Just a note – Sunday Cleaning will henceforth possibly/probably become an irregular feature on this site. Instead, I will be trying to add reviews and whatnot throughout the week rather than putting them aside for Sundays.

White Whale / WWI (Merge) Behind White Whale’s lean rock exterior beats a heart of pure prog rock gold. The Lawrence, Kansas quintet’s debut record (though all the members are long-time music veterans) is a taut yet expansive record with a solid nautical theme running throughout. With a voice reminiscent of labelmate Britt Daneil’s, Matt Suggs leads his band through an ambitious set that draws on prog, pop and folk influences and ideas that come straight from the 70s but dress them up all modern-like and damn, it looks good on them. Interestingly, each time I listen to this album it somehow sounds completely different to me – and better. A good sign. White Whale play Sneaky Dee’s on Tuesday night. MP3: White Whale – “The Admiral” MySpace: White Whale

The May Bees / Blame It On The Other Ones (independent) This Dutch duo likes their indie rock 1990s-style. Owing a debt to everyone they no doubt read about in their dog-eared copies of CMJ, but drawing especially heavily from the heyday of Guided By Voices and Sebadoh, their sophomore mini-album is a tasty melange of fuzzily anthemic guitar pop, bendy song structures and sonic collagery. Compact and scrappy, The May Bees are currently on a North American tour and are worth checking out when they stop in at The Rivoli in Toronto on Thursday night. MP3: The May Bees – “The Enemy Scientist” Stream: The May Bees / Blame It On The Other Ones MySpace: The May Bees

np – XTC / Nonesuch

My love affair with Tanya Donelly is coming up on 13 years old now, way back to the days of Belly and Star, though I am on the record as being a much bigger fan of King and firmly believe that if you’ve not heard it, a better $1 bargain bin purchase you’ll not make.

Since Belly dissolved in 1997, Donelly has carved out a solid if intermittent solo career. Her debut Lovesongs For Underdogs kept mostly in the whimsical power pop character of her previous band, but starting with 2002’s Beautysleep (the five year delay on account of having a baby), she began treading in more, for lack of a better term, “grown up” terrain. Songs were slower and less giddy, but richer and more sophisticated – I say it remains the best of her solo works. The follow-up, Whiskey Tango Ghosts, was a much quieter and intimate record. Still beautiful-sounding, I don’t think anything Tanya sings on could be anything less, but definitely more of an “in the mood” record.

But while that record reflected Tanya’s quieter side, her musical extrovert had hardly retired. Shortly after releasing Whiskey Tango Ghosts in August of 2004, Tanya and band convened in a hotel in Vermont and in front of a live audience, recorded an album of mostly new songs which have now seen release as This Hungry Life. Over the course of 10 songs, Tanya pulls all points and sounds of her past decade together into what could be considered a definitive document of her solo career. It contains sprightly pop numbers like the opener “New England”, revisits the Beautysleep-era “Days Of Grace” (far too good to have been relegated as a b-side on the Sleepwalk EP) and proves that mom-rock can be a wonderful thing with “Littlewing”, a fable for her daughter that perfectly utilizes Tanya’s gift for darkish fairy tale lyricism.

The great vibe that must have pervaded the two-night recording session/show is well-captured on album, the band sounding terrific and energized. The country undercurrent that’s always been present to some degree in her work is also brought to the fore with the liberal use of pedal steel and violin, complimenting the music and Tanya’s voice wonderfully. While the wait between releases can be frustrating – and with the birth of her second child earlier this year, it’s hard to believe she’ll become more prolific – new music from Tanya Donelly is always a gift to be treasured.

Die Young Stay Pretty has an interview with Tanya covering the whole of her hungry life from Throwing Muses through to present day and Bradley’s Almanac has the audio from an in-store in Boston last week to celebrate the album’s release as well as a slew of other Tanya-related linkage. Also check out Hello Gina for some Tanya love and some nice demos of indeterminate era. For my part, I’ve dug up a three-song set Tanya recorded for the BBC in February of 2002, circa Beautysleep as well as an old Burritos-era Gram Parsons track that Belly recorded as a b-side well over a decade ago. And a couple videos for good measure.

