Part DJ, part videographer, Ego is a new breed of artist focused on evolving dance music in an innovative and fresh way; one that blurs the lines between live music performance and visual art.
“There's no rules, I get to write my own rule book,” Ego says about his art form. “I get to think about what I want to do next and where I want to go next and make it happen; there's a lot of freedom in what I get to do.”
His audio-visual live show is a multi-sensory odyssey that serves up herds of pop-culture appropriations through an on-screen psychedelic scrapbook. “I try and tread a line between being all out party and super trippy and visual,” Ego says about his signature show. “Ordinarily it might take a while for people to figure out that the screen and the music are talking to each other and it is all synced up, though once they do there is definitely an element of brains getting blown to some degree.”
A pioneer in bringing together technology and entertainment, Ego’s hallmark brand of video production has seen him play the main stage at Splendour in the Grass and Field Day and help evolve EDM from dance club bathroom soundtrack into the murky waters of the mainstream. “If you look at what's happening in America where EDM has totally broken out of nightclubs and has evolved into a festival environment now,” Ego says. “It goes beyond music and into a spectacle.”
There is no doubt that Ego's imitable audio-visual mashups and live spectacles have ripped Australia by the ears and eyeballs and left audiences equal parts curious and confused. “If you haven't been to one of my shows before then you can expect a big screen projecting pop culture samples, things I've dug up from VHS tapes, stuff from the '70s and '80s, and my own animations all thrown together and synced up with my DJ set,” Ego says about his upcoming show in Brisbane on Ekka Eve. “It's a little bit of a journey, I try and take audiences on a bit of a trip and try and get them out of their head and the club and take them somewhere new.”
See Ego and his breed of audio-visual entertainment at The Elephant Hotel on Ekka Eve, Tuesday August 12.
