A great, booming bass shook through the floors of Brisbane's The Princess Theatre (15 July).
The sound travelled through my feet, all the way up to my head and rattled my skull. My disorientation was further prolonged by the blinding flash of strobe lighting.The cause of my overstimulation? The silhouetted figure onstage leaning over a bench of machines named Daniel Lopatin, aka Oneohtrix Point Never.
A decade has passed since the American producer's last performance in Brisbane, and in that time Lopatin has become a big name in underground electronic music.
He composed the music for the critically acclaimed films 'Good Time' and 'Uncut Gems', both written and directed by the Safdie Brothers, and worked with the likes of David Byrne and The Weeknd.
It was through his connection with the latter that he became the unlikely musical director for The Weeknd's Super Bowl halftime show in 2021.
Lopatin's contemporary work is worlds apart from the instrumental ambient work that first gained him acclaim, often using just a Roland Juno-60 synthesiser he inherited from his father.
This year, Lopatin is touring a show called 'Rebuilds', which sees him updating his older songs using the new skills and knowledge he has since gained, increasing their fidelity and intensity.
Sitting on stage, local opener Andrew Tuttle generated an excited whoop from the audience when he revealed his five-string banjo.
Tuttle plucked a pretty melody before reaching to a device on a table nearby. Twisting knobs, the melody became a loop, and plucked notes stretched and echoed, creating a lush bed for further melodies.
The ambient nature of Tuttle's music meant scattered conversations and the clinking of glasses at the bar were audible, but most eyes in the room were on Tuttle, absorbed by his banjo's digital sighs.
Standing behind a bench that filled half the stage, Daniel Lopatin reached from one keyboard to another. Lush chords flowed into the room, while a jagged arpeggio muted beneath.
Soon, this calm beginning became chaotic as a rhythmic clutter of digitised pings and plucks blasted out of the speakers, increasing in speed and volume. Behind the mixing desk, several men accompanied the chaos onstage. A hazy mix of blue and green lighting that resembled an Aurora Borealis gave way to the blinding flash of several strobe lights.
Meanwhile, a massive screen hanging from the back of the stage featured images manipulated in real-time by Lopatin's long-time collaborator, Nate Boyce. Boyce conjured images from old cartoons and CGI skulls, looping and melting them while Lopatin pushed his synths to their breaking point.
Somehow, some in the crowd found a rhythm within the mechanical barrage and began to dance.
With a violin bow in his hand, Lopatin added harsh noise by bowing some mysterious machine on his bench. The flashing of strobes turned Lopatin into a black silhouette that seemed to be sawing one of his machines in half, and the harsh noise its cries of pain – an exciting sound for the musically adventurous in attendance.
Despite how far Lopatin pushed his machines into chaotic realms, only one technical hiccup occurred.
He ended his set by grabbing a microphone, but none of his speech came through. With some assistance from a tech Lopatin called "my wizard of Aus", he thanked everyone for coming in an unexpected showing of the human behind the machines, and a reminder of the actual intelligence behind Oneohtrix Point Never.
This performance was programmed as part of Open Season; a programme of contemporary live music and performance from May to August. Presented by two iconic live music venues – The Tivoli and The Princess Theatre – Open Season's third outing takes the chill off Brisbane's winter with more than 30 sizzling performances across a variety of music and performing arts genres.
