As I said yesterday, I was on the fence about Those Dancing Days.  The singles that I had heard were good, but I wanted to see more…and last night I did.  From a band with so much pop in the recording the live show has to be something special, and entertaining…I use Los Campesinos as a gold standard for this measure.

Those Dancing Days were spot on last night.  They played for almost an hour straight to a well attended show at Union Hall. Their entire set was really tight (including a Britney Spears cover)  Each of the ladies had their own style, but meshed cohesively.  Over all I have to say that I was really impressed, and that they made what was kind of a crappy Thursday a whole lot better. Wichita Records should get on this, and get these ladies a tour with Los Campesinos…that would be an amazing show (add So Cow, and it would be even better!).

Here are the pictures from last night:

More photos from the show are available here. (I might upload more too.  I thought I had more of the keyboard player, but she is more or less absent…I’ll try to fix that this weekend)

More on Those Dancing Days (including mp3/video) here.

So I’m now kicking myself for going to see Nick Krgovich at Cake Shop rather than seeing Liechtenstein at Bruar Falls last week.  Liechtenstein have penetrated my ipod, and I have to say that I am very excited for this new 10″ to come out on Slumberland.  Their vein of all girl pop (there are three of them) brings to mind  twee of the past, think Talulah Gosh and Tiger Trap, with their own twist.  Great summer music… check it out:

[mp3] Liechtenstein- Roses in the Park (Pre-Order it here!)

It was bad enough missing Liechtenstein, but Cats on Fire opened that show, who are not from Sweden but from Finland… but that doesn’t matter because his Morrisey esque voice, and excellent pop tunes have been sounding great to me.  I have only heard a couple tracks, but they seem to be worth exploring…I just wish that new record was on LP.  Here is where I started:

[mp3] Cats on Fire- “Lay Down Your Arms” (via The Finest Kiss) (buy it here!)

But enough about what I missed (and you missed, or if you were smart, what you saw).  The topic at hand today is another bit of Sweden, and this time it is five women instead of three .  I’m talking about Those Dancing Days. I was clued into them when klk saw their video for “Hitten” on New York Noise a couple weeks ago, and since we have explored their music a little further, but are still a little bit on the fence.  I figure that there is no better way to form and opinion either way than seeing them live.

Those Dancing Days have one more tour date in the US, and it’s tonight:

5/28/09 (tonight!)- Brooklyn, NY @ Union Hall – Those Dancing Days (playing 2nd) w/ Mancino and Brain Fang

They do make some cute music videos:

Those Dancing Days- “Hitten”

Those Dancing Days- “Run Run”

Those Dancing Days- “Home Sweet Home”

[mp3] Those Dancing Days- “Those Dancing Days” (via MBV) (It’s an import so it’s pricey, but you can still buy it here!)

Last but not least is my favorite Swede Jens Lekman!  Jens has been off the scene since sometime last year, and is finally back…this time in the form of a mix tape.  Jens’ summer mix is full of dance jams Jens style, and I’m totes digging on it.  Check it out here:

[mp3] Jens Lekman- The Summer Never Ends Mixtape