- On Saturday, June 6, 2009, London-native Damian Lazarus conducted a bizarre and memorable live performance at Avalon in Hollywood. Designed as a way to showcase the intimate and cinematic material from his debut full-length, Smoke the Monster Out, Lazarus' surprised the usual audience of clubgoers with an engaging and original production complete with visuals, dancers, props and smoke machines.
Photo credit: Christopher Soltis
Walking into the club, the first thing I noticed was its labyrinth-like feel courtesy of ivy-like leaves woven into the ceiling, and an elaborate and trippy lighting scheme that gave off the impression of walking into a haunted forest. LA tech-house crew Droog warmed up the main room while dancers wearing oddly realistic animal heads pranced around until Lazarus took to the stage.
When Lazarus finally did, he was joined by Taxi Taxi, elfin-like twin sisters from Stockholm who provided vocals for four of the tracks on Lazarus' album. Dressed like forest nymphs straight out of The Chronicles of Narnia, the duo may very well have been the shining stars of the show. Their eerie, childlike and angelic singing was a perfect contrast to Lazarus' murky yet inspired techno and tech house and dark and masculine vocals, adding depth to an already layered performance.
Photo credit: Christopher Soltis
But even despite Lazarus' undeniable ability to capture and move a floor, the show came close to overshadowing the music itself. Sure, the tunes were original coming from a DJ-turned-musician, but they could have pushed the envelope a bit more. It was a collection of pleasurable hits that rarely took too big a risk, limiting the music's reach to a very specific audience of newbie clubgoers and avid electronic music heads looking for something fun, noteworthy, and danceable, but neither too heady nor deep.