Last night I was fortunate enough to catch RJD2 at the 9:30 Club here in DC, along with his newest collaborative effort with Aaron Livingston, Icebird (opening for yourself, how badass is that?). A not quite sold out, but still packed crowd made it out in the rain to bask in the music. With RJD2‘s electronic past, and a name like Icebird it’s easy to conjure up an image of their sound. Unfortunately it would be completely wrong. Their debut album, The Abandoned Lullaby (released on Tuesday), is filled with soulful warmth and unexpected influences (immediate comparisons to Cee Lo come to mind) Their live performance was rounded out with a full band and took the audience on a blues-influenced rock journey that most probably didn’t see coming. Frankly I found it refreshing to have the opener and the headliner presenting completely different sounds, and I actually think it helped bring light to the soulfulness of his electronic compositions. They’re having a remix contest for their single “Charmed Life” and you can stream their album here and watch the video for “Going and Going. And Going” below.

Following a brief intermission, RJD2 himself appeared on stage in a sparkly jumpsuit, speaking through a vocoder with a sampler strapped to his crotch (naturally it was spun around several times). He shed the costume to hop behind his expansive setup, which consisted of four turntables and a sampler, eventually being joined by a live drummer. He delighted fans with a sampling of his classics, like “The Horror” and “1976″, alongside less popular, though equally recognizable tracks. His set was backed by a projection screen (as many electronic artists are choosing to do these days), but disjointed clips of Aqua Teen Hunger Force and The Matrix added nothing to the experience for me, and I wished he had had a more consistent visual presence. Nonetheless it was wonderful and awe-inspiring to see someone I idolize perform, and that enthusiasm was reflected across the board in the crowd. People were losing themselves in the music, and I think it’s safe to say that most of them were pretty dedicated fans, an 11pm show on a Wednesday is not for the faint of heart. It was very evident how much fun he was having performing as well, at one point sampling sounds from Super Mario and remarking, “Sometimes this music shit just gets too serious.” I couldn’t agree more. Check out upcoming tour dates here, and I’ll leave you with one of my favorite tracks of all time.

1976 by i am rjd2