There is a time for jazz. There is a time for electronica. There is a time when the two worlds collide causing a soulful, planetary combustion. That is Chet Faker.
The Australian musician chose his stage name from his love of legendary jazz musician, Chet Baker. This makes all the more sense considering Faker relies heavily on jazzy influences to mesh with his trip-hop tracks. Born Nicholas James Murphy, Faker been on the scene for about 4 years or so, gaining recognition for his cover of “No Diggity,” by Blackstreet. With two albums under his belt and a ton of fans, I got to spend a Wednesday evening with him at Terminal 5 in New York City. It was like a hipster’s wet dream come true in there, an abundance of beards, high-waisted deconstructed mom jeans, and a shitload of reefer.
Chet played Tuesday and Wednesday evening at Terminal 5. His second show was a night of Thinking in Textures, playing mostly from his first album, but there were some appearances from his recent album Built on Glass, notably “To Me” and “Blush.”
“Blush” is a song that I personally walk down a New York City street to. It creates such a vibration and pulses like a heart beats. For those of you that have never walked the city streets, I want you to listen to this song and imagine you are there in the midst of thousands of people. Put on headphones, turn the volume all the way up and close your eyes. I swear it’s an infinite-limitless-powerful-reach for the stars yet still subtle kind of feeling.
“To Me” holds a different kind of power, more introspective. A lot of Chet’s tracks are deeply intimate and have a mellow electronic energy to them. They are not only melodically poetic, but lyrically poetic as well. I think all kinds of people in all kinds of situations in all different stages of their lives could relate to his lyrics. Isn’t that a huge reason why we enjoy music in the first place? Of course it is.
Another standout of the night was earlier on as “Cigarettes and Chocolate” played. Part of me desperately wanted to go back in time to my joint-smoking days and melt into the crowd. This is some of the magic Chet Faker possesses, to say the least, creating unity, melding hundreds of people together with his tunes.
If musical notes are a molecule, then Chet Faker is a scientist.
Faker really gave it to the crowd when he performed what made him famous, “No Diggity,” but only after making the audience promise to not use their phones for the entire duration of the song (he also gave sweet permission to slap the phone out of any hand that was using one). We paid to see him, to enjoy the music while it’s live! Not everything needs to be shared on social media and I totally agree. Of course, there were 1 or 2 people who didn’t respect the man, fuck them.
My only gripe about the show was that Chet didn’t play popular song “Gold.” I don’t know why but I’m obsessed with this music video. It’s legit just 3 hot girls rollerblading down a highway at night. I want to rollerblade down a highway at night to this song too!
Chet Faker Live Review & Photo by Rebecca Weinberg.
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