kirstenketsjer1

Kirsten Ketsjer, Women, Elk City, White Denim, The Pains of Being Pure at Heart & more in This Week In Indie

by Bill Pearis

DOWNLOAD: Kirsten Ketsjer – The Brigde (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Kirsten Ketsjer – Ernie and the Sand (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Kirsten Ketsjer – Foot and Foot
DOWNLOAD: Women – Black Rice (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Elk City – Los Cruzados (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Elk City – Cherries in the Snow (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Amazing Baby – Infinite Fucking Cross EP (Zip file)
DOWNLOAD: The Pains of Being Pure at Heart – Everything with You (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: The Pains of Being Pure at Heart – Come Saturday (MP3)

Kristen Ketsjer & friends
Kristen Ketsjer

With all the quality shows between now and tuesday you’d think CMJ had already started and it’s making it very hard to keep to my vow to take it easy before next week’s onslaught. Here are a few that are making it especially difficult.

I only caught two songs by Danish trio Kirsten Ketsjer at this year’s SXSW, purely by accident, but I was taken by their VU-meets-Television style guitar rock that can be both delicately beautiful and monsterously loud. But mostly beautiful. Drummer Anja Jacobsen sings while guitarists Andreas Führer and Anders Lauge Meldgaard spin webs around each other. Not sure why they haven’t gotten more attention than they have — last year’s FFFFOO K TSSCCH! is a pretty magical album — that may change after next week. They’re playing at least once a day during CMJ and there are two shows this week (Thursday [10/16] at Lit, and Friday [10/17] at Dead Herring) if you want to catch them early. Do check them out.

Elk City
Elk City

Elk City are playing a special show this Saturday (10/18) at Union Hall. The band, who’ve added former Luna guitarist Sean Eden to their lineup, agreed to be the entertainment at a friend’s wedding which meant they had to learn a whole slew of cover songs and the Union Hall show is a dress rehearsal of sorts for the big day. Expect more along the lines of Bowie, Nina Simone, and Carol King than “The Chicken Dance,” “The Electric Slide” or the dreaded “Butterfly Kisses.” The show will be interspersed with Elk City material too, including some of the songs in contention for their new album. Opening are Boy Genius who put on a nice show Tuesday opening for Bearsuit.

White Denim
White Denim

If you’re willing to go out on a Sunday (10/19) you can see a lot of CMJ buzz bands before the fest actually starts. And actually, at Mercury Lounge are Austin’s White Denim (tickets), who are skipping CMJ entirely in favor of a European tour. Their U.S. debut, Exposion, is out November 11 and is a slightly different version of their acclaimed UK release, Workout Holiday, which was released earlier this year. It defies easy description: there’s some noodling guitars a la the Minutemen; bluesy passages like some other White bands; shouty indie rock and blissful psychedelia. I dig it. White Denim also play Union Hall the next night (10/20) (tickets).

Playing with them at Mercury Lounge are Amazing Baby who I’ve written about more than once both here and over at my own blog. They’ve been playing pretty regularly over the summer and are a pretty tight machine these days, so they should be ready for CMJ and their upcoming tour with MGMT and Violens. If you haven’t heard them yet, you can download their Infinite Fucking Cross EP for free.

Women
Women

Meanwhile, around the corner at Cake Shop, Friction NYC have put together a pretty unmissable lineup as well: The noise-drenched pure pop of The Pains of Being Pure at Heart who are fresh off a tour of Sweden; reverb-loving Canadians, Women;, who are certainly one of CMJ’s most buzzed-about bands; Jackson Heights’ only garage rock band*, The Beets (*fact completely uncomfirmed by me); and the organ styling of another Canadian, Katie Stelmanis.

Current # of CMJ-related shows Women have coming up: 9
Current # of CMJ-related shows The Muslims have coming up: 9

Both Women and The Muslims are playing BrooklynVegan parties during CMJ. The Muslims are on the Thursday October 23rd one. Women are on the unannounced Saturday October 25th one. If you count the pre-CMJ Cake Shop show, that raises Women’s total NYC show count to 10. Don’t be surprised if more NYC shows pop up on both of their schedules.

