So Bob Mould’s new album Body Of Song has leaked a couple months before its July 26 release date and he’s not happy about it. Over the past week he’s fielded letters of support and puts a pox on the downloader’s houses.

The Metafilter peanut gallery chimes in with the predictable rhetoric and Mystery & Misery, who first directed me to the hubbub, also states his position. For my part, I said my peace a few months ago when it was Sleater-Kinney voicing their displeasure at the leaking of their new record and my feelings on the matter haven’t changed. In fact, nothing’s changed. People will still leak records, other people will still download them and rationalize it however they want. And God willing, the artists will still get paid, somehow, and get by.

But in a strange way, it is good to see that there is still interest in Bob’s work – I wasn’t sure how much of his fanbase he’d have alienated with his electronic experiments as Loudbomb (still the best anagram name ever) and the last Modulate record, which even a completist as myself decided to give a pass. Body Of Song is heralded as a return to the classic Mould guitar template of raging electrics alongside shimmering acoustics – some are even going so far as to say it’s the second coming of Sugar. I don’t know about that – from what I’ve heard from the album (all perfectly legally, thanks – see below), it does rock again but it doesn’t have the sheer sonic density that Copper Blue had nor the screaming rage of Beaster. That’s okay though, I don’t really wish anyone into the mental headspace that would be required to create another record like Beaster – that’s still one of the angriest records I’ve ever heard. Instead, Body Of Song sounds like the more upbeat moments of his two post-Sugar self-titled albums. Either way, it’s good to have Bob back and amplified again. I had feared that he’d make good on his promise to give up the rock after The Last Dog And Pony Show.

Since I know no reader of mine would be so gauche as to still go hunt down the leaked album after Bob has expressed his displeasure with such deeds, I will direct you to some above-board previews of Body Of Song. YepRoc has one of the more uptempo tracks, “Paralyzed”, available to stream off their site and Fluxblog has got a Bob-sanctioned MP3 of “(Shine Your) Light Love Hope” up for grabs.

Also exciting is the fact that Mould is planning a full North American tour to promote the record for the Fall wherein he’ll play songs from all eras of his career – that’s right, ALL. We’re talking Bob Mould, Sugar and Husker Du. Awesomeness indeed. It’s been eleven years since I’ve seen Bob Mould live – far too long.

Drowned In Sound is next up on the Sleater-Kinney press merry-go-round.

Teenage Fanclub’s Norman Blake tells Rolling Stone where the name of their new album, Man-Made, came from, and how Wilco’s Jeff Tweedy helped with the making of the record, out June 7.

Jenny Lewis tells Philly.com (Bugmenot) the story of Rilo Kiley (via LHB).

And as for this blurb in eye… Slow news week, fellas? I prefer to think of it as me taking money AWAY from donations to Bush. I wonder what a cursory investigation as to the political leanings of eye‘s advertisers would reveal, hmm? But they also say I’m “beloved”, so all is forgiven.

np – Jay Farrar / Stone, Steel & Bright Lights

A quick check-in with Austin’s American Analog Set points us to fansite AmAnSetNews, which the band rightfully points out puts their own website to shame. There’s up-to-date news, video, audio, photos (including mine from their Horseshoe show a couple years back), guitar tabs, etc. Every band should be so fortunate to have such loyal fans.

During one of their many sets at SxSW this year, the band said they hoped the new record would be out by the Fall. The album is done but they’re label shopping, as their last home Tiger Style folded last year. Promise Of Love was one of my favourite records of 2003, so I hope someone has the good sense to release it and give it the push it deserves. A new collection of AmAnSet’s gently lush music is always welcome.

Not to be outdone on the downloads front, the official AmAnSet site has a couple of live tracks for you to grab. The first is a Magnetic Fields cover recorded at a 2001 show at the Horseshoe in Toronto, the second is a Her Space Holiday cover recorded in Dublin in 2002.

MP3: The American Analog Set – “Dreaming Moon”

MP3: The American Analog Set – “Keystrokes”

Paste catches up with Stephen Malkmus who released his third solo disc Face The Truth yesterday.

Also out yesterday – Sleater-Kinney’s The Woods. CMJ and Aversion have interviews with Janet Weiss and Carrie Brownstein, respectively, about their new album (Aversion link from For The Records). If you haven’t already, check out the SK blog, wherein Weiss promises they’ll “lie like crazy”. Pitchfork gives the new record a 9.0 – in fact, (almost) all reviews have been glowing. Gary points out that first single “Entertain” is a free download from the iTunes Canada store right now – it’s also available free from SubPop so you don’t have to deal with that nasty Apple aftertaste.

