RJD2
Brooklyn Bowl
Brooklyn, NY
February 9

Electronic jammer RJD2 can make you feel like the erratic star of your own existentialist-noir drama when listening to his music in digital formats, but a concert of his proves capable of a collective experience. On February 9th at the Brooklyn Bowl, Ramble John “RJ” Krohn broke his rabid concentration to grin with genuine glee as waves of merging beats crashed to cinematic highs over a crowd of dancing – really dancing – 20-something Brooklynites. His easy showmanship and tightly controlled sound- and genre-manipulations pushed the music to an almost physical presence rather than lingering as a cool background score to a Friday night hangout.

Announcing himself onstage with a voice distorter and a full body suit/welding mask ensemble (it’s still “upgrades to the cock and balls region” ), RJ made a quick wardrobe switch back into his usual modest polo. Then, along with a live drummer, he spent the next hour and a half darting back and forth between four turntables and a massive collection of vinyl to churn out extended jams of songs from his most recent album Deadringer and older beat-juggled 70s and 80s funk classics, producing reenergized cheers of recognition for “1976,” “The Horror,” “Smoke and Mirrors,” and “A Beautiful Mine” (his catalyst to universal fame after being fit to the opening credits of Mad Men. )

Because live shows are grounds to experiment, his faithful and sometimes dazedly monotonous adherence to RJD2 familiarity might be a flaw, but a highly pleased audience screaming along to show-closer “Let the Good Times Roll, Part II” kind of reevaluates that criticism. Hats off if I had been wearing one.