On Friday, February 23, progressive rock and electronica bands Zombi and Trans Am performed in Doherty Hall 2315. Carnegie Mellon was the first leg of Trans Am's tour promoting their new album, Sex Change.

Pittsburgh's Zombi, made up of Steve Moore and A.E. Paterra, opened for Trans Am as soon as most of the Doherty lecture hall filled up.

Zombi opened with a set that was very soothing and relaxing. Complete with images and short videos of aerial landscapes and pleasing explosions of color projected onto the screens, Zombi made it clear that they are masters at submersing the audience into a dream sequence. This by no means implies that their music sounds gentle, like waves crashing on a beach, but instead they are able to use instruments traditionally associated with heavy rock genres to create a rhythm that can put their listeners at ease. A fog machine added to the effect.

As Zombi continued, it became difficult to distinguish each song from the previous one. There was a theme to the visualizations: for example, a video of paramecia moving around accompanied one of their more synthesizer-heavy and rhythmic songs, a simulation of traveling through a city tunnel at high speeds accompanied another song oddly reminiscent of early anime themes, and quantum visualizations accompanied a more eerie song featuring organ sounds. The visualizations felt more or less correlated with each song in an indescribable way, but that did not change the fact that every song sounded roughly alike.

After Zombi finished the opener, there was a brief intermission before Trans Am took the stage. It turned out that during set up, Trans Am drummer Sebastian Thomson had to be rushed to the hospital. Both bands were not sure if Trans Am could perform, so Zombi opened about half hour later than scheduled, once Trans Am had found a replacement drummer.

"He was throwing up.  It was pretty bad," said Saagar Patel, CIT and SCS senior and Activities Board Tech head. "At least two of the members went to the hospital with him.  Who knows what's going to happen."

When Trans Am finally began their set, the band's Phil Manley, multi-instrumentalist on guitar, bass, keyboard, and voice, informed the audience that Thomson was in the hospital and that they had found a drummer named Tony to take his place.

"This isn't the first time Tony is playing for Trans Am; it's his first time seeing us!" Manley jested to lighten the mood.

With that, Trans Am kicked off their set with "Obscene Strategies" from their new album Sex Change, and then taking a request from the audience, "I Want It All."

Trans Am, like Zombi, utilized visualizations to accompany their songs, which were less electronic-inspired than Zombi's and more of tribute to post-rock era of the 1990s. However, a couple Trans Am songs featured vocals altered by the synthesizer to make it sound robotic. All of their songs were very rhythmic and catchy, as evidenced by the head-bobbing and the toe-tapping of the audience.  

Trans Am's stage presence was very casual. Between songs, Manley and Nathan Means, the other multi-instrumentalist, would talk about their upcoming tour and make humorous small talk with each other. Afterwards, Manley would ask the audience for requests, play a few riffs for Tony to get an idea of the sound, and then the head-bobbing and toe-tapping would continue as Trans Am rocked the house with their sometimes melancholic, sometimes exciting rhythms.  

The marriage between the electronic genre's staple synthesizer and rock's staples guitar and drums was superb, as if electronica and rock were a natural pairing. The highly experimental music proved to be a successful formula that is often difficult to achieve. Trans Am received a great reception in Pittsburgh, kicking off their tour nicely.

For more information about upcoming Activities Board concerts, visit its website. For more about the bands, visit Zombi's and Trans Am's webpages.

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