When I told a friend I was going to see Unkle Ho at GoMA I forgave them for mistaking him for an artist in the Asia Pacific exhibition. If you could freeze Unkle Ho’s music and slap it on a canvas it would have sat perfectly on the museum walls. Intricate, emotive, progressive yet filled with quirky artifacts from the past, it was a perfect soundtrack to the art on display.

Being an influential member of *The HerdT and a founder of the Elephant Trax label, Unkle Ho is easily one of the best instrumental hip hop producers in Australia and his live show did not disappoint. It’s sometimes difficult to translate instrumental, sample based music into a live arena and still have it retain the qualities that make it so engaging to music lovers but his live setup really did the music justice. The man himself was on MPC (or some variation….) and for support he brought an amazing multi instrumentalist who played everything from trumpet and other wind instruments through to a Theremin which from a punters point of view looked like a small metal pole that he was trying to swat flies away from…(yes you should look it up). His set weaved it’s way through tracks from his first album like Grace of the Guru (a personal favourite as the first track of his I heard) and Slavgnostik up into newer material from his latest EP Subterranea like the ultra hook filled Kindergarten, maintaining that Unkle Ho, gypsy/circus music on acid kind of flavour that I love.

After a quick changeover that let everyone go check out some of the awesome art on display Astronomy Class were up to bring their reggae infused Aussie hip hop to the now sizable Brisbane crowd. With Ozi Battla up front, Chasm and Sir Robbo dropped beats from their two acclaimed albums, a tightly produced blend of classic sampled based hip hop, reggae and live instruments. GoMA is an awesome venue for live music with it’s amazing backdrop of cutting edge art as well as it’s accessibility to people that are probably less likely to be braving The Valley on a weekend. The crowd was really diverse, making me wonder how many people were here to see the art as opposed to the music – either way it was a win-win situation. By the time Where you At? came on the crowd was in good spirits and although it wasn’t exactly a wave your hands in the air kind of vibe (you might spill your Shiraz…) Ozi and co still managed to get their ‘Where you from?’ call answered with a resounding ‘Right here!’

Despite everything being wrapped up by 9.30pm it felt like a full night out – two fantastic hip hop acts in a brilliant live venue, no queues for drinks or bathrooms, a great crowd atmosphere and hands down the best art installations I’ve ever seen at a gig….keep up the good work GoMA.