By John Faussemagne
Around 6:30 PM Friday, March 13th, I got dressed for Pictureplane and Cult Member at the Masquerade. I turned on a Pictureplane playlist, put on baggy jeans, a t-shirt, some boots, and then went to look for a hat to wear. The only one I found was a Salem hat, and I sat there for 10 minutes contemplating if I wanted to be “that guy” at a witch-house related show wearing Salem merch. Unfortunately, my hair was a mess, and I was not going to put on the alternative, a Kansas City Royals hat I got when I was in 5th grade.
This would be my first time seeing Cult Member, but my second time seeing Pictureplane. A year and a half prior, at a Greenville festival featuring Pictureplane alongside many of his 100% Electronica label mates, I caught the Witch House pioneer early in the day in what were slightly bizarre circumstances. His music fits the night. It’s sometimes dark, sometimes nostalgic, but my best experiences tuning in were after hours, so a daytime set was in heavy contrast to the music. Because of this, I was excited to see him in a venue where I could see what he would do with the lighting and visuals. My car reached downtown, and the dark electronic sounds of Pictureplane were replaced by the washed-out house music of Cult Member. One of my biggest questions going into this concert was how Cult Member would be able to convert his music into a concert hall setting instead of a club. In my experiences, sometimes electronic musicians fall short live when performing at a venue since the venue isn’t inherently set up for DJs. This oftentimes leads DJs to play sets expecting a dancefloor, but getting a crowd of onlookers, as you would expect at a concert.
As I entered Purgatory, the second smallest of the Masquerade venues, the man behind me entered in full wizard garb, setting the tone for the vibe of the night. The lights were darker, the fans were dressed in black, and the music was a mix of witch house and electroclash favorites. Pictureplane walked out to the Atlanta crowd in a Dirty Bird era Deion Sanders jersey. In front of him were a few pedals, a Korg synthesizer, and a sampler with his tracks stored to play. For a crowd here to see Cult Member, Pictureplane killed it. He had a great live presence, recreating and altering many of his songs on the fly, while also handling vocal duties. My favorite moment of the night was when he played “Goth Star” early in his set. As a non-vocal song, he could’ve easily just used a prerecorded version and tried to hype the crowd up, but instead, he seemingly was sampling different parts of the song and altering it in real time.
Being a well-respected artist in the electronic scene, but much smaller than the person whom you are opening for, isn’t easy, but Pictureplane did a great job of trying to get the crowd into it. During one slower track, he had bass hits on the first and third count; he doubled down, creating a four on the floor beat, which brought a techno vibe that the crowd really appreciated. People who had been standing around, looking at their phones, started moving their hips. He followed it up with a fan-favorite cut from his recent album “Heaven is a State of Mind,” which continued the vibe within the crowd, before ending with another fan favorite, “Circle.” Visually, the set was all I could’ve hoped for and more. Every song had unique vaporwave and witch house-esque visuals that enhanced the vibe of the show immensely. As an opener, Pictureplane did everything he needed to and more, and got me excited for Cult Member to come out.
Cult Member came out to 2 CDJ units and a mixer. Since his songs don’t have vocals, this made sense as he only needed to mix between his dance and house-inspired songs. As the first song started playing, a plethora of phones shot straight up in the air to record. Cult Member played a very interesting show from a DJing perspective. Oftentimes, people go to DJ sets to travel alongside the mix throughout the night, listening from song to song, and hear the story a DJ wants to tell. However, at the end of the day, DJing at its core is about reading a room and curating the vibe. That night, Purgatory wasn’t a club. A lot of the people there were people who you wouldn’t run into at a club, and noticing this, he played a set curated truly for fans. I said it was interesting earlier because at first the mix didn’t fully click for me, the transitions felt harsh, and he would sometimes build up to little payoff, but as the show went on, it became clearer why he was doing this. Playing to a crowd of people used to going to concerts and not clubs, he played a DJ set as if it were a concert. He used these harsher mixes to truly emphasize his most popular songs like “U Weren’t Here I Really Miss You,” and “Fantastic Life.” While DJing is oftentimes about the in-between moments, when tasked with creating a mix for a crowd of fans wanting to hear his most popular song in full, Cult Member did a stellar job of bringing his music to life.
As an opener, Pictureplane was able to make fans out of listeners, and Cult member was able to create long-lasting memories for his fans in attendance. The two put on a stellar show that kept the crowd moving and dancing for hours.
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