It appears the kings of underground hip-hop are no longer an underground phenomenon, as was evident when Atmosphere played to a sold-out Barrymore crowd Tuesday night. Madison’s stop on their "Everybody Loves a Clown" tour showcased the Twin Cities duo of Slug and Ant debuting new material from their forthcoming album When Life Gives You Lemons….,, due out in early 2008.
Atmosphere took the stage backed by a full band and wasted no time showing the audience what they’ve been up to in the studio over the past few months. Opening with a bass-heavy new song, the band presented a handful of new tracks, including "Sunshine," from their Sad Clown Bad Summer 10 EP, released this past summer. Slug proved he still has an ear for the problems of everyday people, despite commercial success, with the new keyboard-laden song "Music Box."
The diverse crowd ranging from hippies to punks came alive as Atmosphere rattled off a series of old favorites, including "Godlovesugly," "The Woman With Tattooed Hands" and the single "Say Hey There" from 2005’s You Can’t Imagine How Much Fun We’re Having. Hearing these songs played by a full band instead of simply a DJ showed how far Ant and Slug have come over the years. Their jazz-infused takes on songs written years ago show that Atmosphere is trying to push the envelope as far as what can be done in hip-hop, while simultaneously appealing to a larger demographic of music fans.
As the night wore on, Slug, wielding a mustache, and Ant, clutching a cigarette and beer bottle, showed just why there are very few in hip-hop today who can match them in skill. The band played one slow number which Slug introduced as a "dance joint" and another song that ended with a spellbinding guitar solo from Nate "the Guitar Man" Collis, an artist whose playing can be found on more than one of Atmosphere’s albums. Following that, the band segued into the final song of their acclaimed 2002 album Godlovesugly, "Shrapnel."
As the band wrapped up "Shrapnel," Slug announced that it was the end of the set. Saying they didn’t want to be pretentious in leaving the stage only to come back to do an encore, Atmosphere decided to skip all of that and just keep playing. The audience responded kindly and was rewarded with "Angelface" and the crowd-pleasing "Lovelife." The band then left the stage sans Slug and Collis, and the at-capacity crowd was treated to one final new track, "Always Coming Back Home To You" from 2003’s Seven’s Travels.
Judging from their new songs, as well as their performance in general, Atmosphere is not taking their role as leaders of left-of-the-dial hip-hop lightly. Comparing their new music to their last release, Slug and Ant seem to be progressing naturally as artists without rehashing what made people pay attention to them in the first place. In any event, this Minneapolis duo continues to be a much-needed breath of fresh air into a genre that has become so bloated, egotistical and self-righteous.
