Magnolia Electric Co.’s (Formerly Songs: Ohia) show with Akron/Family and Great Lake Swimmers was your typical “what is going on?” kind of show. The set compliments of each band was analogous to a venue booking the soft melodic sounds of Liz Janes with the likes of an electronic dance band like The Faint. The actual contrasts of the Austin Show last week were not as extreme, but there were some “inter-set” genre crises. The show as a whole did not blend well, but that is not to say that each act did not “do its thing” well.

The show started with the Canadian folk group, Great Lake Swimmers. Their soft almost quiet sound would be right at home in the background of a coffee house. Those that were there to see Magnolia Electric Co., and those that were there just for a $10 show on a Saturday night were bored with Great Lake Swimmers, and it was easy to hear. After twenty minutes it was hard to hear the music over the roar of the club. Great Lake Swimmers played mostly songs from their March release: Bodies and Minds (Weewerk Records). The slightly nervous-looking Tony Dekker has a distinguished vocal ability. When coupled with his melodic acoustic guitar, it makes for a mesmerizing sound that apparently downtown Austin just is not ready for.

The next band was more up Austin’s alley (pun). AsAkron/Family took the stage the began with an a capella shouting contest. Then as they began to play it sounded like a folky barber shop group. Then the drummer counted a four count and all hell broke loose. Each of the four members pounded recklessly on his instrument. To the best of my ability I have categorized Akron/Family’s performance as a well performed, slightly monotonous joke, or a stoner-rock show to appeal to the majority of Austin’s scene. The band would stop flailing and pounding just long enough to ask the crowd, “Do you guys want to go to the effing future?!?” Each new song began as the first one did: the quartet would start in a form that I had come to know and love through their recordings. They would play in this way for a minute at a time or so and then break off into their jam-band motif complete with recorder, kazoo, fife, and “time portal that shaped like an effing psychedelic trout.” The set was not in any way parallel to what I expected from the group, but it was (in its own way) entertaining.