LIVE: Shephard Fairey & DJ Muggs present Vita E Morte

LA has never been short of artists and people with the spare time to go support them. This past Saturday Subliminal Projects, street art mega-star Shephard Fairey’s own gallery in the hip Echo Park neighborhood, debuted the Vita E Morte mixed media exhibit. Alt-Rock band Cross My Heart Hope To Die (CMHHTD) is a new project by legendary Hip-Hop producer DJ Muggs (Cypress Hill, Soul Assassins) who have chosen to present their music almost as supplements to their visual endeavors. Vita E Morte is the result. Hip-Hop heads, young Echo Park Hipsters and aging Hollywood scenesters filled the rooms and hallways of Subliminal Project sipping complimentary beer while perusing the various mediums on display. Video screens of static and distortion near the door, pedestals adorned with jars containing plastic skull sculptures emblazoned with the CMHHTD logo on the back. The bulk of the work was hung on the walls, experiments in digital photography (created by the band themselves) taking various aspects of the RAW photograph layers and combining them into fragmented, almost nightmarish versions of the simple scenes depicted in them. Imagine the art for a Trent Reznor album and you will be very close to grasping the concept. Scattered along the walls, music boxes and Beats headphones offer ears a sample of the band’s new music while eyes scan the photographs, driving the full message home.

Listen to the new single "Two Shots" on soundcloud

The main event was a special 5 song outdoor performance by CMHHTD. The four-piece band consisting of Muggs on the turntables, a female vocalist, one guy on bass and keys and another on a box that looked to be a Theremin dropped apocalyptic rock over Hip-Hop drums. Dark yet polished with vocals that felt like Death seductively whispering in my ear as if to take me home after the show. Nobody could discount the quality and affect, but, I’d put money on the idea that not one person in the audience wasn’t thinking “very Portishead. Nice!” As not to steer from the theme of the night, the live portion was accompanied by a video projection at the back of the stage bringing life to the type of images we’d seen sitting still on the walls of the venue. Did I mention Trent Reznor already? Well, let me not dwell on that. Ultimately Muggs and crew presented something of depth that contrasts the glow of EDM’s LED driven spectacle. It was nice to drop the day glow and dive into the darkness if just for one night.