Kings of Convenience @ Bowery Ballroom in September (more by Fresh Bread)

Kings Of Convenience have already rescheduled the dates for their tour that was to have kicked off Febraury 13th before being canceled because of illness. The new shows will be in June, and tickets are still good for the new dates. The band plays Warsaw in Brooklyn on June 4th (tickets) and Webster Hall on June 5th (tickets). Franklin for Short opens.

As a consolation for this postponement, for a limited time, all current ticket-holders will given an opportunity to download an exclusive track for free via their local promoter. This track,"Love Is No Big Truth", was recorded for Italian radio and will be available on the band's upcoming iTunes exclusive EP Live Acoustic Sessions: Milan out 2/23/10

Haven't been able to find any info on how to actually get that track yet.

In related news, Whitest Boy Alive will be here in April with 2 NYC shows that are also on sale.

All rescheduled tour dates and the tracklist for that EP are below...

Continue reading "Kings of Convenience - rescheduled 2010 tour dates & a free track from an iTunes Ep?"

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)"

Eirik isn't feeling good (more by Fresh Bread)

"The Kings of Convenience // Franklin for Short East Coast Tour has just been canceled. Unfortunately, due to a rather gnarly illness the Kings have pulled out. Possible rescheduling of shows to happen in the future, be on the look out. We are super bummed and hope Eirik feels better soon!" [Franklin For Short]

That blurb from Franklin For Short, the tour opener, comes after Kings of Convenience posted this to their MySpace: "Eirik fell ill yesterday, and today the doctor says its a flu-virus. I dont know more than this at the moment , but check this space for more info today and tomorrow. The scheduled appearance at Jimmy Fallon show on thursday will in any case most likely fall out. :-( Erlend". Kings themselves haven't confirmed the cancellation, and NYC tickets are still on sale (February 13th at Webster Hall and the 14th at Warsaw) but it seems unlikely the opener would post it if it wasn't true. Stay tuned for 100% confirmation (and starting thinking about new Valentine's Day plans). (thx Sean).

Neon Indian appears on Fallon tonight (2/11) instead. Neon Indian arrived in town less than a week ago to play NYU, scheduled a last minute Market Hotel show for the next day, and will be DJing Glasslands on Valentine's Day too. They're really making the most of this trip (I wouldn't be surprised if they're also playing a fashion week party).

In related news, Erlend's other band Whitest Boy Alive just scheduled some new shows.

Kings of Convenience in NYC
Feb 13 @ Webster Hall (tix on sale at noon)
Feb 14 @ Warsaw (tix on sale at noon)

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Both NYC shows (one of then announced yesterday) are part of a February tour with California band Franklin For Short. The Warsaw show is presented by Knitting Factory. All dates below...

Continue reading "Kings of Convenience - updated 2010 tour dates (TWO NYC shows) (one at Warsaw) (both on sale) "

Kings of Convenience @ Bowery Ballroom, 2009 (more by Fresh Bread)

Wow, what a decade that was. We got signed to an international label, recorded 3 albums, made relatively expensive musicvideos and toured the world from Bodø to Bandung. Now, where will this decade take us? We don't really know. Time will tell. But in the immediate future, there is a US east coast tour and an extensive Asian tour coming up. Looking very much forward to that. Also, we have still not played in Africa or Middle East. Get in touch, brothers.
-Eirik & Erlend, snowy Bergen, January 4th, 2010.

All of those dates haven't been announced yet, but one of them will take place at Webster Hall in NYC on Saturday, February 13th. Franklin For Short opens. Tickets ($29.50) go on sale Tuesday at noon (18+).

Last time they were here, Kings of Convenience played a one-off show at Bowery Ballroom with a special guest named Feist. All currently known tour dates below...

Continue reading "Kings of Convenience touring the US, playing Webster Hall"

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"

'this week in indie' PART TWO actually...

by Bill Pearis

DOWNLOAD: Super Furry Animals - Inaugural Trams (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: The Intelligence - Thank You God for Fixing the Tape Machine (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Desolation Wilderness - Boardwalk Theme (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Woven Bones - Yr Sorcery (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Box Elders - Hole in My Head (MP3)
STREAM: Kings of Convenience - Boat Behind (asx STREAM)

Earlier this week we had two nights with Sondre Lerche and tonight (9/10) is more Norwegian jazz pop when Kings of Convenience play a sold-out Bowery Ballroom, their only U.S. show, that I'm guessing they're playing while in NYC doing press for their new album, Declaration of Dependence, which is out next month. Quiet remains the new loud for Eirik Glambek Bøe and Erlend Øye if the reports are true that the single "Mrs. Cold" is the really the most upbeat track on the record. If so, it's going to be a super mellow one, though really you could say that about all their records. I think we tend to remember singles like "I'd Rather Dance With You" and forget that the rest of Riot on an Empty Street was pretty spare too. I've only heard a few tracks from the new one, so I'm looking forward to more tonight. Hopefully we'll get a lot of everything, as they don't play America very often. As there's no opener, we can hope for an epic "evening with Kings of Convenience." The band's on at 9:30.

