Went to Schuba's here in Chicago last night to check out the Soviet show.
Well, really, I went there mostly to see String Theory perform, because I
think their stuff is great, but I had heard a lot of buzz surrounding
Soviet, so I thought it sounded like a good bill.
The first band, Endora, or something along those lines... well, not my tea
really. The singer looked like Martin Gore's evil twin (sporting a white
belt around his thigh, wearing black tights and moon-boots) and as much as I
wanted to I couldn't not chuckle. Then I realized that they were American,
and the faux-British accent in the vocals wasn't intended to be ironic. In
any case, they seem to enjoy what they are doing, and they did it pretty
well. Their production was really good; I think they are onto something, but
they haven't quite hit the mark yet.
String Theory was really good, as expected. They were sort of anomalous to
the evening since they are a laptop duo without vocals, vs. the
straight-ahead synth-pop of the other two acts. They played a couple of
tracks from the "Anhedonia" EP they recently released, in addition to a
variety of other sounds. Their combination of 4/floor beats, crisp
production and sweeping elegance holds up well over the course of a full
set, without getting tedious. Their cheeky cover of Joe Jackson's "Steppin'
Out" also provided a bit of humor to the mix, for those who didn't notice
the highly manipulated Def Leppard samples that graced the beginning of the
set. A lot of the crowd in attendance seemed relatively indifferent to ST's
set, because they were there to see Soviet, but I thought ST held their own
despite not fitting into the formula of the evening.
Soviet... hmm. Honestly... they were fantastic. At first I thought to
myself, "My god, what year is this??" But within 10 minutes they had me
convinced. Think Depeche Mode circa "A Broken Frame," or Human League,
Ultravox, Flock of Seagulls.... you get the idea, I think. Light, melodic
vocals over driving synth-pop. As a quartet they seemed to work really well
on-stage. I had originally planned on heading home early since it was a
Sunday evening, but I ended up staying for their encore, even. It doesn't
matter that they sound exactly like the pop of 1984, because they do it so
damn well.
If you get a chance to catch Soviet on tour, I recommend doing so... they
put on a stellar show.
m.mercer :: design + sound
http://www.matthewmercer.com/
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