As worn out as I’ve been of late, it didn’t take too much effort to find the energy to see Shearwater at Lee’s Palace Tuesday night. While it was going to be great to see them on the second night of a short jaunt with The Magnolia Electric Co, I was also a little frustrated that while this would be the third time I’d seen them this year (twice at SxSW), none of them were proper full-length sets. But hey, I’ll take what I can get.

Opening was Julie Doiron, once upon a time of Eric’s Trip. I’ve always thought of Doiron’s material as being the epitome of ultra-delicate singer-songwriter-ness, ideal for folks who find Cat Power way too metal. But to my surprise, she came out this night electric and amped up with a four-piece band (including two drummers and a tickle trunk of percussive toys – double drummers is the new black). Her vocals are still frail and wavery, occasionally evidencing only a passing acquaintance with the idea of being in key, but the more forceful musical accompaniment did much to balance out the fragility of her voice and songs, coming across like early Cat Power crossed with electric Neil Young. Unexpectedly good stuff.

I mentioned back in May that Shearwater’s new album Palo Santo was on a shortlist for one of my top records of the year. Well four months and many, many new releases later, I’m still standing by that statement. Interestingly, as I listen to it more, it almost seems to get less accessible and more mysterious but also more engrossing if that makes any sense. But while it’s not a pop record and maybe requires a bit of work on the part of the listener, I make no hesitation about recommending it to anyone and everyone. But anyway, to the show. Jonathan Meiburg had been fighting off a bit of illness that had been affecting his voice, but if you didn’t know I highly doubt you’d have noticed. His vocals still soared where they needed to and the band was electrifying, intense, delicate and affecting throughout.

The 40-minute set drew from many points in Shearwater’s catalog and sounded great – it’s amazing how just four players can create such a rich, textured and wholly organic sound – but I’d also have been happy to hear a Palo Santo-heavier set. Hell, I’d like to hear the whole thing played start to finish though I doubt that’s going to happen anytime soon. Like I said before, it’s frustrating to not be able to see Shearwater perform a full set short of flying down to Austin sometime (besides SxSW). If there’s any justice, they’ll be doing headlining tours of their own before long and while the band is unequivocally Meiburg’s vehicle now, there are some Will Sheff-penned tunes in their repetoire that I’d love to hear live. Oh, and if anyone in attendance was wondering, this is the shark that Meiburg dedicated a song to.

As for the headliners, I had to bow out – I’d already seen them twice before and I was beat. Considering Mr Molina and his company come through town about twice a year now, I’m sure I’ll get my chance to see them again before long.

The Daily Texan previews Meiburg’s other band – Okkervil River – in advance of their performance at the ACL Fest this weekend. Meiburg and co will be in Boston that night instead. But the whole band was assembled for a recent show being recorded for a live DVD – eyewitness accounts at Party Ends.

Photos: Shearwater, Julie Doiron @ Lee’s Palace – September 12, 2006
MP3: Julie Doiron – “Goodnight Nobody”
MP3: Shearwater – “Seventy-Four Seventy-Five”
MP3: Shearwater – “White Waves”
MySpace: Julie Doiron
MySpace: Shearwater

The Boston Globe recounts the true-life love story of Mates Of State. Watch them make lovey-eyes at each other from across the stage at Lee’s Palace on Saturday night.

R.E.M. tell Billboard that on their next album, they’re going to rock. For real. Honest. And to prove it, they a rock show at a tribute night to themselves in Athens. Way to make the other bands (including one fronted by Patterson Hood) feel inadequate.

In case you hadn’t heard, on October 1 there will be a free (free!) show at the Kool Haus to celebrate the UNESCO International Day of Music. Sponsored by CBC Radio 3 and Bande à Part (the Quebec equivalent), it will feature two anglo artists and two francophone – The Joel Plaskett Emergency and Emily Haines & The Soft Skeleton while Quebec is represented by Les Trois Accords and Les Breastfeeders, whose name I suspect means the same thing in both languages. To reserve a ticket, go here and to read about the event go to Chart and to read an interview with Emily, go to Adam Radwanski’s site. The Toronto Star has a review of her recent solo show at the Gladstone – a hint of what you can expect at the upcoming show.

