Brad Dahlgaard

Rik Reppe at Tellabration 2009

​Only a couple of chairs remained empty by the time the Tellabration 2009 evening concert got underway. Many of the folks in attendance had been at the Loft Literary Center since that morning, attending workshops, listening to open mics, a liars' contest, and showcases of some of Minnesota's best spoken-word talent. But no enthusiasm was lost as the first tellers stepped up to the microphone.

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​Friendly Fires, seen here listening to R. Kelly's new disc.

As dance punk enters its fifth Pitchfork sanctioned year in the throne of indie rock, tickets like these end up getting hotter and hotter. Locally and nationally, practitioners of the genre find themselves consistently scoring big print.

What does this mean for you, the consumer? It means you'd either do well to send a few flirtatious texts to your Triple Rock contacts, or come equipped with a c-note to buy a scalped ticket--Friendly fires and the XX are going to be the hottest show of November.

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​"As some of you may have heard, the rumors are true: after several years of new-punk-wave dance rockin to our hearts' content, we're hanging up the spurs and giving up the ghost to chase new challenges and endeavors, some of us together, others apart." So reads the latest email from So It Goes, who have announced that they are playing their final show this Friday night at the Fine Line before parting ways. Check out the flyer above for more details.

​Ike Reilly played to a packed, drunken house Wednesday night for his annual Thanksgiving Eve show at First Avenue. As the drinks flowed freely, Reilly intertwined songs from his new album, Hard Luck Stories, with older crowd favorites in a nearly three-hour set. See all the photos by Stacy Schwartz in our slideshow, including shots of openers the Crossing Guards and the Magnolias.

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"Wait, this show is sold out?" asked the gentleman in front of me as we neared the front of the line to get into Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros at the Varsity Sunday night. It turned out he didn't have a ticket. "I just heard one of his songs on the radio the other day and thought I might as well come see the show!"

As unfortunate as this incident was -- I have no idea whether the poor guy ever got in -- I found it enlightening. Sure, "Home" is a catchy enough little number, but I'd been mystified as to why this show sold out days in advance. Now it occurred to me that the people inside probably only knew one or two of the Magnetic Zeros' songs, had no point of reference on Laurel Canyon, and almost definitely didn't realize that there isn't, in fact, anyone named Ed Sharpe in the band.

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At 9 p.m., Halloween, Alaska was wooing a few hundred seated devotees at the Cedar Cultural Center, with Haley Bonar in the wings. Two hours into the evening's future, and only a handful of miles to the east, local noise rockers Seawhores would plunge a few dozen fans into headbanger's oblivion, before yielding the stage to Skoal Kodiak.

It was all on one night, which found Haley Bonar and Skoal Kodiak performing to capacity crowds at their respective venues. Need more proof that something special is afoot in the Twin Cities scene? Head below the jump for reviews.

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Jamie Smith, far left, produces the XX's serene beats

​ The XX will make believers out of skeptics who never really listened when Mama said "less is more." The London band are made up of 19-year-old friends from art/music school whose minimalist R&B-tinged tunes, featuring the whispered vocals of lead singer Romy Madley Croft, are probably the best thing to happen to indie music since the Yeah Yeah Yeahs. In a word, the tracks on their debut are sweet in a world of brash riffs and larger-than-life bass, something our own Prince knew quite early when he made "When Doves Cry" without a bassline.

Tonight, The XX play with Friendly Fires at the Triple Rock for a sold-out show. We caught up with producer Jamie Smith while on the road just days before Thanksgiving. The tour manager handed the phone over, but not before declaring it was Smith's 21st birthday, and when asked how he's celebrating, Smith answered bashfully, "He's kidding. I'm not really 21 yet." We're sure that's a good thing.

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Photos by Stacy Schwartz

​Every so often, a special show comes along that calls on musicians from seemingly every corner of the local scene to come together and throw a big, communal party. More and more frequently, First Avenue has been home to these kinds of events, and Friday night's all-star Tribute to the Replacements show was no exception: Around every corner, bustling between the Main Room and the 7th St. Entry, hundreds of familiar faces gathered to play, sing, talk about, or otherwise worship a local group whose legacy has permanently etched itself into the grimy black walls of the famous club.

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Before heading to the Varsity Theater for Sunday night's sold-out show, LA folk-rock group Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros crowded into the newly remodeled south wing of the Electric Fetus record store to play an in-store performance for 100 lucky fans. Here's a clip of the group playing their much-spun single, "Home," as well as "Fiya Wata," an unrecorded song featuring singer Jade Castrinos.



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It was a sold out show but the band's performance of "Linger" somehow felt very intimate. Check out the video we took below, in which Dolores O'Riordan makes herself comfortable on a speaker as the crowd sings along to the band's biggest hit: