Saturday night was a double-header – first was the Eels/Smoosh show at the Mod Club and then it was on the bike to zip down to the Drake Underground to catch killthelights and Levy, in all the way from New York City. Toronto’s Two Koreas were also on the bill but I didn’t stick around – sorry Stuart, long night. I’ve already written about both killthelights and Levy in the past week, so I won’t go over recently covered ground again – read the reviews.

killthelights had impressed me during NxNE at The Boat but this time they were playing to a much larger room and a much smaller and less worked-up crowd, so comparatively speaking they were already behind the 8-ball. Then their bassist broke a string early on in the set and that pretty much killed any momentum they’d built, forcing the rest of the band to jam aimlessly while he tuned up a loaner bass from Levy. They gamely tried to get back on track after that, but couldn’t quite do it in the time remaining. A pity, but I won’t hold it against them – what I’d seen and heard before Saturday night still has me impressed and everyone is allowed an off night. I mean, who breaks bass strings during a gig? Almost no one. And I figured it out. Singer Alex Hackett looks like Scott Bakula. A lot. But that’s cool, I like Scott Bakula.

Levy, on the other hand, didn’t impress at all. They seemed detached and disinterested in even being there, singer/guitarist James Levy opting to make clicking noises into the mic rather than speak to the audience and just generally conveying an off-putting smugness. The songs themselves also came across lacklustre – I’m pretty familiar with their album and didn’t hear any of the traits that made it an enjoyable if somewhat disposable listen. Sorry guys, but a couple of strong songs in a decidedly unoriginal style doesn’t get you enough capital to cop rock star attitudes. Update: If you think my reaction is strong, check this out. Wow.

Overall, a generally underwhelming bottom half to a Saturday night double-header. But still, photos were taken and the Smoosh/Eels show earlier in the evening did even out the net balance on the night.

MP3: Levy – “Rotten Love”
MP3: Levy – “On The Dance Floor”
MP3: killthelights – “Skinny White Girls”
MP3: killthelights – “Orestes”
MySpace: Levy
MySpace: killthelights

Remember Portishead? Yeah, they barely remember themselves. But it turns out they’ve not only been hard at work at album #3, but they’ve even got something to show for it! Tripwire points to this MySpace blog post which hints that progress is being made, but more importantly, there’s a track to be downloaded. So do so:

MP3: Portishead – “Key Bored 299 33”

Though not released officially till next week month, you’ll be able to stream the whole of The Avalanche, Sufjan Stevens’ alternate universe Illinois album from Asthmatic Kitty, as the week calendar progresses. They’re putting more of the album online every day until the record’s official release date on July 11th and there’s still the one track available for downloading. I posted my thoughts on the record last month.

Stream: Sufjan Stevens – The Avalanche (MOV)
MP3: Sufjan Stevens – “The Henney Buggy Band”

Comets On Fire are at Lee’s Palace September 5. And For The Records has been doing some detective work as to the mysterious “V Festival” at Olympic Island the weekend of September 9 and 10. I won’t recap his work save to summarize that what appears confirmed are Gnarls Barkley and Zero 7 and I keep hearing the words “Flaming” and “Lips”. More gossip as it develops. Update: I’ve been told that the official announcement will come on June 30. But until then, way-out conspiracy theories are welcome and encouraged.

PopMatters says “Boy howdy” to Centro-Matic’s Will Johnson. Okay, the words “boy howdy” are never actually uttered, but they’re implied.

Pitchfork gives The Best Of Luna a very solid review and Entertainment Weekly talks to Dean Wareham about Tell Me Do You Miss Me (via Largehearted Boy). Best line?

Did anything in the movie surprise you?
I was surprised by how bad my hair was. Why didn’t they tell me?

And iTunes has Lunafied. Even though I have most of this material, I felt compelled to buy it still. Tangent – Head Full Of Wishes has uploaded a load of Galaxie 500/Luna-related video content. Go watch.

np – M Ward / Transistor Radio

Eels and Smoosh. The enigmatic depressive pop orchestra conductor and the sunshiney, barely-tween sister keyboard/drums duo. Whoever put this bill together was either brilliant or insane – time would tell.

I’ve never been big on E/Eels/Mark Everett. I recall him getting some songs as A Man Called E on a CFNY/HMV sampler thing way back in the early 90s that, while surely gave evidence of Everett’s pop saavy, also came off to me as horribly cliche and melodramatic in its angstiness. Keep in mind that I was what, 17 at the time? I had plenty of angst of my own, thank you very much. When he reconstituted himself as Eels and had his “Novocaine For The Soul” mini-hit, it just reinforced my preconceptions of the guy and I carried on ignoring him for the past decade, even though his albums would often get glowing reviews from the press. But that said, I think I came into the show with an open mind even if I probably wouldn’t have gone had Smoosh not been on the bill.

