You have to feel for Edinburgh’s Idlewild. Over the past few years, they’ve not only become the poster children for absurdly staggered release dates in the UK and North America (delays of approximately 8 and 6 months for the last two albums) and non-existant label support when they finally did get released, there was the fact that the most brand recognition they’ve gotten on these shores in the last few years was thanks to the Outkast film that shared their name.

But most frustrating must be the fact that each release, no matter how solid it is on its own merits, always seems to be held up to the measuring stick of their second record, 100 Broken Windows, and found wanting. And that’s fair – 100 Broken Windows was a spectacular record, the perfect blend of the raw, ragged energy of youth, a refined and sophisticated lyricism and melodicism far beyond their years and the artistic ambition of a band with a desire to just be another raw and ragged young act. With their two subsequent releases, The Remote Part and Warnings/Promises the balance swung towards the latter, indulging their more anthemic and bombastic tendencies with slicker production values. They were still commendable records with killer singles, but left one yearning for some of the reckless abandon of their breakthrough album.

After parting ways with Parlophone in 2005, they began work on their sixth record (if you include their 1998 debut mini-album Captain) but opted to set the folkier material aside for singer Roddy Woomble’s solo record My Secret Is My Silence and concentrate on the rock for Make Another World, out this week in North America. And it’s a move that pays off – World is Idlewild’s rawest, most energized effort in years. It doesn’t fully recapture the punkish spirit that informed their early work – there’s no reason it would, they’re not kids anymore – but the guitars are louder, the tempos higher and Woomble’s delivery more fiery than they’ve been in years. Some approach each new Idlewild release expecting to be disappointed and I don’t doubt they’ll find some angle from which to pick this record apart but I found it to be a surprising and welcome return to form. And also note that the North American edition contains two bonus tracks not available on the UK version including a Neil Young cover.

Metro talks to Woomble about the new record and also the Ballads Of The Book compilation that was also his brainchild and to which Idlewild contribute a track. It’s a collection of songs featuring lyrics from contemporary Scottish authors and poets put to music by a who’s who of Scottish musicians. For more info, check out the minisite devoted to the project and also this piece in The Inverness Courier that talks to the pairing of author Ali Smith and The Trash Can Sinatras.

MP3: Idlewild – “In Competition For The Worst Time”
Stream: Idlewild / Make Another World
Video: Idlewild – “No Emotion” (YouTube)
Video: Idlewild – “If It Takes You Home” (YouTube)
MySpace: Idlewild

And while I’m still in the highlands, head over to Pitchfork, who’re streaming Camera Obscura’s cover of ABBA’s “Super Trouper”, a b-side from their single for “Tears For Affairs”. You can watch the video for said single below. Also, Tracyanne Campbell talks to The Highland News.

Video: Camera Obscura – “Tears For Affairs” (YouTube)

According to NME, The View have again canceled their North American tour (including a May 4 show at Lee’s Palace), which itself was a postponement of a tour originally slated for March. The reason given are “visa and immigration issues” – maybe like the fact that the lead singer pleaded guilty to cocaine possession back in February. Guess someone was overly optimistic that the US and Canadian immigration folks would overlook that little indiscretion.

Sea Wolf, who didst impress at SxSW last month, are coming to town on May 9 opening for Silversun Pickups at Lee’s Palace. Not such a fan of the headliners but I may check it out if just to see the support. Also just announced (and nautically named), The Sea & Cake will be at the Mod Club on June 2 – full dates at Pitchfork.

And oh yes, Wilco, Massey Hall, June 30. Thanks Kevin. Full North American tour dates here.

The worlds of professional sports and indie rock rarely bump heads, but I’ve got not one but two bits on that very theme. First off, Over The Top Fest – scheduled for the first weekend of May – recently took on the CFL (that’s Canadian Football League to our American cousins) after learning that they had named part of their 2007 Grey Cup festivities, happening this Fall, Over The Top In Toronto. While there’s little practical chance of a horde of pro football fans mistaking a Daniel Johnston gig for a tailgate party, it was probably still prudent to take some action and as Chart reports, the football league has been amicable to changing their event name to avoid potential confusion. But I think as a gesture of goodwill, Julie Doiron should sing the national anthem at the championship game.

And speaking of anthems, everyone’s talking about The Hold Steady recording a version of “Take Me Out To The Ball Game” for the Minnesota Twins. Craig Finn (now with beard!) talked to MTV about how it came about and they also have a video of them recording said track, but it can only be viewed in the US (boo!). But you can still head to Stereogum for an MP3 of the track.

