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Have you ever heard of Xavier Rudd? If you have (or if you’re not interested in finding out who Xavier Rudd is) you can scroll down and just read the final paragraph of today’s missive and then feel free to take the rest of the day off.
You haven’t?!?! Do say! Well then, please allow me to introduce you to Xavier Rudd, a sandy blonde barefoot Australian acoustic hippie one man band who loops a guitar, a bass, three didgeridoos, and his soothing laying-in-the-sand type voice over a relentless footstomping rhythm that comes courtesy of a wooden box containing a Shure SM58 microphone and his own bared sole, and ends up with something that sounds as energizing and refreshing as a Vegemite margarita.
In a good way.
Imagine reclining in the sand on a beach in Australia’s Gold Coast on a day so sunny and hot that your greatest effort can only be to lift an oversized frosty fruity drink from your belly to your lips. The slightest whiff of wind brings with it the smell of shrimp and rooburgers roasting on a nearby barbie while the air around your ears calmly vibrates with the soothing sound of didgeridoos rumblling in the distance; earthy, breathy growls of aboriginal Australia that somehow bring with them a sparkling guitar and a backbeat that pulses like a restless heart. I think that’s what Xavier Rudd is going for. Or maybe that was Tourism Australia…I know I got the image from somewhere.
Anyway, throw all this together with a clichéd Australian dose of social consciousness (one that involves releasing an album in collaboration with the United Nations as well as licensing out his music to the Australian Kentucky Fried Chicken franchise) and put it on the cover of Surfers Illustrated and you’ve got Xavier Rudd, Jan Juc, Australia’s favourite son and man who’s career (in North America at least) seems to have faded just as subtly as it rose.
Which is too bad, because he was (is?) pretty great. Speaking of which…
On July 16th, 2004 I saw Xavier Rudd* (for perhaps the third or fourth time – was it the last time?) at the Ottawa Bluesfest and it was a pretty great show. Xavier was his usual hippie/surfer/Aussie/awesome self, echoing his well-tuned didgeridoos and upbeat carefree acoustic beach-stomp off of the surrounding downtown mini-skyscrapers. Performing under a sun shining as brightly as I assume it does basically 24/7 down in Australia made the first chunk of his set feel almost like a hometown show, and while I admittedly have no idea what it would feel like to actually see a hometown Xavier Rudd concert I am equally willing to admit that I would love to find out. And while the show’s power didn’t fade with the setting sun it’s allure did somewhat, as Rudd’s music is undeniably geared more towards basking in the sun than it is raging through the night. Maybe if there had been a bonfire, but there wasn’t.
*If you’re surprised that I only saw Xavier Rudd at the Bluesfest on this outing: the headliner was Blue Rodeo.
Todd Man Out 