SXSW 2009: Passionate Feelings About Passion Pit

I’ve just returned from our day-party with Brooklyn Vegan, which threw down with a headlining set from one of my favorite new bands, Passion Pit. It’d be easy to say that the Cambridge, Mass. quintet makes dance music for people who hate dance music, but these guys also make dance music for people who like dance music, so here’s the new paradigm: They make dance music for people who like music. 

Their pounding Internet synth-pop hit “Sleepyhead” sounded massive in concert, and it’s encouraging to know—as the band prepares to roll out its debut album, Manners—that “Sleepyhead” has some good company. Indeed, the band has an arsenal of songs. (If you ever get tired of “Sleepyhead,” move on to “I’ve Got Your Number.”) And stage banter during the show made a point that this band plans to make albums for a long time coming. Passion Pit doesn’t intend to be a flash in the pan.

Their live show is a keyboard orgy. I counted five keyboards of various types stretched across the front of the stage, with a two-piece rhythm section at the back. At least three people sang. The melodies squealed. The beats pounded. At one point, one band member whacked another in the head with a microphone. The show was sloppier than a lot of dance-music concerts, which made it feel more like a shambling indie-rock show, which made it appropriate for a sweaty day at SXSW.