New City Chicago chats with John Darnielle of The Mountain Goats and the second part of his Amoeba Records instore/conversation with Carl Newman is now up on YouTube.

B(oot)log has a Tilly & The Wall radio session from June of this year available for download.

Pitchfork has the tracklist of Pavement’s Wowee Zowee: The Sordid Sentinels Edition, out November 7.

The Arizona Star and The Houston Chronicle talk to John Roderick of The Long Winters. They’re at Lee’s Palace on October 4.

And a couple upcoming shows – Clem Snide frontman Eef Barzalay and Casey Dienel will be at Rancho Relaxo on October 14, Sparta and Sound Team at the Opera House on OCtober 15 and Scritti Politti is at the Opera House November 6. Scritti Politti? The Opera House? Really? That’s… a big venue for a band without a website.

np – Portastatic / Be Still Please

Given the choice, I almost always prefer to see singer-songwriter types in a band setting. Properly and sympathetically arranged, I find extra instrumentation can only benefit good material and add an extra dynamic dimension to live performances. That said, I would cite M Ward as the exception to that rule. His solo show last February was so perfectly suited to the his repetoire at the time (he had just released Transistor Radio) that I couldn’t imagine a band adding anything that he was creating with his guitar, piano, harmonica, looper and voice.

But his latest record Post-War is a considerably more rollicking affair and for this tour, Ward was doing the full band thing including two drummers and a second guitarist. As befit such a powerful rhythm section, they practically galloped through the whole set, leaning heavily on the upbeat end of his repetoire. It’s hard to appreciate just how incredible a musician Ward is without watching him work – whether on acoustic, electric or Wurlitzer he was amazing and terrifying to behold. There’s a lot of focus on his timeless rasp of a voice, but even if he never opened his mouth and let his fingers do the talking, he’d be a legend in the making.

Seeing as how they powered through the main set, it was over (seemingly) very quickly but I felt almost as exhausted having watched it as the band must have been performig it. For the encore, Ward came out solo and acoustic and we got a taste of the wandering troubadour that dazzled at the El Mocambo last year. The band returned for a one-song second encore and that was it. As impressive as the show was, I have to say I preferred Ward solo – there was an intimacy to it that was missing this time out. I also prefer the older albums to the latest one, so that was surely part of it as well. But however Ward chooses to hit the road, he’s always something to see.

Openers were Brooklyn’s Oakley Hall who played a very similar set of psychedelic roadhouse country to the one that I saw in July when they opened for Calexico. The only difference was this time, I had one of their albums – Gypsum Strings – under my belt so I can say with some authority that they’re much better live than on record. The production on the studio product is much thinner and doesn’t capture the on-stage energy of the band. Still very enjoyable to watch as the six of them wreaked some havoc on their cramped stage setup and really a perfect fit for Ward’s audience.

Very small photo gallery this time – there was a strict “no camera” policy in effect and while I got official permission to shoot the first three songs, Ward waved me off after a song and a half and I’m lucky to have gotten what I did. It was fine with me – I shot 6 GB of photos over the weekend, a break suited me fine but I couldn’t help thinking he certainly didn’t mind me shooting him last time, as my photos on his MySpace gallery would attest. Merge has Ward’s recent performance on The Late Late Show Letterman YouTube-d.

Photos: M Ward @ The Mod Club – September 11, 2006
MP3: M Ward – “To Go Home”
MP3: M Ward – “Post-War”
Video: M Ward – “Chinese Translation” (YouTube)
Stream: M Ward / Post-War
MySpace: M Ward

The Macon Telegraph talks to Jason Isbell of the Drive-By Truckers, playing the Phoenix on October 18.

Will Johnson talks about Centro-Matic’s longevity to The Denver Post.

The Guardian plays name that tune with Yo La Tengo. I Am Not Afraid Of You And I Will Beat Your Ass hit stores yesterday and the band hits the Phoenix October 2. So much hitting.

JAM reports that Bob Dylan is happy. Having the #1 record in America will do that for a fellow, I guess.

My Old Kentucky Blog has a couple of new demos from Margot & The Nuclear So And So’s up for grabs. The band is hoping to have their sophomore disc out in Spring of ’07 but in the meantime are hitting the road yet again, this time with The Elected. They say they hope to have a Canadian date on this jaunt to make up for their cancellation back in March, and judging from their itinerary so far, expect to see them here between October 31 and November 2 if they do make it across the border. But in the meantime, there’s a live studio video session thing at Rolling Stone.

