Quite a decent crowd showed up for the opening night of the Over The Top Fest at Sneaky Dee’s last night. While Matt Pond PA was the big draw for me on this bill, I was also curious about the other acts on the bill – Chicagoan Saddle Creek friends Head Of Femur, Brampton’s Five Blank Pages and Toronto indie rock veterans By Divine Right.

First up was local act Five Blank Pages. While their sound was fairly stereotypical indie pop-rock, they were still quite enjoyable and had some nice touches with the Farfisa organ and three-part harmonies. They were were followed by Head Of Femur, who somehow managed to cram seven bodies onto Sneaky’s stage and still find room to jump around some. They played some entertainingly frantic, high-energy kitchen sink pop, including a requisite Band cover. Do people think that all Canadians know the entirety of The Band’s catalog? Because folks seem to think we do.

My first exposure to Matt Pond and co. came last December when they opened up for Ted Leo at the Mod Club (a show also put on by OTT Festival organizer Eric Warner). I was almost immediately won over by their lovely blend of chamber pop and indie rock, and cellos will almost always seal the deal. Since then, their profile has grown somewhat with an appearance (or was it just the song?) on The OC, covering “Champagne Supernova”, which I give them credit for not playing. They did manage to throw in no less than three references to Canada in their songs (the crowd only cheered once, though) but since they were the original lyrics, I won’t dock marks for pandering.

Their set was a good mix of material from their latest album Emblems (which might well have made my 2004 year-end list if I had gotten it earlier in the year) and earlier works. As with their last show, I was greatly impressed with the set – I will have to make a point of investigating more of their back catalog. I suppose I could have just stocked up from the merch table but I settled for getting their most recent release, the Winter Songs EP.

I didn’t end up sticking around for By Divine Right – three shows in three nights has put rest at a premium as is. I don’t want to be staying out later than I really need to. I was quite content with the evening’s entertainment and beddy-bye was calling. Oh, and it was far and away the best sound and lighting I’ve ever heard/seen at Sneaky Dee’s. Enough light for ISO 100? I weep at the cleanliness of the images. My camera thanks you.

Arts & Crafts have formally announced the signing of Milton’s The Most Serene Repbulic. I think this is the first non-Broken Social Scene-related act on their roster? I know nothing about this act except for the mp3 on their new website (sounds pretty good, they don’t sound like they’ll be out of place in the A&C lineup) and that I’ll be seeing them twice in the next couple weeks – tonight opening for Amy Millan at the Poor Alex and opening for British Sea Power at Lee’s on May 17. I expect by then I’ll have a much more definite opinion on ’em. A&C will be re-releasing their debut album Underwater Cinematographer in Canada on June 28 and in the US on July 14.

Billboard declares that New Order is still relevant. New Order breathes a sigh of relief.

Popmatters conducts a quickie interview with Doves drummer Andy Williams.

Wayne Coyne tells NME about why The Flaming Lips have covered “Bohemian Rhapsody” for a Queen tribute album, and mentions that At War With The Mystics has now been pushed back to a January 2006 target release date.

Tomorrow is Free Comic Book Day! eye looks at the origins of this newest holiday and what Torontonians can look forward to getting at the local comic book shops.

np – Six By Seven / :04

It probably sounds a little ungracious to wish that Joe Pernice had done more solo acoustic shows in Toronto, as he did last night, since he moved here last Fall. But I guess he was here to concentrate on writing the new Pernice Brothers album Discover A Lovelier You (out June 14) and growing out a mighty mountain man beard, so we had to settle for comprising one-third of his one-man world tour (Boston and New York were the other dates). Hey Joe, the Sox won the World Series. You can shave the playoff beard now.

Looking a bit like a cross between Dennis Miller and Jerry Garcia, Joe shuffled onstage at 11pm and took a seat, and proceeded to play a wonderfully intimate set of really old and really new material. The really old was a surprising number of Scud Mountain Boys numbers which unsurprisngly worked really well in solo presentation. There were also a couple of covers, a number of selections from his the Big Tobacco album released under his own name and a couple of Pernice Brothers tunes. No Chappaquiddick material, however, otherwise he ran the gamut of all his musical personas. The bulk of the set was comprised of material from the forthcoming album. New songs like “My So-Called Celibate Life” and “Amazing Glow” sounded great, and it’ll be quite interesting to hear how they sound all gussied up with the band on the album.

Joe was chatty, gracious and unassuming throughout, cracking jokes and thanking the modest-sized crowd profusely. I thought it was a really nice and different sort of experience seeing an artist perform without being on tour or even necessarily having anything to promote. He was just up there playing songs and shooting the shit, the vibe felt more like a private party than a concert. If it had been a proper Pernice Brothers show, there’s little chance that Scuds material would have seen the light of day. I figure he’ll be back here in full band mode before too long, which will surely also be great, but this show was an extra-special treat.

