Lespecial | 2019-06-28 | Rancho Del Rio, Bond, CO [SBD/AUD Matrix]

I want to turn it up…so I will. Check out lespecial performing the late-night on night 2 of Beanstalk Music Festival!

Capping off another jam-packed day of music at the Beanstalk Music Festival, lespecial took control of a packed-to-the-gills Look Out Stage for the final set of the evening (or early morning). The energy, which was fueled by a day of inspiring music, beautiful weather, and about 10 White Claws per head, was palpable; and lespecial was ready to deliver.

The set opened up with the funk-metal musings of “Jackwise”, which contained the most expansive jam of the set, spurring a downtempo segment featuring swampy bass funk tones that commingled with trashy guitar riffs. This eventually melted into a dubbed-out take on “Summer Time” before blending into the faux-club banger, “Snell’s Fleet”. It’s through this opening segment that I had an epiphany: lespecial is the evolution of nu metal. Hear me out… Many associate the sub-metal genre with the often times cringe-inducing rap metal phase of the late 90s and early 2000s, which is unfair because very few bands truly adhered to the Limp Bizkit formula of wack rhymes over groove metal. Don’t get me wrong–once upon a time I was a Limp Bizkit fan. It’s a fandom that I think former Death Eaters could best relate to, as very few ever want to admit to such a thing, but I can’t re-write history, much less my own musical evolution. I donned the red NY Yankees hat; I sung the lyrics to Nookie more times than I can count. But I think being genuine to that is important for any sort of evolution, both internally and musically. Also, it’s important to understand that much of what the nu metal genre was all about was incorporating new flavors into the metal sound, which at that point had gotten stale. Sonic textures like synthesizers, samples, hip hop, and funk grooves… These all blended together with fiercely distorted guitar and rumbling punk-funk bass riffs, which pushed an evolution of the metal genre that was ultimately obfuscated by Fred Durst’s truly idiotic lyrics. Today’s metal scene is full of stoner metal and nostalgia. It’s once again gotten stale, but while I wouldn’t classify lespecial necessarily as a metal act, they’re creating some of the most interesting metal-tinged music I’ve heard since the late 90s. It’s like they took the only transcendent parts of the nu metal era and stripped away the nonsense to show us that it’s still metal. It can still groove, and it can still trash. It’s still fresh. It can still be relevant.

Enough of my nu metal rant, the show itself has so many highlights that it’s hard to list them all. There was a segment that could be summed up as a tribute to Les Claypool, as the band laid down a string of tunes spanning the legendary bassist’s eclectic career, which included “Army’s On Ecstasy” from the Oysterhead project, “Riddles Are Abound Tonight” from the Frog Brigade days, as well as “American Life” from where it all began, Primus. The band has a knack for imitating Claypool and executed this batch of covers with surgical precision. Another highlight was the band’s cover of “Wish” by Nine Inch Nails, once again staying true to the original and paying proper tribute to Trent Reznor’s industrial aggression. However, as a sucker for a great cover, my personal highlight was their truly unique trash metal cover of the T-Mobile ringtone… You read that right. Equally funny is that the song was recently recorded at Color Red studios, which is owned by Eddie Roberts of Leeds’ jazz-fusion group, The New Mastersounds. The label is usually more well-known for jazz and soul releases, but according to the band, Eddie dug it. And I can see why; after the show was done, that thrashed-out T-Mobile ringtone was stuck in my head for the remainder of the haze-filled evening.

lespecial‘s music is made for a lot of things, and one of them is most definitely late-night partying. Their in-your-face attack and predilection for danceable melodies and head-banging covers forces the energy out the center of your soul and into a visceral shared moment with all those in attendance. Their set served as the proverbial exclamation mark to an entire day of fantastic music.

Lespecial | 2019-06-28 | Beanstalk Music & Mountains Festival at Rancho Del Rio, Bond, CO

-= One Set =-
01. (Intro)
02. Jackwise >
03. Summer Time (George Gershwin cover) >
04. Snell’s Fleet
05. America The Beautiful >
06. American Apocalypse >
07. Fruit Wolf Dance[1]
08. Army’s On Ecstacy (Oysterhead cover) >
09. Riddles Are Abound Tonight (Les Claypool cover) >
10. American Life (Primus cover) >
11. Army’s On Ecstacy (Oysterhead cover)
12. Machine Elf Production Co.
13. The Vessel
14. Donut Ghost House II
15. T Mobile
16. Wish (Nine Inch Nails cover)
17. Donation Swing
18. Buggn >
19. In The Air Tonight >
20. Buggn

Show Notes: This late-night set was performed on the Lookout Stage at the seventh annual Beanstalk Music & Mountains Festival.
[1] “Fruit Wolf Dance” contained “The Pot” (Tool) quotes and teases.

Taper Notes: Behind the board, far stage-left, off-center. Mic stand was set on a bar counter, they were raised around 6′ DIN configuration. Thanks to FOH engineer Ed Myszkier for the board patch and mix!

Thank you to lespecial and Beanstalk Music Festival for being cool with taping/sharing shows. Go see live music and support your local artists! #spacetapes

LINK: https://archive.org/details/lespecial2019-06-28.AKG.P170.AUD.SBD.Matrix.flac16