Village Voice June 20, 2012 : Page 40

Stephen Bercovici villagevoice.com MUSIC LISTINGS WEDNESD A Y, JUNE 20 Auktyon: 10 p.m., $30-$40. Le Poisson Rouge, 158 Bleecker St., 212-796-0741, lepoissonrouge.com. The Groggers: 8 p.m., $15-$20. Canal Room, 285 W. Broadway, New York, 212-941-8100, canalroom.com. Hilary Hahn & Hauschka: Silfra , the new album by lauded classical violinist Hahn and prepared-pianist Hauschka, is a cool experiment in mood and improvi-sation: There’s an old-fashioned modernist sensibility to the duo’s sonic snapshots of Iceland (where they recorded), subtle metamusical forays, and a 13-min-ute industrial-tinged interpretation of Beckett’s Godot . GEHR 8 p.m., $45-$55. City Winery, 155 Varick St., New York, 212-608-0555, citywinery.com. The Hundred in the Hands+Mmoths: 9:30 p.m., $12-$15. The Mercury Lounge, 217 E. Houston St., New York, 212-260-4700, mercuryloungenyc.com. Jean-Michel Pilc+Francois Moutin+ Ari Hoenig: 8:30 p.m. Downstairs at Cornelia Street Café, 29 Cor-nelia, 212-989-9319, corneliastreetcafe.com. Greg Laswell: 9 p.m., $17-$20. Bowery Ballroom, 6 Delancey St., 212-533-2111, boweryballroom.com. Laura Osnes: She first caught your eye when she won the right to play Sandy in the Grease: You’re the One That I Want reality competition, and next thing you knew she was the Nellie Forbush replacement in the South Pacific replay. This season, she was playing the distaff half of Bonnie and Clyde and singing a one-night Sound of Music concert. Now comes the debut act. Some awe-inspiring rise, huh? FINKLE 8:45 p.m., $65-$75. Cafe Carlyle, 35 E. 76th St., New York, 212-570-7192, thecarlyle.com. Liars: Few bands enjoy challenging their fans’ loyalty quite like Liars. When they emerged, they rode the crest of Brooklyn post-punk before jumping—excuse the pun—to no wave. With their recently released WIXIW , however, the trio has embraced electronic music, playing fluttering, stuttering soundscapes that still indulge the ambiguity the band loves so. With Oneohtrix Point Never and Bubbles. GROW 7 p.m., $20. Webster Hall, 125 E. 11th St., New York, 212-353-1600. thEatEr | DancE | VoicE choicEs | Queens pride: Large Professor | Books Bigger Than Life | art arge Professor is recounting stories of his early days on the road, and those within earshot are rapt as he gives the backstory to his being name-checked in Jay-Z’s “Takeover.” “Jay definitely had that Tec-9,” the Queens-raised producer/MC says, a ref-erence to Jay-Z’s lyrical swipe at Nas’s street credibility. “We were in D.C. per-forming, and the show got shut down by the promoter. The crowd wasn’t having it, so they followed [Nas, Large, Jay-Z, Jaz-O, and a handful of other rappers] out to the bus. We thought we were going to have to fight. Luckily Jay went to the back of the bus and got his gym bag. Out came the Tec, and he started brandish-ing it. He kept the crowd at bay with it. “Maybe it wasn’t Nas’s first time seeing a Tec-9,” he says with a chuckle. “But it was definitely my first time seeing one.” Stories like these are a dime a dozen for P., who was just a teen when he helped produce beats for Eric B. and Rakim’s Paid in Full . He was barely in his twen-ties when he helped executive produce Nas’s timeless Illmatic . But before this uncompromising icon was manipulating samplers and drum machines, he was just a skinny kid with glasses trying to get on. “First I was a DJ,” he recalls. “The natural progression from that was to go from turntables to drum machines. Rap-ping for me didn’t come about until I heard Slick Rick’s ‘The Show.’ Also, in school, I was always good in English. I love words. But I’ve never been, like, a rappity-rapper type. I just love finding words to convey my thoughts and emotions.” Although he was dope in creative-writing classes, Large Professor never took a single course in producing—all of 40 his training was hands-on, whether it Bars | Eats | | Music | Film | L Large Professor’s legend continues with Professor @ Large BY J. PABLO took place in crowded basements where his friends would spin and cut records or at Queens’s Power Play Studios. “I remember I was in that studio when I first heard ‘The Bridge Is Over’ by KRS,” he says. “It hurt, but it also boosted my Queens pride. I went though the list like, ‘Who do we have repping Queens?’ and I came up with Cool J, Run-D.M.C., Marley. It made me take note of how dope Queens is, and like I said, that boosted my pride.” Not long after, Large Professor and his group Main Source went on to deliver their fresh-sounding debut Breaking Atoms . “I had been working on Paid in Full , so when it came time to make my own album, I knew what I wanted to do,” he says. “That’s why to this day, no one can get the loop out of [the Gwen McCrae song] ‘90% of Me Is You’ [when I sampled it on the Main Source track] ‘Just Hangin’ Out.’ Some tried, but the girl’s voice would still be talking on it. But I had the early ingenuity to get that loop out of there.” Beats), was created with familiar ingre-dients, but he says it also contains a few things he has been wanting to try for a while now. “I was always known for freak-ing and chopping the ill loops up, but for this go-round, the music winds up in some ill places,” he says. “I got a few instrumen-tals on there just to break the rappity rap of it, so people can just cool out. It’s an exten-sion of where I’m at in hip-hop right now.” Which is probably why he didn’t go outside of his immediate circle to put it together. He orchestrated a posse cut, “M.A.R.S.,” with Saigon, Action Bronson, Roc Marci-ano, and Cormega; the only other producer on the album is Marco Polo, who laced the title track. Busta Rhymes is present, as well. At the beginning of “Light Years,” Large Professor showcases a more de-liberate method of rhyming. “That’s the Park Bark,” he laughs. “That slow, deep flow comes from doing joints in the park. Wasn’t none of that studio-comfort ‘turn my headphones up’ shit. You had to project over the noise of the crowd plus over the beat. So that deep, deliberate style comes from that era.” Aside from recording and touring, P. is still doing DJ dates, and he finds the overseas crowds to be more apprecia-tive of legends like himself. He insists he still gets a lot of love in the Big Apple and says that he appreciates up-and-coming local talent like A$AP Rocky and Action Bronson—even though the city that cre-ated hip-hop is different today from the rugged scene in which he came up. “Before I used to be the extreme purist dude,” he explains wistfully. “Now I just do what I do and bring that real true shit we used to rock and still rock. Let them do what they do. It’s not affecting my sound.” Brooklyn’s Newest Live Music Venue!! COMING UP AT SRB BROOKLYN: Village Voice GENERATION X’S HOUSE OF SOUL THURSDAYS THE URBAN GUERILLA ORCHESTRA 10 PIECE ALL SOUL ORCHESTRA UGOFUNK.COM STARRING: JUNE 21ST ‘I’ve never been a rappity-rapper type. I just love finding words to convey my thoughts.‘ As executive producer of Illmatic , P. linked Nas with famed producers such as Premier and Q-Tip and helped the young rapper execute his vision. “It was dope helping with that album,” he says. “Nas was the young dude hanging around Rakim and listening to Kool G Rap, so he came from that school of rhyme. He was so young though that he developed his own distinct style. It was just ill to help share that style with the world.” P.’s new album, Professor @ Large (Fat “THAT’S MY JAM” FT. DJ TIKKA SABADO DE MAMBO Y CORO BROOKLYN LIVE @ SRB THE ALLADIN PROJECT www.srbbrooklyn.com JUNE 22ND J une 20–J une 26 , 2012 JUNE 23RD JULY 6TH JULY 13TH 177 2nd Ave • 718-499-1700 Near the F, G & R trains off the 4th Ave & 9th St stations

Village Voice June 20, 2012 : Page 40

SRB Brooklyn