SXSW 2011 - Thursday Reviews: Geographer, Chain Gang of 1974, Atlas Sound, The Dodos

SXSW 2011 Thursday

words by Elliot Cole and photos by Randy Cremean

Maggie Mae's Rooftop (Bright Antenna & Independent Label Group)

Geographer’s knob-toiling frontman Mike Deni sat nonchalantly behind his instruments, perched on a high stool, a result of getting hit by a car a few weeks earlier.  (Hit foot could be seen in a protective brace poking out of his jeans.)  It wasn’t the only mountain Geographer had to climb at Maggie Mae’s: the sound repeatedly cut out mid-song, a death-kneel to a band so heavily reliant on electronic bleeps and whirrs.  The staff frantically made adjustments, but the lack of current did everything it could to undercut the San Francisco trio’s set.

Still, Geographer pressed on and mapped out a performance that was intimate and skilled.  Deni’s vocals – vaguely reminiscent of Miike Snow’s Andrew Wyatt - built a poignant landscape that weaved through the band’s electronic melodies.  When the sound cut out, the band played on anyways, with an appreciative audience keeping the rhythm. 

After the set, Deni crutched his way through new fans, taking photos and shaking hands with a sincere smile.  They’ll be better sets, sets where he can groove onstage and not worry about PA system mishaps.  For now, however, the band charted a course through treacherous paths rather admirably, and merited “one to watch for” status.

Chaing Gang of 1974
Maggie Mae's Rooftop (Bright Antenna & Independent Label Group)

What Kamtin Mohager lacks in vocal prowess he makes up for in showmanship.  The electro-rock frontman gyrated, jazzed, and spazzed for an entire set, earning some marks from a tepid crowd with his best James Brown impersonation.  While his deep crooning was off-key as much as it was on, the high-energy of the set obscured those misgivings.  Ultimately, it was catchy and fun, which plays well to a rooftop bar hovering over 6th Street.

A backdrop of dance-worthy rhythms and electronics, along with some guitar panache, buoyed Mohager.  Chain Gang wears the hipster dance band badge brazenly, but showed enough chops to be more than a flavor-of-the-month.

While the black-and-white striped shirts may have been taking the “chain gang” thing a little to literally, we’ll give the group a get-out-of-jail-free-card for this little bit of flamboyance.  After all, Mohager’s eccentric showmanship, sassy dance moves, and motivational attitude are what keep the band worth watching.

Atlas Sound
Flamingo Cantina (Under the Radar)

With a line reaching around the block, the small Flamingo Cantina was packed to the brim for Bradford Cox’s only performance as Atlas Sound (his more prominent project, Deerhunter, would play the next day at Club de Ville).  The environment was a little strange: a tropical themed bar doesn’t exactly suit the vaporous sounds Cox can produce.  Still, Cox mastered the intimate confines.

Hunched over electronics and guitars, Cox pieced together songs using an array of loops and effects, often building songs one instrument at a time.  He assembles the songs bit-by-bit, and by the end, a hauntingly full swelling builds through all of the melodies, as if the sounds somehow find each other in the air, Cox relegated to a mere instigator.

Cox tends to let the music talk for him, letting the ethereal sounds flood the bar walls.  But when he did acknowledge the crowd, he seemed genuinely happy to be there, with a youthful enthusiasm that belies how many SXSW sets he’s played.

The Dodos
East Side Drive-In (Pitchfork Offline)

The Dodos seem like a fairly established outfit to be running around and playing as many SXSW shows as it did, but I wasn’t about to complain, especially after giving a listen to the band’s recently released No Color (an early candidate for my “best of the year” list).  Meric Long and company balanced the newer material with some older fan-favorites, driven by the always-frantic, stellar drumming of Logan Kroeber.  Though the band was sharp, the venue didn’t suit the group’s panic-stricken indie rock: the Offline Stage was basically a dusty parking lot with a stage in it, basking in the Austin sun.  The heat and dust tapered the energy of the crowd, and the set fell into a sleepy, dissonant haze.  The Dodos inspired some timid dancing, but saved their best track, “Fools”, for other shows and had to move to the next venue after an extremely short set.  There were sure to be better sets by The Dodos during SXSW, but this wasn’t one of them, despite some sharp new tracks.