photos by Matthew Taplinger

It's A Trap: What does the name "A Camp" actually refer to?

Niclas Frisk: We just decided that we would go up to the woods and do some songs, do some drawings, bake some bread and record some music. At some point Nina said that we were having a camp in the woods. And at the same time we were shopping in a supermarket and saw this maple syrup with the name "Camp" on it and on the logo there is a small wooden house on it. It wasn't more than that, we decided; let's call it "A Camp".

It's A Trap: How come James Iha is appearing on your album?

Nathan Larson: He's an old friend. A great guy and a great supporter. He owns the studio were we recorded most of the record. And Niclas independently came to know him and worked with him.

Niclas Frisk: He is a mutual friend to all of us and in some way sort of a remote band member.

It's A Trap: Why did you choose Nicolai Dunger to make a duet with?

Nina Persson: Nicolai is one of my old favourite male singers and I like his music a lot.

Colonia was released in April. Since then A Camp also put out a 5-song digital-only Covers EP.

On Tuesday night (11/17), A Camp played a sold out show at Le Poisson Rouge in NYC. James Iha was there and joined them on stage. More pictures from the gig below...

Continue reading "A Camp (w/ guest James Iha) @ Le Poisson Rouge, NYC -pics "

Santa Clause

A Camp

tonight in NYC
* Holden @ Barbes
* Roc Raida Tribute @ SOB's
* Skinny Puppy @ Nokia Theatre
* A Camp @ (Le) Poisson Rouge
* The Roots @ Highline Ballroom
* Bob Dylan, Dion @ United Palace Theatre
* The Jesus Lizard, Noveller @ Irving Plaza
* Ninjasonik, Juiceboxxx, Shams, MNDR @ Cake Shop
* The Fancy, Christy & Emily, Rachel Cox @ Zebulon
* Calder Quartet w/ Iva Bittová @ (Le) Poisson Rouge
* Valient Thorr, Red Fang, Children @ Santos Party House
* Kurt Vile, Wild Yaks, Home Blitz, Pink Reason @ Europa
* The Dead Weather, Violent Soho @ Music Hall of Williamsburg
* Dark Castle, Atlas Moth, Wetnurse, Tiger Flowers @ Union Pool
* Jon Auer, Chris Barron, Matt Welsh @ Knitting Factory Brooklyn
* Shonen Knife, Golden Triangle, Jeff the Brotherhood @ Brooklyn Bowl
* Das Racist, APSCI, Maggie Horn, Cubic Zirconia (DJ) @ Santos Party House
* Blind Pilot, Laura Veirs & The Hall of Flames, Mimicking Birds @ Maxwell's
* Mon Khmer, Pocket Knife, Desert Stars, The Lighthouse & The Whaler @ Pianos
* Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros, Fool's Gold, Local Natives @ Bowery Ballroom
* Dinowalrus, Bottle Up & Go, Right on Dynamite, The Canon Logic, Schocholautte @ Glasslands
* Eugene Mirman, Todd Barry, Jonathan Ames, David Rees, Rick Moody, Care Bears on Fire @ Highline Ballroom

A Camp, feating Nina Persson of Cardigans, play a special late show at (Le) Poisson Rouge tonight. Flyer below.

Jon Auer warms up for the Big Star show tomorrow with a gig at Knitting Factory Brooklyn tonight. Kurt Vile, who's opening for Big Star, plays Europa.

Kurt Vile, in addition to Europa, plays an invite-only show with Times New Viking at Public Assembly tonight.

Public Assembly is right next door to Music Hall of Williamsburg where The Dead Weather headline a show tonight.

Bob Dylan kicks off three nights at United Palace Theatre.

What we're going to call "Eugene Mirman's Cabinet of Wonders" (with guests Todd Barry, Jonathan Ames, David Rees, Rick Moody, Care Bears on Fire) comes to Highline Ballroom tonight. Tomorrow night John Wesley Harding brings his own regularly scheduled, many-guested event (that's featured Mirman many times) to LPR.

A new video from Rain Machine (aka Kyp Malone from TVotR) is posted below.

What else?

Continue reading "What's going on Tuesday?"

