Sudan Archives @ le Studio TD▪

Studio TD is starting to provide competition to S.A.T. as my most hated venue in the city. It’s located right in that area where it’s impossible to park… and when you do, it’s a gouge until 11pm. And then arriving 80 minutes after doors opening and STILL lining up for 20 minutes in -20 windchill due to some kind of ticketing issue, and then being challenged by security for a sealed bag of No Name Trail Mix in my pocket (for an early flight tomorrow) like I’m some kinda snack bootlegger… Sudan Archives, you had better be worth it!

Thankfully, she is. Brittney Denise Parks (the mastermind behind the Sudan Archives project) arrives on stage at 9:15pm, and creeps across the stage in near darkness to pre-recorded birdsong, first to a computer at stage right, to set up the beats, then to a podium at centre stage. Newest record BPM is a huge departure from her first two records, laced with club beats and techno feels, and that’s exactly how the set starts, with the pummelling DEAD and NOIRE, Brittney patrolling the stage, glaring into phone lenses and shocking everyone in the front row at how close she gets!

YEA YEA YEA follows, drawing a huge clapalong at the breakdown, before wrapping up with a big violin solo on the podium. It’s an astonishing sight; she’s the only one on stage, orchestrating the beats and the violin as well as the furious vocal delivery, from start to finish. At one point, she pulls a girl from the crowd to be a podium dancer for A BUG’S LIFE, but besides that, she’s alone up there the whole night.

She’s masterful in the way she mixes up the sound across the 80-minute set. Songs like NBPQ (Topless) and MS. PAC MAN are heavy on a hip hop vocal over absolutely devastating beats, while other songs like Nont for Sale and SHE’S GOT PAIN sound a lot more mellow and classical, Brittney playing the violin like a banjo or a shanty. Old songs like Come Meh Way and Selfish Soul sound even more delicate and magical in the context of such an electronica/house-heavy set.

Still, there’s only one way the show could possibly end, and that’s in a flurry of house beats. Brittney duly obliges with an encore of THE NATURE OF POWER and THE BPM, jumping down into the crowd to join the euphoria and the sea of waving arms. There’s no sign of the classic Confessions, sadly, which is a bit of a bummer, but besides that, it’s a mightily solid set from start to finish.

But maybe next time let’s try a different venue?!

Setlist