words+photos: tom russell

You know you’re smashing it when you get one of those Brainfeeder cartoons drawn of you with the giant hands. Its like being ‘made’ in the US independent hip hop world.

What Hudson brings to the table is a mix of winding West Coast backing with some UK glitch and drum loops. It goes down like treacle as I saw on Friday at Fabric. The great thing about him, like Flying Lotus, is the un-nerdyness born out of nerdyness that comes with the music. This means that a scene that 5 years ago was pretty much a sausage fest now plays host to an army of both men AND women, all well-dressed and not afraid to dance with faces like a Cheshire cats. It’s a good time for music and this was evident in a completely rammed Room 1.

Music-wise, the DMC finalist didn’t disappoint. Cutting up his 3 minute
masterpieces like ‘ZooO00oO0m’ and ‘Fuse’, the Glaswegian tore the place apart! The MC (who I haven’t seen before) even stayed away long enough to keep the music clean. Not wanting to miss a single tune, it was one of those sets where a massive exodus of people sprinted to the toilets once the headphones were finally taken off, leaving the un-necessarily modest Mohawke cleaning up his decks as if finishing his first ever set at a country town hall.