/courtesy of Eliot Lipp
Brooklyn based producer Eliot Lipp has an ability that not many artists in the electronic music world have. Not only does his music get the crowd stirred up into a sweaty frenzy, something all DJ’s should be able to do, but he is also able to inspire the crowd with complex, soulful, and beautiful music.
His musical influences are clearly rooted in 90’s hip hop, but Lipp also draws influence from many other genres to complete his sound. He has described his sound as “electro funk, an organic fusion of Techno and Soul.”
On his most recent headlining tour, which includes his stop last weekend at The ‘Stache, Lipp is trying something relatively new. He brought along a live band which includes a guitarist and a drummer, and the result is a much fuller sound and a more exciting live show while still being able to keep the crowd good and sweaty.
Prior to the show, I wondered how Lipp’s most recent album “Shark Wolf Rabbit Snake,” would adapt to the live band sound. During the middle of the set, they rattled off several tracks from the album in a row including “Alive,” “Gettin Money,” “The Sunset” and “Fly Away Baby Part 2.” To my pleasure, the tracks sounded excellent. The live guitar compliments the high, sharp synths on “The Sunset” and the smooth sounds of “Fly Away Baby Part 2” equally well, and the drums add necessary depth and energy to the live sound.
Towards the end of their 90 minute set, they played my favorite old school Lipp track, the electro masterpiece “Beamrider.” This song, off his 2008 album “Peace Love Weed 3D,” is a sonic representation of the title, with pulsating synths that make me feel like I’m riding on a laser beam through a black-hole-powered quasar.
At times, the band sounded more like a funk band than an electronic one. They sounded the tightest as a unit when they played several tracks off of an upcoming album that all three recorded together.
This new live performance showed why Lipp is such an incredible artist. Being able to diversify and improve on an already stellar sound, while still creating new and exciting music for the fans to get down to is a very impressive feat.
For this show only being the second show they have played together on this tour, I was severely impressed with the outcome. I was already a huge fan of Eliiot Lipp’s music before this show, but had seen his shows enough times to know what I was in for at each one, which is not a bad thing.
In the past year, however, he has visited Grand Rapids at least twice, so the addition of a band is an extremely welcome one. If they continue touring with performances like this one, it’s easy to see things to continue getting better for this Lipp and his live band.
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