M.I.A. and LCD Soundsystem at 9:30
-------------------------------------------
One used samples and scratching while the other featured live musicians, but the two acts that "co-headlined" Sunday night at the 9:30 club were well matched. Both Sri Lankan-bred, London-based chanter M.I.A. and New York's dance-punk LCD Soundsystem emphasized rhythm over melody, and energetic delivery over vocal range.
M.I.A. limited her political commentary to one remark about the failure of aid to reach the Tamil regions of her tsunami-devastated homeland. Behind her, however, video animations intimated much more: The images included tanks, bombs, fighter planes, stone-throwing youths and a loping tiger. (M.I.A.'s father was a member of the Tamil Tigers, a separatist guerrilla group.) The messages of the songs, among them "Pull Up the People," were less graphic, although clearly insurrectionary in tone if not content.
M.I.A. was backed by DJ Contra and vocalist Cherry, who doubled certain phrases and sang melodic passages, including the refrain to "Sunshowers." (M.I.A. has never claimed to be much of a singer.) Contra's additions were sometimes too busy, overcomplicating the elemental, heavily distorted music. Nothing, however, could overwhelm the joyous swagger of "Galang," M.I.A.'s signature anthem.
James Murphy is the only full-time member of LCD Soundsystem, which combines dance beats with punk demeanor. Onstage, the studio mastermind was joined by four other musicians, who animated his stark, beat-oriented material. Murphy doesn't have much stage presence, and his rough, artless singing merely bludgeoned numbers like the minimalist "Yeah" and the ironic "Losing My Edge." But metronomic drummer Pat Mahoney and modal guitarist Phil Mossman filled the breach, making the Soundsystem sound like a discofied (if Iggy-less) update of the Stooges.
-- Mark Jenkins
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/06/13/AR2005061301705.html