Group X Plays Under the Couch

For anyone who has lived in Georgia during the last 10 years or so, you’ve probably heard of Gröûp X, if only superficially. (Note: Although “Gröûp X” is the official band name, omission of the superfluous accents is generally acceptable.) The group has become somewhat of a phenomenon both locally and on the internet. They have built a cult around their stage personas as Arabian Rap Sensations from Saudi Arabia. Musically, they blend censor-baiting humor with crude language and faux Arab accents. Fans and band alike prefer that their real identities and personal information remain unexposed, so if you’re dying to know the men behind the myth, you missed your chance this past Saturday when they played at Under the Couch with openers Cranial Implosion.

Gröûp X prepared for the inanity early by covering the entire floor area with yarn so that the crowd appeared to be caught in a giant web. Cranial Implosion kicked off the show to a rather tepid reception from the audience. The crowd seemed unprepared for the band, which consists of a drummer and an electronics maestro noodling around with keyboards, synths, and effects processors. They improvised the entire set, although their sound is hard to generalize. During softer moments Cranial Implosion sound like an uninspired Stereolab, but they briefly skirted noise-rock territory of bands such as Hella, Mindflayer, and Holy Molar. Sadly, these moments were few and far between. Although the skill required for improvisation is impressive, without creativity or artistic chemistry, it comes off as either pretentious or uninteresting. I’m not sure if it was pretentious or not, but their live show could benefit from more structure and purpose.

Gröûp X are infamous for their crowd-interactive concerts. After Cranial Implosion finished their set, Gröûp X stipulated that they would not take stage until every female was ushered to the front of the room and every person turned facing to the back. When they finally got onstage, Gröûp X fleshed out their sound with a full band. Not that it matters much, because the songs are juvenile and pedestrian, just like they are in their recorded versions.

However, music criticism is beside the point. Rather, the power of their live show resides in their ability to coerce and embarrass random audience members into performing acts dictated by statements pulled from their “Bag of Consequences.” How else could they convince eight guys and girls to take off various articles of clothing to make a flag? Or get two audience members to perform imaginary oral sex while the audience reacted by moaning? Or convince a girl to sip a bit of oyster juice, who was then upstaged by a male fan who chugged the entire bottle? Antics such as these are the main draw for the live show; the songs are just interludes.

Despite what you may think of the music, it is very easy to indulge in the absurdist pranks of Gröûp X. Nevertheless, after five or so “Consequences,” the shtick wears thin. We get it, you’re zany and you pull cheap laughs from obvious frat boy humor. Without anything else to offer of their own, towards the end of the show Gröûp X resorted to reading a bedtime story to the audience. They randomly flipped to a page in Gravity’s Rainbow by Thomas Pynchon.

Compared to Pynchon, Gröûp X looked like amateurs. It’s too bad the concert didn’t turn into a two and a half hour reading of Gravity’s Rainbow. I’ve always wanted to read that book.