UNARTIG

New York City, CBGB’s 11 October 2006
Set List ~ I Against I > The Regulator > Sailin’ On > Right Brigade > Attitude > I > Jah Love > Coptic Times > Sacred Love > Let Me Help > Soul Craft > I And I Survive > Banned In DC >  Fearless Vampire Killers > I Luv I Jah > At The Movies > Re-Ignition > Pay To Cum

Geek Specs
A/V ~ Sony HDR-HC1 with Sony ECMHST1 Stereo Shotgun Microphone > 1080i/60 DV on Sony DVM-60PR > Sony GV-HD700 > Firewire > Final Cut Pro X > Compressor > H.264, 1280×720, 24fps, 8000kbps, AAC, 44kHz, 320kbps

Words by Chris Haskett 
OK, the Bad Brains. Where to even start? Well, to start by stating the obvious, they were one of the greatest bands I’ve ever seen. Anywhere. Any time. They also appeared in the right place and the right time to be a huge catalyst to music. When they got on the scene, they were so good and so consistent and played so hard that all of a sudden about 99% of the stuff your band was doing and 99% of all the records you owned and 100% of everything you thought about music was now utterly dead and irrelevant. It’s easy to be “intense” and no big task (especially if you limit your imaginative scope) but the Bad Brains distilled a brilliant originality, an awesome musical ability and a raw intensity that made everybody’s jaws drop. Where the cheap, cartoonish side of the scene had stupid frat kids with skinny ties were thinking the point was to be demonstrably incapable of playing, the Bad Brains dropped napalm on that concept because they were so damn good. They were one the few bands (ever) that can actually GROOVE at 160 bpm. Everybody else just fudged the tempos and shrugged it off by calling it “thrash”. Nobody could touch them. HR is a unique vocalist and even in the early days the band already had unique tonal palette. Their songs had changes that pulled on you with palpable G-force (think, for example of the transitions into and out of the break in “I”) and were executed with machine precision. One note, from outside a club, and you could tell it was them. To me they were local heroes, even after they moved to New York (which constituted “making it” to my 17 year old mind) and it was always a mixture of jealousy and pride when people, finding I’m from DC, asked if I knew them…

I Against I

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