On Tuesday night, I showed up a little early at the Mayan for Bloc Party, whose intricately austere set confirmed they are rapidly becoming contemporary post-punk’s ELO, which is needed and awesome. Opener Does It Offend You, Yeah? (whom I’ve covered before, and liked) surprised me yet again, because, judging by the audience squeals of hormonal delight at the “Let’s Make Out” intro, they seem to have fully crossed over into L.A.’s idiosyncratic sorority-punk mainstream.
But the big surprise of the night was the first opener Friendly Fires, who pulled off a trick I’ve been waiting for a band to fully realize — that cowbell-heavy Liquid Liquid dance beats would sound fantastic with gigantic shoegaze-ambient guitars and the shimmering house synths that too many peers, such as M83, can’t seem to use right.
