By: Ohad AmramStaff Writer
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At approximately 3 p.m. on the day of the event, the Hofstra Concerts committee notified the Hofstra student body that there were exactly 100 tickets remaining for the A-Trak and Flosstradamus show late that evening. A-Trak, the owner of music label Fool’s Gold and the brother of Dave 1, of Chromeo, has built quite the clientele over the almost two decades that he has been active as a turntablist and DJ. He has collaborated with such names as Kanye West, Kid Cudi and Travis Barker, as well as many others.
Opening for A-Trak was Flosstradamus, a dynamic duo consisting of DJ’s J2K (Josh Young) and Autobot (Curt Cameruci). Flosstradamus is also on the Fool’s Gold music label, but they are up-and-comers, considering that their mainstream success is newly found. Recently, the duo has appeared on such cable shows as Late Night with Jimmy Fallon and Nick Jr., continually building their name. In regards to their music, Flosstradamus has released five EPs and remixed a plethora of popular singles, which include the likes of Matt & Kim, one of Flosstradamus’ earliest releases, and even Major Lazer, one of their most recent releases.
As doors opened at 8 p.m., the line and audience were both disappointing, but this was not reflected in the entire show. Not even 20 minutes into Flosstradamus’ set, the duo said its goodbyes, or so the audience thought, and on came A-Trak. To everyone’s dismay, not even a full 10 minutes following the time A-Trak began to DJ; everyone was forced to evacuate the building because fog machines had set off the fire alarm cutting A-Traks’ set. All who evacuated and even those who were waiting to gain entrance into Hofstra USA for the show were now waiting outside and doubtful that the evening would change for the better, but it did indeed.
The Hofstra student body grew anxious and restless at the 10-minute wait, as public safety officers crowded Hofstra USA. Many were dressed in costume, as the event was Halloween-themed. Upon re-entry, the spacious building began to fill and continued growing in size, at which point A-Trak returned to the stage and finished playing his set, which included such crowd pleasers as songs “Say Whoa” and the Yeah Yeah Yeahs’ “Heads Will Roll” remix. “I thought it was a great show and the perfect way to start off the Halloween season with the costumes,” said senior Erin Starke.
Despite the fact that Flosstradamus had already played its short set prior to A-Trak, students were thrilled to realize that this was only the first half of their set, and the second half was to be continued upon A-Traks’ departure due to his scheduled performance in Brooklyn directly after his performance at Hofstra. When Flosstradamus returned to the stage, the crowd responded very well to its sound. In fact, many stated that they had enjoyed Flosstradamus more of the two performers, strictly because their style of music, dubbed trap, is a genre that includes pulse-pounding beats complimented with really fat bass drops–not to be compared at all with dub-step, which includes specific electronic tones and often very synthetic sounding noises.
Flosstradamus played near-perfect party trap tracks, including their remixes for “Mercy” and “Original Don.” Overall, the only complaint was both performers set lengths. Both acts were scheduled to play in Brooklyn directly following the show, which resulted in a Hofstra students having to DJ nearly the last hour of the show, which wasn’t terrible, but it wasn’t A-Trak or Flosstradamus. All in all, the Hofstra Concerts committee has really outdone itself in scheduling the last few performers.
“This was one of the raddest shows I have ever been to at Hofstra, said senior James Andrews. “It was nice seeing everyone I’ve seen around campus at the same place at once.”