I’d been eagerly awaiting Friday night, when CRASHprez, the stage name of UW-Madison senior Michael Penn II, would hold his album release concert. CRASHprez announced through a Facebook event that he’d be performing his upcoming album, more perfect., in full for an audience at the Fredric March Play Circle. Fellow Catch Wreck Collective members Lord of the Fly and *hitmayng, along with the multi-instrumental group The BellHops, helped to celebrate the pre-release performance.
The Fredric March Play Circle isn’t what it seems from the outside. Inside the wood-paneled walls of the Memorial Union’s second floor is a black box theater, complete with retractable seating and an open floor plan, allowing for maximum standing capacity. I arrived an hour before the show was set to start, mostly so I could scope out a place if the space would hit capacity, as Penn noted a few times on the Facebook event page. As more and more people trickled in, I moved my way to the front of the space, situating myself against the stage so as to get the best experience possible in the open theater.
As the lights dimmed for The BellHops performance, five singers approached the stage, along with several instrumentalists. Aside from the very talented bassist, drummer and keyboardist, The BellHops also have performed with a tenor saxophone, violin and flute. These performers added another level of instrumentation to the soulful, blues-filled vocals of the main singers.
The BellHops’ Hiwot Adilow and Taylor Scott blended vocal performance and rap, which helped to shift the tone slightly throughout their set. EJ Newble, who led a few of the songs, helped to liven up the breaks between songs through audience interaction, helping to break down the performer/audience barrier that some fail to crack. Allowing for each of their band members to take solos, The BellHops showed incredible talent and helped to set the rhythm for the night.
After The BellHops was CRASHprez’s label mate Lord of the Fly, the stage name of UW-Madison student Daniel Kaplan, whose boundless energy helped to carry his set to a higher plane. Piggybacking off of Newble’s audience interaction, the rapper taught the audience his call and response shout-out of “Lord of the what? Lord of the fly!”
Lord of the Fly bounced around the stage, almost falling off at several points. His energetic set was assisted by the help of several of The BellHops' vocalists. These additions only heightened the audience’s excitement, and the mixture of performance styles was the perfect segue from the bluesy BellHops.
*hitmayng, the stage name for Ian Carroll, who provided the backing beats for many of CRASHprez’s songs, was the penultimate performer of the evening. Using his swift beat-making talent, his musical ministrations kept the audience moving and swaying between the two energy-filled rap sets.
After *hitmayng finished his set, the crowd started to quiet down, waiting for CRASHprez’s entrance. On a monitor placed on the left side of the stage, video clips of news broadcasts, spliced with pictures of CRASHprez with an American flag grabbed the audience’s attention, but as soon as he stormed onto the stage, the crowd was his to mold.
Like the previous performers, CRASHprez has one of the most necessary abilities for putting on a good show: Reading your audience. Between each song, Penn would look out into the crowd and remark how thankful he was to see us all here or how beautiful we all are. This interaction further broke down the audience/performer barrier, and contributed to his fantastic set.
When performing new material for the first time, artists may be nervous as to how their audience will receive their work. For CRASHprez, he had no trouble with reception, and his audience gladly cheered him on throughout the set. He combined the best of the previous sets—the soulful audience participation of The BellHops, Lord of the Fly’s boundless energy and the incredible beat production of *hitmayng.
As the set stretched on past an hour, I was impressed that CRASHprez continued to keep his energy levels high as the audience continued to pack closer and closer to the stage. Like Lord of the Fly, Penn brought out previous performers throughout his set, and gave shout-outs to those who worked on his album, as well as recognized performers who appear on his album that couldn’t be at the show. His recognition of collaborators for more perfect. gave the impression that this album was Penn’s, but that it wouldn’t have been possible without the effort of many contributors.
CRASHprez mixed both energetic cuts, as well as introspective think piece verses that rounded out his marathon hour-and-a-half set. His flow stayed consistent throughout the shifts in tone, and the proximity of him to his audience helped for us to understand the emotion that he has put into his craft.
As the set came to a close after midnight, Penn thanked everyone again and left the stage. The night’s combination of blues, rap and electronic beats was the perfect mix for the wintery night. Audience members and performers slowly filtered out of the Play Circle, and I eagerly planned to purchase CRASHprez’s album. The show was a hit, never a dull moment in the over three hour performance, and the audience went out into the night with the memory of a shared musical experience that will be difficult to top.
Michael Penn II, CRASHprez, is a member of The Daily Cardinal’s Editorial Board.
