Post-rock is a tricky genre. Practitioners are inevitably going to get likened to Godspeed You Exploding Mogwai In The Sky, and more often than not, the comparisons are apt. There’s only so many ways to spin the no vocal, spidery guitar, thundering drum, epic song length with explosive crescendo thing – but thankfully fans of the genre aren’t necessarily looking for anyone to reinvent the wheel, just give them the whole tension-release thing and do it well. It’s about the visceral response, not an intellectual one, and visceral is something Los Angeles’ Red Sparowes offers aplenty.

The band’s pedigree includes Isis, Neurosis and other such bands with great experience in heaviness, but Red Sparowes’ 2005 release At The Soundless Dawn is surprisingly not that heavy – it certainly gets heavy at points, see the aforementioned “explosive crescendo”, but it’s balanced out by quiet passages and some very tasteful pedal steel, particularly in “A Brief Moment Of Clarity Broke Through the Deafening Hum, But It Was Too Late”. Yes, the genre-requisite, super-long song titles are also present. Based on this record, they don’t break any barriers or redefine the style, but they’re good at it and they can/will definitely hurt you with sound. And really, isn’t that all we want out of life?

Red Sparowes are in town on August 19 for a show at Lee’s Palace with Philadelphia’s Versoma and Toronto’s Fjord Rowboat. I’m running a contest for passes to this show, so if you’re curious and want to take a shot at winning, click here. Otherwise tickets are $10 at the usual outlets.

MP3: Red Sparowes – “Alone And Unaware, The Landscape Was Transformed In Front Of Our Eyes”
MP3: Red Sparowes – “Like The Howling Glory Of The Darkest Winds, This Voice Was Thunderous And The Words Holy, Tangling Their Way Around Our Hearts And Clutching Our Innocent Awe”

Billboard reports that Aimee Mann’s next album One More Drifter In The Snow will be a Christmas album due out on Hallowe’en.

Well THAT only took 10 months. Nellie McKay’s Pretty Little Head will finally be coming out on October 10, courtesy of SpinArt – or at least that’s what Amazon would have us believe.

PopMatters eulogizes Arthur Lee by contemplating his greatest work, Forever Changes. I was thinking a bit about how I said the other day that I would take Forever Changes over Pet Sounds or Sgt Pepper’s, and was trying to reason out why. Best I can come up with? I hear blood in Forever Changes. Blood and snot. Take that as you will.

Pitchfork converses with Stephin Merritt about his pretty much universally reviled (by everyone I’ve talked to, anyway) Showtunes album.

The Toronto Star and Ann Arbor Free Press talk to Tim O’Reagan about stepping out from behind The Jayhawks’ kit for his first solo album. He’s in town for a free show at the Horseshoe on Tuesday, August 16 15.

Joseph Arthur is at the Mod Club on September 30. Billboard has the complete rundown on Arthur’s Fall schedule.

The New Music reminisces in list-form about Lollapalooza and points to this Spin piece about the closing day grudge match between Broken Social Scene and Red Hot Chili Peppers.

And one final Lolla note – MY PHOTOS ARE UP. Dear God, you have no idea how long these took me to process, but damn they look good if I do say so myself.

Dear eye – thanks for the shout-out, but re: “if you’re not so much into the twee”… what does that mean? Do I have to have a metal week for you? Cause I’ll do it. All Stryper, all the time.

Check out the trailer for Martin Scorcese’s The Departed, aka the Americanized Infernal Affairs, aka his latest love affair with Leonardo DiCaprio.

np – The Long Winters / Putting The Days To Bed

Her phantom show that was scheduled and then wasn’t for July 3 may have disappointed Toronto, but Cat Power is making it up in spades with not one, but two shows at Lee’s Palace on September 4 to liven up your Labour Day long weekend and give you a reason not to go cottaging. Lee’s is less than half the size of the Danforth Music Hall where she was slated to play in July, so this will be a super-intimate affair – just Chan and you/me/us, no Memphis Rhythm Band. That last point is a bit of a shame but certainly doesn’t make this any less worthwhile.

So while there’s two shows, there’s only one date. It’s a double-header with one show slated for a 7:00 start, the other for 10:30, so the question is – which one to go to? The kid in me likes the idea of the late night, warmed-up and in-the-groove Chan, but the adult in me likes the early bedtime the early show would allow. Whichever you go for, get your tickets fast – they go on sale today, will cost you $22.50 and will surely gone lickety-split. Pitchfork has the full Fall Cat Power itinerary. Many of the dates are two-fers, either on successive nights or the same night like in Toronto.