The Boston Globe talks to Band Of Horses, who have a new video out:

Video: Band Of Horses – “The Great Salt Lake” (MOV)

Puddlegum reports that a posthumus Elliott Smith album of rare and unreleased materials will be coming out on March 17 of next year.

It’s not Archives but Neil Young has gone vault-digging back to 1970 for a new live album – Live At The Fillmore East – out October 24.

Oh, Merge! reports that the release of Portastatic’s new album Be Still Please on October 10 with a digital-only EP called Sour Shores, available online at the usual outlets this week. Mac offers more details on the Portastatic blog. Intersesting that while Portastatic is confirmed to play Pop Montreal in October, there’s no Toronto date. They were just here a few months ago but usually when an act bothers to cross the border, they maximize their time in Canada. Oh well.

np – Shearwater / The Dissolving Room

Day two of the Virgin Festival was a much shorter one for me – a desperate need for rest and to get through some work prompted me to skip out the first half of the day and only show up for mid-afternoon. Not ideal, no, but necessary.

I got a bit of grief from people for skipping out on Australians Wolfmother at Lollapalooza in August, so I tried to make a point of catching them this time. Unfortunately, it wasn’t a fine enough point because I got there too late to see all but the end of their set. I wouldn’t have made it into the photo pit anyways – there was some haziness in my media status which kept me from getting approval from a few bands to shot from the pit and in the case of The Raconteurs to even shoot them at all, even from the audience. Long story, not worth getting into. Sufficed to say I had to fall back on some contingency plans as far as coverage went.

But as soon as I arrived on the island, I could tell the vibe was quite different from the day before. Besides the fact that the sun was out, there were a hell of a lot more people in attendance and they looked to be having a much better – or at least energetic – time. But that’s what a much more rock-heavy lineup will do for you, I guess. My personal tastes made the day one lineup of more interest to me, but the majority was definitely here for some three-finger devil salute action.

My first band of the day wasn’t what you’d call heavy, but the Sam Roberts Band is perfectly at home on the big stage and he does know how to work a crowd. With his blue-collar, no-frills rock’n’roll, plain white t-shirt attaire, and fist-pumping audience singalongs, I realized that I was in the presence of what probably qualifies as Canadian stadium rock. His stuff has never done much for me, but it beats Nickelback, I guess. And the man certainly gives good photo.

MP3: Sam Roberts Band – “The Resistance”
MP3: Sam Roberts Band – “The Gate”
MySpace: Sam Roberts Band

After Roberts’ set, Virgin honcho Richard Branson came by the media tent for a scrum and some pizza. Richest hand I’ve ever shaken. His big “stunt” for the event was riding a Harley onstage, though he was actually just a passenger and they moved about 20 meters, if even. The bar must be set pretty low if this is what gets you the title of “Renegade” billionaire. But the Virgin Unite “Heaven’s Angels” program that a portion of ticket sales went to support seems worthwhile, so I’ll give credit where it’s due.

I wasn’t allowed to shoot The Strokes from the photo pit but at least I could shoot from the crowd. The festival had been doing a good job to this point of staying on schedule but The Strokes managed to torpedo that quite handily by starting 25 minutes late. But apparently they had a good excuse as they were all sick as dogs and that fact also made the calibre of their performance that much more remarkable. Put simply, The Strokes kicked some ass. I hadn’t seen them live in some five years and it’s interesting to note that Julian Casablancas has managed to turn ennui into a stadium-level schtick, but it works for them. They leaned heavily on the old material, AKA the stuff that I knew, and that suited me fine – I heard the later records aren’t terribly special. I’ve no doubt that their sunset slot was the high point for many folks there.