Marnie Stern @ NYU (more by Chris La Putt)

tonight in NYC
* DANCE
* Jon B @ Marcus Garvey Park
* Cursive, The Love Language @ Maxwell's
* Tyshawn Sorey's Oblique @ The Stone
* Daryl Hall & John Oates @ Seaside Park
* Bad Veins, The Dead Sparrows @ Mercury Lounge
* Scott H. Biram, Boss Tweed & Slim Twig @ Union Hall
* Stlyes P featuring Metermaids & NSR @ Southpaw
* John Kelly sings Joni Mitchell @ Castle Clinton
* Asphalt Orchestra @ Lincoln Center's Hearst Plaza
* Ga'an, Naam, La Otracina, Warmth @ Death By Audio
* Eagles of Death Metal, Rival Schools @ Webster Hall
* Mark Kozelek, Mia Doi Todd @ Music Hall of Williamsburg
* Hard Nips, Ramble Tamble, Invisible Circle @ Bruar Falls
* Brothers, pow wow!, Maricopa, Spirit Houses, Jon Lall @ Pianos
* Das Racist, Gordon Voidwell, Popo, Old Money @ Bowery Ballroom
* Nicole Atkins & The Sea, Hymns, Bird of Youth @ The Bell House
* Darlings, Senors of Marseille, Teddy Blanks, Holiday Holiday @ The Cameo
* Anamanaguchi, Starscream, Graffiti Monsters @ The Studio at Webster Hall
* Lincoln Center Out of Doors Fest w/ Hip Hop Generation Next @ Damrosch Park
* Fucking Ocean, Shivers, Psychic Reality, Royal Chord, Golden Birds @ Cake Shop
* Marnie Stern, Jason & The Scorchers, Oakley Hall, Drink Up Buttercup @ Santos
* Heartthrobz, Bright Light Bright Light, Neon Gloworms, Beach Fossils, Ivory Coasts, Oblisk @ Public Assembly
* Old Crow Medicine Show, Dave Rawlings Machine & Gillian Welch, Felice Brothers, Justin Townes Earle @ Beacon Theatre

Free outdoor music tonight includes Daryl Hall & John Oates at Seaside Park in Coney Island, Escort in Prospect Park, a Woodstock Celebration with John Kelly singing Joni Mitchell at Castle Clinton, Jon B at Marcus Garvey Park, the Asphalt Orchestra (who plays through Sunday) at Lincoln Center's Hearst Plaza, and Lincoln Center Out of Doors Fest's Hip Hop Generation Next lineup at Damrosch Park Bandshell.

Cursive plays a sold-out gig with The Love Language at Maxwell's.

"A federal jury on Friday ordered a Boston University graduate student who admitted illegally downloading and sharing music online to pay $675,000 to four record labels." [MercuryNews]

Adult Swim's free biweekly series at Santos presents Dave Willis (Aqua Teen Hunger Force and Squidbillies) and music from Marnie Stern, Jason and The Scorchers, Oakley Hall and Drink Up Buttercup.

The Big Surprise Tour brings Old Crow Medicine Show, Dave Rawlings Machine & Gillian Welch, Felice Brothers and Justin Townes Earle to the Beacon Theatre. One Felice played Mercury Lounge on Tuesday.

"No matter how clearly Tenenbaum broke the law, it doesn't change the only real fact: the RIAA has failed to embrace new business models when they appear, has attacked and held back new technologies and innovations at nearly every opportunity until dragged kicking-and-screaming into the new era (which it still refuses to fully embrace), and has created a PR nightmare for itself that isn't helped by lying to the public in the name of a bunch of bogus "FACTS."" [Techdirt]

Eagles of Death Metal play with Rival Schools at Webster Hall. Rival Schools' Walter Schreifels plays a show on August 11th at Maxwell's.

Mark Kozelek of Sun Kil Moon and Red House Painters plays Music Hall of Williamsburg with Mia Doi Todd.

Tyshawn Sorey, The Stone's August curator, leads two sets at the venue tonight.

"In the five days since a US district court jury ordered Tenenbaum to pay damages to the record labels for illegally sharing 30 songs, nearly 100 people have donated a total of more than $2,000, according to Debbie Rosenbaum, a fourth-year student at Harvard's law and business schools who assisted in Tenenbaum's defense." [Boston.com]

A Camp's new video for "Love Has Left The Room" below...

Paul Banks's Julian Plenti Is...Skyscraper came out earlier this week. The video for "Games for Days" featuring Metric/ex-BSSer Emily Haines is below...

What else?

Continue reading "What's going on Thursday?"

Polyphonic Spree...

Southern Comfort will host a series of free shows beginning this August. The tour's two main headliners will be Ghostland Observatory and the Polyphonic Spree. DJ Lord of Public Enemy is set to open. The tour will bring the Polyphonic Spree to NYC's Webster Hall on October 1st.

What's the catch? You'll have to sign up for Soco's text messaging list to receive a ticket code.

SoCo is also involved in a new video series on Playboy.com called "Uncovered." That features musicians performing acoustic covers of their favorite artists -- the first edition, up now, is Dinosaur Jr. playing The Cure's "Just Like Heaven." Upcoming acts include Black Lips, A Camp, The Dears, Patterson Hood and Phosphorescent (who just announced a Brooklyn show). A partial list of who's playing what, with the SoCo tour's schedule and all upcoming Ghostland Observatory dates, below...

