There’s something to be said for music that makes you feel hot. When the right combination of saucy bass, club floor drums, and breathy vocals comes together, you can almost shut your eyes and pretend you’ve been admitted to Berghain or have found your way into New York’s most exclusive speakeasy.
Such is the case for NYC electronic band Fcukers, who, despite having meteoric success that can only be the result of intense musical nepotism, also deserve every packed dancefloor they play. The band, fronted by vocalist Shannon Wise and now playing as a four-piece with live drums, bass, and scratch-record backing, opened their Palomosa set with the modern classic “Homie Don’t Shake,” which elicited a raucous cheer from the steadily growing sunset crowd.
While I was initially set on being near the front for this show, my friends and I were soon sent to the back thanks to a truly horrible stage mix. But once we were a little closer to the board and could hear something other than eardrum-crushing kick drum, it was a joy, as always, to watch this sleazy, slinky group strut across the stage. Though their catalogue hasn’t changed much since I discovered them at Osheaga last year, it was hard not to dance anyway to tracks like “Bon Bon,” “Tommy,” and the newly released “Play Me.” Frankly, each of these songs is a vapid, drug-addled ode to nothing, but the raw energy and undeniable cool factor of Fcukers means they’ll continue to be one of my first choices when I secure the aux at a party.