And finally, The Toronto Star gets a look at the musical tastes of various Toronto athletes and while most of it is what you’d expect, Toronto Maple Leafs forward Boyd Devereaux surprises with the revelation that he digs on Explosions In the Sky, My Morning Jacket and The Besnard Lakes. Devereaux talked a bit about his musical tastes and adventures in indie rock.

I just yesterday previewed Friday night’s show at the El Mocambo featuring Hamilton’s A Northern Chorus and Scotland’s The Twilight Sad so it seems rather pointless to try to sell it to you again. So instead, I’ll just give it to you.

Assuming you don’t have any holy day of obligation duties to attend to and are looking for something loud to do on Good Friday, courtesy of Sonic Unyon I’ve got two pairs of passes to the aforementioned show to give away. To enter, email me at contests AT chromewaves.net with “I want to see A Northern Chorus” in the subject line and your full name in the body. Also feel free to explain to me why people find those Cadbury creme eggs appealing in any way. The fact that they market them as rabbit droppings also perplexes me. But I digress.

The contest will close at midnight, April 4 – that’s Wednesday night noon, April 5 – that’s Thursday – so hop to it.

MP3: A Northern Chorus – “The Millions Too Many”
MP3: The Twilight Sad – “That Summer, At Home I Had Become The Invisible Boy”
MP3: The Twilight Sad – “And She Would Darken The Memory”
MySpace: A Northern Chorus

Every year, I try to come away from SxSW with at least a couple of wholly new band discoveries – I’m talking above and beyond confirming or dismissing the quality of the acts heading into Austin already possessing a considerable amount of buzz. Just bands come across randomly either by club hopping or maybe from the MP3 mega-torrent who I’d never heard of previously. Past discoveries include Dirty On Purpose (random club hop), Decoder Ring (MP3 torrent) and The Oktober People (didn’t even see them – handed a free CD) and for 2007, you can add San Francisco’s Minipop to the list.

I caught them the first night of the fest and to recap – despite a set plagued with technical problems (how often do you blow a power circuit at one of these showcases?) and a generally crummy venue (sports bar!), I was won over by their winsome but not wimpy dream pop. The copy I got of their debut album A New Hope confirmed the potential on display before the power went out – Minipop are tapped into something special. Much of that comes from the pipes of lead singer/guitarist/keyboardist Tricia Kanne, which possess a weary sweetness that remind me of of The Sundays’ Harriet Wheeler – Sundays fans know that this is not a comparison to be made lightly, but I think it’s deserved. Her voice is that beguiling.

The band behind her does a fine job of adding weight and where necessary, rock, to the proceedings without ever becoming overwhelming and the songs range from solid to sublime. The opening one-two punch of “Fingerprints” and “Like I Do” should be enough to win over anyone but the rest of the record is hardly filler – it’s a remarkably solid and consistent collection of sparkling, melodic, dreamy pop, especially for a debut from a band just two years old. Even though their star deserves to rise high, I don’t expect that a cross-continental (to say nothing of international) tour will be in the offing anytime soon so I’ll be happy to have caught them, be it briefly and sort of calamitously, in Austin and be patient.

Performer has a nice feature/interview with the band. And note that the video below is for the version of “Fingerprints” on 2005’s The Precious EP – the version on A New Hope is different.

MP3: Minipop – “Like I Do”
Video: Minipop – “Fingerprints” (YouTube)
MySpace: Minipop

Pitchfork offers up an expansive interview with Jarvis Cocker, who releases Jarvis in North America today, and ironically the only working link I can find for it at a reasonable price is the import version. Eiter way, you can stream the whole thing at Spinner below:

Stream: Jarvis Cocker / Jarvis

Also on offer this week – the new one from Fountains Of Wayne.

Stream: Fountains of Wayne / Traffic and Weather

Shots Ring Out talks to Scott Cudmore, director of the first video from Great Lake Swimmers’ new album Ongiara. Great Lake Swimmers are in town in a couple weeks for a double-header at the Church Of The Redeemer (April 14), but are currently out west, as evidenced by interviews with the University of Calgary’s Gauntlet and Edmonton’s Vue Weekly.

Video: Great Lake Swimmers – “Back Stage With The Modern Dancers” (YouTube)

Things I’d Rather Be Doing has a terrific interview with Shearwater’s Jonathan Meiburg about the reissue of Palo Santo next Tuesday, including the best description of the Shearwater/Okkervil River relationship you’ll ever read. And for some Okkervil content, head over to NPR where they’ve got a session recorded for KEXP during SxSW available to download. The double-disc Black Sheep Boy: Definitive Edition is out now.

