The night before Wallpaper played the Blank Club on Saturday, they were in L.A. With Wallpaper signing with Epic and on MTV, industry types are all over Ricky Reed right now. But halfway through the Blank show, he took stock of the situation and declared that “just like I knew it would, San Jose’s blowing them out of the water.”
That’s because the South Bay was down with Wallpaper pretty much from the beginning, years before L.A. Reid reportedly had Ricky Reed locked in his office until they nailed down a contract. The show was packed, and a lot of the crowd knew all the words.
But it wasn’t only that. Just like Reed upped his game on the last Wallpaper record, with harder beats, mind-boggling arrangements, and deep-register raps, he’s turned his live show into the craziest and best party in town, with a swirling, punch-drunk mash-up of monster hooks, polyrhythms (he had three backing drummers) and synchronized dance action. When he’s up there on stage, the man simply does not stop moving, and neither did the crowd.
Songs like “Shotgun” (which he opened with) and “Okay” that weren’t even the best tracks on the last EP sounded epic in their live incarnations. The latter’s refrain of “Hey, champagnin’, got no place in the mornin’!” suddenly came across like his best party rallying cry yet.
The songs from Wallpaper’s first album were beefed-up as well, from “T Rex” to “Gettin’ Drip” to “ddd.” The electro hook on “I Got Soul, I’m So Wasted” seemed massively bigger than when he recorded it just three years ago.
But the newer songs were the best, from the moment he strapped on a guitar for “2 Pair a Shades.” “Fucking Best Song Everr” turned into a kind of funk drum circle at the end, taking the energy to yet another level. But that’s not even where it topped out—first Reed and company came back for his new song “Blake Griffinin’,” a funny tribute to the NBA star. Then everything went completely over the edge for “Stupidfacedd,” finishing with a wall of sound that is only hinted at in the recorded version. It was a full-on sonic assault, wrapping up a hell of a show. I personally think Ricky Reed’s songs are deeper than the get credit for, but even just on a purely visceral level, Wallpaper is just about as much fun as you can have live right now. If it’s never too early to think about the top gigs of the year, this is an early contender.
.Review: Wallpaper at Blank Club
