Puzzles and hijinks hide in New York electro punk band Lip Critic‘s latest album, Theft World. Sparked by an absurdly real case of identity theft that frontman Bret Kaser experienced at the hands of a devoted young fan, the album unravels like an epic. It’s a nod to theft in the broad and modern sense — shoplifting, consumerism, gambling, grifting, divorce, economic survival. At the Zebulon in Los Angeles on June 13th, they did not disappoint.
After the cyber grind duo Bejalvin cranked the energy, and Flatwounds vocalist Colin O’Hare consensually grabbed scalps in the audience (including my own), the lights switched from blue to a dark red and smoke drifted out, signaling the main event. Once the quartet took the stage, the packed room exploded. Kaser inhabited this role on stage like he was a ringmaster, conductor, and old-timey sports announcer rolled into one. Before opening with “Yard Sale,” he split the audience down the middle to cheer competitively.
“LA, we came here tonight for one reason and one reason alone, and that reason is to shake ass with all of you in this room,” said Kaser in the middle of “Jackpot” right before the beat dropped. The anxiety of this track, and the entire album for that matter, completely pulled through live.
Lip Critic tore through all but two songs from the new album, as well as seven songs from their 2024 album Hex Dealer, the older tracks fitting seamlessly into the new material. Theft World certainly has a more focused and refined sound, but the combination of the two created this back and forth momentum from start to finish. The pairing of “Debt Forest” (Theft World) and “The Heart” (Hex Dealer) was especially effective, with lyrics that seemed to comment one on the other, like another riddle to uncover.
There’s a beautiful visual symmetry to a Lip Critic set: two samplers facing each other, operated by Kaser and Connor Kleitz and two drum kits played by Danny Eberle and Ilan Natter. Each corner of the arrangement was so tight; with their set-up, they have to be. But still, Kleitz was grooving around on stage, and at one point Eberle even hopped off the kit and swapped with Kaser to take vocals and crowd surf.
With a giant beach ball bouncing across the room, off the ceiling lights, and often onto the most inconvenient areas on stage, an even larger “FUCK I.C.E.” flag waved around in the front row that Kaser grabbed and swung through the air. Later in the set, Kaser sang his praises about Flatwounds and made the joke that they are “the last guitar band ever,” which in a way, speaks to the beauty of Lip Critic’s composition: two dueling samplers and two untamed drummers.
While they may not be the first band to perform rock music with samplers, they exemplify what an envelope pushing band in 2026 can look like. They’re not letting it ride, they’re triggering the samples that you hear in real time. Lip Critic is bringing a physicality and innovation to the genre in a live band context, keeping a visceral punk energy at the core of the entire night.
Lip Critic Zebulon Setlist:
01. Yard Sale (230 Take)
02. Jackpot
03. Debt Forest
04. The Heart
05. Two Lucks
06. Spirit Bomber
07. Talon
08. Charity Dinner
09. Sermon
10. In the Wawa (Convinced I Am God)
11. Legs in a Snare
12. My Wife and the Goblin
13. Shoplifting
14. The Loan
15. Toxin Dodger
16. Milky Max
17. 200 Bottles on Eviction
