REVIEW: Best Coast w/ Cults, Sultever @ The First Unitarian Church, Sept. 7

POSTED: Wednesday, September 8, 2010, 4:37 PM

Filed Under: Music | Concert Review | Philly Bands | Show concert photos

Photo | John Vettese

When I'm with you I have fun.

There was some shit talking yesterday, and then there was shit talking in response. But Best Coast's appearance at the First Unitarian didn't go negative. Singer-guitarist Bethany Cosentino addressed the blog headline news - Awesome Guitarist and Apparent Cranky Old Lady Marnie Stern Thinks She's Vapid, or whatever - in a tasteful, tidy manner. If you knew what she was talking about, you got it. If you didn't, fine. "What the fuck ever happend to girl power? That's what I want to know." And then she soldiered onward with the blissed-out pop. Tonight was about fun. The best thing about Best Coast's hour-long set, during which they ripped through almost the entirety of this year's buzzy fuzzy Crazy For You, is how punchy it sounded. The wash of 'verb on their album was toned down and at points turned off, letting the practically sold out Church generate the noise. Cosentino mostly only used effects on her vocals, allowing hilarity to ensue when she forgot to switch it off during banter breaks. ("I sound like The Fly!") But this cleaner, drier Best Coast was anything by dry. "The End" was rough and rumbly, "Summer Mood" had a glorious upper register singalong, and "Bratty B," despite containing the album's most egregious lyric ("Pick up the phone / I wanna talk / about my day / it really sucked"), was a bubbly good time. The delightful two parter "I Want To" slipped from slow to doubletime, got the sweaty throngs up front slamdancing along, and prompted Cosentino to cool off by dumping bottled water all over herself and her gear. Dangerous, that. But she danced and sang anyway, confident and delighted. Sure, she needs to move beyond the "lazy / crazy" rhyme scheme. Yes, her songs are silly and simplistic. But that's the point. They're an absolute blast.

Photo | John Vettese

Best Coast, bright

Photo | John Vettese

Cults can't dance

Less impressive was NYC hype band Cults, who spent as much onstage time negotiating the monitor mix with the sound engineer as they did actually playing. Other signs pointed to green-ness in the performance realm - singer Madeline Follin tries to be an energetic dancer, but barely steps out of a three-foot square comfort zone. Then again, Sarah Cracknell was still dancing in a box ten years into her career, so there's hope. Speaking of Saint Etienne, Cults' sound follows their revisionist new wave / dance pop lead, with perhaps a bit of a harder, driving edge (dirty basslines etc.). It's pleasing enough in the studio realm, but needs an abundance of work onstage.

Photo | John Vettese

Slutever screams

Conversely, Philly noisepop duo Slutever was self-consciously sloppy, and it totally worked for them. Rachel Gagliardi and Nicole Snyder traded off on drums and guitars, hollered and screamed about adolescent animosity ("Seventh Grade") and suburban dysfunction ("Teen Mom") getting it totally right on all counts. Plus they vamped up Blink 182's "Dammit" garage pop style, driving home the "Guess this is growing up" point of the song more than the bubblegum original ever did. Well done.

Photo | John Vettese

kate b

Posted 2010-09-09 13:41:36

Ha!  nice point about Cults -- they really did take forever to set up and get the levels set, didn't they? I suppose it was First-Night-of-Tour jitters. Slutever were so cute! I didn't notice the Blink 182 cover --good call! I hope they get more gigs as a result.

Anyway, nice review, and great show!  I just wish it wasn't always so damn hot in the Church.

Posted by john vettese @ 4:37 PM Permalink | Post a comment

Comments (0)

CONCERT REVIEW: The Rolling Stones @ Wells Fargo Center 6/18 || Ian McLagan @ Tin Angel 6/17
What we're trying to do this weekend
CONCERT REVIEW: The Postal Service @ The Mann 6/17
ICEPACK ILLUSTRATED: Sunny, Tony and the return of Do No Harm
NOW SEE THIS: Salinger film trailer
Behind the scenes of local film A Man Full of Trouble
ICEPACK ILLUSTRATED: Indian fare rules, Dunder Mifflin lives on, Tom Jones is a god
REVIEW: Archer Live! @ the TLA 1/11
CITY PAPER WRITING CONTEST 2013: Send stories! Send poetry!
ICEPACK ILLUSTRATED: Pink. Diner en Blanc 2. Breaking Glass and Milkboy at the movies. And so on.

About this blog

Featuring everything from event roundups to concert reviews and sex talk, City Paper's Critical Mass is a space for off-the-wall coverage of Philly's A&E scene.

Follow Critical Mass editors Patrick Rapa and Emily Guendelsberger on Twitter:

@mission2denmark | @emilygee

Search this blog:

Topics:

Blog archives:

June
May
April

March
February
January

Past Archives: