Lowrider

The Corner Hotel in Richmond sure know how to put on a great night's entertainment, and last Saturday was no exception. Starting off the night's entertainment was TZU frontman Joelistics, who was strutting his solo stuff just as I walked in. Now, it must be said the Mr. Listics has to surely be one of the most laid back hip hop artists around, so much was his comfort level up on stage. Dropping some tracks from his upcoming debut solo release Voyager, and an awesome ode to Dolly Parton, sampling Jolene. Joelistics was never off a beat and made the most of his time on stage, topping off his warm up set with most recent single "Glorious Feeling."

Adelaide Hip-Hop soul quartet Lowrider have been slowly building a reputation as one of Australia's best live soul acts, and tonight at the corner they did not disappoint. Opening with a strong percussive intro Lowrider burst into their full musical glory straight away, laying down some fantastic tracks, with the likes of "Hold On" and "Taking Control". Lowrider's set was peppered mainly with songs from their last two albums, 2007's Diamond Amongst The Thieves and 2010's Round The World, all of which were funky party jams that had the crowd enraptured from the word go.

Personal highlights included "Living This Way", "Done With This" and "What Are You Looking For", as the band was really in their element tonight, though it's impossible to fault one note of the performance; the raspy vocals of Joseph Braithwaite seamlessly blended with the throbbing bass of Scott Duncan and the beats emitting from drummer Paul Bartlett. This was all backed by the John Bartlett on keyboard and Rhodes, who had pitch perfect piano samples that would have done Bruce Hornsby and/or the Range proud.

Braithwaite was on fire tonight, switching between Jackson-esque falsetto and raspy soul swoon at the drop of a hat, not to mention the fact that he was bouncing around like the stylistic lovechild of Tom Jones and Lyrics Born during performances of "Friends" and "What Keeps You Here". Special mention must also go to Duncan, who was possibly the most animated bass player I've ever seen. Freeform moments in the set included a funky rendition of Bomfunk MC's "Freestyler" and a rocking drum solo by Bartlett to Eminem's "Lose Yourself".

Saving two moments their high calibre repertoire for last, Lowrider finished off the night with the rocking "Here We Go", which created so much positive energy that it literally blew out the speakers. Next was the softer tempo but equally great "Let's Go Now", an extremely smooth and beautiful way to end proceedings. To sum up in the three words, Lowrider are great. If you only take one thing out of this interview, then let it be that.

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