What is it we say about The Whig every time we see a show there? That on its best nights, it evokes the energy of a killer, nigh-on-secret house show? Well, we hate to belabor that point, but there’s something magical about having your face so close to a band that it might actually, literally get rocked off. Indeed, such was the balance of power and precision Cinemechanica and So Many Dynamos brought to the table.

Indeed, as powerful as its records are — most especially its debut, The Martial Arts — Athens quartet Cinemechanica is exponentially mightier in person: clearer, heavier and much, much louder. So loud, in fact, that Cinemechanica was forced to combat The Whig’s biggest drawback — its smaller-than-average PA system.

Still, Cinemechanica jam-packed its too-short set with boundless energy — especially from drummer par excellence Mike Albanese — ripping through much of The Martial Arts (including an incendiary tag-team of “Bruckheimer” and “Get Outta Here Hitler” to close the set) while working through some newer songs, to be included on a forthcoming full-length.

Though, to be fair, many of these songs were new to the audience anyhow: Despite the relatively short drive time, this was Cinemechanica’s first gig in Columbia. Still, The Playlist has rarely see a band drop a crowd's collective jaw — including its own — as much as Cinemechanica did.

While Cheer-Accident nearly missed its gig across the State House grounds on Main at the Hunter-Gatherer (see Logan Young’s review here), Evansville, Ill., dance-punk stalwarts So Many Dynamos, indeed, came close to missing theirs, following an accident the night before just outside The Milestone in Charlotte. But, with the help of tourmates Cinemechanica, So Many Dynamos made it to its second appearance in the Capital City.

Its last gig was a Thursday nighter at New Brookland, one modestly attended but energetic nonetheless. (If we recall correctly, it was with HORSE the Band.) Of course, winning over a Thursday night New Brookland crowd is a smaller order compared to playing in front of The Whig’s Monday slice-night crowd. Then again, that the majority of those in attendance had moved tables and started a dance party between the band and the bar by the end of the night says it all, we suppose.

Like Cinemechanica, much of So Many Dynamos’ set was culled from records past, hitting high points from its stellar sophomore record Flashlights. (“Progress,” “Search Party” and “We Vibrate, We Do” dotted the setlist, as did the kinetic “When We Were Machines” from its debut, When I Explode.) Relentless in its precise execution — a compliment to its rhythm section of, uh, drummer Clayton “Norm” Kunstel — So Many Dynamos blends angular guitar licks with deep, rhythmic synths and overdriven drums into a disco ball of angst and energy that makes Dismemberment Plan comparisons both obvious and erroneous.

Yeah, about those. True, the Land of Lincolners owe a good deal of debt to The Dismemberment Plan’s twitchy tempos, stop-start guitar interplay and Aaron Stovall’s Travis Morrison-esque delivery. But as the selections from the group’s fantastic The Loud Wars showed — particularly the sweeping “Friendarmy,” the trance-inducing “New Bones” and the epic “The Formula” — So Many Dynamos has fully carved out a sound unique unto itself.