Live: Bauchklang @ Blue Frog, Mumbai

Austrian beatboxing act Bauchklang performed at the Blue Frog, Mumbai on Wednesday, Feb 23. We were there.

Every gig Austrian beatboxers Bauchklang play at the Blue Frog is a homecoming of sorts. The Lower Parel venue first introduced us to the quintet in 2008; a surprisingly packed opening gig for a then almost unknown act. Since then, the Austrian quintet have been so well received at the club that we made sure we were at the venue well before the scheduled start time of the gig for fear the club would be too packed if we came any later.

Having played the venue several times before, the quintet’s performance felt almost orchestrated – their movements deliberate, as if rehearsed for a theatre performance. Yet, it had a fluidity to it that was symbolic of not only the band’s steady dance tunes but also of the fact that given the absolute human-ness of their sound, their music evolves; a definitive, progressive motion that’s the backbone of this vocal battery.

Performing a set of predominantly older material, Bauchklang’s approach to this, their tenth outing at the venue, was measured. Opening with now regular set-opener ‘Create’, Mumbai’s favourite beatboxers seemed unfazed by the adulation bestowed upon them by the packed venue, going about literally building a performance as if to give new meaning to the phrase ‘setting the stage’. There were no unnecessary excesses, no calls for singalongs, no lengthy introductions and yet the quintet had a vice like grip on the audience’s attention. The Blue Frog’s excellent PA, well attuned to the band’s sound, ensured that every nuance of this oral opera was crystal clear, and in the pit was a booming tsunami of a bass attack.

As is now a regular fixture of their performances, the band invited audience members to perform with them on stage. That, and a perfunctory collaboration with Blue Frog everyman Vivek Rajagopalan, was the only low of an otherwise resounding performance from the vocal groove specialists.

Indiecision: B+

Bauchklang @ Blue Frog, Mumbai

Bauchklang @ Blue Frog, Mumbai