In one of those rare and frightening(ly enjoyable) occurrences – sensual Glaswegian Hudson Mohawke literally made it rain at Sydney’s Oxford Art Factory overnight.
“Look at the floor, that’s not water or beer, that’s condensed fucking sweat,” my escort remarked.
Indeed, a hazy cloud lingered above the crowd, smelling of Pistonhead tinnies and lynx (eau de madcunt). With overheating party people packed in tight, the humidity and damp crotches were hectic enough to rival any of the surrounding gay bars.
You can’t really be surprised though, when Chimes is being pumped. The heavy glitter single sounded incredible live, and got one helluva response. The crowd jumped so hard and disjointedly you could have mistaken them for a group of funky crack addicts. HudMo gave the people what they wanted and burned through his latest EP with precision and skill – dropping his famed remixes and personal favourites throughout the set.
For a producer who’s been caught more than once sloppy on the bevos offstage (Nardwuar interview anyone?), HudMo delivers a focused and considered performance every time. Delivering despite one hell of a shiny brow, the set was high energy from the get-go and showed no signs of relenting. Steering mostly clear of his impressive hip hop mixing abilities, the electro heavy set showed a stripped back side of HudMo. Getting back to basics in the best way possible, the concept of stage presence seemed less important than usual.
Same goes for the legend in the hat, Mr. Carmack. Whoever decided that these two legends should go for a double bill show deserves a medal or appreciative oral or something.
Whatever you call Carmack’s brand of hip hop trancy wavey shit, it’s pretty fucking special. Working the set up to an all out tutti-fruiti bass brawl, experiencing the producer live is a high energy shock to the heart (and booty). Despite this being the last stop on a four-continent tour, Carmack approached the set without a spec of nonchalance. Similarly to HudMo, he calmly and astutely killed that shit. No douchey showmanship here fronds.
Thinking that he would mostly rifle through 2013’s album release DIMEBAG, the master instead cranked up the whimsy. Dropping in some retro gems (MJ made an appearance to the reception of many white boy swoons), Carmack made sure that shit was damn funky. He also fucked us all up with his smacky jams – I thought my brain was going to explode when he dropped Simpler. Broooooo.
It was somewhere amongst all of this I took my top off and wrung it out. Squeezing out about a pint of boob juice, the night had been a sweaty, sweaty success.
Follow Izzy Combs on Twitter: @Izzy_Combs