words by Bill Pearis, Coachella photos by Rachel Carr

The Whitest Boy Alive @ Coachella

"Are you ready to rock?," Erlend Øye asked the packed Music Hall of Williamsburg last night (4/21). The crowd screamed. "Are you ready to house?" The place went bananas. If you've only ever seen Øye perform with hushed folk duo Kings of Convenience, you might think he's a stick in the mud, but it's clear, to me at least, he has a lot more fun in Whitest Boy Alive.

Along with Hot Chip and LCD Soundsystem, MHoW has played host to the best dance music shows I've seen this year -- hell, any shows -- and Whitest Boy Alive is right up there with both of those. I was kind of blown away. Whitest Boy Alive seem closer to Soulwax in ethos (though not in material) than LCD or Hot Chip, playing club music as a live band to club kids. The audience reflected it, more club kids and Euro-types (more than a few armed with glo-sticks) rather than your typical indie crowd. They were there to dance.

And when "High on the Heels" kicked in with it's CeCe Peniston-esque keybord riff, the place lost it. I felt sure everyone around me was peaking. People were bouncing, hugging, bouncing while hugging and generally freaking out. I had no idea they were so popular. Whitest Boy Alive's two albums -- 2006's indiepop-ish Dreams and last year's more dancefloor oriented Rules -- are polite affairs, a kind of Funk Lite disco that's part Steely Dan, Al Jarreau, New Order and '90s Eurohouse (they covered Robin S.'s "Show Me Love" for the encore). But live it's much more the Erlend Øye Party Machine, thanks in no small part to a super tight band. The night really belonged to keyboardist Daniel Netwig -- who flipped his Crumar at one point for a bit of welcome showboating -- whose lithe, funky playing kept hands in the air all night.

The 90-minute set hit all the highlights of Dreams and Rules, including the aforementioned "High on the Heels," a version of "Golden Cage" that has clearly been influenced by its Fred Falke remix, the Daft Punk-y "1517" (that I hoped would work in "Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger," but no ), and an extended "Islands" where Øye and the band worked the crowd like a DJ in Ibiza. This was The Whitest Boy Alive's second-ever NYC show, the first being the night before at Bowery Ballroom, part of a tour that included Coachella. They got a horn section but I can't imagine the vibe was anywhere near as ecstatic as MHoW. "Last night we finally played New York," Øye told the crowd near the end of the band's set. "It was a good show. But tonight is a great show." I gotta concur.

Hopefully The Whitest Boy Alive will be back sooner than later. In the meantime, Kings of Convenience return in June.

Check out more pictures from the band's Coachella set (we only posted two the other day), plus video from there, along with two shots from MHOW, and video from Bowery Ballroom, below...

Continue reading "The Whitest Boy Alive played 2 NYC shows, Coachella (pics) "

Whitest Boy Alive...

On the heels of Kings of Convenience (most likely) canceling their February tour (and NYC shows this weekend), Whitest Boy Alive (a band that includes Erlend Øye from Kings) has announced an appearance at Coachella in April and two NYC shows to follow. They'll be at Bowery Ballroom on April 20th and Music Hall of Willliamsburg on April 21st. Tickets are on AmEx presale now. General sale starts Friday at noon.

Erlend writes that the new shows are "work-permit-pending" (hopefully that doesn't mean another cancellation announcement!). Before then, Whitest Boy Alive will be in Mexico to work on new music and play some shows in March. All tour dates are below...

Continue reading "Whitest Boy Alive schedule North American shows (on sale)"

photos by Fresh Bread

"You might hear a song and think it's from the second album, it just sounds like it." - Erlend Oye @ Bowery Ballroom

Kings of Convenience were really good [at Bowery Ballroom] last night (9/10). they went on about 940ish. First half the show was spent debut new material, which sounds really good. Not much of departure from their previous stuff, but being that KOC has kind of signature sound, I really wasn't surprised. Then, they started busting out a bunch of tunes from their previous two records, much to the delight of the crowd. All the while, the band was very talkative and incredibly charming and funny. They ended their with a cover of "It's my party and I'll cry if I want to".

But the real suprise was the encore. The boys walked out in sang with no mics and did an unplugged version of "The Build-Up". Half way through the song, a voice started singing from the balcony unplugged. They put a spotlight on her and it was non other then Leslie Feist! The place went crazy as she belted this tune out. After a huge ovation, she came to the main stage and did a little dance and back up singing for the boys final song.

All and All, a fantastic ending to a wonderful show! [Anonymous]

Kings of Convenience, not to be confused with Kings of LEON,...

"No shit - I was talking with two girls before the show started who were from Australia, they had walked by and bought tickets at the door. They HONESTLY thought they were there to see Kings Of Leon. You should have seen the look on their faces when I said "you know you are getting ready to see Kings of Convenience, right?"" - Fresh Bread

...have no other upcoming North American dates at the moment. Last night's show was a one-off. More pictures and the setlist, below...

Continue reading "Kings of Convenience w/ FEIST @ Bowery Ballroom - pics"

DOWNLOAD: Casiokids - Fot I Hose (Axemax Remix) (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Kittens Ablaze - Gloom Doom Buttercups (MP3)

Casiokids @ On the Side @ the Seaport (more by Kyle Dean Reinford)

One of our favorite bands from CMJ is coming back to the United States in March. Norway's Casiokids will play two shows in NYC before they head to Austin to play a bunch of shows at SXSW. The NYC shows are March 17th at the Annex with BM Linx, and one day earlier at The Bell House with fellow Norwegians The New Wine, NYC's Anamanaguchi, and NYC's Kittens Ablaze. Tickets for the Brooklyn show are on sale.

Norway's annual by:Larm music conference went down in Oslo this past weekend. Billboard reports:

In total, 280 bands participated in over 500 concerts (a substantial increase from 2008's 350), with several more playing unofficial by:Larm shows in fringe venues during the event. Attendance was strong from the international delegate fraternity as well as local residents, amounting to an approximate total audience of 25,000, according to organizers.

Some of the hot tips packing out venues were recent Universal Music Norway signing Harry's Gym, Icelandic outfit Hjaltalin, Norwegian-language group Casiokids and the Whitest Boy Alive, an electronic act featuring Erlend Øye of Norwegian indie-folk duo Kings Of Convenience. Danish electro group WhoMadeWho headlined the Saturday night main tent finale.

Moshi Moshi is releasing a new Casiokids single on March 2nd. One of the songs on that is the instrumental "Fot I Hose". A remix of that song above, and its new official video, and all tour dates, are below...

Continue reading "Casiokids - NYC & SXSW dates, by:Larm + new video, remix"