It was mainly curiosity that brought me to the Mod Club last night to see Joanna Newsom’s sold-out debut Toronto (and Canadian?) performance – I’ve heard very little of her material before and wanted to see for myself what the commotion was all about. Sure, I could have just picked up a CD and listened to that, but where’s the fun in that?

Toronto’s Ohbijou scored the choice opening slot on this night and they were an excellent choice. They impressed the hell out of me at V Fest and not surprisingly, sounded even better in the intimate club setting than on the massive festival stage. In these environs, you could truly appreciate the intricacies of their songs, in particular how intricate and perfect their arrangements were – horns, strings and glockenspiels were all placed and played perfectly around the more standard guitar, bass and drums. The songwriting was evocative of hiding under dark and cozy blankets in the middle of the woods at night and while they got a little bit same-y over the course of the set, doing variations on one thing really well is hardly a fault, especially at their young age. Considering how good as they are now, It blows my mind more than a little thinking of how good they can and will be. Their CD is Swift Feet For Troubling Times. I still need a copy and so do you.

The general concensus seems to be that you either love Joanna Newsom to death or you can’t stand her and the reason most often given for the latter opinion is her voice. Now while at very first listen, it’s obviously a little unusual but certainly not as big a deal as some naysayers would have you believe – after the initial reaction passes, it’s really not a thing at all. And it’s perfectly suited to what she does, which is sing epic-length songs cascading with wonderfully evocative imagery, both mystical and mundane, and accompanying herself on harp. She’s so utterly unique that a more coventional voice would almost be a wasted opportunity. Her set was short – barely an hour including encore – but immensely satisfying. And considering I was a newcomer to her music, I can only imagine how enraptured her devoted audience (which is to say most everyone else there) was. She played songs from both her first album The Milk-Eyed Mender and the new one, Ys, which isn’t out til November 11 and was utterly charming and adorable in-between. Yeah, if you couldn’t tell, I was won over and even though I just saw her, am a little envious of those who’ll be seeing her in Montreal tonight. I am also understanding why so many people are shortlisting Ys for an album of the year and why she’s so beloved. I hate to be just another voice in the chorus, but… Joanna Newsom. Amazing.

eye ran an interview with Newsom last week in advance of last night’s show.

Photos: Joanna Newsom, Ohbijou @ The Mod Club, October 4, 2006
MP3: Ohbijou – “Misty Eyes”
MP3: Ohbijou – “Steep”
Video: Joanna Newsom – “Sprout & The Bean” (MOV)
MySpace: Ohbijou

eye and The Ottawa Sun introduce their readership to Under Byen. They will be opening for Newsom in Montreal tonight as well as Giant Sand on Saturday night. They’re also in Toronto with Giant Sand on Monday at the Horseshoe.

PopMatters and New York Press interview John Roderick of The Long Winters. Not that this information does you any good now, but they played Lee’s Palace last night. More useful is the fact that my Barsuk contest, wherein you can win a copy of the new Long Winters CD, is still ongoing. So go.

Billboard gets a preview of the new Rilo Kiley album, due out in the first half of ’07, from Jenny Lewis. Expect a taste of the new material when she plays Trinity-St Paul’s on Saturday night… but probably not the rocking ones. NOW talks to Lewis about life in the solo lane.

Pitchfork, The Malaysia Star and The Seattle Times interview TV On The Radio.

CMJ also think Mew is weird.

Texan troubadour Micah Hinson is booked for a show at Lee’s on November 7 with Oakley Hall as support (their third show in Toronto in four months).

I *SO* want one of these.

Okay, off to Montreal.

np – Yo La Tengo / I Am Not Afraid Of You And I Will Beat Your Ass

Next up in the Fall contest queue – courtesy of Against The Grain, I have three pairs of passes to see The New Pornographers, Immaculate Machine, Novillero and The Bicycles at the Kool Haus on October 11 as part of the Exclaim!/Mint Roadshow.

Entry is a little more complicated this time – to enter, you need to leave a comment on this post casting the members of The New Pornographers as The Super-Friends with an explanation of why you made your choice. AND you can’t make Carl Newman Superman or Neko Case Wonder Woman. Too easy. Bonus points will be awarded for Photoshop evidence (post a link in the comment or email me the image and I’ll post it) as well as casting the members of Broken Social Scene as the Legion Of Doom.

Don’t ask me why I’m doing this. I make my own fun. Contest closes at midnight, October 7. Be sure to leave your correct email address as that’s how I’ll be contacting the winners. Don’t let me down! CONTEST NOW CLOSED.

