Cut Copy with Washed Out and Midnight Magic at 4th and B: 2011
Cut Copy with Washed Out and Midnight Magic at 4th and B: 2011
Cut Copy headlined at 4th and B in downtown San Diego, with Washed Out and Midnight Magic opening. This triple bill brought three different flavors of electronic-influenced indie music to the same stage - disco-pop, chillwave, and dance-punk.
Midnight Magic Opens
Midnight Magic kicked off the evening with disco-influenced dance music. The Brooklyn band makes modern takes on classic disco - four-on-the-floor beats, funky bass lines, falsetto vocals, and unabashed commitment to making people dance.
Their set was pure fun - groovy, retro without being pastiche, and designed to get the crowd moving early. They proved that disco never really died; it just evolved and influenced everything that came after.
Washed Out
Ernest Greene's Washed Out was one of chillwave's defining projects. His song "Feel It All Around" was used as the theme for "Portlandia," introducing his hazy, nostalgic sound to wider audiences.
Live, Washed Out translated the bedroom-producer aesthetic to the stage with live instrumentation supporting Greene's vocals and synthesizers. The dreamy, reverb-drenched sound that characterized chillwave came through beautifully in the 4th and B acoustics.
Songs from "Within and Without" showcased his evolution from lo-fi bedroom recordings to more polished production while maintaining the emotional core - longing, nostalgia, and warmth wrapped in layers of synthesizers.
Cut Copy
The Australian band Cut Copy makes indie-electronic music that draws on new wave, synth-pop, and dance-punk. By 2011, they'd released "In Ghost Colours" and "Zonoscope," establishing themselves as masters of euphoric, danceable indie-electronic.
Their live show is high-energy and celebratory. The band plays with joy and precision - tight rhythms, shimmering synthesizers, and Dan Whitford's vocals pulling everything together. It's music designed to create communal euphoria on the dancefloor.
"Lights and Music" from "In Ghost Colours" is Cut Copy's manifesto - a song about the transcendent power of music and dancing together. Live, with the full band and production, it delivered exactly that transcendence.
"Hearts on Fire" showed their gift for combining indie rock sensibilities with dance music's physicality. The song builds and releases tension perfectly, creating moments of pure joy.
Their newer material from "Zonoscope" demonstrated continued evolution while maintaining their core sound - optimistic, danceable, and emotionally resonant.
Three Flavors of Electronic Indie
The triple bill showcased electronic music's range within indie contexts. Midnight Magic brought disco revival, Washed Out brought chillwave's dreamy introspection, and Cut Copy brought euphoric dance-punk. All electronic-influenced, all different approaches.
This diversity showed that "electronic music" isn't a monolith. The tools (synthesizers, drum machines, samplers) can serve many visions - from intimate bedroom pop to ecstatic dancefloor anthems.
4th and B
4th and B (now The Music Box) in downtown San Diego was a great venue for this show - good sound system, decent size (capacity around 1,000), and downtown location that drew crowds from across the city.
The venue's acoustics served all three acts well - you could hear Washed Out's subtle textures, feel Midnight Magic's bass grooves, and experience Cut Copy's euphoric crescendos.
The 2011 Indie-Electronic Moment
2011 was peak indie-electronic fusion - bands incorporating electronic production and dance music influences while maintaining indie credibility. Cut Copy, along with acts like LCD Soundsystem, Hot Chip, and The Rapture, showed that indie kids could dance.
This moment broke down barriers between rock purism and electronic music, expanding what "indie" could sound like.
The Verdict
Cut Copy with Washed Out and Midnight Magic at 4th and B was a perfectly curated triple bill - three acts working in electronic-influenced territory but with distinct visions. Midnight Magic got people moving early, Washed Out provided dreamy introspection, and Cut Copy delivered euphoric release.
If you loved early 2010s indie-electronic music, if you appreciate when bands make you think and dance simultaneously, if you want music that's both emotionally resonant and physically compelling, this show delivered all three approaches.
Thank you to all three bands for proving electronic music and indie sensibilities can coexist beautifully.