ADULT.

The ’90s were dominated by the dour haze that was grunge and adversely the golden age of hip-hop. The aughts were messier: Subsets of subsets of genres and reference points sprouted every which way. But along one branch, the decade encompassed both rap-rock for raging frat dudes and dance punk that spoke to the David Bowie-leaning alternaboys and riot girls. The young people of that era, it seems, just needed to dance it out or mosh it out, or something?

ADULT, formed in Detroit in 1998, hail from the dance floor, like peers such as Chicks on Speed, Peaches, Fischerspooner, Ladytron, the Faint and Le Tigre who embodied a millennial Gary Numan meets Devo by way of lo-fi new wave aesthetic.

ADULT. by Christopher Goyette

Being from Detroit also matters: You can be in a band and be from Detroit to varying degrees of success. But to make it out of Detroit alive and with a career you have to be good, like really good. It’s not called Detroit Rock City for no reason. MC5, White Stripes, Dirtbombs, the Stooges, Alice Cooper, the Temptations, the Supremes, Eminem — you see what I’m getting at here? Detroit music is cataclysmic to the rest of the mellifluous world. Nicola Kuperus and Adam Lee Miller, the two art school devotees who as ADULT., bring that energy to their electropunk anthems.

The duo spent their formative years playing in other outfits, cutting their teeth in the Detroit scene and making their names before coming together professionally and romantically. They formed Ersatz Audio, their own record label, to have complete control over their musical and artistic output. This kind of freedom lends itself to artistic achievement that owes nothing to anyone but the artists. Much like their Michigan brethren, this sort of free-thinking creativity has kept ADULT., relevant way passed the expected shelf life of their contemporaries. Give it up for the denizens of Detroit and their resilience; now let’s down!

ADULT. with Body of Light, Kontravoid and Spike Hellis play 8pm Saturday April 23 at Gramps in Miami, $16. adultperiod.com ~ Tim Moffatt