MP3: The New Pornographers – “Twin Cinema”
MP3: Immaculate Machine – “Broken Ship”
MP3: Novillero – “Hypothesist”
MP3: The Bicycles – “Paris Be Mine”

Warning – there will be NO ass-beating plays on words in this review. None.

Declaration one – I love Yo La Tengo. Declaration two – I’ve never really enjoyed a live show of theirs. I’ve seen them twice, and both times they were meandering, self-indulgently jammy and generally not very entertaining. There were moments of greatness both times but on the whole – and it’s a large whole, they play LONG – more disappointing than transcendent. But considering those tours were in support of their two snooziest albums (And Then Nothing Turned Itself Inside Out and Summer Sun), a rock spectacle probably couldn’t be expected. But with their latest record I Am Not Afraid Of You And I Will Beat Your Ass being a terrifically eclectic slab of all that makes Yo La Tengo great, I was actually excited about their show at the Phoenix Monday night. Third time lucky and all that.

I knew nothing about openers why? (proper case and punctuation essential) before actually seeing them take the stage and while for whatever reason I expected the worst – possibly because some reviews of earlier shows from thoroughly non-credible sources weren’t very kind – I was quite pleasantly surprised. The trio created folk-pop that sounded like it was being viewed through a broken kaleidoscope. Their songs were, at the core, quite accessible and pretty but they sounded like they were built with one leg shorter than the other, such that they staggered and lurched most entertainingly, but also completely intentionally. They also drew a pretty sizable number of fans who were probably there just to see them, judging from their enthusiasm. Pretty impressive all around.

I’ve decided that the best way to gauge a Yo La Tengo performance is by how they pull off “Blue Line Swinger”. First time I saw them, they weren’t bad but I recall they dragged out that song for what seemed like hours, most of that spent on the drums/organ intro. It went from hypnotic to tedious to almost excruciating. Second time… well, I don’t really remember if they played that one (thus harpooning my theory) but they did drag out “Nuclear War” for, again, what seemed like hours. I appreciate the fun in saying “it’s a motherf*cker” endlessly, but not so much for the audience. But Monday night? “Blue Line Swinger” was perfection – for that song, and really all the jammy/noisy numbers, everything was stretched out to just the right length, never getting overly self-indulgent or out of control, and balanced perfectly with the compact and upbeat poppy numbers and gently beautiful acoustic/keyboard ballads.

Though the set list didn’t draw exclusively from Beat Your Ass, it did reflect the eclecticism of the latest record (which in turns is an excellent microcosm of the band’s career) as well as its overall greatness. It was quite amazing to watch them shift so seamlessly between roles, instruments and styles and all so effortlessly and naturally – a more versitile and talented band you’re not likely to find anywhere. But best of all, I think, was the fact that the band seemed to be in a jovial mood and quite happy to be there – not something I’d have said about the previous shows. Ira, in particular, was chatty and engaging with the audience and didn’t at all seem like he wanted to beat… ahem.

But I am very pleased to be able to say that after many years of trying, I’ve finally seen a great Yo La Tengo show. Which means I’m one step closer to being able to die. Which probably isn’t something I should be aspiring to. But there you go. Photos from the show aren’t great – the lighting was a bear – but there is a new MP3 available courtesy of Ampcamp. It’s a James-sung tune and one of the highlights of the new album, if not the band’s entire discography. It’s that good. And no, they didn’t play it on Monday. Alas.

Photos: Yo La Tengo, why? @ The Phoenix – October 2, 2006
MP3: Yo La Tengo – “Black Flowers”
MP3: Yo La Tengo – “Pass The Hatchet, I Think I’m Goodkind”
MP3: Yo La Tengo – “Beanbag Chair”
MySpace: Yo La Tengo

Doug Martsch of Built To Spill self-deprecates to Northwest Indiana Times. I’ve been told that there’s talk of a Canadian BTS tour in 2007…?

Bradley’s Alamanac has Eric Bachmann’s recent show in Cambridge, MA available to download.

The Bluetones have canceled their Friday night show at Lee’s Palace with no formal explanation yet. The Tripwire has the cryptic, official statement from the band.

Wow. $177.50 USD. That’s amazing, thank you. Taking a cue (again) from rbally, here’s the receipt of the donation to the Pat Spurgeon Kidney Benefit courtesy of Rogue Wave. Thanks to everyone who bid, got the word out and to Chris in Calgary for the winning bid.