The Globe & Mail looks at the giant shadow that New Order casts across the current pop music landscape. Via Largehearted Boy. And always one to offer advice to the next generation, Bernard Sumner tells Paste five telltale signs that your studio is haunted.

Aqualung will be at the Mod Club July 4, tickets $13.50.

All that this says to me is that John Squire needs to make rent. Truly, I pray it doesn’t happen – my spider-sense says this would be a farce. Enough with the cash-in reunions, already! Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to go take out a small loan for my Dinosaur Jr tickets.

So I abandoned my poking stick idea for a stereo remote control and just went out and bought a new stereo instead. In keeping with my love of all things butt ugly and NAD, I went with an NAD C320BEE integrated. The reviews for this sucker have been excellent all around and interestingly, the salespeople at both stores I went to dissuaded me from going for it’s bigger brother, the NAD C352. Since I don’t really even need the 50W per channel the 320BEE offers, the 80W per channel C352 would have been overkill.

I hadn’t really expected the new amp to sound that much better than the old 302 – they’re based off the same basic 3020 circuit design – but I’ve been very pleasantly surprised by how much better it sounds. There’s some serious synergy going on between it, my speakers (Paradign Studio Reference 20v3s) and CD player (NAD C521BEE). Music has more depth and detail to the sound and the soundstage and imaging is much improved. The 302 is now doing duty powering my smaller bedroom stereo. The only downside to the C320BEE is that it doesn’t have a phono preamp, which will be a bit of a problem since I intend to liberate my parents’ old record player from home and integrate it into my audio geek system. I hope the thing still works – I suspect the cartridge will need to be replaced. Actually, I should probably find out what it is and if it’s worth liberating, or if I should just keep an eye out for a more worthy used model. But I digress – new amp is lovely, having a remote control is lovely. I can’t believe I went 8 years without one. Now I don’t have to get up EVER.

np – Sparklehorse / Good Morning Spider

Today’s post will consist entirely of carriage returns.

No, not really. It’s the final 24 post for this season, presented in glorious Spoiler-vision! It’s over!

Okay, so THAT was unexpected. But first things first.

Hour one: Not to get all “we love Mandy” again, but seriously – Mia Kirshner is maybe the first person on this show who’s actually ACTING. She’s making all the other “evil” characters look like jokes. That first scene with Michelle? It’s like she’s in a different show. Badass. And so clever. But wait! Jack is also clever. And Tony cleverer still! But Mandy is hot, so Mandy wins. I think Mandy needs a spinoff show. Everybody Loves Mandy. I think it could work. Tony and Michelle could play the wacky neighbours. Also, I’m trying to understand how it makes any sense that the Chinese would respond to an invasion on Chinese soil (the consulate) and the death of the consul with the execution of two CTU agents and the kidnapping of another on American soil? Way to give up the moral high ground, fellas. But there I go thinking logically again. Ain’t no place for that here.

Hour two: I guess they decided early on that taking down the missile would be an anticlimactic, uh, climax. After all, as we saw, all Jack could do was stand on the ground and wait. Not very exciting, but it would have been beyond the realm of plausibility – even for 24 – to have Jack hop into an F-14 and take it down himself. I thought they were in position to set themselves up for a couple really interesting season five scenarios. As I suggested before, having Jack escape from the Chinese prison and try to get to, uh, Tibet or something, or even better, have him actually escape and spend the next day evading the Secret Service, the Chinese, the late fees at his video store… But no, they instead cobble together a fake death scenario involving an awful lot of people in an awful short timeframe. I’ll refrain from commenting on how they got Jack from fake corpse to dead man with a new identity on the lam in under 10 minutes – after all, it’s been a long day. Nice closing shot, though. Wonder what his new name is – David Bruce Banner? I know I wouldn’t like him when he’s angry.

So Jack Bauer is dead, long live Jack Bauer. Pretty bold move apparently cutting all ties between him, Palmer, CTU and Kim (presumably) when the show has been renewed for two more seasons. Surely he can’t save the country again from that position? I guess we’ll find out.

JAM! also recaps the season finale. And the Kansas City Star gets thoughts from Carlos Bernard about the season that was.

And that’s it for another season. Overall, I thought this season was pretty good. By keeping civilian involvement at an absolute minimum, the writers kept the focus and all ancillary plot threads centered around the main plot. No ridiculous digressions just to keep up with characters of no consequence (hello Kim vs the mountain lion), etc. I really don’t know what I’ll do with my Monday nights now – in fact, that’s all of my TV programs wrapped up for the season (save Family Guy). Great timing for me to buy a new TV. I’ve been told that Veronica Mars, which is debuting in Canada next week, is worth watching. Perhaps I’ll give that a shot.