MP3: Tanya Donelly – “Keeping You” (Live @ The BBC, February 26, 2002)
MP3: Tanya Donelly – “The Storm” (Live @ The BBC, February 26, 2002)
MP3: Tanya Donelly – “After Your Party” (Live @ The BBC, February 26, 2002)
MP3: Belly – “Hot Burrito No 1”
Video: Tanya Donelly – “Keeping You” (YouTube)
Video: Belly – “Now They’ll Sleep” (YouTube)
MySpace: Tanya Donelly

Death Cab tells The Toronto Sun they’ve got something special up their sleeves for their Hallowe’en show at Massey Hall on Tuesday. If you have tickets for Monday’s show, well you’re just SOL. Ben Gibbard also talks to Hour.ca and Ted Leo, who opens both shows, gives Paste a sneak preview of his new album, due out next March. Ish.

November 8 you’ve got a pretty solid bill of Can-rcok at the El Mocambo with Julie Doiron, Shotgun & Jaybird (who count Julie amongst their members) and Woolly Leaves. Tickets $12.

Brainwashed has assembled a nice bideo feature on Mojave 3 combining an interview with Neil Halstead with videos from throughout the band’s career and live footage of the North American tour which ends tonight in Nashville.

Yes, I realize I made a Decemberists post not a fortnight ago, but trust me – this will be worth it. Unless you don’t like The Decemberists, in which case just move on. There’s nothing to see here.

With The Crane Wife one of the biggest releases of the year (in my Bizarro universe, anyway), everyone’s lining up to talk to Colin Meloy and company about the new record. Harp has an expansive feature on the band, covering their origins through to their signing with a major label last Winter and some of the reasonings behind it. They also have a sidebar on some of the inspirations behind the songs. It’s interesting to learn where the ideas come from but one of the things I like most about The Crane Wife is how Meloys lyrics, particularly on the title track(s), work really well on as more personal and subjective metaphors as well as on literal, narrative levels that he’s always excelled at.

Also on the interview front, Meloy talks to The Falls Church New Press and The Dallas News. And before their Dallas show earlier this week, he also gave an interview to Big D Little D. Guitarist Chris Funk Q&Aed with The Daily Collegian and Harmonium (with some of the same Qs and As), The Lance Free-Star talks to keyboardist Jenny Conlee and HeroHill.com chats with bassist Nate Query.

The band’s Fall tour is well underway and Filter is keeping a tour blog, enlisting a blogger in every city on the itinerary to submit their review and photos of the show. Yours truly will be covering the Toronto show on November 6 at the Kool Haus, which leads into the contests portion of this post – I’ve got three pairs of passes to the aforementioned show to give away, courtesy of Against The Grain. But wait! There’s more!

Filter has also donated some sweet prizes to the cause – in addition to the passes, which are really only good for Hogtowners, I’ve got a beautiful autographed lithograph to give away (hopefully that image isn’t actual size – you can also grab the artwork from the lithograph as a wallpaper for your computer here) AND a a copy of The Crane Wife on vinyl – a rather dashing double-LP in gatefold cover. How sweet is that? Pretty damned sweet.

So this is how it’s going to go down. This will actually be two separate contests – if you want to win the passes, email me at contests@chromewaves.net with “I want the Decemberists tickets” in the subject line and your full name in the email body. Usual drill. If you want the lithograph and LP, well then that’s going to take a little more effort. To enter, I will you to leave in the comments a haiku somehow related to the band or the album. I won’t require you to use the word “Decemberist” because that’s almost a quarter of your syllables right there. For this one, you WILL be judged on the quality of your entry so make an effort. And I know I used the haiku thing before, but this time it’s especially appropriate given the theme of the record. Next time I’ll request a dirty limerick.

And to keep it fair, I will select the lithograph/LP winner first and then those for the concert. Whoever wins the former will be ineligible for the latter. The odds of that happening are pretty slim, but I’m stating it up front just in case.

So to sum up – want to win passes to the November 6 Kool Haus show? email me. Want to win a sweet lithograph and LP? Leave a haiku in the comments. Both contests close at midnight, November 1.

MySpace: The Decemberists

Pitchfork has words with Asobi Seksu.

Nashville Scene interviews Patterson Hood of Drive-By Truckers.

Junkmedia interviews Under Byen and actually asks a number of the questions that I’d intended to when I was trying to get an interview organized earlier this month (which obviously didn’t happen).

