Entries Tagged With: hype

What It Was Like: Basia Bulat, Foreign Born, Vampire Weekend, DeVotchKa, Robyn

By Pete Freedman At 09:31am Mar 15, 2008


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Is it possible that Robyn's Friday night set was even better than Vampire Weekend's? Don't laugh! (Pete Freedman)


So the all the hype caught up with me tonight; after fighting it and fighting it, I decided to give in to Vampire Weekend. Catching Helio Sequence during the day had something to do with it. So did those darn tarot cards. So was it worth it? Well, here's What It Was Like on Friday night...

Band: Basia Bulat, a Canadian Americana outfit with decent lead vocals.
Where: Antone's
What It Was Like: Like if the Dixie Chicks were more rootsy and if their vocals were trembly like Stevie Nix's Nicks'. This five-piece band from Ontario had a very Americana-influenced sound. Which begged the question: How do you classify a Canadian band that plays Americana? I'm going with "Canadiana."
Verdict: Not bad. But not great either. Here's the deal: If Basia Bulat were a band from Dallas, I'd probably dig them after a while--they sound like the type of act that grows on you. But for a Canadian act that, as the lead singer said, had never been to Texas before, it's not worth investing your time in them. Their set was decent, but not good enough to say that booking agents around the region are gonna be running around trying to get them to come this way again. If you're dying for female Americana or Texas Swing, check out Burleson's Quebe Sisters.
Random Note: You have to give the Basia Bulat folks credit for playing to their crowd. At one point, the band covered Austin legend Daniel Johnston's "True Love Will Find You In The End."

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