Adult. rocks. Their music, courtesy of Adam Lee Miller, ranges from sexy and melodic to criminally spaz. The lyrics are random and very catchy. Nicola Kuperus, the female half of Adult., has a spectacular voice which she focuses, like a laser, so that each word is enunciated with extreme precision and force. Sometimes she snarls her lines like a schoolyard bully - sometimes she screeches and sometimes its all peaches and cream (albeit in a high-voltage sort of way).
On May 11th Adult. came to Vancouver, and guess what? They rocked. After assisting with a quick set up of their gear they positioned themselves on the make-shift stage at Sonar. Each live set I have heard of theirs starts out with Nicola saying, We are Adult. Were from Detroit in the same flat way. Vancouver didnt get that introduction. Instead she mumbled something and set off on the first song, a very bored rendition of Shake Your Head. Nicola spent most of the song looking at her husband who was on the other side of the stage and the song just droned out of her.
But never fear! The second song and everything thereafter roared with strength and despite the new painful shoes Nicola was an exciting spectacle. She went off for the next 45 minutes, yelling and singing, pogoing into the audience and wailing in our faces. Miller didnt really interact with the audience and he was much more sedate than his wife; calmly alternating between their gear and his bass.
Adult. played most of the songs from their new album, Anxiety Always but omitted one of my favourites, Glue Your Eyelids Together. I was also hoping that they would play Nite Life because it is one of the best songs EVER (and I can really relate to it, you know) or Side Swiped, a song in which Nicola takes a more subdued persona pained and defeated and with a melody which is addictive. However they did do Hand to Phone. They finished off with a cover of a Tuxedomoon song.
Like I said, the show rocked but the show was very different to what I had expected. I own both their CDs and on both their sound is polished and very danceable. There are some songs that are definitely punk and erratic but because I listen to my music at a pretty low volume, the music always seems very refined and contained. The concert was everything but. The sound was very, very loud and their computers and that bass and her voice were rattling my eardrums and heart into a frenzy. As well, the electronica/dance element was barely there. The majority of the songs on Anxiety Always and Recusitation are club material but those same songs when sung live were worthy of a mosh pit.
I guess that is why the venue was filled with a hodgepodge of characters. There were hippies, electro kids, punks and those other people that dont have style (Ill include myself in this category).
There were two acts preceding Adult. The fellow that was right before Adult. was some dude called Magas. HE WAS SENSATIONAL! Imagine a chubby guy that kind of looks like Eddie from the Rocky Horror Picture Show with shoulder-length thinning hair and thick-rimmed glasses sashaying and belting out electro. He was wearing a mismatching denim outfit and by the fourth song he had taken off his jacket. Absorbing Magass look while he was setting up was an experience in and of itself but then he started the show and I had to stop making fun of him. He was SO GOOD. The music was on the harder side of the electro spectrum and it was too loud to make out the words (but he sounded like Elvis rapping). But what really stood out was his showmanship. He put on a killer show by any standard but it was ridiculously good considering he was up there by himself. Hed storm across the stage, hop from one foot to another, shake the microphone stand at us, croon to some newfound groupies that were totally busting out, and shake his ass. The people at Sonar totally ate him up we cheered forever once his set was done. I wish I had bought a Magas shirt at the merchandise kiosk at the end of the night.
Some girl called Viki was the first opening act. I arrived during the latter part of her set. Her music was loud and obnoxious and ugly. However, by the sound of the crowds cheers you would have though she was revolutionizing music as we know it. Maybe she was but Im too primitive to comprehend.
For more information please visit:
http://www.weekendrecordsandsoap.com/magas.html
