Photo by Charlie Knepper
I intend for you to leave this review wishing you were at the gig I attended with a pal of mine on December 10th at YES Basement. At the very least, I hope you feel intrigued enough to check out cumgirl8 and Arch Femmesis – headline and support acts respectively – who each dominated the stage for the entirety of their sets. Given that the 10th was a Tuesday, too (or a ‘school night,’ as Arch Femmesis singer Zera Tonin quipped), the degree of enthusiasm both bands managed to eke out of the crowd, via infectious rhythms and captivating theatrics, was one heck of a feat.
Hailing from New York City, 4-piece group cumgirl8 are probably back home as I type, as the show they delivered to the 70 odd people occupying the subterranean venue was the last of their tour around the UK and Europe in promotion of their latest album, ‘the 8th cumming.’ A rambunctious and invigorating collection of songs, every one an innovation built on the foundations of new-wave and punk, the band’s sophomore record explores ideas as disparate as dystopia, cyber-feminism and urinary tract infections (which serves as the focus of the equally funny and frenetic album highlight, ‘uti’).
Their general effervescence as a collective having been established, I doubt you’ll be surprised to learn that the 4 members of cumgirl8 also boast rockstar-cool names: there’s Chase Lombardo on drums, Avishag Rodrigues on lead guitar and keys, Veronika Vilim on rhythm guitar and Lida Fox on bass. What’s more, the foursome really do feel like a collective in the way that every member provides vocals on different tracks; their vocal interplay proving especially gratifying in a live setting.
So, with such a distinctly idiosyncratic band heading the bill, it’d make sense for the night of entertainment we had ahead of us to be commenced by a musical act of similar strangeness. You know, the type to, I don’t know, descend the stage to roar in the faces of awestruck onlookers. That sort of thing.
Arch Femmesis are an electro-punk duo from Nottingham whose combination of skeleton-shuddering beats and witty storytelling was made for a venue like YES Basement. Comprised of performance artist Zera Tonin and synthethist Meddla, the twosome took to the stage at quarter past eight and, within a minute of watching them, I knew I was going to relish their set. Bounding from banger to banger with a healthy touch of banter, the Gaga-esque Tonin effortlessly inhabited the roles of singer, dancer and comedian; the action I described in the previous paragraph, informing the audience that we were in the presence of a capital P Performer.
So, too, did we learn that Arch Femmesis are musicians to keep an eye on, as was underlined by their performance of the brilliantly-titled ‘Rejectile Dysfunction,’ in which Tonin mocks hypermasculinity in all of its laughable fragility as well as the bigots who hide behind it in an attempt to embody the stereotypical ‘alpha male’ image. Buoyed by Meddla’s stomping drumbeat, Tonin flitted between personas of the ‘lad’s lad,’ leering at the crowd with a curt ‘y’alright?’ and that which they’ve cultivated in fronting Arch Femmesis, a figure somehow reflective of both chaos and elegance, and the result? The closest I’ve ever seen a musical act come to presenting theatre in an intimate, club-like setting. Best believe I’ll be in attendance at their next Manchester gig.
Despite Arch Femmesis being quite a tough act to follow where putting on a show is concerned, cumgirl8 – each member sporting spectacular looks, with Lombardo adorned in just a shirt and thong – almost had no trouble in riding on the momentum generated by the previous performers. I say ‘almost’ because of a technical issue with the drummer’s sound that caused a longer-than-desired gap in between the first song they played (2020’s raucous Cherry Nipples) and the next. Luckily for them, the second track of the set proved groovy enough to get the crowd going once again.
An anthem for introverts, ‘ahhh!hhhh (i dont wanna go)’ sees Fox, whose voice is low and entrancing, lamenting the prospect of having to go to a party she’s been invited to; the line ‘so many faces yet so alone, just wanna be on my own at home’ providing an explanation for her dread. This was but one of the several ‘the 8th cumming’ cuts relayed to us over the course of their hour-long set, all of which were bound to go down a treat in a live setting.
A few stood out in particular. The group’s performance of the aforementioned ‘uti’ was easily the best of the night, with Vilim, Lombardo and Fox yelling into their mics over an up-tempo drum machine beat while Rodrigues dished out a meaty bit of guitar shreddage. Album opener ‘Karma Police’ – an original track, I will preface – opened the first mosh pit of the night, its rapid synth-bass and Fox’s higher-than-usual vocals sending a powerful current through the crowd.
That isn’t to say that the older tracks in their catalogue weren’t also well-received. When the first notes of ‘cicciolina,’ a bouncy new-wave banger (and cumgirl8’s most popular song on Spotify), rang out, many faces in the audience beamed in recognition; this, reflecting the substantial cult following the band has garnered since appearing on the alternative music scene in 2019. The tongue-in-cheek, breakfast-reverent ‘Waffles’ from the following year and ‘picture party,’ a sexy, stomping number from 2023’s ‘phantasea pharm’ EP, brought a similarly excited reaction from the long-time fans present at the show.
Overall, I was really impressed by the foursome’s musical chemistry, instrumental versatility (Rodrigues’s in particular, who moved from guitar to keyboard and back again with ease) and the balance they managed to strike between ‘four talented musicians touring their new album’ and ‘four mates having a laugh’ which ensured that everyone in attendance was to leave the gig feeling entertained and inspired in equal measure.
To conclude, YES Basement was the place to be on the 10th December 2024, where new alternative music is concerned. If you missed it, you’ll just have to join me in praying that these two acts return to Manchester (perhaps even reconvening come cumgirl8’s next EU tour) ASAP!