Though the show was sold out, there was hardly anyone in the audience when Smoosh took the stage. Maybe it was the early 7PM start time or the street festival outside but it took a little while before the crowd began to fill out. Either way, the Smoosh set was short and compact and intense. Not intense like Henry Rollins in your face, but both Asya and Chloe were super-focused on the task at hand and with concentration (and maybe a little nervousness) etched on their faces the like of which you wouldn’t normally see on a 12- and 14-year old. Musically, Smoosh are almost critic-proof. Both sisters are perfectly solid on their instruments and the songwriting on Free To Stay, just released, is a hell of a lot more sophisticated than you’d expect. Yeah, their lyrics can be a little vague but how articulate or open were you at that age? And this will probably be the only time I say this about anyone, but I’d like to hear how their vocals sound when they have the lung capacity of an adult.

And back to Eels. I’d been told their live show was something to behold and you know what? I really was. Ostensibly touring in support of the Eels With Strings – Live At Town Hall album, this tour was dubbed “No Strings Attached” and good to their word, Eels performed as a three-and-a-half piece outfit. The half being a big Altamont-looking dude in a black “Security” t-shirt who acted as MC, dancer and spot guitarist and keyboardist. I don’t know where they found such a Renaissance man, but he was some piece of work, be it with his karate dance moves or his non-sequiter between-song one-liners. He, combined with the rest of Eels performing in matching jumpsuits, goggles and beards made for a suitably surreal visual experience. That it was obviously all tightly coreographed and planned didn’t take too much away from the Jared Hess-ian vibe (unless you really hate contrived absurdism, which I normally do but was willing to let it slide).

Though totally unfamiliar with pretty much every song, I could at least appreciate the energy and arrangements of Eels’ rough and rootsy sound. I suspect that Everett’s compositions are infinitely malleable and these were just one of many incarnations the songs have gone through – after all, there was no way they could have suited a string section the way they performed. On the whole, I enjoyed the show, particularly with the showmanship, though I am not possessed by any strong urge to go out and buy Shootenanny!. I should note the two-song encore was especially fun as the Smoosh girls ran out onstage and danced up a storm with Security Joe – apparently this is what they had been saving up all the energy from their own set for.

I was disappointed that there was a big “no photography” sign at the entrance to the club, so there’s no Smoosh photos. After all – I didn’t want to be the one who got tossed for taking pictures of pre-teen girls… but I did snap a few of Eels – sorry, but you can’t make your show that visual without expecting folks to want to capture some of that. And anyway, I wasn’t the first one to start clicking. Check them out here. I Am Fuel, You Are Friends has an Eels Black Session from 2000 up for grabs and Vagrant has an ecard for Live From Town Hall.

MP3: Eels – “Sweet L’il Thing”
MP3: Smoosh – “Find A Way”
MySpace: Eels
MySpace: Smoosh

Magnet asks Sonic Youth’s Thurston Moore about new album Rather Ripped.

And on the cover of the new Magnet is Belle & Sebastian’s Stuart Murdoch. The occasion is the 10th anniversary of the release of the band’s debut, Tigermilk. Incendiary has an expansive re-think of their whole catalog and there’s a couple new videos out there for watching – “The Blues Are Still Blue” has been around for a while, but “White Collar Boy” is brand spanking new.

Video: Belle & Sebastian – “The Blues Are Still Blue” (YouTube)
Video: Belle & Sebastian – “White Collar Boy” (YouTube)

Nick White tells Flagpole that he had no problem with making Tilly & The Wall’s Bottom Of Barrels available to download for free. Which they did.

np – Mojave 3 / Puzzles Like You

I haven’t done any movie roundups for a little while and I have been seeing movies – so here’s some that are sort of related. Same studio, similar themes, pure coincidence.

Terry Zwigoff / Art School Confidential (Sony Pictures Classics) Terry Zwigoff, Daniel Clowes. After Ghost World, that should be a recipe for a decent film at the very least, right? Not so much. Remember the scene in Ghost World with Illeana Douglas as the art teacher? This basically takes that gag and stretches it out to feature length with an exceptionally lame murder mystery storyline tacked on. It starts out alright and is amusing when they stick to light skewering of artiste stereotypes but it fails to give any of the characters anything resembling depth or empathy. Not nearly clever enough to function as a satire and just generally clumsy all around. Disappointing, especially from creators who should know better. Trailer: Art School Confidential