Continue reading "Polyphonic Spree, Dinosaur Jr, Ghostland Obervatory, Dears, others playing free SoCo shows, making Playboy videos"

King Khan @ Bowery Ballroom in November (more by Zach Stern)

tonight in NYC
* DANCE
* Tribeca Film Festival
* Gabriel Kahane @ Joe's Pub
* Get Up Kids @ Gramercy Theatre
* Enslaved & Opeth @ Starland Ballroom
* Hoodwink Festival @ Giants Stadium
* Look & Listen Festival @ OK Harris
* Satanacide, Sex Slaves @ Mercury Lounge
* Loren Conners, Shahzad Ismaily @ The Stone
* Night of a Thousand Stevies @ Highline Ballroom
* India.Arie @ Grand Ballroom at Manhattan Center
* Jean Grae, Derrin Maxwell, 3beanstew @ New Museum
* Browns, Pacific Theater, The Sundelles @ Matchless
* Pontiak, Orphan, Heavy Hands, Degreaser @ Cake Shop
* The Dears, Great Northern, Eulogies @ The Bell House
* Shout Out Out Out Out, Future Rock @ (Le) Poisson Rouge
* Justin Townes Earle, Neil Bryden, Dick prall @ Maxwell's
* Alec Ounsworth, David Johansen & Rhett Miller @ Count Basie Theater
* The Beets, Wild Yaks, The Subjects, pow wow! @ Red Star Bar
* Leilolai, Darlings, Snakes Say Hiss, Boogie Boarder @ 92YTribeca
* Noah And The Whale, Ferraby Lionheart, Anni Rossi @ Bowery Ballroom
* Cattle Decapitation, Rose Funeral, Dr. Acula @ The Studio at Webster Hall
* Liturgy, Predator Vision, Husere Grav, Telecult Powers, Sannhet @ Death By Audio
* A Place to Bury Strangers, Dinowalrus, Crash Diet Crew @ Less Artists
* White Rabbits, Motel Motel, Golden Triangle, Teengirl Fantasy @ NYU
* King Khan & The Shrines, Mark Sultan, Georgiana Starlington @ MHOW
* Road to Recovery benefit w/ Iggy Pop, Tom Morello, Perry Ferrell, Billy Bragg, more

A Camp's new video for "Stronger Than Jesus" below...

What else?

Continue reading "What's going on Friday?"

by Andrew Frisicano

Gentleman Reg @ Mercury Lounge (more by Kyle Dean Reinford)

Toronto based Gentleman Reg has announced a two month spring tour in support of his first internationally released full-length, Jet Black, which arrived in stores in February on Arts & Crafts. The tour will kick off April 22 in Ottawa in support of Spiral Beach, include a string of Ontario headlining dates, a cross-Canada run in support of The Stills before a three-week run in support of A Camp starting May 26 in New York. [press release]

Keep track of what A Camp are doing on tour by following their video diary. The other day they met Bill Clinton (that video below).

A Psapp remix of Gentleman Reg's Jet Black track "We're In A Thunderstorm" is up on RCRDLBL.com. That song is part of a remix contest Reg and Arts & Crafts are currently running. The raw files for "We're In A Thunderstorm" are up on his site, and the winning remix will appear on the Arts & Crafts 2009 Summer Sampler. (Submitted remixes are streaming now.)

All tour dates and videos for songs "To Some It Comes Easy" and "Coastline" (the second recorded live in a van "along the waterfront at Royal Military College"), both from Jet Black, below...

Continue reading "Gentleman Reg - tour dates (A Camp), videos, remix contest "

"A Camp will embark on their first ever US tour later this Spring, kicking off things at the Bowery Ballroom in New York City on May 26th in support of their highly anticipated US debut Colonia - out this Spring on Nettwerk Records. A Camp features the lovely and talented Nina Persson (The Cardigans front woman and frequent member of the Citizens Band), her husband Nathan Larson (renowned American film composer and member of Shudder to Think), and Niclas Frisk (from the Swedish pop-rock sensation Atomic Swing). The coast to coast trek will have the band visiting prominent venues in 11 US cities including the Middle East in Boston, 9:30 Club in Washington, DC, Bluebird Theater in Denver and The Crocodile in Seattle before performing the final show on tour at the famed Troubadour in LA."

Continue reading "A Camp - updated 2009 North American Tour Dates"

Tickets are on sale for the May 1st Dears show at The Bell House. Tickets are on Am Ex presale for the show happening the next day at Bowery Ballroom.

Tickets are on Am Ex presale for the A Camp show happening at Bowery Ballroom.

India.Arie is playing Manhattan Center Grand Ballroom on May 1st. Tickets are on Am Ex Presale.

Tickets went on presale this morning for Dark Was the Night at Radio City Music Hall.

The R.E.M. tribute at Carnegie Hall is tonight (3/11).

Brendan Canning (Broken Social Scene)'s new video for "Love Is New" is below...