Not too much in the way of photos from last night. A guy on a chair with an acoustic guitar doesn’t offer much variety in the way of shots. But dim lighting = arty black and white! Oooh.

Continuing the “guy with a guitar” theme, the criminally underrated Richard Thompson will be releasing an acoustic album, Front Parlour Ballads, on August 9. Thompson is one of the most amazing guitarist/singer/songwriters on the face of the Earth and new music from him is always cause for celebration. Billboard has details about the new record and info on a box set due out in the Fall, an Austin City Limits live CD/DVD coming out this month and his 1000 Years of Popular Music live set coming out in the Fall. JAM! talks to RT about briefly about that one and his cover of Britney’s “Oops I Did It Again”.

The next artist featured in Largehearted Boy’s “Note Books” feature is producer extraordinaire (and fine solo artist in his own right), John Vanderslice, sharing some thoughts on books and literature.

John Vanderslice also features prominently in A Good Band Is Easy To Kill, the long-promised DVD chronicling Beulah’s final tour in 2003 for which Vanderslice was the opener. The DVD is out August 2 and the trailer should be up on the Further Down website by the end of this week.

Filter has a link to the new Rilo Kiley video for “Portions For Foxes”. Nice vid but boo to song edits.

Also boo-ums – Spoon’s June 5 show has moved from Lee’s Palace to the Opera House.

Laura Cantrell gives a track-by-track walkthrough of her new album, Humming By The Flowered Vine, out June 21.

Chart previews this weekend’s Over The Top Festival taking place at various venues around town. eye is featuring one of the OTTFest performers, Chad Van Gaalen, who I’d probably be going to see at the Poor Alex tonight if I wasn’t already going to see Matt Pond PA at Sneaky Dee’s. I’ll also be hitting Amy Millan’s show at the Poor Alex tomorrow night.

np – The Mountain Goats / The Sunset Tree

I remember listening to a song or two by Brighton’s British Sea Power a couple years ago when they released their debut The Decline Of British Sea Power, but don’t think I was overly impressed and soon put them out of my mind. But based on the recommendations of Paul, Bruce and others in this post a little while back, I checked out some of the stuff from their recenty-released sophomore album Open Season, and hot diggity dog am I glad I did.

Whereas I remember what I heard off of Decline as sounding a little too de rigeur post-punk/new waveish (and I’m planning on giving the record a second chance so my opinion may well change), Open Season really surprised me with it’s huge, warm sound. I’ve read some reviews that complain about the band rounding off all their edges on this record, but I rather like it. There’s plenty of other acts out there doing the spiky, angular guitar thing right now, I personally find it refreshing that someone remembers that the British were also producing wonderfully anthemic, expansive and unabashedly romantic rock music in the 80s. Only an Englishman could sing, “I wrote elegiac stanzas for you,” and make it work. I don’t have a huge number of reference points from that era to draw on, but I am reminded of The Psychedelic Furs, Echo & The Bunnymen and, um, OMD?

I hear the band puts on an insane, flora-friendly live show, so I’m pretty keen to see them at Lee’s on May 17th. For further edification, check out these articles in Exclaim! and The Guardian, or visit one of many fan sites. You can also see the video for the first single off Open Season, “It Ended On An Oily Stage”, at MP3.com.

Update: And this just in – MTV has banned their video for “Please Stand Up” for what it deems inappropriate lyrics. Apparently it’s okay for MTV to show girls with low self-esteem getting doused with whipped cream or whatever the hell they do at Spring Break, but you can’t say “wetter and wetter”. Bravo, America.

Being There offers a fond farewell to Scotland’s Delgados.

Wilco talks to MTV about keeping their Coachella date a year late, the forthcoming live DVD/CD and plans for their next studio album. Also available in streaming video format! Via Largehearted Boy.

CMJ has a brief interview with Britt Daniel of Spoon. Merge is streaming a new song from Gimme Fiction everyday until the album’s release next Tuesday.

Zoilus is a little uncomfortable with the directness of some of the lyrical content on the new Mountain Goats record. I still haven’t heard it. Hell, I haven’t even been in a record store for what seems like ages.

Shivaree’s Ambrosia Parsley tells Chart about “Ambrosia Sings The News” on Air America.

np – Bloc Party / Silent Alarm

With New Order’s latest album Waiting For The Sirens’ Call coming out in North America last week, Exclaim! takes the opportunity to recap the massively influential yet utterly unique band’s history in timeline form. I may be compromising all cred I have by saying I far prefer New Order to their forebears Joy Division, but it’s true. There are times when “Temptation” is simply the best song in the world.

