Review: Flume @ Highline Ballroom (4/14)
Trying to find the motivation to go out after work on a Monday can be rather excruciating, especially if your weekend activities were less than respectable. But when faced with 2 basic options: 1. Continue nursing your 2-day hangover with Netflix and tea, or 2. Hop on the L train and go dance your ass off, I suggest going with the latter – specifically, if the latter involves the young, expertly skilled producer Flume.
The Australian beatmaker headlined one of MTV’s “2014 Artists to Watch” performances, this past Monday at the Highline Ballroom. His set was predictably fun and dance-worthy, but it also boasted this really refreshing sense of fluidity, and the whole thing sounded simultaneously complex and effortless. I’m not sure if “evolved” is the right word, but there is definitely something about Flume that sets him aside from his many, many peers in the ever-expanding genre of electronic music.
After an energetic set by The Chainsmokers – full disclosure, I didn’t know anything about them, and I technically still don’t, but they are fun and really, really hot – Flume took the stage. He opened with his crowd-favorite “Drop The Game” and immediately, the place blew up. A few more hits, including “Holdin On” were played, and then he changed gears by slipping in this brand new and beautiful remix of Lorde’s “Tennis Court,” and the crowd was basically transfixed.
Lorde’s original track is dark and sultry, and Flume did not by any means remove the elements that gave “Tennis Court” its excellent vibe; rather, he recrafted it in a way that allows it to retain its smooth darkness, but also work as a “dance” song. Once a studio version drops, I imagine we’ll be hearing it quite a bit.
His entire set was incredible, but it was undoubtedly the unexpected Lorde remix that did it for me. Also, after hearing his remix of Disclosure’s “You & Me” like, 800 times in the last year, I thought I was kind of over it, but hearing it live truly made me fall in love with it again. Flume will be playing again in New York this July, and I highly recommend grabbing tickets before they inevitably sell out.