by Bill Pearis

DOWNLOAD: Harrys Gym - Old Man (MP3)

I was very sad yesterday when Frankie & the Heartstrings announced they weren't going to make it to America for SXSW, as they were to play our curated chunk of the Dot Com Day Stage on Thursday (3/17) inside the Austin Convention Center. But I am happy that their replacement is Norway's Harrys Gym, a band I've been curious to see for some time.

I first became aware of Harrys Gym when doing research on another Norwegian group, I Was a King, and learned that singer Anne Lise Frøkedal was in both bands. Her two bands couldn't sound more different. Where IWAK have definite '90s indie rock influences, Harrys Gym is ethereal pop along the line of Blonde Redhead, Bat for Lashes, or Bachelorette. Check out their alluring single "Old Man" from their second album, What Was Ours Can't Be Yours, came out last fall.

So the line-up now is:

12PM: Erland & the Carnival
1PM: Still Corners
2PM: Harrys Gym

This is in the Convention Center which means you do need a badge for this one, but if you do, please try and stop by. I think we've got a solid little set of music here (I saw Still Corners on Saturday and was duly impressed).

Harrys Gym play five shows in Austin this week (but no other dates at the moment unfortunately). Their full schedule, plus some Harrys Gym videos, are below...

Continue reading "Harrys Gym playing SXSW, replace Frankie on BV Dot Com Day Stage (MP3, videos & dates)"

DOWNLOAD: The Purrs - Stay With Me (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Pete & the Pirates - Jennifer (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Let's Wrestle - Tanks (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Surf City - Records of a Flagpole Skater (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Surf City - Kudos (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: A Classic Education - We Can Always Run to Hawaii (MP3)

A Classic Education

DAYTIME:

Again today (10/21) I suggest you just stay on the Lower East Side for your free day party action. At Cake Shop is the Terrorbird Digital party with the mod-ish Black Hollies, dark and dreamy Zaza, Nashville's fun Turbofruits, LA all-girl trio Warpaint, Montreal's Silver Starling and San Francisco's Tempo No Tempo. Plus: free cupcakes while they last.

Up the street at Pianos is the Force Field PR party which has Real Estate, Kentucky's These United States, CMJ overachievers Surfer Blood (who were good yesterday at Cake Shop), San Francisco's good time party pals Still Flyin', noisy locals Grooms (who were also good at Cake Shop yesterday), Sub Pop band Holopaw, UK act Stricken City and L.A.'s Seven Saturdays.

And you might even wander down to Santos Party House for the Hype Machine/Babelgum party that has a nice lineup of dance acts: Australia's Midnight Juggernauts, retrofuturist VEGA, Brooklyn duo Sleigh Bells, smooth and soulful sounds of Theophilus London, and Norway's Alan Wilkis who puts his own spin on early '80s new wave funk. This one starts a bit later than the other day parties, at a civilized 3PM.

If you're in Williamsburg this afternoon (maybe to pick up your Vice Late Nights info at American Apparel) you might want to swing by Bruar Falls where they'll be a low key day show featuring Bologna, Italy's A Classic Education (who will also be playing the Brooklyn Vegan day party tomorrow [10/21] at Pianos). They were one of my favorites from SXSW. Also on the Bruar bill are three Brooklyn bands: My Teenage Stride, Knight School and Palomar. 2 - 6PM. Free!

NIGHTTIME:

Personally, this is my most conflicted night with at least three shows in completely different places that I feel I could stay at the whole night. If you're downtown at the day parties, you might want to head over to the M for Montreal showcase which starts with a 5PM performance from Parlovr. I was talking to a friend yesterday who was raving about their recent Pop Montreal performance and said they might be the next MTL band to break out. The rest of the M4M bill is solid, including Think About Life who were just fantastic last night at the official BrooklynVegan showcase at Music Hall of Williamsburg. Also dont' miss BEASTand Duchess Says, the latter of whom will also play our free day party Thursday at Pianos.

Then there's also the great show at The Bell House with personal faves Pete & the Pirates and excellent New Zealanders Surf City -- both of whom are also playing the free BrooklynVegan/Bowery Presents day party on Saturday at Pianos. Also on the bill are Pete & the Pirates' Stolen Recordings labelmates Let's Wrestle, as well as North Carolina's The Love Language, the latter of whom will be playing our Friday night loft party. The Bell House show is $14 without a CMJ badge.

There's also a great lineup of bands at Santos tonight on two floors, including Cymbals Eat Guitars and DEASTRO (who both play our Saturday party), Free Energy, Real Estate, and Beach Fossils, plus a couple awesome bands from Norway: Ungdomskullen and I Was a King. It's $15 if you don't have a badge.

