Sunday, June 23, 2013

Michelle Xen - 31 May 2013, Alhambra Lounge

 w/ MKO, Scraps

It’s always fun when three local bands get together to put on a show and when these three acts are incredibly fun electro acts, it makes it rather rad. We have Michelle Xen to thank for this.

Opening the night was experimental act Scraps. She had a really cool vibe to her music, with vocals that floated over the top. I would have loved it however, if you could actually understand the vocals. They were so far in the back of the mix that it didn’t really add to anything she was creating on stage apart from another layer of effects. Also, there was so much reverb and delay I’m blowed if I could understand anything of what she said when when she tried to talk to the audience. As a producer, she is rad. And what she created was fabulously amazing.

Next up was MKO, and oh my! What a set of chops. Backed by a talented group of musicians, frontwoman Hannah Macklin's voice is certainly a force to be reckoned with. They produce a really cool funk vibe with their music. The bass was fat, the synths were captivating and the drums were insane. Mid set they broke from their funky vibe to play “Shadows”, which had a really different feel to it. It proves that this band is quite amazing. They closed with “Sexy You” another really rad tune that was the perfect way to close the set.

Headlining the night was the beautiful Michelle Xen. She came out donned in a patterned dress, with an outrageous cloak thrown over the top. You have to understand that I mean 'outrageous' in the most fashionably amazing way possible. Throughout the course of the set there was also a black fluffy, and a colourful material coat. I love it! “Cleopatra” was something I was not expecting; it was even more weird and wondrous. Michelle’s music had much more of a chilled electro than the other two bands, but at the same time it was still true to the electro genre.

Michelle is such a spirited and dramatic performer, matched only by her synth player. It certainly makes for something entertaining to watch. The new single “Lose My Cool” was definitely the highlight of the set. She picked up a dozen roses and during the casually decided to toss them away, pulling petals out as she went.

It was such an amazing even filled with music made for dancing, and let me tell you, there was certainly a lot of it.

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