September 8 will see Brooklyn electronica act Ratatat team up with Swedish whack-pop outfit Envelopes and Portland’s Panther – I don’t even know what to call them – at Lee’s Palace for a night of music that should be unique, if nothing else. I offered my thoughts on Envelopes’ Demon back in May and I just got a copy of Ratatat’s Classics, out August 22, and it’s strangely compelling.

Also Silversun Pickups and Viva Voce are at Lee’s October 17. BrooklynVegan has more tour dates and MP3s.

And note that Film School have dropped off the Serena Maneesh tour that would have brought them to Lee’s on September 13, and have also bid adieu to their rhythm section. But other than that they insist all is well and are working on their next album.

And while I’m talking shows, here’s something that’s NOT happening at Lee’s Palace. This Saturday night, August 12, a very solid and worthwhile benefit show goes down at the Kathedral (yes, the metal club at Queen and Bathurst). The Diableros, The Coast, In Support Of Living and These Electric Lives, among others, will play Music 4 Change, a concert in support of OXFAM. Tickets are $12.

Productshop NY has posted an acoustic radio session he did with Okkervil River’s Will Sheff, including a new song – “The President’s Dead”. Yes! Weekly reviewed a solo Sheff show in North Carolina.

Prefix profiles one/two of the best independent labels in America today, the double-headed beast that is Secretly Canadian and Jagjaguwar.

CMJ would like to introduce you to a hip new band out of New York City – they’re called Sonic Youth and I think they’ll go far. The Globe & Mail offers a Sonic Youth guide to aging gracefully and The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel talks to Kim Gordon. Having gone through my Sonic Youth photos yesterday, I can say that they may well have aged gracefully, but it’s still better not to look at them in bright daylight through a telephoto lens. Yikes.

Paste talks to Dallas and Travis Good of The Sadies about In Concert Volume One.

The AV Club, Glide and Billboard recount their respective Lollapalooza experiences.

np – The Mountain Goats / Get Lonely!

“Do you remember the JAMC?”

If not, then Rhino’s series of The Jesus & Mary Chain DualDisc reissues, released last month, should help your recall – unless you’re really young in which case never mind. Prefix, Pitchfork, Paste and PopMatters have all taken the opportunity to revisit the Reid Brothers’ oeuvre (or most of it since the reissues don’t include swan song Munki) and since I’ve never been one for independent thinking, I’ve chosen to do the same. And yes, this post is brought to you by the letter “P”.

First off, a couple declarations of heresy: first, I don’t really like the Jesus & Mary Chain all that much and second, Psychocandy is my least favourite of ther five albums relevant to this discussion (and no, Munki wouldn’t have been it even if it qualified). While I appreciate the ultra-crap production is sort of the point with the early records, that doesn’t make them any less grating to listen to. And no, I don’t think that the remasters would help because even if I don’t like history it doesn’t mean that I support revisionism. It’s really only Psychocandy that hurts my ears – I remember the first time I heard it. I was in a friend’s car and we put it on the CD player – and the sound from the speakers was almost indistinguishable from the noise of the engine.

No, I have to say my favourite JAMC album is Honey’s Dead, which incidentally is the one which consistently gets the lower reviews of the reissued works. Can’t really say why, maybe it’s just the brashness and attitude of it or the fact that it’s the first of their albums I got that I could actually hear the vocals. Objectively, then obviously Darklands and Automatic are better, but sentiment is a funny thing. The acoustic-y Stoned And Dethroned has some glorious moments but is far too long to be for the ages.

But these are all relative statements – as I said in the beginning, I rarely listen to my JAMC stuff. Their shadow might loom large over the last 20 years of British music (they were undeniably the proto-shoegaze band and the Reids could teach the Gallaghers a thing about brothers not getting along) but overall, I found them too rough around the edges and one-dimensional to really engage. But I am curious to those who’ve heard the reissues – how do the remasters sound? Did they mess with the sound? Or is the sound still a mess?

The reissues have stimulated a little blog activity as well – RBally posted a live JAMC set circa 1987 a few weeks ago and The Sound Of Indie dug up a video of an interview they did with The New Music waaaaay back in 1985. There’s also some videos YouTube-d in the PopMatters link above. Jim Reid continues to make music in Freeheat. What I’ve heard isn’t especially inspiring. Here’s a Psychocandy track and a Psychocandy cover by The Shins (whose new album has been pushed back to next year).

