Austin – There’s a nasty rumor about this city: the live music capital of the world isn’t very welcoming to EDM. Since EDM isn’t really “live” that isn’t surprising. Still, for a music scene that’s embraced so many genres and artists over the years, there’s something iffy about it. You get the sense that Win Butler’s comments about “real instruments” have some purchase here.
So Goldroom’s set at Empire Control Room on Wednesday was a welcome change of pace. Not scene altering, but it’s encouraging to see people ready to dance for a dude with no guitar, no drummer, just a laptop and some headphones. Maybe they wouldn’t be there if it weren’t a free show: Goldroom was there as the guest of a local design firm. But hey, there’s someone who wants to host free DJ sets in Austin! That’s good enough for me.
You can see right away that this venue wasn’t designed for a DJ set. The broad stage surrounds the DJ with a lot of negative space that the frenetic light show doesn’t quite fill up. What should be a dance floor is broken up by floor to ceiling vertical beams. Not that these are the most important things, or even a major impediment for most of the crowd. They were plenty warmed up by the time Goldroom took the stage. It helped that he started off with “Embrace,” last year’s floor filler and maybe his most recognizable song.
For anyone that wasn’t familiar already, “Embrace” is a good introduction to Goldroom’s sound. The tempo lags behind most EDM, and the crescendos are noticeably subdued. It’s distinctively relaxed, using a California touch to create its own version of EDM’s hazy atmosphere. The guest singer was well chosen, too: Ariela Jacobs’ sheet-thin vocals complement the tenseness of the bass.
Compare with “Fifteen” for another example of what Goldroom is all about. It could be his strongest song, even with a tempo on the lower threshold for dance music. It’s even weirder that it manages to get your feet moving with its downer melody and wandering lyrics that, when intelligible, describe a tangentially brief and heartbreaking romance. Maybe it’s the disco guitar reminding you that there’s something here redeemed and worth celebrating.
Speaking of guitars: do The Knocks listen to Goldroom? Because you can’t help hearing a lot of the latter’s “Morgan’s Bay” released in 2012, in the former’s recent hit “Classic.” This is probably an honest case of two artists accidentally having the same bright idea. And anyway, the world has room for both; they’re both great songs.
The accidental collision between Goldroom and The Knocks is suggestive. “Classic” has gotten tons of play on local radio, and although it has the basic ingredients of dance music, its live-sounding production buries that—if you really wanted to, you could pretend it was indie rock. Maybe that’s what Austin needs to embrace dance music—something you could pretend was live if you closed your eyes. If it means more artists like Goldroom, though, this isn’t such a bad consolation.
With that official endorsement out of the way, I highly suggest you keep track of Goldroom’s tour dates. At the moment, there’s only a tempting NYE show in Vancouver listed.
Will Jukes
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