Juan, two, three: the Juan Maclean. Photo by Troy Bayless.
By Kimberly Chun
Impressionistic sketches, hazy watercolor memories of the way I listened last week, before the veil of forgetfulness falls.
Dang, I wish I had a proper camera in hand to get my shutterbug on at Peaches. The lady wasn’t going to let a little vault fire get in the way of her Grand Ballroom performance on June 5: she remains one of the most riveting performers to come out of electroclash on a sheer show-womanship level, and now that she has her live band, the Herms, complete with a leggy, black corseted blond guitar player who obligingly shimmies along to the boss lady’s “Shake your tits, shake your dick,” she’s pretty unstoppable. Essentially – no lie – everyone in the room could not tear their eyes away from Peaches’ ever-shifting spectacle, even if Vault Fire II broke out in the next room.
One-man UK opener Drums of Death made me consider suicide, but Peaches made up for it with a bout of crowd-surfing, a romp at the outer edge of the balcony, a slew of impressive costume changes (she poked fun at herself by coming out onstage in a robe at one point), and plenty of brain-teasing visuals, including a video-projected duet with Shunda K of Yo Majesty for “Billionaire” and a dance with super-shaggy Cousin-Its to the tune of “Talk to Me.”
The next night, June 6, saw Stockholm’s Axel Willner, otherwise known as the Field, hunkered down behind the decks at Mezzanine, opening for the Juan Maclean. Love the dreamy new long-player, though the show drew more from a minimalist techno vein, with assists from Dan Enqvist and Andreas Soderstrom. Still, it was mesmerizing – especially accompanied by video art that spliced images of shipping containers stacks with book piles. I stayed for just a dab of the Juan Maclean, who rocked the Human League-y robotic-pop vibe with mucho energy. Kudos to those who can pull off a nice, big Romulan shoulder pad – I’m scouring the thrift stores for mine soon. The kids were dancing as I departed amid complaints of pop monotony from companion Prof. Fluffy.