EL-P at the Granada

Concert Review by Nadia Pflaum

Last night at the Granada in Lawrence, El-P took the stage beneath white sheets imprinted with the disturbing icon from his album, I’ll Sleep When You’re Dead: a skeletal bird in flight, head twisted to look heavenward, crowned with a halo. His bassist, DJ and keyboardist arrived dressed in woolen facemasks with holes for the mouth and eyes. Sleek, expensive-looking projectors blasted the background with images of gray-smog-chugging smokestacks, Matrix-like grids of streaming green codes, smoke, flames and cartoon animations befitting his concept of his latest work: a post-traumatic stress album.

El-P, with skeletal bird creature. Photo by Mike Schreiber.