The night began with Corin adequately warming up the venue, pushing out her signature mix of hammering beats tied with old video game samples. Oscar Key Sung followed, proceeding to pull things back to a more relaxed space. It’s hard not to be relaxed by the man, he’s got a voice as smooth as butter which, in part, captures the nostalgia of popular R&B while simultaneously stripping it back. Throwing in a collaboration with local rapper HTMLflowers as part of their collaboration, Lossless, added a great back and forth between the pair as their contrasting vocal styles brought out the best of each other.
A little after this stage, Clark was hovering over the desk in the middle of the room, and the crowd was ready to get stuck into the show’s meaty bits – a moment in the making since his last performance at Boney two years ago. Things started off a little more summery than usual – for a man who’s made a lot of harsh, angular music, the brighter tone came a little unexpectedly. However this was short lived, before shuffling, sharp hits began cascading throughout the room, drenching everyone in a noise near to static.
Clark’s drastic way of changing from one beat to another lacks a subtlety that his contemporaries use as a backbone. Rather than fucking around with gentle progressions, he cuts in hard with sharp noise and harsh bass – the crowd had to make a choice between being awestruck or catching up to the constructed chaos he was delivering. Everyone seemed to enjoy it in interestingly different ways.
Not only did Clark perform a punishingly hard set, but a considerably hard set to follow, too. Planeté was easily the best person in Melbourne for the job. Sure, on one hand his mastery of structure seemed at a counterpoint to Clark’s metered chaos, but that structure might be what was needed to bring the audience back to a realer, albeit more ethereal world. His way of introducing beats put him a league ahead of most – licking the track with a series of hard hits before diving into a crashing ocean of noise and dreamlike sections. By this stage, it was late in the night and time for bed. For those who didn’t get cooked out of their shells, they’ll be sleeping satisfied.
By Thomas Brand
Highlight: Not to brag – but my dance moves.
Lowlight: The damage I did to my wallet.
Crowd Favourite: Clark in general.
