I was a bit surprised when it was announced last December that The Decemberists had jumped to the majors after signing a deal with Capitol because as I wondered at the time, exactly what larger audience could the band expect a major to be able to expose them to? This wasn’t Death Cab, singing about universalities like young love and longing – this was a group of unabashedly geeky history buffs who liked playing dress-up and singing about sailors lost at sea and World War I soldiers finding love in the trenches and their most likely audience, your typical college-dwelling indie rock geek, almost certainly already knew of them. But still, the band were offered presumably a lot of money and a contract on their own creative terms so why not?

And now, nine odd months later, we have the first fruits of their deal – The Crane Wife. Anyone getting ready to yell “sell-out” at the band is surely disappointed as this record is easily denser and less radio-friendly than its predecessor Picaresque. Though there are a handful of sparkling pop nuggets, it’s musically and thematically far closer to The Tain. It opens typically enough with the final installment of the titular song cycle based on a Japanese fable (which collectively are maybe the finest things the Decemberists have ever recorded), but track two does a hard left into a vintage Pink Floyd-ian keyboard groove that introduces a 12-minute, multi-part nautical epic. I admit to enjoying a happy moment when I imagine the looks on the A&R peoples’ faces when they first heard what they were going to be working with.

The 70s prog-rock vibe rears its head a few more places throughout the record and while I don’t think it sits quite as comfortably against the more band’s more conventional folk-pop nature as they’d like, Colin Meloy’s voice and words definitely help tie things all together. I haven’t listened to much Decemberists this year as Meloy’s strange sepia world isn’t one you visit casually but the more I listen to The Crane Wife, the more I’m reminded how unique and wonderful this band can be and this record is a terrific example of that potential and ambition realized. I’d call it their best yet and 4 out of 5 dentists agree.

The Oregonian has a poorly-formatted interview with Meloy about the themes of war that run through his work, The Los Angeles Times discusses history and Chart talks about his thus-far futile attempts to get Canadian director Guy Maddin to shoot a video for the band. Instead, the clip for the first single – “O Valencia” – will be a contest for fans to create their own video using green-screen footage shot by the band. And if you’re really keen, they grace the covers of the new issues of Under The Radar and Filter and there’s a feature article (soon to be online) in the new Harp

Of course, one of the bad things about moving to a major, at least from my POV, is no authorized MP3s to link to. But they’re out there – you just have to use a little elbo.ws grease. But there is this fun YouTube video of the band preparing for a photoshoot and even though it’s at the abyssmal Kool Haus, their November 6 Toronto show should be entertaining regardless. One hopes.

MySpace: The Decemberists

Meloy and others also offer video testimonials of their favourite albums as part of Insound’s new Save The Album website/campaign/promotion, meant to put a stop to the ruthless clubbing of baby albums every year on the Canadian ice floes as well as get the word out on Insound’s upcoming digital download service.

The Guardian talks to Joanna Newsom about the alchemial nature of her songwriting.

The Wrens decline comment on the forthcoming reissues of Silver and Secaucus on November 14, but do happily report on their other forthcoming activites on their website including a split-single between Charles Bissell and Okkervil River’s Will Sheff wherein each covers one of the others’ songs. Look for that this Winter, hopefully.

Paper Bag Records are graciously streaming the whole of Under Byen’s new album Samme Stof Som Stof, which was released last week. Check it out, it’s maybe not to everyone’s taste but it’s quite good.

Stream: Samme Stof Som Stof

The Edmonton Journal delves into the creative process of New Pornographer Carl Newman.

np – Slowdive / Souvlaki

You’re not likely to find a more critically acclaimed tour this Fall than the Brooklyn-based pairing of TV On The Radio and Grizzly Bear that rolled into the Opera House this past Thursday night. Touring in support of Return To Cookie Mountain and Yellow House, respectively, this show was long sold-out and people seemed to be as excited to see the openers as much as the headliners, if not more.

When I wrote up Yellow House last month , I mentioned that it was on my way towards absorbing and appreciating the record, but that it was taking a while. Well seeing the band live has certainly helped that process along – seeing the band recreate the lush haziness of the album live was very impressive. The four-part vocal harmonies, in particular, amazed me as I had assumed that they were layered via overdub in the studio. The most mind-blowing aspect of the show, however, was watching drummer Christopher Bear (not the band’s namesake) go to work – the power and finesse he displayed behind the kit gave the band a primal, dynamic dimension that I hadn’t detected on record, but without undermining the delicacy and dreaminess of the songs. And I wasn’t the only one impressed – half of TV On The Radio were camped out sidestage while Grizzly Bear played and were air-drumming along with Bear. Sufficed to say that seeing them in performance has given me a new perspective on Grizzly Bear and I’m eager to get back to discovering Yellow House.

