Words: Miljan Milekić
I have never been to NYC, but I was always fascinated with its soundtrack. From jazz and blues to Ramones, Patti Smith, Blondie, and Talking Heads; from Run-DMC, Beatie Boys, Wu-Tang Clan, Biggie Smalls, Nas and Jay Z to Sick Of It All, H2O and Iron Chick; New York City has always been a melting pot of different cultures, different styles, originality, and creativity. In recent years, Slovenia-born DJ, musician, and producer Gramatik had established himself as part of the eclectic New York scene, making his music city’s soundtrack as much as legends before did it.
His unique style that combines electronic music, hip-hop, funk, jazz, blues, and even rock’n’roll is widely recognized all across the world, so it was no surprise seeing around 7 000 people in front of him at Les Transardentes festival in Brussels hall Palais 12. Accompanied with a guitar player and massive “spectators dream – photographer nightmare” light setup, Gramatik delivered a set electronic enough for all the EDM fans, and “live” enough for all the “live music” fans around.
Switching between his older stuff and new material, he was dropping banger after banger, keeping the atmosphere at a high level all along. His unique style gained him quite a diverse fan base, and it was fascinating to see so many different people enjoying the same beats and notes from the stage. And yet, it all seemed just right.
Apart from Gramatik, we only managed to see French producer Fakear who delivered a memorable live set, getting the crowd going really quickly. With slower, calmer beats in the manner of ODESZA, his show was just the perfect introduction for the artist after. Being new to his music, he’s someone I’ll definitely take a closer look at.
