Oh Land in LA This Week

It's rare for CER to post about music created by people living outside of Los Angeles (you may reply that it's rare these days for CER to post about anything, but that wouldn't be nice of you). This is a necessary exception. You have two chances this week to see Oh Land. Both shows are early, meaning that you won't have to wake up bleary-eyed the next morning as a result, and one of the shows is even free.

Oh Land is the stage name of Nanna Øland Fabricius, who is originally from Denmark but now lives in Brooklyn. She plays sometimes dance-y, sometimes dreamy, but always hook-laden electropop. You can call it a guilty pleasure, but the songs are too good to ignore.

Show #1 is at the Troubadour on Tuesday. She's on at 9pm. Show #2 is at the Echo, and is free; she's on at 8pm.

Enough with the words. Here's a live video of her performing "Son of a Gun." If one listen doesn't entice you to check her out this week, you may have no soul. I'm sure we'll be hearing a lot more of Son of a Gun, and a lot more of Oh Land, in 2011.

2011: The Year of Foster The People

It's time to call it, before January is even over: 2011 is the Year of Foster The People. Not only do they have a head start on most other bands, with their "Pumped Up Kicks" EP dropping (edit:) today, January 18th, on Startime International, but they've got the songs (and the team) to back it up. "Pumped Up Kicks" is only the beginning. Listen to their new song "Helena Beat" and you'll want to put on repeat for a couple rounds. Catch-y, dance-y, awesome-y. And "Downtown" puts the dance beats in the back and piano chords up front for a smoother sound.

Catch them for free at the Echo every Wednesday for the rest of this month. You may never get the chance to see them for free ever again, and may never get to see them again at a venue so small.

Stream an MP3 of "Helena Beat" HERE

And stream "Downtown" here