Saturday, Nov. 12: Hot Victory

The New Frontier Lounge

By Rev. Adam McKinney on November 9, 2011

Hot Victory might be ambient if it weren't for all of those drums. A three-piece made up of two drummers and a guy on keys, the tones being produced are cold, futuristic and drawn out. They are accompanied by a two-person assault of primal, pounding drums - a stampede of sound, offset by a steady drone. It's a lot to take in, all at once. Hot Victory means to be overwhelming, I'm sure, and the band succeeds in spades. When they hit those breakdowns, where the drums start to sound more scattershot and disconnected, and the synths begin to pulse and stab, it's fascinating to watch them find the beat of the next song into which they'll go careening. All of this order and chaos, sharing space - one pushing the other, the other always resisting. 

[The New Frontier Lounge, with Solomon and Tummler, Helms Alee, Extralone, Argonaut, 8 p.m., $5, 301 E. 25th St., Tacoma, 253.572.4020]