Continue reading "The Dears, A Camp, India.Arie & other tix "

by Andrew Frisicano

A Camp, the trio fronted by Cardigans singer Nina Persson, has announced a full European tour and (so far) one US date in support of its second album, Colonia, out April 28th via Nettwerk. The band will be playing the Bowery Ballroom on Tuesday, May 26 (on sale Friday at noon, Am Ex presale on Wednesday) - which will be a hometown show of sorts for Persson and husband/ex-Shudder to Think member Nathan Larson (who, with ex-Atomic Swing musician Niclas Frisk, make up A Camp).

An article in the UK's Independent discusses Persson's life, The Cardigans, and the move:

[After recording The Cardigans reunion album Super Extra Gravity,] Persson finally spread her wings, moving to New York with Larson. "I was feeling positive, strong," she says. "It was a nice sensation."

Eighteen months ago, Persson and her husband decided to get on to Manhattan's property ladder. They couldn't afford much by themselves, so decided to go in with Larson's parents. They now share a four-storey brownstone in a part of Harlem that has yet to undergo full gentrification.

"We've been burgled three times in 18 months," Persson notes, "but that's just something that happens. And besides, the police are really helpful. They know us by name now..."

All tour dates, plus a live video/interview, below...

Continue reading "A Camp (Nina Persson of the Cardigans) - new album & 2009 tour dates (Bowery Ballroom)"

I would have loved to have been at this....

Craig Wedren & Nathan Larson @ Mercury Lounge, NYC - Sep 17, 2007 (CRED)

This show seeks to reunite half the most popular (read: light MTV rotation) iteration of Shudder to Think, Craig’s D.C. glam-punk band, which evolved from arty Dischord intrigue to even artier light MTV rotation via the 1994 quasi-hit “X-French Tee Shirt.” [Village Voice]

Larson appeared midway through Wedren's solo set and performed six Shudder songs with the latter's band, which includes late-period Shudder drummer Kevin March. The artists played "X-French Tee Shirt," "Red House," "Lies About the Sky," "No Rm. 9, Kentucky," "Day Ditty" and "Appalachian Lullaby," which featured vocals from Larson's wife, Cardigans frontwoman Nina Persson. Their group, A Camp, also played a set last night. [Billboard]

Shudder to Think broke up in 1998. Almost ten years later, and there still hasn't been a reunion. Frontman Craig Wedren - known to sing a STT song now and then - remains an active member of the NYC music scene. He has a solo album out on Team Love, has various bands, contributes to almost anything State/Stella-related, and gets all artsy when he's doing his thing with the Citizens Band.

Shudder to Think guitarist Nathan Larson is married to Nina Persson of the Cardigans. Together they make music in their recently-active newer band A Camp. Shudder to Think "drummer for hire" Kevin March is currently drumming with Craig again (he isn't the original STT drummer, but he did play with them).

Other members of the Citizens Band (Craig's artsy thing) include Craig's sometimes-band-member Amy Miles, Jack White's wife Karen Elson, Angela McLuskey, and Rain Phoenix. Rain Phoenix also has a band called Papercranes. Last week I alerted you to a Papercranes residency going on at Mercury Lounge in NYC. At tonight's residency show (Sept 17, 2007), Papercranes (8:00) will be joined by Luke Schurman (whose apt recently burned) (7:00), Craig Wedren (9:00), and A Camp (10:00).

Not only does that mean that three members of Shudder to Think will be in the house, Craig is in fact promising the closest thing to a Shudder To Think reunion in history - all three members playing together, and more importantly - playing STT songs together. The Mercury Lounge bill still just says Craig Wedren, so I asked again, and they said, "Yep - all shudder (and a handful of craig's solo songs, I'm assuming)".

Nina and company were playing to a packed house. They played all the big songs from the s/t album - "Frequent Flier," "I Can Buy You," "Walking the Cow," "Algebra," "Song for the Leftovers," "Rock n' Roll Ghost," and a couple of others. They also played something called "Where the Wild Animals Are," or something like that, which started with the whole band making animal sounds and clapping in the air. Very nice. The encore (one song) was another really wonderful new one with just Nina and the Keyboardist playing it - simple, seemed to be a lamentation about being married (we can hope, can't we!!) Nina kept reaching into a little canvas bag to pull out harmonicas, water, percussion sticks...and she also professed to a deep fear of instruments. She sure did play them
nicely though. [trent wolbe]

Nina Perrson brings her side-project A Camp from Sweden to NYC soon (or maybe she already lives here, I'm not sure). This coincides with news of a new album...

Six years after the solo debut with A Camp, Nina Persson has started working on a new album with Niklas Frisk and her husband Nathan Larson. She has started with a bang with half a dozen songs that are going to get lyrics about everything from Chinatown in New York to "animals in Africa". [Cardigans.com]