Although opinions about the upcoming Langerado lineup are pretty divisive, one shining light on the bill is the awesome Los Angeles trio the Glitch Mob. But if that's not enough to make you spring for a full festival pass, you're in luck. The act is headlining its own upcoming show at Revolution on July 12 with a couple of excellent supporting acts, Phantogram and Com Truise.
Though the group formed in 2006, it's really been in the past year that
the Glitch Mob has blown up massively, with spots at Coachella and Red Rocks
putting the threesome in front of thousands of music fans.
The timing is not totally random. The group came up in the so-called L.A. "beat" scene, the circle of left-field post-hip-hop experimenters that's produced rising stars like Flying Lotus, Daedalus, and Nosaj Thing. The Glitch Mob counts all of those guys as friends, and founding member Ed Ma, or edIT, remains as a solo artist one of the most popular on the influential label Alpha Pup.
But while the Glitch Mob uses a purely electronic, though fully live, setup to create a ghostly, downtempo, and yes, glitchy sound, as a live act, the trio's known almost as equally for its intricate visuals. If the group's songs can sound particularly cinematic, they sound that way even more so when married with the group's large-scale projections and abstract images.
Surprisingly, though, both are not conceived of as a piece, founding member Justin Boreta told us yesterday when we caught up with him by phone in advance of the show, which supports a new forthcoming EP, We Can Make the World Stop, due out July 12 on its own label, Glass Air. "That all comes later," he said. "When we're writing, we just really focus on the music."
This time around, though, that "later" work will be extraspecial. The band's upcoming tour features an all-new visual and light show designed by Martin Phillips and John McGuire, AKA the team behind Daft Punk's famous light-up pyramid, Kanye's own version later, and other amazingness for Nine Inch Nails. It's a production coup, to be sure.
"I think we just got lucky. It's one of those serendipitous things where they're a friend of a friend of a friend and just happened to like our music," he said. "We just happened to hit it off and see eye to eye, and I think it was fun for him to work on something for a smaller scale."
Still, Boreta is mum on details of the resulting collaboration. "It's going to be fucking cool and crazy," he says, laughing. "That's all I can really say! We're just really excited to go out there with something that we feel accurately extracts that visual data from our music."
You'll just have to see for yourself at Revolution, then. County Grind will have more about the Glitch Mob too in the coming days before the show. In the meantime, check out the video below for the Glitch Mob's track "Between Two Points," featuring Swan, a rare vocal track from the band's last full-length, Drink the Sea.
Glitch Mob, with Phantogram and Com Truise. 8 p.m. Tuesday, July 12, at Revolution, 200 W. Broward Blvd., Fort Lauderdale. Tickets cost $16; all ages. Call 954-449-1025, or visit jointherevolution.net.