Live Review: Nosaj Thing, Kane Ikin, JPS

20 July 2015 | 3:24 pm | Sarah Barratt

"He takes a few risks here and there... but it's always part of the master plan."

By the time Nosaj Thing starts to play, the line is at least 100 deep outside. The American beat maker, DJ and producer always sells out his shows in Melbourne, so this is no surprise.

The supports are JPS, who is fairly trap heavy, Kane Ikin, who plays dark, atmospheric, meditative mixes, and 0.1, which is a bit of both.

Nosaj Thing begins by playing the Kelela track Do It Again, which wins a lot of us over. He starts off pretty ambient, moves into hip hop and rap style beats, and some joints are lit and surreptitiously passed around in the crowd.

The vibe then moves into R&B and trap, which gets everyone dancing a bit more.Watching Nosaj is a similar experience to watching Flying Lotus: you have no idea how they're making the sounds they're making and it feels more like an audiovisual 'experience' rather than a normal DJ set. Nosaj moves through genres with fluidity and no one in the crowd questions why the sound moves from R&B to trap and back again. He definitely pulls it off, bringing the set back at the end to more of the same chill, ambient, Bonobo kind of sounds you'd listen to at home by yourself.

Nosaj's strength is his ability to traverse genres in front of an audience with sheer faith in his talents, which is probably why he's collaborated with such a diverse range of artists over the years, from Toro Y Moi to Little Dragon to Chance The Rapper. 

He takes a few risks here and there, likes plunging us all into silence for six to eight seconds a few times, but it's always part of the master plan. Compared to his well known work, this set is on the whole much lighter than tracks like Cold Stares and Paranoia, both with Chance The Rapper. The vibe was more like his songs Nightcrawler and Erase.

He finishes with the ambient track, Aquarium, which is received with rapturous applause; the whole room is flooded in warm yellow lights while Nosaj waves and makes a few prayer gestures in thanks.