Berkeley – This past Friday, rising star and Las Vegas native Shamir Bailey (known simply as Shamir) plunged into a blistering 11-song set on UC-Berkeley’s Upper Sproul Plaza. Each song had its own flavor, its own delicious tones and timbres that dare to push the proverbial envelope of modern DIY dance music even further than it is being pushed already. Each track brought never before heard sounds to the forefront, matched uncannily with Shamir’s own idiosyncratic naturally falsetto voice that tears through measures like an oiled-up fuse.
Shamir, at only 20 years old, is coming in hot after seeing heaps of praise from his performances at South by Southwest. Shamir released his first EP Northtown on GODMODE records last summer, and is now readying his debut LP, Ratchet, coming next month on XL Recordings. Most of the tracks played at this sunset show are to be featured on Ratchet, and from what was seen on Sproul Plaza, Shamir is going to be a college radio phenomenon.
Shamir started his show at around 6PM to a modest crowd of students, faculty, townies, and passers-by, warming things up with the first track off Ratchet, “Vegas,” an ode to his hometown. The beat is funky and is interweaved with distorted low vocals, but the real energy comes in with the horn-like intro of “In For the Kill,” which quickly turned the entire plaza into an all-out dance party. It is almost impossible to try to stand still to this music; the searing rhythm and fascinating synths seem to feed neural impulses directly into everyone’s muscles.
Shamir then treated the hungry—and fast-growing—crowd with the first true single off Ratchet, the bumping, quick-tongued “On the Regular,” which was first released last fall and was featured in an Android commercial. The few in the crowd who were familiar with Shamir’s music before this set showed their collective appreciation by exploding into a flurry of ecstatic shrieks and flailing limbs.
As the set progressed, we heard more tracks off the new album, including “Hot Mess” (‘It’s autobiographical!’), “Demon” (a slower, more haunting track), and “Youth,” which featured an extremely catchy chorus that had the whole crowd singing along right away. Perhaps the most memorable of the new songs was the recently released “Call It Off,” as Shamir acted as a conductor for the collective electricity now permeating the sea of multicolored backs that bounced up and down between the stage and myself.
Shamir also took some time to slow it down a little bit, first with a track from Northtown, “I Know It’s A Good Thing” (‘It’s sad song time!’), and then again with a gorgeous cover of singer-songwriter Alex G’s “Harvey.” During the latter, the singer and his band experienced a few technical difficulties as the mic kept cutting out, but he remained stalwart and patient, and once the problems were resolved, he was able to finish the ballad with unparalleled strength and beauty.
Shamir closed his set with the final song on Ratchet, “Head in the Clouds,” and during the last few repeated choruses, he jumped down into the crowd and began hugging everyone that crossed his path, and he was just as excited to hug his fans as his fans were to embrace him. And judging by the fans he made during this show alone, it seems as if the world is ready to embrace Shamir and his illustrious new brand of DIY dance music. If this show was a taste of things to come, Shamir looks like he’ll be around for quite some time.
Shamir’s debut LP Ratchet will be released on May 19 on XL Recordings. For more information check out his Facebook page.
Corey Bell
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