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A.I. : The Temple Bar
Experiencing A.I.’s live show is like watching a musical exploration, embracing funk, rock/pop, jungle, ambient, World, and dub reggae and mixing it all into one unified, addictive sound. Self-professed “slaves to the music,” the trio pulsed and tore the roof off of LA’s Temple Bar, fusing the organic with the inorganic: noises and blips with guitar and keyboard.
Front man Nick Young (vocalist/guitarist) hijacks the soul of Prince, the bravado of Perry Ferrell and the autobiographical nature of Chris Corner (Sneaker Pimps) into his own ethereal mix of sex, rock and funk. Combined with Zack Young’s stuttered jungle beats (all live drumming however, not machine-driven) and Milen Kirav's inventive, eclectic energy on keyboard, the group attains a ‘larger than life’ live quality, as you would never guess that the ensemble is actually made up of three and not twenty.
Although the band has not always had the same song arrangements (the trio played instrumental versions of their songs until Nick stepped up to the mic), A.I.’s journey has been extremely otherworldly, beginning with the group’s first DIY demo recording to a soon-after major label deal and album, Artificial Intelligence, through DreamWorks Records.
As the last blissed out strains of “Alien Sex” rang through the overwhelmingly responsive Temple Bar audience, the band thanked the crowd and left the stage. As Nick states, “It's a big universe out there - we have a lot of places to go." Proof that intelligent life exists on Earth.
Submitted: February 2003
By: Rebecca Hill
Email: rabeccah@thelamusicscene.com
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