While I said earlier this week that I hadn’t heard any of this year’s nominees for the Mercury Music Prize, this didn’t mean I didn’t have opportunity – I had a number of the nominated albums lying around so I’ve since gotten acquainted with a few of the albums. And since the point of these sorts of events is to get people to listen to the albums that have been deemed worthy of recognition, I gave them a listen.

First up was The End Of History, by Irishman Fionn Regan. Released back in Ireland and the UK last Summer but only getting a North American release last week, History is an unassuming record on first listen. Most songs are stripped down to just Regan’s voice and guitar, both of which are pretty but not head-turning on their own. When there are production flourishes, like a harmonized vocal on a chorus, gentle percussion or a touch of strings, they’re similarly low-key and spare but the economy of it all is effective in accenting and emphasizing Regan’s songs.

And it’s in the songwriting that Regan’s strengths lie. From the upbeat to the sombre, Regan has a flair for understated but effective pop melodicism and while his lyrical prowess isn’t such that you’d call him the next Leonard Cohen, his introspective verse is deft, evocative and literary and only occasionally cloying. But most importantly, his words a’re almost perfectly matched with the musical accompaniment and the net result is something considerably greater than the sum of its parts. Listed at 10-to-1 odds to win the Mercury, I don’t expect History is anyone’s dark horse to win it but the extra attention it will get from the nomination is deserved. At the core, it’s still guy with an acoustic guitar folk music, but it’s good guy with an acoustic guitar folk music and I’ll admit, I’m a sucker for anyone who recommends Paul Auster’s Timbuktu in the lyrics.

Regan is in town at the Rivoli next Thursday night, July 26, and courtesy of Filter, I’ve got a pair of passes to the show to give away as well a copy of End Of History on vinyl. To enter, email me at contests AT chromewaves.net with “I want to see Fionn Regan” in the subject, and your full name and mailing address in the body. This contest will close at midnight, July 21.

Billboard uses Regan as a case study in trying to discern exactly what “folk music” in the 21st century is while The Independent talked to Regan about how it felt to get the Mercury nomination.

MP3: Fionn Regan – “Be Good Or Be Gone”
Video: Fionn Regan- “Be Good Or Be Gone” (YouTube)
Video: Fionn Regan- “Put A Penny In The Slot” (YouTube)
MySpace: Fionn Regan

Jambase has a fairly expansive discussion with Jeff Tweedy of Wilco about Sky Blue Sky.

Paste reports that the deluxe version of Son Volt’s The Search, previously only available on iTunes, will be released as a limited edition (1000 copies only), double-LP called Chant And Strum and comprise all 22 songs that the band recorded during the sessions for the album. It will be released July 31.

Jason Isbell and Sirens Of The Ditch proves a topic of conversation for Jambase, Harp, The Cleveland Free Times and The Boston Globe.

Take5Online Q&As Patterson Hood of Drive-By Truckers.

Spinner congratulates Joe Pernice on signing a deal with a division of Penguin Books to publish his first novel. They also recently declared “Chicken Wire”, from Overcome By Happiness, to be “The Most Exquisitely Sad Song In The Whole World”.

Ryan Adams talks at length to Harp about Easy Tiger, doesn’t go crazy once. Remarkable. SF Weekly also finds him in an amiable mood and I Am Fuel, You Are Friends has a mittfull of alternate takes from Easy Tiger to share. Share with you.

CMJ reports that DeVotchKa’s wonderful 2004 album How It Ends will get a European release on August 6 but more excitingly, a new studio album is on tap for 2008. YourHub.com has an interview with bassist/sousaphonist Jeanie Schroder.

Metromix talks to The Decemberists about getting orchestral on their current tour.

The Democrat & Chronicle interviews Lucinda Williams.

Ben Bridwell complains to Pitchfork about his disdain for folks videotaping and YouTubing Band Of Horses shows. Everyone who’s planning on seeing them at Lee’s Palace on August 11, be forewarned. Their second album has a name and release date – Cease To Begin will be in stores October 9.

