#electronicla

The sold out Mr. Carmack show this past weekend at the El Rey in Los Angeles brought out the hippest crowd I’ve ever bumped booties with. Upon entrance I suddenly felt like a 40-year-old soccer mom compared to the hoards of music scene hispters rocking unisex 90s-came-back-to-haunt-us looks of bomber jackets, over-sized ironic tees, and swag sneakers.

Some acoustic band opened the show, which left the crowd of EDM scene snobs a bit confused as we wondered “how the fuck do I dance to this?” We waited restlessly for the uber trendy, Hawaii-based Mr. Carmack to drop his experimental, trappy tunes for us to get grimy to -- and the wait was well worth it!

The second he came on stage with his bottle of chamagne we all knew it was going down. This crowd knew how to get wild in a way I haven’t seen in a long time. Those who had initially been acting too cool to function were now moshing and dropping it to the jolting sounds.

I could tell this producer/dj was a true artist by the way he split his show into 3 acts, each distinctly different. First off, he gave us exactly what we wanted with his signature trap dance beats. Next, he moved into an experimental style of “is there ever going to be a drop?” music that kept you on your toes wondering if you're actually able to dance in rhythm to this weird stuff. This section boasted 4 unexpected live performances, ranging from rapping to a soft melodic duet. 

In the final act, Mr. Carmack busted out into a beat so grimy that the fire alarms went off! The sweaty crowd couldn’t care less as we were too entranced by the mind-blowingly fresh sounds we were turning up to! Mr. Carmack had created a seductive story arc that built us all up to an unbelievable climax. Bravo sir. 

I walked out of that show with my mind melted and some new ratchet ass friends at my side.