On its fourth visit to Madison, Big Gigantic is ready to bring back its unique mix of live instrumentals and electronic beats to re-energize a campus in the depths of winter.
Big Gigantic is a duo consisting of Dominic Lalli, who plays saxophone and produces the beats, and drummer Jeremy Salken. Their sound is a mix of electronic beats, full of drops and laser noises, and melodic saxophone; a sound developing further and maturing every day.
“When I started first making stuff, I barely knew what I was doing. I had been writing jazz songs for a while but my music production… I was just learning that stuff. In terms of the way the drums hit and the bass hit, we’ve come a long way,” Lalli said in an interview with The Badger Herald. “I feel like I’m finally getting to the point where what I’ve been hearing in my head, I can actually make [it] sound how I want. It’s a lot of sound engineering type of things. It’s not like I needed to learn more piano. It’s a different side of it.”
Big Gigantic previously visited campus during the 2012 Freakfest in October, where the duo played in front of a packed Gilman Street, attracting a much wider range of people than their previous shows at the Barrymore and Majestic. Now with a newfound familiarity with Madison’s concert-goers, Big Gigantic is ready to step it up to another level.
“We’re coming to town with a whole new lighting production rig.. [a] whole, brand new light rig setup…and a lot of video content for our songs, so we try to have a fresh look to our show,” Lalli said.
Concert-goers can expect a totally different show from Freakfest and past shows. Along with the new light show, the music is also different.
“I play differently every show. The solo part – just on the album – I never play it the same way twice. I’m a jazz sax-player. That’s what we do: find new ways to improvise,” he said.
Big Gigantic is currently in the middle of its Winter Tour with opening act Kill Paris. Kill Paris, also known as Corey Baker, is an electronic artist from Los Angeles that calls his sound “future funk.”
Big Gigantic will continue touring throughout 2013. Lalli is currently writing material throughout the tour for a new album set to be released in the fall. Big Gigantic’s 2012 album Nocturnal is available for free on its website, biggigantic.net.
Lalli said the pair is looking forward to its Madison return and is excited to engage the University of Wisconsin community again.
“Freakfest was nuts. That was one of the crazier shows. That street was just packed. It was freezing out there too,” Lalli said. “We love coming to Madison. We love coming to college towns and hanging out and raging. We’ve always had great shows at Madison.”
Big Gigantic will be “hanging out” and “raging” at the Orpheum Theater at 9 p.m. Thursday. Find more information here.
EDIT: Orpheum Theater website changed.