Black Mountain will be at the Horseshoe on October 5, Menomena and Illinois are at the Mod Club on October 13 and The Ponys, in town just this past Wednesday, return October 15 to open for Spoon at the Phoenix.

Dear Apple – get your shit together and send me my laptop, already.

I was very happy to see that the schedule for this year’s Hillside Festival went up yesterday. Seeing as how it’s taking place in just two weeks out in Guelph, there are logistical issues to be sorted out – namely getting there and back – and knowing when to show up is certainly a big part of that.

I’m actually kind of pleased that there’s not too much enticing happening on Friday night – hearing Chumbawumba play “Tubthumbing” on acoustic guitars isn’t as appealing as you might think – as it means that I’m not going to be fighting traffic to get out of the city on Friday afternoon. Instead, I can start fresh on Saturday morning, though even then the first must-see for me, Forest City Lovers, doesn’t go on till 5PM. That’s just of the acts I know, though – I’ll surely spend the earlier part of the day wandering between the stages and workshops just checking things out, soaking it in. Also on tap for Saturday, which is obviously the “rock” night, is The Besnard Lakes at 7, Dragonette at 8, Emily Haines at 9 and Shout Out Out Out Out at 10.

Sunday will get started early with Angela Desveaux, pictured above standing on a hillside, at 2PM. I’ve been meaning to check the Montreal singer-songwriter out for some time, her far too young to sound so old country having garnered favourable comparisons to Lucinda Williams and Gillian Welch, but she doesn’t seem to play around here very often. I actually just missed her last Summer during the indieUnlimited festival – I heard the PA announce that she was going on at one of the side stages just as I was heading home to have a nap. Won’t be making that mistake again. I’ll have to miss highly-regarded Maritime power-poppers Two Hours Traffic to catch her set, but will make that up this week as they’re playing a free show at the Horseshoe on Tuesday. eye has an interview.

After Ms Desvaux, we’ve got Elvis Perkins at 4, locals The D’Urbervilles at 5 and Basia Bulat at 7. At 8, it’s a toss-up between Welsh outfit Los Campesinos! and Ohbijou, though I’ll probably opt for the latter since the former will be doing a free show at the Horseshoe on August 7. Then to wrap up, most of the fest will probably make a beeline for the mainstage to see headliner Ani DiFranco, on at 9:20. I suspect that Alejandro Escovedo was also supposed to be on at this time, but since he sadly had to cancel a few weeks back, they’ve now got Born Ruffians on at 10PM as an Ani alternative. Of course, staggered as those sets are, there’s no reason I can’t see both.

For years, I’ve been hearing about how terrific Hillside is and have never been for whatever reason. Now that I can sort of visualize who and what I’ll be seeing, I’m getting pretty excited about the experience. It’ll also be nice to go somewhere that’s not completely paved over for a while. I think there’s a word for that… oh yeah. Nature?

Anyway, you can make yourself useful by checking out a sampling of tracks from some of the artists mentioned above.

MP3: Forest City Lovers – “Scared Of Time”
MP3: Shout Out Out Out Out – “Dude You Feel Electrical”
MP3: Angela Desveaux – “Heartbeat”
MP3: Elvis Perkins – “While You Were Sleeping”
MP3: Basia Bulat – “Snakes & Ladders”
MP3: Ohbijou – “Misty Eyes”
MP3: Born Ruffians – “Hedonistic Me”

And while Hillside is the best-known Summer festival in Guelph, it’s not the only one. Okay, technically Dog Day Afternoon (no relation to the Metric-headlined festival last year) happens in Elmira, but without getting into a semantic discussion of the geopolitical boundaries in Wellington county, we’ll just say “outside Guelph”. Taking place August 19 and now in its ninth year, it’s a one-day event on a farm that’s apparently so laid back, it makes Hillside look uptight. The perennial headliners are The Sadies, who’ll surely be previewing their forthcoming album New Seasons (out September 18) and this year, they’ll be joined by We’re Marching On, Shannon Lyon, The Bruce Peninsula, Tacoma Hellfarm Tragedy, Gurf Morlix and The Acorn. It’s a very small to-do but if you’re interested in attending, tickets are $25 and can be ordered in advance via the MySpace or by emailing dogdayafternoon@bust.com. Rock/Paper/Pixels was in attendance last year and called it magical. And dusty.

