Digitalism Makes Seattle Their First Stop on US Tour

The electronic German duo Digitalism annihilated a killer show Wednesday night at Seattle’s Showbox at the Market. Seattle was the first U.S. city they performed at during their nationwide tour as part of The Hard Summer Tour series.

The night first started out immediately with Northwest favorite The Dowlz as they set up the dance floor. Dowlz is owner of Kaos Theory, one of the Northwest’s largest and longest running electronic music promotion groups.  When entering the nightclub, he was there spinning various melodies and tracks pumping up the volume to the max, igniting a few dance crazes from the patrons. Up next was music producer Gesaffelstein, a tall thin man dressed in a dapper leather coat and cigarette dangling from his lips, dropping beat after beat. His set was fresh as he pulled out all the stops and even teased the audience a bit where the music was slowly phasing out but then would intensify with a louder sound, continuing the track forward, never ending.

After two amazing opening acts, Digitalism took center stage. Comprised of Jens “Jence” Moelle and Ismail “Isi” Tüfekçi, the duo lit up the dance floor for their set as they played various tracks from their new album I Love You, Dude and other hits. It has been four years since they released their debut album Idealism. Now, after working tirelessly from their studio bunker in Germany, they have composed a unique electronic/rock album that was certainly produced and created by them, the band. All the time and dedication it took certainly paid off at the show.

The sound was infectious and satisfying. Like their first track from I love You, Dude, they started off with “Stratosphere”. The compressed beats and fat bass lines were in full effect for this introduction.  One electric track I enjoyed was “Forrest Gump”. Moelle’s voice effectively shouts “And then you run…” throughout the chorus. The band had a drummer in tow which seemed to add great heft to tracks like this one. “Antibiotics” was another favorite with a futuristic styled beat. Heavy use of distorted synths and drum machines helped ignite this melody. The duo moved into lighter territory with their single ”2 Hearts”. The song may be that of a typical bromance, but rest assured, it is a pop song with harmonic vocals and keys bantering back and forth with heavy bass lines.

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