I used up all my superfluous American Analog Set banter last week, so it’s straight to the show.

There was a much larger crowd in attendance than their last time through, perhaps a sign of their larger fanbase, perhaps a sign of people curious about the latest act to bear the Arts & Crafts seal of approval. Either way, it was a good sized audience for what would almost surely be the Analog Set’s last Toronto show. It’s often said that all of AmAnSet’s albums sound the same (which I contest – I say the band’s first three albums sound the same, and the last three albums sound the same, but the two eras sound quite different), but no one would deny that there’s really no other band that sounds like them.

Their final setlist drew almost exclusively from their last three records, and it was executed flawlessly. The hum and whirr of the Rhodes and organ, the insistent yet understated drumming, ghostly vibraphone (and accompanying dancing from Sean Ripple), spare, echoing guitar and Andrew Kenny’s hushed voice all combined to create something gorgeous and hypnotic. The hour-long set went by like a whisper and while there was no persuading them to come back for an encore this time out, it was just as well – the finale of “Fuck This… I’m Leaving” and the closing epilogue of “Continuous Hit Music” was really the perfect sign-off for this band. At the end of it all, Kenny gave the crowd a heartfelt thanks for their support and bid them farewell. And just like last time, the crowd made a bee-line for the merch table, hopefully a sign of many new converts to the band. It’s really quite sad that AmAnSet are giving up the touring life – they’re really an amazing live band. Perhaps a live album culled from this final jaunt out on the road is in the works?

Because of the dim (read: non-existant) lighting, my photos are in much more forgiving black and white. The actually turned out better than I expected. Seriously, there was almost no light whatsoever. Perfect for mood, ass for photography.

Extra linkage – The Daily News finds out what the boys of AmAnSet are going to do after the final tour is over.

The Stranger, The Straight and FFWD preview Broken Social Scene shows in Seattle, Vancouver and Calgary by talking to Brendan Dave Newfeld, Kevin Drew and Brendan Canning, respectively. And the Scene have added a second show at the Kool Haus on January 20.

Metric links – The Houston Press consider’s the band’s politics, The St Petersburg Times needs a tutorial on how to properly transcribe an interview for the web (hint – write the questions in a different typeface from the replies) and LAist has an interview with the James “Jimmy” Shaw.

Thanks to For The Records for digging up some of the above links.

New Zealand’s Stuff has a completely context-free conversation with Steve Earle about the state of America post-election (that’s the 2004 election) and The Revolution Starts… Now (which also came out in 2004). You know, this piece could have run a year ago and they wouldn’t hardly have had to change a word. Weird. Via Largehearted Boy.

Intersting – though they’re still signed to Rough Trade worldwide, Belle & Sebastian will be releasing The Life Pursuit on February 7 in North America through Matador, which was their home on these shores for the all their albums up until Dear Catastrophe Waitress. I wonder if this means that the singles/EPs will be imports again – one of the nice things about them being on Rough Trade was that all the Catastrophe-era singles still got domestic releases. Either way, North American tour dates are coming – they’ll be here in March.

With seven weeks left in 2005, Amazon.com is first out of the gates with their year-end lists. This’ll be just the start of the deluge – I figure everyone and their grandma will be posting their lists by about the first week of December. I figure mine’ll be about ready by then as well.

Guitar Player talks shop with Britt Daniel of Spoon and misspells their album title. Nice. Also from the GP archives – a final conversation with Sean and Dean of Luna from last Winter, just before the band’s official dissolution, and an interview with Neko Case and The Sadies about recording last year’s live The Tigers Have Spoken.

np – Centro-Matic / Navigational