24: You want an update? How’s this – the question isn’t whether or not Jack finds the two remaining bombs before the day is up, it’s whether or not I can make it through the remainder of the season without gouging out my eyes as punishment for continuing to watch such an inane show. You’ve got a President who’s going to be hooked on trucker speed before the day is out and who just launched a nuclear strike to prove he’s a man, a hardass CTU agent who’s really just looking for spiritual fulfillment and a Russian traitor who’s willing to cut off his arm to… well, I’m not really sure what Gridenko’s plan was but I suspect that selling out his accomplice to a bunch of drunken bar patrons and then dying under the boardwalk wasn’t part of it. Eight more hours? Seriously? I suspect I’ll stick it out for the rest of this season but after that… we’re done.

And I don’t know if this is especially useful for anyone but I’ve tweaked my concert calendar to hyperlink to the websites of all the bands listed. Now since this is still just my own personal calendar of stuff I’m planning to attend, it’s only useful if you want to get a sample of what I’m going to see, but maybe you’ll discover something interesting. You never know.

I mentioned yesterday that due to visa problems, Aereogramme were no longer headlining the show at the El Mocambo on Friday – they won’t be getting into North America until the second week of April and will pick up the tour on April 13 in Seattle. But this isn’t to say that it’s not still worth your while to spend Good Friday at the venerable ElMo or to catch any of the Aereogramme-less first leg of the tour. The rest of the bill will still be playing and you’ll still be able to get a dose of epic-style Scottish rock thanks to The Twilight Sad.

Led by James Graham’s wonderfully thick brogue, their latest album Fourteen Autumns & Fifteen Winters (out tomorrow) is like nine feature-length soundtracks of anthemic melancholy, bellowed from the rooftops. Taken all together they can sound rather alike from one to the next but it’s a bit like complaining that Die Hard 2 was a lot like Die Hard. Not incorrect, but also irrelevant. I would say that they sound like Arab Strap’s Aidan Moffatt fronting Mogwai, but they’ve already done that and it sounded nothing like this. But if they hadn’t then maybe it would.

I heard some impressive things about their numerous shows at SxSW last month so there’s no reason to think that they won’t be equally impressive here on Friday, more than making up for the absence of their countrymen. Volume-wise, at least. Bring earplugs.

MP3: The Twilight Sad – “That Summer, At Home I Had Become The Invisible Boy”
MP3: The Twilight Sad – “And She Would Darken The Memory”

Also on the bill are Hamilton’s own A Northern Chorus and the always reliable purveyors of dream-pop have actually managed to surprise me with their new album The Millions Too Many. The gauzy drift that heretofore defined the ANC sound has been brought into sharp focus, with a drier, vocals-up-front production and shorter, more concise song structures. It’s a welcome shift as on record, I’d always found them to be more dream-inducing than dream-invoking. This isn’t to say that they’ve given up their signature sound – keening vocals still dance upon swirling guitars and strings – it’s just that however good you thought they were half-asleep, they’re even better awake. You can stream the whole album right now at Sonic Unyon.

MP3: A Northern Chorus – “The Millions Too Many”
MySpace: A Northern Chorus

Spinner has a video interview with Land Of Talk. Nothing of consequence is revealed.

This week on Daytrotter – Tilly & The Wall in session and in conversation.

Aversion talks to Low about drums, guns.

Lou Barlow talks to NME about the working dynamic in the new old Dinosaur Jr: “J doesn’t say anything directly, he only speaks through his manager. It’s weird, but it’s part of the comedy.” The new album Beyond is out May 1 and they’re at the Phoenix on June 8.

Norway’s DATAROCK will be opening up for Brazil’s CSS on June 4 at a show that has apparently been moved from the Horseshoe to Lee’s Palace, at least according to their booking agency. Bonde Do Role was also supposed to be on that bill though the aforementioned booking agency says nothing about that – they do, however, say they’re playing at the Social in Toronto this Thursday night and are opening for Klaxons next Sunday at Lee’s…? Brazilians. Who knows.

Fujiya & Miyagi will follow up their opening gig for Peter Bjorn & John at the Phoenix on May 6 with a show of their own at the Horseshoe on July 11.

Watched Children Of Men on the weekend – holy hell what a good film. Bleak yet utterly engaging, and man – that one-take battle in the refugee camp. Wow.