MP3: The Jesus & Mary Chain – “Some Candy Talking”
MP3: The Shins – “Taste Of Cindy”
MySpace: The Jesus & Mary Chain

Rhino also pays tribute to the late Arthur Lee. If you’re not familiar with Love, then take advantage of this sad event to learn a bit about Lee and his music – The AV Club has a lovely requiem and Chart has 12 reasons why Lee was cool. USA Today and The Los Angeles Times also have rememberences. If anyone asked me whether I was a Sgt Pepper’s or Pet Sounds guy, I’d probably say (or wish I said), Forever Changes. Lee and the reincarnated Love were supposed to come to Toronto way back in 2002, but had to cancel on account of border difficulties – namely Lee’s criminal record for firearms possession. I had always hoped that that would get sorted out somehow and I’d get the chance to see him play. Alas. Anyways, in tribute, here are some past Love covers that I’ve posted. If you’ve never heard them then do yourself a favour and find a copy of Forever Changes. I’m serious.

MP3: Billy Bragg – “Seven And Seven Is”
MP3: The Boo Radleys – “Alone Again Or”

Beth from Rock Paper Pixels interviewed Jay Ferguson of Sloan for BlogTO and got some insight into their new album Who Taught You To Live Like That? Never Hear the End of It, out September 19.

A fair number of concert announcements rolled out while I was away – let’s get caught up. The Strokes have been added to day two of the Virgin Festival – that’s September 10 – and Emily Haines will perform selections from her new solo album Knives Don’t Have Your Back at The Gladstone Hotel on September 12. The album is out September 26, full dates at Filter. Brooklyn’s Grizzly Bear will be promoting their new album Yellow House, out September 5, with a show at the El Mocambo on September 23 (Full dates here).

Looking to October, Jenny Lewis will return with more Rabbit Fur Coat for a show at Trinity-St Paul’s on October 7 (full dates at Pitchfork) and Juana Molina, who played there in June, returns with Adem on October 12 to play the slightly less formal Supermarket. Mojave 3’s October 16 show will be at the Mod Club, not Lee’s as I originally speculated, Billboard previews Frank Black’s Fall tour which brings him to the Opera House on October 26 and The Hold Steady, who were just here last week (and about which they’ve blogged), have added a Toronto date to their Fall tour in support of Boys And Girls In America (out October 3) – they’ll be at the much cozier Horseshoe on October 28. Man, if they thought their Lee’s Palace show was the hottest one yet, wait’ll they see the ‘Shoe.

Newsarama is serializing Bendis and Oeming’s Powers, one of the best comic books on the market today. They’re posting one page a day from the first story, Who Killed Retro Girl? so if you need even more pop culture to distract you from important things, there you go.

np – The Hold Steady / Separation Sunday

So I am home, somewhat rested and have finally eaten a meal that is not made of granola and am thus in some sort of condition to wrap up that which was Lollapalooza 2006.

In short, it was an amazing and exhausting experience. The concentration of talent at Grant Park this past weekend was almost obscene, with dozens of bands that could easily sell out medium to large venues on a single bill. For me, the draws were split pretty evenly between favourites I’d seen numerous times before (Wilco, Broken Social Scene, My Morning Jacket) and others I was a fan of but had never seen for whatever reason (Sonic Youth, Built To Spill, The Flaming Lips). And if I could squeeze in some new up-and-comers (Husky Rescue, What Made Milwaukee Famous, Hot Chip), then so much the better.

But festivals do strange things to your attention span. No matter how much you love the band that’s currently playing, there’s that little voice in back of your mind saying, “but you’re going to miss (whatever band is slated to start in ten mintues on the other side of the park)” and for fear of missing out on something magical, that little voice usually wins. Of course, the photo pit policy of three songs and you’re out certainly helped get you thinking about what your next destination was – most times I would just mosey away from the stage while taking in another two or three songs but only a few times did I find somewhere in the audience to plant myself and just enjoy the music. But don’t think I didn’t enjoy what I did see – yeah, I may have missed some of one set but I made up for it with some of another.

And let me also say that the photo pass has completely spoiled me for festivals. Being able to bypass the crowds almost entirely (though the photo pit can get just as crowded as the audience) was a real perk – always front row centre… until they throw you out. Then there’s the free water and (really nasty) energy bars, moderate backstage access, golf cart expresses from one end of the park to the other… yes. Spoiled.

