James Holden may not have the fame of other artists, but he is certainly fast becoming one of the most influential. His musical ideas so far left field and unique that many consider this progressive artist a virtuosic genius, and pioneer of electronic music in his own right. Walter Pater, an English critic of art a literature once described Romanticism as “the addition of strangeness to beauty”; and this directly applies to James Holden. He has replaced the ideas of balance and control in music with freedom and passion. He is a modern Beethoven of sorts, bringing romanticism into electronic music, pushing the boundaries within production and performance – a true free-spirit in the industry.

James has had a number of original releases such as Horizons, Solstice, A Break In The Clouds, The Idiots Are Winning and most recently Triangle Folds; many of which have been highly celebrated releases on his own forward thinking label Border Community. Contrary to the praise he gets for his original work, it is actually his remix efforts where he really shows his production talents. His idiosyncratic ability to take a track and turn it into an eccentric, even brilliant, piece of music is unsurpassable, and he has done so for the likes of Depeche Mode, Radiohead, Nathan Fake, Madonna and even Britney Spears. However, it is !K7 commissioning James to release the latest instalment in their already famous DJ-Kicks mix series which has brought him to Australian shores.

It had been a while since Holden had been in the country and as such the hype surrounding his Sydney show was tremendous, resulting in a prodigious contingent of people making it down to the Cave of Chinese Laundry. A negative few questioned whether this room would be able to handle the night, but many others would not care, for this is James Holden we’re talking about and it truly was going to be a night to remember.

The prestigious job of warming the room up for James Holden was given to firstly Trinity who would then hand over to Club Junque. Trinity is certainly one of the most underrated DJs in Sydney and it was her time to really show she has what it takes to play alongside anyone. She opened with some smooth deep techno, strongly complemented with a top notch mixing ability. As the bodies begun to migrate into the room Trinity started to take the set places, getting more intricate with the introduction of a melodic edge, yet always remaining within the realm of deep techno. By the time the half way mark past in her set she was up around the 122 bpm mark and some pleasant ambient breakdowns begun to resonate throughout the room with an ever increasing canorous element. Trinity had been given a really tough job and her performance was outstanding. It would of been very interesting to hear what she would have come up if she had the free reign of a couple more hours.

The change over to Club Junque was seemless as the deeper melodic tracks continued to meander out of the speakers. Yet there was something noticeably different about vibe he brought to the room, a more twisted, sinister element. An example of this can be seen from the eerie vocals in the track Medusa feat. Leslie Carter – Medusa which featured very early within his set. The journey progressed purposely with melancholy melodies towards James Holden, and by the stroke of midnight the set culminated with the sombre chords of Gui Boratto – Telecaster. Club Junque’s job was done, and a visibly very happy James Holden proved it was done very well indeed.

It was time for James Holden himself to start treating the crowd. With traktor and his home made midi controller he released a quick intro and then straight into Donato Dozzy – Destination Eskimo (Part 1). It was a picayune beginning to what was going to be a true odyssey full of filtered synths, live drums, arpreggiated chords, melodic dissonance and even purposeful slightly off-beat drums; he didn’t mix a set, he forged a masterpiece. Driving hypnotic repeition, meshed with spacey melodies and tangents taking every participant on a neural adventure enraptured by the sounds forced into their brain. Simply put: a uniquely James Holden experience. When you attend an event such as this, you expect something distinctive, something unique, something that is a far cry from experiencing your traditional DJ play your favourite tracks. James Holden did not disappoint. With a setlist including Caribou – Sun, Avus – Poppy, Death In Vegas – Reigen, Etienne Jaumet – Entropy, Premier Rang – Les Corps Humides, his own A Break In The Clouds and his very unique dub of Britney Spear’s Breathe On Me, I can safely say that he satisfied the crowd to no end. In fact, the crowd became more lively each and every time the journey got that little bit more twisted. It was as if they thrived on the contorted nature of the music. Really, that would be fitting of the room wouldn’t it? That dark small space really did blossom (for lack of a better word) when put through its paces.

All hail King of The Pixies.