Otherworld Performance Lab: Mistar Anderson

Homegrown in Columbus, Ohio, this seven-piece ensemble harnesses the power of live instrument hip-hop to infiltrate the ears and minds of the masses, all within the sci-fi confines of Otherworld art installation.

This performance consists of three songs from Mistar Anderson’s forthcoming album, The Anomaly, including “H & M,” which exudes masculine energy and freestyle flow; “What’s Mine Is Yours,” a hip-hop song about sharing; and “Late Slice,” inspired by the legendary jazz fusion band Weather Report.

Band members include Jon Weisbrot (saxophone), Andre Walker (drums), Aeneas Reynolds (bass), Elaine Mylius (trombone), David Swank (keyboards), Ryan Sullivan (guitar), and Eric Rollin (MC).

Enjoy a Q&A between local poet Amy Turn Sharp and members of Mistar Anderson after the performance.

More about the artists

Founding members Eric Rollin and Andre Walker met through the Columbus music scene and began collaborating in 2013. Their mutual appreciation of jazz composition inspired their creative direction, and if you listen carefully, you might catch an occasional transcribed sample from Miles Davis, Grover Washington, or Herbie Hancock.

Mistar Anderson began as a quartet consisting of vocals, drums, keyboard, and bass, eventually expanding to include guitar, trumpet, trombone, saxophone, and flute. Their jazz samples evolved into songs featured on the group’s first self-titled album, Mistar Anderson (2014), a live voyage that melds golden-era ’90s hip-hop, ’30s and ’40s big band samples, and eloquent grooves that meander through nostalgic sounds of jazz, soul, and funk.

• Band website

View the Otherworld Performance Lab lineup.

More about the series

Otherworld Performance Lab is an experimental, creative collaboration of makers, artists, musicians, and dreamers whose work unfolds inside Columbus’s magical, immersive art installation, Otherworld.

In this three-part series, Mistar Anderson and others enter our virtual laboratory to perform from one of Otherworld’s wondrous and surreal spaces. Dubbed one of the “world’s coolest places” in 2019 by Time magazine, the 32,000-square-foot museum blends science fiction and fantasy with its dizzying array of mixed-reality playgrounds, secret passageways, and rooms of large-scale, interactive art. Experience its wonder from the comfort of home at this not-to-be-missed, prerecorded event.

Audio production for Otherworld Performance Lab is provided by Secret Studio in Franklinton, a multipurpose studio/salon for creative audio recording, workshops, and art events. Owners Keith Hanlon and Amy Turn Sharp work to design opportunities for creativity and community to merge and flourish.

Video production is provided by the Columbus-based creative production team GHØST LABEL, comprised of GHØSTs from the shadow realm who have created rad video content and worked with humanity to solve pizza-related crimes for nearly a decade.