Photo by Caroline Desilets

Plants & Animals come into 2008 with the weight of expectation on them what with being signed to a wunderkind new label – 100% of whose domestic roster has been nominated for Polaris Music PRize (and half of whom have won) – and garnering some breathless reviews for their live shows and their brief-yet-sprawling EP Avec/With. So with the release of their first full album Parc Avenue on February 26 in Canada and March 25 in the US, the Montreal trio hope to prove themselves worthy of the attention.

My reactions to the full-length are approximately what they were to the EP. The band is undeniably talented and are striving to create some perfect (or unholy) hybrid of pop, folk and jam rock but they haven’t reached the point where my appreciation for the former two styles can overrule my aversion to the third and as a result, listening to the record ends up something of a zero-sum experience though with repeated spins, it does seem to be listing towards the favourable side of things (barring a few songs). Time will tell. The Toronto Star has a feature profile on the band.

Plants & Animals are marking the release of the album with a show at the Drake Underground this Thursday night – February 21 – and courtesy of Secret City Records, I’ve got a pair of passes to give away to the show. Additionally, I’ve got two sets of CDs – one copy of Avec/With and one copy of Parc Avenue in each – to give away. Entry is as follows – if you want to go to the show, send me an email to contests AT chromewaves.net with “I’m a herbivore” in the subject line and your full name in the body. If you want to CDs (Canada entrants only, please), send an email with the subject line of “I’m a carnivore” and your full mailing address in the body. Omnivores are disqualified. Contest closes at midnight, February 19.

MP3: Plants & Animals – “Faerie Dance”
MySpace: Plants & Animals

Photo via The Guardian

With Amy Winehouse proving that there’s a British soul-revival diva market is a lucrative one (and also that utterly sabotaging one’s own career is no longer as simple as you might have thought), there’s no shortage of candidates for the “next big thing” in that particular style and at the moment, the two biggest names are the mono-monikered Duffy and Adele. Both come with the same set of adjectives – raspy, soulful, retro, Dusty – and their emergences onto the music scene are so synchronized that comparisons are unavoidable. Adele’s already won a Brit Award and her debut 19 hit #1 on the UK charts when it was released in January and it’s not much of a reach to expect Duffy’s Rockferry to do the same when it arrives on March 3.

The Guardian posited the question of “who’s better?” head-on last week and garnered no small amount of responses from their readership, and in typically British fashion, many of them electing to choose option c) – neither. For my part, I like them both better than Winehouse (whose music does nothing for me) but will have to give the edge to Duffy, if for no other reason than her record is produced by and features Bernard Butler. All things being equal, Bernard will always win.

And Torontonians get the chance to compare for themselves next month as both are coming to town. Duffy strikes first, with what’s likely to be a glitzy sort of show at the Mod Club on March 18 (hey, is Bernard in the touring band? Hmm…) while Adele rolls in a week later on March 26 with a gig at the Rivoli which easily has the edge on intimacy and “I saw her in a tiny room” bragging rights down the line. Incidentally, that’s the night that another UK act with a hot Butler-produced record, Sons & Daughters and This Gift, are in town and playing Lee’s Palace. The Butler is onmipresent.

Video: Duffy – “Rockferry”
Video: Duffy – “Mercy”
Video: Adele – “Chasing Pavements”
MySpace: Duffy
MySpace: Adele

Feist talks to the BBC about the unexpected attention that iPod commercial garnered her.

CMJ reports on former Rainer Maria vocalist Caithlin De Marrais’ forthcoming solo record My Magic City.

Rock Sellout interviews GlasVegas, an act it occurs to me I’m a bit disappointed will not be at SxSW. But on the plus side, the SxSW artists listing? Now with MP3 links. Can the torrent be far behind?

Black Kids undertake their first North American tour later this Spring and stop in at Lee’s Palace on May 9. Full dates at NME.

Chart talks to Kathleen Edwards about her new record Asking For Flowers, due out March 4. She plays The Phoenix on April 23.

Nicole Atkins tells The Boston Globe that success means being able to pay one’s dentist bills. Lee’s Palace this Sunday night. Yes.

