Sam Flax might have been the most impressive new band on the bill, a post-Hawkwind synthy Numan-wave band with two keyboards, a drum machine, and a couple guitars—and they looked as good as they sounded, with a poncho-clad bassist looking like Ariel Pink's taller brother, and a blond male guitarist/singer wearing a multi-colored windbreaker and Kim Fowley's cheek makeup. His female co-singer on keys looked pretty bad-assed too, with a futuristic funnel of hair on top of her head: I couldn't get a proper photo of her, so I'll just post this similar photo of Sean Young from Blade Runner.

A rock band gestates in the psyche of its founder for years before manifesting in the rehearsal space. In 2012, Frank Ene performed the requisite psychic exorcism and plucked Pure Bliss from his skull. Tear-drop guitar melodies interweave in cosmic copulation while Ene invests his vitality in spirited vocals. Ene’s humanity is purged and dissected through Pure Bliss. As he knows, song-writing is exhibitionism. Yet, six-string mingling is useless without its rhythmic underpinning and Pure Bliss delivers in spades. The instrumentation is familiar, but the deft performances of Sam Weiss, Garrett Hudson and Elyse Schrock near transubstantiation – a rock band’s duty (some call it feel.) Pure Bliss doesn’t stoop to the codified sound of any Bay Area sub-sect. They seek transcendence in pop – the genre’s most noble and perpetual endeavor.