Good news – Dinosaur Jr is at the Phoenix July 17. Bad news – tickets $34.50, on sale May 27. Well, at least they never said they WEREN’T doing it for the money. I had expected it to be expensive, but actually seeing the price? Hmm, will have to ponder this one.

Rainer Maria will be at the Kathedral June 15 with Copeland and Denison Whitmer. I like RM, but never have any idea who these other bands they tour with are… There’s supposed to be a new Rainer Maria record due out this Spring, but considering the Spring is almost over, Summer is more likely.

IGN takes you on a 3D Quicktime tour of the new Batcave from Batman Begins. It looks… like a cave.

np – Spacemen 3 / Playing With Fire

I was a big fan of the Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy books when I was younger, but as I was watching the movie yesterday, it occurred to me that a) I haven’t read the books in upwards of 10 to 15 years and b) most of my memories of the plotline came from the Infocom text-based adventure game based on the books based on the radio show.

I haven’t checked out what the concensus on this film is, but I suspect that the purists are not pleased. That’s okay, purists are never pleased about anything. I wager they’re among the most consistently miserable people on the face of the earth. When it comes to film adaptations of geek grail material (almost all of which I’ve read), I figure it’s more important that a) the film be entertaining and b) stay true to the spirit of the source material. The word is less important – after all, what works in one medium won’t necessarily work in another and changes will inevitably have to be made. For example, I for one am thankful that I didn’t have to see the original gaudy 70s-era costume designs in the X-Men films. Would it have been faithful? Yes. Would it have been embaressing to see onscreen? God, yes. But I digress.

But back to Hitchhiker’s. Detractors will first have to get around the fact that the script wasn’t written by some hack, but by the original creator – the late Douglas Adams. Yes, it had to be massaged somewhat into final form after his death, but as I understand it, the plot – including changes and new sequences – were all his. It’s also worth noting that the books that people hold near and dear were themselves adaptations of the radio play, and revisions were made in those translations as well. A radio show is not a book is not a film, after all.

Anyway, the one liner is that I rather enjoyed the film. The casting was marvelous, I honestly couldn’t have thought of anyone better for each of the main roles (And I am in love with Zooey Deschanel. Or maybe just her name. No, it’s her too). Mos Def as Ford Prefect was a masterstroke – he captures the character’s attitude perfectly, and that goes double for Sam Rockwell as Zaphod Beeblebrox. Some might find the novel implementation of his second head blasphemous, but I found it less distracting than the birdcage on the shoulder that they used in the TV adaptation.

Narratively, the film sticks fairly closely to the video game for the first half or so, though in somewhat fast-forward. You don’t see Martin Freeman root through his robe pocket for the analgesic or figure out the exact combination of commands for his conversation with Mr Prosser that allows him to make it down to the pub without being killed by a flying brick, but it does stay moderately faithful. The middle section of the film is where it deviates the most from the original tale and not surprisingly, that’s where it drags the most. The jokes become quite thin and the film feels like it’s trying to rush through those sequences and get to the parts that are more comfortable.

It also doesn’t help that the editing is quite heavy-handed and it frequently feels like the film has been pared down from a longer (and possibly more cohesive) version of the film. The finale is also somewhat patchy, though it’s understandable that they needed to offer more closure than the book did in that there’s no guarantee there’ll be any sequels to the film. Overall, it starts out strong but steadily loses steam and only staggers to the finish line. Still, it’s a goodly bit of fun, remains true to the spirit of the original story and the animated Hitchhiker’s Guide bits are pretty damn clever and well executed.

And if you’ve never played the Infocom game I’m talking about, The BBC has a Flash-based online version for you to play. It’s not strictly text-based anymore, but is definitely a trip down memory lane. It’s still as hard as I remember – I had a hell of a time finishing it 20 years ago, and I’m still waiting for the next one…

Some of the schdules for NXNE are now up. You have to browse by venue (fellas – ever heard of a GRID?) but there’s enough information to start planning if you’re planning on attending. At first glance, I am annoyed that the handful of bands that were of interest to me are scattered all over space and time, meaning either a) I get a wristband and club hop, b) pick one showcase and hope the other acts on the bill don’t suck, or c) stay home and watch M*A*S*H* reruns. My money’s on Hawkeye.

