Bits and Bobs: Sleigh Bells, The Selmanaires, Robyn, Sound Table, Carrie Underwood

- It was a pretty rock ‘n’ roll weekend, with The EARL’s 11th anniversary and Ringo Starr on music fans’ to-rock lists, but Saturday night found us at the CW Midtown Music Complex, where Rooney played upstairs and a pretty darn loud Sleigh Bells played to a sold-out crowd down in Vinyl. There was definitely more to hear than to see, as the duo rocked out to a Metallica-meets-M.I.A. sound with a mostly-dark stage punctuated every now and then by a seizure-inducing strobe-light. With constant hands in the air, it was more of a party than a concert, and as evidenced by our comical pictures below, there wasn’t much of a view but it could be taken as a pretty darn cool sight.

- Swedish pop star Robyn got her new tracks “Dancing On My Own” and “Fembot” seriously mashed up with some AC/DC and Salt N Pepa (respectively). We love both versions, and though the two of them are perfect Saturday night tracks, they also might help you get through this difficult Monday morning. Idolator has the goods.

- The Selmanaires kindly released a free EP called An Animated Shadow, which sees the band getting even mellower and more experimental, but thankfully still listenable and terribly enjoyable. Lovely stuff. If Robyn’s dance hits aren’t quite your Monday morning material, then maybe something like this will help you ease into the week. Get it from their blog here.

- We’ve been hearing a fair bit about The Sound Table, the new restaurant-club project from the fine folks at TOP FLR. With a swanky space, interesting yet enjoyable food and DJs of national note, The Sound Table sounds like a welcome addition to the Old Fourth Ward. We look forward to hearing more about it and eating there soon!

- And lastly, in country-American-Idol-fancy-pants-stuff news, Carrie Underwood has managed to make us all a little jealous by getting married to hockey player Mike Fisher over the weekend. Here’s the jealous part: the ceremony took place at the Ritz-Carlton Reynolds Plantation by Lake Oconee, which is pretty lush. We’ll comfort ourselves by thinking about the oppressive heat and millions of mosquitoes that must have dogged the wedding party. Sigh. Reality TV Magazine has the scoop.