A show to remember: Gramatik Re:Coil tour

Before heading to Minneapolis from Mankato on February 3, I felt a lingering nervousness. I don’t speak of the inevitable nervous and excited combo that comes before going to a show. I speak of a more genuine version of the emotion that manifests itself when you believe your actions may be placing you directly in legitimate danger.

Luckily, the rumors I heard of terrible weather conditions in Minneapolis ended up being exaggerations.

Not that it would have stopped me from seeing Gramatik and Haywyre. I would have walked to Skyway Theatre if I had to.

l arrived at the venue just in time to catch the tail end of Balkan Bump, one of two of Gramatik’s supporting acts at the show.

Balkan Bump is a one-man band who goes by the name of Will Magid in his personal time. He is a trumpet player, producer, and ethnomusicologist who just launched Balkan Bump late last year. Re:Coil is Magid’s first tour under this alias.

In his own terms, Balkan Bump “blends high energy Balkan brass music with downtempo hip-hop beats.” I witnessed an enthusiastic crowd enjoying this sound as a man on stage played over his own productions, turning air into melodies armed with but an oddly shaped and precisely crafted metal tube.

Next in line came another solo project. He is a man whose skill and versatility in production is rivaled only by his dexterity and capabilities on a piano. Martin Vogt, or Haywyre, takes a wide variety of electronic genres and augments them with beautiful, energetic piano and keyboard melodies.

Vogt laid down dubstep, house, and straight funk all day long. Surely the list continues, but it becomes a tad bit difficult to critically analyze the sounds one is hearing when they are penetrating the soul and healing it from the inside out.

Vogt’s continuous display of masterful keyboard skills could turn your least favorite genre into music you would choose.

I noticed the people around me must have come to similar conclusions. From among them, I witnessed a man flowing with an Orbital who was definitely on his level. I also met another Shane who happened to be getting down just as hard as I was, and I do not believe it was coincidence. Nor was it coincidence that I had the luxury of seeing Haywyre twice within the span of a year.

Gramatik, the headliner of the night, is a solo artist who goes by the name Denis Jasarevic. He has a way with the funk that would make a necromancer raise corpses just so he had multiple bodies with which to dance. Think Michael Jackson’s Thriller.

Jasarevic released his Re:Coil EP late last year and decided that, with the assistance of a live guitarist, he wanted to play it for the world in person.

I re-encountered the friends I came to the show with around the same time Jasarevic started off his set with some classic, sexy Gramatik funk. Together on Skyway’s balcony, with a perfect view of the stage and the crowd below, we danced into the night.

An eccentric light show and captivating visuals assisted in making the experience for some. For me it was the stairway where the crowd wasn’t shoulder to shoulder.

Wanting as many people as possible to experience magic but also wanting all of the room to dance is a perpetual dilemma in my mind. However, moments like singing along to Good Times Roll with a theatre full of strangers makes a packed crowd worth it.

Balkan Bump also got on stage for a portion of the set, adding his upbeat trumpet melodies to the mix. I’d say that brass and funk go together like peanut butter and jelly, but I’m allergic to peanuts. Although the level at which I was getting down could have potentially been mistaken for an allergic reaction, so maybe I am allergic to brass. The hospital would have to wait, because I was not about to leave the zone I was in.

As the night progressed, Jasarevic continuously moved farther from groovy and closer to heavy, all while maintaining his funky style for which everyone came.

The only break from this progression was the smooth guitar solo that brought the near two hour set to an end. This was an appropriate close to a set full of raging.

Minneapolis was only Gramatik’s third stop on the Re:Coil tour. Catching another set on the tour sounds tempting, but I’ll be responsible and wait until the next time he’s in proximity. However, if you missed his stop in Minneapolis, put your obligations on pause and go find this tour. Do it.

As for me, I’ll wait patiently.