ADULT. Film


DECAMPMENT from ADULT. on Vimeo

In 1998, artist-musicians Adam Lee Miller and Nicola Kuperus began to apply a blatant pop sensibility and dystopic social commentary to the techno music typical of their native Detroit under the monikers PLASMA Co. and Le Car, before settling most enduringly on ADULT. With songs like "Skinlike" and "Hand to Phone," they set the stage for the short-lived Electroclash movement earlier in this decade, and maintained a safe distance when it suddenly imploded. Most recently, the band has developed an interdisciplinary project titled Decampment which includes original video, editioned recordings and photography, as well as live performance. Last week at New York's Anthology Film Archives, the duo screened what was essentially a 40-minute music video for the latest release, a limited editioned trilogy of seven-inch vinyl singles with original artwork, on their record label Ersatz. Miller and Kuperus appeared alongside the projection, flanked by banks of synthesizers, to play their original electronic score. The video was a genre exercise in Horror, involving a squadron of Vanessa Beecroft femme-bots who engage in obtuse, seemingly Masonic rituals, only to sacrifice one of their own. As accompaniment, the band alternated shrill tones with throbbing basslines and crisp percussion. The final sequence was a frenzy of blood, fire, and black leather handbags with Kuperus chanting in her signature monotone, "We are the ones!" ADULT. perform with their film once again in Los Angeles on November 18 at the Silent Movie Theater. - Nick Hallett

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