The Glitch Mob + Phantogram + Com Truise @ SAT

Com Truise started off the night with his bass-heavy flavour of dub inspired, instrumental hip hop. His set elicited head nods and hoots of approval from the packed house at the Societe des Arts Technologiques. I cannot deny that I admire the New Jersey native’s musical sensibility and percussive creativity. I do feel, however, that his music is ill-suited to the warehouse rave vibe that the high ceilings and spartan appointments of the SAT cultivate, and though he's clearly capable on his MPD, keyboard and Macbook setup, his lack of charisma had me looking elsewhere for visual stimulus.

Phantogram was the highlight of the night for me. Lead vocalist and keyboard Sarah Barthel is a fantastic singer, a charming dancer, and a total babe. Accompanied by the talented Joshua Carter on guitar, Barthel builds songs that are reminiscent of the best parts of Massive Attack and Portishead. Somehow, these songs fit perfectly into the contemporary electronic landscape. Haunting, melodic, and beautifully layered vox seethed in and out of the mix, activating the emotion in the muted synth and distorted guitar. Phantogram is, in this reviewer’s opinion, the ideal product of the post-dub wave. Nowadays, it's so easy for musicians to forget that they’re human. This band never loses sight of that, and never allows us to forget.

The Glitch Mob is less of a band and more of a performance, an experience for the audience. Three sharply dressed dudes each stand at a podium, each with their own programmable touch screen synth pad and midi controller, angled towards the crowd. Each podium was framed by pillars of pulsating, multi-coloured light. Their music is predictable, but that is basically irrelevant. It goes hard, and it does not stop.

Unlike Phantogram, Glitch Mob makes every effort to convince us that no one is human, that we are all mere slaves to the bass god, and nothing more. By fifteen minutes into their set, the dancefloor was slick with fresh sweat. By half an hour in, the whole room was a post-dubpocalyptic, MDMA-zombie wasteland, and I loved it.

-Tomas McManus