It was a year ago tonight that I first discovered Austin’s Shearwater, opening for The Mountain Goats at Lee’s Palace and while they didn’t steal the show from the Goats, they definitely held their own as far as impressing the hell out of me went. From there, I would discover leader Jonathan Meiburg’s other band, one Okkervil River, which would come as close as any other band in the last few years to changing my life.

But this is Shearwater’s post (especially since I sort of half-assed them last year) so back to Palo Santo. While splitting the songwriting duties between Meiburg and Will Sheff on previous Shearwater records allowed for more great songs on a single record, it did take away from the cohesiveness of the albums somewhat, what with Sheff’s songwriting style being more earthy while Meiburg’s compositions were more of the sky. But with Meiburg taking over all songwriting duties with the new record, Palo Santo proves to be all the stronger for having a singular voice. And what a voice – Meiburg’s tenor soars like an angel but also proves willing and able to rage when necessary.

The two sample tracks that Misra has made available are indeed standouts on the record, and yet at the same time they don’t do the record justice. Or more accurately, being presented as individual tracks don’t do the songs justice – within the context of the other songs, as the fortissimo to the other songs’ pianissimo, they’re so much more powerful. Palo Santo demands to be heard as an album, start to finish. Truly, the whole is so much greater than the sum of its parts. The last full length Winged Life and last year’s Thieves EP were strong but had more promise than delivery – finally, Palo Santo pays off in full. Is it too early to start shortlisting albums of the year?

Pitchfork gives Palo Santo some love and Said The Gramophone is also not modest about doleing out praise – they’ve also got another track available to hear. There’s also some more downloadables on their MySpace and at their label.

MP3: Shearwater – “Seventy-Four, Seventy-Five”
MP3: Shearwater – “White Waves”
MP3: Shearwater – “Turn The Transmitters On” (demo for “Red Sea, Black Sea”)

There’s some touring news but nothing up here yet. Bradley’s Almanac mentions that they’ll be in Boston in September with Magnolia Electric Co so if not for July, we could well be looking at a Toronto date around then. Fingers crossed. They’re actually the only band I saw twice at SxSW but come to think of it, I’ve still never seen them play a full headlining set of their own.

And stepping back a moment to talk Mountain Goats, Largehearted Boy is so kind as to direct us to Standard Bitter Love Songs, a wonderful archive of live Goats shows. Last year’s May show from Toronto isn’t there, but the October one – which I missed – is. There’s some overlap with the Archive.org, er, archives, but there’s no such thing as too much Mountain Goats. Unless you don’t like them, in which case a little is probably too much.

And not quite done with the Shearwater segues, Okkervil River continue to traipse around Europe and their bus driver Michal is playing official tour documentarian via Flickr.

The AV Club interviews Mark Kozelek, also known as “The Koz” but not to be confused with “The Cos”, who is at Lee’s Palace July 12. Koz, that is. Not Cos.

More shows – Cat Power will be at the Danforth Music Hall on July 3 – hmm, timing. Dare I step off a plane at 3 in the afternoon and be at a show by 9? Maybe. Maybe. Elsewhere, The Rakes are at Lee’s Palace on July 4 and July 15 sees a new festival in town – Dog Day Afternoon will feature headliners Metric with The Fiery Furnaces, Holy Fuck, The Secret Machines and Electric 6. This goes down at Historic Fort York and tickets are $40, on sale Saturday. Chart has more info on the fest, which will also be hitting Ottawa and Montreal.

And hey, it’s my birthday. If it’s true that life begins at 30 – and I will admit, 30 was pretty damn good to me – what happens at 31? I hope it’s not gout.

Update: Wilco says – Row F (8th), stage right. Hrmm. Not as good as last time, obvs.

np – Gemma Hayes / The Roads Don’t Love You

With the release of Just Like The Fambly Cat yesterday, that was the end for Grandaddy. Sure, Jason Lytle is doing a compact solo acoustic tour in support, but that’s more like a roving wake than it is an actual promo jaunt. Undone by financial and personal pressures, they – and by they, I mean Lytle, the man who actually writes, plays and records the albums – elected to call it quits with this final album.

It’s tempting, given the circumstances, to read between the lines of songs like “Rear View Mirror” and “Disconnecty” than they actually merit, but all of Grandaddy’s albums have had an inherent sense of dreamy wistfulness so it’s hard say if Lytle was feeling especially elegiac when writing this final record. But that said, it’s hard to misread the intentions behind closing track “This Is How It Always Starts” with Lytle singing, “I’ll never return” over and over again. I’ve no doubt that closing the door on the ‘Daddy and hightailing it out of Modesto, CA will do wonders for his state of mind, at least from the press I’ve read.