The New Order news cycle brings us a few pieces worth reading, including these interviews with Bernard Sumner by the San Francisco Chronicle (via neworderonline.com) and Rolling Stone and this Chicago Sun-Times interview with Peter Hook. Hookie will also be in Toronto this Friday doing a DJ set at the Mod Club, admission $15.

You can see the first two videos from Sirens’ Call here. “Krafty” is vintage New Order and the video is equal parts snogariffic and vertigo-inducing. “Jetstream” is underwhelming and is probably only a single to capitalize on the appearance of the chick from The Scissor Sisters. And really, they’re not a band that should appear in their own videos…

Video (WMA): New Order – “Krafty”

Video (WMA): New Order – “Jetstream”

And while you’re enjoying all things New Order, check out Peter Saville’s website. The man responsible for the band’s distinctive visual style has a nice online gallery of his work and you can download fonts of the typefaces he used on all the different Joy Division and New Order album covers over the years. Very cool.

Wilco aren’t coming back to Toronto anytime soon, but they will be playing just down the 401 in sunny Buffalo on June 28 as part of the Rockin’ At The Knox festival at the Albright-Knox Art Gallery. If it wasn’t a weekday and if I had a car, I’d consider going. But it is and I don’t, so that’s that. Oh, and I really don’t like Buffalo… but I digress. My Morning Jacket support.

But who IS coming to Toronto on July 25 is none other than Bruce Campbell, in town to promote his new book, Learn To Make Love The Bruce Campbell Way. Finally, some tips on how to use that chainsaw for a hand to satisfy the ladies.

Ex-Spinane Rebecca Gates will be at Lee’s Palace May 21 filling in the vacancy left when The Decemberists moved their show that night to the Phoenix.

Popmatters interviews Brendan Benson.

Stereogum brings us “21 High-Quality Albums From The Past Three Years (In No Particular Order)” courtesy of the very funny Chuck Klosterman. Klosterman seems to be a love ’em/hate ’em kind of polarizing figure, and I’m firmly in the first camp. Also happy to see his next book, Killing Yourself to Live : 85% of a True Story, is coming out next month.

24: Truly it does my heart proud to see the Chinese getting their moment in the sun as villains. No one ever gives us enough credit for having the capacity for evil. Granted, so far it’s only bureaucratic evil and they haven’t actually done anything really sinister yet, but it’s coming. Can you say season five? Jack Bauer vs China. But I was a little disappointed that the consulate infiltration was over so quickly. As Juan pointed out via email, it was very Metal Gear in execution – it would have been nice to see Jack have to drag and hide a guard’s body in a locker. A very intense final scene – it’s nice when they let Keifer act. The look on his face was really quite emotive. I tell ya, no one knows how to break up with a woman like Jack Bauer. And Chloe and Edgar are totally going to get it on. It will be the grossest thing ever.

np – Explosions In The Sky / The Earth Is Not A Cold Dead Place

It was last March I made a random query about whatever became of January, the UK band that released the excellent I Heard Myself In You in 2001 on Poptones, then seemed to disappear.

As it turned out, they recorded a follow-up in 2002, but the band imploded and the sophomore release, Motion Sickness, remained shelved until last year. Which is a damn shame because it’s as good as the first record, continuing to blend space rock-approved sonics with a healthy dollop of country twang. Both albums are even structured similarly, each featuring a massive-sounding centrepiece (“Falling In” on the debut, “Sandwood” on the second album) that more than quench my thirst for all things epic, surrounded by quieter, textured pieces of shoegazey-folk.

With the dissolution of the band and dearth of any information, I assumed that Motion Sickness would be the final word from January, but in this interview with ARRTRA from a couple months ago, singer-songwriter Simon McClean says that he’s assembled a new band and there will be a third album. Whether he can achieve the same heights with a new group of players remains to be seen, but it’s better than it being the end.

There are a couple of sample mp3s available on the January website, though neither fully captures the band at their best. They didn’t get loud very often on either record, but when they did it was amazing. If you like what you hear, the albums are pretty tough to find but worth the effort.

MP3: January – “Someone”

MP3: January – “Eyes All Mine”

The Boston Globe finally gets around to listening to Aimee Mann, just in time for the release of her new album, The Forgotten Arm, out tomorrow. Via Largehearted Boy.

Under The Radar has made their interview with Torq from Stars about being a Montreal band available exclusively online. The new issue with Super Furry Animals should be out soon, if not already.

I don’t understand. How can the resurrected Family Guy be so good (Gepetto? OH MY GOD) while American Dad be so lame? Yes, I’ve asked this before, but after watching it again last night, I have to ask again.

The Pop Tart is now The Rock Snob. Update your bookmarks.

np – Bob Dylan / Blonde On Blonde