![\"\"](\"\/wtbu\/files\/2024\/10\/Illuminati-Hotties-8-of-12.jpeg\")
<\/p>\nPhotography and review by Maya Santow<\/p>\n
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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. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n The LA-based indie rock band, led by producer and vocalist Sarah Tudzin, is touring their newest release, \u201cPower.\u201d The album, which came out in August, takes on the more mellow end of their signature bubble-grungy sound.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n De<\/span>spite having gone into the concert having more familiarity with Illuminati Hotties\u2019 upbeat, riot-grrrl-inspired discography, with no prior knowledge of the supporting act, I found Daffo\u2019s 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\u2019s facial piercings and red mullet. Gamberg explained that the doll was a prop used in the music video for their most recent release, \u201cGet a Life.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n From the folksy-country influence in \u201cGet a Life\u201d\u2014which was my personal favorite\u2014to the concoction of wistfulness and angst in \u201cPoor Madeline\u201d to the more blatantly bluegrass \u201cThe Experiment,\u201d 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.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Though Daffo\u2019s performance was my favorite of the night, the Illuminati Hotties\u2019 set was also irresistibly danceable, interactive, and uniquely intimate. They opened with \u201cCan\u2019t Be Still,\u201d the tour\u2019s catchy, indie-pop namesake. As Tudzin leaned into a riot-grrl influence with \u201cPool Hopping\u201d and \u201cJoni: LA\u2019s No.1 Health Goth,\u201d she led the crowd in miming the lyrics, contrasting the fast energy of the music with calm, almost meditative hand gestures.<\/span><\/p>\n For \u201cEverything Changes,\u201d the final track on \u201cPower,\u201d 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.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Bounding back up onto the stage, Tudzin reactivated the energy in the room with \u201cMMMOOOAAAAAYAYA,\u201d a song built for call-and-response with repeated (and interestingly juxtaposed) stream-of-consciousness phrases like \u201cLove me, fight me, choke me, bite me,\u201d \u201cThe DNC is playing dirty,\u201d and \u201cI\u2019m so sad, I can\u2019t do laundry.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n For the final song of the night, the Illuminati Hotties culminated the performance by bringing Gamberg back out for \u201cDidn\u2019t\u201d to sing Cavetown\u2019s 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\u2019s clear tone shining next to Tudzin\u2019s higher, more stylized one.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n 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.<\/span><\/p>\n 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 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24057,"featured_media":43827,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1895,1525,1523,15,1530],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43821"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24057"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=43821"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43821\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":44141,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43821\/revisions\/44141"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/43827"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=43821"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=43821"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=43821"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"\/wtbu\/files\/2024\/10\/Illuminati-Hotties-2-of-12.jpeg\")
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