starRo at The Danforth Music Hall

Photographs by Maya Setton. 

It’d be absurd to describe the sound of multi-instrumentalist producer starRo (née Shinya Mizoguchi) without first addressing the sight of him. Clad in an elaborate pancho and topped with an Akubra style Aussie hat, he lurched over his deck like a mad scientist checking measurements. As the downbeat bassline waded in, he started swaying from side to side, as if testing the music in a physical sense. Piling up layers of ambient fuzz and kick drums, his shoulders begun dipping and by the time the syncopated beats amass, he was bobbing away like a ludic muppet. It seemed genuinely subconscious, as if he was taken by the mounting sonic arrangements, rendering it nigh-impossible to resist the buoyant vibes.

His set felt like the musical equivalent of circus style plate spinning. Starting up some low pitch shifted vocals, he dropped in a muted kick drum. Stacking up a synth line with a low pass filter at the ready, he armed a frequency whine just for good measure. Mashing away at a sample board, he reached back to twiddle and tweak, setting up a dizzying array of sounds at the ready. When it seemed like it was all about to topple, he jumped in and feverishly weaved samples in and out of each other, Grandmaster Flash’s The Message and Disclosure’s Latch made an appearance, drawn down to half tempo without losing impact. With so many elements spinning simultaneously, somehow it never seemed cluttered, as if it was all part of some greater plan.

That element of design showed itself through the set, as if we were being guided through some kind of audio safari. There was a pervasive playful quality that starRo seemed cheekily conscious of. Feeling the energy build in the room, he had no issue teasing impending beats back lightly before throwing out just what we were looking for. Jazzy percussion gave way to tantalizingly crunchy breakbeats, peeling back to smooth R&B vocals with a lazy Sunday feel. It was an effortlessly fun and fresh set that somehow just felt right for the surrounds of the Danforth Music Hall. Without standing on ceremony, he thanked the crowd and made a low key departure.