Dance-punk band the Faint and schizophrenic rapper Kool Keith come together for a night of retro ’90s magic. Underground successes at the same time but in different circles, the Faint pushed 18-year-old white kids into metro make-out sessions on Hollywood club stages, while Keith’s fans were decidedly more heteronormative (if not street- and beat-savvy) with their music appreciation. As Keith was shaking fists with lyrics such as “All these things I been through, your skull deserves a metal plate/Not the platinum plaque, just gun staples in your back/Hung from a tree with rusty nails in your rectum crack,” the Faint were spewing their own version of urban angst, in this case regarding the “exotic dancer” industry: “But it is a job, it pays a lot/Is it disservicing someone?/And is it good to get these men worked up so sex—so sexual?” Sex, violence and overpriced cocktails: a perfectly volatile SoCal night.
Mon., Nov. 3, 8 p.m., 2008