Conversely, my first exposure to TV On The Radio was back in June at the Prospect Park show in Brooklyn, so I was won over by their energetic live show before I heard their studio work. And the albums – both Cookie Mountain and its predecessor Desperate Youth, Blood Thirsty Babes – as good as they are sounded a little over-slick and restrained for me to really get over the moon about. Simply put, they didn’t have the same punch that sold me that night in Brooklyn but I was hoping that they’d manage to reignite that spark with their performance and I’ve gotta say, they absolutely did. Battling muddy sound and drums that were way too quiet in the mix, TV On The Radio put on a blazing show that triumphed by sheer force of will. Tunde Adibempe was a riveting, live-wire frontman prowling the stage while Kyp Malone, falsetto, stationary and serene, offered a perfect visual and aural counterpart. They stuck largely to the faster and more anthemic portion of their repetoire for a set that was soulful, intense and electrifying, start to finish. And seriously, the albums even sound different to me now, like instead of being restrained they’re just tightly coiled and waiting to hit the stage to explode. The band was so on on this night, as I suspect they have been for the whole tour which I believe will go down as a career-defining one for the band. Good thing they were videotaping the whole thing for posterity (or a DVD). Consider my status as fan cemented.

But the media seems more interested in Grizzly Bear – eye and The San Francisco Bay Guardian have interviews while MPR and NPR have radio sessions available to stream (though MPR also did one with TVOTR). Chart and The Globe & Mail have post-game reviews.

Photos: TV On The Radio, Grizzly Bear @ The Opera House – October 12, 2006
MP3: TV On The Radio – “Wolf Like Me”
MP3: Grizzly Bear – “On A Neck, On A Spit”
MP3: Grizzly Bear – “Lullabye”
Video: TV On The Radio – “Wolf Like Me” (YouTube)
MySpace: TV On The Radio
MySpace: Grizzly Bear

Continuing on with today’s Brooklyn/NYC theme, The Deli profiles Dirty On Purpose, who will be in town November 9 at Lee’s Palace opening for The Album Leaf. They also talk to Washington Square News about the making of their jazzercisilicious video for “No Radio”.

Billboard reports that Ambulance Ltd, who is now essentially just frontman Marcus Congleton, has composed three new songs for DKNY jeans’ website which you can download if you dig deep into their site. Or just click below. To get to the interview with Congleton, you have to click through “Entertainment”, “Culture” and then “Ambulance Ltd”. Congleton also tells Billboard the new album won’t be as “guitar-heavy or dreamy”, which kind of raises the question of what the point is, then.

MP3: Ambulance Ltd – “Green Light”
MP3: Ambulance Ltd – “Dancing Through A Eulogy”
MP3: Ambulance Ltd – “It Goes Without Saying”

The Houston Chronicle talks Lemony Snicket with Stephin Merritt and learns the new Magnetic Fields album is actually almost finished. He also talks to The New York Observer about being hated and miserable.

And as a general statement – if I owe you an email from the last couple weeks, I’m sorry. I’ve been really slack on replying to stuff. But I will get to it… unless I’m ignoring you. In which case I probably won’t.

np – Joanna Newsom / The Milk-Eyed Mender

Woolly Leaves / Quiet Waters (Outside) Baby Eagle / Baby Eagle (Outside) In the past month there’ve been not one but two releases from solo Constantines, but anyone hoping for an extra dose of their sweaty rock will have to wait for the band’s next proper release – the two projects from keyboardist Will Kidman and guitarist Steve Lambke are both gentle and introspective records that see them indulging their sensitive sides. I’m only casually familiar with The Constantines’ material, but find it quite interesting that when away from their day jobs, two of them would put out such low-key records. Kidman’s Woolly Leaves is a cozy, record that sounds like it was recorded early on a Sunday morning, sun sneaking in through the curtains and trying not to wake the neighbours (and the liner notes tell you exactly the Toronto address this scenario may have taken place in). Kidman’s vocals are quiet and fragile and the acoustic guitars gently strummed, the only exception being a song recorded live on piano at the Music Gallery – that one manages to somehow be both louder yet more frail than the others, as though he’s much more comfortable huddled under the covers with the 4-track than out in the public eye. Baby Eagle is more of a proper band than solo project, with Lambke enlisting Winnipeggers Christine Fellows and Weakerthan John K Samson, amongst others, to help out. The result is a more extroverted affair than his bandmate’s album with a sprightlier, shaggier vibe. Some of it sounds like an Appalachian hoedown, other moments recall a front-porch singalong, but all of it is decidedly bright-eyed, folky and on-mark (if often off-key). Maybe not necessarily obvious additions to the collections of Cons fans, but both albums have much to recommend them regardless. MP3: Woolly Leaves – “People And The Planets” MP3: Woolly Leaves – “Walk With Light” MP3: Baby Eagle – “Some Things We Lose” MP3: Baby Eagle – “Your Wounded Jaw”

