[phlipcam video] Teengirl Fantasy + Pictureplane + Gatekeeper @ Great Scott

TEENGIRL FANTASY was my favorite new act to emerge from 2010. In a year where more music was slathered in lo-fi gloss than not, their brand of retro-sheen shone the brightest. Delicately sourced vocal samples, giddy synths, and basement bass defined 7am, their silly good debut LP. It's not hard to imagine them sitting around a laptop, chopping and warping their tracks until they sound worn. However, I was once again reminded what assumptions do Wednesday night at Great Scott.

The duo took to the stage with a stacked deck of samplers, drumpads, and keyboards, seemingly out to prove that they exist above the overcrowded field of laptop DJs. The obvious standout from their half hour set was "Cheaters," an utterly detached take on Love Comittee's soul anthem. Their music elicits such a hazed-over, druggy vibe that no matter how hard the drum kicked, it was difficult to do anything other than gyrate in a druggy haze. Also contributing to said haze: The most powerful strobe light I've ever witnessed at a concert.

Brooklyn-by-way-of-Chicago duo GATEKEEPER kicked off the stacked bill with smoke machines and a single laser beam, refracted around the room with the aid of strategically placed mirrors and a prism. Not all that familiar with their music aside from a couple music videos, I was expecting gloom, and that's precisely what we got. They started in drone territory and built toward an industrial beat-down. Their set could've easily been used to soundtrack a spooky space shuttle launch -- onward and upward and dark. If they can mend some of the transitions between tracks, which basically dropped to complete silence at points deading the momentum, they'll have a frighteningly solid live show on their hands.

After lasers, smoke, and strobes, I was unsure if things could get any weirder at Great Scott. Then PICTUREPLANE took the stage flanked by two ladies clad in head-to-toe transparent spandex performing carnal dances in tandem for the duration of his set. And there was a strong vibe that if he had the budget to afford leather, they would've been in leather. He also had 3-D colored flashing lights and a banner hanging behind him that read "REAL IS A FEELING." Of course, this was all meant to compliment the music, which basically drew from every genre of electronic that's existed in the past 20 years, mostly big-room rave. It was all on par with the spectacle, but by that point it was 1:30 and I was pretty worn.

Ridiculously solid evening of music. Sorry for the quality of the phlipcam vids. It was dark.