Through a sea of bouncing flat-brimmed baseball caps and overlapping laser lights, a life sized triangular symbol shone brightly from the back of the stage and every trap music enthusiast knows what that means: Flosstradamus was in the house. Even after they tore the roof off in December, Embrace brought the Chicago duo back to The Hoxton on Thursday with a vengeance for more.
Arriving at 11pm to the sight of a short admission line, I didn’t let that fool me into deferring the process of getting to the front of the line. While diving head first into the muck of the crowd, the sounds of Toronto based party residents, The FranDiscos, were in their last leg of a juicy warm-up set. The two brothers, Andrew and Jonathan Frandisco, have a rhythmic electro sound that was really fitting for the gradual process of The Hoxton becoming a full house. Those who were just gearing up for the night, whether it be by lingering at the bar or wandering the free space while it lasted, had the perfect soundtrack to accompany them courtesy of two of Toronto’s finest.
But it was when a third body appeared through on stage as a familiar tribal beat came through the speakers did things inside The Hoxton explode. The night’s second act, DJ Spinz, sandwiched himself between The FranDiscos and transitioned into his set with one of Major Lazer’s newest gems Watch Out For This (Bumaye) featuring Busy Signal, The Flexican and FS Gree. The crowd jolted to a new energy so unexpectedly that the dance moves executed by those around me were comparable to a minor dance seizure. Soon we were thrust into the sounds of a perfect marriage of hip-hop and electronic music, as the mastermind behind Ca$h Out’s rap anthem Cashin’ Out hit us with a crazy construction of sounds. The crowd kept their heads nodding to R.I.P. by Young Jeezy and 2 Chainz yet were still able to feed their desire for electronic with Kat!e by Carnage featuring Katie Got Bandz. The 23-year-old Georgia native held The Hoxton in the palm of his hand that night and that was made clear by everyone’s inability to stop moving. I personally lost a piece of my own sanity when he dropped a hugely popular trap track called It’s A Trap by UFO! Those perfect 808 sounds from that track left my mouth watering for more as the main attraction was just around the corner.
We were subject to a short intermission just before 1am and buzz of excitement radiating from the tighty-packed dance floor was contagious. The DJ booth closest to the front of the stage soon disappeared and the life-sized triangular Flosstradamus symbol was front and center. Before long J2K (Josh Young) and Autobot (Curt Cameruci), otherwise known as Flosstradamus, appeared through the haze of heat and fog. The two didn’t leave a second for us to breathe it in before opening with Bugatti by Ace Hood featuring Future and Rick Ross. A chaotic house-party vibe immediately took over. Quickly transitioning into a hip-hop anthem of 2000 and serious guilty pleasure, What’s Your Fantasy by Ludacris, I felt a strange desire to don hoop earrings and do keg stands in somebody’s wrecked up living room. And as the intense strobe light showed no mercy, neither did these two Chicagoans. We heard a mash-up of Mercy by Kayne West and Jay Z and the trap work-of-art Higher by Baauer and Just Blaze and even a bit of Sandstorm by Darude. I took a short and struggling “walk” through the crowd while they played their own track Test Me featuring DJ Slink off Fool’s Gold Records and I could sincerely feel the ground beneath my feet pulsating with the pogo jumping crowd.
As 2am started to rear it’s angry head in the way of this house party the crowd started their predicable chanting of “Floss!” in hopes to postpone the end of the night. Autobot took to the microphone assuring us we’d be getting what we wanted: more music. Soon the eerie beauty of Lana Del Rey’s voice came across the speakers. Flosstradamus just released their remix of Lana Del Rey’s Video Games retitled Lana’s Theme on Mad Decent a few months ago and I personally had my fingers crossed all night hoping to hear it. And if you haven’t heard it yet, you’re temporarily forgiven – but I insist you get to your nearest electronic device and drown in the sexy complication of Lana Del Rey and a trappy bass beat as soon as possible.
One last bite with their track Dark Knight and the lasers subsided, the volume lowered and the stage was empty. And although I feel I came close to literally having the floor cave in on me, I know it won’t be the last time I see Flosstradamus put my safety at risk. And I don’t mind one bit.
Other Songs Played:
Bird Machine – DJ Snake
Harlem Shake – Baauer
Piss Test (Remix) – A-Trak ft. Juicy J, Jim Jones, Flosstradamus, etc.
O Let’s Do It – Waka Flocka Flame
Gone To The Moon – Future
Lurk – UZ feat. Djemba Djemba & Arnold
Swoop – ETC! ETC! & Brillz
Links
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Flosstradamus
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Rachael D’Amore – EDM TOR