Speaking of The Acorn, I’ve got an mp3 from their forthcoming full-length Glory Hope Mountain, out September 25. The record is based on the life of head Acorn Rolf Klausener’s mother in Honduras and is a bit of an unexpected direction for a band whose two previous EPs sounded I called “quintessentially Canadian pop”. But hey, if it sounds good – and it does – I’m not going to argue. Chart has some album details and Pitchfork has some thoughts on the song.

MP3: The Acorn – “Flood Pt 1”

Stars talk to Billboard about trying to capture the energy of their live show on their new record In Our Bedroom After The War, out physically on September 25 but available through most every online outlet right now.

Patrick Krief, better known as guitarist for The Dears, will be playing a solo show on August 30 at the Rivoli in support of his EP Take It Or Leave which will be released on August 28. A full-length album is slated for early next year.

eye reports that the Toronto Public Library’s concert series, launched last year in conjunction with their Local Music Series collection, will continue again this November. Huzzah.

NOW considers this year’s Polaris nominees and decides they stink.

Mandatory show announcement portion of the post – O’Death is at the El Mocambo on August 18, YACHT, Vampire Weekend and The Dirty Projectors at Sneaky Dee’s on August 25, Earl Greyhound is playing day two of V Fest, The Kaiser Chiefs, Datarock and White Rabbits are at the Carlu September 26 and Ted Leo & The Pharmacists are back at the Mod Club on October 7. He’s also got an October 5 show at Main Hall in Montreal as part of Pop Montreal, for those of you who are interested in piecing together the lineup for that fest. Like You Ain’t No Picasso, who’s got a laundry list of some of the bigger names confirmed for le pop du Montreal.

Harp introduces and NOW, Cleveland Scene, The Montreal Gazette and eye interview St Vincent, in town at the Horseshoe tomorrow night with Scout Niblett.

Pitchfork gets some details from Nellie McKay about her forthcoming record Obligatory Villagers, out September 25.

WOXY has posted a video interview they conducted with The National during Bonnaroo last month. The National are at The Phoenix on October 8.

The AV Club breaks down Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga with Britt Daniel of Spoon, from the title to the artwork to the copy protection on advance copies. Now that’s a thorough review.

I once knew a guy who loved Bruce Willis’ near career-killer Hudson Hawk unabashedly and unironically. This is apropos of nothing, save for the fact that the third album from Brooklyn’s Bottom Of The Hudson – in stores yesterday – is called Fantastic Hawk and it, thankfully, features no guest appearances of Bruce Willis or Danny Aiello singing Paul Anka tunes.

What it does feature is thirteen songs that touch on a wide breadth of styles yet feel like a single, cohesive musical arc. Built off of a simple, occasionally stark template of jangly, folkish guitar and Eli Simon’s plaintive, head cold vocals, Hawk leads off with the simple clarinet orchestration of the title track and builds to “Over Engineered”‘s soaring shoegazey crescendo before easing back down to the meditative and fingerpicked “Calculating Wire”, with all points in between filled with anthemic guitar pop reminiscent of Tobin Sprout’s GBV contributions.

The production is kept clear but not necessarily clean – things fuzz and feedback where necessary but there’s nothing superfluous in the mix, helping maintain the rather sad and austere atmosphere. Even when it’s rocking out or casting melodic lines heavenward, it doesn’t crack a smile. Okay, maybe a slight one, but it’s forlorn. Bottom Of The Hudson are in town on Friday night with Athens, Georgians King Of Prussia for a show at the Tiger Bar. You should be there, all the cool kids will be. Philadelphia Weekly has a profile of the band.

