In the heat of this gold chain game

Bianca, Derek, Nelly and I attended a show at Mercury Lounge last night. Adult. was the headliner, with Gold Chains & Sue Cie opening. There was also some other band called The Genders, but they got viciously skipped. Heard some of the stuff they were playing from the bar and decided against soiling my ears with whatever it was they thought they were doing.

We were, however, right up front for Gold Chains & Sue Cie. While quarters were very tight, we did manage to get our groove on. Funky mix of hiphop, raw electronic, house and techno. Pretty tasty stuff. I don't think that the folks who were there to see Adult. quite got it, but more on that later. Suffice to say, though, that my head was bobbin' and my feets was stompin'. I just wish I'd had more room to really throw down. Chains and Sue were a lot of fun. Lots of between song irreverence and a wonderful "nudge nudge wink wink" attitude. Very refreshing. I was a fan before just based on one song that Bianca put on a mix for me. Now I'm fully coverted (i.e. money will be spent on CDs by these folks). Interesting contrast compared to the previous evening's show, but I thrive on musical diversity.

And I think that's the reason I didn't enjoy Adult. even half as much.

Adult. is an electro band from Detroit (yes, the period is part of their name; just to be annoying to punctuation freaks such as myself, I suspect). Now a trio, the group consists of a bassist, lead guitarist, and female leader singer. All of them play keyboards at various intervals as well. Lots of analog synths and old school drum machines. Sounds intriguing, no? Actually, it wasn't. I enjoyed the first 10 minutes of the set, but their stuff is incredibly homogenous. Start with a weird, tweeked synth line, then bring in the drum pattern (almost invariably four on the floor with annoyingly tinny hi hats), and then have the lead singer start. And the lead has obviously been listening to a lot of Siouxsie and Xmal Deutschland.

Lots of "look at me, I'm a tough bitch" going on here. There was a sense of humor as well, but not a warm one in the least. Very much the "We're alternative and if you don't get it, you suck. Stand there while we're wry." There were more than a few fans in the audience who obviously had the same attitude. I was mellowing out to the synth lines and several folks behind me were bouncing about. I was told to "move my body" and overheard "He doesn't get it". I ignored them for the most part, but I was definitely tempted to quip, "What? And flop around like a rhythmless fuck such as yourself? I'm not dancing because I'm bored."

But I was a good boy.

Suffice to say that after the happy humor and upbeatness of Gold Chains & Sue Cie, Adult. was a total downer. I think I might have enjoyd them more if I'd seen them at an all electro show. The feelings and attitudes of the evening would have been more consistent, methinks. As it is, they left a bad taste in my mouth.

So, to sum up: Gold Chains & Sue Cie plus Adult. equals bad booking.

Oh yeah, and the Yankees continue to suck.

Nonstop party rocking to:

Various - DJ Abstract's Twilight Mix 3
(chillin' on the downtempo tip)

Various - Bludgeoned Vols 1&2
(imagine falling off a twenty story building onto concrete; this is what the landing sounds like)

John Coltrane - Lush Life
(probably my favorite jazz album)

Xmal Deutschland - Tocsin
(kind of a "hair of the dog" type thing)