There has been a longstanding battle between 4/4 beats and broken rhythms and it seems that at this particular moment in time, broken beats are hailing triumphant. This is all thanks to a number of inspiring new talents in the drum’n'bass/dubstep department like Pangaea, Commix, and 2562/A Made Up Sound, complimented by a resurgence of talent in funky hip hop/trip hop department by DJ Shadow, whose Shadowsphere tour is currently pushing the audiovisual envelope to the max.
No words can do justice to the experience. In essence, moving video images are projected onto a 10′-tall spherical construction using Orbovision. The giant sphere acts as a surface onto which 3-D projections are mapped and mixed live and in sync to the music.
The concert featured a bricolage of imagery ranging from visual representations of complex data flows from a circuit board to intergalactic twinkling stars, morphing merging close-ups of long-stemmed roses, organs, various pieces of audio gear, and even a baseball being hit out of the court that appeared to fly into the audience from the screen. Shadow’s musical compliment was at some times mellow and melodic and at others mean and monstrous: a mixture of thundering bass, staccato rhythms, and haunting sampled organs, synths, and vocals. He played all the classics: “Stem Long Stem”, “Transmission”, “What Does Your Soul Look Like”, and “Midnight in a Perfect World.” If you have a chance to see this, don’t stop to think about it. Just go.
