Lushlife, Live @ Plateau Vision Album Release Party :: Philly

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bands to watch, concert video, johnny brendas, live music, live philly concerts, Local Philly Band, lushlife, Lushlife album release party, lushlife artist, Plateau Vision, R5 Productions, western vinyl

Lushlife delivered an energetic and immensely convivial performance at Johnny Brenda’s on April 17th in support of his new LP, Plateau Vision, now out on Western Vinyl records.  Exercising his ability to energize crowds while concurrently operating lyrical talents, sample selection and electric drums, Lush continued to prove why he is Philly’s pre-eminent cloud-rapper.

With a very positive review by Pitchfork, and numerous glowing articles in print and digital media alike, there was much hype surrounding the set.  Lush brought the goods.  Digging into tracks off his new album, mixtape, and his first album (Order of Operations), he played songs we had not had the enjoyment of hearing live before.  These tracks were topped off with covers of both classic Jay-Z and Nas which were excellently reconstructed.

Lushlife’s live performances are never to be missed – and we never do when he plays at home in Philly.  You shouldn’t either.  Watch out as Lush continues to blaze new trails and carve out musical originality in his own vein.  We have every confidence that Plateau Vision will be a jumping off point for greater and greater success in the future.  Watching his energy live and hearing that raw energy translate onto wax is a thing of magic.  Go out and purchase the album and check out some of our video below:

Lushlife, Live @ Union Transfer (2/2012)

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bands to watch, concert video, live music, live philly concerts, Local Philly Band, lushlife, lushlife artist, R5 Productions, Union Transfer, western vinyl

Lushlife brought his up-beat and increasingly honed performance to the Union Transfer stage on February 15th.  With SXSW coming up, an invite to play the Pitchfork party, and a new full-length LP on Western Vinyl set to come out this year on the heels of the mixtape, No More Golden Days, the man is busy.  With all this going on, and so much more, we appreciate Lush’s dedication to performance perpetually on exhibit and the passion behind it.  Lushlife continues to amaze us with his multi-faceted skill set and devotion to his craft.  Never shy about engaging his fans, Lush is poised to capture an even wider audience and do his home city of Philadelphia proud.  Check out the new Lushlife single, Big Sur, below and some of our video from the evening after the iframe.

 

Lushlife, Live @ Kung Fu Necktie

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bands to watch, concert video, kung fu necktie, live music, live philly concerts, Local Philly Band, lushlife, lushlife artist

Lushlife put on yet another fantastic performance at a pre-Christmas KFN party on December 23rd.  By now, you know we love this guy.  On this evening we were treated to multiple tracks off his new Mixtape, “No More Golden Days”, Bottle Rocket off “Cassette City” and No Foundation off of “Order of Operations”.  Lush topped it off with some NAS for the set closer.  Amazing piece of work in total.

2011 was another stepping stone in Lushlife’s path to greater and greater notoriety.  As 2012 approaches, we eagerly await new shows and count ourselves fortunate to have been witness to so many of his performances in 2011.  Make sure you don’t miss Lushlife in the New Year, download “No More Golden Days” for free off his bandcamp and enjoy some of our videos below:

 

Lushlife, Live @ Johnny Brenda’s

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concert video, johnny brendas, live music, live philly concerts, Local Philly Band, lushlife, lushlife artist, no more golden days, rockaphilly event

Last in our 3 part series of reviews from rockaphilly‘s stellar F*ck Chill Wave event (but certainly not least) we again caught Lushlife hot on the heels of the release of his new mixtape; No More Golden Days.

It should be noted that we have never reviewed a show from the same artist twice and we cannot think of a better one on which to break the streak.  Lushlife, aka Raj Haldar, once again put on a sick performance working between his machinery and mic.  A broken laptop didn’t hold him back as he delivered his verses crisply to the enthused concertgoers.  We were super stoked to hear so many tracks off his new tape and to see him in a more intimate venue; one at which he could use background imagery to complete his live show picture on the JB backdrop screens.  An amazing performer, writer and musician, check out our video from the show and DON’T MISS HIM at these upcoming concert dates.  Seriously, don’t miss him:

Nov 17

Brooklyn Bowl

Brooklyn, NY

Dec 07

North Star Bar

Philadelphia, PA

Lushlife, Live @ Union Transfer

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concert video, indie music, live philly concerts, Local Philly Band, lushlife, lushlife artist, R5 Productions, Union Transfer

Lushlife aka Raj Haldar’s skills were on full display for his hometown Philly crowd October 14th at the Union Transfer. Having followed Lushlife for the last 4 years, the expectations we had were high. We wanted to hear tracks off his old albums delivered crisply and with conviction. We wanted to hear new tracks delivered in the same vein. We wanted to see Lush having a good time and it coming across in his performance. All these expectations were exceeded. His set proved that rap sets can be so much more.

No bricks no city no city no block no block-party no Pete Rock no Cannibal Ox no foundation no house to build no time and you ain’t got no time to kill..

Lush’s flow is amazing and his lyricism is accessible and engaging beyond many in the Hip-Hop scene today. For us, it is truly reminiscent of Def Jux style with a modern comparison to those on the Rhymesayers label. Positive messages combined with heartfelt story telling and homemade beats created on drum machines and samplers is what Lushlife is all about. His abilities far exceed the credit he is given (only by shear lack of taste maker awareness) and we find it awesome and yet a bit disheartening that he is more well known in Japan then in the states. Awesome in that the Japanese recognize his undeniable talent, sad in that the birthplace of the genre doesn’t provide him the credit deserved. Like the rest of today’s most talented MC’s, mainstream recognition is elusive. Just as well though as the quality of that product is substantially less. Lush does it because he loves it and caves not to big record pressures.

Lush played songs off his 2009 effort – Cassette City, new songs off his upcoming mixtape – No More Golden Days, and yet another off his upcoming LP. He moved around on stage between his mic, drum machine, sampler and computer and owned every verse. We encourage you to check his stuff out via amazon, discogs (where some rarities can be purchased from overseas), his website and his bandcamp (soon to have his new mixtape gratis). He is also playing a show on October 28th as part of the rockaphilly.com event at Johnny Brenda’s in Philly. Show Lushlife some love and support the work that this great artist does.

Here is some video from his set at Union Transfer: