Pushing Buttons: The LK

 U Street-Cardozo   Foggy Bottom 

A BAND THAT PLAYS Washington, D.C., multiple times within a month is usually some area-rock legend camped out for a multi-night run at Verizon Center.

The musicians who make up the electro-pop group the LK are not superstars, but move over, Bruce Springsteen: The duo from Malmo, Sweden, featuring Lindefelt (voice, sounds) and Fredrik (melodies), will grace District stages a trio of times in March. The Chocolate City lovefest begins Saturday at House of Sweden, continues Sunday at the Kennedy Center's Millennium Stage and concludes on March 31 at the Black Cat. (The LK's U.S. label, Kora Records, is based in the District.)

With the Postal Service taking forever and a day to deliver its next CD, the LK's recent album, "Vs. the Snow," is the next best thing to Jimmy Tamborello and Ben Gibbard's much-beloved electronic project. Just don't call the LK electronica.

"A lot of people point out how the record sounds electronic," Lindefelt said, "but everything we do is chunks of real sound -- usually voice, guitar, a couple of drums and a few other sounds, cut to pieces and glued together. ... We record everything pretty much on the fly, so some sounds come out pretty rough -- and some don't. We record on everything from cellphones to '90s samplers to laptops."

The LK's musique-concrete-gone-pop style will allow the duo to vary its tone and approach for each of its D.C. concerts.

"We're bringing a lot of short films and animations from upcoming Swedish visual artists; that's gonna be the basis of the [House of Sweden] gig," Lindefelt said. "The Kennedy gig will be a lot about free-form sound. We'll be trying out a few extremes of our sound, and the Ken Cen will be more about the ... scrambled acoustic flavor of our music. And the Black Cat will be more live-oriented."

Just the way the Boss would like it.

» House of Sweden, 2900 K. St. NW; Sat., 6:30 p.m., $5 suggested donation; 202-467-2600. (Foggy Bottom)
» Kennedy Center, Millennium Stage, 2700 F St. NW; Sun., 6 p.m., free; 202-467-4600. (Foggy Bottom)
» Black Cat, 1811 14th St. NW; Mon., March 31, 9 p.m. $8; 800-551-7328. (U St.-Cardozo)

Photo courtesy House of Sweden