"Landed to confirmation of awful news re all of our efforts for sxsw and beyond.there are a lot of people who should be very ashamed $$$$$" - wichitarecs

Those Dancing Days

we are so sad - we have to cancel our US trip. we are just so devastated. our working visas have some through but by the time the final approval come through at the embassy in Stockholm we will miss half of our shows and we already missed our flights and finding new ones isn't working. :-((((( - Those Dancing Days

Those Dancing Days was scheduled to play Mercury Lounge on 3/22, right after playing something like six shows at SXSW in Austin (Fader, Filter, Billboard and Wichita Records showcase included). For Wichita, that means 2 of 6 of the artists playing their show have cancelled, because as previously mentioned, Dam Mantle aren't coming for the same reason. Here's their showcase at the moment:

3/19 Wichita Records Showcase @Lattitude
01 Young Legionnaire
12 Those Dancing Days
11 Frankie & The Heartstrings
10 Veronica Falls
09 Dam Mantle
08 Her Space Holiday

That said, I don't know if Wichita's above-quoted tweet is referencing this or something else or both.

Veronica Falls will hopefully make it, THOUGH they did cancel their Mercury Lounge show with Frankie & the Heartstrings that was scheduled to take place after SXSW (but not for visa reasons). Las Robertas will open that March 21st Merc show for Frankie instead.

Frankie & the Heartstrings also play the BrooklynVegan Dot Com Day Stage while in Austin.

photos by Chris La Putt

Blood Red Shoes @ MHOW

After Chris left the BV Loft Party all the way back on Friday, October 22nd, he headed over to Music Hall of Williamsburg for the Blue Flowers-presented CMJ showcase for a lineup of mostly UK bands including Chapel Club, Everything Everything, and Blood Red Shoes (who toured North America with Sky Larkin in October). Pictures from that show are in this post.

The occasion (to post these belated pics)? SXSW has already announced an initial lineup of bands playing in Austin from March 16-20, 2011, and Chapel Club is on that list (and I wouldn't be surprised of the other 2 mentioned bands end up coming too). Also on the list: Lia Ices, Braids, Asobi Seksu, Wye Oak, Suuns, Sun Airway, A Place to Bury Strangers and more. Full list under the rest of the MHOW pictures, below...

Continue reading "Chapel Club played CMJ w/ Everything Everything & Blood Red Shoes (pics), playing SXSW 2011 (intial lineup)"

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).

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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"

by Bill Pearis

Stockholm, Sweden's all-girl quintet Those Dancing Days are coming to America for the first time next month, including two dates in NYC: Mercury Lounge on May 26 and Union Hall on May 28.

Formed in 2006, the band (who are still in their teens, just barely) released an EP this time last year that got a fair amount of internet attention, and their full-length debut, In Our Space Hero Suits, was released last year in the UK on Wichita Records (Los Campesinos!, Peter Bjorn and John, Sky Larkin). Here's what the NME said about it:

God bless the humble handclap. Pop would be bereft without it. What do you get when you soul-shuffle it with the Wigan Casino, a Phil Spector wig and five mini-skirted Swedes? Whack in a dizzying Hammond organ and you've got the kind of sherbet-pop that promises to get all the girls hip-swaying on the dancefloor (because getting girls on the dancefloor is what pop's all about). Hailing from the Stockholm suburb of Nacka, it's no surprise this sashaying quintet originate from the land of Abba. What is a surprise is their love affair with both northern soul and '60s girl groups. Put them together and you have a kaleidoscopic mash-up only the Nordic could attempt to get away with.

Check out a couple Those Dancing Days videos at the bottom of this post.

May in New York is going to be lousy with Swedes, a Scandinavian invasion the likes of which this town hasn't seen since IKEA opened in Red Hook. As promised, Suburban Kids with Biblical Names are coming. They were added to the NYC Popfest line-up (which already features Swedes The Radio Dept and Lichtenstien), playing the Sunday (5/17) day-long show at Cake Shop. Advance tickets to that one show have sold out, but there will be some available at the door on the day of the show. And as mentioned before, Pelle Carlberg is playing Union Hall on May 30.

Videos and dates below...

Continue reading "Those Dancing Days touring, playing NYC like other Swedes"