Man I’ve only seen Dillon Francis once, and it was at Big Day Out and I’d just rushed halfway across the city to beat the press access cut off at 5 pm (life is rough, I know). So I got to the gate at 4:58 after bribing a taxi driver $20 to go the wrong way down a few streets and the first stage I arrived at was Dillon Francis’. There was a massive screen running the length of the stage that was projecting dizzying flashing emojis that were shifting and warping, and the entire crowd looked a little bit like this except that they were all alt-bros who thought it was hilarious to wear matching novelty tees that have ‘molly’ related puns on them to a festival and still earnestly challenge each other to pop and lock dance battles.

I was totally 100% sober and it was a really bizarre experience. Like I was really glad that I wasn’t at that stage of messiness in the mid-afternoon of a work day. But a part of me was also kind of jealous that I won’t ever have the courage to wild out in a lurid tee shirt that just says ‘party with sluts‘ with my best bros before sundown on a Wednesday. That’s the kind of camaraderie that’s exclusively reserved for those who are completely impervious to the veneer of civility that keeps the fabric of society from tearing.

Anyway, that’s the kind of feeling I get listening to Dillon Francis’ remix of ‘Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger’. It was originally recorded for Ultra Music Festival in March – but Francis has made it available for free download following Coachella this past weekend. Sure it feels a little weird to be blasting this track in the office at 4 pm on a cold Melbourne day, but close your eyes, think of neon, and you can almost convince yourself you’re on a beach in Miami with your best friends Courtney, Lisa, and Hannah who you met 15 minutes ago.