But overall, Lollapalooza has turned me around on the festival thing. No doubt the fact that from my POV it was superbly organized and executed and the weather almost ideal has something to do with it, but for all the negative points I had in my head beforehand – the exhaustion, lousy expensive food, inch-thick layer of sweat and grime on one’s body – I had forgotten the biggest positive, which is the music. I will always love the dank, intimate club shows but there’s something about the right artist on a big stage in front of a huge crowd under the late afternoon sun. It can be something to behold.

I still don’t see festivals like Lolla becoming a staple of my live music diet. The logistics and costs of the American ones (Coachella, Bonnaroo, Sasquatch, ACL, Lollapalooza, Bumbershoot et al) are too prohibitive for me to consider doing more than one or so a year, but the local ones like Hillside, Olympic Island and the upcoming Virgin Festival? Maybe so, maybe so, even though by day three I am more than reminded of my age.

I’d like to say hi and thanks to all the other bloggers whom I hung out with at the festival – Stereogum, Village Indian, Muzzle Of Bees, Scenestars, My Old Kentucky Blog and Can You See The Sunset From The Southside – some were old acquaintances, some new, but all good company and all of whom have their own Lollapalooza coverage up on their sites. And I would be remiss if I didn’t thank those who made the trip possible for me – namely AT&T’s Project D.U. for getting me the press and photo pit access, festival organizers Capital Sports & Entertainment for helping out with lodging, information and probably loads more that I took for granted and AT&T’s Blue Room for providing internet facilities from which I didn’t live blog the fest.

Naturally, reviews of Lollapalooza abound but there’s some more extensive pieces at The New York Times, The Chicago Tribune, The Chicago Sun-Times and CNN. USA Today‘s Pop Candy has some wrap-up lists, LiveDaily has a review and Pitchfork was there (but if that was “fewer ironic t-shirts”, then I shudder to think what a younger audience would have been wearing) and true to form, are the only ones who would declare the Flaming Lips set “a disaster”. In a way I can see where they’re coming from, but come on – lighten up. And local scribe Stuart Berman recaps the festival at Are You Familiar. The Toronto Star was also there.

Work on the photo galleries continues apace – I got a LOT of good shots, another reason to love the photo pass/pit – but in the meatine the Flickr set has been updated again with some crowd shots and general shots from around Lollapalooza. And I’ll be back to regularly scheduled programming tomorrow. Thanks.

Oh my God, is it over yet?

Shockingly, I made it to Grant Park early on the final day of the festival so I was well in place to see What Made Milwaukee Famous kick things off. Hailing from Austin, I got a copy of their debut CD Trying To Never Catch Up last week and while I haven’t listened heavily, it was interesting enough that they’re on my radar. Purveyors of fairly synthy indie pop, I liked what I heard and will have to make a point of giving the record some more attention. I had to bail after just a couple songs, though, as there was something special going down over at the Kidzapalooza stage.

MP3: What Made Milwaukee Famous – “Idecide”
MySpace: What Made Milwaukee Famous

Patti Smith had been a late addition to the festival and was slated to play the Kidz stage, coming straight from the airport. Not surprisingly she was delayed so to fill in time, festival organizer Perry Farrell and Porno For Pyros cohort Peter DiStefano jammed out a number of tunes including some PfP songs – those certainly took me back to high school. Farrell is an odd duck, that’s for sure, especially around small children.

MySpace: Porno For Pyros

And when Patti Smith finally did arrive, she played a few songs but unfortunately, my schedule called me elsewhere after just two numbers. But still, it was quite cool to be in the presence of someone so legendary and influential. I guess she heard what I wrote about Sonic Youth yesterday and decided to one-up them.

MySpace: Patti Smith

And then it was back to the Q101 stage for The Hold Steady. Yeah, I just saw them on Monday but I was already pretty anxious to see them again. And they did not disappoint – it’s rare the band that is equally at home in the dark, sweaty club and the festival stage but The Hold Steady somehow pull it off. So much fun.

