Atmosphere - Showbox Sodo (Seattle, WA; April 24, 2009)

”Atmosphere! Atmosphere!” the crowd chanted. “Atmosphere! Atmosphere!” the crowd chanted a little louder. The Showbox Sodo was packed; these people were ready for a show. Having arrived during the middle of P.O.S.’s performance, I knew we were in for some energy as many still lingered outside hoping to somehow score a ticket to the final act of the night (e.g “Please? Its my birthday"). Having spoken to the security guard in the front and been forewarned that Atmosphere would be taking a bit more time to take the stage, I took this opportunity to observe the makeup of the audience. Mostly 20-somethings or younger folks, quite a bit of intoxication and a heavy herbal smell was filling the club. I could also mention that Seattle doesn’t really have a separate hip-hop scene so while there was an increase in sports caps and larger clothing on some of the fellows, many of the girls were still sporting indie dresses or short-shorts. By the time Atmosphere came out (during a lull in the chanting) the crowd exploded. Slug (Lyricist) took a long look at the crowd and said, “Ya’ll got ugly.” This would be just the first time of many in this night where I wished I knew this group better and was in with their apparent longstanding fans and inside jokes. Slug then asked all the beautiful people to shut up, and the crowd either wasn’t actually paying attention or found Slug humorous, screaming all the louder. This was how the group launched into “God Loves Ugly.”

Atmosphere expended effort to get the crowd into the show and not always just by asking us to put our hands in the air. During the performance Slug asked us to do a variety of things: “Washington, put up your #1” (which started with the index finger and morphed into the adjacent digit that is not a thumb), “put your instruments in the sky” (this refers to clapping) and “[put your hands in the shape] of an L and throw it up!” (which nicely complimented the chant “Love - Life - Love - Life”.)

Almost every song was echoed by the crowd, except, regrettably, by me. At one point during “Guarantees” he taunted the crowd “so you think you know my songs huh?” and launched into some heavy improvisation about killing his boss, poking a dead cat with a stick, and human rights. While Slug was very adamant to make sure it was a positive night for the crowd, his lyrics themselves contained the story of personal demons and the struggle with life itself. “Lucy” is the personification of these troubles and takes most of the blame for the temptation and vices in their music. I was struck time and again by songs that began on the light side about drinking and partying only to end with an abrupt twist of death in an almost Jack-Johnson-type delivery. Atmosphere has both an old skool sound (think Pharcyde in tempo and humor but darker) and a fresh feel, smartly employing live jazzy keys, guitar, and complimentary backing vocals to flush out their live sound. Another standout track was “Painting,” which juxtaposes dark themes on top of a rhythmic smoothness due largely to the excellent slide work of Nate Collis.

.........
He weaves his way throughout the story
looking for a new missing piece or a door key
Spirits used to be for celebration
But now they just take him away from the hell that’s waiting
Re-up until it’s three sheets up
and pick a place for the skeletons to meet up

Ain’t no colour paint gonna cover the stains
But if the oxygen escapes it’ll smother the flames
No introduction doesn’t speak his own name
Gonna beat them demons at they own game
...........

I’d like to happily note that this is the first show I’ve been to in some time where the artist wasn’t constantly referring to each song as, “something off the new album,” though they released When Life Gives you Lemons, You Paint that Shit Gold last year. Slug asked if he was playing too much old stuff—the crowd clearly thought he wasn’t. “Like a campfire sing along,” Slug solicited the audience to join him in echoing his lyrics, “Bigger than guns, bigger than What?! - Bigger than cigarettes!” (The chain smoking Ant didn’t seem to have gotten the message that smoking is illegal indoors.)

Instead of the traditional encore break where the audience stands around cheering for more, Slug introduced his band members and then declared, “Well I figure I’ve killed enough time, lets just skip the encore break.” What a nice change from the routine of waiting for them to leave and then come back on stage. Towards the end of the set Slug enaged in a bit of banter with the audience: “You know its ok for the guys to smile too” and shared his thoughts on the internet as a method of comodification before announcing, “Actually I’m just killing time so [Collis] can get ready. This is a country song.” It started out as such yet then from nowhere came a bouncy bass line and the tune became Country Hop, if that even exists. The crowd jumped even higher.

By the end of the show Slug’s shirt had become a darker shade of gray, having absorbed all his sweat and energy from the evening. It’s easy to understand why Atmosphere is still considered great after 11+ years in the Hip Hop scene. Some call them the kings of Indie Hip Hop and after the show I would agree. Needless to say, next time I see them I will be able to sing along. Atmosphere’s music will be playing loudly from my computer speakers for a while.

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Atmosphere review to your liking? You'll sweat:

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