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ACL review: Jamie Lidell

May 2012

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By Joe Gross | Friday, September 26, 2008, 04:59 PM

Jamie Lidell doesn’t look like England’s next great soul hope. He looks like a techno DJ who just fell out of bed. The 35 year old veteran dance music producer has been kicking around since the late 90s as an electronic/soul producer and one-half of the brilliant duo Super Collider, whose ’99 album “Head On” was one of the all-time great headphone techno records. This is not his first time at the rodeo. For his ACL gig on the Dell stage Friday afternoon, he wore what looked very much like pajamas paired with Buddy Holly glasses. Too sexy! Yet, ladies love cool James. Lidell and a sometime on, sometime very slightly off band cranked through a free-ranging soul stew, anchored buy Lidell’s solid (if not all that nuanced) croon. Much like Lidell himself, the band’s look referenced many eras at once., The guitarist was decked out in an Elvis jumpsuit, the mumu-ed sax player looked like a refugee from an avant-garde jazz band (especially when he blew two saxes at once, Roland Kirk style). The bass was often canned, a wicked thump straight from a 4 a.m. rave. Sometimes they rocked like a garage band (“Little Bit of Feel Good”), sometimes Lidell beat-boxed into a sampler and looped some rhythms to belt over (“A little Bit More”), sometimes he fronted some full band soul (“Wait For Me”). Perhaps losing track of time, Lidell sang for 40 minutes before wrapping it up, introducing his band and almost leaving before realizing he had more time and launching into “Game For Fools.” “Respect to Austin,” he said at one point, speaking of the gorgeous weather, “The contrast between Berlin and Austin I can’t even explain it.” Word. Photo: Erich Schlegel FOR AMERICAN-STATESMAN

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