working on putting together a tour for this summer. June, July, August. Anywhere east of Chicago including Canada.
I’ve played small house shows, electronic indy-pop shows in coffee shops, packed club nights, big providence loft parties, and the opening of a clothing store in Sao Paulo Brazil. So it’s really flexible and always fun and screamy/dancey.
I’ll have a backpack and laptop. I travel light and sleep best in hammocks. If you know a band, a scene, a house, a city, a club night, or a party I should know about, let me know.
kj at karaokecrime dot com
I met this Canadian lady Quinn, and her friend Dago (above) got me a Karaokecrime set at his Friday night party in one of the funnest São Paulo clubs: Neu.
The place is a big house, on a street next to a park where all the houses were rented as offices, so they can make tons of noise at night. The place was pretty packed when I went on. Coincidentally a band from Boston who knew my ex-Garrison friends was playing that night. That was pretty nuts.
I didn’t use a projector, just my laptop and the big widescreen monitor I’d used for the Cachalote Party. The start was a little choppy, since the latency of the mics running through ableton was waayyy to high. But everybody was drunk and yelling enough not to notice. The highlight was either Umbrella or Kids / Stand by Me.
Somebody has videos of a million Brazilians smashing into me and singing along, but I’m still waiting on that. I hope they’re good!
