The Crystal Ark is the duo project of Viva Ruiz and Gavin Russom, DFA's resident homemade synthesizer wizard. The last time they worked together, it was at the MoMA, when Russom performed his lo-fi acid house project Black Meteoric Star in collaboration with Brazilian artist/s Assume Vivid Astro Focus. Underneath 3-D projections and a lot of colorful balloons, Russom banged out heavy rhythms while Ruiz and another woman, wearing really high heels and pleather-looking sheets of silver fabric like capes, danced really intensely. It was great. Crystal Ark harnesses some of that extravagance into jacked up pop for "The City Never Sleeps" a song that is more a mandate to that fact—must party—than an observation. On Halloween at like 3AM we were in a basement lit with only UV lights and in the corner there was an installation of Ninja Turtle looking slime. People were dressed like candy ravers, more than one person as Frida Kahlo, a lot of kinda gross sloppy public make outs and people dancing with candles. This song would have slayed.
