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Drum machines. Audiences should expect lots and lots of drum machines at Soft Metals and Pleasure Curses’ show at Comet Ping Pong. The two synth-pop duos rely heavily on their 808s, but they yield emotionally distant results. On their new album, Lenses, Soft Metals’ Patricia Hall and Ian Hicks make good on their Los Angeles base—the pulsing beats sound ultra-modern and dreamy, and Hall’s ghostly vocals warp away like ocean currents. Performing as Pleasure Curses, however, local DJs and mixing artists Jahn Alexander and Evan Maxwell do something far darker. Their track “Abstrakt,” for instance, is slower and quieter than their showmates’, but enticingly dark, like a piece of well-crafted danger.
Soft Metals performs with Pleasure Curses and Motion Lines at 10 p.m. at Comet Ping Pong, 5037 Connecticut Ave. NW. $10. (202) 364-0404. cometpingpong.com.