Churning Electronic Artist BT Pours on Pounding Wattage

Apparently unsatisfied with the shroud of anonymity that seems to envelop all but a few select electronic artists, BT is trying to make a bold leap into Moby territory--if not musically, then at least culturally, as a recognizable face behind a wall of digital equipment. To that end, the dance-music star is touring with a live band and throwing an occasional vocal into his performances.

At the Mayan Theatre on Wednesday, BT, who has the wind-swept good looks of a surfer, proffered a soggy combination of new age-y rock and churning big beat jams, and wound up sounding like a Gen-Y version of Yanni.

BT has a roiling sound that leaves little room for subtlety or nuance, and a nagging tendency to be his own cheerleader. At the Mayan, his synth pulses were augmented by a guitarist, a bassist, a drummer and a DJ, but they could do little to shore up his anemic melodies, which tended toward two-chord vamps stretched to the breaking point. To add a touch of histrionic showmanship, BT had his keyboards attached to large torsion springs, the better to attack his instruments with brute force. Throughout, BT held one pumping arm aloft to rally the crowd into a frenzy, but no amount of fan-stoking could compensate for his limp digital fantasias.