sxsw 07 thursday roundup

after arriving in austin and finding it mostly the same as we left it last year we checked in to our hotel and began an hour-long video-game-like scavenger hunt to find rum. we talked to no less than four people, each directing us to the next place with assurances that we could find what we were looking for. all we found, however, was disappointment. eventually we found a liquor store like an oasis in the texas desert. after that inauspicious beginning we headed downtown to see some showcases. the first venue we attended was lambert's, a two-story bar a couple streets back from sixth. i really liked the place as it was clean and wood-funished, reminding me of a d.c. bar only less dirty. panda & angel and snowden played, with snowden clearly being the focus of everyone's attention. they put on a great show, playing about half the songs from anti-anti. as a southern band they sound distinctly northern (i mean that as a compliment). next we headed to soho lounge to see deerhunter and do, make, say, think. however, after leaving the upstairs show area, i am not victor ward was not let back up due to their well-run door policy so we decided to go to buffalo billiards to see menomena, the supposed next-big-thing from the west instead. buffalo is a deceptively big two-story bar and a great place to see live music. however, an hour-long set change at 1 a.m. detracted from the ambience of menomena's set and made the drunken crowd a little restless. they still played very well, mixing alto and baritone saxaphones along with keyboards, guitar, bass, drums, and xylophone between their three members. all in all i had a great time even though we didn't make any new discoveries band-wise.