Show Review: Phantogram and The Glitch Mob @ TLA 07/21/11
In the middle of a heat wave, Phantogram and The Glitch Mob brought the noise that made the city of Philadelphia even hotter. We brought our glow sticks, sweaty bodies, and dancing shoes. They brought hypnotic beats, pulsing anthems, and dizzying energy.
Look, I’m just going to get this out of the way so that I don’t end up harping on this the entire article because you and I are here about the music. Here goes: co-vocalist Sarah Barthel of Phantogram is perhaps the most violently sexy frontwoman I’ve ever seen on stage. Her jet-black bob and her foot-stomping dancing behind the keyboards combined to force me to make a vow right then and there that I would one day take her as my wife. It wasn’t just her looks, though. Her vocal style alternates between sighing and screaming. What those two styles do together is create the feeling and energy of a passionate relationship. Her presence and her voice makes you feel as if you’re in a twisted love affair with her, if only for the night. But really, one night is all you need because you replay it over and over in your mind and the two of you end up spending the rest of your lives together.
With my poorly hidden worship of the female vocalist, you would think the power of her male co-vocalist, guitarist and bandmate, Joshua Carter, would have been lost on me. You’d be wrong. Carter drives Phantogram’s songs like he’s driving a racecar: controlled, but with a reckless abandon. That abandon was the nicest surprise of the entire night. The way the band decided to perform the songs you would think you were listening to remixes. Their recorded work is strong, but chilled out and not classically “danceable.” The live performance of their songs, however, is impossible not to dance to. The high-decibel beats and the grinding guitar reminded me a lot of Sleigh Bells. I would have never predicted comparing the two bands, but it’s impossible not to after seeing both of them live.
It was thrilling to hear songs like “Turn It Off”, “As Far As I Can See”, and “When I’m Small”, performed with such high-energy. My favorite examples of this energy were “Futuristic Casket and Mouthful of Diamonds“. These songs lend themselves well to the hyped-up Glitch Mob crowd because they have a similar build-ups and pulsing beats. You know, those quiet moments in a song that are only quiet to tease you and tickle you with anticipation for the drop that’s about to come.
It’s build-up/drop hypnotic moments that The Glitch Mob has absolutely perfected. Whoever said drum machines have no soul has never seen The Glitch Mob quite literally breathe life into an iPad-looking, touchscreen MIDI Controller. The ordinary drums they sometimes pound on stage gives their live sound a primal feel and I believe that is the effect their going for. There’s no need to enhance the sound they already produce on the machines because they are as intricate and precise as they come. The intricacy and control of their sound is similar to classical music. Truly, if I were to compare The Glitch Mob to any artist, it would be Mozart. Gasp! That may be a ballsy statement, but any fan would agree.
The crowd adored the sounds of Ed Ma, Justin Boreta, and Josh Mayer, but it’s very obvious how much The Glitch Mob loved their crowd right back. A smoke machine and ticking clocks brought the boys in their shirts and ties out on stage. They dressed up fancy for us! You know those drum machines? They turned them out facing the crowd. I’m not sure why they do this, but regardless of the reason it makes an audience-member feel more a part of and less separate from the stage. It’s as if they’re saying, “you are an important part of this thing we’re doing.” They also did a drum solo for the sole purpose of showing the crowd how they build the sounds. The audience was amazed as the guys each danced their fingers across the lit-up LED screen. One guy next to me said, “Can you see what they’re doing? How do they do that!?” My thoughts exactly.
They lived to see us lose our minds. Like I said before, The Glitch Mob has perfected the art of the build-up/drop. Not to sound flowery, but they have made an art of turning nature’s epic waterfalls and landscapes made into sound. Maybe not landscapes. More like volcanoes. Take their single, “Warrior Concerto,“ for example. Whether you are alone or in a crowd of a thousand, that song is the soundtrack to the time you dressed up as a medieval warrior and faced the most epic challenge of your life – a lost love, family strife, poverty – whatever your story.
If you were at the show, your story will now include the night that Phantogram and The Glitch Mob blew the lid off your head on one of the hottest nights in Philadelphia’s history.
Phantogram – Mouthful of Diamonds
The Glitch Mob – Warrior Concerto
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