Live Review: What So Not, Charles Chux

Charles Chux opens the evening with a smooth collection of house rhythms, maintaining a consistent energy throughout the duration of his set. Unfortunately the volume lingers below the crowd’s vocal musings, serving solely as a build in anticipation for the world-conquering What So Not, manned solely by Emoh since Flume’s departure from the duo.   

What So Not takes over the reins and the crowd erupts. The sold-out homecoming crowd couldn’t be more amped. Opening with the tribal vocal cut from Touched, Emoh builds the energy to a huge climax of frantic percussion and bowel-dropping bass. The signature horns combined with those vocals create a truly euphoric feeling in the room.

George Maple enters for a fierce rendition of new single, Gemini, provoking spine-tingling memories of their Coachella performance. Insane visuals race across the LED screens before and behind Emoh, taking us on a 3-D journey through the space-time continuum, the visual magic intimately created by Babekühl. 

He then turns to powerful collaborator RL Grime, hyping into all three remixes of Tell Me with the RL Grime original, Core. The packed room goes absolutely ballistic. A girl on shoulders flails violently in a ten-metre radius. Loyal signs of Emoh’s head bounce around in appreciation with ‘WSN4EVA’ scribbled on the back. 

Emoh gives a sneak preview of three unreleased tracks — Oddity, off the forthcoming Gemini EP. The Dillon Francis collaboration on Arrows ft. Dawn Golden is followed by an anonymous original. Emoh leaves the stage and the crowd screams for an encore. 

He returns to monster applause with George Maple to perform the Emoh Instead remix of Talk Talk. Maple brings a wonderful energy in her vocal performance. Emoh closes his set with a monster mix of Golden Features’ Guillotine into What So Not originals The Quack and Jaguar.

He leaves the crowd with the lush sounds of Caribou’s Can’t Do Without You, a trademark in his mixes, and a beautiful outro for the departing sweaty mess as Emoh shakes hands with the front row.