MP3: The Hold Steady – “Your Little Hoodrat Friend”
Video: The Hold Steady – “Your Little Hoodrat Friend” (You Tube)
MySpace: The Hold Steady

People from all over have been telling me to get into Hot Chip. I’ve got at least three of their records in a pile somewhere, so I have no excuse, and after seeing their live show, I now have some motivation. There’s something about an electronic band that makes the effort to create a solid, organic live experience – when they do it right, it’s almost always terrific. Which is a roundabout way of saying Hot Chip was terrific live. Tight, dancable but surprisingly soulful. Those records will be getting dug out of their piles when I get home

Video: Hot Chip – “Over And Over”
MySpace: Hot Chip

There was quite a surprisingly large turnout for Andrew Bird but I suspect a lot of the crowd didn’t know who he was. He was just, you know, convenient. I was there because I really enjoyed seeing him open for The Magnetic Fields a couple years ago. This time he played with a drummer but even so, he was still very much a one-man orchestra. It’s fascinating to watch him work and multitask, handling violin, guitar, glockenspiel, looper and voice, both singing and whistling, is mesmerizing. The fact that he crafts beautiful songs as well is just unfair.

MP3: Andrew Bird – “A Nervous Tic Motion Of The Head To The Left”
MySpace: Andrew Bird

I managed to dodge the Death Cab on Friday but was hip deep in the indie kids yesterday for The Shins. They’re not a band you would expect to own the festival stage but they did quite well up there. They don’t do rock spectacle but in taking the friendly, chatty approach and making the kids feel like their lives are changing, they did fine. Blending old favourites with new material from the forthcoming Sleeping Lessons (which sounded just fine and Shins-y and is apparently out January-ish), they offered a nice soundtrack to sitting under a tree, gently drifting off. Which is pretty much what I did.

MP3: The Shins -“Kissing The Lipless”
Video: The Shins – “Saint Simon”
MySpace: The Shins

Ah, Wilco. I had hoped that a homecoming show for them would be extra-special, and I was not disappointed. The sea of adoring fans who gathered to see them was nothing short of astonishing – hasn’t this town ever heard of backlash? But the love was reciprocated by the band and they turned in a glorious late afternoon set. In addition to the three new songs they’d been playing on the Canadian tour, they broke out another new one which also sounded great. It was really a shame that I had to catch a golf cart shuttle down to the other end of Grant Park before their set ended – but as the day and festival were winding down, time was of the essence. And anyway, I had my own hometown show to get to.

MP3: Wilco – “Impossible Germany” (live in Milwaukee 2006-07-05)
MySpace: Wilco

I’ve always wondered what Broken Social Scene was like on the road. When they play Toronto, I’ve always thought they maybe take advantage of the adulation of the home crowd to get a little too shambolic or plain messed up. Surely the road audiences wouldn’t be so indulgent? As it turns out there’d be no need – they brought their entire roster, 16 strong by my count and all four BSS ladies, and their A-game. I’ve always thought that Broken Social relies on a certain random chemistry to work their magic live and on this night, they were awash in it. Seriously, there was something amazing happening onstage – indescribable. The band knew it and the audience knew it. I was so dismayed that I had to tear myself away to fight my way into the last photo pit of the night – watching the band on the video screen as I pushed and elbowed my way through the great unwashed I could see, even without being able to hear, that something special happening back there. In hindsight I think I would have rather had my festival end with Broken Social. I really hope that a recording of that set makes it out – I need to hear the whole thing.

Video: Broken Social Scene – “Fire Eye’d Boy” (MOV)
MySpace: Broken Social Scene

Though at first I thought the choice of the Red Hot Chili Peppers as festival closers was a little dated, on second thought it’s pretty canny. They’re veterans, so it can be argued they earned it, and yet they still sell tons of records. They’ve got top 40 cred, alternative cred, and thanks to the generation who grew up in the 90s with Blood Sugar Sex Magic, they’ve got indie/nostalgia cred. Of course, I haven’t heard hardly anything they’ve done since, oh, 1994, but that’s okay. As it turned out, I only stuck around for the first three songs of the set – the pit was super crowded and the mood from the crowd was pretty dark and aggressive. People were getting crushed against the barricade, hurled over the barricade, manhandled by security… yeah. Arena rock, I guess. Not my scene at all. The Peppers were terrific from what I saw – super tight and John Frusciante was on fire – but watching the scene from the safety of the media area, it was kind of hard to reconcile the chaos below with the almost uniformly great vibes that had permeated the fest till that point. I’m sure most in attendance will say it was great, but I was kind of happy to get out of there – and not just because I was completely wiped out.

Video: Red Hot Chili Peppers – “Dani California” (YouTube)
MySpace: Red Hot Chili Peppers

And that’s Lollapalooza 2006. What a thing. I will be back with a proper wrap-up post tomorrow, but for now, once again, check out Flickr for a photo of each performer I saw yesterday. I’ll let you know when the full photosets are up, but the grand total is somewhere around 10GB now so… be patient.

And now? I want to go home.