Sneaker Pimps Can’t Find Solid Footing

The Sneaker Pimps headlined the sold-out Hollywood Athletic Club on Saturday with a hypnotically uninspired performance. The act is a combination of shoegazer feedback rock and beat-heavy trip-hop--Garbage meets Portishead.

For the record industry, it is a recipe made in heaven, a bridge between the heavyweight champion of chart genres, alternative, and the new hope of pop, dance music. The Pimps’ debut album, “Becoming X,” is a heavily marketed (and dubiously titled) collection bolstered by a pair of radio-friendly singles with infectious pop hooks (“6 Underground” and “Swing Swing Sugar”).

In their brief performance, which had the feel of an industry showcase, these Pimps failed to authenticate their slickly produced album. Singer Kelli Dayton was rebelliously off-key at times, perhaps to inject a punkish sense of abandon (in a Courtney Love sort of way).

Backing her up were a guitarist, a synthesizer programmer, a bassist and a drummer, all dressed in bold (or bleak) black. Yet the group sounded small, not at all a reflection of its highly polished digital product. Feedback and echo were allowed to run as wild as a 3 a.m. car alarm, as the group was stiff and not animated. The Hollywood Athletic Club was a gracious venue, however, providing an acute sound system and an intimate view.

So much of the British dance craze is justly hyped: It is vibrant with innovation and invigorated by the dance floors that gave birth to the artists (from Death in Vegas to the Propellerheads to Talvin Singh). The Pimps have large shoes to fill and come off contrived in comparison.

* The Sneaker Pimps play tonight at the Hollywood Athletic Club, 6525 Sunset Blvd., 8 p.m. $13.50. (213) 962-6600.