20 Jan 13

"...going to funk up some shit..."

"...a white guy with black glasses and a black guy with white glasses..."

Hey, blogspot readers, come celebrate a music milestone featuring rockin' fun and more along with this legendary band! Tonight, deep within the heart of Wicker Park area, SouthSide made a rare  Sunday night appearance to party and review 20years of homegrown "acid" jazz and soul with Liquid Soul. Getting their start as a mainstay on the Elbo Room stage back in the early 90s, this Chicago band has graced many stages around town (including Double Door and Mayne Stage) as well as around the world to festivals (ie Taste of Chicago) and even performed at a presidential inauguration for former president Bill Clinton. This extra special show not only included a crowded stage of current Liquid Soul band members but also former members as a one huge family reunion of sorts throughout this double set celebration ...actually more like "...4 drummers, 3 DJs, 2 MCs and a partridge in a pear tree..." In order to get this party kicked off right (besides defrosting the crowd), DJ Jesse de la Pena rocked the venue with his vibrant mix of retro and modern R&B/soul music that featured Sade and an instrumental funk/soul version of John Lennon's Imagine.

Now, that the crowd was warmed up, they were ready to party all night long! Work on Monday?! Yeah right ...not this crowd! As soon as Liquid Soul took the stage, a rousing cry of cheers and whistles quickly filled up the venue from front to back while the band opened with a exuberant burst of energy and sound amidst the fast lyrical hip hop verse. This unique combination (as seen throughout the show) soon had many dancing and grooving to the funky music vibrations floating from the stage, blogspot readers. This legendary band fused the tones and elements of Chicago Jazz with some funk, R&B, hip hop, Latin spiciness and whole lot of soul along with a hot horn section (led by co-founder Mars Williams) to add sparks to its rhythms within their songs off albums like One-Two Punch, Here's The Deal and Liquid Soul. SouthSide particularly loved the space wizardry funking up the scene amidst a lively upbeat tempo and rhythmic soul sound. This instrumental piece wonderfully meshed together Jazz, DJ scratching, hip hop beats and more until it gelled towards the bridge where the trumpet solo took over firing up the crowd into a frantic frenzy. To say at this point (it was merely the second song into the first set) the entire band was on fire would a be a gross understatement, blogpsot readers. Liquid Soul was setting the stage ablaze song after song popping all over with funk-tastic sound within each note performed.

Liquid Soul did have this unique floetry about their music besides the "acid" Jazz, blogspot readers. During another fun moment, the band tossed in some R&B/groove music to their lyrical hip hop verses as MCs Dirty MF and Brian rocked the mics featuring a guest MC, Mr. Green.  Meanwhile during another song, Liquid upped the not only the rhtyhms to now feature heart-pounding congas and other percussions to the mix but also electrified the stage with hot spicy blasts from the band's horn section and twitterpating electric riffs laced throughout this song though keeping the jazz element within pockets here and there. The band, though bringing the music and vibe to a downtempo tone, soon rocked the stage with a neo-classic Jazz instrumental piece which peeked with vibrant bursts of energy and DJ scratching here and there showing that any music genre and style could be meshed together into a soulful vibration of sound, blogspot readers. This first set so far had upbeat grooves, a funkified diverse sound of music and eclectic style unlike any other (Jazz) band SouthSide has reviewed before now. She liked how Liquid would slow the rhythm and tempo down to allow the ears to bask in the sensual floetry while at other times make the heart race to the beat of quick-step tempos as well as getting your booty shaking. It's a cosmic fusion of many proportions, blogspot readers, in which this reviewer was glad to be a part of their celebration.

For more information about Liquid Soul, its music and where they will be rockin' the stage again, visit http://www.liquidsoul.com

Until next time, support your local scene,

SouthSide