Walking into a Cashmere Cat’s set last Friday was accompanied by an unlikely feeling of anticipation. The Norweigan hip-hop producer, rx real name Magnus August Høiberg, is riding the unlikely wave of producer-centric publicity that has arisen over the past few years, scoring production and sometimes feature credits on tracks by Ariana Grande, Juicy J and, most recently, Kanye West. Despite for years enjoying great popularity among fans of electronica and instrumental hip-hop, it’s clear that Høiberg is on the cusp of far greater national popularity. As such, it could be the last time fans would get to see him in a venue this cozy. Høiberg did not disappoint, leading fans on a sometimes ambient, sometimes hyphy, always introspective journey.
Cashmere Cat was preceded by DJ Sliink, who played a set that felt more fitting of a trashy Ft. Lauderdale bar than an opening for one of the most exciting producers on the scene. This was the epitome of reheated hip-hop, giving punters all of the over-played “turnt” tracks they try to escape such as Young Thug’s “Stoner,” Kendrick Lamar’s “M.A.A.D City” and OT Genasis’ insipid “Coco,” all half-heartedly mixed together like that weird 19-year-old who used to DJ your middle school dances used to. If that weren’t enough, the volume was turned up aggressively high, making this weak set literally as painful as it was metaphorically. Sliink is by all means a talented producer and well-respected DJ, so this could have been an off-night or misjudgment of the crowd. Whatever the case, it’s no excuse for the trap dumpster that everyone in attendance had to put up with.
Cashmere Cat is well-known and even beloved for his awkwardness, inspiring perhaps the greatest tumblr of all time Cashmere Cat Can’t Even. He didn’t disappoint on this- for the last 15 minutes of Sliink’s set you could see Høiberg crouched behind the DJ table, looking bored. This is only worth noting for the reason that it isn’t a criticism- Høiberg has somehow managed to turn a genuinely sulky, awkward attitude into charm, and it was nice to see a bit of this before he started playing.
When he finally took the decks, however, he wasted no time bringing the audience into his sultry soundscape. After a smooth key-based intro, he shifted into the popping syths and rattling hi-hats of fan-favorite “Kiss Kiss,” shifting the structure to make a very pleasing sonic rise and fall. He ended up getting through a lot of his most popular material early in the set, including “Mirror Maru” and “With Me,” giving the first half very much a best-of feel. Later saw drops of “Adore,” his track with Ariana Grande and, hilariously, a recut of Migos’ “Hannah Montana.”
The highlight of the set, however, was definitely a ten minute extended cut of Høiberg’s remix of Miguel’s suggestive “Do You…” While a simple spin of his original would have had the audience happy, this approach let him flex his muscle behind the DJ decks, chopping elements up and managing to sustain the song’s simple, hedonistic joys far longer than the crowd would have guessed.
Throughout the set, Høiberg kept things smooth and heavy in all the right parts. The more melodic trap arrangements that he is best known for were the most popular numbers throughout the night, bringing the audience into a slower, more serene vibe (perfectly matched by the black and white visuals behind him, which showed mirrored images of nature scenes). However, balancing them out with occasional blasts of booming bass kept energy high throughout his hour-long set and stopped the audience from getting too used to the chilled-out aesthetic. Overall, the set showed Høiberg’s ability to read and play with audience energy, something a lot of producers lack when they play live.
At the end of his hour onstage, Høiberg came back for an extended encore with Sliink, switching off song-by-song. Unsurprisingly, Sliink stuck more to the mainstream tracks while Høiberg played deeper hip-hop (with the exception of a goofy drop of Drake verse from “No Lie.”) Their interplay was fun to watch, but it would have been nice to see a bit more of Cashmere Cat solo. His hour was a great exhibition of not only his excellent original tracks but also his skill behind the decks. We can only hope that as Cashmere Cat continues to find success producing for the bigger names in music, he finds the time to keep his solo ambitions on track.