Kevin Bronson on March 16th, 2012

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@KRBronson on Thursday at SXSW (also see: Jesus and Mary Chain review):

Arms makes indie-rock for people who like indie-rock, with sharp guitar and bass lines, sharper lyrics and arresting shifts in tempo and mood that toggle adeptly between nice and gnarly. Mastermind Todd Goldstein once played in Harlem Shakes, who had their 15 minutes of next-big-thing around the time they played the Buzz Bands LA showcase in Austin in 2009.

Harlem Shakes went quietly into the night, and Goldstein expanded on his bedroom project, eventually resulting in Arms’ 2011 release “Summer Skills,” one of our favorite albums of the year. At the Rawkblog/TwentyFourBit day party at the Jackalope, the Brooklyn-based trio overcame balky sound to realize some of those gems. Arms is a fury of syncopated beats, spazz and swells of noise; they’re stingy with the gorgeous parts, but they’re there. I kind of imagine Arms as Death Cab for Cutie if Ben Gibbard had gone the 180 degrees in the other direction.

As cool as it was to engage in a little late-afternoon pogoing, Arms’ set did boast something you don’t often hear at SXSW, from the soundman: “Can you turn the guitar down a little bit?”

Also notable . . .

The Arkells make you smile like only Canadians can, and then they send you home humming something. They’re from Hamilton, Ontario – “the Gary, Indiana, of Canada,” frontman Max Kerman says, and their song “Book Club” tells you how to get there, more or less. The Juno Award winners (best new group, 2010) play keyboard-charged classic rock that reminds of you radio stars of the ’70s and ’80s, and the Barenaked Ladies’ sense of humor after that. At the Paste magazine showcase at the Belmont, they introduced one tune “as the best song Hall & Oates never wrote;” they nodded to Bruce Springsteen (who was playing a huge show concurrently); they dedicated one song to the character Tami Taylor of “Friday Night Lights;” and they darted in and out of a Spoon song. You can treat your musical influences like fairy dust, or you can treat them like mace. For the Arkells, a sprinkling is fine.

And maybe not so much . . .

Charli XCX has an EP coming out in May on L.A.-based IAMSOUND Records, but her set of ostensibly cathartic synth-pop on Thursday night bore the strong stench of been-there, done-that. The London-based songstress imagines dance-pop as kind of a “Sour Times”-meets-Jane Fonda workout video, and it might work in some places – but not the Central Presbyterian Church, where Fiona Apple had just played a splendid hour-long set. If you’re the kind who needs a new synth-pop goddess every month, Charlie XCX could be your Miss October.

Locals only . . .

Hanni El Khatib has played darned near 200 shows since last year’s Buzz Bands LA day party during SXSW, and if he’s weary of anything on his 2011 debut “Will the Guns Come Out,” there was no sign of it at Thursday’s Filter party, as his two-man garage-rock assault sounded strong as ever. He did say afterward, however, that he will added a third piece to the puzzle for his follow-up album. Not as bassist, though. How about a … Hammond B3?

There are moments when I think Bleached is just going to settle for being Best Coast Jr., but the songs the quartet played at the corporate logo-laden Hype Hotel showed considerably more spunk and ambition than the latter band did at a similar juncture in its development. Catchy as hell, too.

Zac Carper of FIDLAR told us on Tuesday he was going to try and lay off the beer during his band’s 11-show assault on SXSW. It’s Thursday afternoon at the Filter party, and how’s that going, Zac? “Been drunk all week,” he said. And, notably, sweating it out almost immediately.

Only in Austin . . .

I can’t for the life of me come up with a rejoinder. Anybody?

Quote of the Day . . .

“We’ve got a new mid-tempo indie-rock number, and we need to make some money this year … Are there any Cadillac advertising people here?”
– Patrick Stickles of New Jersey punk band Titus Andronicus at the Paste magazone show case at the Belmont

Memo to . . .

Self: They have electric bicycles for rent in Austin. Next year, shell out for one.