What’s the point of being a tour-long opener? Or even just an opener in general? It’s to get your name out there, right? To intrigue the unknowing audience who came to see someone they deem better than you and strut your stuff. A bad opener will force you to turn to your friends and have catch-up conversations, maybe leave the venue or a bit and get some air, or grab a drink at the bar. A good opener will catch your attention and keep you interested. You might buy a pin to support their cause. A great opener will enthrall you. You can’t take your eyes off the stage, and you begin to wonder why you’ve never heard of this band. You probably hit the merch table, you might buy the album (if you’re in to that sort of legal thing), and if they really blew you away, you’ll be so confident they’re going to be the “next cool thing” you’ll buy a shirt. But one thing’s for damn sure: you want more of what you just heard.

L.A. outfit Jogger fits in that final category. In fact, the second I got home, I Grooveshark-ed the bands work and have been listening to songs from their album The Great Pressure fairly religiously. Live electronics are not an easy thing to pull off. You really have to be experimental if you want to impress your audience, because anyone can make noises on garage band. So, naturally, Jogger pulled out all the stops during their short set. From singing vocals into violin pickups, different octave vocal harmonizing, interesting sampling v. solid guitar work, this duo played an impressive set that set the precedent for how the remainder of the night would go. And might I say, what an incredible touring trio. It’s unfortunate that this was their second to last date together, because now I can’t recommend their upcoming shows to you, but after this night, I can vouch for all three acts.

Part 2 – Toro y Moi

The dance floor remained pretty empty throughout Jogger’s set, probably due to unfamiliarity with the music, and definitely due to the night being young. As more and more people shuffled into the crowded bar, it became apparent who people were here to see: Toro y Moi. The minute frontman Chaz Bundick took the stage to set up, the yells of “I love you Chaz!” and “Toro y Moi rules!” began to rain down upon the stage. Graciously taking his fan’s love with a twisted smile, Bundick left the stage when things were set up. When he returned with a full band – himself on vocals, keys, sampling, and looping, a drummer, and a bassist – the bar stools were evacuated and the floor filled up.

Toro’s setlist was basically two equal parts: one part best of Toro, one part new songs. Spoiler alert: the new songs sound an awful lot like the old ones. But that’s the thing with chillwave. It’s a genre that hit hard at first, but has seen little progression. Incidentally, the first band that I was introduced to under the label of “chillwave” was Toro y Moi, so to see these songs performed live gave me a whole new perspective on the genre. Whether or not you put any stock in it (it does seem that everyone and his dog has a chillwave band these days), there are two things that can’t go unnoticed. First, the music makes people want to move – this was proved by the dozens of bodies swaying and swiveling around the dance floor. Second, it’s not as easy as it sounds, at least when you’ve reached Toro y Moi status. Between tight drumming, heavily relied upon bass riffs, and Bundick’s frantic bout of twisting knobs, playing keys, and singing, it became apparent that “chillwave” may just deserve some merit.

I found myself thoroughly impressed with how ethereal the sampling was, and what a perfect backdrop it supplied the rest of the band. As soon as the intro to “Blessa” hit three songs into the set, not only did the crowd go nuts, but I noticed that it sounded a lot less like pop than it did on the record, and a lot more orchestral. Bundick’s vocals were spot on for every song that I recognized (“Blessa”, “Lissoms”, “Low Shoulder”, “Talamak”, and “Minors”), and the overall sound was more complex. And I thought that this would be the high point of the night. Luckily, I stuck around.

Part 3 – Nosaj Thing

Initially, when I read the bill of this show, I thought there might be a mistake. Nosaj Thing was headlining over Toro? It seemed strange to me since Nosaj hadn’t been on my radar for more than two months and Toro had been there for over a year. Surely I couldn’t be that out of the loop. I mean, I write for a music website for heaven’s sake. Apparently I am out of the loop, to a degree. While Nosaj has been on the scene much longer than Toro (Nosaj dropped his first EP back in 2006), he hasn’t made as big a splash. Yet.

I expect that Jason Chung (Nosaj Thing) will climb the ladder quickly if he stays at the live pace he showed on the night of November 19th. With those unfamiliar with Nosaj Thing, it’s simple when on paper. The man makes instrumental electronic music, simply for the reason of making music that is purely electronic – much like Boards of Canada, who I was most reminded of when seeing Chung play the music he had produced.

Nosaj Thing @ Urban Lounge in SLC from Drew Taylor on Vimeo.

To say that he was “in the zone” for his hour-long set, would be a vast understatement. He went unrelentingly hard all night, spastically yet gracefully dancing along with his erratic beats. It seemed as though his simple setup of one soundboard from which he could cue samples, increase/decrease BPM, crossfade, and basically just cause all out destruction on the dance floor was just an extension of himself. The world didn’t exist to Chung while he was up on that stage. He was so sucked into his panel that it was a spectacle. I’ve literally never seen anyone who went that hard, that focused, that precise for so long.

His set consisted of the entirety of his Views/Octopus EP, and the best bits of his full length Drift, along with some well-placed samples – among them the xx’s “Islands”, Portishead’s “Wandering Star”, and Drake’s “Forever”. At the end of his set he uttered his first words of the night to the audience, thanking them for a wonderful time in Salt Lake City and for the support. He announced that he’d leave us with one last party jam, and in true L.A.-native DJ fashion, queued up Snoop Dogg’s anthemic “Gin n’ Juice” and left the stage. If Nosaj Thing isn’t going places, I don’t know who is.