Things to Do

Listen Up!

Every Tuesday, Listen Up! brings you songs of bands and performers coming through town in the next week. Listen up, then go check them out live.

Playlist no longer available. 

Tuesday, July 22
• Call it modesty: We Started Nothing is the title of the Ting Ting’s album, but with three hit singles playing everywhere from iTunes commercials to Gossip Girl episodes to dance parties, this British duo has jump-started a two-person dance pop boom. Will this boom last or quickly fade away? Who cares, we’ll just shut up and let you go! The Ting Tings play at the 9:30 Club.

• A side project of Annuals singer/guitarist Kenny Florence, Sunfold’s sound takes the pop elements of its sister band and trades in some of the folk for rock guitars and drums. The result is a pleasant, is somewhat standard, blend of pop/rock. The band’s record, Toy Tugboat, is out today and the guys play at DC9.

Friday, July 25
• Chicago folk quintet Bound Stems, fronted by Bobby Gallivan (who can be found teaching history when not on stage), stops by the Velvet Lounge. The band’s latest album, The Family Afloat, is currently available only on vinyl.

Saturday, July 26
• When Jenny Lewis sings about Omaha’s booming music scene in “The Execution of All Things,” we like to think one of the bands she’s referring to is Tilly and the Wall. Currently on its third record, the band’s folk/pop sound just keeps getting better—plus, there are nice surprises like “Pot Kettle Black,” which features stomping and a killer guitar melody as hook. Tilly and the Wall plays at the Black Cat with the Ruby Suns.

Monday, July 28
• You can’t win them all: We’ve been listening to MGMT’s “Time to Pretend” and “Electric Feel” on WOXY for some time now, but didn’t even think of checking to see if the Brooklyn duo was stopping by town anytime soon. Now the show at the 9:30 Club is sold out and Craigslist is our only option. Sigh.

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