Today feels a lot like Christmas to me. It’s not often that two of my favorite artists, namely Big Gigantic and The Glitch Mob, release highly anticipated new albums on the same day. To put icing on the cake, over the weekend, I had the opportunity to interview Dominic Lalli, the saxophonist/producer who makes up the left half of Big Gigantic on stage. Dom had some really interesting things to say, and was all-around a very cool dude, so be sure to check out the interview below:
TSS: What inspired you guys to start performing the way that you do? It seems like you were ahead of the curve with the whole live electronic thing.
DL: Yeah, basically me and Jeremy were playing in different kinds of live bands, like funk bands, before we started doing any electronic music. We were starting to sit in with different DJs who would come to Colorado, and different bands who were around here, and that kind of started the whole idea. Then, when I was ready, I was like, ok I have an idea, so I’d write some music, and me and Jeremy used to be roommates, so I got him involved, and then kind of just started working on stuff, experimenting with stuff, and just basically playing at the same time over stuff where I’m DJing.
TSS: Right on, that’s awesome. Who would you say are your biggest influences?
DL: Man, all kinds of different shit. It kind of depends, like on the instrumental side of things, I have a bunch of saxophone players and different kinds of players who I’m into, but then there’s a lot of DJs and stuff too. Even just a lot of the guys that we hang out with that are here in Colorado, like Pretty Lights, Paper Diamond, even some guys we’ve been out on tour with, like Dillon Francis, Flosstradamus, Major Lazer, a lot of people in the scene right now who are doing great stuff. I’m really into those people, and also kind of trying to develop our own unique sound in that.
TSS: Those guys are all awesome. I actually just caught Pretty Lights at Decadence, it was crazy to see him with the live band.
DL: Yeah, its sick, I saw them at Red Rocks, and we did Bass Lights with them too, but you know, we came up watching Derek at house parties our friends were having, and then kind of started doing some stuff after him. He was like the pioneer of all that stuff around here.
TSS: With your new album, it feels like you really upped your game production-wise, which has been awesome to see. Was there anything you did differently this time around?
DL: I’ve just been working on trying to get better at it, like production and making it sonically come out better. I’ve been trying to work on that a lot in the last couple of years, and applied it to the new stuff I was working on. I’m pretty stoked, I feel like sonically and production-wise it came out a lot better, and the ideas are sort of like extensions of stuff I’ve been working on for a while, and I feel like it came across well on this particular release.
TSS: What can we expect from your current tour, anything new and exciting?
DL: Well, we’ve got this new album, and when we do our live set, we mix a bunch of different stuff together, some edits of other tracks, and some remixes, and all kinds of stuff and throw it all together into this live set. I’ve kind of went in, and started working on a bunch of new stuff, really mixing up our whole set and making it flow better, being able to touch on a lot of different parts and a lot of different songs. It’s gonna be cool for our fans who know all of our music to be like, “oh wow, this thing right here, and then it went into this,” like you’ll really get it. But also for people who have never heard us, everything will have a really good flow to it. It’s exciting to get to play some of this new music, we haven’t gotten to play much of it live, so I’m pretty stoked to get out there and integrate some of these tunes.
TSS: How much of your live show is planned and how much is improvised?
DL: I have it sort of like Choose Your Adventure, in a sense. Like, let’s start with this, and then this could lead to this or that, and that kind of thing. So there’s that element to it, in terms of how we’re going to play the night, like in the bigger picture. And then on top of that, there’s a lot of improvising going on in the builds, because what happens is in the builds is where we’ll start playing stuff, and sort of playing with that build and improvising, so we just make that stuff up to get through the build into the drop. And then there’s other like Daft Punk solo stuff, where we mess around and try to take it up another notch. So in terms of us playing, there’s a lot of improvising going on, and then as far as the set, there’s definitely some. And then, sometimes we’re straight playing, just vibing and making shit up.
TSS: So this is probably a shot in the dark, but you guys have been on a few releases with GRiZ, but will we ever see a Big Grizmatik collab track?
DL: Man, I hope so! It’s just tough because everyone’s so busy, but I hope at some point we can get something together, because that would be really sick. Me and Grant have done one track, and then we’ve done some live stuff together, but yeah, it’d be sweet to get the three of us to get something. I gotta throw something out there for those guys. I have a couple things, but like I said, we’re so busy, man. I mean those guys are killing it too, and everyone’s got huge world tours and shit.
TSS: Its just been blowing up, man. It’s crazy to see.
DL: Yeah, man, it’s been a trip for sure. We feel very blessed, I know the other guys do too, just to be here doing that.
