Walking into the Forum to see Jamie xx, my chest puffed with the anticipatory pride of a year 12 student on graduation day. 2015 was a mind-blowing year for new music. Multiple sub-genres had crossed and coalesced to create a new normal; cool kids and casual listeners alike embraced artists that adhered to classic pop structures while utilising elements of specialised genres. While the likes of The Weeknd and local boy Chet Faker slayed audiences from all walks of life, the real champion of 2015 was the remarkable, yet unremarkably named Jamie Smith. In Colour,his debut album as Jamie xx, is nothing short of genius in terms of production and stylistic variation.
An ecstatic buzz emanated from the audience at his third and final sold-out Melbourne show. Due to being a DJ set, there was no awkward pause between primary support act Tornado Wallace and Jamie xx taking the stage. Smith came to the desk and began arranging his records and CDs as Lewie Day (Wallace) played his last song.
Amid swirling smoke and golden spotlights, the dulcet phase of Sleep Sound washed in. Once the beat dropped, the audience started dancing and didn’t stop until a little over an hour later when Smith spun Loud Places for the second time as the encore. Though, to say it was the second time he played Loud Places isn’t 100% accurate, because the first time it was a whacked out swing version of the song, which bobbed up about a quarter of a way into his set.
In front of a predominantly late-20s, alternative mainstream crowd, Smith began in welcoming fashion. But at just over the halfway point, off the back of his demented reggae masterpiece Obvs, he took the audience into the dark world of garage, grime and dub with the fucking amazing Autechre remix of The Bug’s Skeng – seriously, Google it.
The set reached a major peak with a 1500 person sing-along to I Know There’s Gonna Be (Good Times). Then, after applause filled the high ceilinged theatre for a good two minutes, Jamie xx returned to drop the classiest pop song of 2015, Loud Places, and it was amazing.
BY DAN WATT
Photo by Ian Laidlaw
Loved: The set.
Hated: The uptight fuckwit who elbowed me in the ribs when I turned to take a photo of three girls who asked me to take their picture. Maybe, I don’t know, wait two seconds before physically assaulting me for impinging upon your spot.
Drank: The zeitgeist.
