SNAILS (Photo Credit: Jason Siegel/Jason Siegel Photography)
Sold out Ogden Theater can be a scary place, especially for young and enthusiastic show-goers who demand front stage proximity. Under the right circumstances though, namely a frigid Saturday begging for a good face melting, scary is all you can ask for.
Wuki, not to be confused with wookie, opened for Montreal based producer and DJ, Snails. His mediocre mash ups featuring pop songs and throwbacks, like Lil Jon’s “Get Low”, were reminiscent of noise at a frat party. To his credit, the packed house swayed aggressively in approval, unable to resist singing along. From the last row of the upper deck, the decibel level and sound quality were unimpressive. However, this was not a problem when Snails threw down. Standing closer meant submitting one’s brain to melting and one’s personal space to relentless violation.
Though the population density was intimidating, the venue was ramped with unthreatening characters exhibiting a surplus of hatpins and 16-year-old girls who evidently forget their shirts at home. Apparently bone-chilling temperatures don’t deter teenage super humans from wearing “minimalist” show attire. Fortunately, there was plenty of heat inside.
Fittingly of vomitstep and his #freethevomit campaign, Snails kicked off his set with “SNAILEDIT”, opening with the line, “The vomit… has been freed. Do you recognize the power?” Snails is a weird dude. It’s apparent in his online presence, music, visuals, and performance. That being said, he is wholly transparent and fans love him for it. Snails primary visual is a snail projectile puking an unending supply of fluorescent spew and yet his Soundcloud has 142K followers. Apparently, and I couldn’t agree more, weird is cool.
20 minutes felt like an hour. An hour and a half didn’t feel like time at all. Although Snails repeatedly builds up to powerful, colossal drops, their creative variations combat predictability. While there was a definite pattern in the build and climax of his tracks, the set was incredibly interesting. Stationary was not an option; anyone in the crowd not womping and thrashing was sucked into a black hole of womping and thrashing.
The audience was young, but not without age outliers. Potentially the only person in the audience over 40 (my dad) was dancing as hard as the rest of them, though his knees and back aren’t as resilient. He described the crowd as the 80’s metal kids of today. Sure enough, there was a notable collection of head bangers. However, we were not at a metal show; we were breaking our necks to the soupy, slimy sounds of Snails, complete with a desirably disorienting light and laser show.
What began with white strobes, transitioned to colored light beams. Then the visual projections, all featuring snail graphics, intensified the experience. During the final quarter of the set, Snails brought out the big guns… an insane display of green and multicolored lasers. He even included live instrumentation via the talented sax player, Big G, who appeared on stage for one of the final tracks.
Only Snails could remix Backstreet Boys “Everybody” into a gritty track thick with bass without it sounding forced or inauthentic. Next time Snails visits Denver, Ultra5280 will be there. Thrilled to see what this OWSLA artist will create! Wishing him the all best, and also hoping those poor girls found their shirts.
Article by: Haley Midzor