Since the mid-2000s, the '80s synth retro genre now termed 'synthwave' experiences dedicated support among music aficionados. One of the most prosperous acts of this movement is France's Perturbator, formed in 2012 and has scaled the genre's peaks in such a brief snippet of time. The Underworld's sold out show is testament to this with the debut UK live show selling out over a month in advance. A sizeable portion of tonight's audience appears to be subscribers of black metal – due to Perturbator's record label usually handling artists at the extreme end of metal's spectrum and effectively selling this dark electronic outfit to fans of guitar-based music. Perturbator have already performed at a few highly regarded metal festivals including Brutal Assault and Nidrosian Black Mass. It should be noted that sole member James Kent has performed in black, death and progressive metal bands and the structures to many of his songs are evidentially influenced by metal. However, fans of electronic, alternative and '80s film/retro video game soundtracks have also amassed outside the Underworld.
Support is from fellow French synthwave act Dan Terminus, engineering a delightful one-two line up for fans of the genre. Towering above his Mac Book in the centre of the stage, he emits busy and colourful electronic tones resonating with foreboding, multi-layered '80s sci fi themes accompanied with a generous amount of distortion. He wordlessly transmits the likes of 'Chekov Blue Overdriver', 'The Wrath of Code' and 'Relentless Destroyer'. For an electronic show, the audience is somewhat passive with few people dancing or showing other physical signs of enjoyment unfortunately but rather than the audience disliking the experience, it seems they are simply reserved as the end of songs receive strong ovations and the size of the spectators remains large by the close of the set.
The Underworld is wholly rammed when Perturbator, sole member James Kent adorning the modern black metal attire of a leather biker jacket over a black hoody (hood up, naturally), assumes his position behind his MacBook and opens proceedings with 'Future Club', a dark take on club music that sounds spacious despite the paucity of space in the venue. The audience becomes violently animated, dancing and pounding the air above them with their hands. Flanked by a selection of vertical lights, the headline act effortlessly has the audience in his palm, confidently nodding to the retro rhythm of his music. The pace of the night picks up with the faster 'Neo Tokyo' from this year's 'The Uncanny Valley' depicting a rain-slicked, urban future co-existing with androids. The core of the music envelopes '80s and classic anime soundtracks, electronic, disco, ambient and retro video game music to form a nostalgic synthesis of vibrant and high-octane days gone by with – a retort to the mundane and controlled contemporary years.
Largely focussing on the new release and the album before it 'Dangerous Days', Kent weaves through the likes of the Giorgio Moroder-flecked 'Disco Inferno', the atmospheric and urgent 'She is Young, She is Beautiful, She is Next', the fist-pumpingly heavy 'Satanic Rites' (attaining one of strongest reactions of the night) and the robotically cold 'Assault'. The Terminator-inspired 'Technoir' stalks through the venue while 'Sexualizer' whips up the crowd's enthusiasm, substituting the aggression and sinister nature of Perturbator's later discography with a more licentious playfulness aided by a consignment of disco groove.
The more inactive spectators seem to leave the venue more than half way through the set (whether last trains were an issue or the novelty/curiosity for them had been satisfied is unknown) but the vast majority devours the performance – including one enthusiastic stage diver. The ambitious 'She Moves Like a Knife' ostensibly finishes off the set and the venue rattles with applause, luring Kent back to pole position to launch his one-track encore of new song 'The Cult of 2112', dense with plenty of aural drama to keep the dancing in motion. Following this track it is game over, which seems surprising given the suspicious absence of the beloved 'Miami Disco'. Nonetheless, this show was deliriously entertaining and set the clock back to a 1984 neon club scene where people could forget their modern woes in the midst of spirited synth music – undoubtedly Perturbator's mission statement all along.
FUTURE GIGS
sorry, we currently have no gigs listed for this act.