Seattle Gets Bright With Odesza And Pretty Lights

The Northwest has a knack for bringing forth some of the most forward thinking, impressive producers that we’ve ever had the privilege of hearing. It could be the weather or the abundance of diversity; maybe it’s something in the water, but whatever it is, we want more of it. When Northwest raised Odesza teamed up with Rocky Mountain regioned Pretty Lights to play a show, a beautiful blend of music ensued. Both producers have had the benefit of growing up in extraordinary states with lush landscapes that are sure to have inspired their sound. The outcome of the two artists coming together turned the ShoWare Center in Kent into an experience equal to the beauty of the natural environment they came from.

Odesza killing it at Neumos, Seattle before leaving to tour the East Coast.

We’ve had the pleasure of seeing Odesza’s performance before they left to tour the East Coast. Now that they’re back, their stage presence has sky rocketed and their material is oozing with confidence and originality. Last night, Odesza released a mix of their favorite producers as well as their own “My Friends Never Die.”

With their incredulous energy, Odesza set the mood for the night. Fans young and old felt the music as they danced wildly. Wearing Odesza shirts and with flowers in their hair, a group of girls twirled and spun with the electric flow that echoed through through the building. Friends held hands and swayed like sea anemones in the vast sea of diversity. Odesza sure knew how to prep the crowd for the glitchy, hip-hop beats that would soon come from Colorado’s own Pretty Lights.

Now, if you are one of the lucky few to have seen Pretty Lights perform live, you know what we are talking about when we say this is one of those musical experiences you have to encounter before you die. There’s no other performance like it. The lights dimmed and an ear-piercing squeal from an excited fan echoed through the venue; the man of the night was about to present us with an opportunity of a lifetime. Thousands of eager eyes were set on the stage and as soon as Derek Vincent Smith’s voice welcomed the crowd, shrieks and whistles drowned out the silence. “Wassuuuup Seattle?!”

https://soundcloud.com/prettylights/pretty-lights-hot-like-sauce

The crowd would be in for almost a three hour set of booming, bass-drenched beats that would shake their bodies and soak their eardrums. A fusion of monolithic modern jazz and huge, soul-soaked hip-hop beats were then laid onto the crowd by Pretty Lights himself. The stage looked like a space craft. Every section was illuminated with colored beams and neon lights. Fog machines erupted with white smoke that encircled Derek Vincent Smith, making him appear to be the captain of the pulsating, reverberating space ship.

Pretty Light’s set-up looks like something between an 80’s Sc-fi film and Tron.

With a name like Pretty Lights, it’s no surprise that the visuals are absolutely out of this world. The lasers and lights danced endlessly to the music while Smith worked vigorously and expertly over his set-up. He adjusted tempos and triggered samples all while smoking (an impressively large) blunt. Accordingly he bellowed, “Are you high Seattle?!” and dropped into a super-funky, reggae bass riff.

The video above was shot from Pretty Light’s performance at the WaMu theater in Seattle at Lucky 2013. If you were there, you would know that Pretty Lights puts on one hell of a party. For almost three hours the party at the ShoWare Center raged on; even the brass players kept blowing away on their instruments while the crowd persisted in moving, shaking, and throwing their hands in the air.

Pretty Lights ended the night with a bang as they closed with big bass and a bow from each of the members. Seattle loved the soul stirring, hip shaking electrofest full of laser synth reverb and the light-show worthy of a thousand space movies. Before walking off stage, there was one thing that front-man Derek Smith said that stuck like glue to our music-marked hearts; “Every generation changes, but it’s all the same love.” There wasn’t a soul in the crowd who didn’t clap or whistle in admiration for the stage presence and stamina that was brought in abundance that night, or the wise words of our favorite glitch-hop hero, Pretty Lights.