Champagne on the Radio

Renee McMahon

Tunde Adebimpe at Sasquatch

One of the many highlights to being at Sasquatch over the weekend was the noticeable interaction between artists off stage that were just hanging out, sharing meals, and shooting the shit with one another. I noticed some of the guys from TV on the Radio conversing with local hip-hop group Champagne Champagne on Sunday, and it looked like a really friendly exchange. Thomas Gray of Champagne Champagne, asked me, half joking, if he could review the TVOTR show and I said yes. After the jump, check out his magical account of hanging out with those guys, and how two crazy Indian kids got to jam with TVOTR at Sasquatch.

Thomas Gray's Review:

Upon being given the honor to review the TV on the Radio set during the 2009 Sasquatch Music Festival, I must say that my mind was blown. Where was I to start, what was I to ask, and are these cats going to clown me for my obvious biased perspective of their music? Once I started up the ramp toward the main stage, however, all of these feelings subsided as I saw them do all of their pre-show rituals and realized that these guys are just human beings, albeit the kind that kill shit.

The beginning of the show was awesome; they went into many of their well known songs and slowly revved up the crowd to a frantic frenzy. As Kyp Malone played his unique brand of guitar and Tunde Adebimpe began doing everything from singing to playing a series of looping pedals like piano keys, I realized that I was actually up there and the brevity of my situation started to sink in. I am having trouble conjuring up the proper words for this so I will simply say: THESE GUYS KILLED IT!

The bassist (Gerard Smith) rarely poked his head out of his fortress of MOOG keyboards and never looked at the crowd once. Meanwhile, David Sitek played everything from wind chimes to the tambourine, sometimes doing the two simultaneously.

The highlight of the show was during their heavy percussion ladened song, "A Method," as my friend and fellow Champagne Champagne band mate DJ Gajamagic took the stage along with Aziz Ansari (Human Giant, Parks and Recreation) to play alongside the band during what was the best use of cymbals and buckets since the Junkyard Band's first record.

Afterwards I had a chance to sit down with band in the catering tent and I only really had one question: Why didn't you guys play "Love Dog?" The response by Tunde: "You should have asked before the set when we were talking." Wow. Next time I see him I will have a laundry list of awesomeness from some of their older material to ask them to play. Hopefully, at some point, we will have an opportunity to play with them. Besides seeing "Bruno's Torso" by Death Vessel live, this was the best experience of my whole Sasquatch 09'. After playing it...of Course
-Thomas Gray