Austin, Texas is widely called the live music capital of the world and continually boasts a very well regarded music scene. Last Wednesday night Minneapolis was able to see two examples of the prowess that the city has to offer when White Denim and Brazos rolled into the city for a show at the 400 Bar.

Some I read recently compared White Denim to seminal ’80s band the Minutemen, which really was a revelation for me. I have liked White Denim for a while, and was excited to finally get a chance to catch them live. Like the Minutemen, White Denim are masters of all trades. Both are bands that blend the lines between about 40 genres, yet still sound confident and concise with their ramshackle sound. The three piece band played an absolutely blistering 60 minute set that drew heavily from their excellent new album Fits. The band wasted no time during their set, with many songs segueing right into the next. Unlike, say Bruce Springsteen, who lets songs fade out and then starts into another, White Denim were a constantly shifting machine throughout their set, changing time signatures and genres at the drop of a hat.

The band’s songs, which work across a broad pallet but focus generally on garage rock and Nuggets-era psychedelia, sounded absolutely massive live. While they sound like beautifully controlled chaos on record, it is doubly impressive to see the sound coming from only three people up on the stage. Drummer Josh Block and bassist Steve Terebecki held down the low end with their tight grooves, which allowed lead singer and guitar player James Petralli to really have freedom to meander. He played the set hunched over his microphone stand, his face and body twitching with emotion as he coaxed wild sounds out of his guitar and sang in a fever pitch. With the high energy the band played with, I was half expecting the wheels to fall off at some point, but the band played a really tight sounding set.

A band that had proven over the course of their set to be adept at pulling surprises out of their music brought one last surprise to the crowd with their abrupt ending. Just as quickly as they started the band ended their last song without any warnings and said goodnight. It is safe to say that a band’s set was a success when your biggest (and only) complaint is that their set was too short. Any doubts about whether their all-over-the-map approach would translate well into the live setting where quickly erased Wednesday with a really amazing show.

Openers Brazos played a strong 40 minute set that found them taking a lot of the same cues as White Denim. Their sound was all over the map, in a good way, with focus on country, pop and even a little jazz thrown in. Like White Denim, they were a three piece that really created an interesting and dynamic sound with minimal components. The band played songs off of their recently released LP, the strong and entertaining Phosphorescent Blues. While they weren’t as exciting and innovative as White Denim, they played a great set that showed a band with a really bright future.

White Denim: Official | MySpace | Wikipedia
Brazos: MySpace

Also: White Denim “Fits” Review