Richard Davies

And I'd like to highlight a couple artists who play their only CMJ shows tonight, at the same timeslot (9pm) in different Bleeker Street venues. (I know.) At Kenny's Castaways is Richard Davies who fronted the great Australian band The Moles in the late '80s/early '90s, and then moved to the U.S. where he formed chamber pop duo Cardinal with Eric Matthews, and their sole 1994 album remains one of the best things Sub Pop has ever released. After Cardinal, he put out three very good solo albums (1998's Telegraph is pretty great, actually), and then in 2000 or so, he decided to go to law school and has had his own practice since. But he's started playing again recently and, according to this interview, he and Matthews have restarted Cardinal, which is kind of exciting. But tonight here he'll play as a trio with a new band. Glad to have him back.

The Purrs

And down the street at Wicked Willy's are The Purrs who hail from Seattle and have just released their very good second album Amused, Confused and More Bad News. Mix a little '80s Paisley Underground with '90s Britpop and you're in the ballpark of their sound. You can download their song "Stay Here With Me" at the top of this post. 9PM at Wicked Willy's (149 Bleeker).

What else is good today? Hip Hop recommendations HERE. Flyers and day party set times, and all Classic Education dates, below.

Continue reading "CMJ 2009 - Bill's Wednesday picks & stuff (day, night parties, A Classic Education, Richard Davies, The Purrs, more)"

by Bill Pearis

DOWNLOAD: The Drums - I Felt Stupid (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: The Drums - Instruct Me (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Pelle Carlberg - Clever Girls Like Clever Boys More Than Clever Boys Like Clever Girls (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Pelle Carlberg - I Love You, You Imbecile (feat. Ida Maria) (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Pelle Carlberg - 1983 (Pelle & Sebastian) (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Pelle Carlberg - 51,3 (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: I Was a King - Norman Bleik (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: The Rural Alberta Advantage - Don't Haunt This Place (MP3)

Those Dancing Days @ Spaceland in LA - 05/23/09 (Clap Your Mirror Say Yeah)

Those Dancing Days were in town this week and the Scandinavian invasion continues through the weekend. Stockholm resident Pelle Carlberg, fresh from playing San Francisco's Popfest, is here on Saturday (5/30) at Union Hall (tix). While his new album, The Lilac Time, isn't quite as strong as 2007's In a Nutshell, he's a great performer and wouldn't miss him for the world. If you like Belle & Sebastian type pop (even he acknowledges he sounds a bit like them, see the MP3 at the top of this post), funny stories, and suitcases used as drums, you shouldn't miss it either.

The other reason not to miss it is the second-ever show by NYC Popfest breakout stars The Drums. For a band who claimed to have had their first practice a mere two hours before the show, The Drums seemed to have it pretty together at Popfest, with a full band and backup singers. Their MySpace lists gloomy Manchester post punk as reference points - the main influence to me seems to be the beach. As in where the surf meets the sand. The music's a little twangy, with the most whistling heard since "Young Folks," and song titles include "The Saddest Summer," "Down by the Water" and "Let's Go Surfing." Perfect for Watusi-ing. They're a lot of fun. And they've got a June residency at the Annex and will be playing the Northside Festival if you can't make the show on Saturday.

The Rural Alberta Advantage

Also Saturday night, over at Mercury Lounge, are Norway's I Was a King playing their second of three NYC shows. Their first is earlier that day at Generation Records. I have friends who saw them in Chicago and said they were great so I'm really looking forward to catching them. As I wrote previously, if you like Teenage Fanclub-y, harmony-and-feedback style pop, definitely go see them. They also play Union Hall on Sunday (5/31).

The Saturday show (which is an early one) is with Canadian trio The Rural Alberta Advantage, who also headline tonight (5/29) at The Bell House. The band won over crowds at SXSW, including at least one Pitchfork writer:

The percussive, stripped down indie-folk trio plays acoustic everything, but there's nothing quiet about them. Frontman Nils Edenloff sings in a strained yelp and plays his guitar like he's mad at it. This is the kind of band you imagine would do just fine unplugged. And at the end of their set, they did just that, walking to the center of the room and making their voices do all the work...

Edenloff held everything together, but multi-instrumentalist Amy Cole did more to make this band fun to watch. She's a totally winning stage presence, grinning huge and clapping along when she didn't have anything to play. And her xylophone dings and backing vocals added warmth and stillness to the driving songs. Every one of those songs, according to Edenloff, concerns the Canadian province that gave the band their name. And every one of those songs just goes for it, in a racing-toward-the-sun kind of way. This band could be huge.

The band's excellent self-released 2008 debut, Hometowns, just got picked up by Saddle Creek who'll release it in July.

