(photo: Architecture in Helsinki stinks it up at the Mohawk)
After two whole days of the SXSW music fest, I’m finally hitting stride on the music scene after a disappointing start.
Day one started off lousy at the Mohawk Club, where the featured band of their day show was Architecture in Helsinki. Now, I have to say, if you’re going to give your band a super cool name, at least try to live up to the billing. The Australian outfit--yes, they’re nor even Finish, and they wouldn’t know great design if it hit ‘em in the face--was a straight ahead party band and hardly anyone in the crowd seemed to care. The Mohawk is one hot club, and the band we caught there a few nights before, the Lemurs, was way, way better.
Which brings up an interesting point. With so many acts in town, you’re sure to be frequently disappointed. The best strategy is to move on at the first sign of boredom.
Ten more gigs within a two-block radius always beckon, so if your first choice is a bust, time to roll. We rolled over to Plush, a little place down the street on Red River, and caught Boxing Lesson, a local band with real bite and well-placed anger. Keeping with the theme of going local, the next stop was Lovejoys, a gritty old joint in the center of the action where local blues band the Best Love in Town played to a chilled-out, mostly local audience.
Later I tried to get into a Blonde Redhead but the one-in-one-out door policy meant that their set would be finished by the time I got in. With so much music jammed in, SXSW sets run about 30 minutes. You blink (or show up 1 minute late) and you miss it. So I decamped next door to the excellent garden at Side Bar to down a few Guinesses and plan the next day.
