A couple of weeks ago (10/9) I was able to bask in the glory of the experimental “poptronic” superstorm that is Baths (Will Wiesenfeld) at King’s Barcade. Opening for Baths were Time Warp and Groundislava.
Though Baths was for sure the highlight of the night, Groundislava came pretty close to eclipsing the headliner. Groundislava is a one-man “cool mix” machine that does mashups and remixes of Katy Perry, Drake, and even Nicki Minaj among original tracks. Where Time Warp, the first opener who was more about relatively toned-down and abstract experimental electronica, got people interested, Groundislava got people dancing. Plus, that’s the best name ever.
This was the first time I’ve seen Baths live (the last time I tried to see him it sold out) and I was extremely impressed with the show. I’m usually disappointed when it comes to these types of acts because with all of the machines and another person helping with the live mixing, a lot of attention goes more into the vocals and the singer tends to do too much vocally. Will Wiesenfeld stayed true to the songs when it mattered, but when he veered from what we hear on his albums, it actually made the songs even better (if that was possible). For example, during his song “No Eyes” from his newest album Obsidian, the vocals on the album are somewhat toned-down but live he added in some screaming which amped up the tension and angst in the song.
Unfortunately, Baths did not play the most popular song “Aminals” due to some legal issues, but the audience definitely forgave him because he hit all of his other major tracks and the entire show was a huge bundle of fun. Absolutely amazing.
–Reviewed by Hurricane Julia