Give Good Face

It was a night of electro-pop and dance on Thursday at The Piston. Ken Park was up first. His music veered between noisy and poly-rhythmic and four-on-the-floor dance. The songs were long and often meandering, inducing a trance state. I preferred the noise, where multiple layers of beats created unusual time signatures.

Triple Gangers played more straight-forward dance-pop, with an 80s feel thanks to multiple synths. The 3 singers were into their music, with the 2 women often breaking into coordinated dance moves. They sometimes venture into more experimental compositions but the definite crowd-pleasers were irreverent songs with catchy choruses about Molly Ringwald look-a-likes, bunnies, plant sex, and smoking weed.

It was an album release (Face) for Light Fires: a dance collaboration between Regina (Gentleman Reg) and James Bunton (Ohbijou). Though the songs have been around for a while, there's finally an actual record. Tonight,  Regina went with a tough chick look of black jeans and printed T instead of her typical glam. But she kept the high heels and the mix of 80s Jane Fonda aerobics and karate punches and kicks. The songs invariably included sing-a-long chants (If You're Bored, Let's Get Divorced, I Like To Work) that got the crowd pumping their fists. Though Owen Pallett sang with her on the CD for Dependent, tonight that duet was done by Katie Richie (Vag Halen) who was all cool "disdain" compared to the manic Regina who shook and shimmied all around her guest singer.