Hudson Mohawke drives fans wild at Bestival 2013

This year Bestival added a new element (it was their tenth anniversary after all) and that came in the form of HMS Bestival. The Port stage took over from the mammoth Arcadia of previous years and it did not disappoint! Bestival had commandeered an actual boat for the proceedings and it was the perfect place to see Hudson Mohawke drive his fans wild. Even from a distance one could see the lasers, the pyrotechnics, the seriously sexy dancers and the sporadic bursts of fireworks – a feast for the eyes. (Other acts performing at The Port had aerial silk dancers twisting around on a crane from a considerable height.)  

For those that have not heard of Hudson Mohawke (yet), he is a 27-year-old music producer hailing from Glasgow, who started creating electronic hip-hop at the tender age of 15. His first album was released under Warp records and was entitled Butter. Yet as time has gone by he has gradually gained well-deserved industry respect and is now also signed to Kanye West’s G.O.O.D music label.

Mohawke has recently achieved worldwide recognition having actually collaborated with Kanye West, and rumours abound that he is soon to be featured on a Drake song. The artist also has a side project underway entitled TNGHT (featuring fellow producer Lunice), which he always drops during his sets – and thank God he does because the material is just as epic as his solo stuff! The new Kanye West album features a sample of TNGHT on the track Blood on the Leaves, and HudMo was sure to promote this new song during his Bestival set (although dedicated fans would probably rather have heard the full-length original than this version with Kanye West rapping over the top, which is interesting to say the least). 

The drops in the tracks that he played caused an electrically charged atmosphere and added to the sheer chaos that was The Port stage. Higher Ground, Chimes and Lambo Furnace all elicited a mass of head banging and the crowd was so enthusiastic that often people were knocked to the ground. As headliner of The Port on Saturday night, Hudson Mokawke proved to be one of the highlights of the festival.

Anne Higgins
Photo: Stephen Sloggett 

For further information and future events visit Hudson Mohawke’s website here.

For further information about Bestival and next year’s dates visit the festival’s website here.

Watch the video for Thunder Bay here: