It’s been over two years since Toronto last had its ass kicked by The Drive-By Truckers and by god, that’s way too long. If you ever need to have your faith in the power and the glory of rock and roll restored, just hit a Truckers show and be healed.

Since their last visit in September ’04, they’ve upgraded digs from the cozy Horseshoe to the spacious Phoenix – an excellent choice if for no other reason than the club has those big-ass floor PA speakers on either side of the stage that can double quite excellently as guitar soloing platforms, if the performer is so inclined. And Mssrs Cooley, Hood and Isbell took full advantage, stepping up and into the crowd for their leads as they tore off numbers from their latest record A Blessing And A Curse. The set began front-loaded with more recent material but as the night went on and the band got looser (and more lubricated), they went reaching further into their catalog, going as far back as Pizza Deliverance, if not farther – there were a few songs in the set list that I couldn’t place. The Southern Rock Opera numbers, in particular, were simply scorching.

Whereas last time there was a fair bit of monologuing from Patterson Hood, both because of the Southern mythology inherent to The Dirty South and the then-impending US election (this photo is all you need to know about the Truckers’ politics), this time they were intent on cramming as much music into their two-and-a-half-hour set as possible. The show was a non-stop Rocktoberfest celebration with pauses only long enough to pass around the Jack Daniels. It truly boggles my mind that they give so much for so long every night – if you walk out of a Truckers show without a grin on your face and an air guitar in your hand, then by gum there’s something wrong with you. And yeah, at one point I was singing backups (with about a dozen others up front) on “Let There Be Rock” – when Patterson Hood sticks a mic in your face, you bloody well sing.

Tourmates and labelmates The Drams, risen from the ashes of Denton, Texas’ Slobberbone, set the tone for the evening with their opening set of raw, alcohol-soaked but intensely hooky roots rock. Showcasing material from their debut Jubilee Dive (as well as a cowpunk version of Chris Bell’s “I Am The Cosmos”), they rocked and sweat hard and might well have stolen the show if they were playing with anyone else… but no one steals a show from the Truckers. No one.

Just as they split songwriting duties evenly, so also do the Truckers divvy up press duties – Jason Isbell talks to The St Louis Riverfront Times, Mike Cooley to the Cleveland Free Times and Patterson Hood has a quick word with The Lousiville Eccentric Observer.

Photos: Drive-By Truckers, The Drams @ The Phoenx, October 18, 2006
MP3: Drive-By Truckers – “Feb 14”
Stream: Drive-By Truckers / A Blessing And A Curse (Flash)
eCard: The Drams
MySpace: Drive-By Truckers
MySpace: The Drams

The Toronto Star and Ottawa Sun talk to Chad VanGaalen, who performs an in-store at Rotate This tomorrow afternoon at 5PM before his proper show at the WhipperSnapper Gallery that evening.

The November 13 bill at Lee’s Palace just got a little bit louder – in addition to Annuals and Evangelicals, The Big Sleep are now also playing. If curious, you can stream the Annuals album for free right now at AOL, hear the Evangelicals’ new ode to Hallowe’en and check out the Big Sleep’s new video.

Stream: Annuals / Be He Me
MP3: Evangelicals – “Hallowe’en Song”
Video: The Big Sleep – “Murder” (YouTube)

The National’s Matt Berninger gives Chart an update on how the recording of their new album is coming along. Just the idea that the follow-up to Alligator is out there, three-quarters done, makes me squirm just a bit. You can also watch the Saturn commercials featuring The National’s music – “Saturn Question Mark” and “VUE Green Line” – just in case you don’t feel like you’re getting enough advertising in your diet.

Penn State’s Daily Collegian has Q’s, Feist has A’s. Meanwhile, Creative Loafing and The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette ask BSS’s Brendan Canning about the band’s impending deconstruction. Via LHB.

Portland’s Parenthetical Girls are in town November 9 for a show at The Boat.

Pitchfork asks Jonas Bjerre of Mew, a) what’s with that album cover and b) if Kasabian are dicks. Pitchfok – setting the gold standard for internet music journalism.

The Prestige, aka Batman vs Wolverine, opens today, much to my delight. I could have sworn this wasn’t coming out till next year, but nope – it’s here now and while reviews aren’t overwhelming, I hope it will still be worth my time and money. PopMatters talks to leads Christian Bale and Hugh Jackman while Newsarama chats up director Christopher Nolan.

np – Tanya Donelly / This Hungry Life

This next prize pack comes courtesy of Ottawa’s Kelp Records. Flecton Bigsky will be opening up for Califone at the Horseshoe on November 5 and they want you to be there. I’ve got 2 passes to the show as well as a copy of their album Never Took A Wife (recorded with Califone) and a copy of Kelp Records’ 12the Anniversary sampler CD.

To enter, email me at contests@chromewaves.net with “I want to see Califone and Flecton” in the subject line and your full name in the body. You’ll pick up the goods at the show from the band at the merch table. This contest will close at midnight on October 25, 2006.

