Electric Guest: 2 May 2012 – New York

Electric Guest had made their NYC debut back in October during CMJ. Since then, they’ve come out with their debut album Mondo which features production from Danger Mouse (Mr. Mouse penned a letter about his reason for the collaboration in case you want to check it out). The pop group, consisting of Asa Taccone and Matthew Compton, is in a similar vein to bands like Passion Pit. They brought a full band with them on their recent tour across the East and down into Texas selling out shows all along the way.

With only the one album of material, Electric Guest’s show was on the short side, coming in at less than an hour. But the energy Taccone displayed on stage seemed endless. He had sweat dripping down his face as he danced to the point of nearly flailing about, before breaking into another lyric or adding another line from his keyboard. As the band barreled through the music, the audience in the sold out Bowery Ballroom hardly got a break themselves. As expected, the band saved their lead single, “This Head I Hold”, off till the end. The fitful energy in the keyboard driven new wave melody trounces any other song in their repertoire which made the final minutes a flurry of activity but following that, it was hard to leave without any sort of cool down. Or even just another song.

Visit PopMatters’ Facebook page for a gallery of high res images of Electric Guest live!