Words By J-man
I love assembled projects, where musicians step outside of their normal comfort range to come together with musicians of different backgrounds to bring us something new all together. Though I am not a huge fan of electronic music, I was looking forward to the possibilities of Praang. We arrived at Quixote's in Downtown Denver just prior to soundcheck to meet with Jason Hann of Praang, EOTO & The String Cheese Incident.
We met with Jason backstage. As we set up our gear, another gentleman (wook) wandered into the room and began running cable. He informed us that he would be operating the lasers for the evening. When questioned about who he was with, the man said, "No one. They told me not to come out." We all laughed and smiled at the absurdity of the situation. The man continued with his set up and we proceeded with the interview...
I was really pleased with Jason's responses and openness. Furthermore, it was nice to feel such warmth and kindness from him. Following the interview, Carly and I wandered out into the main room of Quixote's to find the man, the myth, the legend; Murray. We purchased some beers, sat back and watched the happening... happen.
Young folks poured through the door of the venue like liquid into a cup. Soon the cup was half full, then almost overflowing. Quixote's was the perfect venue for such an evening. It's comfortable, colorful and full of energy. Dead music blared over the in
house sound system as the band took the stage. With that, the experience had begun. Time would stand still, our minds would be stimulated and good times would be had.Praang is made up of Steve Kimock, Jamie Janover, Michael Travis and Jason Hann. That being said, I knew the project would be spacey, but I had no clue that it would go to the extent that it did in regards to the space factor. From the very beginning of the set, Kimock explored spacey tones as Travis laid down simple yet fitting lines. Jason layered his tracks to create some interesting poly rhythmic arrangements, while
Janover noodled subtly in the background. I became lost in thought, as the lasers began to create waves throughout the venue.We sought refuge from the packed dance floor. It appeared as if we were in the rare majority of those who didn't have "X's" on our hands. As the music crawled on I realized that it may not develop much beyond the simplistic space tones that we had been hearing for some time. I began to focus on the environment/scene around me. It was extremely euphoric. There were girls hoola hooping, people spinning glowsticks, people conversing and laughing in the back of the venue. I felt at home in the back corner under a black and white picture of Bobby (Bob Weir).
The music itself was a lot less whompy than I thought it would be based on the direct involvement of EOTO. Ironically, I found myself most drawn in and intrigued when they provided whomp or something of substance. The noodling took over and our environment became the main source of the evening's entertainment.
As the two o'clock hour rolled around we drifted out of the front and door back on to the downtown Denver streets. All around, I enjoyed myself. I wasn't overly drawn to the music, but the scene that it helped to create was interesting and positive. Sometimes that's enough to make me happy.
J-man's Photo Gallery From The Show
www.myspace.com/praang
*Please Note: The show below was recorded the night prior to the night of this review...
Praang Live at Quixote's True Blue on January 21, 2011. <--- Direct Archive Link
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