A trusted coworker told me I should go to this show. So I went. She didn't. I'm not sure what that says about either of us. Nor am I sure what it says that the opening band was so disappointed with their performance that they preferred not to be mentioned in this recap at all. I thought they were good. I was similarly confused that the room was packed on a Monday night. That's not normal. To paraphrase Ted, "Strange things are afoot at the RecordBar."

At 9:03, the Brooklyn-based Model/Actriz took the stage. And then quickly invaded the audience. The band is fronted by Cole Haden. Haden is a dynamo in drag. A queer kid sweeping across the stage and moshing through the crowd. Like most crowds, the one at RecordBar was held rapt, happy to do Haden's bidding, whether it was to sit on command or to hold the insanely long microphone cable aloft as he snaked around the room. His exploration of the space only paused so he could climb the tables and grind against the columns. Around him, the audience danced and bounced with their hands in the air. Haden got into their faces. Maybe he wanted to fight them. Maybe he wanted to make out with them. Maybe he wanted both. "This is a very horny show," exclaimed my date. She wasn't wrong.

The slash in Model/Actriz's name was telling. The band was both this and that. Electroclash, industrial noise, four-on-the-floor techno, hardcore, and any number of other genres. Haden's screams were certainly hardcore, but his seductive whines came from somewhere entirely different. The musicians around him were unsung. Jack Wetmore's guitar often did un-guitar-like things. A little tikka tikka tikka percussive scratch dominated one song. I heard no power chords. The rhythm section of Aaron Shapiro (bass) and Ruben Radlauer (drums) pushed everything to the breaking point. I flashed back to seeing Les Savy Fav at the height of its powers. Both NYC acts featured a wild, charismatic frontman with a penchant for audience confrontation backed by a twitchy post-hardcore band that went much harder than anyone every gave them credit for. Model/Actriz is just twice as sexy and infinitely queerer.

The night ended with hit "Cinderella." Was it an encore? I'm not sure. The group certainly didn't let the energy drop. Their fans were ready for it. Ready to join Haden, shouting out the telling chorus of "In your eyes, I am naked / Screaming like a tornado in the dark." Strange thing, that Model/Actriz. Strange and wonderful thing.