By: Andrea Myers
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Mach Fox at Club Underground - Photo by David de Young (more photos here)
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Saturday night was the perfect time to burrow deep underground into one of the Cities’ most unpretentiously hip joints, the other-worldly, New York subway station-turned-music venue Club Underground.
The evening began with OneNeoEon, a one-woman show featuring the electronic arrangements of Lisa I, RoadBot (aka Lisa Scott). The fishnet-stockinged, vinyl-clad goth princess was the perfect introduction to an evening of mostly heavy, electronically produced industrial music that seemed to cover the crowd of outcasts and Average Joes in a blanket of unified acceptance. OneNeoEon tossed little toys into the audience between songs as a sort of apology for having to switch between her bass and electric guitar, and I was lucky enough to catch a malformed plastic butterfly mid-air (despite the fact that it caused HowWasTheShow Editor David de Young to knock over my cocktail in the process). Overall, ONE played a set that was surprisingly poignant in nature; she enhanced her synthesized, instrumental punk with visual aides such as a small framed picture of caskets covered in American flags, and it made it hard not to take her seriously.
Next up was Severin 24, another solo electronic act that featured the energetic Thierry Holweck, a French artist who has gained quite the following in Minneapolis. Legend has it that Holweck began sending his songs to the radio stations in Minneapolis because of a love interest who lived here, and Radio K liked the track “Free Chicken” so much that it stayed in their top 10 for months. Severin 24 performed “Free Chicken,” which features the dubbed voice of a five-year-old Minneapolitan girl named Josie, along with a handful of other tunes during his bouncing, charismatic set. Even the smallest turn of a button was made significant by Holweck's contorting facial expressions and continuous, aerobic movements, making him a truly unique and engaging performer.
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Severin24 - Photo by David de Young
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Thosquanta, a band who has continued to grow into themselves both musically and visually, took the stage with a force so confident and sexy that it was hard to recognize them from past shows. The last time I saw Thosquanta was in the same venue, but the band members appeared self conscious and a bit awkward, and female vocalist Jen Plum was downright coy. In their evolved form, Plum is unabashedly sexy, singing with a stronger force and adding to the intensity of their bubbling, churning goth-pop. One of the most interesting aspects of the band - the stark contrast between Plum's pretty vocals and guitarist Adam Powell's husky growl - was even more apparent in this set, as both sang more confidently and comfortably. Thosquanta were performing to promote their debut album Lovelife, a sleek set of industrial dance tunes that would be equally appropriate blaring from speakers in First Ave or that techno-goth club at the beginning of “The Matrix.”
The evening was closed out by Mach FoX, a show-stopping performer whose stage presence and demeanor are so confidently punk, so powerfully fun that I felt a little cooler just for standing there and watching him. From his bio, it is said that “Mach FoX is the quintessential Electro-Rocker, a glam punk who digs the roots, a true believer in the machine backbeat.” I don't think I could agree more.
As soon as Mach FoX and his tribe of back-up musicians (Adam Powell and Dave Erickson of Thosquanta, along with the gorgeous TeA) took the stage, the entire room was bathed in smoke and neon lights. Dressed like a cross between a robot soldier and a Transformer, Mach FoX controlled the atmosphere of the room with his blinding Eletropunk, welcoming outsiders everywhere into his world and holding the entire room in his grasp.
Location Info:
Club Underground
Artist Info: Mach FoX, OneNeoEon, Severin24, Thosquanta
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