A journey from gently rolling hills to sharp craggy cliffs. That’s what the show at Mercury Lounge on Friday January 7 felt like. The bands were rocking reggae The Movement from South Carolina and punk rock hip-hop Shinobi Ninja from Brooklyn. With the first downbeat of The Movement, the incredibly kind and soft-spoken drummer Gary Jackson starts flinging his long dreads in a Medusa-esque frenzy, seemingly filling the stage. While Gary snares us from the start, it is bassist Jay Schmidt that steals the show. A powerful and solid bass player, he never lets his heavy lines drop – crucial, as the bass is the backbone of reggae. Jay takes off his shirt to reveal a muscled and tan physique that glistens in the light not absorbed by his dreads. All the ladies in the audience croon over Jay as he throws sexy, half-cocky looks out every chance he gets, even breaking the stage and going on a tour of the entire house, much to everyone’s delight as they snap photos and reach out to get a little feel of the greatness. I even caught myself feeling like I was next to a star when he passed me.
An avid fan of reggae, I am always hesitant when I see a group of white guys trying to lay down an island groove. But The Movement totally changed my outlook. They kept it solid and steady and grooving throughout, throwing in a little hip-hop feel and picking up the rocking pace at times only to lull us back in the smooth moving feel of good ol’ reggae. Tasteful musicians and sexy showmen, The Movement was a pleasure to see.
Shinobi Ninja is an eclectic and peculiar mix of styles that somehow synergizes to put on one hell of a high-energy show. The six ninjas are a sexy, booty-short toting Lil-Kim style lady rapping next to a tall white guy in baggy clothes, a DJ spinning and scratching in the corner, long-haired metal-head twins on guitar and drums, and less ferocious metal long-haired bassist, you aren’t quite sure which style they’ll fall into. Well, they don’t fall into any. They embrace all of their unique talents, showcasing face-melting (if at sometimes masturbatory) guitar solos with a heavy rock beat coming out between lyrical hip-hop rhymes sung by the sweet lady (who dons brass knuckles spelling out Shinobi Ninja – a rad touch) and the more bold and aggressive rapping of her male counterpart. The long hairs head band as the rappers get the crowd to throw their hands up and the DJ scratches to spice things up.
With the amount of raw power and amped up energy they pump into their show, Shinobi Ninja seems to be an all-or-nothing band. Either you are so into it that you can’t be bothered to get another drink you’re dancing and raging so hard, or you are shoving toilet paper in your ears and shrinking towards the back. I, due to a very long week, was unfortunately part of the latter group. It was overwhelming for me and a bit too aggressive. However, I was rather tired and grooving slowly to reggae, so I will definitely give the Ninjas another shot. They’ve got their thing down and they do it well. Hopefully I’ll be able to rise to their extremely high energy level next time when they play with Like Diamonds and August on Sunday at Arlene’s Grocery in LES on Feb 8 at 7 PM.