Matt & Kim | Vyle | Hollywood Holt | Best Fwends
House of Blues - Chicago, IL
August 2, 2008

When I told a friend of mine that I was going to see Matt and Kim play, he said, “They’re not a band with the most technical skill, but they’re always fun to see live.”

That’s a pretty apt description for all the artists Tuesday night at Subterranean in Chicago. None of them would be considered virtuosos or particularly gifted in playing or songwriting; but that was made up for with boundless energy and a little comedic timing.

With an everlasting broad grin on both their faces, the headlining duo from Brooklyn bounced and head-butted through a set of synth-pop dance-punk tunes from both their 2006 self-titled debut and their upcoming sophomore album, Grand. Drummer Kim Schifino called out Chicago as the second-most nerve wrecking place to play, after their hometown. “We’ve got so many friends here and you can’t fuck up in front of your friends because they’ll call you on it later.”

Luckily, the fuck-ups were few and far between as they pounded through crowd favorites “Yea, Yeah,” and “5K.” And the one notable fuck-up was a minor technical one. “Could we switch this mic cable up?” Matt asked. “It keeps going in and out.” To which Kim replied, “Like you and me last night!”  So maybe there’s a Mates of State thing goin’ on between Matt and Kim? Who really cares if the tunes are this fun?

Before them, Best Fwends, a duo from Fort Worth, Texas, inflated a couple of gargoyles and sang along to their iPods. Did I say sing? I meant scream. Like a hardcore singer would scream. And the results of two young, seemingly normal looking dudes in white tee-shirts offering such wisdom as “With your eyes gouged out / it’s hard to see,” and “With your head cut off / it’s hard to hail Satan?”

Hilarious. If only all of hardcore was this loose.

Surprisingly, the two opening acts were hip-hop artists from Chicago, which makes a little more sense given that there was an open-mic event going on downstairs. Or not. Either way, of the two Chicago rappers, Hollywood Holt certainly fit in more with the bands who followed, bounding the stage so hard that he’d have to take a minute in between songs to catch his breath. The bespectacled Vyle meanwhile looked like a long-lost member of the Cool Kids. Heck, he even rapped over a Cool Kids beat. While that got the crowd to bob their head, I’m not entirely convinced that Vyle can break out on his own and inspire the same mania everyone who followed him can.