Rain is making an appearance tonight. Not the rain you’re probably thinking of though… that rain has been making its cold and gloomy trail all day long.  The mastermind behind Phutureprimitive, also known by his Producer name, Rain, will be creating his version of a shower for us this evening.

Phutureprimitive is currently on his Searching For Beauty Fall tour and opening for him is another West Coast soul named Stephen Kaminanda. So, the mood is right and my friend and I stride along South Street, trying to avoid the actual rain.

XO Lounge is the name the bar/lounge was deemed, assumingly for its rather quaint, intimately confined space. It’s one half a hidden gem in the wall, and one half you get what you make of it.  It’s a good thing the place is full of positive vibes, because the glitch about the venue choice faded within minutes (okay, several minutes).

Kaminanda is noticeably basking in different shades of purple sunshine as he simultaneously sways and moves to each calibrated beat. Songs off his most recent album Liminal Spaces play amid classic covers like: Kool & the Gang‘s “Jungle Boogie,” The Doobie Brothers‘ “Long Train Running” and The Grateful Dead‘s almighty “Shakedown Street.” 

Kaminanda’s style is reminiscent to Shpongle‘s with his use of meditative, worldly transcendent, tantric yoga sounds. There is a lot happening in his music, and naturally, a lot (of good) is going on in your mind as well.

It’s great to see Phutureprimitive’s Lucid Dream stage set-up not on a computer screen this time, but in person, in real time. Soon after 11p.m, Mr. Rain inducts his onlookers with a royal blue and gold temple backdrop as Kinetik‘s “Ripple Effect” emerges, gasps for air and awakens the abrasive bass of Phutureprimitive.

 

In the next couple of songs also off Kinetik, you’ll first find yourself lost in “The Changeling”s daydream, and next, you’re voraciously bloodthirsty–Underworld style–vibing to the raw track, “Xotica.” As all this is going on, the production stage is constantly changing color, shape, speed, identity and pattern to whatever particular track Rain decides is next. Remixes of Gary Jules‘ “Mad World” and Massive Attack‘s “Teardrop” complement his slower, dreamlike pace with “Burn” off the Luminous EP. 

Unfortunately, the small size of the venue must have dissuaded Miss Caeli La from performing her usual ritual dance routine because she never came out. This is most likely because we would have been dancing on top of her.

After playing a few tracks off of Searching for Beauty in the Darkest Places Part 1, Phutureprimitive tries to bid us good night, but not, of course, before one more song.  The final encore is his remix of The Human Experience‘s “Dusted Compass.”  It’s a contemplative, surreal-sounding track bound to leave you feeling light and uplifted, which is precisely what I was. 

– Alexandra Voigt

 

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