MP3: Flecton Bigsky – “Truce Is Stranger Than Fiction”
MP3: Flecton Bigsky – “Death By Vibration”
MP3: Flecton Bigsky – “Summer Down In Flames”
MySpace: Flecton Bigsky

In anticipation of seeing The Departed, the much-acclaimed American adaptation of the Hong Kong film Infernal Affairs, I went out and rented Infernal Affairs 3 this weekend, having seen and thoroughly enjoyed parts one and two last year and wanting to wrap things up before seeing Scorsese’s version.

Whereas Infernal Affairs 2 was actually a prequel to the original, the third and final installment is a proper follow-up to the first film (though it only makes any sense if you saw the Hong Kong final scene and not the one shot for mainland China). It’s a bit tough to talk about it without spoiling the first film, but I can say this – while it’s something of a mess for trying to simultaneously expand on and ret-con the already convoluted and labyrinthine whack-a-mole plot of the first film, it actually manages to pull out a very strong and unpredictable plot out of it all and ends up being rather satisfying. Not as good as the first two, but still with more pluses than minuses. I don’t doubt that part of my difficulty in following things was the 22- and 14-month gaps between seeing the original films and this one, but I still managed to keep up on the main plot points alright.

As for The Departed, when a big studio film clocks in at 87% and 93% at Metacritic and Rotten Tomatoes respectively, odds are pretty good that it’s a good film – and it is. I was surprised how faithfully the plot followed the original films – I expected that they’d lift the premise and maybe diverge from there, but besides rejigging things to fit the new locale and characters it’s quite faithful. And maybe that’s why I wasn’t overwhelmed by the film – I knew what was going to happen, and for a suspense-thriller, that’s pretty much death.

Which segues into the differences between the two. Whereas the vibe of the Hong Kong version was a slick, modern gangster film, Scorsese’s vision is a helluva lot grittier, bloodier and all-around dirtier. Jack Nicholson’s crew are old school street hoods as happy to beat the tar out of someone with their fists as put a bullet through their head (everyone in Scorsese’s Boston is an excellent marksman). His characters are also more fully developed, which they had better be considering the film runs an epic two and a half hours. Matt Damon’s mole is a bit of an exception to this, displaying less of the crisis of conscience than Andy Lau’s Ming did and is more interested in covering his own ass than redeeming himself. Jack Nicholson is his typical scenery-chewing self as the mob boss but is certainly more threatening and debased than his HK counterpart was – probably too much so, but when was the last time Nicholson gave a nuanced performance? I think it was sometime around never. Martin Sheen, Alec Baldwin and Mark Wahlberg are all good with what their given but not surprisingly it’s Leonardo DiCaprio, Scorsese’s muse, and his undercover cop who is given the richest backstory, making the mob part of his family history which he’s trying to escape.

Scorsese’s film is different enough from Infernal Affairs that comparing them doesn’t necessarily require one to be superiour to the other. As I mentioned, whichever you see first will ruin the plot for the other, but there’s still plenty to appreciate in the execution. Which there’s also plenty of. But one point where the original definitely comes out ahead is the stylishness of their climaxes, or at least the promo photos taken from them, as you can see above. Hong Kong’s stone cold showdown versus USA’s sissy fight? No contest.

Trailer: Infernal Affairs 3
Trailer: The Departed

The AV Club gets down to brass tacks with The Hold Steady’s Craig Finn and Tad Kubler while The Pioneer Press has two interviews with the band from a hometown POV. Their first hometown, not their current one. The first video from Boys And Girls In America is now up courtesy of AOL who also offered up a different MP3 from the album a little while back. The Hold Steady are at the Horseshoe October 28.

Video: The Hold Steady – “Chips Ahoy”

Aversion Q&As Joey Burns of Calexico, who have a new live EP available in the iTunes store.

Bradley’s Almanac offers up a Portastatic omnibus post including live MP3s of their recent show in Boston. The Independent Weekly chats with Mac McCaughan.

Wilco has issued a statement about what they’re calling “the Springfield Massacre”. Don’t forget their live show on NPR tonight.

np – Annuals / Be He Me

New contest, this one comes courtesy of Vice Records. I have a pair of passes to see Norwegian electro-rock act 120 Days at the Reverb on October 29 to give away as well as a copy of their self-titled debut album and a special DJ/mixtape thingie from the band.

To enter, just send me an email at contests@chromewaves.net with “I want to see 120 Days” in the subject line and a link to something interesting in the body. Doesn’t matter what, just something. Anything. As always, use an email address you’ll check as I’ll need to get your mailing address to send the CDs and whatnot. Contest closes at midnight, October 23. And again, Toronto area folks only please. Don’t worry outlanders, I will have stuff to give away to you soon enough. Patience.

