A Penguin Taught Me French

I am happy and excited to announce that the Weakerthans are in the studio now! Finally five years after their critically acclaimed record 'Reconstruction Site' was released they will be releasing yet another this fall! Thank goodness!

Shake Your Money Maker!

If you think your milkshake brings all the boys to the yard....well....then you're wrong! Danceband is comprised of several band members all with alias' and a bump in their rump. They began in Minneapolis not too long ago and became Minneapolis superstars in a matter of months. If I remember correctly they had a write up in Minneapolis' Pulse magazine prior to their first real show and that alone brought out a crowd. Over the past year this dance, dance fantasy team has managed to get the most uptight of indie kids dancing and moving like they were made for ass shaking and it's totally amazing. With lyrics like, "this is how we dance when we're dead", and songs such as "Clap Your Hands" a crowd can't help but interact because if you don't then you just can't hang on the dance floor. A few months back I had that glaring realization. I went to the Varsity Theater for the Girl Talk/Danceband show excited and ready, I brought a few people along with me, one of which I knew was NOT going to even wiggle a toe; he was no dancer. After five or so minutes of anxious aniticipation Danceband took the stage, and i mean TOOK the stage as they always do. Immediately the entire room was going at it without repress, as I looked back there was my friend standing as still as a dead man when the "Slide" song came on. I laughed out loud a bit because the show was sold out, room packed to the brim, and this song in particular has a choreographed dance to it that everyone and their mom knows. It's repeatedly my 90's prom dance scene dream! If you can imagine a can of sardines trying to dance....if they were all dancing they'd move in unison because they didn't have a choice. Ha! He was moving and from where I was standing it looked like he was sliding eventhough I know it was against his will. I loved it and it just made me love Danceband more than I already did.
Now they're blowing up and beginning to play a good number of high profile events.
This Saturday, April 28th they will be doing an invite only event at an undisclosed location and you have to RSVP to get the directions. So do it! $10 and free beer. And please leave your non-dancing friends at home!

Wish List

It's not often that I listen to a band for the first time and wish that I owned a record label so that I could snag that band, sign them and make them huge but SXSW this past March proved me wrong.
Before the conference I took preparation to another level and decided to make the SXSW website my new favorite home. I spent days listening to every band that was on the bill for this years indie fest and took notes on which ones I liked and then made our itinerary according to that. One of the top bands on my list was Sissy Wish from Norway. Our intern contacted Sissy Wish's manager to let them know that we'd be at the show. Now of course the first night of SXSW is always a debacle of sorts; you get into Austin, get your badges, get to your hotel to primp and then try try try to hit all the shows and meetings that were on the schedule for that night all the while fighting traffic and ignoring phone calls and text messages that just might throw you off. We always bite off more than we can chew on the first evening, and the entire week for that matter. On our agenda for that evening was X-Wife, Black Moth Super Rainbow, the Eenie Meenie Records Showcase, Oppenheimer, Trances Arc, HarMar Superstar, Pink Nasty, hanging with our Money Mark friend and last but not least Sissy Wish. All of which we actually managed to do! Now Buffalo Billiards is one of my most secretly coveted venues in Austin despite their heinous rules and regs. The bottom floor is well, billiards but upstairs is this ginormous ballroom accentuated by a gorgeous bar that sits dead center. This is where Sissy Wish was playing. We got there a smidge late because that's how we roll but once we walked in we were so pleasantly surprised, the lead singer Siri had that stage and the crowd captivated.
There were people dancing and staring and even Rollingstone Senior Editor David Fricke was there and enjoying the set. Sissy Wish is America's answer to pop music, their melodies are poppier than God but because the music is so well thought out and not made in the cookie cutter pop box of this country it's just fantastic. Something that both 14 year olds and music snobs alike could sink their teeth into. And Siri, the center of this band was very Bjork meets Karen O but with more umph and sweetness.
After seeing them I was baffled, why wasn't this band signed in the United States?
The following day we met up with Sissy Wish and their fab manager Tonje and got the whole story. First off, this is their first time ever playing outside of Norway! Now this bands is no small beans in Norway, in fact Sissy Wish's lead lady in February of 2005 was awarded a Norwegian Grammy (Spellemannsprisen) in the category of ”best female artist” and has had the honor of releasing three of the most critically acclaimed records in Norway. Goodness.

They are in the process of trying to get over to the United States and boy will you be lucky when they do!
Sissy Wish has recently released her 3rd album, "Beauties Never Die", on Sony BMG in Norway this past March.
www.sissywish.com
www.myspace.com/sissywish