And so hyperpop arrives at its Stone Temple Pilots moment. Don’t be mistaken, the post-genre had a grand run causing mass confusion. Its foundational artists spouted queer theory and Marxist ideology even as they doodled affectionate/ironic xo’s around the W. Bush era’s least reputable corporate club music. But as the movement notches Billboard writ-ups and co-signs from antisemitic YouTubers, maintaining its punk-rock reputation is gonna demand more than some harsh, metallic snares, a couple distorted synth leads, and a handful of #veryonline lyrics warbled in the slurry, cloaking androgyny of Auto-Tune.: It’s gonna require an agenda … World Tour.: Dorian Electra could never sell out for the same reason Frank Zappa couldn’t. Their furious satire of online bigotry and culturally enforced gender norms is too interwoven with their calculatedly outrageous epicene persona to ever achieve depressing cross-appeal. Recent songs take specific aim at neckbeard homophobes, reappropriating 4chan’s Joker imagery and Mountain Dew energy only to blow it back in a Dorito dust cloud of grindcore intensity. Coucou Chloe opens, her cryptic murmur rap offering ominously subliminal contrast to Electra’s maximalism.
Sun., Feb. 20, 8pm