Photos: Simian Mobile Disco [Chicago, IL; 09/18/07]

Photos by Sanchez and Kitahara; text by Tyler Grisham

James Ford looked like a mad scientist on stage last night at Chicago's Empty Bottle. With his floppy plume of curls and an almost maniacal gleam in his eye, he hunched over a stitched-together system of Frankenstein'd synths and mucked about tweaking this and plugging that. Performing with James Shaw as Simian Mobile Disco, the duo rocked a Flavorpill-sponsored party, playing their hybrid mix of ravey dance tunes and electropop jams from their Recommended debut album Attack Decay Sustain Release.

Equally as impressive as the stacks of keyboards and amps was the circle of excruciatingly bright light columns set up in a circle around the stage, flashing in colorful sequences and recalling Daft Punk's laser pyramid at a much more blinding proximity. But the overall effect of seeing Ford's Elsa Lanchester 'do illuminated in pulsing green lights, while the guy bounced around playing both producer and hype man, was anything but frightening.

Tour dates and more stage shots-- plus the Jameses enjoying a slice of Chicago deep dish pizza-- below.

















Mobile Disco:

09-20 Seattle, WA - Neumos &
09-21 San Francisco, CA - Mezzanine $
09-22 Los Angeles, CA - The Standard (DJ set)
09-22 Los Angeles, CA - Echoplex $%
09-23 San Diego, CA - Street Scene Festival
09-26 Leeds, England - The Cockpit
09-27 London, England - Scala
09-28 Marseilles, France - Marsatac
09-29 Strasbourg, France - Ososphere
10-05 Sheffield, England - The Plug (DJ set)
10-06 London, England - Wang (DJ set)
10-18 Brooklyn, NY - Music Hall of Williamsburg
11-17 Manchester, England - Warehouse Project
11-21 Osaka, Japan - Zepp ^
11-22 Osaka, Japan - Zepp ^
11-24 Tokyo, Japan - Makuhari Centre ^
11-25 Dublin, Ireland - Ambassador *
11-26 Manchester, England - Apollo *
11-27 Edinburgh, Scotland - Corn Exchange *
11-28 Newcastle, England - Academy *
11-30 Southampton, England - Guildhall *
12-01 Leeds, England - University *
12-02 Cardiff, Wales - University *
12-04 Birmingham, England - Academy *
12-05 London, England - Brixton Academy *
12-06 Manchester, England - Apollo @
12-07 Birmingham, England - NIA @
12-09 Liverpool, England - Aintree Pavillion @
12-11 Brighton, England - Brighton Centre @
12-13 London, England - Brixton Academy @
12-14 London, England - Brixton Academy @
12-15 London, England - Brixton Academy @

& with Diplo, Switch
$ with JDH & Dave P
% with Boys Noize
^ with Underworld
* with Klaxons
@ with Chemical Brothers