Rising star Ansel Elgort, "Ansolo," drives Houston wild

By Eri Zhong     9/1/15 11:11am

“Ansel” is a 21-year-old native New Yorker. “Ansel Elgort” is a freshly-minted movie star who swept through theatres last year as Augustus Waters in the iconic summer hit The Fault in Our Stars. And finally, “Ansolo” is a DJ, the latest role in his sock-drawer of personas, and now attracts crowds of adolescent fangirls and electronic dance music enthusiasts alike. After he was blessed by EDM legend Steve Aoki, Ansolo embarked on a late-summer mini tour. Last Saturday night, August 29, Houston’s Stereo Live welcomed him as he dug his sneakers into Texas soil for the first time.

Having enjoyed a year of niche fame in the EDM market of burgeoning talents, Ansolo seemed oddly at ease as he emerged from behind the DJ booth. A graduate of the fame-inducing performing arts-oriented LaGuardia High School in Manhattan, Ansolo has been groomed for the spotlight. Fans displayed appreciation for his multifaceted talents in poster form: a three-foot Ansel kissy face floated above the glowsticked masses, while a cute imitation of TFIOS’ book cover - sky-blue background, black-and-white clouds - read “Ansolo? Ansolo.” replacing the book’s keyphrase, “Okay? Okay.” Perching himself at the turntables, Ansolo launched into his first track, making good on his Twitter bio promise to #bringbackthegroove.

It’s immediately evident that Ansolo isn’t another “progressive house” artist, aiming to surf waves of popularity in 808 typicality. Ansolo mixed things up by delivering several innovative remixes of famed EDM songs. Vocal trills and a synthetic drops punctuated the Ansolo remix of Arno Cost & Norman Doray’s “Strong, ”while Pierce Fulton’s “Runaway” received Pac-Man sound effects. Many of these song makeovers exhibited qualities similar to Hardwell songs; “Three Triangles” in particular was probably a source of inspiration for Ansolo. The best-produced remix of the night was a phenomenally-engineered “Runaway (U & I)” originally performed by Swedish DJs Galantis. Wielding ethereal vocals in one hand and timely chord progressions in the other, Ansolo’s rendition was a true hit. It was vibey, groovy and a perfect cacophony of beats. It resonated throughout Stereo Live and moved every soul in the house to dance.

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Ansolo’s ability to put an inventive spin on trance and house favorites doesn’t quite translate, however, to his ability to generate original tracks. Nearing the latter half of his two-hour performance, Ansolo chose to premiere a few songs wholly of his own creation. Unfortunately for him, his offspring didn’t fare as well with the crowd as the adaptations he played earlier. While exploring his Soundcloud the next day, I could barely remember the original content from the night before. Ansolo, who picked up electronic music making after acknowledging the piano and voice limitations, built his his original music without vocals, which likely contributed to the lack of imprintation on my hippocampus.

Yet, for a DJ who’s been doing gigs for less than a year, we can’t expect a Martin Garrix or a Dimitri Vegas to rise out of the teenage-heartthrob ashes quite yet. Backed by a neon ANSOLO marquee and enmeshed in exploding confetti cannons, Ansolo does snare an audience using his priceless stage presence. “Houston, y’all are fucking awesome!” he screamed into the mic to an erupting crowd. We clapped as he raised his arms to clap, we fist-pumped harder as he beckoned the crowd to “get live.” It was only when I woke up the next morning to mysterious bruises dotting my knees and loss of feeling in my shoulders that I realized the full magnitude of the effervescence surrounding this rising star. Ansel Elgort: movie star, Oscars host, new DJ, and now - performer.

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