Video Shoppe, photo by Dan Moffat
On the night after the botched Iowa Caucus and during the President’s State of the Union, I escaped it all for a little while and headed over to Boston’s Great Scott to check out a couple of bands called Video Shoppe and Limousine.
Hailing from Providence, Video Shoppe are a self-described “vaporwave” band. The duo ostensibly adopt the British spelling of “Shoppe” as an ode to vaporwave artist Macintosh Plus, whose album “Floral Shoppe” kick-started the microgenre back in 2011. One of vaporwave’s tenets is the wobbly synth sound, which VS deploy in their backing tracks along with a drum machine.
The two-piece took to the stage, which had three small television sets featuring static-drenched images. It was a fitting backdrop to the music, a well-worn tape cassette that warped and warbled, sending murky images from yesteryear. Similarly, Video Shoppe trafficked in tones that were retro and off-kilter, with angular post-punk guitar and bass lines that bounced and reverberated off the walls of Great Scott.
The vocals toggled between a conversational baritone and a pitched-down bass, as singer Tavis Macleod’s voice carried a richness that sat in the mix comfortably. Singing was heavy on effects and filled out the sound more like another instrument than as a vehicle for lyrics (the words were especially difficult to decipher when lowered with an effects pedal). The impression was less intimate but more epic in breadth, as the audience was more likely to take in the totality of the sound and textures that jumped from the speakers.
The pop-perfection of “Straight To The Heart (7877)” exemplified the upbeat tempo of most of the band’s material and halfway through the set they shifted into a ballad for upcoming single “Breath of the Void.” “Breath of the Void” sounds like if The Killers major label debut “Hot Fuss” had flopped instead of taken-off, and then they had followed it up with more experimental songs that followed tracks like “Everything Will Be Alright” further down the rabbit hole. The wash of synths and the slow-motion mind-bath of “Breath of the Void” was powerful and provided just the right amount of depth before the band revved up into regular speed for the remainder of the set.
Limousine, photo by Nick DiNatale
Then, the all-black-clad three piece industrial band Limousine ushered a dark and focused energy into the room. Singer Cameron Moretti brooded about the stage, tapping into the angst and existential dread that many people are feeling in the current political climate (although the band was not overtly political). Moretti played both the bully and the victim, taunting God “to saaaaaaaaaave me” and then asking if he’ll “be pushed around.” The 909 beats and synths mixed well with the live instrumentation (cymbals, maracas, and bowed instruments) which created a three dimensionality that sucked in the already rapt Tuesday night audience.
The band finished with a gracious “thank you” and I ventured back into the Boston evening, which somehow seemed a little less cold than when I first arrived.