In case you were one of the few people not there, there was a wonderful show last evening at Atlanta's Variety Playhouse, featuring the bands Young Magic and Purity Ring.
Opener Young Magic is an artsy collective based in Brooklyn, although its members hail from Australia and Indonesia. Melati Melay sings and plays electric guitar, while Isaac Emmanuel and drummer Michael Italia provide pounding, tribal backbeats, along with many electronic flourishes.
Opener Young Magic is an artsy collective based in Brooklyn, although its members hail from Australia and Indonesia. Melati Melay sings and plays electric guitar, while Isaac Emmanuel and drummer Michael Italia provide pounding, tribal backbeats, along with many electronic flourishes.
While they performed, a video projector cast intriguing images against a screen in front of Italia's station. Although they were hard to see from my vantage point, the images included whirling Dervishes, pages from the Koran, and mesmerizing scenes from the band's videos, such as this one for Drawing Down The Moon, which looks like what might happen if Peter Greenaway were chosen to direct a Ron Fricke movie.
The headliners were Montreal's Purity Ring. We last saw Purity Ring performing a daytime show in Portland's Doug Fir Lounge during MFNW, and fortunately their show last night was just as memorable as that performance.
Purity Ring were named Pitchfork’s Best New Band of 2011 and the Best New Band at CMJ 2011 before even releasing their first album, last year's Shrines. The duo of Megan James and Corin Roddick play homemade instruments and reportedly even makes their own clothing to wear during their shows.
The duo is in the avant garde of hip-hop's invigorating advance into pop music. According to Portland's Willamette Weekly, "You have heard the purple-drunk, stumbling beats of chopped-and-screwed hip-hop. You have heard the catchy hooks and pristine vocals of electro-pop. You have not, however, heard the two together—until you've heard Purity Ring." They really don't sound like anyone else, and I couldn't imagine a band like this existing before about, say, 2008.
The duo is in the avant garde of hip-hop's invigorating advance into pop music. According to Portland's Willamette Weekly, "You have heard the purple-drunk, stumbling beats of chopped-and-screwed hip-hop. You have heard the catchy hooks and pristine vocals of electro-pop. You have not, however, heard the two together—until you've heard Purity Ring." They really don't sound like anyone else, and I couldn't imagine a band like this existing before about, say, 2008.
But what really stands out at a Purity Ring show is their stage. Playing beneath suspended lanterns (I counted 19) that look at various times like Chinese lamps, ant eggs, Tic Tacs, or some sort of pupae, their set also includes a bass drum that lights up when struck, and several smaller lamps around Roddick's keyboards that also light and emit tones when struck. It's easily the most beautiful stage on any body touring today, and almost becomes a third performer in the band.
Due in large part to the striking visual element of their show, the band has been extensively covered by music blogs and last night's show was sold out. The young crowd enthusiastically reacted to the band's every move, with several young men at the front of the stage continually reaching out to the band for who knows what.
In addition to playing the songs from Shrines, Purity Ring covered Soulja Boy's Grammy. They also brought out Young Magic's Isaac Emmanuel to sing his part on their song Grandloves.
Here's the video for their song Lofticries (the first song of theirs that I heard, and still a favorite):
The set ended somewhat abruptly when Megan James announced that their next song will be the last, as that's all they have. No chance for an encore, no chance to show our love, and as soon as the last song ended, the house lights came on and the crowd wandered out into a cold North Georgia night.
