Thursday, February 19, 2009
The Spin Jensen Sportag, Makeup and Vanity Set, Fly Golden Eagle at Mercy Lounge 2/18/09
Posted by The Spin on Thu, Feb 19, 2009 at 11:30 AM
In this crazy, jam-packed nightlife calendar of ours, it's easy to get wrapped up and overly concerned with sold-out weekend events, consequently overlooking the lesser known gems throughout the week. Wednesday night seemed both an unlikely evening, but as good a time as any for Nashville's indie electronica scene to strut its stuff.
We caught word that Music City's premier gadget geek duo Jensen Sportag would be rocking their set simultaneously alongside futuristic beatmaster Makeup and Vanity Set, as well as the newest addition to the scene, Fly Golden Eagle. Given all three bands were playing at once, we indulged our tendency for tardiness, given there was no first band to miss this time. We rolled in about mid set to find a surprisingly thriving mob of people dancing or at least bobbing their heads to a pulsating, glitched-out mess coming from the front. Closer inspection revealed each band set up in front of the stage, their gear seemingly strewn about the width of the floor with keys, buttons, and flashing lights flickering with a giant screen looming overhead projecting an eyeful of oddities and rapid fire visuals.
The bands traded turns in the spotlight. The transitions weren't always seamless, but default emcee Austin Wilkinson managed to keep things rolling with some light-hearted banter. He and the other half of Sportag, Elvis Craig, kept it cool and laid back while delivering all their best-known crooning club jams. Makeup and Vanity Set's Matt Pusti counteracted Sportag's chill-but-groovy vibe with sputtering, bombastic beats and intricate sequences of bass and synths.
Freshest to our ears were newcomers Fly golden Eagle. Clad in all black, sporting sunglasses on already darkened stage, the trio resembled a hybrid of '80s German hipsters and Mike Myers' SNL sketch "Sprockets." Their sound was an upbeat, guitar-laden synth pop with a clanging 4/4 beat that mixed the melodic blips of Kraftwerk and early Depeche Mode with a modernized rock vibe a la Ghostland Observatory. The ordeal all together wasn't a mind-blowing experience, but it was more than enough to hold us over till the weekend.
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