But considering the music on its own, it sounds pretty much like a Grandaddy record. Lytle’s soft voice, thick pads of synths punctuated by fuzzed-out six-strings… If you liked them before you’ll find something to like here. If you didn’t, well this won’t change your mind. I’ve never been the biggest Grandaddy fan but I’ve got a few of their albums and seen them live so I’m informed enough to agree with those who say that Fambly Cat is their strongest effort since The Software Slump (like everyone at Metacritic). Of course, that’s just two albums ago so it’s not like they’ve been lost in the wild for years, but whatever. Fans will no doubt be saddened that one of the more unique bands on the indie scene has called it a day, but at least they go out on a high note. There’s a sense of purpose to this record that takes it up a notch, even if that purpose is to ride off into the sunset.

Dose and Paste have brief chats with Jason Lytle about the band’s dissolution and The Irish Times have a far more expansive one. And if you want even more Grandaddy dirt, I recommend picking up the current issue of
Magnet for which Grandaddy are the cover story.

But while this may be the end of Grandaddy, they’re going out in (digital) style. Check out this eCard where you get to play vaguely creepy Tamagotchi with Lytle and AOL is streaming the album in its entirety. There’s also an MP3, a video and a MySpace page so you can be friends with Jason for a long, long time.

MP3: Grandaddy – “Elevate Yourself”
Video: Grandaddy – “Where I’m Anymore” (.MOV)

Update: Gorilla Vs Bear has pics and a live track from Lytle’s Dallas in-store last night.

As a footnote, I’m a little alarmed about how often I’m hearing “Meow meow meow meow meow” as lyrics. Okay, it’s just Grandaddy’s “Where I’m Anymore” and Margot & The Nuclear so And So’s’ “Paper Kitten Nightmare”, but really – isn’t two already two too many?

Some shows – Man Man are at the Silver Dollar June 5 ($10.50) and The Buzzcocks are at the Phoenix June 10 as part of NxNE, tickets $22.50. David “Don’t Call Me Pedro” Bazan is at the Music Gallery on June 17, tickets $17.50. He’ll release an EP called Fewer Moving Pieces’ on June 13 while The Meligrove Band are at Lee’s Palace June 26 22 and Gomez play The Guvernment June 29 ($27.50). Mission Of Burma bring The Obliterati to the Horseshoe on July 26 – they damn near destroyed Lee’s Palace back in October 2004 so fear for the structural integrity of the ‘Shoe by the time they’re done with it. Somewhat less likely to destroy their venue are Matmos who have two dates at the Music Gallery on October 8 and 9.

And it may well appear that Toronto is getting screwed out of a Wilco presale. Fuckers. Update: Presale goes tomorrow at 10AM. Fingers crossed that a) Wilco has good seats put aside for their own presale and b) that I’ve got some good birthday mojo goin’ on…

Pitchfork interviews Doug Martsch of Built To Spill.

SFist wants to know all about Champaign, Illinois, according to Erin of Headlights. The band continues work on their debut full-length due out in August but found time to stop in at WOXY and do a radio session for them.

Big Stereo has the new single and video from The Sleepy Jackson, whose Personality will be out July 25. Via Torr.

The Toronto Star reports that Neil Young’s Living With War, released yesterday, is angering American conservatives. I’m shocked. Shocked, I say!

np – Shearwater / Palo Santo

The 2006 edition Over The Top Fest (in conjunction with ALL CAPS) culminated in an 8-band matinee show at the Drake Hotel and hordes of concertgoers scurrying from the Underground to the rooftop patio to try and take in all the performances. I didn’t get down there till later so I only caught three of the acts, Toronto’s Wyrd Visions and Bicycles as well as the big draw (for me, anyway), Saturday Looks Good To Me.

Wyrd Visions was assigned to play the Drake’s fancy-shmantzy rooftop patio, the bright Spring afternoon a bit of an odd setting for his one-man, drone-folk creations. He started his set in an oversized hoodie that made him look more than a little like a Benedictine monk with an electric guitar, which is actually how he sounded as well. Each of his songs were extended repetitions of the same (or very similar) intricately fingerpicked guitar figures with a single fantasy-themed lyric repeated overtop like a mantra. It was quite hypnotic for the three songs I stayed for, but I then began to get a little antsy with it all and headed for darker environs.

The Bicycles I hadn’t seen in some years – I couldn’t call myself a fan of their overly cutesy pop, a little too deliberately twee for my tastes. But while the recorded output still sounds overly precious, their live act has really improved in the interim. Yeah, they all wear matching “B” t-shirts and even have life-sized cartoon cutouts of all the band member as the stage backdrop, but they’ve also gotten hella tight and even kinda ballsy – it’s amazing what a healthy dose of fuzz on the guitars can do for a band. Though still far too sugary for prolonged exposures, I will admit that with their sharp banter and goofy charm, they were a good deal of fun to watch. The band will find out how they fare away from home next month as they go on tour across North America with The Boy Least Likely To.

