LIVE REVIEW & PHOTOS: TV Girl, Dot.s, Fantasy Guys at 529

Russell RockwellApril 19, 2016

This past Saturday night, 529 got dancey with a little tropical bliss, a little post-electro, and a full serving of doo-wop-inspired club bangers. Fantasy Guys opened up the show with the best feel-good music Atlanta has to offer right now. Seriously though, it’s impossible to be in a bad mood when Maddy Davis drops a trademark vibraphone riff or when you’re caught in the midst of Mitchell Hardad’s bass solo antics. If you’re just dancing along, this might sound like simple cruise ship music, but if you set down your daiquiri for a minute and lean in you’ll catch a glimpse of how deceptively complicated Fantasy Guys’ music truly is. Though their original tracks were completely captivating, the high point of their set was a disco-inflected cover of “Lost Woods” from The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time.

Next, Dot.s performed one of their tightest sets in recent memory, reminding me why I was initially attracted to their 2015 debut album, Jellyfiss. The highlight of their set was the highly engaging “So Reticent,” a non-linear tour de force which recalled LCD Soundsystem and the Talking Heads.

529 was packed from the start of the show till the very end, but it was obvious that most of the crowd were there for LA’s TV Girl. The electro-pop trio was armed only with synthesizers and drum pads, yet they captivated the audience with a razor-sharp performance and tongue-in-cheek choreography. They sampled everyone from Steely Dan to Frankie Cosmos in what felt like a slightly unsettling deconstruction of boy-band culture, but their best song of the night was the surprisingly organic “Heaven is a Bedroom” off their new record, Who Really Cares.

Check out our photos from the show below, courtesy of Immersive photographer Bryceson Center.

Click an image to enlarge.