friendlyfires2

Friendly Fires, Metronomy, Yellow Fever & Dan le Sac Vs. Scroobius Pip in This Week In indie

by Bill Pearis

DOWNLOAD: Yellow Fever – Culver City (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Yellow Fever – Joe Brown (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Friendly Fires – Jump in the Pool (MP3)

Friendly Fires
Friendly Fires

I don’t want to tread on Showtrotta/Mr. Bruno’s territory here (and I know they mentioned them already), but UK dance-rock act Friendly Fires are in town this weekend to play two area shows — Saturday night they played Santo’s Party House (how was it?), and Monday (7/28) they’re at Mercury Lounge before heading to LA. The band, who aren’t so far from Cut Copy sonically, put out a couple of good EPs last year and a great single, “Paris,” on Moshi Moshi. Their debut album comes out in September in the UK. (No U.S. release date yet, but they’re on XL so it’ll happen at some point.) You never can tell whether bands like this are going to be any good live though; how much they’ll rely on backing tracks, etc. But it’s worth showing up to find out.

Metronomy
Metronomy

I have no such fears about Metronomy who I’ve seen a couple times and are a lot of fun and whose new album, Nights Out, is fantastic. I know we’re all suffering dance rock fatigue but, if you’re unfamilar with them, Metronomy aren’t your average herky-jerky-angular-guitars kind of band. (Though their music is herky jerky with some angular guitars in there.) It’s really closer to Hot Chip, going off in weird directions, full of squelchy keyboards and live drums and weird vocoder effects and whistling. And Nights Out is just good song after good song. Metronomy play a free show at Hiro Ballroom on Thursday (7/31, rsvp here, though it’s a bit confusing if you ask me) and then a late show at Union Hall on Friday, Aug. 1 (tickets) with “Very Special Guests.”

(editor’s note: guest?)

Yellow Fever
Yellow Fever

Also coming to town next week are Austin’s YellowFever, which features Jennifer Moore who used to be in Voxtrot. Moore’s voice is a little like Beth Orton’s; pretty and a bit sad, and the music is spare and understated and just lovely. Check out the MP3s at the top of this post. They’re playing Death by Audio, Cake Shop and Union Pool (dates below) so do try to catch them.

Dan vs Scroobius Pip

Speaking of Austin, one of my favorite performances at this year’s SXSW festival was UK hip hop duo Dan le Sac Vs. Scroobius Pip who got a lot of buzz last year for their single “Thou Shalt Always Kill.” I’m sure some people saw them as a One Hit Wonder sort of thing but their debut album, Angles, is surprising, funny, smart, and you can kind of dance to it. (The beats are a bit weird sometimes is my only criticism.) The album is coming out in the U.S. and Canada via Sage Francis’ Strange Famous label on September 2 and Dan and Scroobius will be touring North America in support around that time too. Tickets are on sale for two shows at Mercury Lounge. Scroobius Pip is a charismatic guy and knows how to win over an audience — even if you’re not that crazy about the records, they’re worth checking out live.

Videos and tour dates below…

Friendly Fires

Friendly Fires – 2008 U.S. Dates
Jul 25 Making Time Philadelphia
Jul 26 Santos Party House New York City
Jul 28 Mercury Lounge New York City
Jul 29 Mayan Theatre w/ Bloc Party Los Angeles
Jul 30 Spacelands Los Angeles
Aug 1 Echo Los Angeles

Dan le Sac Vs. Scroobius

Dan le Sac Vs. Scroobius – 2008 Tour Dates
Sep 14 Monolith Festival Morrison, Colorado
Sep 15 House of Blues Dallas, Texas
Sep 16 Beauty Bar Austin, Texas
Sep 17 Majestic Theatre Madison, Wisconsin
Sep 18 Triple Rock Social Club Minneapolis, Minnesota
Sep 19 Maintenance Shop Ames, Iowa
Sep 20 Hideout Block Party Chicago, Illinois
Sep 22 Legendary Horseshoe Tavern Toronto, Ontario
Sep 23 Les Saints Montreal, Quebec
Sep 24 Paradise Boston, Massachusetts
Sep 25 Mercury Lounge New York, New York
Sep 26 Mercury Lounge New York, New York
Sep 27 M Room Philadlphia, Pennsylvania
Sep 29 The Loft La Jolla, California
Sep 30 Echo Los Angeles, California
Oct 1 Cafe Du Nord San Francisco, California
Oct 2 Doug Fir Lounge Portland, Oregon
Oct 3 Chop Suey Seattle, Washington
Oct 4 Biltmore Cabaret Vancouver, British Columbia

Yellow Fever

Yellow Fever – 2008 Tour Dates
Jul 24 Denver CO @ Hinoceropolis Denver, Colorado
Jul 25 Picador w/ Liberty Leg Iowa City, Iowa
Jul 26 Newthingnow w/ U.S Girls + Pyrite Chicago, Illinois
Jul 27 UFO Factory w/ Gardens, Rootbear, and U.S. Girls Detroit, Michigan
Jul 28 Garfield Artworks w/ U.S. Girls Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Jul 29 Cortlandt Land w/ Screaming Females, and U.S. Girls New Brunswick, New Jersey
Jul 30 Union Pool w/Jeffery Lewis + Great Lakes Brooklyn, New York
Jul 31 Death by Audio w/ U.S Girls + tba Brooklyn, New York
Aug 1 NYC@Cake Shop w/ Hologram, U.S Girls, + Hot Lava! New York, New York
Aug 3 Rumors Richmond, Virginia
Aug 4 The Spazzatorium Galleria! Greenville, North Carolina
Aug 5 Secret Squirrel//Crappy Party Athens, Georgia
Aug 6 Egan’s tuscaloosa, Alabama
Aug 7 P & H Cafe w/The Warble and Noise Choir Memphis, Tennessee
Aug 8 Hattiesburg MS@ Thirsty Hippo!! Hattiesburg, Mississippi
Aug 9 Saturn Bar w/ tba New Orleans, Louisiana
Aug 10 TBA Houston, Texas
Sep 22 Club 1808 w/ Thee Oh Sees Austin, Texas

Metronomy

Metronomy – 2008 Tour Dates
Jul 26 Velirium Mountain Bike World Cup Mount St. Anne, QC, Canada
Jul 28 The Social, Toronto, ON, Canada
Jul 29 Funky Buddha, Chicago, IL, USA
Jul 30 Gypsy Hutt, Cincinati, OH, USA
Jul 31 Hiro Ballroom, New York, NY, USA
Aug 1 Union Hall, Brooklyn Brooklyn, New York
Aug 2 MEG Festival, Montreal, QC, Canada
Aug 7 Oya Festival, Oslo
Aug 8 Pantiero Festival, Cannes, France
Aug 23 Pstereo Festival, Trondheim
Aug 24 Get Loaded In The Park, London
Aug 31 Offset Festival, London
Sep 5 Bestival Isle of Wright
Sep 17 Scopitone Festival, Nantes
Oct 11 Electricity Festival, Reims