I will confess that I had hoped that with Betty Marie Barnes in town the night before with PAS/CAL that there might be a special one-off revival of the Every Night lineup of Saturday Looks Good To Me for this show – alas, not the case. The band continues on with the stripped-down four piece configuration that I saw at SxSW in March and in keeping with that, the set consisted almost completely of new material. While reinvention has long been a staple of SLGTM’s existance, it did make for a bit of a difficult set to really get into, even for longtime fans (though the cover of Neutral Milk Hotel’s “Holland 1945” was a nice bone to throw). Also, while some of the new material sounded like the classic Spector pop of the past, much of it also hinted at a more experimental and rockish direction. It’s no secret that Every Night is one of my favourite records of the new century so while I’m a little disappointed that Thomas seems intent on moving away from that sound, it’s also understandable that he wouldn’t want to try and top it. So while I will always come out in favour of artistic growth, it’s a shame that they’re road-testing the new stuff so far in advance of the new album coming out (Thomas joked about it coming out sometime in ’09) – I’d have loved to hear more of the familiar stuff, though that would have required certain extra band members… and we come full circle.

While the Bicycles’ set was quite full, it was a pretty sparse crowd for SLGTM, ostensibly the headliners on the day. Of course, they were running an hour late at that point so it’s entirely possible people were just worn out on the day and had gone home for some supper. But either way, it was a fine afternoon and finale to another terrific edition of Over The Top, certainly one of the annual highlights of the Toronto concert season. Photos here. Dear Drake – please buy some non-magenta gels for your stage lights. Thank you.

To learn more about the bands mentioned in today’s post, visit your local library. Or visit their MySpace pages (SLGTM, Bicycles). Wyrd Visions’ MySpace page is his website, so instead I direct you to Are You Familiar and Said The Gramophone, both of whom recently ran features on the man and the myth. And of course, you can download some MP3s:

MP3: Saturday Looks Good To Me – “Lift Me Up”
MP3: The Bicycles – “Longjohns & Toques”
MP3: Wyrd Visions – “Bog Lord”

Chart finds out what’s next for Billy Bragg. Maybe a Mermaid Avenue Vol 3?

And speaking of Wilco, Glenn Kotche gives Pitchfork a little news on where they are on their new album. Still no official word on the presale for their July 7th show at Massey Hall, but I’m guessing tomorrow 10AM… or at least I hope so. It’d suck beans if Massey Hall subscribers got first crack at noon…

The Toronto Star considers the advent of digital-media DJing to be the death knell for vinyl. Of course, according to the sidebar kids are starting to rebel against MP3 culture by discovering thrift store LPs, so who knows?

24: Okay, I have to ask. WHY IS THE FIRST ORDER OF BUSINESS NOT MAKING COPIES OF THE RECORDING? Post it on Soulseek. Send it to bloggers labeled as a new Arctic Monkeys track. But no – the most urgent thing is to CLEAN UP THE AUDIO? It sounded fine when Jack heard it and the Heller heard it, why does the Attorney-General need it cleaned up? Is he an audiophile? Is evidence recorded at under 192kbps inadmissable? WTF? Ah. I want to strangle fictional characters. Not a good sign for my mental health. Anyway, at least the the plane chase was pretty damn good. Three more hours to go.

np – Crooked Fingers / Crooked Fingers

The popsters, the soulsters and the shoegazers. Saturday night saw a typically eclectic bill step up as part of this year’s Over The Top Fest – Detroit’s PAS/CAL, Chicago’s Catfish Haven and New York City’s Asobi Seksu, all making their debuts in Toronto.

PAS/CAL opened things up with a dose of giddy pop music, Casimer Pascal owning the stage like Jarvis Cocker raised on Motown rather than the Walker Brothers. They were the only real unknown quantity of the night for me, and were certainly a very pleasant surprise. I’d feared from the quick samples I’d heard that they’d fall on the wrong side of fey for my tastes, but live they had just the right balance of muscle, fop and humour (thanks in no small part to a thunderous drummer). Lots of fun and a nice new discovery.

Gears shifted abruptly for the middle act, with PAS/CAL’s eight-piece pop carnival giving way to Catfish Haven’s rock and soul power trio. In the wrong hands, George Hunter’s voice could be a dangerous weapon for the forces of overemoting and general cheese, but in Catfish Haven it’s a thing of wonder. Raw, passionate and urgent but unwaveringly melodic, it made gems like “Please Don’t Go” and “Madaline” sound like long lost classics from the Stax vaults. And they were easily the loudest acoustic guitar-led combo I’ve heard in ages. Awesomeness. For more Catfish Haven, check out my post from a few weeks ago.

