Anthony Gonzalez is a French electronic music artist best known for his work in dream pop band M83 formed as a duo with Nicolas Fromageau in 2001 but now a sole proprietorship of Gonzalez. Despite his unilateral control of the M83 name, Gonzalez chose to perform last night as “Anthony Gonzalez of M83,” perhaps intending to distance the mostly ambient set from his more pop work under the M83 banner. Gonzalez is a talented multi-instrumentalist and song writer, as well as a vocalist; last night he chose to give his voice a rest as he performed a set of ornate, electronic instrumentals at the World Financial Center’s Winter Garden.

The evening’s entertainment opened with a brief film by visual artist Janet Biggs, as an attentive crowd sat quietly in black folding chairs inside the Winter Garden's expansive marble hall. The film began in a desert; baroque guitars played quietly in the background as a red flag waved in the desolate wasteland. Cut to a shot of men in tents intently gazing through binoculars to watch a sleek, blonde woman riding a motorcycle. A grey haired, old man gauged the woman’s speed and nodded, satisfied. Tension dramatically built as shots from the desert raceway were interspersed with close-ups of a middle aged, black choir singing “Can I Get a Witness?” The song continued, and the film ended with a bumpy pov shot from the woman’s perspective as she jetted forward at hyper speed. When the credits rolled, viewers learned that the woman is the motorcycle land speed world record holder; presumably the film documents her successful record attempt.

Anthony Gonzalez entered the room to loud applause as he took his seat behind a desk that contained his laptop and an unidentified box of equipment projecting neon blue lights on the stage. As psychedelic ovals in blue, purple and white blossomed on the projection screen behind him, Gonzalez churned out ambient waves of shimmering future synth on a percussionless track. Organ like sounds filled the grand hall, and a camera panned through a barren sea of melting arctic ice with Gonzalez nimbly layering foreboding buzzing with mechanical drums. Gonzalez nodded his head to the music as it progressively built in pace and volume until the screen faded to black. Next, scenes of unathletic bodies aqua jogging with only their heads above water were interspersed with shots of horses running, deer butting heads, wrestlers straining, a falcon eating a mouse and football players (who looked like giant spiders) moving through agility drills. It was an meditative track of whirling noise punctuated by a distant clang that represented its only percussion. As a thin flutelike tone darted over the harmonizing buzzes, a voice began to speak. It was not Gonzalez' voice, but rather a prerecorded appropriation. The voice spoke disdainfully about a couple. “She started to worry about when the next check was coming,” it recounted as the last song ended and lush harp playing replaced it. Scenes of a synchronized swimmer lit up the screen as the booming bass and crunchy synth tones gradually built in intensity in a mix reminiscent of M83’s signature vibe. Gonzalez' final tune was his most dynamic. Flexing his pop muscles, Gonzalez rocked out to a dreamy up-tempo number as swimming polar bears seemed to dance in the water. I am sure many of the audience members would have preferred a set that contained M83 songs, nonetheless Gonzalez gave an interesting (if not riveting) performance.

The night that Harry Potter 6 opened in theatres and I had tickets for a 4AM IMAX showing, Nick and I once again headed down to the World Financial Center's Winter Garden venue -- to date, still the strangest venue I think I've ever seen a show in. I weaved through palm trees to find Nick, touched base, and headed up the gigantic staircase to take a spot sitting there instead, opting for a different view of the stage than I had last time. Since I got there just before the show started, I didn't have to wait long.

The first piece we saw was a video by Janet Biggs called "Vanishing Point." It was a gorgeous film -- juxtaposed shots of a woman riding a motorcycle in the desert as people who were presumably family and friends looked on and waited for her to finish the course next to scenes of a gospel choir performing in a church. Everything was shot beautifully, and the camera work was truly amazing. It was, in all honesty, probably my favourite part of that night. The film ended with a single sound of the revving motorcycle engine fading away to the finish.

Up next: the man of the hour. Anthony Gonzalez of M83 took the stage to rousing hipster applause. For such a polished and formal venue (at least, in my opinion, despite the palm trees) the crowd was overwhelmingly young and hip, which was to be expected from fans of M83. Gonzalez played a beautiful DJ set over more of Janet Biggs' videography, though first there was a brief intermission of a purple and blue swirled light show behind him before the film started. His sweeping, swelling sounds were given to us over really interesting and often disarming footage -- of a horse on a treadmill, water aerobics, football training, ice skating lessons, wrestling, etc. The entire set had an eery, trippy effect that was somehow both fitting and jarring within the setting. At the end of the set, Gonzalez stood, bowed to the crowd (formal, and yet awkward) and left us. It was definitely a performance for the books, as he's very talented.