photos by Jim Bennett
LA female quartet Warpaint played a dusk set full of stellar percussion (lots of offbeat snare and polyrhythm) and hypnotizing, swirling three and sometimes four-part harmonies. There is something about a band that has multiple talented musicians that can all sing - it makes for an awesome spectacle. Warpaint is part of the goth-tinged new-wave-y genre that has become prevalent in the last couple years, perhaps started by Siouxsie & The Banshees and along with other acts such as Austra, Zola Jesus, The Knife. Warpaint’s lyrics were intensely dark and personal, sometimes mentioning unattainable and indescribable thoughts (“no body ever has to find out / what’s in my mind tonight”) like in “Undertow,” a stand-out track off their debut full-length, The Fool. Fittingly, Warpaint ushered in the night-time crowd and got everybody loosened up for a long night of great music and dancing.
