FLOSSTRADAMUS at The Hoxton, Thursday, April 4. Rating: NNNN
If there were questions about exactly which flavour of EDM would be on the menu for Chicago DJs Flosstradamus Thursday, they were answered (in bold and underlined) by around midnight.
Opening acts spun a constant stream of repetitive Southern rap bangers (Waka Flocka Flame, 2 Chainz, Waka Flocka, 2 Chainz, Waka Flocak Flame, 2 Chainz , then, finally, the delightful whine of Future emerging like a gasped breath of fresh air). Anyway – the Atlanta showcase whet our, ahem, trappetites nicely for the set.
This was a young, unusually rowdy Hoxton bunch, and the emergence of J2K (Josh Young) and Autobot (Curt Cameruci) at 1-ish got the already itchy crowd hand-gesturing, spilling, jumping and generally, good naturedly, disregarding those around them.
Floss immediately hit hard with their signature rolling bass, delighting with nostalgia in a What’s Your Fantasy remix one minute, jumping ahead to 2013 and Ace Hood’s Bugatti the next. Early on, their 2012 EP title-track Total Recall provided a blissful more-classic house break for a brief spell, then wove seamlessly into Future’s Same Damn Time (a highlight of the evening). After that, it was a showcase of predictable, crowd-pleasing club-anthem kings, among them French Montana, Chief Keef and yet more Waka Flocka and 2 Chainz. Lana Del Rey’s Video Games broke up the male gruffness, but didn’t intoxicate nearly as much as an unadulterated presentation of Kendrick Lamar’s Backseat Freestyle.
A wonderful thing about Floss is that they’re just as hyper as the crowd they cater to, despite being in the midst of an intense tour that will take them to Europe and back. These aren’t austere, heads-down turntablists unwaveringly (and annoyingly) focused on their craft. Young, especially, jumped and danced and engaged the throng often, until the duo shut it down after 2 a.m. Making an extended finale from a mix of Kanye West’s Mercy isn’t novel or exciting at this point (the original song was released exactly a year ago) but the kids went ape-shit. Who are we to judge?
