A lot of great musicians have had long careers based on nothing more than a lot of really sad love songs. And that’s not a bad thing. Sometimes music is for wallowing and sometimes music is for working out your issues. But sometimes you need to just smile, and nod your head, and groove to the music. Sometimes you need to take all of your issues and leave them at the door. So that’s what I did at the Silverlake Lounge last night: I left all my troubles in the cold while I enjoyed a warm, bouncy bar and the glowing trip hop beats of Mad Planet.
First of all, any band that comes out dressed in matching Hawaiian Pineapple print shirts and dresses is awesome. Secondly, Mad Planet are a trip-hop duo with an insane amount of stage chemistry. At the top of their set, Bassist/singer Cooper Gillespie (who has an amazing name, by the way) was having trouble with her bass amp. While she was dealing with technical difficulties, Greg Gordon began an improvised drum set that got the whole bar jumping. Once he was done wowing us with his badass drum rhythms, they played “Test Tube Babies” a super sexy number where Gillespie would mix singing with sultry breathing on her microphone.
Their songs were filled with heavy pulsing bass riffs and super funky beats. Watching this duo feed off of each other’s energy, you could tell they were having so much fun playing music together. All it took was a look or a smile and their playing would complement each other as well as their Hawaiian shirts did. Gordon kept things fast-paced, making Mad Planet the sort of music you just have to dance to. Gillespie’s vocals would have been haunting if they weren’t so optimistic. With a big smile on her face, she crooned, “Everything lost can be found.” Suddenly I was smiling too. She was looking pretty angelic, but that might have been because of the big light-up “Salvation” sign that hangs above the Silverlake Lounge’s stage.
Mad Planet ended their set with a new song that, as they admitted, had only been rehearsed once (the day before). It was actually a really pretty song that mixed violin samples with Gillespie’s vocals. The dreamer in me thought it was so poetic, to end with something new and hopeful. It seems to me that we’ve all had a big rollercoaster of a year, and it’s only February. But hey, there’s nothing wrong with throwing your hands in the air and just dancing. That’s what bands like Mad Planet are for.
-Rachel K.
www.loudvine.com
Tags: Indie, Live Music, Live Music Community, Los Angeles, Loudvine, Lounge, Mad, Mad Planet, MP3's, Music Network, Planet, Silverlake, Silverlake Lounge
