Tiger Weekly - Serving Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge, Louisiana

RJD2 hopes to rearrange your brain

By Kristina Stafford

If you mix a little funk, a sweet back beat, and some smoothly executed electronic and organic sounds what do you get? RJD2, of course!

RJD2, from Pennsylvania, will be stopping in Baton Rouge on February 12 to promote his new album, The Colossus. The inventive album combines both natural and electronic sounds to produce a well-balanced piece of ear candy.

RJD2 has been making music for a long time - The Colossus is his fourth album - and his understanding of music shows through every well-placed beat and note.

He pulls musical inspiration from all kinds of sources: modern, classic, soul, funk, and the list goes on and on, to create musical gumbo. In an interview with RJD2, he said this of his insight:

"Mostly, the things I have heard-both recent and long ago-and the records I've already made inspire me. Music really ends up being a sort of cumulative snapshot of who you are as a person."

RJD2's musical goal is simple: to make a piece of music that is going to rearrange someone's brain, or provide some relief from real life - if only for a moment or two. He achieves this goal through mixing many different mediums to form an otherworldly sound that somehow hypnotizes.

"An album should be a 45 minute excursion away from reality.  I sift through lots and lots of sounds to find usable material. For live stuff, its coming up with chord progressions, or grooves, and then drum patterns, and then starting to sew them together."

The live show is also a step away from the natural, as RJD2 fuses loads of energy into his eclectic beats. It is easy to forget where you are, as he entrances you with his movements, his rhythms and his persona.

When RJD2 was asked to describe what the live show will be like when he takes to the stage at the Spanish Moon on February 12, he replied, "It's an amalgamation of electronic and organic sounds. Some sampled, some live, and some theatrics. This tour has some features that will never happen again, so I'd strongly suggest that one goes, if they are at all interested in what I do."

For more information on RJD2 visit his MySpace at www.myspace.com/rjd2. To purchase tickets for the upcoming show at the Spanish Moon, call (225) 383-6666. Playing along with RJD2 will be Kenan Bell and Happy Chichester.

Originally Published: February 10, 2010

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