Firefox v2.0 spellchecks my blog posts. That’s just creepy.

np – Nellie McKay / Pretty Little Head

Strange vibe at the Horseshoe on Tuesday night. The regular Nu-Music Nite was usurped by a NxNE promotion that saw the club slathered with Grolsch beer advertising, muzak Stevie Wonder on the speakers and a decidedly rock-ready crowd eager to take in a free show from Montreal’s Bionic and Philladelphia/LA’s Burning Brides – rather odd company for Vancouver popsters The Awkward Stage.

As I mentioned a few days ago, their debut Heaven Is For Easy Girls is chock-full of rich, orch-pop songcraft and wry lyricism about feeling like an adolescent even when you’re an adult. Great stuff on record and to my pleasant surprise, even better on stage. Fronting a five-piece band, Shane Nelken and his compatriots (some of whom I recognized from the AC Newman band) did a fine job of translating the album into live performance with the requisite extra punch and grit that you’d want. Nelken was a fine frontman, offering brief but illuminating explanations of the songs – in case you were wondering, “I Drive” is about falling asleep at the wheel, “Heaven Is For Easy Girls” goes out to a porn star named “Janine” and “T-Rexia Nervosa” was inspired by director Todd Haynes’ Superstar, a short film about Karen Carpenter’s anorexia performed by Barbie dolls.

‘Twas a brief but satisfying set that definitely enhanced my appreciation for the record. I didn’t stick around for the other acts but was pleased to see that those who were obviously in attendance for those bands seemed to appreciate The Awkward Stage. Not many dates left on their cross-Canada tour but to those of you converging on NYC next week for CMJ, take note of their show at Union Hall on the 2nd as part of the Mint showcase.

Photos: The Awkward Stage @ The Horseshoe, October 24, 2006
MP3: The Awkward Stage – “The Morons Are Winning”

Dose talks to The New Pornographers’ Carl Newman about where they are in the new album process.

Fellow Vancouverites Ladyhawk have got a new video for “My Old Jacknife”, or at least it looks/sounds like a proper video. I’m not sure to be honest. And they’ve apparently got a new release in the pipe – unclear when the 6-song Mushroom Sessions mini-album will be released but Jagjaguwar promises it will be. Soon.

MP3: Ladyhawk – “War”
Video: Ladyhawk – “My Old Jacknife” (YouTube)

Canada.com talks to Sloan drummer Andrew Scott. The band are at the Kool Haus November 30 and their new record, Never Hear The End Of It, is out now in Canada and will be released in the US on January 9 via Yep Roc.

Death Cab are in town next Monday and Tuesday for a two-night stand at Massey Hall – a far cry from the sparsely-attended Horseshoe gig five years ago The Ottawa Sun mentions in their interview with the band.

Harp has an insightful interview with Evan Dando

HARP: In July you told a London audience that your solo career was now over.
Dando: No, I didn’t.
HARP: Yes you did.

And so forth. The Phoenix and The Malaysia Star also have interviews. The Lemonheads are at Lee’s Palace December 12.

Drowned In Sound pow-wows with Jason Hamel of Mates Of State.

NOW has released their annual “Best of Toronto” issue and it includes a great little Scott Pilgrim comic from Bryan Lee-O’Malley – check it out in PDF form here.

Some news/linkage AND a contest. First, Harp has a profile of Emily Haines as well as a reading list while The San Francisco Chronicle also has an interview. And you may note that in her just-announced North American tour there is a Toronto date January 6 at the Danforth Music Hall.

And now the contest – courtesy of Filter, I’ve got two autographed copies of Haines’ new solo record Knives Don’t Have Your Back to give away to some lucky fanboy/girl.

Winning is easy – just shoot an email to contests@chromewaves.net with “I want the Emily Haines CD” in the subject line and a short (very short) explanation of why you prefer metric over imperial or vice versa. I am a base-10 kinda guy myself (except in peoples’ heights and weights), but won’t let my bias influence the selection of winners. Contest closes at midnight, October 31.

MP3: Emily Haines & The Soft Skeleton – “Dr Blind”
Video: Emily Haines & The Soft Skeleton – “Dr Blind” (MOV)
MySpace: Emily Haines