Rum is a Danish word for space, room or reverb. Add pistol and you have Rumpistol, a brilliant and inventive Danish electronic musician. Add Unkwon, Mikkel Meyer, two other great Danish musicians, and have them play inside this mad professor KUBE invention featuring visuals by Obscura and we have liftoff, the trip to space has launched.
A few weeks ago I had the pleasure of being invited by Rumpistol to experience and photograph a closed concert with the KUBE, the last of their KUBE performances. The KUBE is a specially designed 3x3m cube, three surfaces are clad in a semi-transparent screen, each mapped to video projectors. With a projector to cover each side, surfaces of content creates a transparent / non- transparent interplay. In other words, it is a truly mind bending experience, somewhat akin to a 2001: Space Odyssey.
The three performances by Rumpistol, Unkwon and Mikkel Meyer have their own distinct sound, look and visuals in the KUBE. Unkwon’s “bubbly” organic sounding chilled electronica very fittingly took place underwater. Mikkel Meyer’s old skool techno music is made on devices either salvaged from scrap or custom built and the visuals took us inside these unique machines. I was recently asked what music Rumpistol plays and I came up with “Deep, futuristic sci fi Electronica with splashes of house and breakbeat in a crunchy dusty analog yet digital style.” I am not sure what I meant either! The visuals for Rumpistol’s performance were nothing short of a masterpiece, mostly monochrome and incredibly fast and sci fi trippy in a style that made me think of the movie TRON speed up 500 times, and it fitted the music perfectly.
Capturing images of the KUBE was very fun and challenging. Standing inside the KUBE is a complete virtual reality experience, enough to make you loose your balance if you focus on the visuals. I am humbled and grateful I got invited to hear and see this, a massive thank you to Rumpistol for inviting me and Rumpistol, Unkwon and Mikkel Meyer for great performances.
The KUBE on stage with Rumpistol caught inside the Matrix
Unkwon
Unkwon underwater
A quiet moment in the KUBE
Mikkel Meyer and his machines
Mikkel Meyer
Tripping Inside the KUBE
Finally, Rumpistol landed us on the moon!
Rumpistol does a perfect Michael Jackson pose inside an exploding cube of colours