Vancouver-based Swiss tech-house lord Cyril Hahn and progressive New York electronic wizard Chrome Sparks (Jeremy Malvin) together on one bill sounds like an outlandish dream, but on a balmy Saturday night in Sydney, it became a mind-blowing reality. Descending on Max Watt’s in their droves, an selection of switched-on music fans were bewitched by a one-two punch from these specialised virtuosos. Malvin’s dedicated masses knew to expect a dynamic rollercoaster of a set – a transfixing audiovisual journey through his extended ventures into the possibilities of sound and production. And it’s not news that the club is Hahn’s home ground — although his heavy-hitting arsenal was peppered with sensuous flashes of RnB sampling and accessible retro synths, subtlety and sophisticated style undeniably remain his strongest suits.
Hahn and Malvin’s approaches could be considered chalk and cheese, but the entire night was instead awash with a stunning cohesion that only creatives of their calibre could muster up. Hahn and Malvin are both key flag-bearers in their respective fields, and their no-bullshit, unassuming approach to IDM and house music is what makes their already mesmeric recorded material even more arresting in the live realm.
Sydney Sweat It Out family members Polographia were on hand to warm up the early arrivers trickling in, and the clearly talented duo are obviously more than just a couple of mates who stumbled upon plug-ins and decided to jump on a rising trend. Starting off with dreamy, spacious material from their latest EP ‘Natural’, the boys eventually ramped up the intensity with tracks like “Up & Down”, “Rhythm”, and their especially potent oldie-but-goodie “Righteous Hit”. Although the crowd was punctured with gaping holes and buzzing with chatter, Polographia had more than proved their worth, and judging from the pleasantly surprised looks on some faces, they’d won over at least a handful of brand new fans too.
Before Chrome Sparks had even appeared, we knew we were in for a treat – his team had assembled an intricate synth spaceship at the front of the stage, adorned with exposed lightbulbs and engulfed by a healthy amount of dramatic smoke. When Malvin and his drummer – who we would come to discover was a key conduit in the electricity behind Chrome Sparks’ live show – clambered on stage, they were ushered in with warm cries of appreciation from a now rounded-out room. The dynamic duo rolled an unknown but engrossing introduction into the climbing sci-fi drone of ‘Sparks’ EP highlight “Send The Pain On”. Opening up completely with the visceral M83-style drop at about a minute-and-a-half in, any doubt that this was to be a full-scale sonic assault was immediately put to rest.
With what felt like a flawless, seamless transition, the Doctor Who-inspired intro of 2014’s “The Meaning Of Love” acted as a stunning precursor to Malvin’s soul-thieving breakout hit “Goddess”. Lurching over his mess of wires, synths and screens, the lanky wizard ushered in wave after wave of absorbing synth lines, grinning as we all erupted in response to each perfect progression. “Goddess” was the song that stopped the EDM nation, and the love in the room was well and truly palpable.
On “Give It Up” and “Ride The White Lightning”, brand new soundscapes off last year’s stunning three-track EP ‘Parallelism’, the added organic energy of the live drums provided each crescendo with an extra element of ferocity. “Ride The White Lightning”‘s piercing synth stabs collided head-on with crashing cymbals and punchy, hollow beats, and the arrival of “Give It Up”‘s sterile, robotic pinnacle was all the more satisfying with a full kit in the fray. This was only further confirmed on (expected, and wholeheartedly embraced) closer “Marijuana”; its adventurous, whimsical flute lines and tropical hooks played perfectly into their nifty two-man set up. Chrome Sparks’ set wasn’t just any old introspective electronic exhibition – it was a vivid, weighty voyage that left us all a little bit dumbfounded in the best way possible.
No one had time to recover — in what felt like a flash, the stage was shifted to leave a lone mixing table, cast in subtle shades of teal and lavender lighting. The one and only Cyril Hahn bashfully wandered out onto the stage, introducing himself not with words, but with the morose, nostalgic opening bars of his iconic “Say My Name” rework. The response was instantaneous and ecstatic – no one had expected Hahn to drop his iconic hit straight off the bat. The jubilee continued with his wildly popular take on Solange‘s “Losing You”, evident in the audible, impassioned singalong to that now-signature pitch-shifted vocal. Hahn had opted to serve up his most popular dishes first, and all were lapping it up completely.
What followed was a left-of-centre, wholly unexpected shift in direction; it was almost as if Hahn had buttered us up with a couple of his most accessible, recognised switch-ups, only to swiftly flick the filthy switch and plunge us into a crash course on foreboding, minimal deep house. “I was expecting this to be really classy, but he’s getting a little dirty,” one surprised audience member noted, raising his voice to combat the consistent rumbling. ‘A little’ was quite the understatement – the whole middle half of Hahn’s set was essentially an unrelenting meld of bass-heavy, sombre club bangers.
Only with the arrival of Four Tet and Burial‘s club classic “Nova” did the tone and texture palette transfigure, eventually ascending to introduce the instantly recognisable, feel-good hook of his Ryan Ashley collaboration “Open”, and the nostalgic retro groove of his latest single “Last”. The crowd ate up every second of it, abandoning all inhibition and bouncing around in glee. “If I look into your eyes / I can see your love has come alive,” we belted out, letting that consummate ’80s Euro-house hook steal what was left of our overwhelmed little hearts.
As the house lights came alive, Hahn bid adieu with a graceful nod, and we were left standing amidst the scattered cups and crumpled rubbish, sweaty and sore, but fully satiated by a distinct revelation – we’d spent the whole night watching two absolute masters at work, and an evening like that on our distant shores was a rare privilege indeed.
Photos by Jordan Munns: