I had no idea who was Anderson. Paak when I headed to Amoeba for his in-store on Tuesday night, and I still don’t know why he puts a dot after his first name, but he was a very good surprise, playing an amazing blending-genre music with soul, dynamism and visceral emotions. Jumping between the drum set and the mic, he proved at the first song he was a born-entertainer, agile and lovely, with husky vocals and quite a range. R&B, electronic, rap, funk, rock, his songs sounded like a myriad of things at the same time, starting as gentle R&B tunes, but soon transcending the genre, with hip hop and funky guitars, experimental electro beats, becoming a fluid and lively mosaic. May be this is why he called his new album ‘Venice’, which is one of the most, without any doubt, eclectic and funky beaches of California.
But who is that guy? Last November, Rolling Stone named Anderson. Paak one of the 10 new artists you need to know, so this is something to notice. Going under the moniker Breezy Lovejoy among the underground crowd, he has first been busking, rapping and even playing as a session musician with innovative soul producer Shafiq Husayn, but, before anything else, he has been a drummer/producer/vocalist/singer/songwriter, who even reinvented classics by Postal Service, Neil Young, the Beatles, the White Stripes as sweet R&B interpretations,… he indeed sang Yeah Yeah Yeahs’ ‘Maps’ at Amoeba.
But I was really impressed by his ease on stage and the diversity of his songs going from a falsetto floating over happy soulful rhythms, a radiohead-ish guitar and dynamic drumming, to a more funky-sexy vibe or a totally rocking and darker sound with guitars kicking. It was dense and diverse and may be the sound of the future, engulfing a kid’s Spotify library at once, reconstructing something new and old, a bit like Beck used to do it when he was cool.
“I just want people to be affected by the music,’ said Paak in an interview. ‘I’m really affected by my surroundings and put everything in my music — what I’m not getting and what I desire. I want it to be uncompromised … almost a spiritual thing.’
And looking at the reaction of the crowd at Amoeba, he was exactly doing this, singing his most-well-known song ‘Drugs’ to end his set and getting the biggest reaction from people ,who were jumping and making the ground bounce under our feet. Is Anderson. Paak on his way to stardom? One sure thing, he was making sparks and good grooves with assurance and looked so down-to-earth with his little boy in the back of the stage having the coolest dance moves ever. So should I say move over Pharrell and Kanye?
More pictures of the show here.
