GSM Beats Inc.TM
Event and Artist Reviews Reviewing Events, Artist and New Releases
GSM Beats Inc.TM
reviews page features editorials on shows and artist that we
have visited. We hope that you will find these reviews
informative. If you have an upcoming event that you will like to
let us know about, then drop us a line at:
djdarby@gsmbeats.com
Project Sound, Urban Legends featuring
Saukrates and Friends @ Pacha Lounge, Toronto By Don J. Darby
Well, it took me a while to write this
review because I wanted to evaluate all the video I captured
from Project Sound on July 14th 2010. This was a
fantastic showcase of Toronto urban music talent. Although the
show’s promoter Karen Figueira doesn’t want to label the
showcase as strictly urban,
I found the show’s R&B, Hip-Hop, Pop and Ragga, to be appealing
to an urban music audience.
The high caliber of music is the result
of Karen’s five years of promoting what has become Project
Sound, “creeping” MySpace pages and keeping in touch with
connections old and new. She often screens new, original artists
by checking out videos of live performances. Just because it
sounds good on wax doesn’t mean it will on stage.
Pacha Lounge (1305 Dundas St. West) is
classy, however it’s not fantastic acoustically. The in-house
dance club lighting system did add a party atmosphere, and the
house band was solid with core members including, Jason Larmond
on keys, Juwayon Clarke on bass and Jalidan Ruiz on drums.
Shamakah Ali also sat in on drums for a number of performances.
The showcase had an open jam/open mic format, but seemed well
rehearsed.
Saukrates Saukrates headlined with a great
performance, featuring some of the material from his
Big Black
Lincoln project. It was evident that the audience was looking
forward to his appearance. This was the first time I saw him
perform live, and I was pleasantly surprised at his singing
abilities and enjoyed the Hip-Hop/R&B mix of his performance. I
added Big Black Lincoln’s ‘Rock and Roll’ to my playlist years
ago. Also joining him on stage were rappers
Choclair,
Bishop Brigante and
Rich Kidd.
Nejjah Calibur
Co-host of the show and M.C.,
Nejjah
Calibur, introduced the acts, got the audience hyped and
showcased his own rhymes and signing abilities. Nejjah has great
stage presence with lots of energy. He interacted well with the
audience. When I checked out his MySpace, I realized he’s an
artist whose range spans many genres. His single Ups & Downs is
reminiscent of Fresh Prince, but his music has a dash of Soca/Calypso.
He also reminds me of Trey Songz. His MySpace also states that
he and his band Blues Underdog toured with The Black Eyed Peas
in the spring of 2004.
www.myspace.com/najjahsworld
Saint Peter Miller Co-host and soulful singer,
Saint Peter
Miler performed two sets, and entertained the early guests. In
reviewing his MySpace, the song he performed here, Love Reigns
sounds as good or better than the studio version. I found him to
have a very likable performance. Check the smile at the end of
the video clip.
www.myspace.com/saintpetermiller
Ray Robinson Ray Robinson came off as very humble,
introducing himself to the audience ‘You may or may not remember
me from my song …’ singing some licks from a few of his hits.
Ray is a seasoned performer with catchy yet soulful R&B sounds.
www.myspace.com/rayrobinson Chris Rouse Chris Rousewas my favorite for the show
and although I limited all the other video in this review to
highlights, I just had to post the entire song, as his
performance was nearly flawless. This dynamic, soulful
performer, is somewhere between D’Angelo, Musiq Soulchild, Lenny
Kravitz and Marvin Gaye.
www.myspace.com/hominymanchild
Quinn Maybach Quinn Maybach is a good singer, but she needs to
work on getting the attention of the audience before breaking
into song. She comes across very confident; however, her backup
singers did not seem to have a lot to do, adding little to her
performance. She was better connected with the band than the
subsequent performers Cherry Moon. Her performance reminded me
of Faith Evans as she left her Foxy Brown on her MySpace.
www.myspace.com/quinnmaybach
Cherry Moon
I heard about one of the members of
Cherry Moon through a friend, and originally inquired about the
show to see them perform. The group members are equally
appealing as performers; however, Monique’s vocals stood out.
Unfortunately, their performance was interrupted by the fact
that they were unable to hear their own voices. They did have
the wherewithal to stop the band and proceed a cappella as part
of the performance. I would like to hear more material from this
trio. A more slow jam Destiny’s Child came to mind while
listening to the song they performed. I would post a MySpace
link to be consistent with the rest of this review but they
don’t have one to date.
There were several other musicians and
performers comprising this showcase, so I apologize for the ones
I missed.