Billboard and Reuters have features on the Drive-By Truckers

PopMatters ponders the meaning of Wilco’s Yankee Hotel Foxtrot. As if “I am an American aquarium drinker” couldn’t be more self-explanatory.

Lucero, who have been recommended to me many times but whom I’ve never seen, have a date at the Horseshoe on April 19. The only catch? That’s the night of the Destroyer show at Lee’s. Decisions, decisions.

MP3: Lucero – “The Mountain”

And finally, check out the new Indiana Jones trailer if you haven’t already. So nice to see Harrison Ford in a non-catatonic role for a change.

Trailer: Indiana Jones & The Kingdom Of The Crystal Skull

Photo by Pavlina Honcova-Summers

The Helio Sequence are a Portland-based duo who seek to answer the age-old question, “what happens if you try to cross laptop-based electro-pop with Dylan-esque folkestry and big, Anglo-arena rock moves?” Based on their new record
Keep Your Eyes Ahead, the answer is “Tim Booth fronting Kitchens Of Distinction“.

Eyes couples soaring, anthemic vocals in the vein of the shaggy James frontman with the swirling, sonic grandeur of the underappreciated London dreampop band and wraps it in a sonic sheen that recalls 1980s-era notions of what the future might sound like. In its quieter moments, it steps out of that glistening metropolis and camps out in the woods around a bonfire, acoustic guitar in hand but Magnetic Fields in the heart. On paper, the folk songs shouldn’t hang with the electro-rockers as well as they do but while the shift in aesthetics do seem a bit odd, they never seem wrong – Eyes is a remarkably cohesive record.

The band is kicking off a Western tour later this month taking them through SxSW and will then head over to Europe. Perhaps the eastern half of the continent will be tended to in the Summer. Aversion, Glide, MP3.com and Oregon Live all have interviews with the band.

MP3: The Helio Sequence – “Keep Your Eyes Ahead”
MySpace: The Helio Sequence

Another outfit that endeavour to make their laptops rock (or pop, as the case may be) is Mobius Band, who are celebrating Valentine’s Day by giving all of you a free downloadable EP of cover songs entitled Love Will Reign Supreme wherein they tackle the likes of Neil Young, The National and Daft Punk. I don’t know if The National was ever meant to sound that… happy… but still better than a box of bon-bons, n’est-ce pas? Grab it here.

MP3: Mobius Band – “Baby, We’ll Be Fine” (National cover)

Wireless Bollinger and The Boston Herald talk to The Magnetic Fields’ Stephin Merritt.

The Long Blondes talk to This Is Fake DIY and Gigwise about Couples, due April 8. They’re at Lee’s Palace on May 22.

The Northern Light interviews Peter Hughes of The Mountain Goats while The Anchorage Daily News and Village Voice chat with John Darnielle. Heretic Pride is out next Tuesday.

Pitchfork talks to Mark Linkous about his current projects and life as a card-carrying indie rocker now that Sparklehorse has been released from their deal with Astralwerks.

Good news from defunct bands – the emergence of LightFromADeadStar.org, a fansite for Lush replete with photos, press clippings and other modes of tribute, means I no longer have to link to their Wikipedia page whenever I namecheck them in a post. Via Largehearted Boy.

And also tidying up their corner of the internet – Final Fantasy has redone his site, though that doesn’t necessarily mean the release of Heartland is any closer. Just that it was time for a fresh coat of paint (via Torontoist). Drowned In Sound caught up with Owen Pallett to inquire about topics such as his European festival, Arctic Monkeying and dancehall alter-ego.

The Cure will release their as yet-untitled next album – have they said this will be their last yet? Or is that game old? – on May 6, giving you ample time before their May 15 show at the Air Canada Centre to decide that no, it’s not as good as Disintegration. Or even Wish. But better than Wild Mood Swings.

I just bought a ticket to see Richard Hawley at the Royal Albert Hall in London. I guess that’s one night’s activities taken care of.

