Day Party Crawl
By Melanie Haupt, Fri., March 20, 2009
Other Music/Dig For Fire Party
French Legation Museum, Thursday, March 19
Three bands into its 12-act bill, the Other Music/Dig for Fire party was running 30 minutes behind schedule. No big whoop for those who plan to camp out, majorly annoying for those who have a carefully planned agenda. (Note to self: Abandon carefully planned agenda.) The dozen bands featured ran the stylistic gamut, from the Radiohead-meets-Animal Collective art rock of Danish septet Efterklang to the quiet, confessional, Appalachia-tinged acoustic folk of Alela Diane. Unself-conscious Benjy Ferree, all skinny jeans and tousled-hair mop, belted out partially whistled, acoustic-guitar-based rockabilly lite with a harmonizing buddy accompanying on electric guitar. Scotland's Camera Obscura, minus an ill keyboardist, debuted lots of material from its forthcoming album, My Maudlin Career (4AD), closing its long set with "If Looks Could Kill" from 2006's Let's Get Out of This Country. Balkan-influenced, Zuzax, N.M.-based trio A Hawk & a Hacksaw eschewed the stage entirely, planting themselves in the grass, the audience sitting in a wide circle around them. With accordion, violin, and tuba, the outfit mesmerized the large and diverse audience with its scratchy gypsy folk. The afternoon's biggest surprise was Pete & the Pirates, who, despite their nondescript name, had people consulting their showcase schedules with an eye toward hearing more of the Reading, England, quintet's crisp, melodic indie pop that toe dips into surf-rock and flirts with New Wave.
