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Neat beat
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Lychee Lassi was full of surprises with their suave synchronised moves
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MIXED BREW The German band could ?t in just about anywhere and in any time zone
The hushed whispers and sea of murmurs died down as soon as Lychee Lassi poured out their musical mixture for avid listeners at the Max Mueller Bhavan last week. With some tongue-clicking and pot-clanking starting off the peppy musical evening, the s
ounds created by the band-members in orange-triangular printed shirts were refreshingly new experiments in sound.
“Thanks for sitting, thanks for standing…maybe you could just start dancing”, said the spunky drummer, Roland Knauf. And dance the audience did – whether they were sitting on the edge of their seats with their heads bobbing up and down and itching to move, shaking a leg or swaying hips. Deep bass beats with surround sound filled the hall from DJ Illvibe’s podium. And at once you were in a discotheque, or better still in some wild trance party, with razor lights flashing in the twilight and giant speakers booming with pulsating music. Funky scratches and improvisations by Illvibe added to the groove – and those who were stuck in their chairs, wished they were standing!
Lychee Lassi was full of surprises – much as you’d imagine the drink to be. Their suave and synchronised moves added to the enigmatic stage presence, with dramatic pauses like a fast-paced punk music video from the Beastie Boys or Daft Punk.
Listening to Lychee Lassi’s new new-age ‘post-modern’ genre of an eclectic jamming of sounds – from jazz, rock ‘n’ roll, punk, techno, trance, blues, reggae, and even soul, it could fit in just about anywhere and any time zone.
Whether it was on some hippy rave party on the beaches of Goa with the waves curling at your feet, an open-air rock concert back in college-days where you sat back on the muddy ground, pulling out blades of grass or in a lounge bar playing futuristic fusion sounds.
The music kept nudging at you to get up and enjoy the motley of compositions. Ranging from a distant variation of a flute or a birdsong, a train horn, engines revving, tyres squealing in a motor rally, mixers grinding and wind howling, it was all there. It just all burst into immense energy, kept you head-banging, swiftly braces back – leaving you begging for more.
The fourth composition let you drift away like a cloud. Bordering on jazz, this piece also comprised modern, urbane sounds very much like the monotony of the everyday humdrum of life.
The fifth piece was different, like out of slick catch-me-if-you-can scenes from “The Departed”. “It was something,” Roland said, “we have never tried before. Our music is going in all directions. Every night is unexpected and unique.”
There was one truly invigorating piece which felt like you were listening to the riveting Shug Avery in “The Colour Purple” when she sings for Celie. The music played also captured an important development in world music history – the birth of gospel music.
The little dancing boy who’d been dragged by his parents like many other children at the performance even started demonstrating the innovative effects that the band’s music had on him. From jumping on his toes, to bouncing on his haunches, bending on all fours and even performing acrobatics, he caught all the moods and traits of the evening.
The talented artists – bassist Beat Halberschmidt, guitarist Dirk Berger, drummer Roland Knauf and Vincent Graf von Schlippenbach (DJ Illvibe) were called back on stage twice, first by the audience and then by Evelyn Hurst, Goethe-Institut’s director before they ended the energising experience of a crazy mixed drink which “tastes best fresh.”
AYESHA MATTHAN
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