INDIE EAR MADNESS: First Round

Thursday, March 20, 2008 | 3:22 PM

Indie Ear Madness
First Round, West Region
March 20, 2008

1 Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks vs. 16 Foals
The veteran presence of Stephen Malkmus and Janet Weiss (a senior transfer from Sleater-Kinney) was a little too much for Foals to handle.

8 Bauhaus vs. 9 The Presidents of the U.S.A.
It took two encores and a double-overtime to decide this one. The breakdown portion of the Presidents' hit "Peaches" helped eek it out for the Seattle power trio.

5 Rilo Kiley vs. 12 Yeasayer
It's tough to contend with Rilo Kiley's All-American Jenny Lewis. Brooklyn's experimental, Yeasayer, couldn't stop or contain her.

4 Hot Chip vs. 13 Chris Walla
Chris Walla, solo, was no match for the blue chips known as Hot Chip. Chirs Walla with Death Cab For Cutie though, is a whole different story.
(left: Hot Chip celebrate following their First Round victory over Chris Walla)

6 Against Me! vs. 11 The Gutter Twins
Against Me's youth and political gems win out against the respected indie vets, The Gutter Twins. In their prime, Mark Lanegan's Screaming Trees or Greg Dulli's Afghan Whigs could have very well taken these guys down.

3 Tapes 'N Tapes vs. 14 Kid Sister
Freshman phenom Kid Sister got creative, but Tapes 'N Tapes played consistently and pulled away at the end, led by the quick hands of drummer, Jeremy Hanson.

7 The Helio Sequence vs. 10 What Made Milwaukee Famous
A little bit of an upset here, as What Made Milwaukee Famous advances into the second round. The Helio Sequence looked good early on, but when their electronics went out, Ben Weikel and Brandon Summers had trouble recreating some of their album tracks live.

2 Band of Horses vs. 15 Islands
Band of Horses dominated Islands early in this contest. In the second half, seemingly having the match-up won, Band of Horses rested their heavy catalog material and began playing rare B-sides.

By Jim Shearer in INDIE EAR MADNESS '08 | Link | 1 Comments | Recommended (1)

Tags: Indie Ear Madness