Last Night: Astronautalis, Bleubird at Nectar

The show began with a set from Cars & Trains, which is basically one dude screwing around on an MPC, two laptops, a little toy keyboard, a violin, a trumpet...the guy was pulling instruments from behind his little DJ table like rabbits from a hat. As cool as this sounds, the sum of all those parts didn't add up to anything very interesting. It sounded like the guy wanted to be Postal Service-era Ben Gibbard, except he lacked the songwriting abilities to write another Give Up. Some of the songs were perfectly lovely background music, but there were other songs— like one in which he played the same short melody on a bunch of different instruments and then layered them with looping pedals— that were downright boring. Which is probably why no one was paying attention for most of his set, except for one dude in a Castelli hat and bike shoes. Oh, and some beefy guy in an A's hat. It got a little better toward the end of the set, but I still wasn't that impressed; the only means by which his music could ascend from inoffensive to enjoyable for me would probably involve several extra-strength pot brownies.

Then Bleubird came on, and that guy, whom Andy refers to as his "hip hop husband" (awww), put on one of the funniest hip hop performances I've seen in a very, very long time. At first, I was having a hard time understanding his words— dude needs to enunciate more— but he won me over with a song about the kind of girlfriend he's looking for. Actually, it wasn't the song itself: it was an aside, like when Kanye raps, "Haters give me them salty looks (Lawry's)" in "Good Life." Except in Bleubird's case, it went: "I want a girlfriend with a cat/ And an apartment with plants (Basil!)" For some reason, I found that shit side-splittingly hilarious, and it wouldn't have been if Bleubird didn't have such great comedic timing. He's totally strange, but in all the best ways. If the guy's hip hop career tanks, he could probably take a stab at straight stand-up, because the stage banter between himself and Astronautalis (who sat in front of a laptop onstage, Twittering, making snide remarks and providing back-up vocals) was at least as good as the songs. And the songs were good, especially "Clean Your Plate," an admonishment about how you should really take your leftovers home instead of throwing them away, set to this super-hard gangsta beat that sounds like it should belong to an Immortal Technique song. Which is partly why Bleubird is so funny; most of his stuff takes gangsta hip hop to task, but in a good-natured way, not in an angry, politicized kind of way. Like...I could see this guy making a follow-up to "I'm On A Boat," with Lil Wayne that would be even funnier than the original.

After Bleubird's set, he and Astronautalis basically switched seats— Bleubird perched near the laptop, and Astronautalis picked up the mike. Thing is, Astronautalis actually has the same problem as Bleubird— he raps really fast, often in this Tom Waits-like growl, and he's hard to understand because of it. But while Bleubird seems really laid-back and relaxed onstage, Astronautalis does that manic leg-twitch thing that hipsters do when they're at concerts and are really enjoying themselves, but are too scared of looking foolish to dance. Not that this is Astronautalis' problem; I'm just describing the motion. Anyway, Astronautalis performed a nice blend of new and old songs, most of which tell a story, which is why it sucked that I couldn't hear him better.

Which is why, as always, the highlight of the evening was his trademark freestyle, in which Astronautalis incorporates a series of words chosen at random from those suggested by the audience. This time, the audience shouted out these phrases: shaving Ani DiFranco, Belmont, unicorn puke, and Patrick Swayze. Astronautalis managed to work them all into a pretty badass freestyle that involved Patrick Swayze riding unicorns. Poor Patrick Swayze. I hope he gets to ride a unicorn all the way up to Dirty Dancing heaven. I actually thought it was kind of weird that someone yelled his name out, considering he's dying of cancer right now. I think it was meant to be an homage, but if I had yelled something out...I was sort of thinking along the lines of "narwhal" or "banana hammock" or "caraway seeds" (that basil thing had me thinking about spices.) But I digress: after a couple more songs, the show ended with a poem, which is the first time I've seen Astonautalis end a show that way. The funny thing is, that poem was actually the best example of his skills I witnessed that evening, since I could actually understand the words. In fact, I liked it so much that I'm hoping Andy will make it a tradition to end every show with a poem. What do you say, Andy? If you start doing this, I pledge to attend every single one of your shows.

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