Live Review: Hot Dub Time Machine, Hobophonics

Sydney’s Hobophonics warmed up the glowstick-laden crowd with a DJ set, playing mostly popular, dancey tech/deep house tracks from last year, including Motez’ remix of Gas Pedal and Friend Within’s The Renegade. The song choice was great but the stage presence a little cheesy and overly excited, especially when he yelled, “I want you all to party like it’s the last Thursday of the week!” It was all just a little bit unnecessary.

A projector screen provided a visual backdrop to the countdown for the following set and Tom Lowndes aka Hot Dub Time Machine ran on stage, guns blazing, wearing a childlike grin from ear to ear. He started with hit tracks from 1954, playing everything from Pink Floyd’s The Wall, Bob Marley’s Is This Love to Bjork’s It’s Oh So Quiet, Missy Elliot’s Get Ur Freak On, Gorillaz’s Feel Good and The Temper Trap’s Sweet Disposition, in which he announced “this was my bridal waltz by the way,” his wife hopping on stage to share a quick dance. 

Towards the end of the night, he spun Peking Duk’s High, foolishly and disrespectfully announcing “This is the song that should’ve won the Hottest 100,” because, let’s face it, all we really want is for two sweaty, sexist stoners representing the future of quality Australian music. Lowndes did, however, finish off his set with another track by an Australian producer, playing Hayden James’ Something About You on the decks, keeping with the whole ‘best party ever’ agenda he currently has going on.

The ‘travelling dance party’ project, Hot Dub Time Machine, provides an informative lesson in music history, and it’s a remarkably clever and original concept in this regard. However, it’s important to remember that Lowndes is essentially a DJ, and ultimately one that profits from mixing the music of other musicians who have gone through the effort of producing and writing their own tracks. His success is loosely based on manipulating a crowd’s sense of nostalgia, and this works for him in more ways than one.