Body Meat – Badaboum, Friday, November 7
Bathed in red lighting, two dudes in all-black and baseball caps graced the stage at Badaboum. Since 2016, Body Meat has been the alter ego of Christopher Taylor—stage left—who creates jittery electro and also programs video games. (He developed one specifically for his 2024 song “North Side.”) He was joined—stage right—by drummer Grant Chapman. Endearingly, Taylor’s pull toward music is part of a familial legacy: His parents played on the side of their full-time gigs as scientists (mom on vocals and piano; dad on the bass and congas). Taylor’s own twitchy musical energy—a bedlam of plinking, clacking, whooshing, thumping—was offset by his calmly Auto-Tuned voice and Chapman’s hypercaffeinated drumming.
Boko Yout – Supersonic, Friday, November 7
The moment the four-piece came out dressed like boy scouts (dark shorts, beige shirts with epaulets, neckerchiefs, beige socks pulled nearly to the knees), it was clear this was a band committed to the bit in the best way possible. Boko Yout, with a fully entrenched physicality and generous, giving presence, truly make music to perform it live. Bloc Party and Fugazi have been mentioned as forebears to the band’s vibe, but Paul Adamah, the Swedish band’s frontman, is a formidable force to be reckoned with completely on his own terms. The amped-up carnality of his performance was infectious, sweaty, raw, and also witty, as Adamah recounted, between songs, how he miserably used to sell beds at Ikea and how a teacher made the ill-advised suggestion he join afterschool sports. “This place is very hot, just like you,” he said, glistening with exertion and manifesting a moshpit. Strutting, showboating, writhing, he played tunes from the album Gusto with—obviously—gusto. “It’s been absolutely diabolical,” he declared before leaving everyone fully exhilarated in his wake.