Photo by Marc Hodges

It’s still unclear to me if all three members of The Rural Alberta Advantage are ex-pats from the Princess Province (that’s the nickname, really) or just songwriter Nils Edenloff but whichever it is, they’ve all embraced his upbringing and experiences which inform every nook and cranny of their debut full-length, Hometowns.

Edenloff’s lyrics are rich with tales of Alberta both from the personal perspective of his upbringing in the northern region of the province and his wistful reminiscences of such from his new home in Toronto and from a more historical one with tales of its history such as the rockslide that buried the town in “Frank, AB” and frequently intertwining the two. The personalized historical travelogue is a concept that’s been used to great effect by Sufjan Stevens but the similarities end on paper – where Stevens’ projects are lushly orchestrated and more than a little precious, The RAA favours an aesthetic that’s spare, dry and a little brash. If you were to remix the record and pull every track besides Edenloff’s plaintive, Jeff Mangum-esque vocals and crashing acoustic guitar, it wouldn’t sound miles away from the finished product.

But those miles – or the few inches travel for the faders on the mixing board – are a crucial distance for within them lies the real magic of the record. Most songs are built around Edenloff but the contributions of his bandmates – drummer Paul Banwatt and vocalist/keyboardist Amy Cole – can’t be understated. Banwatt’s drumming brings just the right amount of energy, forcing the songs out of the folky vein they might otherwise settle into without overpowering them (though letting the folk in where appropriate) and Cole’s sweet harmonies are the ideal counterpoint to Edenloff’s rough edges. Add in the extra instrumental touches – the bright flourish of a trumpet, the low swell of a cello, the sleepy whirr of a combo organ – perfectly placed like colourful landmarks out the window of a long road trip, the sort you only see for a few seconds in passing but leave an indelible impression in your memory, and you’ve got an album that’s simple and simply wonderful.

Hometowns is still seeking distribution so there’s no precise release date at the moment but the band are setting out on a east coast tour starting tomorrow in my own hometown of Waterloo, Ontario and bringing a little bit of the prairies to the Maritimes over the next week and a bit. Their next Toronto show isn’t until March 27 at the Drake as part of this year’s Pitter Patter Festival. I Heart Music also gushed about the record this week, and has a copy to give away.

MP3: The Rural Alberta Advantage – “Don’t Haunt This Place”
MP3: The Rural Alberta Advantage – “Luciana”
MP3: The Rural Alberta Advantage – “Frank, AB”
MP3: The Rural Alberta Advantage – “Sleep All Day”
MP3: The Rural Alberta Advantage – “In The Summertime”
MySpace: The Rural Alberta Advantage

This week marks the tenth anniversary of one of the landmark records of indie rock, even to those who’d deny that there was such a thing as indie rock – Neutral Milk Hotel’s In The Aeroplane Over The Sea. Deaf Indie Elephants has compiled a list of ten ways to celebrate the even and Pitchfork has rounded up two period interviews with Jeff Mangum for your reading pleasure.

Wireless Bollinger has an interview with Beach House. The release Devotion on February 26 and play the El Mocambo on March 28. They’ve also got a new video.

Video: Beach House – “You Came To Me”

Tokyo Police Club’s Elephant Shell has been given an April 22 release date while the new, self-titled from The Jealous Girlfriends will arrive in stores May 6.

AllMusic and Chart talk to Nicole Atkins, in town on Sunday night at Lee’s Palace. Congratulations to Andrew, Matt, Stephen and Jason, who all won various prizes in my contest from earlier this week.

Coming to Lee’s Palace April 14 – Man Man and Yeasayer. Man Man’s new album Rabbit Habits is out April 8 and this is what it sounds like.

MP3: Man Man – “Top Drawer”

Peter Moren – of Peter Bjorn & John fame – brings his solo thing to the Mod Club on April 24.

Billboard comes bearing news of a new set of Replacements reissues covering the band’s Twin-Tone releases. Now I know that my copy of Let It Be was itself a remastered reissue circa 2002 but I guess these new ones will again be remastered and all come with bonus materials. Look for them on April 22 and for another set, covering the Sire years, later in 2008. Maybe the remaster of Don’t Tell A Soul can scrape some of that horrid ’80s sheen from an otherwise underrated record.

