Shigeto in London

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  • Some live shows attract criticism for not feeling as "live" as the tag implies. An over-reliance on triggering pre-programmed beats and loops can lend performances a static and unspontaneous feel. With that in mind, I was interested to see how Shigeto's gig at Oval Space on Thursday, February 11th would play out. The Ghostly-signed producer doesn't make overtly dance floor-focussed records to start with, so how would he choose to present the more free-flowing elements of his music? The programming on the night wasn't what you'd normally expect, with the warm up DJs—labelmates Lord Raja and Heathered Pearls—maxing out the tempo before the main act appeared. Lord Raja, who makes dubby, IDM-indebted electronics, played scuffed-up jungle breaks before Heathered Pearls took over, dropping bits of peak-time house with gnarly acid undertones. As enjoyable as it was, it was also a bit much—given the mid-tempo pacing of most of Shigeto's music, they'd almost certainly overstepped the mark by several BPMs. Shigeto's set-up consisted of a table of gear and his drum kit. First he'd trigger beats and play around with some synths, before jumping onto the kit to add live drums into the mix. It worked better for some tracks than others: on "City Dweller," for example, the interplay between live drums rhythms, drum machine loops and drifting vocals felt dynamic and exciting. Also, his prowess with the sticks meant that the whole thing was never anything but tight, even if at times it felt like he was just playing along to ready-packaged beats. But when you're only one man, compromises of some sort are inevitable—on this showing, it appeared that Shigeto knows how to make the right ones.
RA