In The Flesh

The first indicator that Adult.'s performance on a recent Saturday at the Magic Stick might become special came even before Nicola Kuperus and Adam Lee Miller stepped onstage. The two Detroiters, who make evil electronic dance music distilled from electro-punk and industrial-klang, were on the floor mixing with fans and posing for pictures with old friends. Onstage minutes later, the married duo snarled and fussed, as usual, with their finicky old moogs and monitors, with analog drum machines and an effects-laden bass guitar, but a fuzzy warmth remained intact. Kuperus leapt down onto the dance floor, screaming and retching, then back onstage promised she would soon be down "to touch everyone again." But Miller destroyed the mood when he ripped into the opening to "I Feel Worse When I'm With You," from Why Bother?, the group's best LP in years. Kuperus stared down the crowd, her face illuminated by red light. The moment turned wicked on a dime. The noise grew louder, the room went darker and began to spin out of control. How perfect.