Seattle Subsonic

Telepathique Electronifies at the Paragon

August 5th, 2008

Friday night after $1 PBRs at the Nitelite, I found myself stumbling into the Paragon to see Brazilian electro-pop trio (usually duo) Telepathique. The Paragon you may be wondering, well I was wondering too. I pretty much associate the crowd at the Paragon as where the Belltown scene was born. Guys with stripey shirts (why???) and girls with halters were there galore. However mixed in was a handful of the hipster persuasion, all in slight denial that they were actually hanging out at the Paragon.

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Not really conducive for any type of rock show to take center stage, Telepathique came out around 10 or so and crammed themselves into a corner of the packed Paragon with their computer gear, turntables and drum kit. As soon as the beats sounded, the belltown-like scenesters made their way to the back of the bar and the hipsters crowded around giving their full attention to the band. Telepathique, from Sao Paolo, Brasil, is normally just 2: Mylene with her sort of a disheveled Courtney Love meets Belinda Carlisle appearance on vocals and Erico Theobaldo, manning the drums, turntable and programming. Plus in attendance on Saturday was another Brazilian guy playing the guitar.

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Telepathique put on a pretty good show, one that would make many (even a Seattlite) get out to the dance floor with their mix of electro-pop, rock, and baile funk. You know, I’m beginning to love more and more the integration and blending of electronica into different genres of music (especially after seeing The Helio Sequence in July) . And I’m starting to figure out that the key to great live electro-<insert your genre here> is to create a seamless sound where computer beats mesh perfectly with the live instruments. This would be one of the critiques out of this past Friday’s show – when Erico kicked it on the drums, it distracted from the overall sound. Also, the vocals were sort of drowned out. But this could have been a problem with the venue too. Overall I’m glad I caught their act. Aside from the sound problems—they were there to please and have fun. Their attitude was infectious, well with the hipsters anyway.