[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HxK7yP8NPSQ]
“Reflections”
Django Django’s music inspires one to compare and contrast it to other artists and styles. But as hard as you try, in the end, their sound cannot be easily confined to such comparisons.
You would be wont to hear a great deal of Beach Boys influence in their music. From songs such as “Hail Bop” to “Life’s a Beach” to ‘Wor”, the surf music undercurrent throughout is palpable.
You could find a healthy number of drumline dance beats, from “Waveforms” to “Reflections”, to groove to.
You could even find a bit of Irish music in their instrumental, “Slow West”, from the movie soundtrack of the same name and a bit of riding horse/rattlesnake country in “Love’s Dart”.
The point is, they don’t confine themselves to one sound, one approach or one genre. Hence, why the moniker “art rock” has been used to describe them.
Django Django gave the solid crowd at the 9:30 Club on July 29th (full but not quite sold out), an expansive journey into their musical world.
It’s easy to see why they’ve achieved critical acclaim for their first, self-titled album, released in 2012.
They are currently touring on the strength of their second full length album, Born Under Saturn, and it sounds like the new songs are as eclectic, groovy and dance-able as the first album.
Django Django is David Maclean (drummer and producer), Vincent Neff (singer and guitarist), Jimmy Dixon (bassist) and Tommy Grace (synthesizer operator). They formed in 2009 after meeting in Edinburgh, Scotland in college.
Each song they performed required a different configuration of instruments and places to be on the stage. They moved around, in tight packs, or spread out to take advantage of the full range of instruments placed across the stage. As if where they stood was as much a part of the song as the instrument they used at the time.
They added elements like digital pulses in “Silver Rays”, throbbing reggae beats in the middle of their set, and a saxophone solo in “Reflections”.
The lyrics are often delivered matter of fact, almost monotone, allowing the music to convey all the emotion. The strongest element throughout each song is the guitar rhythms ebbing and flowing.
The stage was often dark, which allowed the lights and background videos to pop out and further expand the electic mood.
The song I enjoyed most live was “Shake and Tremble”, which mixed in many elements, including an opening that reminds one of the theme for Spy Hunter.
The crowd was enthusiastic for much of the show, culminating in “Wor”, artfully played just before Django Django exited for the encore. The band encouraged everyone to drop low for the lyrics, “Press the button now, and drop it on the zone”.
Which works out to be a more concise descriptor of their performance.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JQGTORbJgB4]“Hail Bop”