Django Django continue to show why their unique soundscape and psychedelic blend of genres remains the kind of music best heard live in a the sea of a crowd.
Django Django have been a consistent force in the art house genre for a decade now, pushing out albums that constantly dance and explore the gap between pop rock and sounds from electronic musicians like Daft Punk. In 2013 they reached the presitigious accolade of being featured on the FIFA soundtrack of that respective year and the GTA V soundtrack with the song ‘Hail Bop’ off their debut album, the latter being where I was first introduced to the band.
A decade later and they arrive on stage at The Liquid Room, Edinburgh stood in matching all white outfits in contrast to the misty, murky darkness of the small basement venue as they stood out embracing the spotlight that a decade of work and innovation has earned them. As they start to play, you can feel the anticipation building in a slow burn. The first few songs are gentle and did not feature as much heavy synth work as the fan favourites tend to, and you could slowly feel the crowd warming up as we all started to sway to the dreamy riffs of ‘Right the Wrongs‘. By the time ‘Hail Bop‘ came along the crowd was in the mood for it. The song is a standout for a reason, it’s heavy blend of dreamy electronic melodies and catchy hypnotic vocals, and we were all under the spell. Throughout the gig, there was some light banter and crowdwork but they mainly chose to let the music do the talking, but you could see in the little turns and mutters to each other between songs, this is still the same band that started with Dave Maclean and Vincent Neff messing around in a flat togther.
The whole night was filled with a good range of old classics, new tracks from their album Off Planet, an unreleased track ‘Somebodies Reality’ and a very fun and fitting cover of Daft Punk’s ‘Around the World’. The setlist was well worked and the jumps to more up tempo dance tracks like the aforementioned Daft Punk cover was well managed but never detracting from the lower tempo psychedelic songs that transported you outside of the dark basement usually reserved for student club nights.
In the intimate setting of the Voodoo rooms, the whole show – including the support act Low Island – set the tone for a fun, laid back evening of melodic synthesizers, warm vocals and some psychedelic instrumentals. Django Django continue to show why their unique soundscape and blend of genres remains the kind of music best heard in a the sea of a crowd.
REVIEWER: John Richardson