I wasn’t quite sure what to expect walking into The Amp Room Thursday night. Aesthetic Perfection had been introduced to me by one of my fellow Music Journalists last year and like a Deaths Head Moth to a blacklight, I was hooked. To be honest, I spend most of my time these days listening to Funk and Soul music but I am always open to new experiences. When I learned they would be making a stop in San Antonio on their latest tour I knew I couldn’t miss it. This would be a departure from my typical kinda dance party but there would be much dancing none the less.
Lazerpunk began the evening by dropping a massive synth-wave bomb on the crowd. His set, although short was explosive and heavy. Hailing from Budapest Hungary, he performed as if he was in front of a stadium full of people. The type of guy who loses himself so much in his music that it doesn’t matter if it’s 200 or 20,000 people, he is lost in a zone.
“Make sure you watch Empathy Test!” is something I had heard at least twice a day the week leading up to the show. It became quickly apparent that my friends have better taste in music than I do, now kicking myself for sleeping on this band. They were beautiful…I suppose that is the best way to describe their music. Electronic Pop isn’t exactly a genre I have spent much time listening to, so on sheer listenability alone, these guys were phenomenal. I didn’t have to know a single song to feel what these guys were trying to do. The crowd went nuts for them and the overall consensus from everyone was that this band needed an encore. Imagine a slightly more modern and heavier version of Depeche Mode. I could have honestly listened to them all night!
Aesthetic Perfection pretty much had the crowd in the palm of their hands the moment they took the stage. Daniel Graves, Joe Letz, and Elliot Berlin performed as if they just knew the crowd would be powerless to resist dancing. They were fun and exciting to watch and much like Lazerpunk, treated the crowd as if they were 10,000 strong. I found it striking that, on appearances, one would think with all the black clothing and low lighting this would be a low key, melancholic type event but these people come to dance. The energy matching if not exceeded what I normally see at funk shows. I could feel the ground rumble as the crowd stomped to the beat of one of their latest tracks “Gods & Gold”. Graves & co honestly re-ignited my love for Industrial music, I quite honestly forgot how much fun it is to just get out there and move to the beat of a different drum or drum machine. Ten out of ten would see again!
Photos and review by Derek Jones
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