Pedro Almodovar / Bad Education (Sony Pictures Classics) I’m a pretty big fan of Almodovar’s films if for no other reason than they a) always look amazing and b) never fail to have some theme or image or something stick with me long after it’s over – no mean feat for someone with an attention span like mine. His latest film (excepting Return, which just premiered at Cannes) is a little bit of a departure as the main story is a sort of mystery-thriller with an extra-twisty story-within-a-story-within-a-story structure. As such, it turns out a bit darker than I’d expected but is still immensely satisfying and stimulating. Gael Garcia Bernal, in particular, is amazing in his two or three roles (I lost track). I only had one question – if you’ve seen the DVD and seen the deleted scenes, wouldn’t those, if included, had completely screwed up the way the entire plot unfolded? I can’t figure out why they were even shot. Trailer: Bad Education

Mike Mills / Thumbsucker (Sony Pictures Classics) A small, charming and only slightly precious coming-of-age film loaded with more star power than you’d expect. Basically the story of a teen who tries to give up sucking his thumb as a rite of adolescence, it’s got your fairly standard crises at school (boy pines for girl, inexplicably gets girl, gets ditched by girl for pot), home (unhappy mom, careerist dad) and dental office. General observations about the cast – Tilda Swinton is terrific, Vincent D’Onofrio and Vince Vaughan almost look interchangable (this is not a compliment to Vince Vaughan’s diet) and Keanu Reeves is a hoot and perfectly cast as a spacey, new-age orthodontist. Trailer: Thumbsucker

np – The Cardigans / Super Extra Gravity

So I’m going to New York City in a couple weeks. It’ll be for an extra-long weekend over Canada Day – yes, I’m celebrating my country’s 139th birthday by leaving. But anyway, I’ll be in Noo Yawk on the 29th of June and heading home on July 3 and I’m looking for suggestions. Preferably related to things to do in New York City while I’m there but general life advice (“Your hygeine is poor”, “You’re paying too much for auto insurance”) won’t be disregarded.

It’s been, oh, 17 years or so since I’ve set foot in the Big Apple and probably even longer since I’ve spent any appreciable time there so let’s call this a first-time jaunt. Naturally, there will be standard-type sightseeing and museum hopping, but what else should be on the itinerary? Where to eat? Etc etc. I’m staying in lower west midtown at 7th and 31st. You may note that the concert calendar has the Central Park Summerstage show featuring Seu Jorge and Jose Gonzalez already marked down and the Celebrate Brooklyn show at Prospect Park featuring TV On The Radio, Matt Pond PA and Voxtrot is definitely on the radar (are there tickets or do we just show up?). But besides that, I’m open to suggestions.

I’m quite excited about this trip. I’ve been trying to get to NYC for 7 or 8 years now and it’s just never happened – kind of lame considering I live barely 10 hours away, but whatever. I’m don’t want to try and cram an unreasonable amount of stuff into the time available, it won’t be 17 years before I come back, but I do want to make the most of the time available. Unless it’s rainy or really hot, then I’ll probably just hide in a mall or something.

Aversion has questions, Neil Halstead of Mojave 3 has answers. And Archive.org has live shows – seemingly far more than the last time I checked.

Synthesis posts their recent cover story on The Flaming Lips online. I am also hearing mumbles about the Lips, Toronto and September… but have nothing concrete to report yet. But have you seen the lineup for the Osheaga Festival in Montreal over the Labour Day weekend? Impressive. Not cheap, but impressive.

The Salt Lake Tribune tells the story of Neko Case. She also talks to Rocky Mountain News about her deep and abiding love for Bob Dylan.

Cat Power hints to The Times the reasons why her Spring tour was abruptly cancelled. But she’s feeling much better now.

Zoilus has linkage to cover art and a first MP3 from the new Mountain Goats record Get Lonely, out August 22. Meanwhile, My Mean Magpie and Marathonpacks marvel at the majesty of Mountain Goats live.

Loose Record interviews Drive-By Trucker Patterson Hood.

Go here to watch Josh Ritter perform “Wolves” on Bill Maher’s show on Amazon.com, Amazon Fishbowl. Bill Maher? Amazon? Is this like Suzanne Somers’ thing on the Home Shopping Channel?

np – Centro-Matic / Fort Recovery

So this Wednesday was the initial deadline for nominations for the Polaris Music Prize and I have a confession to make – I had a very shallow pool of qualifying records in my collection to pick from. Most of the Canadian stuff that most impressed me either didn’t make the definition of album (30 minutes or 8 tracks) or wasn’t released between June 1, 2005 and May 31, 2006 and what I did have seemed kind of obvious, which was a little disappointing (not the albums themselves, just that I couldn’t get creative with my picks). So I went on a little research mission over the past couple weeks trying to catch up on stuff that was homegrown and that I might have missed out on.

