The Portland based pop-heavy electro project Starfucker used to get more attention from their name than their music. Finally, they are resolving this issue after failed name changes (Pyramiddd and PYRAMID) with a nearly sold out tour last spring, monster crowd at Outside Lands and likely the same story this time around. It was no surprise that they quickly sold out their shows for this upcoming weekend at San Francisco venues The Independent and the Great American Music Hall. This led to another Bay Area show added at The New Parish in Oakland. The venue was full of excitable souls ready to get struck by some undeniably good dance grooves.

The energy was buzzing as the fans were anticipating an electric dance floor. The lights dropped and the lasers struck the walls as they kicked off the set by playing their dreamy song “Astoria” from their 2011 Polyvinyl release Reptilians. This song seemed a bit lost in space as the all ages crowd eagerly anticipated the synth-induced dance tracks that they were familiar with. This was quickly solved once the intro to “Rawnald Gregory Ericson The Second” was played. This is my favorite song and from the jump, it works as an alert to let you know you need to get down. I couldn’t stop moving when hearing the cracking synth, bass and clap effect. They followed the song with “German Love”; this was easily the highlight of the night for me.

Throughout the set, the outfit did a great job of staggering songs between their three albums (Starfucker, Jupitor and Reptilians). The band seamlessly went from their poppy synth lashed songs to songs that take the listener on an introspective journey. During the outro to “Boy Toy” frontman Josh Hodges (vocals, keyboards, guitar, drums) repeated the lyrics of “In My Lungs” until he appears to be near passing out.

After packing the house with their first of three nights in the Bay Area there was no way the crowd was leaving without an encore. To close out the night, we got to hear the Starfuckered version of Cyndi Lauper’s “Girls Just Wanna Have Fun.” This led to an explosion of arms shooting into the air and the crowd bouncing out of control before heading home.

Opening up the night were the synth powered atmospheric sounds of San Francisco’s own Painted Palms. Their sound was the perfect way to segue into a Starfucker show. This intro will be taken on the road with Starfucker for the majority of the their current tour.

Stay connected with Starfucker on Facebook and Twitter. Also, be sure to catch their electric live show before they defy the odds and bust past their name to notoriety similar to that of MGMT.

Sun, Jan 8 – The Glass House – 8:00 pm – Pamona, CA

Mon, Jan 9 – The Casbah – 8:00 pm – San Diego , CA

Tue, Jan 10 – The Crescenet Ballroom – 8:00 pm – Phoenix, AZ

Wed, Jan 11 – VFW – 8:00 pm – Santa Fe, NM

Fri, Jan 13 – The Prophet Bar – 8:00 pm – Dallas, TX

Sat, Jan 14 – The Mohawk – 8:00 pm – Austin, TX

Sun, Jan 15 – Fitzgerald’s - 8:00 pm – Houston, TX

Tue, Jan 17 – One Eyed Jacks – 8:00 pm – New Orleans, LA

Thu, Jan 19 – Backbooth - 8:00 pm – Orlando, FL

Fri, Jan 20 – Bardot - 8:00 pm – Miami, FL