Behold the first video from R.E.M.’s Accelerate, out April 1. You know, I really rather like this song and am optimistic about the record. The last time that happened was… um… 1996? Egads. R.E.M. are at the Molson Amphitheatre on June 8.

Video: R.E.M. – “Supernatural Superserious”

Also with a shiny new video – The New Pornographers, now with 200% more psychedelic animated Bejar. They’re at the Phoenix on April 9.

Video: The New Pornographers – “Myriad Harbour”

That “Toronto: Rock City” story in Spin which I mentioned (and gave the wrong page reference to) a few days ago is now on their website in regular HTML form, not just their fancy-schmancy digital magazine.

The writers strike is over! Finally. Now get back to writing my stories. I’m getting bored.

So today is the day that British Sea Power asks North Americans, Do You Like Rock Music?. I offered up my thoughts on the record last month when the record was released in the UK so I won’t rehash that, sufficed to say I still love the album. Instead, I’ll point out that they’ve marked the occasion by announcing the second string of North American tour dates, covering the midwest to the east coast and wrapping up in in our neighbourhood, the penultimate date coming May 16 at Lee’s Palace with support from The Rosebuds.

This, of course, does me no good since I’m landing in Dublin early that morning, but it should be a riotous show for those of you able to attend. I will have to make do with trying to see them at Noise Pop and/or SxSW and hope that they bring the tour machine back for a second go-around in the Fall, perhaps.

The creepy puppet footage from their performance on Later… With Jools Holland which I tried to link a few days ago is now back up but far more interesting are the actual performances from the show, linked below, and the interview portion of the programme. You think it’s too much to hope that they’ll tour with the Cumbrian wrestlers?

And if you’re still uncertain as to your position on rock music, you can stream the album in its entirety at Spinner, but I’ll save you some trouble. The answer is “yes”. Four out of five critics agree, though Pitchfork (aka the fifth dentist) thinks they’re being clever again.

Stream: British Sea Power / Do You Like Rock Music?
Video: British Sea Power – “Waving Flags” (live on Jools Holland)
Video: British Sea Power – “No Lucifer” (live on Jools Holland)
Video: British Sea Power – “Canvey Island” (live on Jools Holland)

Also doing the stream thing this week, The Raveonettes’ new one Lust Lust Lust and Heretic Pride from The Mountain Goats’. Both are out next Tuesday and the Raveonettes play the Opera House on March 21.

Stream: The Mountain Goats / Heretic Pride
Stream: The Raveonettes / Lust Lust Lust

Dev Hynes of Lightspeed Champion gives Neu! a track-by-track walkthrough of Falling Off The Lavender Bridge. He’s at the Horseshoe for a free show March 4.

Rabble talks to Destroyer man Dan Bejar about various sundry topics, including his aversion to making music videos and his neighbourhood in Vancouver. Trouble In Dreams is out March 18 and he stops in at Lee’s Palace a month later on April 19.

I Heart Music has ripped and MP3-ified Basia Bulat’s session for CBC Radio 3 recorded at an in-store at Criminal Records here in Toronto last December. She’s got a show at Lee’s Palace on March 29.

The Independent talked to Feist prior to her 1-2-3-0-for-4 night at the Grammies on Sunday. It’s okay Leslie, you have much better hair than Amy Winehouse.

Dean & Britta stop in for a session at Minnesota Public Radio.

Matador has been working on definitively reissuing the whole of Mission Of Burma’s back catalog and will release the results of said efforts on March 18 in the form of the three volume set Mission Of Burma: The Definitive Editions I, II and III (all available individually). They’re so pleased with the remastering that they’re offering a couple of samples in both a 256kbps MP3 and uncompressed WAV form. I’ve linked the MP3s below – for the WAVs and full details in what comes in each of the MoB releases, hit the Matablog.

MP3: Mission Of Burma – “Max Ernst”
MP3: Mission Of Burma – “Weatherbox” (live)

This Is Fake DIY interviews Asobi Seksu.