Monday, March 30, 2009
The Spin Chairlift and Acrylics at Exit/In 3/28/09
Posted by The Spin on Mon, Mar 30, 2009 at 9:00 AM
See the slideshows for more photos: Chairlift; Acrylics & Oblio.
Most of us have little faith in the concept of trickle down economics these days, but if there's anywhere it can be effectively applied (however loosely) it's the live music circuit. With so many acts converging on Austin for SXSW, it's inevitable a great many of them will come through town on the way there or home, thus benefiting all the little folk who couldn't afford to go. Saturday night was one such a case when Brooklyn band Chairlift came through town, bringing along fellow New Yorkers Acrylics. As you well know, we are anything but punctual and this put our arrival just a bit after openers Oblio finished up. We were, however, well on time for Acrylics, with whom we were completely unfamiliar right up until the moment they started.
What we got was slow-burning, steady-rocking, dreamy garage pop with a surfy, psychedelic undercurrent, iced over with ambient synths. Toe-tapping shuffles and hip-swinging bass grooves were locked down underneath seductive harmonies to create a sleek mystique that occasionally wandered into noisy, hallucinogenic dirges--only to ebb back into pedal steel-driven slow jams. Shorter songs kept the leisurely tempos from dragging, and solid songwriting made us feel like these tunes would be safe at any speed. Following Acrylics, we--along with a nicely packed room of folks--spent an irksome 45 minutes staring at an empty stage waiting for Chairlift to grace us with a set.
Fifteen minutes of plodding drum machines, garden variety Europop grooves and stock seagull guitar effects later, we decided it wasn't quite worth the wait. Our previous exposure to this band was limited to a 30-second clip played during a recent iPod Nano commercial. However, unlike that jaunty single-turned-jingle, the rest of their repertoire droned on like an 808 dosed on soft rock Rohypnol and locked into an aimless jam session. We were soon on a downhill cruise to snoozeville. Short, atonal interludes counteracted the clomping syncopation, but did little to break the monotony.
That said, if there were other haters in the house, they were in short supply. The rest of the room applauded graciously after each number, and at least half the crowd urged on the obligatory encore during those awkward moments after the last song has ended and the house music hasn't cut back on.
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we spun Ghostland and Sportag back in November. i think it was just too soon to do it again.
Makes sense, Casio. Oh well, it's what I get for being out of town this weekend.
Any word if the GLO sold out this time around?
the large pop. of non-haters was probably due to the drummer's Franklin, TN upbringing and therefore a lot of friends on the guest list. Well written review you guys did. "planet health" is a good chairlift song. Spin also put their whole album on last year's top 40. But you're right, a lot of their songs just drone on w/out doing anything.
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