House Of Love are expected to sing a worldwide deal with V2 in the near future. While this doesn’t mean that they’ll be touring globally to support Days Run Away, the probability of it happening just went up about a million-fold. A million times zero still being zero.

np – Eisley / Room Noises

It seems fitting that The Decemberists should visit the Commonwealth on Victoria Day weekend – after all, the reign of that particular monarch has provided much grist for Colin Meloy and his merry band’s creative mill. As much as I enjoy their recorded output, it’s the Decemberists’ live shows that really make their music for me. I was only a casual fan before I saw them make their Toronto debut at the Horseshoe last March. After that, I was one of the converted. Last night was their third time through town – I missed the last show at Lee’s Palace, which is where this one was supposed to be held before demand outstripped supply and it got moved to the larger Phoenix.

Another change in plans was the opening act. Originally scheduled opener Willy Mason had to withdraw from the tour a few weeks ago due to health issues, so he was replaced by Rebecca Gates, ex of the Spinanes. I never listened to the Spinanes back in the 90s – I was aware of their presence on the musical landscape, but I never heard note one of them till recently, and even then only in passing. Last night was essentially my first exposure to her work. Performing solo on electric guitar (though she did later bring a number of Decemberists out to back her on a couple of songs), Gates offered up a set of mainly low-key, bluesy/soulful numbers interspersed with chatting with the crowd. Her talkativeness, she said, was a consequence of driving from date to date on this tour alone in her car and being generally starved for interaction. I was standing right up front so her soft, smoky vocals were hard to hear over the guitar, but what I did catch sounded quite good. My retroactive musical education will probably reach The Spinanes sooner or later, I’m sure.

The Decemberists were once again splendid. Off the top of my head, I can’t think of a band that’s as much fun to see perform. Sporting temporary Canadian flag tattoos (they do love Canada), all six of them played with such joyous abandon, you couldn’t help but be caught up in it. Of course, when you’re performing songs with as unusual lyrical content as they do, irony really isn’t an option. It’s hard to pick highlights but besides the set and encore closers (more on those in a bit), “July! July!”, “The Bagman’s Gambit” and “Sixteen Military Wives” were real standouts for me. Meloy opened the encore in solo acoustic mode and actually acquiesed to an audience request for Morrissey’s “Every Day Is Like Sunday”. I’m a little curious about what he’d originally intended to play, but I can’t imagine it’d have gotten a better response than the Moz cover.

You wouldn’t expect a band as verbose as the Decemberists to inspire many singalongs at their shows, but everyone in attendance – or at least around me – seemed intent on doing so and keeping up with Meloy, word for word. Or at least try. But that was actually fine as audience participation seemed to be the watchword for the evening. During main set closer “The Chimbley Sweep” (which also featured a “Hava Nagila” accordian breakdown and duelling guitars between Meloy and drummer John Moen), the entire audience found themselves crouched right down on the floor at Meloy’s urging. Why? I do not know, but he seemed to take great delight in it. Then during the encore, guitarist Chris Funk was in charge of making everyone scream as though they were being swallowed by a giant whale at the appropriate moment in “The Mariner’s Revenge Song”. Extraordinarily silly? Yes, but when show feels more like the final night at drama camp than a rock concert, it seems perfectly normal.

Now while I would never say that former drummer Rachel Blumberg’s leaving the band was a positive thing, that saying about doors and windows is true. New drummer Moen adds some real muscle to the rhythm section and is more than an able replacement behind the kit. Most impressive, however, is the addition of Petra Haden on vocals and violin. A much stronger singer than Blumberg (though sometimes Blumberg’s creepy voice would more fitting to the songs), her backing/harmony vocals really compliment Meloy’s nasal bleating (meant in the most positive sense). Her taking lead vocals on the cover of Kate Bush’s “Wuthering Heights” was another highlight of the show for me and the violin is a great addition to the band’s already eclectic instrumentation. While she’s just a touring member for the time being, I say she’s a keeper and would be an invaluable permanent member.

And I have a special note for whoever was in charge of the lighting last night – Mr Lighting Guy, your crazy backlighting technique was most unusual in that it felt at times like the audience was getting lit up more than the band, but it was incredibly effective for photos. Thank you very much. Next time you are in town I will buy you all-you-can-eat breakfast at The Golden Griddle.

It’s hard to believe that of the four shows I’ve seen this past week, not one has been subpar. Each has been outstanding in its own way, and the Decemberists were a great finish to what’s been a really exhausting week of showgoing. But now I’m happy to have nothing really on my sched for a couple weeks. Look at the sidebar! It is so very short. I may have to take up a new hobby to occupy my time.

24/40 talks to another band championing the Kate Bush cover, The Futureheads.

Britpop survivors Embrace will be at Lee’s Palace on July 26. Their latest, Out Of Nothing, came out in North America at the start of May.

Royal City guitarist and Three Gut Records namesake Jim Guthrie finally has a website to call his own.

And finally, these robot cats are goddamn creepy.

np – House Of Love / Days Run Away