Video: The Strokes – “You Only Live Once” (MOV)
Video: The Strokes – “Heart In A Cage” (MOV)
MySpace: The Strokes

As I said, with no photo permission and not being terribly interested in the band in general, I saw no point in sticking around for the Raconteurs. Instead, I hoofed it over to the second stage to see English electronica act Zero 7. They got off to a very late start and once underway, had technical difficulty after technical difficulty getting their expansive instrument setup to work (though the on-stage bar appeared to be functioning properly). Main vocalist Sia tried to cover with some improvisational cowbell jams but they eventually went with a few acoustic numbers to buy time- an interesting tactic for an electronic band. Luckily for them, there’s a large organic component to their sound and their songs were able to stand quite well on their own without the technology backing it. Jose Gonzalez also sat in for a few numbers contributing classical guitar and vocals, which was a nice treat considering I missed his solo set earlier in the day. Zero 7’s laid back electronic vibe isn’t really my scene but they can make it compelling live, even when their gear’s not working – and that’s pretty impressive. Respect.

MP3: Zero 7 – “You’re My Flame” (Dabrye Remix)
MP3: Zero 7 – “Futures” (Rub n Tug Remix)
MySpace: Zero 7

Making my way back to the mainstage, I caught the very tail end of the Raconteurs’ set and based on the size and enthusiasm of the audience, I can only assume it was a success. It’s not often/ever that you see a crowd clear out before Broken Social Scene takes the stage in Toronto, but there it was. It’s a strange thing when the appearance of the local heroes on a concert bill is a disappointment, but such was the case when they were called in to pinch-hit for the visa-denied Massive Attack. It’s nothing personal against the band, but Massive Attack would have been something really special and rare whereas BSS… well, you see them around all the time. But whatever, they were here, Massive Attack wasn’t.

To help close out the Summer in grand fashion, they rolled out the entire BSS lineup – Feist flew in from California for the show. With the lineup, set list and fight against enroaching curfew, the show was almost a carbon copy of their triumphant Lollapalooza set but not quite as, well, triumphant. Maybe not being in the underdog position had something to do with that and almost certainly the curfew staring them in the face, but it was still a typically sprawling and joyous event and those who were able to stop feeling bitter about Massive Attack or The Flaming Lips or whatever and just enjoy the moment were treated to a pretty damn good show. As usual, the high point was “Anthems For A Seventeen Year-Old Girl” featuring Emily Haines, Amy Millan and Feist together on vocals. Initially spread out across the stage, the three ladies of Broken Social came together as the song gradually built up and at it’s peak, they were practically nose to nose and ended in a group hug. Come on, that’s special. And considering that there seems to be more weight to the band’s claims of breaking up or going on hiatus or just going away for a while, this was a pretty good send-off – for the band and the festival.

Video: Broken Social Scene – “Fire Eye’d Boy” (MOV)
Video: Broken Social Scene – “7/4 (Shoreline)” (MOV)
MySpace: Broken Social Scene

Only a few more photo galleries to add to day one’s, but there’s some choice shots in there, especially of Broken Social.

Photos: Virgin Festival Canada @ Toronto Islands – September 9 and 10, 2006

Virgin Festival wrap-up thoughts after the jump.
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The slogan for the inaugural Virgin Festival in Canada was “From England With Love”, and early on it looked like love wasn’t the only thing being sent over from dear old blighty – Saturday morning kept up a steady rain that threatened to not wash out the festival, but make it a mudpit in the grand tradition of Glastonbury’s past. Luckily it eased up just before noon and even gave a peek of sun through the clouds, though that wasn’t to last – most of the day was defined by dreary overcast skies but at least it wasn’t raining. But while the weather wouldn’t dampen anyone’s day directly, it did end up having the last laugh in a sense.

Brantford’s Ohbijou got the honour of playing the first set of the day on the mainstage, and did so in lovely, understated style. An eight-piece chamber pop combo, their marvelously delicate, sweet sounds started things off with the woozy sensation of wiping the sleep from your eyes. While not really what you’d think of as festival sounds, I really enjoyed their set and will be seeking out a copy of their new record Swift Feet For Troubling Times. Wayne Coyne also hung out at the side of the stage for their whole set and gave them his seal of approval.

MP3: Ohbijou – “Misty Eyes”
MP3: Ohbijou – “Steep”
MySpace: Ohbijou

Next up on the mainstage was local shoegazey combo Mean Red Spiders, who were just recently resurrected after an extended hiatus. When I last saw them some seven years ago, they were all about volume – loud, loud, loud. On this day, however, they were all about the narcolepsy. Excessively mellow, they almost seemed to sleepwalk through their set. I understand that this might be part of their vibe and under other circumstances it might have appealed to me I left after a few songs, wholly unsatisfied.

