Amanda Blank gives Chicago a wake-up call

September 12, 2009, at the Bottom Lounge

By Charlotte Loftus
Published: September 14th, 2009 | 11:00pm

The all-ages crowd outside Chicago’s Bottom Lounge was clearly pumped in a way that you can only be when you’re 18. They lined up for the sold-out show hours before it started, tickets in hand. It’s always difficult to be the opener for a band like Matt and Kim who have such a rabid fan base. But Philadelphia-based rapper and singer Amanda Blank took it on like a champ, giving shout-outs to local hip-hop powerhouses Kid Sister and the Cool Kids (who guested on her recent Downtown Records’ album I Love You) and talking about how thrilled she was to be touring with Matt and Kim.

Spank Rock DJs Rockswell and Darko took the stage for a few minutes while Blank “finished putting her makeup on.” When she came on stage rocking a hooded cape, Blank went right into “Something Bigger, Something Better” off the new album. She was able to get the crowd moving, but most in attendance seemed more comfortable pogoing to Matt and Kim than grooving to Blank’s melodic hip-hop/pop hybrid.

Rockswell and Darko provided a relatively innocuous background which let Blank take the limelight with her magnetic and appealing performance. At times their beats verged into happy hardcore territory, where a fuzzy, dirty sound might’ve been more appropriate to Blank’s high-energy performance and raspy vocals. On songs like “Make It Take It” and “Lemme Get Some,” the bright beats behind Blank’s booty rap sounded slightly bizarre but still provided a strong beat for her to hang her hat on.

Explaining that she was keeping it low-key since her “pops is here,” Blank wasn’t quite the prowling sexual grandstander she can be on her records, but she still did her remix of the 1982 Romeo Void hit “Never Say Never.” Renamed “Might Like You Better” and sung by Blank, the song loses its New Wave associations and fits right into Blank’s hypersexual booty rap.

Blank provided the perfect complement to Matt and Kim. Both gave intense, kinetic performances which more than made up for their relatively short sets. There was sweat, sex, and sweetness in more or less equal measure in Blank’s performance. She wears her musical heart on her sleeve, flaunting her influences and embracing the local hip-hop scenes wherever she’s at. That infectious love of what she does was apparent at the Bottom Lounge — and in a scene where playing it cool is the norm, the obvious affection in her performance puts Blank in a scene all her own.

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For more photos from this show visit Venus Zine’s Flickr page
Amanda Blank MySpace page
Downtown Records