Have you ever watched videos of, say, Klaus Nomi or the Mystic Knights of the Oingo Boingo or Suckdog or any number of groups from the art punk scenes in NYC or LA or Chicago or Montreal or Berlin or France or wherever in any one of the last four or five decades and thought to yourself, “I’m not having as much fun as I should be”? You’re probably right. On any given night, there are a couple dozen bars, clubs, and spaces peddling the same two or three shows. It’s especially true in the nightclub world, but it’s the case in the underground too, where a great punk show [for example] doesn’t look that much different from a good punk show or even a bad one. The names vary here and there, as will the cost of the drinks and the door, but it feels like the new experiences are spaced out pretty far between.

Pure Magical Love are on a shortlist of bands that always dominate the space, and take over whatever show they’re playing in. Their music is a highly dance-able blend of gloomy synthesizer pop that’s equal parts and their act is a mix of glitter and filth, intensely sexual sexual and violent, with frontwoman Heather Lynn flanked by a band of (oft-naked) zombies and monsters. It’s as if Lady Gaga fronted a no wave band and it’s awesome. I’m not the best at describing music, so I’m glad there’s finally a video I can point to.

It’s probably a great point in time to capture a Pure Magical Love show. The group just started choreographing their songs, which will probably prevent things like the dancers getting into fistfights with one other (which happened at least once at Myour House)  but it’s not so polished that there aren’t still a lot of real, live moments to enjoy.

The following was recorded live at I^3 Hypermedia, an amazing multidisciplinary artspace/website/festival hidden away in the middle of downtown Chicago, where it is several times more amazing than any of its srroundings.

See pictures from some of the parties we’ve done with Pure Magical Love here