I went to a club last night for a DJ event, headlined by Flume, a 22 year-old Australian producer/DJ/musician, who began his career at age 13 with some technology that was offered free in a cereal box! I must admit to a very scant number of experiences with live DJ stuff and I wasn't sure what to expect. What I really didn't expect was the incredibly young age demographic in the audience, it was a very young crowd, but they sure were into this guy and his music.
It was a revelatory experience for me, I enjoy electronic music and dj created stuff, but I am not sure I was expecting such a rich live musical encounter.
Club music like this feels a long way from the roots of rock and roll and seeing a stage with simply a raised platform a couple of computers and some decks doesn't signal 'wild musical encounter' but that's what was served up. Flume's music, like the other djs last night, is complex and yet simple at the same time--it's a slave to the groove, and the particular groove he conjures up creates a compelling spirit in the room. He was a masterful controller of the audience and was brilliant at building momentum and changing the atmosphere in a few moves on his equipment.
There is so much in a mix--anime voices, auto-tune, beats, spoken word, noises, ethnic instrumentation, lots of effects, bits of songs you might know, and when you combine these elements with high quality visuals and pristine sound that captures the deep, deep bass notes, as well as all the highs and you get one amazing night of musical encounter.
The lesson of a night like this is that one can always stretch horizons and take in new sounds, new eperiences, new music and
... and what? :)
Posted by: christian | 13 August 2014 at 01:51 PM