As I'm sure you've heard if you read this site with any regularity, this weekend is All Tomorrow's Parties and if you're not going there's a little runnoff with bands playing New York shows around it. Case in point: Super Furry Animals will do their only U.S. shows in support of new album Dark Days/Light Years. Specifically, tomorrow's (9/11) show at Highline Ballroom (Tickets still available) is the "only U.S. club show for 2009" and Saturday (9/12) at Maxwell's (tickets) is the "only U.S. restaurant concert this year!"

I'm a huge SFA fan, think they're one of the most consistently great bands of the last 15 years. I've seen them upwards of 20 times and they're always entertaining. Their live shows got a little over-the-top around 2005's Love Kraft with electric jumpsuits, synched video projections and prerecorded backing tracks, but they've scaled back the last couple years and there's a more spontaneous vibe these days. And the new album is really good, a nice mix of punchy rockers, sunshine pop, epic space rock, Welsh boogie, and weird disco. In other words, a Super Furry Animals album.

Woven Bones

Did I mention this weekend is super-packed? Austin's Woven Bones are on a fairly extensive U.S. tour, making two stops in NYC this weekend with Seattle's The Spits. They play the brand-new Knitting Factory on Friday (9/11) and Cake Shop on Saturday (9/12). Woven Bones spew out dirty, fuzzed-up blues-punk surf rock. Their new EP, which they will hopefully have for sale this weekend, is on San Diego's Zoo Music who put out the first Crocodiles single and a Dum Dum Girls EP, so that right there should give you an idea what to expect. You can download the a-side from their "Yr Sorcery" single at the top of this post. The Spits, meanwhile, straddle the line between straight-up garage punk and Devo-esque lo-fi keyboard proto-punk. Both are pretty catchy, but I think the latter is more interesting as you just don't hear that sort of thing so much these days. And something tells me their show might lean toward the theatrical. If you can't make either of these shows, Woven Bones play Monster Island Basement next Wednesday (9/16) with Box Elders, and then Cake Shop again next Friday (9/18) with Girls at Dawn and Reading Rainbow.

The Spits

We'll continue with the garagey sounds because Seattle's mighty Intelligence hit New York this weekend too, playing Market Hotel on Friday (9/11) and Cake Shop on Sunday (9/13). The Intelligence's new album, Fake Surfers, has yet to get old for me, I listen to it at least once a week. I think it's one of the year's best. While the building blocks are the same (surf, garage, reverb, distortion), Lars Finberg exists in his own weird universe of lyrics and sound and his songs just come out different than your Oh Sees or Sic Alps or Ty Segalls. (All of whom I love too, btw.) I know this weekend is choc-full of must-see shows, but make some time for the Intelligence.

The Market Hotel show also features Brooklyn's own (and awesome) Golden Triangle, plus Wild Yaks, Arrington de Dionyso (of Old Time Religun) and Smarts.

Desolation Wilderness

The Intelligence Cake Shop Show on Sunday is with fellow Seattle band Desolation Wilderness who are worth seeing as well. If you like the breezy beach music that is coming out of NJ's Underwater Peoples (or anything Dean Wareham's ever done), then you'll probably dig Desolation Wilderness if you if you're not already familiar with them. Their new album, New Universe, is their second for K Records and is just lovely stuff -- languid, dreamy melodies, with guitar flourishes that ebb in and out, perfect for this late summer weather. You can download "Boardwalk Theme" from the new album at the top of this post. They also play Silent Barn on Saturday (9/12) with Real Estate and "The Maze" at Death by Audio on Monday (9/14).

As mentioned fleetingly in the bit about Woven Bones, Omaha, Nebraska trio Box Elders are here next week before hitting their record label's garage rock extravaganza, Gonerfest in Memphis from Sept. 24 - 26. They play Cake Shop on Tuesday (9/15) and Monster Island Basement the next night. These are their first NYC shows since April, and their first since the release of their debut LP, Alice and Friends. With that Leslie speaker keyboard sound and their major chord melodies, Alice and Friends is like '60s bubblegum and R&B as reproduced by a bunch of kids in a basement. Which I guess it kind of is. They are really entertaining live, with drummer Dave Golberg simultaneously manning his kit as well as the keyboards, and brothers Jeramiha and loin-cloth clad Clayton McIntyre rocking and bouncing in the foreground. It's a fun show.

So that'll do it for this weekend. For more picks (Marmoset, Wild Beast) see yesterday's TWII Pt 1. Videos and tour dates for most bands mentioned can be found below...

Continue reading "Woven Bones, Intelligence, Desolation Wilderness, Kings of Convenience, Box Elders, SFA & more in This Week in Indie "

Tickets are on sale (@ noon) for the Kings of Convenience show taking place at Bowery Ballroom.

(Unlike last week) Tickets are on AmEx presale (@ noon) for the Thursday (performing "Full Collapse") / Far (reunion) show happening at Bowery Ballroom.

Tickets are on sale (@ noon) for the White Denim show happening at Music Hall of Williamsburg.

Tickets are on AmEx presale (@ noon) for the Thao show happening at Bowery Ballroom.

Tickets are on AmEx presale (@ noon) for the Little Joy show happening at Webster Hall.

Kings of Convenience are playing Bowery Ballroom in NYC on September 10th. Tickets go on sale Wednesday. More North American dates TBA? Euro dates at their MySpace.