I Just Read About That…

[ATTENDED: December 11, 2023] Pink Navel

I had been to Milkboy once before.  But for some reason I thought I was at a different Milkboy location.  However, this location is the one I was at last time.  It’s a weird space.  The music is upstairs from a bar.  It’s long and narrow, holding about 200 people.

For this show I arrived just on time, driving along a narrow side street assuming there would be no main street parking (I may have been wrong there).

I walked up the stairs and the guys in front of me were taking a long time to get in for some reason, and as I stood there, Pink Navel started.  The crowd was spaced out so it was pretty easy to sneak up to the front and get close enough to watch Pink Navel do his thing.

I hadn’t heard of Pink Navel, but the short version (from Pitchfork) is

Devin Bailey, the rapper, producer, and singer who records as Pink Navel, has an effervescent and nasal voice, an extensive knowledge of animated television, and an immense, somewhat intimidating pool of references and SAT words.

Pink Navel was a funny and engaging: “Anyone fucking with this say oh yeah!”

His songs are short (even on record most songs are less than 3 minutes long), so I really don’t know how many songs he played.  He had a little machine that he was bent over playing sounds and starting beats.

It was funny when he said at one point, “when you start rapping, they don’t tell you how much it hurts your back to bend over like this.”  It was funny that next to him Open Mike had his gear raised up on a milk crate–couldn’t Pink Navel get a milk crate?

I really enjoyed his set which was full of glitchy samples and fun beats.  The best part of his set was the lyrics of course.

I enjoyed that he introduced “Character Select” as a rap that was a list and included a list of characters like

King Dedede, Kirby
Dante Hicks, Randal Jay, Veronica and Caitlin, snowball Kevin Smith
Homer Simpson, Marge and Lisa
[?], Bender, [?] Farnsworth, Leela
Piccolo, and Cleveland
Phoebe, Rachel, Ross, from Friends
Luke and Leia, Jango Fett
Boba, Manda, Yoda’s Kin
Grogu, Grevious, and the tins
BB, C3, R2D2

And if  you don’t like lists, there this bit from “Synergy”

The synergy of pain and play it heightens each the same
I do my day, complete my duties, work and then escape
Controller on my thigh while sippin’ second IPA
I do it every day implying hours played by us is in the triple digits
Fix a schism
A guide on how to keep the rhythm

He has also written a song about the sidekick Beedle from Zelda.  On his bandcamp he explains

“Present Vendor” is an ode to the thankless job of merchant, supplier, and catalyst to victory that many a side character have filled throughout gaming history. Focusing in on the omnipresent Beedle, who throughout the Zelda franchise has supplied arrows, bombs, ingredients, and anything else Link needs to complete his quest…Is this work destined to be support to the protagonist? Or, is there a way we can flip the narrative, and uplift this crucial cast member?

He was a lot of fun and played a great set.  I think he played songs only from his new album, but I’m not entirely sure.

SETLIST (not accurate but songs I remember)

1. Reset
2. New Tech
3. Present Vendor
4. Speedrun
5. Character Select
6. Synergy
7. Poet Gang Playing Cards
8. Sidequest
9. Cracked
10. Tilemap
11. Blip Party Chat
12. Memory Card

From the album How to Capture Playful (2023)