Flume Holds Court At The Mayan, Los Angeles

Downtown Los Angeles, The Mayan Theater is overflowing as Red Bull Sound Select sets up shop for another round of their 30 Days In LA series. Tonight brings out Electronic music prodigy Flume as the headliner. The Australian producer known for Hip-Hop style instrumental beats with an EDM twist exploded on the scene 2-years ago thanks in part to his remix of Disclosure’s “You & Me”. He has since become a U.S. tour and festival mainstay drawing in a diehard fan base of young women. Where the women go, men follow.
 
Opening the night was DJ/producer Taskforce who brought on a barrage of heavy Bass music. For those uninitiated, “Bass” is the umbrella term in Electronic Dance Music for Dubstep, Trap, Moombahton and Drum & Bass sub genres. Mostly hitting on the Trap and Dubstep side of things, heads were nodding but people were saving their energy for the man of the hour. A tough crowd to say the least. Following up was River Tiber, the Toronto based multi-instrumentalist/producer came ready with a full band. As Alternative R&B sounds poured out the speakers (possibly the best sound system in Los Angeles) the crowd’s murmur drowned out the vocals making it difficult to get into the band’s groove or gain appreciation for an act most in attendance had not been exposed to yet. I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention this is typical for Los Angeles’s often jaded crowds.
 
After the stage and lighting change the crowd received what was obviously the only thing of concern to them that night. Flume entered, first taking the microphone to greet the natives of his new home town and announce that he would be playing a lot of new material. Despite his EDM categorization, the set felt like a Hip-Hop show minus the MC’s as heads bopped for more than an hour to mid-tempo bass heavy songs driven by a Boom-Bap and sometimes Trap drum program. Feeling like a Soundcloud compilation of his greatest hits, the true star of the show was the lighting and visual presentation which made up for the lack of movement behind the DJ booth and musical momentum. Mostly made up of his most popular remixes and songs from his self titled debut, the set stopped an hour in to bring out special guest Andrew Wyatt of Miike Snow to perform their collaborative track, “Some Minds” to the delight of the crowd. Show over, Flume headed backstage but the lack of house lighting indicated there was a strong chance for an encore. Flume reemerged to personally thank everyone for their support before dropping his remix of Lorde’s “Tennis Court” to put a cap on night 12 of 30.
 
photos: Red Bull Content Pool