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Lazer Crystal
Alas, clique politics never allowed the gothic New Romantic kids to collaborate with scuzzy punks back in the ’80s. Synthesizer was a dirty word for anyone in a tattered jean jacket. But a recent crop of underground acts is looking to rewrite history. Along with their like-minded brethren Crystal Castles, the locals in Lazer Crystal make up what we’ll call wastoid wave, imaging an alternate world where the glue-sniffing dirtbags who hung out at arcades soaked up enough video-game bleeps and bloops and decided to give the whole keyboard-pop thing a go in their basement.
And, well, being wastoids, they kind of gloriously fail at pop, coming up with a racket too rough and dirty for anything but the most unmopped of dance floors. The programmed drums dominate the mix and hiss as if heard through ruptured eardrums. The giddier “Hot Pink BMX” and “2029” robotically squelch and thump like crusty Kraftwerk, while “Lame Duck” and “La Rouche” try on an unfortunate and stereotypical disaffected Ian Curtis voice. When you’re zany enough (or have nothing to say), vocals are superfluous.
Thrill Jockey has pushed a similar act, Trans Am, for years, though this Chicago trio comes off as more garish, neon-streaked and drug damaged. When Lazer Crystal watches Miami Vice—seemingly a regular source of inspiration—it’s rooting for the dealers.
Lazer Crystal hits the Hideout Saturday 17.
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