Sunday, September 20, 2009

Last.fm Stumble: Dorian Concept


While cruising around the related artists section on my last.fm radio player, I came across the German electronic artist "Dorian Concept". On first listen, I may have pigeonholed him a bit, to the wonky, off kilter glitch-hop scene, which pleased me to say the least (I can't seem to get enough of that "flylo" sound these days). But, after exploring all the youtube and blog links I could get, I found that Dorian Concept is as deep an artist as any.

Wielding the virtuosic abilities of a be-bop piano player, and the technical knowledge of a seasoned audio engineer, Dorian Concept borrows from a multitude of genres and playing styles. Sometimes he'll be playing jazzy licks at a baby grand piano, and other times, twisting fuzzy warbles from the knobs of a MicroKorg synthesizer.

The MicroKorg, however kitchy looking, is an integral part of the Dorian Concept sound, and deserves partial credit for bringing his music into the public eye. It started with a video clip of Dorian Concept at home, filmed from a crappy USB camera, playing one of his songs. The playing was so good in fact, that many people didn't actually believe he was playing it live. Those rumors have since been dismissed, as the guy manages to re-create the sounds of that video in his live shows, with a watchful camera lens projecting a live image of the keyboard to the audience via a projector.

The music in the end is something that can't really be boxed. It has the timbres of progressive electronic music, with the song sensibility of a thoughtful composer.

To give you an idea of the genre-bending I speak of, check out the videos below.

links:
Dorian Concept on Last.fm HERE
Video Interview HERE

Dorian Concept @ FM4 Soundpark, Germany


The viral video that started it all:

1 comment:

effie said...

oh hes so ill.... but i'd never seen that video! crazyfingerlicks!