Young, Gifted and Mixed

Atmosphere - Happymess / Sad Clown, Bad Spring #12

Here’s the deal: To be honest, my interest in going to concerts has steadily waned in the last year. It’s just become super stressful to be in a large crowd of people pushing or getting pushed and jostled around for a couple of hours, even if it’s music that I really like. Even if it’s for free (gasp!). So when someone (usually Schmidt) says, “Hey, [insert artist here] is gonna be in Hamburg. We should go.” I think about how much I just don’t want to be there, how I don’t want to deal with the bullshit and how I’d rather just listen to the albums in the comfort of my living room/bedroom.

I’m making an exception tonight. We’re going to see Atmosphere in the Waagenbau. I’ve wanted to see them live for a long time. I’ve just never gotten around to it until now. The line-up is exceptional (Maeckes & Plan B, Brother Ali) – I wouldn’t go so far as to say I’m “excited”, but I’m really looking forward to it. I’ve heard Atmosphere does a good live show and their 2007-2008 releases (the Sad Clown, Bad Summer/Winter/Fall/Spring series, the Strictly Leakage free mixtape, and the album When Life Gives You Lemons, You Paint That Shit Gold) have been on steady rotation in my mp3 player for just as long.

Slug is probably in the Top 5 of my personal favorite MCs. Technique-wise, not the flashiest one out there, but he raps with such conviction about shit I can relate to.
Atmosphere is one of the rare groups that I think gets better with each album they put out.

So, yeah, I just hope the show doesn’t suck basically…


Atmosphere - Matress / Sad Clown, Bad Summer #9