On a warm Thursday night Saul Williams brought his tour to Brooklyn Bowl. A poet by trade, Saul Williams is over 15 years into his career as a musician, and there’s a good reason why. His sound; a mix of soul, industrial rock and punk, was seen as futuristic years ago and it seems right now, in a post Yeezus world, Death Grips trolling world, does it make sense. And unfortunately, the buried rage he brings to his tracks, seems even more vital considering the recent exposes on how we really don’t live in a post-racial era.
First up was Haleek Maul. While the Barbadian rapper is not afraid to let his West Indian roots show in flow or accent the tracks he raps over are very avant-garde, making him a good fit for the crowd. He rapped in near darkness with a large brimmed hat covering his face bouncing incessantly up and down the stage with no let down in energy.
Next up was Sons of an Illustrious Father. A three piece, they play a folk influenced sort of indie pop with male and female vocals being traded from the drummer(who was great) and the guitarist. It was a nice tight set, and a good counterpoint to the aggressive set Maul played beforehand.
Finally Saul Williams came out and immeditately went into the audience. He proceeded to perform two or three tracks, all strong, all presumably from his newest album MartyrLoserKing, before hopping onto stage for some more, then hopping back into the crowd to perform even more songs. The new songs seemed to be from a mixture of his heavy industrial sounding Trent Reznor collab, Niggy Tardust, and the more subtle rock of his self titled record and the crowd vibed to them all.
What was striking about the performance was how seamless it was; songs were bookened by spoken word interviews and performing from the crowd felt less like a gimmick, more like an actual attempt to make it a communal experience (and it worked to a tee). It’s the reason why Saul’s been so essential even after so many years of performing; whatever tools he choses to use his art always shines through.