I remember a friend or colleague of mine - can't recall who - saying towards the end of last year that Neon Indian's latest album "Era Extrana" sounded to him or her like Alan Palomo's attempt at soundtracking a video game. It's maybe the most interesting insight on the album I've heard. Unlike Palomo's debut album "Psychic Chasms," which put many an atmospheric spin on the synthpop of the '80s, "Extrana" is largely characterized by cacophonies of individually crafted blips that would not sound the least bit out of place on the Start screen of any Nintendo staple of the '90s. Just listen to that "Polish Girl" intro and try not to imagine some original version of Mario Kart.
Watching Alan Palomo operate a synthesizer in performance only furthers the NES flashbacks; the way that he jerks his whole body when turning a single coin-sized knob at the precise moment, gaze fixated, brings to mind images of a gamer in the zone, wholeheartedly intent on beating level 50. His actual objective might have been just to live up to the high expectations of a young and giddy - though not quite sold-out - crowd at Rhino's Youth Center on Thursday night, but he definitely worked for it in spite of a few Rhino's-signature sound troubles.
Perhaps the one thing that separated Palomo from his imaginary gaming brethren on Thursday night though, if we are to ignore the theory that nerd culture has evolved into this decade's mainstream, was the humorously explicit cat-calls he heard throughout the set from female fans ranging in age from early teens to mid-30s. True, Palomo's songs are mostly those of young infatuation, not antisocial anthems - a faint humming of birds and bees was practically audible during spacey slow jam "Fallout" - so it was no surprise that fans were swooning for Palomo's knee-inverting dance moves that look all the more impressive in skinny jeans. But he's not exactly aiming for "rock star icon" attention. Palomo crafts his own swoony, dreamy concert atmosphere by using every tool at his disposal, including but not limited to excessive fog machine, soft and multicolored lighting, and of course, over-the-top reverb on everything. It's effective, at least on the young ones.
As for the setlist, he cycled through the best of both "Chasms" and "Extrana," opening with "Local Joke" and "Hex Girlfriend" and saving "Polish Girl" and "Deadbeat Summer" for the end, before closing the encore with "Should Have Taken Acid With You" - "Suns Irrupt" was the only one I was disappointed not to hear. A few sound-related snags along the way, but a genuine effort and a hard-earned win overall. Game over, objective completed.
Post and photography by Steven Arroyo
