Some good news from Matador – firstly, they’ve signed New York country/folk chanteuse Laura Cantrell to a worldwide record deal (read the press release here). Cantrell has one of the most lovely, crystalline voices I’ve heard in a long time, and her songwriting and choice of material is top-notch – her albums to date have been a mix of originals and covers, somehow sounding completely traditional and utterly modern at the same time. The late John Peel called her debut record Not The Tremblin’ Kind, “my favorite record from the last ten years, and possibly my life” – high praise, indeed. Her first record for Matador will be out in late Spring, hopefully with touring to follow. In the meantime, the curious should check out her cover of Elvis Costello’s “Indoor Fireworks”, because what is this site about if not providing mp3s of cover songs?

Laura Cantrell – “Indoor Fireworks”

If you like, there’s bucketloads more material available to download here

At the other end of the Matador universe, curmudgeonly Scottish noiseniks Mogwai will finally release their Government Commissions (BBC Sessions 1996-2003), consisting of, well, 10 tracks culled from various BBC Sessions over the course of their career. It’ll be in stores on these shores on February 22.

And finally, longtime Matador flagship band Yo La Tengo will celebrate almost twenty years of wonderous music with Prisoners of Love: A Smattering of Scintilliating Senescent Songs, 1984-2003, a super-sized career retrospective coming out March 22. The ‘best-of’ component will comprise two discs of tracks from all their albums, even the non-Matador ones, and there will be a limited-edition pressing which will include a third disc of rarities, natch. I actually won’t mind shelling out for this – a compact Yo La Tengo would actually be a welcome addition to the collection and there looks to be some good stuff on that bonus disc. Check out the tracklisting here.

New Order’s new album has an official release date of March 28 in the UK, and presumably March 29 in North America though that’s yet to be confirmed. Supposedly their most ‘up’ record since Technique, It is still untitled.

Bettie Serveert’s new album Attagirl will get a North American release (with two bonus tracks!) on February 1 thanks to the good people at Minty Fresh. The band should be touring over here to support soon thereafter, and they even make a point of saying there will be Canadian dates! YAY.

NME gets some info on the new Doves record Some Cities, which drops March 1. There are rumours of a quickie North American tour in late March to coincide with SXSW, but we’ll see about that. From ILB.

Achtung Baby has some audio samples from Texas’ Eisley… I like. Can anyone more familiar with their stuff comment on whether it’s got shelf life? My cynical “band I’ve never heard of debuts on a major label” spider-sense is tingling. It’s unclear to me if their debut long-player, Room Noises, is out or not… their website says it’s out February 8 of next year while Amazon says it was out on Feb 8 of this year (but don’t seem to have much info).

eye and NOW both talk to Stars’ front-fop Torquil Campbell about rock, revolution and Set Yourself On Fire in advance of their 2-night stand at the Mod Club this Saturday and Sunday.

Another member of the Broken Social Scene extended family, Emily Haines of Metric, plays two solo shows – one early, one late – at the Church of the Redeemer at Bloor and Avenue tomorrow night. She’ll be playing songs to accompany projections of films by director Guy Maddin – NOW has more details. Those looking for something a little more conventional from Ms Haines should know Metric plays the Mod Club January 21. Tickets for all shows, solo and band, are $17.50, on sale now.

Comic Book Galaxy takes a round-table look back at the year in comics.

np – Yo La Tengo / Painful

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