TWRP

When costumes, aliases or anonymity are key features for a rock band (KISS, GWAR, Ghost, The Residents and Peelander Z all come to mind), it’s only natural to wonder how their music would fare without the layers of artifice and manufactured mystery. Claiming to be an “elite squad of rock stars from the future” who draw creative inspiration from science, kung fu and video games, Toronto-based Tupper Ware Remix Party (TWRP) inevitably raise those suspicions but fly their gimmick flag high while delivering cheeky, well-produced, disco-tinged dance music that’s been embraced by hipsters, millennials, nerds and fans of like-minded outfit Ninja Sex Party (who are unsurprisingly regular TWRP collaborators). Enlisting the musical talents of Doctor Sung, Lord Phobos, Havve Hogan and Commander Meouch, TWRP is blatantly influenced by helmet-wearing, Grammy-winning French duo Daft Punk (robot-voice treatments included) but their direct lifts are accompanied by so many goofy winks and nods that it’s hard not to give them a hall pass. Commenting under the after-school-special-worthy video for “Synthesize Her” (lead track from their 2018 full-length Together Through Time), YouTube user Wes Papes put the kitschy quartet in their place: “TWRP is the most ’80s band not from the ’80s.”