Scene NYC: Lip Critic Plays A Boxing Ring

Lip Critic sounds a bit to me like a chaos agent.

The New York City-based Partisan Records artist boasts two drummers, a slew of EP’s and singles, one full album and another releasing May 1st, and more energy than can be contained in a traditional venue. A few days ago, they played a series of shows seemingly wherever they could. A laundromat. A soccer field. A boxing ring. We sent photographer and correspondent Caleb Sugai to the boxing ring to shoot photos, see the bands, and text us his thoughts. Here’s what he came back with.

Pulling up to the boxing ring with security outside. Everyone chain smoking and speedrunning public intoxication because there is no re entry. Get inside, full on screen-printing sweatshop goin’ on in there, dudes taking off their prized Title Fight tees and getting them decked out in fresh ink. Pass all the shiny things and enter the thunderdome complete with smoke machine and boxing ring.

MX Lonely takes the stage to open, lead singer goes straight for the top rope, fans are lovin the WWE shit. People are flinging themselves off the ring into the sea of flesh, hyped up on MX Lonely’s in your face energy.

People are pogo jumping like the 1980s and loving it.

Set goes by really quick because of the energy in the room.

Someone is flying a fuckin drone in here I gotta find them.

Turns out he’s watching the entire show through the drone and is in the pit with drone goggles on.

The future is now.

Lip critic sets up double drums double keypads, lead singer of course goes straight for the top rope. Show starts and I can no longer tell what sounds are electronic or from the drum set, I am becoming the drone guy.

Lip Critic sounds like all the anxiety the internet gives you, mainlined into your jugular. It’s the best.

Push pit forms. Naturally, people start doing karate. People are jumping off the ring like it’s on fire, one bold man climbs the scaffolding and immediately seems to regret it.

There’s money and sweat everywhere.

Lip has a great way of getting people to do anything they want, they coulda told us to rob a bank if the music kept playing. Instead we had the wall of death. It wasn’t no black metal try-to-kill-someone wall of death but it was still fun to see, maybe just a wall of minor injuries.