Elmyr's 14th anniversary was ear-shattering and face-melting

• Chad Radford
• Social Studies

Social Studies busted out a set of vast and completely improvised hip-hop at Elmyr’s 14th anniversary party on July 23, and just about stole the show. It all went down amid a sun-baked scene of neighborhood regulars wandering around the back parking lot, warding off heat strokes with a steady supply of PBR tallboys and cans of Schlitz, while a marathon of bands sweated it out under a small shade tent.

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Brass Castle played its first show in three years to a stoked crowd — and the biggest crowd of the day — but the chemistry was off. Maybe it was the heat. Maybe it was drummer Christian Gordy’s nagging complaints about the sound. Or maybe it was the fact that they were sandwiched between Social Studies and Zoroaster, who both put on top-notch performances.

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Social Studies' MC, Zano Bathroom, doesn't really operate on the same plane of consciousness as the rest of us, so when he hits his stride, a couple of minutes go by before his words sink in. Did he just equate changing paradigms to 20 cents? Yes he did. But by the time it makes sense, he's spat out out too many equally mind-blowing phrases to keep up, and it's all on done on the fly. Behind him, Chris Devoe twisted knobs, mashed buttons and nodded along to a barrage of beats and tweaks set on futuristic funk and interstellar overdrive.

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Social Studies' presence was overpowered only by the sheer magnitude of Zoroaster laying waste to the block with a monstrous rumble of colossal rhythms, dirges and earth-rattling metallic drones that took the edge off of the heat before the sun went down and All Night Drug Prowling Wolves closed it down.