MP3: 120 Days – “Come Down Fade Out Be Gone”

I’ve often called Mojave 3 not only one of my favourite bands going right now, but also one of the best live acts around. This reputation has been built on their ability to make the quiet beauty of their recorded material loud and powerful onstage without compromising a bit of what makes their albums so special, which to me is a far more impressive feat than turning everything up to 11 and generally acting spastic. There’s a danger in having set the bar so high, however, as it’s inevitable that the band will eventually fail to clear it and while this past Monday night at the Mod Club wasn’t a dismantling of that reputation, it was a reminder that even the best of bands can fall victim to circumstances out of their control.

The band touring in support of their latest release, Puzzles Like You, was considerably different from the one that took the stage at Lee’s three years ago. Bassist/singer Rachel Goswell was absent as she continues to be unable to play and tour due to health issues, there was a new face in the lead guitar spot vacated by Simon Rowe since the last time out and there was no Bob Egan guesting on pedal steel this time. Goswell’s absence was most obvious and keenly felt – though her profile on the records seems to get lower with each release, her backing vocals and harmonies are still a huge part of the Mojave 3 magic. On this tour, Neil Halstead was handling vocals entirely on his own and while he’s a fantastic singer, things sounded just a little too empty solo.

Another complaint was that the fill-in players didn’t seem to have the right sensitivity for the band and the material – bassist Kevin Hendrick was way too loud and overpowering and I heard more than a couple bum notes on the night. The touring guitarist (whose name I’ve not discerned) also didn’t seem to be entirely in synch with the band, playing parts that were often simply not as good, interesting or appropriate as those written by the departed Mr Rowe. And while I’m checking off negatives, the sound at the usually reliable Mod Club was awful for at least the first part of the set, Neil’s voice mixed way too low and way too bassy. Combined with the overloud bass (which, admittedly, I was standing right in front of), the sound almost made me weep as I struggled to pick out vocals and lyrics out of the mud. Eventually I gave up and stuck my earplugs in which actually succeeded in filtering out a lot of the offending low frequencies and giving me a much more palatable mix to listen to. Things gradually improved as the show progressed, but it was still immensely frustrating.

As has been the norm on this tour, the set list drew from all points in the band’s discography as well as Neil’s solo record and even featured more songs from 1998’s Out Of Tune than from the current album. Putting aside the complaints noted above (which wasn’t that easy), the band still sounded quite good – especially on the quieter numbers when Neil played solo or with minimal backing. A few songs also got rejigged arrangements that worked quite well – “Yer Feet” as a jaunty, upbeat country tune and set closer “Bluebird Of Happiness” as a massive, sonic epic that may have been as close as I’ll get to seeing Slowdive live. By the end of the one-song encore (“My Life In Art”) the show had recovered from what seemed like a disasterous start to go into the books as good though mildly disappointing though that’s as much the fault of my own expectations as anything else. But all I will say beyond that is, “GET WELL SOON, RACHEL!”.

Opening on this tour was ex-Jayhawks drummer Tim O’Reagan who turned in a very similar set to the one he played at the Horseshoe in August – all thoughts and comments from that review still apply. If anything, it was a little tighter and more focused than that show and Jim Boquist was once again amazing to watch on guitar. They may have been a little more conventional Americana than the Mojave 3 audience may have been accustomed to but still went over pretty well.

In addition to the media linkage below, also check out the live KCRW session I posted this weekend if you didn’t see it – ripped courtesy of So Much Silence, they sound fantastic.

Photos: Mojave 3, Tim O’Reagan @ The Mod Club – October 16, 2006
MP3: Mojave 3 – “Puzzles Like You”
MP3: Mojave 3 – “Breaking The Ice”
Stream: Tim O’Reagan – “These Things” (ASX)
Video: Mojave 3 – “Breaking The Ice” (YouTube)
MySpace: Mojave 3
MySpace: Tim O’Reagan

The Winnipeg Sun talks about life in The Sadies with drummer Mike Belitsky. Note that in addition to In Concert, Volume One, another new Sadies record was released this year – they scored the film Tales Of The Rat Fink and the soundtrack is 26 tracks of surf-tacular instrumental madness with only one clocking in at over 2 minutes long. Perfect for the ADD Sadies fan on your Christmas list.

Jenny Lewis talks to The St Petersburg Times. NPR has a radio session with Lewis up to download and check back on Thursday evening when NPR will broadcast a Wilco show from DC live to air at around 10PM EST. And also at NPR – an interview with Billy Bragg about his just-released Volume Two box set as well as his book The Progressive Patriot. And on that note, Bragg gives The Guardian a list of ten books about Englishness.

Patterson Hood of Drive-By Truckers tells Chart he really likes playing the Horseshoe in Toronto. Pity he’s at the Phoenix tonight.

A note to any overzealous Wilco fans thinking about pulling a stage invasion at one of their shows to give Jeff a hug? Don’t do it – he is not afraid of you and he will beat your ass.

Some shows of note – Winnipeg pop explosion Paper Moon are at the Rivoli on October 3, Vancouver country shitkickers Blood Meridian are at the Horseshoe November 9 and Sean Ono Lennon plays the Opera House on December 13. Yes, he uses the “Ono” in his name, just in case you weren’t perfectly clear who his parents were. Pfft.

np – Portastatic / Be Still Please