All tour dates and videos for all bands in this post, below…

Kirsten Ketsjer – “Ernie and the Sands” @ Cake Shop 6.01.2007

Kirsten Ketsjer 2008 US Tour Dates
THURSDAY OCTOBER 16TH @ LIT LOUNGE
FRIDAY OCTOBER 17TH @ DEAD HERRING, Brooklyn, NY
SATURDAY OCTOBER 18TH @ OXFAM CAFE, Boston, MA
SUNDAY OCTOBER 19TH @ CASTLE GAY//PHILIDELPHIA, PA
TUESDAY OCTOBER 21ST @ CMJ – GLASSLANDS GALLERY//BROOKLYN, NY
WEDNESDAY OCTOBER 22nd @ CMJ, NYC/BROOKLYN
THURSDAY OCTOBER 23rd @CMJ, NYC/BROOKLYN
FRIDAY OCTOBER 23rd @ CMJ, NYC/BROOKLYN
SATURDAY OCTOBER 24th @ CMJ, CAKESHOP/CAPESHOK

White Denim – “Shake Shake Shake”

White Denim 2008 Tour Dates
Oct 17 Iceland Airwaves Reykjavik
Oct 19 Mercury Lounge New York, New York w/ Amazing Baby
Oct 20 Union Hall Brooklyn, New York
Nov 12 Underground Koln, Germany
Nov 13 Molotow Hamburg, Germany
Nov 14 Paradiso Amsterdam, NL
Nov 16 Cluny Newcastle, UK
Nov 17 The Plug Sheffield, UK
Nov 18 Dingwalls London, UK
Nov 20 The Cooler Bristol, UK
Nov 22 Korova Liverpool, UK
Nov 23 Ruby Lounge Manchester, UK
Nov 24 Stereo Glasgow, Scotland

Amazing Baby CMJ and 2008 Tour Dates
Oct 19 Mercury Lounge New York, New York w/ Amazing Baby
Oct 21 CMJ: NME Showcase at the Annex w/ Violens and Chairlift New York, New York
Oct 23 CMJ: Vice Party @ the Studio at Webster Hall New York, New York
Oct 24 Johnny Brenda’s w/ APTBS & The Cobbs Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Oct 25 CMJ: Glasslands Gallery w/ Jay Reatard Brooklyn, New York
Oct 31 Special Halloween Spectacular @ the Music Hall of Williamsburg * !!!! Brooklyn, New York
Nov 3 Ambassador * Dublin
Nov 3 Late Night Club show @ Spy. 12.00 stage time. Dublin
Nov 5 Leeds Academy * Leeds
Nov 6 Nottingham Rock City * Nottingham
Nov 7 Bristol Academy * Bristol
Nov 9 Glasgow Barrowlands * Glasgow, Scotland
Nov 10 Birmingham Academy * Birmingham
Nov 11 Manchester Academy * Manchester
Nov 13 London Calling warm up show w/ Friendly Fires and Wild Beasts Amsterdam
Nov 14 Festival Les Inrocks @ La Cigale w/ Ting Tings, Cajun Dance Party, Black Kids Paris
Nov 15 Swn Festival. Headlining NME stage @ barfly Cardiff, Wales
Nov 17 The Lexington, Headline show £6.00 tixs London

* w/ MGMT

The Pains of Being Pure at Heart @ Debaser, Stockholm Sept. 2008

TPOBAH CMJ + 2008 Tour Dates
Oct 19 Cake Shop New York, New York
Oct 22 Knitting Factory Tap Bar New York, New York
Oct 24 Cake Shop: NYNOISE showcase New York, New York
Dec 2 Arts Center ** Colchester
Dec 3 Wedgewood Rooms ** Portsmouth
Dec 4 Academy w/ The Wedding Presnet Oxford
Dec 5 Princess Charlotte ** Leicester
Dec 6 Academy w/ The Wedding Presnet Manchester
Dec 8 Pavillion ** Cork
Dec 9 Andrews Lane Theatre ** Dublin
Dec 10 Limelight ** Belfast
Dec 12 Captain’s Rest Glasgow
Dec 13 The Cockpit: w/ The Manhattan Love Suicides Leeds
Dec 14 The Social Notthingham
Dec 16 “Twee as Fuck” @ Old Blue Last London
Dec 17 “Fortuna Pop Night” @ Sazerac London
Dec 18 Forum ** London

