(photos by broccoli)
When Munch and Chester Pink started The Room is Spinning, their goal was simple: bring people together and throw dope shows. After the second installment of this promising new series, it’s clear that there’s more to it than meets the eye.
Combining quality lineups with glitched-out visuals, each event carries a new energy into a different space. Visiting artists and vendors (including Something Different, Detroit Art Babes, and TYP Collection, to name a few) bring additional stimuli, and while some musicians return and the tv’s remain a centerpiece, the series presents consistency without remaining stagnant. Taking full advantage of the incredible space provided by Eightfold Collective, the most recent iteration brought the good parts of the first event and much more.
Soul Brother Stef started it off, bringing a fresh take on old-school aesthetics, putting his rhythmic talents on full display. With layers of tasteful samples and snapping kicks, accompanied by vocals from the Windsor-native himself, the set was a perfect introduction to a night of quality music.
Next up was Jonah Baseball. I wouldn’t be surprised if he stretched before his set; wavy production featuring energetic synth lines is a staple of his music, and his DJ set gave him the opportunity to drop heavy-hitters from a long list of friends and collaborators. As he continues to expand and define his sound, he’s also made a foray into visual production, playing a major role in the TV/VJ set up that is a defining characteristic of the series.
Salar Ansari closed off the night with a solid set of danceable tunes peppered with other, more experimental sonic elements, drawing the crowd in at times while challenging them at others. Throughout all the sets, musicians casually joined each other for short collaborations, and a few times the vibe carried for a while when the mood was right. While this was all happening, the TV’s were lit up with live video of the performers; the file was then run through effects and thrown into feedback loops that projected onto the ceiling, while visuals on the wall were manipulated into an impressive array of colors, shapes, and patterns by intricately designed hardware.
The night was more than a music show; it was a deliberately curated gathering, a space to converse and experience together, a collection of individuals in the midst of art and inspiration. Creative contributions provide the foundation, but the room is brought to life by the people. And based on these first two events, that is the foundation for what has been, and what is to come.
