Purity Ring: Live at The Red Palace
Let me start off with a few blunt statements. Purity Ring is one of the greatest live acts I have ever seen. If you are into Electronic music, see them. If you are into Pop music, see them. If you are into music, see them. See them, see them, see them.
Now that I got that out of the way, lets get to the show itself. Brooklyn based Ava Luna kicked off the night the right way, fusing funk and soul into strange modern grooves. This band has some serious chops, but their lead vocalist really sends them over the top, hitting notes with a charisma that I have only seen from the likes of James Brown and Michael Jackson themselves. These guys have a seriously distinct sound and the talent to back it up.
After a long intermission and stage setup, the lights dimmed. Megan James and Corrin Roddick took the stage to the sold-out crowd . Roddick fiddled with his laptop, grabbed a drumstick, and hit one of the eight paper lamps that were setup during the intermission. The lamp lit up bright orange and triggered a dark and ominous wobbly bass. He hit another lamp, and triggered a different not from the same bass sound. James soon joined in the jam using her youthful voice while pounding a sole kick drum that also lit up each time she hit it. By the time the first track ended I knew I was in for an show unlike anything I’ve seen before. There was not a single dull moment in their short but sweet set, filled with unreleased tracks, more midi light sequences, and masterfully timed live vocal effects. Their sound and performance are so unique that I can’t do them justice by trying to explain them. Their genre has been coined “future-pop” by some of the music world, but their sound is really so much more than that: hints of pop, hints of dubstep, excellent use of sampling, and a blend of prerecorded and live melodies. While Purity Ring may only have three released tracks, I can assure you that they are the next big thing in electronic music.
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