** w/ The Wedding Present

Women 2008 Tour Dates
OCT 18 THE 5TH ELEMENT BURLINGTON, VERMONT
OCT 19 CAKE SHOP W/ THE PAINS OF BEING PURE AT HEART, THE BEETS NEW YORK, NEW YORK
OCT 21 CMJ – PTST PARTY NEW YORK, NEW YORK
OCT 21 CMJ – KCRW PARTY BROOKLYN, NEW YORK
OCT 22 CMJ – TERRORBIRD PARTY NEW YORK, NEW YORK
OCT 22 CMJ – SUBBACULTCHA! SHOWCASE NEW YORK, NEW YORK
OCT 23 CMJ – MYOPENBAR.COM PARTY BROOKLYN, NEW YORK
OCT 24 CMJ – TODD P NYC PARTY BROOKLYN, NEW YORK
OCT 25 CMJ – PASTE/R5 PARTY BROOKLYN, NEW YORK
OCT 25 CMJ – BROOKLYNVEGAN PARTY, NEW YORK, NEW YORK
OCT 25 CMJ – BOWERY PRESENTS PARTY, NEW YORK, NEW YORK
OCT 26 GROUNDS FOR CHANGE MEADVILLE, PENNSYLVANIA
OCT 27 MAGIC STICK ** DETROIT, MICHIGAN
OCT 29 OBERLIN COLLEGE ** OBERLIN, OHIO
OCT 30 KENYON COLLEGE ** GAMBIER, OHIO
OCT 31 BOTTOM LOUNGE ** CHICAGO, ILLINOIS
NOV 1 TRIPLE ROCK SOCIAL CLUB ** MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA
NOV 2 WAITING ROOM ** OMAHA, NEBRASKA
NOV 3 LARIMER LOUNGE ** DENVER, COLORADO
NOV 4 URBAN LOUNGE ** SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH
NOV 7 CHOP SUEY W/ DUNGEN SEATTLE, WASHINGTON
NOV 8 DOUG FIR W/ DUNGEN PORTLAND, OREGON
NOV 10 BOTTOM THE HILL W/ DUNGEN SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA
NOV 11 CELLAR DOOR W/ DUNGEN VISALIA, CALIFORNIA
NOV 12 THE ECHO W/ DUNGEN LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA
NOV 20 VERA ++ GRONINGEN
NOV 21 CROSSING BORDERS FESTIVAL DEN HAAG
NOV 22 TRIX ++ ANTWERP
NOV 24 LA FLECHE D’OR ++ PARIS
NOV 25 THE BORDERLINE ++ LONDON
NOV 26 COOLER ++ BRISTOL
NOV 27 THE CAPTAIN’S REST ++ GLASGOW
NOV 28 LIMELIGHT ++ BELFAST
NOV 29 ROSIN DUBH ++ GALWAY
NOV 30 CRAWDADDY ++ DUBLIN
DEC 2 NIGHT AND DAY CAFE ++ MANCHESTER
DEC 3 THE WINDMILL LONDON
DEC 4 PARADISO AMSTERDAM

** W/ KING KHAN AND BBQ SHOW
++ W/ CHAD VANGAALEN

the Muslims – 2008 Tour Dates
Oct 18 – PEHRSPACE w/ AM Los Angeles, California
Oct 22 – LEVIS/FADER FORT New York, New York
Oct 23 – CAKE SHOP w/ The Browns New York, New York
Oct 23 – PIANO’S- BROOKLYN VEGAN PARTY New York, New York
Oct 23 – MERCURY LOUNGE- BIG SHOT SHOWCASE New York, New York
Oct 23 – DON PEDRO’S Brooklyn, New York
Oct 24 – PIANO’S – FUTURE SOUNDS PARTY New York, New York
Oct 24 – MUSIC HALL OF WILLIAMSBURG – KEMADO SHOWCASE Brooklyn, New York
Oct 25 – GALAPAGOS- KANINE PARTY Brooklyn, New York
Oct 26 – UNION POOL- 1928 SHOWCASE Brooklyn, New York
Oct 29 – AMOEBA INSTORE- 7PM Los Angeles, California