BrooklynVegan SXSW Dot Com Day Stage & other Erland & the Carnival, Still Corners & Frankie & the Heartstrings news

by Bill Pearis

DOWNLOAD: Erland & the Carnival – Nightingale (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Still Corners – Endless Summer (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Frankie & the Heartstrings – Ungrateful (MP3)

Erland & the Carnival

In addition to the official BrooklynVegan SXSW Showcase (3/16), I’m happy to announce we are also officially presenting bands on Thursday, March 17 at the new Dot Com Day Stage in the Austin Convention Center. The line-up is:

12PM: Erland & the Carnival
1PM: Still Corners
2PM: Frankie & the Heartstrings

As it is in the Convention Center (Ballroom G to be specific), the Dot Com Day Stage is for SXSW registrants only (sorry). So if you’ve got a badge, do stop by (and if you don’t, we and the bands have plenty other stuff going on too – stay tuned for more announcements and look at the full list of dates below). I’m pretty excited about the bands, three from the UK who I’ve been dying to see.

Led by charismatic singer/songwriter Erland Cooper, Erland & the Carnival are a strange, enticing blend of pastoral folk, psychedelic rock, Britpop and whatever else comes into their heads. The band (which includes former Verve/The Good the Bad & the Queen guitarist Simon Tong) recorded their very good new album, Nightingale , in the bowels of a ship. At times the album is reminiscent of the literate pop practiced by The Divine Comedy, in a psychedelic sea shanty hurdy gurdy man kind of way. (That’s a good thing.) You can download the title track at the top of this post and the album is out in America on March 29 via YepRoc. Did anyone go see The Carnival when they played last November?

Still Corners

According to their bio on the SXSW website, Still Corners “have just signed an album deal with Sub Pop, single due out in April, debut full length in June,” though there’s been no mention of it from those at Sub Pop yet. One thing we do know: the band are playing their first-ever American show at Glasslands on Saturday, March 12. Check out the dreamy, captivating single “Endless Summer” at the top of this post. After SXSW, Still Corners head out on a North American tour with Papercuts and all tour dates are at the bottom of this post.

Frankie & the Heartstrings

Frankie & the Heartstrings, meanwhile, just released their Edwyn Collins-produced debut album, Hunger, which debuted at #38 on the UK album charts. (No word on an American release.) Collins’ former band Orange Juice is a clear influence, as is pre-dungaree Dexy’s Midnight Runners. Says The Fly:

“Occasionally a band comes along with the miracle secret to crafting perfect pop music – not pop in the bastardised, Olly Murs sense of the word, but pop in its purest, most exuberant form…Hunger could easily be a singles collection, such is the calibre of its contents.”

You can download “Ungrateful” at the top of this post.

If you’re not going to Austin this year, Frankie & the Heartstrings play an early show at Mercury Lounge on Monday, March 21. The Merc’s website lists Veronica Falls as opening, which would have been sweet, but I’m told that’s not happening now (we .

We’ll have more updates soon as to BrooklynVegan’s goings-on in Austin during the week of SXSW so stay tuned. Videos from all three bands playing the DotCom Day Stage, and more tour dates, below…

Erland & the Carnival – Map of an Englishman

ERLAND & THE CARNIVAL @ SXSW:
Thu. Mar. 17 Brooklyn Vegan Dot Com Day Stage @ Austin Convention Center – 12 PM
Thu. Mar. 17 Yep Roc Music Group Showcase @ Maddie Mae’s – 1 AM
Fri. Mar. 18 Redeye Party @ Dirty Dog – 1:20 PM

Still Corners – Wish

Still Corners – 2011 Tour Dates
Fri 25th Feb @ Debaser Slussen Stockholm, Sweden
Sat 26th Feb @ Jazzhuset Gothenburg, Sweden
Sat 12th March @ Glasslands Brooklyn, NYC
Tues 15th March w/ Obits and Jaill @ The City Tavern Dallas, TX
Wed 16th – 20th March @ SXSW Austin, Texas
Thu 17th (1pm) BrooklynVegan Dot Com Day Stage – Austin, TX (SXSW)
Mon 21st March w/ Papercuts @ Off Broadway St Louis, MO
Tues 22nd March w/ Papercuts @ The Bishop Bloomington, IN
Wed 23rd March w/ Papercuts @ Schubas Chicago, II
Thurs 24th March w/ Papercuts @ Wexner Center Columbus, OH
Fri 25th March w/ Papercuts @ Brillobox Pittsburgh, PA
Sat 26th March w/ Papercuts @ Mercury Lounge NYC
Sun 27th March w/ Papercuts @ Brighton Music Hall Boston, MA

Frankie & the Heartstrings – Hunger

Frankie & the Heartstrings – 2011 Tour Dates
Thu 03/17/11 BrooklynVegan Dot Com Day Stage – Austin, TX (SXSW)
Thu 03/17/11 Stereogum/Chaos in Tejas/Sacred Bones party – Austin, TX (SXSW)
Fri 03/18/11 Red Eyed Fly Austin TX SXSW – Texas Tornado Party, Deep Dark Robot
Mon 03/21/11 Mercury Lounge New York NY