So Many Dynamos Signs to Vagrant Records, Opened for Death Cab for Cutie, Snags Tour Dates with Ra Ra Riot

Congraulations to So Many Dynamos, which recently snagged a bunch of tour dates with Ra Ra Riot, the dreamy indie band I'm convinced will never play St. Louis. (Although I've bugged RRR's very kind manager enough about a local date, trust me.) The tour starts tomorrow night.

The band also inked a deal with Vagrant Records, which is putting out its new album, The Loud Wars, on April 7, 2009. I've heard it. It's awesome.

(entire set here)

SMD also recently opened a couple of Death Cab for Cutie shows. (That photo there was snapped by me at the Champaign, Illinois, gig.) While one could tell the band was a bit nervous playing in front of a couple of thousand people, it certainly held its own. Songs from Loud Wars -- "The Novelty of Haunting" and "New Bones" especially -- show a more mature direction; the band is adding in between-song segues, instrumental interludes to link songs and diverse setlists. In short, SMD is thinking about the best way to mix its earlier, spikier work with the more nuanced, experimental electro-shocked direction of new material.

-- Annie Zaleski