I went to the Simian Mobile Disco concert this past spring, and it was one of the most remarkable experiences I have ever had in my life. They have a particular way of taking the most mundane, monotonous beats and noises and ramping them up so that you hear sounds you’ve never seen before; you see colors you’ve never seen before in the lights. You internalize the light; you internalize the beat. The colors and music become one with your body. It’s the most perfect moment of merger I can imagine. It’s otherworldly and yet so present.
Given that the experience was so amazing, I didn’t set any expectations for this show. After all, it was *just* a DJ set. I was so wrong. It was like being underwater in space. We became octopi, jellyfish, spacemen, we did the wave and jittered our hands to the music. The beat was possessive and entire. There’s a lot to be said for negative space and nothingness: Simian knows how to use both, toward its—and the audience’s—extreme benefit.
