Gold Panda & DJ Oneman

Huge double-header in Perth last night. For only $5, people got two see two of the best right now in their respective fields, beat wunderkid Gold Panda and Rinse FM badman DJ Oneman. Word spread quick and the night sold out leaving more than a few punters stranded outside the Bakery. The venue was packed, with most there to see the Pitchfork hyped Gold Panda with a decent amount holding out for bass music from Oneman. Opening act was Australian beatmaker Woosha who put on a very impressive display. It’s clear that he’s a huge fan of Flying Lotus and he carries it off well. Expecting big things from him in the future indeed.

A bit later on the first of the headliners, Gold Panda, stepped up to the stage and proceeded to blow everyone away. While I like Gold Panda, I wasn’t sure how it was going to go over live, but we were treated to a surprisingly danceable set. It sounded like LA beat music run through a house music filter, or vise versa. The BPMs fluctuated around bringing feelings from hip hop, house and even a little bit of juke music. It was fresh and for the hour that he played everyone was very impressed.

With the unenviable task of trying to keep a room full of hipsters from bailing to the outside area, Oneman stepped up the decks and proceeded to show everyone not only why he’s considered one of the top Djs of the year but why bass music deserves a seat at the table of dance music. While the room initially drained of everyone but the dedicated, it slowly filled back up over the course of his hour and a half set. Furthermore it wasn’t the same crowd of people just nodding their heads, it was people full on dancing. That’s right, when it needs to Perth can still bust a move, not just cross its arms.

The set had a long build up of garage and bass music with an early highlight being The Street’s ‘Has It Come To This”. Shortly after it was followed up with a huge run of Jamie XX’s ‘New York is Killing Me’, 50 Cent’s ‘Ayo Technology’ (I’m serious) and Girl Unit’s ‘Wut’, which even got its own rewind. Just when the crowd couldn’t go anymore ham, a short while later Blake’s CMYK got dropped and there was a massive rush to the dancefloor from outside. Other big track to get a reaction was Sicko Cell’s “The Information”. Expect big things from that mysterious track this year. According to Twitter Oneman was well impressed with the notoriously fickle Perth crowd. A fantastic night, big ups to and Don’t Sleep for putting on an awesome, forward thinking night. There’s hope for this city yet.

Curren$y x Gold Panda

"Gold Panda, I wish that was my name." - Curren$y

When Pitchfork and hip-hop get mentioned in the same sentence, there’s usually some sort of eye rolling or hesitation involved. Not entirely sure why, but I’d wager its due to a perception that the arrogance, agenda setting and pretension present in its Reviews section which deals mainly in indie rock and pop is also applied to the genre of hip hop, which beyond being what people dislike about Pitchfork in the first place, it’s simply not its traditional territory of criticism.

Fortunately, there’s the Pitchfork TV show, Selector, which is more similar to the unbridled enthusiasm of the News section than the cold pretension of the Reviews. The set up is simple: take a Pitchfork approved rapper (Clipse, Big Boi, Freeway and now Curren$y) and interview them about how they pick the beats they rap over. Then play them a few indie pop, underground hip hop or LA beat examples, get them to pick one, explain why and let them freestyle away on their unconventional choice to the delighted squeals of fans who finally get to the Clipse over an MF DOOM track.

And you know what. It works! Despite the Pitchfork indie awkwardness of the whole endeavor, the intent is genuine and it gives more insight into the rapper and their creative process than the usual interviews that a promotional cycle yields. Especially this weeks episode, which features a well toasted Spitta yoga dancing, getting incredibly enthusiastic about a Gold Panda beat and hypothesising on what sort of car he drives to the studio. Its clear the man just enjoys rapping and music in general (second only to more weed), and as mentioned before it’s always a trait of a great rapper. (Weed doesn’t hurt either.) Also doesn’t hurt that he sounds right at home over Gold Panda too.