For once there was a lot of dancing at a show in Madison. I walked into the High Noon Saloon just in time to catch Glass Candy throwing down some serious grooves. The beautiful Ida No danced, sang, and screamed behind the melting pot of sound courtesy of Johnny Jewel. Both impressive, but it was Jewel’s mastery and beats that lead me straight to the merch table to pick up B/E/A/T/B/O/X and the more well-known After Dark compilation. It was also nice to see, and worth noting, that almost every member of Architecture In Helsinki was deep in the audience digging and dancing along. Seriously kids, if you’re looking for a band to get bodies moving, we highly recommend this duo for PDX.

So, let’s talk about Architecture In Helsinki. Good stuff on record, great stuff live. I walked into the venue with one wish, that they play “Heart It Races,” which they did for a rousing encore which really was the perfect send off into the streets of Madison. But not before treating everyone to an hour’s worth of material, drawn heavily from their most recent Places Like This, and its predecessor In Case We Die. The band enjoys a wonderful collection of superb musicians adept in many instruments resulting in a lot of musical chairs type movement from one instrument to another. Fun to watch for sure.

There was excitement in the venue last night, and everyone in attendance seemed to be out for a really good time. I snuck upstairs during the middle of the Architecture In Helsinki set and just watched all the people moving back and forth - pretty sweet.

Myspace: Glass Candy
Myspace: Architecture In Helsinki
MP3: Architecture In Helsinki - Heart It Races