Live Review: Origin NYE

There was an unfortunate number of despondent scam victims this year, with an official online notice that read: “It’s been brought to our attention that people have been sold fraudulent tickets by people on the internet”.

Treachery wasn’t the most evident quality this year though: An air of high intensity that could easily be construed as aggression was keenly apparent from the very get go that could he tidily summed up by unrelenting bass music and incautious dance moves. Equal parts producer, songwriter, DJ and vocalist, Sydney-based Anna Lunoe has undeniably got her hands full on the music front, and has consistently managed to do so with a real grace about her. Performing over in the indoor TERMINAL stage packed with squelchy house and bizarre instrumentation, Lunoe bravely and successfully conjured a playful and quirky atmosphere of sorts early into the day.

Snakehips kindly took to this same kind of atmosphere, scaling back its intensity if only marginally. Known for their shimmering interpretation of futuristic soul music, the British duo spiritedly toyed around with oscillating grooves and low-slung melodies. With a hint of ambitiousness, their typically slow and funky sounds frantically escalated to fast and robust rhythms to the delight of a particularly enthusiastic crowd. This innovative two-piece continues to impress and enchant with a signature sound that has only been imitated with moderate triumph yet.

Red lasers and premature firework visuals splashed across an otherwise plain backdrop.

Rattling percussion and squishy sounding synthesisers made up the vast majority of Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs set (thankfully this absolute mouthful can be lazily abbreviated to TEED). The classically trained English electronic producer never fails to deliver the crisp and buoyant, which is precisely the standard he lived up to with a set that vacillated between house music sub-genres. Red lasers and premature firework visuals splashed across an otherwise plain backdrop inundated a lively and rapidly expanding crowd.

There was a shuffle of acts over at the main POD stage for unspecified reasons, bringing forward New York hip hop sensation Pusha T earlier in the mix. An almost inseparable aspect of the rap game, Pusha exuded a real hubris demeanour; frequently gloating about his various career accolades and general raw talent (recently appointed to take over Kanye West’s role as president of GOOD music, he probably has good reason, too). The lost art form of vinyl scratching made a significant appearance, making for subtle alterations to otherwise unchanged pure hip hop anthems. King Push – Darkest Before Dawn: The Prelude is the recently released second studio album that has been met with unprecedented critical acclaim; a must-have for any self-respecting contemporary rap music devotee.

Since Foreign Beggars initial establishment in 2002, the collective’s unique trajectory has seen them evolve from an underground hip-hop group to an electronic crossover act. With production release titles that range from Bukkake Ski Trip and Hit That Gash, it’s often difficult to determine how seriously the English outfit actually take themselves. Orifice Vulgatron, DJ Nonames, Dag Nabbit and Metropolis may not be the mostly aesthetically pleasing stage names, but they undoubtedly have an incomparable and unadulterated creativity and live energy about them, which was clearly conveyed on the night. “Grime’s current leading man turned in the scene’s biggest anthem of 2015” was boldly exclaimed by the highly acclaimed online electronic music publication Resident Advisor when Shutdown polled in at number 22 in their top 50 tracks of the year.

RL delved into a melodic distortion that was met with a reciprocity from the enlivened crowd.

Although not offering anything particularly ground breaking to the grime resurgence, Skepta does provide a fierce and uncompromising presence accompanied by an utterly vicious flow. The self-proclaimed ‘king of grime’ also took a trip down memory lane with some of his earlier material with tracks like I Spy, which had a profoundly interesting stun-like effect on the majority of the crowd. Bass heavy fans were completely spoiled for choice when the new year rolled in, forced to make a bitterly difficult choice between some of the heavyweights of the scene.

RL Grime’s versatile and arpeggio rich take on trap music has seen him rapidly soar to popularity as one of Los Angeles electronic music collective WeDidIt’s core members. Emanating a substantially harder hitting mood than almost all of his record label’s talented counterparts, RL delved into a melodic distortion that was met with a reciprocity from the enlivened crowd.

For those that somehow remained unquenched by the vibrational saturation that was Origin, both Jack Rabbit Slims and Metro City hosted official afters parties help forge the beginnings of another year of recklessness and uncertainty.