You’d have to live under a rock to have never heard of Matt & Kim. While I must admit that I actually never tuned into this Brooklyn based duo until recently, I’ve seen their names tacked onto upcoming line-ups at nearly every Chicago venue in the past two years. I had my assumptions, of course—boy/girl duo in love with keys and drums, hmm, that sounds familiar. . . And while Matt & Kim happen to follow directly behind Mates of State on my iTunes, I can’t deny that is the only direct comparison. Switch out Kori with Matt with singing/keyboard responsibilities, and Jason with Kim on drums—and subtract the cutesy innocent love songs, substituting with a righteous desire to cause some trouble and have a fucking party—and then you get Matt & Kim. Where I’m sure Jason and Kori Hammel would make an interesting, if not somewhat awkward coffee date, I think I’d much rather meet Matt and Kim for a beer, or five.

I’d like to thank the large group of underage kids, the sweaty and appropriately sized hosting Subterranean and of course, the headlining act themselves, for the most entertaining Tuesday night I’ve experienced in quite a while. The Subterranean has always remained an interesting venue to showcase bands—with its ridiculously cheap beer selection, intimately enclosed stage/downstairs floor and U-shaped upstairs—but last night was definitely my first experience with that many condensed, stoked audience members, looking not to just be somewhere for the sake of name dropping a show, but to actually enjoy themselves and get the hell down. Sure, the majority of the crowd probably just scored their driver’s licenses (gotta love the 17+ up shows), but the floors of this particular Wicker Park venue SHOOK last night as Matt & Kim, along with opening acts Best Fwends and Chicago staple Hollywood Holt/Million Dollar Mano tore that place apart.

I felt a bit like a chaperon at a really cool high school party at times with all the crowd surfing that took place (every single act!), but was not immune to the contagious dance moves and overall good vibe. Matt and Kim took to the stage a little later than I anticipated for a 9:00 PM show; but as soon as the couple took their drums & keys to the stage, the crowd went crazy. Opening up with “It’s a Fact (Printed Stained),” the next hour or so progressed into a disarray of songs fitting for any super cool basement party, be it in the 1980’s, 90’s or today.

I’m not too familiar with MK’s exact song catalog, but I recognized several numbers from their self-titled debut release including “No More Long Years” and “Yea Yeah,” as well as a few new numbers accounted for. One thing I noticed, though, is the crowd seemed to eat up every single track as if it were the group’s biggest hit. Matt seemed to man the mic for stage banter the majority of the performance, giving ups to Obama as well as the opening support acts—but I think Kim accurately summed up her excitement for rocking Chicago smiling ear to ear, “I only get nervous in two spots, Brooklyn, of course, and Chicago, where we just can’t fuck up or our friends will call us out—I think I’ve took three shits today already.”

TMI, Kim, TMI—but that’s ok, you did just fine last night and you’ve converted at least one new fan to your evening of pop thrash dance madness. Oh, and did I mention the duo closed to “The Final Countdown?” Definite bonus points there. Catching a clear performance pic was all but impossible, but I figured the crowd shot ups the overall ambience of the show anyway—sweaty, happy, angsty teens and PBR swigging hipsters united—like I said, it was a Tuesday to remember.

Discuss: Did you make it to the show? Thoughts? Leave your thoughts/reviews in the comments please!

Myspace: Matt and Kim