I had Asobi Seksu’s first record and saw them at SxSW last year, and moderately enjoyed but wasn’t over the moon about both. For the record, I found it to have moments of greatness but had a little too much filler and a little too obvious in its influences (J-pop, MBV, Lush, etc). The live show was a little low on energy and charisma though to be fair, playing at 2 in the afternoon to a barely-populated Emo’s outside isn’t really the best environment for any band. Anyway, much progress has been made since those initial judgements. Their new album Citrus (out May 30), is so head and shoulders above the debut that it’s not even funny. Yuki’s voice is stronger, her melodies more complex and catchy and the shifts from Japanese to English lyrics feels much more natural. Overall, the songs are just so much better and fully-evolved – very exciting that they’ve reached the next level so quickly. Naturally, having so much better material can only help the live show and that it did. Still hellaciously loud, their stage presence is conveyed not by dancing or antics, but through volume and being utterly enveloped by the music they’re creating. And strobe lights.

I’d like to think that on any other night where there wasn’t so much going on in town, there’d have been a much larger crowd in attendance – but as it was, there was a decent-sized audience for all three bands. There was actually a fourth band added to the bill late that went on after 1AM, but I was done for the night and missed them. Awesome Color did get some love from those that stuck around, though, and will be touring with Sonic Youth this Summer. Impressive.

There’re some MP3s from all three acts below, and of course you can hear more at their respective MySpace pages (AS, CH, P/C). Check out photos from the show here. Nice ones from the PAS/CAL and Catfish Haven sets and passable ones from Asobi, who uttered the five worst words any concert photographer can hear – “turn down the stage lights”.

MP3: Asobi Seksu – “”Thursday”
MP3: Catfish Haven – “Please Come Back”
MP3: PAS/CAL – “Summer Is Almost Here”

Rest in peace, Grant McLennan of The Go-Betweens. Robert Forster eulogizes his bandmate in The Australian and Let’s Kiss And Make Up has a wonderful tribute to the man and his music.

Pitchfork talks to Feist about her French skills, sock puppetry and bunk beds.

Merge has let drop a couple release dates for the new albums from M Ward and Lambchop. Their new albums Post-War and Damaged, respectively, will both be out August 22 and be available with the special Merge vinyl/MP3 Happy Meal offer. This is Lambchop’s first proper studio record since 2004’s Aw, C’mon and No, You C’mon double-albums. The released an archival collection of bits and bobs called The Decline of Country & Western Civilization (The Woodwind Years) in April.

John Darnielle of The Mountain Goats offers up a list of songs you should hear for eMusic. The Goats’ Bablyon Springs EP is finally available over here via Moops Music for the very reasonable price of $5.99 and they should have a new record out this Fall. Via Largehearted Boy.

np – The Go-Betweens / Oceans Apart

Envelopes / Demons (Brille Records) You’d be forgiven if you thought Envelopes came from Montreal. Though they hail from Sweden, one of their members if French (albeit Parisian) and their sing-songy, lightly demented and infectious pop is certainly reminiscent of some of that coming from La Belle Province of late (see: Lovely Feathers). But Envelopes have a sweet, naive quality that makes it hard to lob any accustations of idiot-savant pretensions at them. Thrift-store keyboard bump uglies with fuzzed-out lo-fi guitars and bouncy sort-of-in-tune, sugar sweet boy-girl vocals. It sounds like being on a trampoline. MP3: Envelopes – “Sister In Love” MP3: Envelopes – “Sister In Love (live)” Envelopes @ MySpace

Darling Arms / All The Ghosts (Blue Skies Turn Black) An artist that actually is from Montreal is Darling Arms, the nom de plume of Christina Frances Musacchio, formerly of One Candle Power. On this, her debut release as a solo artist, she turns in a sparse-sounding EP that centres around her acoustic guitar and strong, clear voice, occasionally bolstered by the drone of a cello or stately piano. The title of the record is appopriate as there’s a real sense of being haunted by the past in these songs, but also of exorcisms and new beginnings. MP3: Darling Arms – “Beluga” MP3: Darling Arms – “The Hero”

Man In Gray Brooklyn’s Man In Gray sound like one of those indie compilation CDs you get with magazines like Magnet or Filter, all mashed up into one single track. There’s some dancable post-punk rhythms, piledriver guitars, agit-punk attitude and atop it all Tina DaCosta’s sugar and spikey vocals. Aggressive, occasionally abraisive but always melodic. They’re at work on their first full-length record, due out sometime this Spring. They’ve got music samples all over the place, some of which are linked below. If you want more, ask the band and I’m sure they’d be happy to provide an internet road map of sorts to it all. MP3: Man In Gray – “Commodity 1 (demo)” MP3: Man In Gray – “Incommunicado” Video: Man In Gray – “Thirty Six” (MOV) Man In Gray @ MySpace

np – Portastatic / Original Film Score For Who Loves The Sun