This is a letter from fan.

To Man.

Or well, joke aside, men.

First off, we lied to you. Although the topic says this is a review of the recent Dan Le Sac vs. Scroobius Pip gig at Crawdaddy (Dublin), it’s really going to be a review of the last three gigs the duo have done in Ireland. A piecemeal affair of happy memories and general commentary.

As I don’t read his work and knowing he already has a vast army of adoring toe suckers. I’m loath to heap any more praise on the cantankerous self-appointed Internet swami that is Warren Ellis. But I have to say that I may not know about Le Sac or Pip were it not for his linking through to the video for their excellent song ‘Thou Shalt Always Kill’ on his Livejournal account.

You have to give thanks where thanks is due and were it not for Mr. Ellis obsessively punching out new or forgotten music out from cyberspace to meatspace, the world would be a far darker tuneless place.

Thanks.

Upon the first listening of ‘Thou Shalt Always Kill’ I thought; “This is great.” Seven, eight, maybe ten listens later; the thought had changed to “This is fucking genius.” I showed the video to any of my friends that’d give me the three odd minutes to play it. It took me a while, but I was eventually able to close the YouTube window and put a downloaded copy of the song into regular rotation.

Soon I found myself not just a regular visitor to their Myspace, but keeping the page open permanently so I could go and spin the tracks not yet available. Which is a general antithesis to me as I hate Myspace, but also odd, because normally I’d go find some early leaked releases or other downloads, yet for once I was content to wait for Le Sac and Pip to make their music available in their own time.

Their single ‘The beat that my heart skipped’ would become, after Pyogenesis’ ‘Twinaleblood’ only the second music download I’d ever paid for.

I don’t know whether Dan Le Sac Vs. Scroobius Pip played Ireland before the Electric Picnic and frankly I’m both too lazy to find out as I’m loath to find out I missed a show. So for all intents and purposes, yes, the set Dan Le Sac Vs. Scroobius Pip stormed through at the Electric Picnic was the first time their feet had graced the island.

Sonic Youth were to play on the main stage at the same time, you couldn’t really tell though as Le Sac and Pip had a packed out tent all to their selves. A fact not lost on Scroobius Pip as he walked on stage slightly shocked and momentarily speechless at the crowd they’d dragged in. For a minute or two, Pip even tried to persuade his own crowd to leave the tent and go watch Sonic Youth. It was honest, endearing and once he’d settled to the fact no one was leaving, he cracked a beer and himself and Le Sac got down to a barn storming set. One that was without a doubt, coupled with ‘The Fall’, one of the two highlights of the entire festival.

Move forward a few months, Le Sac Vs. Pip was supposed to be supporting Rakim at ‘The Village’ in Dublin. Sadly, Rakim pulled out and as bad as this was for those of us who had bought tickets to see both Le Sac Vs. Pip and the legend that is Rakim. You get the sense that no one was more disappointed than Scroobius Pip.

Scary Éire, (The Irish Hip-Hop act, formed in 1990, laid low by Label bullshit, just back on the scene) were support. Their unique Hip-Hop; all genres in a blender then smacked about by Irish-ness, did an amazing job at getting everyone to their feet and bouncing. Le Sac Vs. Pip couldn’t have received a better warm up and for many it was just good to see the boys back on stage doing what they pioneered. More on them elsewhere on the mountain at a later date though.

The gig was good, but it was marred by terrible sound. At one stage, I watched a section of it go by where Pip was barely audible, an error that might have been easily fixed were the sound man not busy texting on his mobile phone. A severe cold snap killed all the good sound technicians in Dublin back toward the end of the nineties and now all we’re left with are the ones more gristle than ears.

All that aside, it’s still one of the only gigs I’ve ever been to, where as Pip was doing a spoken word piece and the crowd near the bar kept gabbling on about who was sleeping with who, that the rest of the crowd began shouting at them to shut up. That coupled with the genuinely warm reception the crowd had for them and the warmth they gave back to the crowd; was enough to make even terrible sound slightly ignorable. Dan Le Sac even stayed back, wandering the stage to chat to people after the gig and he was rightly hassled to write something for the Mountain.

Now, on to the Crawdaddy gig.

Through some freak of nature (and funds) I was unable to get a ticket for this gig in time and I found it completely sold out a couple of days before the gig. This is largely because Crawdaddy is such a small venue. However, after being told by a bouncer that I had no chance of getting a ticket, I was lucky enough to pay slightly over the odds for one outside.

The support act showed off a great record collection, which he sadly couldn’t mix. I don’t know his name, I don’t really want to. It was a late gig with Le Sac and Pip taking the stage sometime after midnight near one in the morning to girls chanting “Le Sac Le Sac”.

If you haven’t gotten the gist of this review yet then I guess I’ll say it again. The gig was superb; the sound was better than in the village but could still have used a little work. Le Sac’s beats were, as always, sublime and Pip makes you feel all those times you sat through shitty spoken word pieces were worthwhile just to see him do even one song. Filled with a down to earth warmth and friendliness, Le Sac and Pip paid no mind as people took to the stage to dance between and around them. Pip even going so far as to humor some drunk as he took the mic to make a general fool of himself, the bouncer laden aftermath of which Pip took it upon himself to calm down over the mic in the middle of the gig.

If you haven’t seen Dan Le Sac Vs. Scroobius Pip beat and rhyme their way through the periodic table yet.

Go

If you haven’t heard them yet.

Here…

I rarely do this, but g’wan, click the link, buy their singles.

Dan Le Sac Vs. Scroobius Pip

We only have to wait for their album now.

Oh, and maybe another gig. Here. In Dublin.

Now if I could just find a copy of that when I grow up I want to be an astronaut song…

Dan Le Sac Vs. Scroobius Pip @ The Electric Picnic