A bit of random surfing in a moment of idleness brought up the clip in the comment below. A performer in a bar on Dallas some 7 years ago, looking and acting like a young Walter White.
What is this geeky, nerdish bloke doing, freaking out behind a keyboard and a looping set? Has he lost his mind? Is this some kind of public breakdown being filmed for social media humiliation?
Kind of sucked in, I settled in for the full 16 minutes, and was wowed by the musicianship, humour and improvisation. Started off Walter White, ended up Jesse Pinkman.
Of course, Marc Rebillet has a following in the millions, has done sellout tours of the US and Europe, and played Coachella (at least) twice.
How many more completely unknown, but world- famous musicians are there out there? How many who do what Marc does? Probably loads. They just don’t appear on the AW – until now.
Say what you think of him. Maybe he’s very familiar to you. He probably isn’t to everyone’s taste, but he’s very intriguing to me. And very funky.
Here’s that (a bit sweary) clip I mentioned above. Stick with it, it’s worth it.
There are, of course, countless more on YouTube – all completely original, spontaneous and improvised.
Before he was famous
There’s already the manic positivity in his eyes, but not the prodigious musical output. Though looking at his gear in the table in front of him, he seems to still be an Apple loyalist.
Perhaps inevitably, I’ve seen him live three times. He’s excellent.
I should pay closer attention to your recommendations, really. Somehow though, I seem to enjoy music more when it takes me by surprise, when I’m not actively looking for it.
Usually my recommendations are almost entirely synonymous with “things people are not looking for.”
LOL, but when one accidentally hits my spot, there are fireworks.
Looks worryingly like Nixon henchman and White House plumber, G Gordon Liddy in that top videotape
I fear that moustaches are going to be the new beards. I see them, marching over the horizon, heading in the direction of normal blokes everywhere. 80s casuals are coming back, followed by Boycie and Basil somewhat behind them.
I’ve seen a few Mickey Pearces about lately too.
I got a subscription to Nugs.net recently, in order to test out some stuff for [insert band name here]. The platform is full of bands that seem to be filling out venues in North America/Canada, but very few on here will know (myself included). Goose, Umphreys McGee, etc. – these bands are all at the top of whatever game it is that they are at the top of.
Umphreys are all over archive.org – the live bands section has loads of their gigs.
…indeed, and they seem to be pretty damn good as well, a little prog-ish. Goose are a bit like Paul Simon took a tab of acid during Late in the Evening. Not sure if I actually like them, but I see the skill in jamming like that.
So, this Marc fella. I see the skill in what he’s doing, but there’s something inside me that reacts violently to looper music. On his channel, he shows how to make a song in 1 minute or something, but it’s just a couple of segments of funky cliches. At least he doesn’t go ‘ay-o ay-o ay-o’ in it, which most of them seem to do. The ones that do it with looper and guitar, always seem to ‘get funkay’ rather than do anything interesting. Check it! Shake your bod-ay. I feel like it’s a hipster appropriation of funk music rather than actual funk music.
It’s very unlike me to dislike something, so I suspect the problem is with me.
…and yet, I like Beck.
I think he’s best understood as a live experience; I don’t believe I’ve ever listened to his stuff at home.
I have to say that of all the terminology in music, “funk” and “groove” are the two that make me want to run a mile as fast as humanly possible. Perhaps that’s a consequence of growing up in the heyday of the Red Hot Chilli Peppers.
I’m with you on RHCP.
I tend to agree about looping, layering music in general. KT Tunstall made a big impression when she used one on TV some years ago, but it does tend to encourage circular repetitiveness, and could be seen as the digital equivalent of the one man band, without the strings hitting the bass drum and cymbal as he marches around.
However, in this case, Marc’s general willingness to stretch what music is in every direction, without worrying whether it makes melodic or any other kind of sense is, for me refreshing.
As Bingo says, it seems to work best in the live (stream) setting where he’s reacting to and with the audience.
Maybe it’s best to think of it as performance art, or something like stand up? That’s more comfortable for me than seeing as music first.
I think that’s probably a very sensible way to look at it.
He’s just delivering people a really good time, I don’t think there’s any pretence that he’s making music for the ages. In fact, his refusal to take any of it too seriously is a big part of the appeal.
i was rather frustrated by the first clip that you posted Sal,
Odd that he had decided to post a clip which for the most part showed the back of his head.
However after a few minutes I began to rather enjoy watching the punters in the bar and the waiters serving their beers.
In an age of extreme Bragadaccio and rabid Trumpissimo, it was all pleasantly and reassuringly low key..
Hats off to you @Salwarpe. What a remarkable find.
Definitely an artist to stumble across completely by chance. I can imagine walking into a tent a a festival and hearing him and being bowled over.
This interview gives some background
https://www.redbull.com/gb-en/theredbulletin/marc-rebillet-interview
Who does he make me think of?
On first listen, it’s the deranged stream-of-consciousness aspect that appeals. More spoken word than singer-songwriter.
But it’s difficult to name one artist he sounds like.
Thanks, KFD, I think we both like to tread off the beaten track, though as often as not in different directions. Keep on doing what you do – is endlessly diverting.
Nice interview, by the way. I do like the emphasis on and explanation for the relentless positivity.
Here he is singing about tits. I can’t hear the music, but thank God for closed captions.
Has he got any songs about bogeys?
He is playing in Bristol Sunday June 8th this year. Tickets on sale at 10:00 today.
https://www.metropolismusic.com/all-events/marc-rebillet-tickets-ae1236137
Are you tempted?
I resisted. It wasn’t a huge struggle to be fair.