A dance producer with a stage shtick is nothing new: Daft Punk, Deadmau5 and SBTRKT all wear masks while performing, which serves the dual function of providing a slight spectacle and ensuring you won’t look twice at them in the frozen-food aisle. No doubt a getup also allows these music nerds to get a little looser as they twiddle knobs for the heaving throngs. Orlando Higginbottom—what a name!—takes things one step further as Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs. His stage attire includes bespoke dinosaur outfits, loud-printed ruffs, elaborate feather headdresses and metal headgear that would work well for Pinhead from Hellraiser, if he ever fancied switching up his look. But Higginbottom’s sartorial choices are not a confidence-boosting cloak; rather, he says, “it’s a way of getting people to let their hair down.”
And it works. TEED’s live shows are celebratory affairs, as befits the 26-year-old’s debut album, Trouble. Released earlier this year, the disc showcases a shimmering, bouncily euphoric strain of electronica that embraces two-step kicks as much as house-influenced synth surges and techno inflections. A pleasing counter to this is the Oxford, England–born beatmaker’s gentle, slightly forlorn vocals, which give his compositions a beating heart that makes every peak and trough sound momentous. It’s just the sort of music you’d imagine from a kid who spent five years in a touring choir before falling for hip-hop and jungle. Did we mention TEED also brings with him a similarly decked-out duo of female dancers and makes liberal use of confetti cannons? Seriously, what’s not to love?—Kim Taylor Bennett
Follow Kim Taylor Bennett on Twitter: @theKTB