Renowned electronica artist George Clanton is arriving in D.C. just around the corner… if you have a free Wednesday night, you might want to make it to his show at the 9:30 Club that evening at 7:00 p.m.
Joined by his label contemporaries Frost Children and Death’s Dynamic Shroud, George Clanton has done his best at creating one of the most mesmerizing, transportive and sheer enjoyable live shows of recent memory. Backed by a trance-inducing wall of multi-colored electric lights, Clanton has made sure that this tour supporting his new studio album “Ooh Rap I Ya” is just as mind-blowing as the album itself is.
Clanton has been putting on amazing live show after amazing live show since the momentous release of his previous full-length album, “Slide,” in 2018. Even then, the man was dishing out intense blasts of hazed-out nostalgia-pop euphoria. But here in 2023, the stakes for a great show are even bigger as he performs his newest material live.
If you have not taken a listen to his most recent album, “Ooh Rap I Ya” is a musical achievement on all fronts. Combining the shoegaze and dream pop sensibilities of “Slide”, “Ooh Rap I Ya” sees Clanton embrace his love for ‘90s pop in ways that leave your ears feeling like they’ve just been fed candy. It’s one of the most feel-good albums of the year, and while containing lyrical themes of difficult self-improvement and getting older, these subjects are redefined through glisteningly beautiful synths and immaculate songwriting.
But even beyond dedicating an entire artistic career for repackaging these tried-and-true sounds into new-age electronic contexts, Clanton has simultaneously brought dozens of artists in similar creative veins up to the top of the internet with him. Starting his own DIY record label, 100% Electronica, in 2015, Clanton is dedicated to cultivating and harnessing the online scene of vaporwave, dream-pop, techno and nostalgia-pop enthusiasts into one safe space for all who are inclined enough to give a listen.
Clanton has started an entire music festival, Electronicon, for the express purpose of outfitting the genres he originates from a physical place on earth. Originally the first genre he explored before divulging into more pop-sensibilities, vaporwave is known by millions to be one of the most strictly “online” musical genres ever. Through his label and music festival, Clanton has since brought vaporwave artists from the internet straight to music lovers everywhere.
So even if you are impartial to heavily electronic music like vaporwave, there’s one thing that cannot be denied about Clanton’s musical expertise—he’s undyingly passionate. So, if you want a pop concert of positively bedazzling capacity, with two amazing opening artists to boot, George Clanton needs to be on top of your list in D.C.
Tickets can be bought straight from the 9:30 Club’s website or through George Clanton’s Ticketmaster page, which is linked straight in his Instagram bio.
