Lo and behold, another great act find their way to Northampton, with some other noteworthy musicians in tow. The Glitch Mob, three composers of digital noise, and the rock-electronica Phantogram played at the Pearl Street Night Club last night. (Com Truise opened but unfortunately we missed them.) Pearl Street isn’t exactly my favorite venue as it’s run by, well, policing nazis. Not only did they refuse to let my boy Sabato into the concert with his camera, I swear I saw security details confiscate glowsticks from teenage girls throughout the concert. Curiously, no one ever investigated the plumes of marijuana smoke that rose to the roof every so often… Anyway, apologies for the shitty camera phone-quality pic.

One of the appeals of the fledgling Phantogram is Sarah Barthel and her smooth, evocative singing. Unfortunately, the sound setup failed to capture her voice in any nuanced way and so we only got crackly and muffled vocals. Similarly to our chagrin, the guitar and drums totally overpowered Sarah’s simple electronic rhythms. All that said, they did play the choice tracks off of their album: “Mouthful of Diamonds,” “When I’m Small,” etc.

Thank god Glitch’s set ran seamlessly. Fitted in uniforms of black collared shirts and white ties, these guys brought it like banshees and, in response, the crowd pounced with such passion as to put rolling ravers at an LA Massive to shame. Working against tres cool lighted beam fixtures and a wall of TVs with synchronized visuals, the only thing more tightly put together was their glitch-laden sound. We got to jump and sweat to their interpretation of Daft Punk’s “Derezzed”, an even louder version of “Drive It Like You Stole It” and even sing along to the crowd-pleaser “Seven Nation Army” remix. Jack White would be proud of that and probably the 90 minute set as a whole.

As a nice touch, edIT ended by giving a sincere thank-you and an exclamation praise for being one of the best crowds. Sure, they’re entertainers and all, but it still made me feel like I was part of a thoroughly-charged event that maybe even the cynosures of which found exceptional. I can’t wait to see them again.

We Can Make The World Stop by The Glitch Mob

The White Stripes – Seven Nation Army (The Glitch Mob Remix) – Free DL by The Glitch Mob

Photography courtesy of Sabato at SabatoBox.