Adult.
Thursday Oct. 27
Chapel Hill, N.C., Local 506
In an insane world, the sane are often deemed daft. So it is that when Adult. singer Nicola Kuperus greets the audience several songs into the trios 70-minute bump, grind and frappé, with an amusingly off-hand, So these are the freaks, the silence shes met with isnt so much offense as confusion. To the 60 or so patrons gathered at the Local 506, this is normal. For a geographic area thats produced such notable geeks and freaks as Ben Folds, Southern Culture on the Skids and Jimbo Mathus, the bars set so high that even Dennis Rodman could limbo under. Where are the weirdoes, then, Kuperus asks, incredulous at the blasé response.
In Raleigh, someone says, along with muttered assents and cheers. Such is the duopoly of the so-called Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill Triangle. Raleigh gets the Sevendust and Alabama Thunderpussy, Chapel Hill gets cultish noise acts and defiantly indie rockers, another expression of the areas mix of Northern transplants and homespun locals. (Durhams largely bereft of anything, much like Lansing.) One front-row fan sums up audience attitude before Adult. comes on, when she asks her friend, Where is everyone? Its cold out, but its Thursday night.
Those who show up, shake, rattle and loll their heads to Adult.s hypnotic no-wave pop roar. Even that freaky dancing guy is here the one moving his body with the tendon-popping fluidity of a hippie in a wind tunnel. Adult. gives the assemblage plenty of sonic gristle to chew on. Their chunky synth-and-guitar throttle, hammering beats and Kuperus gothic banshee wail, light the stage like an early Devil Nights trick, warming Chapel Hills usually impassive and rhythmically stoic heart.
Chris Parker writes about music for Metro Times. Send comments to [email protected]