are you cool enough?

Let's start with some equations.

Crystal Castles + The Cool Kids + El-P = 1 show at NYU on April 3rd.
Crystal Castles performs...subtract 50 people.
The Cool Kids perform...take away 30 more people.
El-P + 3 bandmates - those two groupie girls that danced on stage during The Cool Kids set - the overwhelming population of NYU students who didn't show up or left too early to know what they were missing = what the fuck, why weren't you watching EL-P?

Since I was only at the show for the tail end of Crystal Castles, I can't say much about their set, their crowd, their dance moves. I was told it was a stellar performance.

However, I did show up just in time to catch all of The Cool Kids' set and watch as the crowd dwindled to a mere 30-40-50 people (estimation isn't one of my best skills) when the infamous El Producto took the stage. Has it really come to this? That upstart indie acts that have been on the scene for mere months are the only thing NYU music fans want to see anymore? Now, you know NYU kids, and if you don't, you've heard about them. I am one, though I'd like to believe not in the derogatory sense, and I myself was clearly wrong in my prediction of what this crowd of dirty ole hipsters would be interested in. Yes, I can definitely see their interest in The Cool Kids -- their name speaks for itself, as does their wardrobe -- and Pitchfork-approved Crystal Castles. My surprise lies in their lack of interest (and curiously, my hyper-interest) in El-P, one of the most important white rappers alive. Exaggeration? Come on, the guy's had a slew of quality releases, he started Definitive Jux records, he's a producer, a collaborator, and, I'm just going to go ahead and predict, a volunteer fireman. He brought you Aesop Rock, Mr. Lif, Del the Funky Homosapien, and his current tourmate, Dizzee Rascal. (Sidebar: If you don't like The Streets, you'll hate Dizzee Rascal.)

I didn't even touch on El-P's music yet, though. He's got a style all his own, mixing old school influences with rock beats that always progress and go somewhere, while The Cool Kids often craft their tracks around a simple and sometimes monotonously-repetitive beat. He also doesn't dress like a hipster doofus. He doesn't wear bright blue American Apparel skinny jeans with enormous, old school Nikes, and, in a seemingly counterintuitive move, saves the sunglasses for strictly outdoor shows. He's just a white dude with talent and red hair who cares what he's rapping about. Hell, at one point in the night, the guy almost broke down in tears because the song he was rapping really got to him (forgive me for not remembering which one it was). Think that'll ever happen at a Cool Kids show?

The Cool Kids weren't particularly lacking anything in their performance but all that they had was lifted. All of their songs were samples of others, their lines were constantly referencing a time when I hardly believe they were even born and their stage antics were reminiscent of a circus. They were all style and looks. I bought into this for a while but when I saw that kids were leaving because the hipness had left the building, I felt betrayed. Could it really be that all you have to do to keep people at your shows is have a silly name like The Cool Kids? And, more importantly, do The Cool Kids think they're cooler than El-P, or do they know the truth, unlike their unenlightened fans?

Crystal Castles - Air War (buy)
The Cool Kids - Action Figures
El-P - Everything Must Go (buy)