Britain's The Go! Team and Brazil's CSS met each other halfway last night inside Milwaukee's historic Turner Ballroom, with openers Matt & Kim, and Natalie Portman's Shaved Head.
Despite practically every set being plagued with technical difficulties, which caused some stilted or abbreviated performances, there was still a rhythm to the night. Each band deals in dance music, but all managed to stretch the genre to four distinct corners.
The Go! Team pulls a vintage, direct-from-vinyl sound, laying off the bass and cranking up the top end, for a brighter sound. While a pair of female vocalists switch off freestyling and singing at the forefront, the back end is held up with expertly combined audio samples, providing a layered orchestrated cushion on bottom and some flaring brass instruments to poke through the top. The rest is fleshed out with guitars, drums and backing vocals, and the whole thing is seasoned with police sirens, double-dutch chants, clapping and other exotic sounds.
The end result is reminiscent of a high-school pep rally from the '60s, complete with big hair and rainbow socks. It's a little funky, a little groovy and a little Melvin van Peebles-y, but it does well to avoid sitting comfortably in any genre. Mostly it's just fun to dance to.
Unfortunately, the stickiness of their rhythms was compromised by sound management during the first half of the show. The first three songs sounded just awful; by the fourth song the vocals finally became remotely audible and the sounds of the guitars stopped splashing off the walls. I couldn't hear the samples and could barely make out a beat. All I heard was ... noise, and that really killed the energy.
Some of the most frequent comments I had heard regarding the MIA show earlier this year was that the acoustics that night were terrible. At the time this surprised me, as I normally had no complaints, but this set shed a little light on the subject.
Once the sound was properly wrangled the band really began to shine, particularly on their bouncier numbers. Throughout the set, the team members traded frequently between instruments, displaying a high level of energy, that ultimately got the crowd jumping.
CSS, which stands for Cansei de Ser Sexy, a Brazilian translation of a supposed Beyonce; quote declaring that she was "tired of being sexy," had a much more straight-forward electro pop-rock sound, employing a few guitars, a couple of basses, keyboards and drums.
Lead singer Lovefoxxx came out in a purple, flowery, spandex leotard and a red jacket, looking like something my grandma would wear if she were sent to the future. In fact, each band member looked like they belonged to other groups entirely. Their songs traded between guitars and keyboards (and at one point, the best of both worlds, a keytar). Their tunes were simple and easy to dance to, so the show was really best enjoyed in the company of friends.
There's not a lot of artistic merit to debate so just start moving. Lovefoxxx had fun with the audience, letting them chime in on the microphone and allowing one fan a photo-op on stage, despite the protest of security.
Initial opener Natalie Portman's Shaved Head were as crazy and hilarious as their name suggest (i.e. they missed the mark). Their music relied heavily on the nostalgia of the '80s electro-synth despite the fact that most of them appeared to have grown up a decade too late, and their obnoxious energy was certainly derived from their clothes, like the mythical Samson and his hair. Put them in a T-shirt and jeans and watch their star power dry up.
Matt & Kim, a drum and keyboard duo, on the other hand, had a genuine enthusiasm for their craft, though I can't say I was terribly impressed with what they had to offer either. Their set was plagued with faulty electronics, which prevented a proper sample of what they were capable of, but it was easy to see the potential they carried.
My friend best described it as "a giddy, crazy person running through a field of daisies with their arms flailing like a Muppet. Or maybe the soundtrack to kids on a candy shopping spree." To their credit, their audience had doubled by the end of their very short set.
Jason McDowell grew up in central Iowa and moved to Milwaukee in 2000 to attend the Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design.
In 2006 he began working with OnMilwaukee as an advertising designer, but has since taken on a variety of rolls as the Creative Director, tackling all kinds of design problems, from digital to print, advertising to branding, icons to programming.
In 2016 he picked up the 414 Digital Star of the Year award.
Most other times he can be found racing bicycles, playing board games, or petting dogs.
