"Electro-clash" is an odd pseudo genre, liberally applied to any music that incorporates a significant amount of electronic noise with either a more band-oriented or live focused aesthetic. Of course like most labels, it is also a largely meaningless and alienating term, almost putting the musically curious at more of a distance from understanding the artist's sound than they would be just letting the music speak for itself. Yet the genre tag is still not entirely without precedent, and this recent double bill featuring recent Fat-Possum signees Crocodiles and Toronto analog-ravers Holy Fuck showcased two bands that both receive shade under the vague "electro-clash" umbrella.

The increasing number of electronic shows at seminal Cambridge rock club The Middle East has been suggesting that this is a growing trend, yet this dynamic double bill with both a new, blogged to death group and a slightly more road-tested, certified bunch of party starters left Junkmedia convinced that the electronic rock show might not just be a new fad.

Kicking off the show was a set from a band that The Weekly Dig recently showcased in their local music issue, Hooray For Earth. The last time we saw these guys they were at Harper's Ferry in Allston, opening up for Deer Tick. And though in Allston their layered organ noises and anthemic choruses sounded a whole lot more like what The Dig would file as 'space rock,' Hooray For Earth still held it down on that tiny stage through that tiny PA at The Middle East Upstairs. Their presence at the show was, if anything, an early indication of the quality of these bands. Even though Hooray For Earth are still up-and-coming, still finding their sound, the Dopamine Records band even being on the bill was something of a stamp of quality that spoke in advance for the showmanship of the groups they were opening for.

That being said, both headliners delivered great sets, albeit in their own unique ways. Crocodiles have been dividing people to love 'em or hate 'em since they began earning attention, and maybe this has something to do with their set-up. Tackling the guitar noise-pop shuffle sound as just a duo, Charles Rowell and Brandon Welchez take the drum machine and guitar shtick that early Echo and the Bunnymen were all about, name themselves after a later Echo record and throw in some California sunshine pop melodies before burying them under feedback. After all, they are from San Diego.

Though it's a simple set-up, Crocodiles work together because of their chemistry, not their aesthetic. When Welchez wasn't kneeling down at his programming boxes, churning out ambient tones that some speculated were intentionally "brown noise" to rile the audience up and make us uncomfortable, he was quite the entertaining singer, wearing Dylanesque shades and pushing the palms of his hands together above his head while doing a swimming, goofy guru dance. As entertaining and captivating to watch as this was, of course there are going to be a few haters in the blogosphere, frustrated at their own inability to peg the unique pastiche characteristics of Crocodiles and their quirky antics to a single time or place. But Junkmedia were not among those bloggers and skeptics. We really dug these guys, who were certainly more of a rock group than they were an electro act – sequencers and beat machines be damned.

Holy Fuck, meanwhile, are on the complete flip side of the 'electronica' coin. Having a drummer and a bassist, along with two keyboardists who also use kitchen sink effects and electronics (like a circuit-bent 35 mm film synchronizer and toy guns that make noise), they are thrilling to watch as a band entirely electronic that manages to build the progressive washing tone of their songs solely through analog means. In an age of auto-tune, when any douche with a laptop and sampling software can drop ecstasy, buy a hi-lighter neon American Apparel headband and call himself a mash-up artist, these guys manage to do it right. Choice of instruments aside, it was remarkable to dig how prog these guys were - in seeking to create an electronic soundscape through purely real, physical instruments, Holy Fuck have constructed a set of tunes that each build to a climax or explosion. And though much electronica functions in the same manner, the sheer scope and ingenuity of the devices they use to make it happen is really something to behold. Holy fuck, indeed.

-- Photo of Holy Fuck by James Mejia.