Server was down this morning. Sorries.

np – Wrens / The Meadowlands

This is downright curious – go to the website for Wind-Up Records. As quickly as possible, turn off the Evanessence audio. Click on the “Coming Soon” link at the bottom right of the “New Releases” thing on the middle of the left side. See where it says that The Wrens’ Silver and Secaucus albums will be reissued digitally on September 26? WTF? Recall that these were the records that Absolutely Kosher offered $100,000 for the rights for a while back (and were rebuffed). And to make things even stranger, MusicTap is saying that Silver will get a (presumably physical) release on November 14. Again – WTF? Anyone know the score?

But whatever the deal is, I think everyone can agree that we’d all like new Wrens material more than a constant rehashing of the back catalog, though I admit the vinyl edition of Meadowlands looks like a pretty sweet package. But as the band says (and Pitchfork reports), “Dear Meadowlands, please end”. Amen. And GoodHodgkins revisited the Wrens’ out-of-print material a couple weeks ago. More MP3s from all their albums available here.

MP3: Wrens – “Everyone Choose Sides” (from Meadowlands)
MP3: Wrens – “Built In Girls” (from Secaucus)
MP3: Wrens – “Behold Me” (from Silver)
MySpace: Wrens

Is it me, or does no one ever talk about I Love You But I’ve Chosen Darkness? They were tagged as one of the can’t-miss buzz bands as early as SxSW 05, but from then it took them a year to release their debut album Fear Is On Our Side and even then, it didn’t seem to get any more than the most cursory mention in the media and/or blogopolis (including by me). And this puzzles me, because even though it hasn’t set my world ablaze, I still think it’s a very solid record and far better than a lot of the stuff that does get lavishly praised (though to be fair, it scored respectably on Metacritic). But they’re apparently successful enough that a hip publication like Rolling Stone saw fit to invite them in to play a video session for them. So that’s something. There’s also a new animated video for an instrumental track off the album. It’s pretty slick.

Video: I Love You But I’ve Chosen Darkness – “The Owl” (MOV)

The New York Times introduces you to the Hold Steady States of America while More Cowbell has a rough guide to The Hold Steady’s Minneapolis. Aversion makes do with a simple interview. Boys And Girls In America is in stores today, Pitchfork loves it and they’re at the ‘Shoe on October 28. What else do you need to know?

Sheknows.com asks 10 questions of Rob Dickinson. I have an 11th – where’s that acoustic live album you promised to make available after your Summer tour?

Neil Halstead explains to The Georgia Straight how Mojave 3’s latest Puzzles Like You ended up being such a (relative) rock-fest. Mojave 3 will be at the Mod Club on September 16, though the only familiar faces will be those of Halstead and drummer Ian McCutcheon. Rachel Goswell is unable to tour because of health issues and guitarist Simon Rowe is no longer an active member of the band. But even so, I remain hopeful and confident that they will be as good a live show as they have been in the past. Though more hopeful than confident.

Filterblog – yeah, they’ve got one now as well – talks to Karen O of The Yeah Yeah Yeahs. If all the print magazines are starting blogs, does that mean that bloggers should start print magazines?

Glenn Kotche tells the Journal & Courier that things with Wilco are going great. Really great. Swell, even. John Stirratt also tells The Exponent that things are good. EVERYONE IN WILCO IS HAPPY. Which means Jeff will be issuing pink slips shortly.

Seattle Weekly chats with Lambchop’s Kurt Wagner.

My Emily Haines charity auction closes tonight, and I’m still counting on you obsessives to at least push the price into triple digits. Come on people. Kidneys.

np – The Hold Steady / Boys And Girls In America

More contests! I’ve got a prize pack for The Rapture consisting of a copy of their new album Pieces Of The People We Love, a t-shirt (a Rapture t-shirt, not just any old shirt) and some other assorted tchotchke along the lines of buttons, stickers, etc, all courtesy of Universal Music. We were going to throw in a DVD box set featuring the best post-Growing Pains works of Kirk Cameron, but I decided to keep that.

But you still get the other stuff. To enter, email me at contests@chromewaves.net with “I want the Rapture swag” in the subject line. No real need to give me your personal info yet, I’ll contact you back if you win. This is a quick contest – it closes tomorrow, October 4, at midnight. I want to get it sorted out before I head to Montreal. CONTEST NOW CLOSED.

So yeah, enter if you want, see them at the Guvernment on October 27 and watch the first video from the new record below. Woot.

Video: The Rapture – “Get Myself Into It” (YouTube)