Smooth pelvic lyrical repetition. A tiny black plastic hooded cape. Crouching down in six inch suede boots, dark curly mane curtaining her face, Amanda Blank told us she was hot up on stage, but we already knew that. To finish off her first song, her DJ went silent and she whispered into the microphone, “Get inside me.”  A early twenty something boy in plaid just a few feet back from the stage immediately responded, “Take your clothes off.” In a fluctuating strut between unadulterated attitude (she took a sip of water and spit it out onto the front row. human fountain) and hyper aware lingerie goddess (the cape and boots eventually came off to reveal her Fredericks of Hollywood), Blank’s unique electro-rapping rhythm, sexy sporatic mobility, and burlesque fairy tale stage presence enticed the sold out crowd at El Rey on Thursday night. With a handful of songs that balanced the hip, the hot, the hard and the hop, and a quick closing LL Cool J cover, “I Need Love,” she worked up the audience, feeling around between our thighs, preparing us for the manic and the mesmorizing. Matt & Kim.

Matt, the enthusiastic toy giraffe with distinct voice vision on an everything keyboard, and Kim, a yet to be discovered new decade drumming pin up icon with, in the words of Matt, “the body of a fifteen year old boy and the mouth of a 69 year old sailor.” This duo redefined energy in entertainment, playing their instruments out of their minds, and reaching into the childlike still lurking beneath our teen to forty something surfaces. Can two performers actually smile for an entire hour and never stop moving? Matt & Kim proved yes, singing, sipping beers, standing up with arms in the air, and sweating sweating sweating. Matt said he felt at home on stage and thanked Los Angeles for being like home. Kim reiterated, “This is so fucking awesome.” They chatted to the crowd, a crowd whose mosh pit body surfing extravaganza extended way beyond “participation.” It was an integral piece in the performance as people were catapulted onto the small stage, (others crawled up) briefly acknowledged the rest of us, and jumped off into the clump. Dropping backwards. Forward flips.  While some got caught and passed around, others plummetted with no thought to the hard wood floor. Even Matt, while singing and pounding out his electronic piano, pointed a few times with a look of shock. A few fans got on stage and took quick shots with the band using cell phones, getting as close as possible before getting pushed back out by security guards. One round girl in a yellow cut up T leaned in and smooched Kim on her wet chopped up ‘do, then dove out into the lake of heads and hands. Hockey game hysteria. Playround pit acrobatics. In all of the excitement, Matt & Kim embraced us with their wild and with their words in a blended balance show of loud crisp beautiful up beats, songs that you want to sing along with and jump around to, and a caffeneited colloseum crowd that did just that.

—Beth Mcnamara