One artist whom I’ve liked what I’ve heard but have never really gotten around to really digging into is Calgarian Chad Van Gaalen. His debut album Infiniheart was a (very) small sample of hundreds of songs Van Gaalen had accumulated over the years and it definitely plays like it. Stylistically all over the map, it’s as mesmerizing as it is maddening for its eclecticism. Gentle folk tunes bump uglies with hooky pop moments, ambient instrumentals and bits that would have been symphonies if not for the absence of, well, symphonic instruments. It’s all tied together by Van Gaalen’s high, delicate voice that combined with the breadth of his musical ambition begs Sufjan Stevens comparisons – but not yet. Maybe when he starts writing concept albums for all ten provinces.

Spacelab reports that Van Gaalen will release his follow-up Skelliconnection on August 22 and while I hope there’s a higher level of production fit and finish to it. I would like to hear a more cohesive artistic statement from the fellow rather than, “here are some songs” but it sounds like he once again had a pool of songs to draw on hundreds deep so it could well be another stylistic grab bag.

And yeah, while SubPop re-released Infiniheart in August last year, well within the nomination period, it originally came out on Flemish Eye waaaaaay back in 2004 – a fact that I uncovered after I bought the album. So much for doing my homework. Here’s a sampling of tracks from here and there.

MP3: Chad Van Gaalen – “Clinically Dead”
MP3: Chad Van Gaalen – “Echo Train”
MP3: Chad Van Gaalen – “Somewhere I Know There’s Nothing”
MP3: Chad Van Gaalen – “Traffic”
Video: Chad Van Gaalen – “Clinically Dead” (MySpace)

So who did I end up voting for? After much hemming and hawing, I submitted the following list:

1. The New Pornographers / Twin Cinema
2. Broken Social Scene / Broken Social Scene
3. Destroyer / Destroyer’s Rubies
4. The Diableros / You Can’t Break The Strings In Our Olympic Hearts
5. My Dad Vs Yours / After Winter Must Come Spring

Like I said, kind of obvious, especially the first two. I would have LOVED to be able to get behind something more dark horse or left field, but I had to be honest about it and those are the eligible CanCon releases that got the most rotation in the past year. And I could have voted for Neil Young but I suspect that goes against the spirit of the prize.

Note to all up-and-coming bands – knock it off with the EPs! Or at the very least, make them 30 minutes long. If The Coast, The Airfields or Land Of Talk had managed to squeeze one more song or extended space-rock jam onto their recent releases, it’d have been a very different list, I tell you what. Come on guys – we’re talking a cash money prize! But, alas, such was not the case and so this is what went in to the powers that be. Not meant as a slight against any of the bands I did nominate – all fine records – but a little frustrating nonetheless. But on the plus side, I am planning on being that much more plugged into Canadian music for the upcoming year if for no other reason than to avoid another such embaressing situation. And to everyone who suggested it – Neko Case is not Canadian. Seems like it, sure, but she’s not.

And I note with some interest that My Dad Vs Yours have a show scheduled for July 15 at Lee’s Palace. Opening? Headlining? I do not know. But there you go.

While the new album won’t be out till January of next year, Dean Wareham & Britta Phillips have posted a track from their new album on their MySpace page, an Adam Green cover. And Tuesday is Luna day with the release of The Best Of Luna on CD, Lunafied in digital download format and Tell Me Do You Miss Me on DVD. For appetite-whetting purposes, Rhino has posted a clip of the DVD online – a complete performance of “Bewitched” from the farewell tour.

Video: Luna – “Bewitched” (MOV)

NOW profiles vibraphonic ensemble The Hylozoists who will be having a CD release party for La Fin Du Monde at the Horseshoe this Saturday night.

Ultra-recluse Texan legend Jandek is coming out of hiding to play a Toronto show on September 17 at… well, no one knows. But it’s happening – read here. I’ll be honest – I don’t know boo about Jandek except that his name is spoken in hushed, reverential tones and this is an event of some significance. I’m sure I’ll be hearing more about it as the date approaches.

Calexico discusses the politics of Garden Ruin with The Vancouver Sun and about growing the band’s sound with The San Francisco Chronicle and The Georgia Straight. Those attending the July 6 show at the Phoenix should note that Jason Collett appears to be off the bill and Oakley Hall are on.

Wheat’s Brendan Haney reflects on the major label experience for Loose Record and admits that, yeah, it was a bad idea. I TOLD YOU SO. It’s a shame he dismisses Per Second completely, the original Nude version was a perfectly solid record – but I already proved that. Comeback album Every Day I Said A Prayer For Kathy And Made A One-Inch Square is out this Fall. Thanks very much to Mark for the interview link.

And dig it – Arrested Development Season 3 – on DVD August 29… just a week after Veronica Mars Season 2! No word of bonuses on either disc yet but I expect the AD to be chock full ‘o nuts. And I think I’m far too excited about the opportunity to watch television shows that I’ve already seen.

np – Wheat / Hope & Adams