MP3: Bottom Of The Hudson – “Bee Hive”
MP3: Bottom Of The Hudson – “Handwriting”
MySpace: Bottom Of The Hudson

Kevin Drew tries to justify tacking “Broken Social Scene presents” onto the title of his solo album to Billboard. Spirit If… is out September 18.

NME checks in with Ambulance LTD to see how their new album is coming. Not especially well is the response, though they do have a 42-second clip of a new song streaming on their website as well as a probably over-optimistic ETA of this Fall for a new release.

AOL Music Canada profiles Montreal label Secret City, which has fully half its roster nominated for the Polaris Music Prize this year.

Basia Bulat’s Oh My Darling is finally getting a domestic release on September 18 via Hardwood Records, home of Hayden. Celebrations will occur on September 22 with a CD release show someplace. Via For The Records.

Macleans‘ Taste Police pits Interpol against Editors in a battle of nonsensical yet dramatically delivered lyrics. It’s a shame that while both bands are playing V Fest in Toronto, they’re doing so on different days (Interpol on September 8 and Editors on September 9). Otherwise the meeting of the minds backstage could have been epic. Gasoline has an interview with Interpol and Harp Q&As Carlos D while AZ Central and The Scotsman talk to Editor-in-chief Tom Smith. The new Editors record The End Has A Start was released yesterday – stream it below and watch the first video.

Video: Editors – “Smokers Outside the Hospital Doors” (YouTube)
Stream: Editors / The End Has A Start

After releasing Under The Blacklight on August 21, Rilo Kiley will be hitting the road to support – they’re in town at the Phoenix on September 18. Tickets $21.50, on sale Friday. BrooklynVegan has complete tour dates.

The AV Club lists off ten tribute albums that, in their estimation, don’t suck. I haven’t heard the whole of the Wire one, but they are spot-on about that My Bloody Valentine track. Check it, and also check out the latest from the rumour mill, namely that Kevin Shields has been telling people that 2008 will bring a new MBV album AND tour. Uhhhhhh.

MP3: My Bloody Valentine – “Map Ref 41N 93W”

And finally, Paste reports that documentarian Eric Green is assembling a shoegaze documentary called Beautiful Noise which will feature over 90 interviews with key players in the original scene as well as their present day stylistic descendants.

While the Metric machine is slowly revving back up with work on their third album (or fourth, now that Grow Up And Blow Away has gotten a proper release) as well as a smattering of touring through the Summer and Fall, but frontwoman Emily Haines isn’t quite ready to give up the solo thing yet. In addition to a few more gigs around southern Ontario in the next few weeks, she’s releasing a companion EP to last year’s Knives Don’t Have Your Back.

What Is Free To A Good Home is being released on July 24 in conjunction with Secret Carnival Workers, a collection of poems from Emily’s father, poet Paul Haines. The timing of these releases also coincides with her show at Harbourfront Centre on the 25th, a double-header at London’s Aeolian Hall on the 27th and then an appearance at Hillside in Guelph on July 28.

Courtesy of Last Gang Records, I’ve got two prize packs to give away consisting of a copy of the EP and the book. The CD comes wrapped in shiny cellophane and the book is printed on some lovely textured paper stock. To enter, email me at contests AT chromewaves.net with “I want the Emily Haines stuff” in the subject line and your full mailing address in the body. This contest will run until midnight, July 23 so you’ll know beforehand if you need to swing by the record/book store to pick up a copy or not. If you preordered, then I can’t help you.

Contest now closed. Congrats to Brian and Chris on winning the prizes.

MP3: Emily Haines – “Rowboat”
MySpace: Emily Haines

Anyone who saw St Vincent, aka Annie Clark, open up for fellow Texans Midlake back in February saw a young woman of immense musical talent as a guitarist, songwriter and performer, albeit put together in an unconventional and intriguing package. Performing solo with just a guitar, a couple of microphones and a wooden block at her feet for percussion (Stompin’ Tom-style) she was equally dazzling and fearsome with a tightly-wound tension running through her songs that would strike out when you’d least expect it and leave a mark or two.

