June 9-15, 2005

musicpicks

Architecture in Helsinki

Rock/Pop

Rumor has it Australia's Architecture in Helsinki is gearing up to dethrone Belle and Sebastian in the palace of pretty pop music it's OK for hipsters to love. The best part is that this eight-piece ensemble sounds nothing like those dick slaps. Instead of breaking the cuteness bank, AIH takes a 1970s' hairy-on-the-outside, soft-on-the-inside approach and updates it for the iPod generation. The band specializes in jagged, catchy songs recorded in a masterfully delicate fashion. "Do the Whirlwind" and "Wishbone" are aces: The former is all electro boogie, the latter is ABBA in hand-me-down corduroy. On their site, the band calls its two-month-old In Case We Die (Bar/None) "jingle jangle doom party tones," which makes it sound like Moby playing with himself. Let's just say it will satiate uptight record store clerks and adventurous music freaks alike.

Tue., June 14, 8 p.m., $10, all ages, with Dr. Dog and Head Of Femur, First Unitarian Church, 22nd and Chestnut sts., 866-468-7619, www.r5productions.com.

—Neal Ramirez