Ryan Hemsworth

Adelaide Hall, Toronto ON, June 20

Photo: Tiana Feng

BY Daryl KeatingPublished Jun 21, 2014

6
Ryan Hemsworth's set began with some outrageously colourful 8-bit tones that wouldn't have sounded out of place on a Super Mario game. Seeing as Mario is the wandering type, the set then moved to the underground levels of dubstep. From here, he hopped from Ibiza style club anthems to pop, hip hop, house and even a remix of R Kelly's "Ignition" just to keep things as diverse as possible. The diversity, however, eventually became the show's main pitfall, as a smorgasbord of styles were jammed together with no real room to breathe and take their course. Hemsworth constantly teetered on the cusp of cheesiness, sometimes toppling into the realm of commercial EDM and hip hop. While his set occasionally offered up a nugget of pure gold, it was never too far away from mediocrity.

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