Barton Carroll / Love & War (Skybucket) Barton Carroll is not a Constantine. He resume is still impressive, however, having been a long-serving member of Crooked Fingers. His second solo record is a smoky, solemn collection of meditations on the titular subjects. Though Carroll’s voice isn’t the most versitile instrument, its weary, scholarly timbre is generally well-suited to the task at hand though he over-annuciates a bit on his cover of “The Dark End Of The Street” – soul don’t need articulation. Similarly, it doesn’t rock out all that well as he attempts to do on “Vulture”, but when it comes to storytelling folk music, Carroll is in his element and is frequently effective and affecting. Love & War is out on Tuesday. MP3: Barton Carroll – “Scorched Earth” MP3: Barton Carroll – “Cat On A Beach” MP3: Barton Carroll – “Her Bright Smile Haunts Me Still” MySpace: Barton Carroll

np – Giant Sand / Giant Songs, Vol. 2: The Best of Giant Sand

So to anyone who was curious what the answers were in my now-closed Mojave 3 contest (congrats to winners Chris, Dimitri and Paul by the by), Neil Halstead and Rachel Goswell’s first band – preceding Slowdive and Mojave 3 – was called The Pumpkin Fairies and was formed when they were the tender ages of 18 and 17, respectively. There’s an excellent writeup about the duo’s formative years here as well as a couple of MP3s from their original demo cassette tape which I’ve posted below.

Also below – the radio session Mojave 3 performed for KCRW on October 2, generously ripped, encoded and donated by Kevin at So Much Silence. Dude, next time I’m in Arizona I’m buying you a Coke. Anyway, interesting setlist for the session – only two of the eight songs are taken from Puzzles Like You, the rest come from throughout their whole discography. As I understand it, this “greatest hits” song selection has been par for the course the whole tour as well as including some of Neil’s solo material. Also note that the female backing singer is not Rachel Goswell – her medical condition has kept her back in England for this tour and on the West Coast dates, at least, the band conscripted someone to cover her parts. She’s not trekking cross-continent with them, however, so expect their show at the Mod Club on Monday to feature only Neil on vocals but perhaps they’ll call on Bob Egan, formerly of Wilco and currently of Blue Rodeo, to sit in on pedal steel with them as he has in the past. But whatever the band configuration Monday, reviews of the tour to this point have been positive enough that I’m sure it’ll be great regardless.

Passing notes – Lunapark 6 has an interview with Halstead about Puzzles Like You, the current tour, Alan McGee and emails. Also note that a second single from the new record will be the album’s title track and be released in 7″ form on November 6 in the UK. “Puzzles Like You” will be b-sided by “Bad World”.

MP3: Mojave 3 – “Kill The Lights” (Live at KCRW – October 2, 2006)
MP3: Mojave 3 – “Who Do You Love” (Live at KCRW – October 2, 2006)
MP3: Mojave 3 – “Starlite No 1” (Live at KCRW – October 2, 2006)
MP3: Mojave 3 – “Breaking The Ice” (Live at KCRW – October 2, 2006)
MP3: Mojave 3 – “Prayer For The Paranoid” (Live at KCRW – October 2, 2006)
MP3: Mojave 3 – “Puzzles Like You” (Live at KCRW – October 2, 2006)
MP3: Mojave 3 – “Sarah” (Live at KCRW – October 2, 2006)
MP3: Mojave 3 – “Some Kinda Angel” (Live at KCRW – October 2, 2006)
MP3: The Pumpkin Fairies – “Stephanie Says” (Velvet Underground cover)
MP3: The Pumpkin Fairies – “What’s The Matter With Me”
MySpace: Mojave 3

NOW talks to New York chamber-folk combo Hem in advance of their show at the Horseshoe on Monday night. They’re touring with a 10-piece orchestra (!) so if for whatever reason you’re not at Mojave 3 and are still looking for something to do Monday night, this would be an excellent choice. Glide also has an interview with the band.

