SAUL WILLIAMS / DORIAN GRAYSKULL / ZHUBAT | LIVE REVIEW
Clwb Ifor Bach, Cardiff, Fri 4 Mar
Now this is a rare treat. A genuine superstar of alternative hip-hop in Clwb Ifor Bach on a Friday night? Yes please!
To whet the appetite before the main event, however, a couple of future superstars take the stage. The first of these is Zhubat, who, it’s fair to say, doesn’t immediately present himself as a future star of anything: shoeless, in an oversized vest and knackered jogging bottoms, he looks better prepared for a 24-hour Xbox session than the electric set of raw, punchy hip-hop he actually delivers. Spitting over beats expertly supplied by his DJ, Slack Happenings, Zhubat is a revelation. His shy, modest banter between songs belies a truly talented, bilingual rhymer with a gruff delivery and a bright future.
“Things are about to get fucking horrible,” laughs Dorian Grayskull, midway through an acidic set of articulate assaults on governments, corporations and his fellow man. He launches into a track called Sniffergods, which, with its “my god smells like bombs, like thermite and fertilizer” refrain, is one of the highlights of the evening. The rest of his material is equally sharp; ferociously delivered with a half-smile and a charismatic menace.
“Have you got real energy!?” asks Saul Williams of a sold-out crowd, a crown upon his head, metallic facepaint glimmering under the hot stage lights. The roar he receives in response suggests that there is energy to spare in the room tonight, as Williams dives into the audience and delivers a chunk of his set from within the heaving throng.
The bulk of Williams’ set is drawn from his excellent new record, Martyr.Loser.King, which, to judge by the way his words are yelled back at him by a partisan audience in unison, is not the risky tactic that it might have seemed. He does eventually get to some of his older material, notably a fierce List of Demands (Reparations) which sounds as potent and important tonight as it did when first released 12 years ago.
His stage presence is coolly magnetic, although he allows his enigmatic mask to slip once or twice, as a smile breaks across his face at the enthusiasm on display in front of him. How could one fail to smile during a show this good?
words and photos HUGH RUSSELL