Rocking out at Starr Space. — Photo by Scot Bowman

Starr Space hosted a night of explosive rock and theatrics, as Pass Kontrol, Lady Magma, Marionettes of Satan, and Buffie Gilbert impressed a spirited crowd at the beautiful Bushwick venue on Saturday night.

Singer Buffie Gilbert kicked off the evening with her smoldering bluesy rock set that featured, among other highlights, an impressive cover of PJ Harvey’s “To Bring You My Love.” Backed by Brian Derdiarian of Lady Magma on guitar and Adam of Pass Kontrol on drums, Buffie rose to the challenge of playing first to an unsettled, gathering crowd.

Pass Kontrol took the stage next in glorious arena-rock fashion, as the crowd more than quadrupled and rushed tightly up to the front. With the backdrop of a stellar visual projection, including the startling image of a weeping woman and random, perfectly synched rehearsal footage, Bushwick’s finest kind of blew my mind with their astounding performance. I’ve seen these guys at least a handful of times before and I can attest to the vast overall improvement of their live show. With new recordings in the pipeline, Bushwick beware… Pass Kontrol are on their way.

Lady Magma also really impressed. Lead singer Andrea Mersits is a force to be reckoned with. Her meticulous stage skills really hone in the otherwise party/banshee band surrounding her. The juxtaposition shouldn’t work — but it does. The band showed great range, and also had the greatest time playing to a lively room.

Marionettes of Satan took the stage in pure darkness, as the screeching rumble of their droning noise-rock took control of the room. It was particularly awesome when people flashed pictures, fleetingly illuminating the escalating theatrics onstage. The dramatic lead singer warbled away, while adorning himself in white face paint and a green-leaf crown. The aggressive sound clearly drove some running into the frigid night, but those lucky enough to stick around got to witness genuine rock ‘n’ roll fireworks.