Billboard reports that Maximo Park have completed their follow up to A Certain Trigger, still untitled and slated for release around March of next year.

Music For Kids Who Can’t Read Good interviews Headlights, discovers they’re very excited about the Wham! reunion.

PopMatters chats with Mac McCaughan about the many faces of Portastatic.

Bradley’s Almanac has an MP3 from the forthcoming Tanya Donelly live-but-all-new-material album This Hungry Life, out next Tuesday. Scroll down about halfway through the post.

Cat Power is the latest artist to stop in at AOL’s Interface, who are offering streaming songs and interview from the session. Chan is back in town November 22 with the Memphis Rhythm Band for a show at the Phoenix – at $35.50, not a cheap ticket by any means but everyone I’ve talked to seems reasonably confident that it’ll be a great show and the crazy will be kept to a minimum. Fingers crossed.

Went to see Little Miss Sunshine last night – very enjoyable if kinda slight. Steve Carell was great and Greg Kinnear is always reliable. But the DeVotchKa score was probably my favourite part of the whole thing. I love DeVotchKa.

Video: DeVotchKa – “Til The End Of Time”

np – DeVotchKa / How It Ends

The News-Leader welcomes Wilco back to Springfield, Missouri after about a decade and tries to get its readers caught up on what’s been up with the band in the interim, with a little help from John Stirratt. Elsewhere, The Portland Mercury worships at the altar of Wilco axeman Nels Cline and The San Antonio Express assembles a story by cribbing quotes from past stories in other publications. And down below there’s a clip from the forthcoming Jeff Tweedy solo DVD Sunken Treasure Live In The Pacific Northwest, due out October 24. It’s an as-yet unreleased song that’s been a semi-regular live staple on recent tours and was recorded at the Crystal Ballroom in Portland.

Wilco will also appear on the forthcoming The Harry Smith Project: The Anthology of American Folk Music Revisited 2-CD/2-DVD set due out October 24. It will feature live audio and video from a host of luminaries paying tribute to Smith, the man who compiled the historically crucial Anthology of American Folk Music in 1952. You can stream the Wilco track of “James Alley Blues”, originally recorded by Richard “Rabbit” Brown in 1927 below, and I have an MP3 of them performing the same track at Farm Aid circa 1998 introduced by one Steve Earle, who also appears on the Harry Smith tribute.

MP3: Wilco – “James Alley Blues” (Farm Aid 1998)
Stream: Wilco – “James Alley Blues” (Harry Smith Tribute Concert) (QT)
Video: Jeff Tweedy – “The Thanks I Get” (YouTube)

Dean Wareham & Britta Phillips are the latest performers on the concert a emporter series at La Blogotheque, which has two videos of them busking in the subways of New York City. Their new album Back Numbers will be out at the end of January and the preceding EP, Words You Used To Say is out October 17 as one of those Thinkindie releases available only in non-chain stores.

The Saskatoon Star Phoenix talks to Carl Newman of The New Pornographers about how Kathryn Calder isn’t Neko Case while The Winnipeg Sun talks to Kathryn Calder about how she’s not Neko Case. VUE, The Gateway don’t want to talk about Calder at all.

NOW discusses the Southern Thang with Patterson Hood of Drive-By Truckers, in town for a show at the Phoenix next Wednesday. Corriere Tandem and Scripps News also have interviews. I’m giving away passes right now, so make with the clicky if you don’t have tickets yet and try your luck. Also swing by BlessingAndACurse.com to celebrate Rocktober with the Truckers. They’re giving away a new MP3 every day of the month including live stuff, demos and unreleased goodies, though we’re already a third of the way through the month so hopfully someone is hoarding them and will make them available en masse at some point in the future… And if you need a double-dose of Drive By Truckin’ and are around the Hamilton area on Tuesday, they’re playing the much smaller (and much more likely to already be sold out) Casbah Underground. View talks to the Truckers from Steeltown (thanks, Sean).

Muzzle Of Bees asks five questions of Okkervil River’s Will Sheff and gets five very long and considered answers in reply.

The Salt Lake Tribune discusses Yo La Tengo’s many talents while The Aspen Times talks album titles with Ira Kaplan. The Georgia Straight talks sticking it to the man with James McNew.

Jaded Insider recounts a full-on rant about music from Joanna Newsom where she blames bad music on vampires.

Blah blah Pitchfork blah blah The O.C. blah blah soundtrack blah blah Band Of Horses covering The New Year… waitaminute, what was that last thing?

np – TV On The Radio / Return To Cookie Mountain