After a brief break to explore what else the festival grounds had to offer, it was back to the mainstage to catch Phoenix, who I wrote up a bit last week. They proved to be the first band to inject some festival-y energy into things, engaging the audience and their small but dedicated (and vocal) fans with their breezy, gallic pop from their new album It’s Never Been Like That. I had hoped to be impressed by Phoenix coming into the day and that I was – not in a revelatory, ohmigod way, but I definitely enjoyed their set.

Stream: Phoenix – “Rally” (Windows Media)
Video: Phoenix – “Long Distance Call” (MOV)
MySpace: Phoenix

The Hidden Cameras continued the CanCon trend on the schedule, playing from their new album AWOO to the hometown crowd. Considering how much fun their show just across the lake two weeks ago was, I was quite surprised how subdued they were on this afternoon. There were moments of perkiness, like when tossing candy into the audience before “Lolipop”, but for the most part they chose pretty over rambunctious. They played terrifically – I’m really impressed how tight the band is – but at this point, the festival really could have used a kick in the pants from someone.

MP3: The Hidden Cameras – “Death Of A Tune”
Video: The Hidden Cameras – “Awoo” (MOV)
MySpace: The Hidden Cameras

The Dears, thankfully, were up to the task. I don’t know why I didn’t like The Dears before – I gave them a shot back in ’01-ish and didn’t really dig it. But either they’ve changed or I have because they sounded fantastic. The material I’ve heard off their new album Gang Of Losers is absolutely solid and live, they were passionate, dramatic, confrontational and beautiful (and Valerie Jodoin-Keaton is smoking hot – had to be said). Plus, they brought the sun out even if just for a little bit.

MP3: Death Or Life We Want You
Video: The Dears – “Ticket To Immortality” (MOV)
MySpace: The Dears

It should be noted that the day got started late on account of being unable to set up the stage in the morning rain, so the mainstage was running fifteen minutes to half an hour behind schedule from the get-go. I didn’t think too much of it earlier on, assuming they’d adjust the set times to compensate, but as it got later and they didn’t make up the time, I began to get curious/concerned about what would happen as the 11PM curfew came to crunch. Fears that would be well justified. But back to our story.
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Richard Buckner / Meadow (Merge) Without having actually heard him, I’d always thought Richard Buckner was “just” a folk guy – not that there’s any shame in that – but that presumption was proved very, very wrong from the first notes of his new album Meadow. “Town” is a superb chunk of roots rock powered by Buckner’s world-worn, 50 pack-a-day rasp wrapped around a superb vocal melody and ex-GBV axeman Doug Gillard’s fretwork. And as high as the opener sets the bar, the rest of the record – with a few more rockers and some folky numbers – measures up excellently. I don’t know if this is a typical Buckner record or an exceptional one, but I may have to do some back catalog digging. I had been looking forward to his September 16 show at the Horseshoe mainly for co-headliner Eric Bachmann, but now that I see that Buckner will more than hold his own, I’m even more excited. The album is out September 12. MP3: Richard Buckner – “Town”

Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin / Broom (Polyvinyl) Their website proudly declares themselves as the “third best band on Weller Street in Springfield, Missouri” and that little bit of self-effacement does a pretty good job of setting the tone for the debut from Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin. Well, that and the band name. They craft ultra-compact, mid-fi, 60s-were-90s indie pop replete with hand claps, jangly guitars and sweet melodies but with enough grit and scrappiness to not be overly saccharine or twee. If the fourth-best band on Weller Street wanted to move up in the rankings, Boris Yeltsin would be ready to throw down. Clocking in at 10 songs and not even half an hour, there’s not a wasted note – long enough to satisfy, brief enough to leave you wanting more. They’ll be in town with Birdmonster and Catfish Haven at the Horsehoe Monday night while the record, originally released last year on Catbirdseat Records, is being reissued by Polyvinyl on October 24. MP3: Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin – “Oregon Girl” MP3: Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin – “House Fire” Video: Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin – “House Fire” (YouTube) MySpace: Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin

np – Eric Bachmann / To The Races