By: Jon Behm
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| Charles Byron of Panther - Photo by Jon Behm |
Word is out, the kiddies love Architecture In Helsinki. At least they did Wednesday night at the 400 Bar. With their boundless energy and their low alcohol tolerance, they made this 26-year-old feel like a senior citizen. I may have to stop going to 18+ shows before I develop an early case of cranky old man syndrome.
Two bands from Portland opened up the set, Panther and Glass Candy. Panther is a heavily percussive duo—they utilize a drum set, a drum machine, an extra snare, and a pair of congas. Charles Byron sings in a sort of Reggaeton style voice, heavily distorted by an echoing mic. It is essentially dance beats, piped in through a laptop, with extra percussion added in.
Panther wasn’t bad, but as far as dance music goes they didn’t hold a candle to the night’s next duo, Glass Candy. Ever since I sampled a few of GC’s tracks last summer I have been hooked, and was looking forward to the set. Lead singer Ida No rapped, screamed, and chanted over catchy dance beats to a very appreciative audience. With bare feet and a dancer’s lithe grace, she hopped, skipped, and gyrated all over the stage. A little more reserved, keyboardist Peter Jewel pounded out the synth beats, his tattooed face occasionally bobbing up and down with the rhythm. There were some pretty bad technical problems concerning the background beats fading in and out and at times disappearing altogether, but by the third song everything seemed to be under control. Ida seemed genuinely very pleased with the set and told us at the end that this was the best they had ever been received in Minneapolis.
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| James Cecil of Architecture in Helsinki - Photo by Jon Behm |
Australia’s Architecture In Helsinki rounded out the night with more of a bang than a whimper. About four songs into the set I was forced to abandon the front of the floor due to the masses of wildly jumping bodies. I have never felt the 400 Bar’s floor warp so much under my feet. While all this craziness could have pissed me off, I don’t begrudge the audience their good time. Architecture plays the catchy, upbeat kind of music that makes you want to jump around. If I hadn’t been trying to constantly protect my camera, I may have jumped with them.
While I expected the band to mostly play tunes off of their recent release, Places Like This, we were also treated to some older standards. References to Minneapolis and St. Paul were worked into the lyrics of "It’5." One of my favorites, "Do the Whirlwind," also made an appearance, but really didn’t sound as great as I wanted it to—possibly due to being sped up a bit faster than the studio track. There were some gems among the new stuff as well; "Hold Music" was probably the best song of the night with its funky horn and danceable beat. "Lazy" was also very well done.
Technical problems continued though, as Architecture had to take one minute break due to a broken microphone cord. Lead singer Cameron Bird seemed fairly contemptuous of the 400 Bar saying sarcastically during the break “people are moving out the door, it’s another victory for the 400 Bar,” blaming their problems on the bar’s faulty mic stands. He even joked to the audience that he was taking up a collection to buy the bar a new set. While waiting for the music to start up again I was surprised to find that I was standing next to the Twin Cities’ own Eva Mohn, of Coach Said Not To and Dale Hush Hush fame. It’s always nice to see musicians out supporting one another.
Technical problems aside, all of the bands played a pretty good set. While the sound was decent and the beat infectious, I just wasn’t quite in the right mood for the dance orgy. I am glad, though, that everyone had a good time. If any of these bands come back to the Cities in the near future, my advice would be to go see them. If you want to fit in with the crowd though, bring dancing feet, American Apparel threads, and get drunk. Really drunk.
Location Info:
400 Bar
Artist Info: Architecture in Helsinki
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