Los Angeles-native Henry Laufer, better known as Shlohmo, performed at The Fillmore last Thursday, returning to the West Coast in the final leg of his tour for recent album Dark Red. Shlohmo’s contemporaries in his self-made WEDIDIT collective, Nick Melons and Purple opened up the night. Together, they set the ominous aura to usher in the main act.
Shortly upon their arrival after this opening bracket, an electric drum set, keyboards, and mixer were unveiled under dark-colored lights on the stage. Also part of Shlohmo’s physical set were pillars and a brick wall, both created via LEDs, etching the night in black and white. A curtain with doodles drawn all over it draped over the back of the design. In this ancient light-flooded ruin, Shlohmo took the stage with live band.
From there on, the show followed a consistent pattern: Shlohmo started a beat and the other two joined in on drum and keys, layering over each other’s sounds. Multiple occasions, Shlohmo threw on a guitar and decided to play over pre-set loops.
The performance was essentially a jam session for the three with slow, deep build-ups to a climax with expertly blended breaks to end each song. Creative use of bass and kick drum immersed the theater entirely in the warmth of the sound; overall, the performance was impressive. The 25-year-old DJ did not say a word the entire night but compensated for this every time he pulled his hood over his head and silently ran the mixing board.
Shlohmo is scheduled to play the concluding show of this tour in Los Angeles May 7.
Article by Arnav Chaturvedi