BeatRoute Magazine [AB] print e-edition - [September 2017]

JUCY
NOSAJ THING
shining a light on music
photo: Innovative Leisure
Mastering the connection between audio and visual.
Nosaj Thing, who is colloquially known
as electronic producer/composer/
performer Jason Chung, has released
his fourth full-length studio LP Parallels. To
celebrate, he is taking the release out on a two
month North American tour.
Chung’s previous full-length LP tour
(Fated) travelled through Houston, where
the theft of all of his equipment and digital
archives occurred, triggering an opportunity
to reassess. In a crushing state of deep loss,
Chung resiliently pushed forward with the
support of his fans and friends to acquire a
fresh set of equipment and a clean slate to
start over with. Heading into that fateful tour,
Chung had been heavily focused on collaboration
in the visual realm to create an immersive
experience; with his rebound production EP,
No Reality, he did just that, stringing together
a cohesive set of five tracks and visuals that
left concert goers awestruck.
JUCY
With Parallels, Chung has created an album
that takes the listener on a dark journey,
replete with oscillating emotions and sonic
reflections. While Steve Spacek, Kazu Makino
and Zuri Marley’s vocal contributions to the
record helped push Chung’s experimentations
further in the instrumental aspects of the
music, there are to be no collaborations when
Chung takes the music visual.
“Actually, for this tour, it’s going to be the first
time that I’m performing solo, even with the
visual aspect of it,” Chung says.
“You know in the past I worked with graphic
designers, animators and programmers and this
time around I’m going to be experimenting more
with light and space.”
This statement may come as a bit of a
surprise to anyone who’s experienced a live
Nosaj Thing performance recently, but the
illuminating aspect of it is that the reset and
rebound of Chung’s career have helped him
by Andrew R. Mott
to take full personal control of the concert
experience on this tour.
“I’m programming lasers and lights and seeing
where I can take it. Pretty much just experimenting
with the space of the venue… I’m trying to
program in non-traditional ways that I haven’t
seen before and program to movements in a way
that I kind of envision to my music. I’m going to
be programming the lights with each song and
getting really detailed with it.”
This move away from collaborating with visual
artists to venture into the creation and marriage
of music with light is really born from the
combination of aspiration and discontentment in
a creative minimalist seeking to enter the trance
of production.
“I think I’m feeling just a little bit exhausted
from how we consume everything, like news,
basically, social media and our phones and
everything. It’s just so stressful. Sometimes I want
to throw my phone out the window, like, once a
week or something. I just want to sit at home and
make ambient music and channel out?”
So Chung’s immersed himself in the task of
creating a flexible multi-sensory set, pushing his
skill set further and reaching deeper into the process
to push his influence fully across the venue.
“I’m a little bit frustrated, and actually it feels
weird for me as a performer playing electronic
music, when everyone’s just facing the stage.
You know, I’m not up there singing or playing
guitar like a traditional band or whatever. I’m
used to just working in the studio or in a room.
That’s kind of the reason that I started doing
visuals in the first place. ‘Cause I just didn’t
like the idea of everyone paying attention to
what I’m doing on stage. I don’t think it’s that
interesting with a midi controller and drum
machine up there. It’s kind of distracting (me)
from being able to perform. You know, sometimes
electronic music isn’t designed to be performed
on stage with a whole crowd watching,
so I thought it would go hand in hand bringing
a visual element in [to] play, because light has
some distance, some range to it, it’s something
you can kind of feel. With a laser you can feel it,
it has an energy that it sends, cause it reaches
to the end of the room.”
This desire to personally create the visual experience
of his music on stage has helped Chung
find a greater sense of reward as a performing artist,
shifting his focus from just playing his music to
that of helping people to see what he envisions.
“I’m actually just really excited about it,
because I feel that it’s going to be more of an
output of what I have in my head. I love collaborating
cause things come out that I’d never
even imagined, but it’s also interesting to make
things visually that you have in your head that
you can share, especially if you’re also making
music too. I think that’s kind of rare.”
Nosaj Thing performs at the Commonwealth Bar
& Stage on September 11 (Calgary), at Amigos
Catina on September 13 (Saskatoon), and at
the West End Cultural Centre on September 14
(Winnipeg).
LET’S GET JUCY!
Good god it’s autumn again. This is an interesting
September for yours truly, in that it is the first in
four years that I am not returning to school. Feels
good man! Here’s hoping that you all had summers rich
with dancing, partially regrettable decisions and drained
your bank accounts on festival, shows and various intoxicants.
Anyways, here’s a bunch of shows I can’t go to:
Justin Martin returns to the HiFi September 2. One of
those just long-standing favourites, Dirtybird’s poster boy
definitely seems to like it out here, making multiple stops in
Calgary a year and performing at Bass Coast and Shambhala
annually. It’s for good reason, his productions and live shows
never disappoint.
I was really, really hoping to lock down an interview with
this artist, as he is a personal favourite of mine but it didn’t end
up panning out. However, you should all know Bonobo well.
The multi-instrumentalist is one of the single best producers
within the realms of downtempo and melodic electronic
music. He brings his riveting live show to the Palace Theatre on
September 13.
This right here is one outrageous lineup if I’ve ever seen one:
Vanilla Ice, Salt-N-Pepa, Rob Base and Biz Markie play at
Winsport Arena at Canada Olympic Park on September 13.
Don some neon, maybe some gigantic pants and a fanny-pack
and get your nostalgic groove on!
Masked and leather-clad dubstep trio Black Tiger Sex
Machine perform at the Marquee on September 15. A tad too
heavy on the screech and wonkiness for my cynical, decrepit
old ears, but hey, if that’s your thing it should be one heck of
a party, seems like they were pretty well received at this year’s
Shambhala.
Another festival favourite, Skiitour brings the winter early
to the Palace theatre on September 16. Another good one for
neon, but maybe sub out the fanny pack for some ski goggles.
DON’T EAT THE SNOW!
Australian hip-hop duo Bliss N Eso perform at Wild Bill’s on
September 25 (Banff), the Forge on September 27 (Edmonton)
and the Gateway on the 28 (Calgary). Though their career has
been marred in recent years by some unfortunate occurrences,
like having their music barred from Triple J, or a stuntman
getting shot in the gut while filming one of their videos, their
music is actually really sunny and enjoyable for the most part.
Rap giant Tech N9ne performs with his frequent collaborator
Krizz Kaliko play the Marquee September 29.
I shall personally be making the commute for Billy Kenny
at the end of the month so I hope to see some familiar faces
there, and will be covering Calgary artists at Fozzy Fest as well!
Enjoy the month, see ya in October.
• Paul Rodgers
Bliss N Eso
BEATROUTE • SEPTEMBER 2017 | 35