With that in mind, her debut album Marry Me wasn’t what I was expecting. It starts out with the idiosyncrasies that the live show showcased, “Now Now” all layered, choral vocals and ringing, pitch-bent guitar harmonics devolving into frantic guitar skronk, but as the record progresses, it becomes straighter, simpler and positively pretty. With a few exceptions, Clark’s formidable guitar chops are downplayed with the focus instead falling on her vocals and its facility with jazz and cabaret stylings. I think that having already seen her eccentric side live, I was surprised not only that she’d written songs so classic in style but that she was so good at it – some of the songs sound like standards performed in countless smoky lounges rather than originals written by a 24-year old.

Just as she impressed five months ago, St Vincent has done so again with this record yet on a completely different level. But a warning to those who’ve only heard the record and are planning on seeing her at The Horseshoe this coming Friday night (July 20) or any of her forthcoming tour dates – she might sound all sweet on the album but live, this one’s more than ready and willing to make some noise, maybe do some damage. Keep an eye out.

Clark talks to The Dallas Observer and Paste about getting started in songwriting at the age of 5, Express about paying tribute to Iron Maiden in junior high and to The AV Club about playing whirlyball on tour with Arcade Fire. And she also blogs.

MP3: St Vincent – “Now Now”
MySpace: St Vincent

Reveille, a new webmag making its debut this week, talks to Wheat’s Scott Levesque about their new album Everyday I Said A Prayer For Kathy And Made A One Inch Square which, while it’s no Hope & Adams or even Medeiros, is far better than Metacritic would imply.

Entertainment Weekly and The Philadelphia Inquirer talk to The Decemberists.

SubPop has made a couple of MP3s from forthcoming albums available – Iron & Wine release The Shepherd’s Dog on September 25 and The Brunettes’ debut for the label – Structure & Cosmetics – is out August 7.

MP3: Iron & Wine – “Boy With A Coin”
MP3: The Brunettes – “Small Town Crew”

NME talks to Rilo Kiley about bringing sexy back with their new record Under The Blacklight, out August 21. I don’t know if I’d want to see the set of the first video from the record for “The Moneymaker” under a black light…

Video: Rilo Kiley – “The Moneymaker” (long version)
Video: Rilo Kiley – “The Moneymaker” (short version)

Perhaps to make up for delaying the release of Neptune City from next week till who knows when, Nicole Atkins has updated her MySpace page with three new songs from the record showcasing her more pop/rock side. If the gesture is meant to make me less anxious to hear the whole album, IT’S NOT WORKING.

Pitchfork recommends some 2007 releases that may have undeservedly slipped under your radar. Yes on Lucky Soul, who are now selling The Great Unwanted off their website for a reasonable 8 quid (plus 3 for shipping to North America). For my part, I may need one of those “Ain’t Never Been Cool” t-shirts. To wear ironically, of course.

American Music Club have lost some members – bassist Danny Pearce and drummer Tim Mooney left the band last month due to geographic issues. The band, with new rhythm section, is working on a new album tentatively titled MacArthur Park with an eye towards a release in early 2008.

NME has the finalists for this year’s Mercury Music Prize. My money is on… actually, I don’t think I’ve heard any of these records.

The Baltimore Sun looks at both the blogosphere’s backlash against Voxtrot and Voxtrot’s backlash against the blogosphere. Chart, meanwhile, gets Ramesh Srivastava to hold their debut album up to the same benchmark that all the fans and critics have – their EPs. Such drama. The band are at the Mod Club on October 9.

More Autumn show news – Land Of Talk will share the bill with Cloud Cult at the El Mocambo on September 4, Liars have what’s almost certainly an undersized show at the Horseshoe on September 21 and Malajube return to town for a show at Lee’s Palace on November 3.