ILLUMINATI HOTTIES @ SINCLAIR 10/16

Photography and review by Maya Santow

This past Wednesday, the Illuminati Hotties took to the stage at the Sinclair in Cambridge with support from Daffo for an intimate performance with genres ranging from indie rock to riot grrrl to country.

The LA-based indie rock band, led by producer and vocalist Sarah Tudzin, is touring their newest release, “Power.” The album, which came out in August, takes on the more mellow end of their signature bubble-grungy sound. 

Despite having gone into the concert having more familiarity with Illuminati Hotties’ upbeat, riot-grrrl-inspired discography, with no prior knowledge of the supporting act, I found Daffo’s 10-song set to be the most compelling of the night. Fronted by songwriter Gabi Gamberg, the band was accompanied by a small claymation-style doll sporting Gamberg’s facial piercings and red mullet. Gamberg explained that the doll was a prop used in the music video for their most recent release, “Get a Life.”

From the folksy-country influence in “Get a Life”—which was my personal favorite—to the concoction of wistfulness and angst in “Poor Madeline” to the more blatantly bluegrass “The Experiment,” Gamberg performed with a captivating earnestness and ease onstage, no matter the blend of styles they tackled. Several of the more high-energy indie rock songs that they performed are yet to be released and are certainly worth keeping an eye out for. 

Though Daffo’s performance was my favorite of the night, the Illuminati Hotties’ set was also irresistibly danceable, interactive, and uniquely intimate. They opened with “Can’t Be Still,” the tour’s catchy, indie-pop namesake. As Tudzin leaned into a riot-grrl influence with “Pool Hopping” and “Joni: LA’s No.1 Health Goth,” she led the crowd in miming the lyrics, contrasting the fast energy of the music with calm, almost meditative hand gestures.

For “Everything Changes,” the final track on “Power,” the show took a turn when Tudzin leaped off the stage to perform in the middle of the floor. The audience encircled her, rapt with attention, for her mournful, stripped-down departure from the tone of the rest of the show. 

Bounding back up onto the stage, Tudzin reactivated the energy in the room with “MMMOOOAAAAAYAYA,” a song built for call-and-response with repeated (and interestingly juxtaposed) stream-of-consciousness phrases like “Love me, fight me, choke me, bite me,” “The DNC is playing dirty,” and “I’m so sad, I can’t do laundry.”

For the final song of the night, the Illuminati Hotties culminated the performance by bringing Gamberg back out for “Didn’t” to sing Cavetown’s featured part. Despite their difference in styles and in age (Tudzin being a millennial, Gamberg being Gen-Z), their voices worked well together, with Gamberg’s clear tone shining next to Tudzin’s higher, more stylized one. 

This show surprised me, not only with its level of crowd participation on a sleepy Wednesday night or with its intimacy but with my main takeaway being that Daffo is the band to watch from the night. The Illuminati Hotties were, without a doubt, engaging and vibrant performers whose energy lived up to their recorded releases. However, Daffo brought an intriguingly dynamic quality to the night that I had not expected, and I look forward to hearing what they will be up to next.