TSS: From everyone I’ve seen, you guys definitely have the most energetic live show, what are you guys channeling when you’re on stage?
DL: Man, we’re honestly just trying to give it our all, and put every little last ounce of energy that we got into it, heart and soul and the whole thing. Its just like, if I was in the audience and I saw someone giving that much energy, I would want to be giving it back, and I think we really get that with our audiences, too. Like whatever we give, they give us back times twelve, so that’s what we do, just try to be super in the moment with it, and really put ourselves out there, and just play our best.
TSS: What are your favorite tracks to play live?
DL: I like this track ‘Its Going Down,’ I did this mix with a vocal from a Pitbull track, which is a fun one to play. ‘The Night Is Young’ we’ve played a couple times live, and that’s really fun, and ‘Nocturnal’ is one of our favorites to play. ‘The Uprising’ I like a lot, ‘Blue Dream’ off the new album is a really sweet one, and ‘Touch The Sky’ is pretty fun. And ‘Can I Get A,’ The Jay-Z remix, is a cool one too. Oh yeah, and the Macklemore remix is like the funnest one. We were just in Australia, where we did this Big Day Out Festival, and that tune just went off so hard over there, it was like, such a killer, such a crusher.
TSS: What’s it like to just like tour the world? That must be insane.
DL: God, man, its a trip. I can’t believe I was just in Australia for two and a half weeks, and it was the coolest thing I’ve ever done. Sometimes its like, What is life? But you just gotta keep working, so you can go to the next adventure. I’m not trying to stop here, I know that.
TSS: how do you see your style continuing to develop in the next few releases?
DL: I definitely see it developing, for sure. I’m not sure how, but I think with every release we’ve done, we’ve stepped it up a notch, and not necessarily moved it in a different direction, per se, but we’re always pushing and trying to grow, and push the envelope of what we’re doing. One thing that I really want to do is I want to make some more dance tempo stuff, like what we did with ‘The Night Is Young,’ and I’d like to do some more hip hop stuff, and work with MCs more, and that was something I was hoping to do on this release, but it just never panned out. But you know, working with some rappers and doing some different stuff like that, because I think we have a lot to offer in that world. And then just get into some more of that heavy stuff, and keep developing that. We’ve kind of always like been current, in terms of what we’re releasing, and what kinds of style and stuff, in terms of the electronic genres. Its like, you kind of have to be current with that stuff, but I think the key is to really do it so that its familiar enough to what’s current, but its fresh enough that its different and its own thing. That’s sort of what we’re shooting for in general.
TSS: Who would be your dream collaboration?
DL: It’d be great to work with Sonny (Skrillex) on something, it’d be great to work with Josh (Flux Pavilion), I’m a big fan of his stuff. And actually you know who else, and we’ve just been DMing on Twitter, this and that, a little bit, is Madeon, and I just like love his music.
TSS: Wow. I would love to hear that.
DL: Yeah. Me too. (Laughs) Yeah, he’s so talented. It’s funny, like I just sent him back hey, here’s this track, I think you’ll dig it, and he’s like yeah dude, I pre-ordered it on iTunes, I love the track. I’m just like, you’re fucking kidding me, like I’m too much of a fan, I can’t believe you wrote that right now. He’s a super cool kid, but yeah, super talented, he’s about to put out an album. I don’t even know, it’s gonna be amazing though, I’m sure.
Now, onto the new album. ‘The Night Is Young’ is definitely Dom and Jeremy’s strongest release to date, featuring 8 tracks of pure epic jazz/funk/bass bliss. These guys really have a unique sound, and like Dom was saying, have upped their game sonically and kept everything fresh and current, while still putting their own twist on things. Some of the tracks, such as ‘Touch The Sky,’ which is one of my personal favorites, have a bit of a trap feel, while others are more typical of their style up until now, with tinges of dubstep and pretty, arpeggiated soundscapes. This album, much like their live show, has moments of pure energy, and it will be awesome to start to hear these songs take a dominant position in their live set.
Furthermore, in keeping with what the Pretty Lights Music crew seems to have made a Colorado tradition, Big Gigantic is offering this album as a free download, with no strings attached, which is linked below. It is awesome to see more major players in the EDM scene embracing this business model, and we can only hope that it continues to gain traction. If you would like to support these guys financially, however, which is always an awesome thing to do, you can head over to their site and purchase a physical copy of the album, some sweet merch, or tickets to one of their shows.
All in all, this is a great album that continues to push the envelope of what is or is not electronic music, and it definitely deserves your support. Stream and download below, and be sure to follow these guys on Facebook, Twitter, and Soundcloud!
Big Gigantic – The Night Is Young | Download |
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