Another cold and brisk night in New York City, I made my trek last Friday to Williamsburg to catch Nosaj Thing on his tour debuting his new A/V show, courtesy of Mean Red Productions. On the bill were some impressive acts such as Mary Anne Hobbs, Dirty South Joe and Toro y Moi but for me, the main attraction was Nosaj Thing and his visual show that I’ve been anticipating since I first laid my eyes on his performance in Amsterdam.
I arrived at the venue later than expected and the Toro was already on stage. Expecting a live performance, I was a little disappointed to see a DJ set which even Toro himself jokingly referred to the subpar performance as his “first dj gig.” He started off his set strong with some upbeat electronic music but abruptly switched to what sounded like background music suitable for elevators, but later saved the set by playing popular hip hop tracks from Outkast and Drake. With limited (but) knowledge of Toro’s music, I was a bit surprised he didn’t play his popular tracks such as Low Shoulder (which I was actually looking forward to).
Having witnessed Nosaj Thing’s performance earlier this year, I knew everyone would be in for a treat. I recognized many of his tracks from Drift and Views/octopus EP and from the sounds of the crowd, they did too. With special help from Fair Enough and their mesmerizing light show, the performance definitely superseded all my expectations. The trippy visual effects were synced to the music with detailed precision. Every frame of movement complimented each and every single hearthrobbing beat, blip and beep that echoed throughout the venue. Geometric shapes floating in space, as well as stars suspended in the dark created an illusion all too majestic to fathom.
Nosaj’s total creation was an illusion of a mad scientist creating his masterpiece. It’s one thing to listen to good music or watch an amazing visual spectacle, but to incorporate the two made the product so much grander. Clearly, one plus one did not equal two, if you get my drift… The set ended with the audience thirsting for an encore. So the artist came out and with the help from Dr. Dre, he officially ended his show representing his California Love.
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