And if you need more earnest Canadians, Rock Plaza Central are in town, at Cake Shop on Monday (6/1) and the Bell House on Tuesday (6/2).

---

A few short bits:

Two great alt-rock icons are in town: X are at Bowery Ballroom all weekend (playing what you asked them to play). Tonight (5/29) and Saturday are sold out, as is but there are still tickets for Sunday's show. And former Husker Du drummer/singer Grant Hart will play Cake Shop tonight (5/29) and the Bell House on Monday (6/1).

Au Revoir Simone kick of their summer tour tonight at Music Hall of Williamsburg. If you haven't heard their new, critically-acclaimed album Still Night, Still Light (which I still have to look up to make sure I'm getting the title correct), it really is very good. Also on the bill and on the tour is The Antlers.

Did you get tickets for Art Brut Week? At this point, everything except the Monday (6/1) show is sold out and it's likely to go soon. If you haven't heard Art Brut Vs. Satan, maybe it's time rediscover the brilliance of Eddie Argos.

Select tour dates and videos after the jump...

Continue reading "Pelle Carlberg, X, The Rural Alberta Advantage, The Drums, Au Revoir Simone & more in This Week In Indie"

DOWNLOAD: I Was a King - Norman Bleik (MP3)

I Was A King... (by Fotonils)

Norway's I Was A King are in town this weekend. They'll play Saturday, May 30th at Mercury Lounge, with the Rural Alberta Advantage and Elevator Fight, and Sunday, May 31st at Union Hall, with The Wowz. Tickets for the Mercury Lounge show, as well as tickets for Union Hall, are still on sale.

Before both of those shows, I Was A King will play a free in-store on Saturday, May 30th (4pm) at Permanent Records in Greenpoint (181 Franklin St).

The band's self-titled debut LP is out now on Control Group Records. The disc is streaming now on the label's site; or check out "Norman Bleik" from that record, above.

I Was A King also recently added dates to its May/June US tour, which includes West Coast dates with Crystal Antlers and Constantines (Constantines are playing the Central Park Summerstage on June 30th, too.)

All tour dates with two live videos from April 2009, below...

Continue reading "I Was a King in NYC - a free in-store & more 2009 tour dates"

DOWNLOAD: The Rural Alberta Advantage - Don't Haunt This Place (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: UUVVWWZ - Shark Suit (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: The Rural Alberta Advantage - Frank, AB (MP3)

TRAA in Guelph, ON, Nov. 2008 (sidrguelph)

Saddle Creek Records has annnounced two new signings. The bands are the Rural Alberta Advantage and UUVVWWZ. The label will put out the previously self-released debuts of both, TRAA's Hometowns and UUVVWWZ's self-titled, on Tuesday, July 7th.

The Rural Alberta Advantage will be going on tour across North America this summer. Some dates are below, with more TBA. The band visits NYC on Saturday, May 30th for a show with I Was A King and Elevator Fight at the Mercury Lounge. Tickets go on sale Friday, May 8th at noon.

Bios for both bands, with tracklists, album art and tour dates, below...

Continue reading "The Rural Alberta Advantage (now on Saddle Creek like UUVVWWZ) - 2009 Tour Dates (includes Mercury Lounge)"

by Bill Pearis

DOWNLOAD: I Was a King - Norman Bleik (MP3)

Oslo, Norway's I Was a King are headed to America for a fairly extensive US tour, including two stops in NYC: May 30 at Mercury Lounge (with UK's great The Wave Pictures) and May 31 at Union Hall. The band's self-titled debut came out earlier this month via The Control Group, who have released albums by The Figurines and El Perro Del Mar.

For all intents and purposes, I Was A King are a duo: Frode Strømstad, who's a Norwegian indie gadabout and owner of Hype City Records) and Anne Lise Frøkedal (who also fronts her own excellent band, Harrys Gym). The album was actually made in Brooklyn, at the Ladybug Transistor's Marlborough Farms studio with big help from head Ladybug Gary Olsen and fellow Norwegian Emil Nikolaisen of Serena Maneesh. Sufjan Stevens helps out on a few tracks, as does Danielson. Live, the band is fleshed out to a five-piece, including ex-Serena Maneesh member Håvard Krogedal on bass.

If you like '60s pysch pop, '90s psych pop (Elephant 6), Dinosaur Jr. and Teenage Fanclub, chances are you're going to like I Was a King. Teenage Fanclub, actually, are punnily namechecked on the band's first single, "Norman Bleik," which you can download at the top of this post. Video of them performing the song on Norwegian television and all tour dates below...

Continue reading "I Was A King (from Norway) - 2009 Tour Dates, video & MP3"