ArtOfficial rhymes their to downtown lounge

By: Yazmine Granthon/Columnist

Welcome back to a lovely Spring semester, but most importantly to another session of Impromptu. This bi-weekly column allows you, the average student reader, to hear about the underground musical events around our own city. Events ranging from indie rockers, jazz beatniks, and hip-hop socialists lie right under our noses, so let me plan your weekend while you freakishly hit the books.

This issue kicks off with a new location that showcases local bands. Bardot, a downtown lounge, showcases ArtOfficial Saturday, Jan. 21 at 11 p.m.

Funk-jazz infused ArtOfficial even question themselves, “What does a live band with two emcees sound like?”

All the Miami-based jazz members – Danny Perez on keys, Manny Patino on drums, Ralf Valencia on bass, and Keith Cooper on saxophone – are infused with hip-hop vocals. Newsense and Logics are the remnants of two previous bands, groove-based Defonce, and the hip-hop crew SoulWhat. Imagine The Roots but with a jazzier edge to grasp exactly what this band is ready to offer you.

ArtOfficial has shared the stage with N.E.R.D., Pharaoh Monch, and even participated in the 2007 Rock The Bells festival headlined by both Wu Tang Clan and Nas.

In 2008, losing by a high-pitched whistle, the group was shy of the grand prize to perform at Lollapalooza Musical Festival featuring Radiohead and Rage Against The Machine, but came back hard to win the 2009 Florida Grammy Showcase.

“Fist Fights and Foot Races,” distributed in Japan via Media Factory, follows their independently released EP “Stranger.” It has proved to be a hot seller since its release in early April 2008 peaking at number four on the Tower Records Charts. ArtOfficial is working on its next album release titled “Misfits, Scholars, and Mystics.”

“ArtOfficial hustles harder than any young Miami band. In its one-and-a-half years of existence, the band has played 150 shows, established a killer event to call their own and built a fan base that follows it wherever it plays” according to an article from 944.com magazine.

If you’re not transformed by the roaring sax carrying the melody, then listen to the background riffs Danny “Keys” on synthesizer releases, or the upbeat drum phrases and intricate bass line that all the members easily place there following each other like a drum corps.

Rhythmically filled verses like: “if I could, then I would, but I guess so I won’t, I got better things to do with this Bottle of Hope,” or “this ain’t rappin’ it’s word bending” direct the “drummers” to the emotions us as the audience are supposed to feel.

Their lyrical intelligence infused with funky jazz created a synergy called ArtOfficial.