Brooklyn’s Body Language brought their raucous, sweat-inducing electro dance party to a much needed chilly Saturday night at Soda Bar, along with prolific musical local Rafter and grooving newcomers Nite Lapse.
Nite Lapse, an up and coming band comprised of members from Chula Vista and Tijuana, took their stage positions and began their set. With a drummer, bassist, lead guitarist, and a singer who took on double instrument duty (keyboards and rhythm guitar), Nite Lapse opened with a sound that brought to mind the film soundtracks of the late ’70s and early ’80s.
The groovy guitar riffs were accompanied by funky bass tones, and I say “accompanied” because the bass leads took center stage with the lead guitar. Both instruments were integral to the story each song told, with the keyboard droning at times in the background and setting the mood, and the drums setting the pace.
Keeping to the show’s overarching theme of electronica, musician and producer Rafter Roberts came onstage next.
Lizeth Santos, Roberts’ wife, joined him on drums. In addition to being the other component that makes up the live act simply called Rafter, she’s involved with her husband’s art, photography and cinematography, and also fronts her own one-woman band called Smile Now Cry Later.
Rafter’s range of musical influences was eclectic to say the least. One minute I was hearing a straight guitar and drums rock ballad, the next the crowd was getting down to jungle drum rhythms and cumbia style beats. The songs that had a heavy electronica focus to them literally brought their sound to another dimension, like if their trippy chaotic pop was abducted by a spaceship, re-mixed with other wordly bleeps and bloops and then re-released onto Earth.
Rafter’s dancing crowd caught their breath when their set ended, and by now were more than warmed up for supreme dance outfit Body Language.
Comprised of a live drummer, two keyboardists that handled all of the electronic sounds, and a singer, Body Language had the entire bar moving and shaking. They played quite a few numbers off of their newest album, Mythos, but of course played all the hits that the fans were dying to hear. Even if you didn’t know the lyrics to the songs, there was no way you weren’t bitten by the infectious dance bug.
Right before the end of their set, singer Angelica Bess announced to the sweat-drenched crowd that they were about to play a cover song. They covered an almost spot-on version of “My Boo,” by Ghost Town DJ’s. Everybody in the audience was instantly revitalized and started dancing.
Body Language ended their set and I stepped outside. I realized that the warm room I was in for the last three hours, full of strangers sharing love through music, was not yet the true reality of the world. But it surely will be an experience that I’ll never forget.
