I suppose every city and every college has one. A jam band, a fun band, the guys who you know will find a cute, entertaining and rock friendly way to reinterpret your favorite top 40 single. But, when it comes to the band that I’ll more than likely support when it comes to any live remix of a track, the discussion begins and likely ends with Washington, DC’s The Five One. As is my rule with everything, there’s sizzle with the steak, nods to accessibility and marketability, and a desire to master the craft of musicianship while at the same time creating noteworthy music. Too often on the underground there is a desire to couch everything in an underground mindset. There’s a desire to not market yourself as an entity over your talent, there’s a desire to eschew appreciation of mainstream trends, and ultimately too much in the way of self sabotaging efforts in attempting to not ascend past a certain level and status in music. The Five One in not being of that mindset are the instrumental and vocal backbone of Washington, DC’s vibrant underground and in their audaciousness succeed in being a necessary component of the proving ground for one of America’s “up next” cities in all forms of music.
The Five One have a gimmick. There are no names, just colors. Red, Green, Blue and Gold, the four gentlemen wear these colors onstage, creating ultimately the most simplistic tableau ever for a band. It’s both visual and mnemonic, a genius concept that bespeaks the idea that the band is simply going to play good music. Yes, it’s a blend of hip hop and rock, but you don’t necessarily know that going in. And therein lies the genius.
In 2009 the band released the 5109 project in which they ambitiously wanted to release one remix a week for an entire year. Yes, they only made it to 29 released for the mixtape, but in 29 tracks they remixed artists as diverse as Zero 7, Kanye West, Daft Punk, Outkast and the Postal Service in a superb manner. The remixes are fun (Lil Wayne’s “Stuntin’ Like My Daddy” gets a well executed Lion King themed turn as “Stuntin’ Like Mufasa”), dope (Kanye West’s “Amazing” reimagined with a nod to N.E.R.D.’s “Maybe?” Stellar.) and overall entertaining, showing the depth and talent of the band.
http://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer.swf/album=1824548390/size=grande/bgcol=f5e20a/linkcol=4285BB/
The Five One also have heat that’s not remixes of others as well. Their album The Green Complex feels like N.E.R.D. but has an execution and songwriting that feels like their clear influences of Brian Wilson and the Beatles, in as much as the sound layering and songwriting has a clear craftsmanship to it that hearkens to a long ago era. The hip hop and alt pop covers the band provides feel like a solid path for the band to explore new methods of manufacturing their sound, and the album feels like the finished product of that particular collaborative process. The idea of putting these two concepts together is not ground breaking, but is certainly successful for the group.
http://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer.swf/album=3227225357/size=venti/bgcol=FFFFFF/linkcol=4285BB/
For more information on The Five One, visit DeuceDayWorld.com, and check for them in DC often as they have one of the more busy and intense schedules of anyone on the local underground!
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