G Jones brings stacked lineup of experimental bass to the Showbox (DMNW Review)

Last month, G Jones brought a huge lineup of experimental bass artists to the Showbox Sodo for his Illusory OS tour.

Episcool

To start off the night, Los Angeles local Episcool got us comfortable with some great sub-heavy and groovy beats, featuring some songs off of her recently released debut EP, Colors. She had no problems getting this Seattle crowd moving and loosened up for everything that was to come.

Redrum

Second up, Portland’s Redrum thoroughly entertained us with her wide range of songs and sounds. Mixing the ethereal melodies of her Pisces Moon EP with the thick chunky basses from her recent Chaos Theory EP. She brought a distinctive aura that we particularly enjoyed and we hope to see more of in the future.

Chee x Tsuruda

Next, these two highly acclaimed heavy bass artists performed an incredible back-to-back set and truly showed their mastery of sound production and beat making. Chee & Tsuruda played dozens of released and unreleased tracks full of off-time yet syncopated swing beats and mammoth-sized basses so well made you swore they were alive. Both artists brought their true style of old-school hip hop with a dark twist. We were also pleasantly surprised to hear a fair amount of drum and bass tunes that really brought up the energy of the crowd.

Mr. Carmack

Another amazing bass artist, Mr. Carmack, played a true-to-heart dance music set. Truly showing the beauty of simplicity and accenting, Mr. Carmack’s deep baselines and perfectly curated beats drove listeners into a frenzy. This set would not have been what it was without a few changeups, and his experimental drum and bass tunes brought together the set and had people well primed for the audiovisual experience of G Jones’s Illusory OS.

G Jones

We don’t think we have ever seen such a meticulous and well-made set as the one we saw G Jones play. His songs and visuals perfectly emulated the themes and ambiance that we all know him for. The bit crushed samples and face-punching beats and baselines had the audience screaming for more. His incredible transitions between genres, constantly evolving phrasing, and overall insane sound design truly made for a pleasurable listening experience.

To complement and magnify this experience, G Jones had a visual set that left us speechless. The visuals, all in black and white, displayed spiraling 8bit designs and mind-boggling patterns that had us unable to look away. His lighting and generous use of lasers brought this performance together into a truly immersive set that we didn’t want to end.

Credit: Tyler Hill

Overall, this lineup broadened our horizons on what to expect from dance music shows in the future. Hearing such a vast spectrum of genres and sounds in one show has us excited for what is to come from artists like these. For some of us, it also set a high bar for the quality of performances from long-standing artists like G Jones. We can only hope that more artists can put in the same amount of heart, soul, and hard work that he has into this project.