Mista Mista opened up to a relatively small, but over-the-top, lively crowd. His birthday was this weekend, you could imagine the energy he was spilling into his controllers. Well, it was contagious, and like an audible virus, it spread and spread until the second tier of the floor was filled and pouring into the third. Sure he was just up there twisting knobs, one, maybe two at a time, but he twisting them hard.
The Boulder Theater rewarded him greatly and like a true rookie, he fumbled over what to say to close out his set before awkwardly running through a sea of hands saying, "I don't know what to do when that happens."
It wasn't but a few minutes before Archnemesis came out. I reviewed their show at Cervantes in February and equated their sound to Pretty Lights in the build-ups and drops, so hearing them drop several, new, remixed Pretty Lights tracks to start reminded me why I enjoyed my first experience so much.The group is currently promoting their first EP, Diamonds and Glass, available for free on its website, with another show tonight at Copper Mountain, followed by a fourth night in Aspen. Andy Schneidkraut has owned Albums On the Hill for nearly 25 years. In all those years of supplying a dying generation with hard copies of music, he has never seen a turnout like the flash-mob style one that descended upon the store for Mimosa's free in-store DJ set.
"This whole thing precipitated through Facebook and Tweets, we did nothing to promote in previously," he stated, "and this is the kind of thing where two to three hundred actually made it, but two to three thousand will say they did."
In celebration for Record Store Day, Albums also did an in-store with John Common and the Blinding Light, as well as a CD release and signing with the DJ himself.
"He could not have been more charming and gracious to his fans," Schneidkraut says in regard to the famed artist.
If the in-store was any preview for the mayhem that would be the Boulder Theater a few hours later, than it Schneidkraut was completely correct about the magnitude of it. The sold-out show had finger pointing fans scanning the doors for that one lucky "hope" ticket to get in. The scalpers were making their killing, but for the most part it seemed no one wanted to part with their hard copies.
MiM0Sa came out around midnight, casual and cool, like he didn't just give a few hundred kids in Boulder something to brag about to everyone they know. The night before, at the Gothic, someone threw a water at the stage and soaked his rig, thus ending his set early and leaving many disgruntled.Nothing like this happened in Boulder, instead it was just a sexy introduction to his new album, 58 degrees. The album is a large step from early songs like "Sirius," which are so bass-heavy that it's almost too much, but the new tracks have a matured flow, still weighted in samples and mashes, and constructed well.
Mimosa was a sold out show far in advance, so expectations were that this would be one for the memory banks. Mimosa's music can nearly send someone into a seizure alone, so piggy-backing his insane energy on stage ensured that everyone would be, how do they say, bushed? Yeah, bushed.
Critic's Notebook Personal Bias: I heard some negative claims on Friday night, but Saturday was not a let-down. I sat in the balcony for a majority of the concert, much different from the last time I saw MiM0Sa and had the speaker just inches away. He's got a great show.
Random Detail: "Up in the Clouds" of Mimosas 58 degrees is a bomb track. Sounds like an homage to Glitch Mob.
Overheard: "Who would forget their ID for a show like this?"