Photo by Frank Yang

After a weekend of beatings and breakings and the finest musical stylings that technology had to offer, it was good to shift gears Sunday night and get back to something a little more homespun and for getting back to roots, you can’t do much better than Calexico. They stopped in at the Mod Club in the midst of a Canadian tour, two years to the day since their last visit and almost two months before the release of their next album Return To Dust on September 9.

In keeping with the Canuck theme of their jaunt, they had invited along Calgary folk-chestra Woodpigeon along as support. I’d had the pleasure of making their acquaintance at Pop Montreal last year but in this setting, with a full eight-piece band in a more rock club atmosphere (as opposed to the five-piece configuration and community centre setting that time), they were more impressive. Lovely four-part harmonies and gentle yet swelling songs were still the order of the day, but the extra instrumentation gave them more dynamics and dimension. The grand scope of their sound recalls Sufjan Stevens, but rendered in woodcut and sepia. Lovely and enthralling. They have a new record set for self-release soon and are offering an old EP, Houndstooth, for free download from their site.

I’ve always enjoyed seeing bands with deep catalogs on tour between album cycles because they feel less obliged to promote a certain record and instead seem to just play what they enjoy, and that was very much the case here. You knew it wasn’t going to be the same old same old when the show opened with just Joey Burns and John Convertino taking the stage and ripping through the surf-punk instrumental “Scout” from their debut Spoke before being joined by the rest of the band for “Roka”, from their last effort, the underwhelming Garden Ruin. And with those bookends represented, the remainder of the set drew from Feast Of Wire, The Black Light and Hot Rail as well as previewing some material from Carried To Dust. The entire show was a joy start to finish, with one of the finest live bands around in a party mood and focusing on their more Mexicali-influenced and rollicking material. As the set went on, the band just got tighter and the groove deeper and damn if just about everyone wasn’t dancing, just a little.

As for the new material, it was a bit difficult to tell with a live mix that very much emphasized the guitars, drums and vocals (at least on my side of the stage) but the new songs seemed to maintain the more conventional, compact pop structures of Garden Ruin but incorporate much more of the distinctive southwestern instrumentation and flavour that is uniquely Calexico and which was far underutilized last time out. It sounds like they left the studio door open to let the sand blow in, and that’s pretty much all I could have asked for. I’m much more excited now for the release of Return To Dust and whether you believed they’d ever gone away or not, Calexico are back.

The Caliposa archive has the set list from Sunday night’s show and in advance of the new record, there’s a short preview video shot in their hometown of Tuscon now up.

Photos: Calexico, Woodpigeon @ The Mod Club – July 6, 2008
MP3: Calexico – “Cruel”
MP3: Calexico – “Convict Pool”
MP3: Calexico – “Alone Again Or”
MP3: Calexico – “Quattro (World Drifts In)”
MP3: Calexico – “Crystal Frontier”
MP3: Calexico – “The Black Light”
MP3: Woodpigeon – “In Praise Of The West Midlothian Bus Service”
MP3: Woodpigeon – “Oberkampf”
Video: Calexico – “Cruel”
MySpace: Calexico
MySpace: Woodpigeon

And staying in Arizona for a bit, Giant Sand’s new one proVisions was originally supposed to come out in May, but since that obviously didn’t happen, fans can now look forward to it hitting stores on September 2 courtesy of Yep Roc.

One of the guests on said Giant Sand record is Neko Case, and she also lends her pipes to another record from a veteran performer dusting off a band name again after flying solo for a bit – Eric Bachmann and Crooked Fingers. Pitchfork has details on the new Crooked Fingers record Fortune/Forfeit, which is set for an October 7 release amidst touring that will find them at the Phoenix with Okkervil River later that week on October 12.

And checking in on she whose voice graced the last Crooked Fingers record Dignity & Shame – Ms Lara Meyerratken aka El May – she’s made some tracks from her ever-in-progress record available to stream on her site and her MySpace. Worth a listen.

An Aquarium Drunkard interviews Alejandro Escovedo.

David Berman of Silver Jews talks to BeatRoute. They’re at Lee’s Palace on September 2.

Today, in Fleet Foxes news – they’ve released a new video (see below), have a recent gig streaming at NPR, are the subject of an interview with The Chicago Tribune and have been declared “Band of the Week” at Paste. They’re at the Phoenix on July 16 with Stephen Malkmus.

Video: Fleet Foxes – “White Winter Hymnal”

It’s a foregone conclusion that Of Montreal will tour in support of their next album Skeletal Lamping after it’s released on October 7 but while only a handful of dates have been announced, Steve helpfully pointed out in yesterday’s comments that TicketMaster is already listing one of them in Toronto on October 28 at the Queen Elizabeth Theatre down at the CNE grounds. That’s not a commonly used venue, but it holds around 1300, seated. Because obviously you’d want to sit for Of Montreal. Tickets for that show are general admission, $25 and go on sale Friday.

I’d originally said The Walkmen’s September 10 show was at Lee’s Palace – in fact, it will be at the Horseshoe. Their next album You & Me will still be out August 19.

Rob Crow of Pinback gives Drowned In Sound a guide to writing the perfect pop song. Pinback will be at Lee’s Palace on October 7.

Pitchfork reports that Portastatic will be doing some housecleaning in the form a double-disc compilation chock full of rarities and covers and entitled Some Small History, due out September 9.

Merge is giving away free non-album MP3s from the likes of M Ward, Destroyer and Wye Oak. Because they’re swell.

Blurt congratulates Juliana Hatfield on the release of her tenth solo record, How To Walk Away, out August 19. She’ll also be releasing her memoirs in a tome entitled When I Grow Up and set to his stores September 29.

Pitchfork presents Broken Social Scene presents Brendan Canning presents Something For All Of Us… presents the video for “Hit The Wall”. Stores present the album July 22. Hillside presents Broken Social Scene on July 27.

Video: Brendan Canning – “Hit The Wall”

Chart talks to Young & Sexy.

The National Post points the way to the trailer for Generation Kill, the new Gulf War II-themed HBO miniseries from David Simon, the man behind The Wire. The seven-part series premieres next Sunday, July 13. Season five of The Wire is available on DVD on August 12.

Trailer: Generation Kill

Photo by Frank Yang

I had thought that Ladytron’s Friday night show at Harbourfront Centre was crazy. Apparently I hadn’t seen anything yet. While that show was fairly packed to the gills, the band’s aloof aesthetic – fancy lightshow notwithstanding – was more suited to anything from head nodding to full body-bobbing, but not so much all-out flailing. That was for Saturday.

For the final night of the Beats, Breaks & Culture festival, the Harbourfront mainstage played host to up-and-coming party/hip-hop duo Thunderheist and already-arrived, buzzy like a broken synth, local heroes (or local villains depending on your personal position on intellectual property rights), Crystal Castles. I didn’t really know either act going in – I’d heard some positive things about the former and though it’s been nigh-impossible to avoid hearing both positive and negative things about the latter (not that they made a good first impression when they bailed on playing our day show at SxSW, but I digress), I’d only actually sat down to listen to their self-titled debut a few days ago. But I’m getting ahead of myself.

Thuderheist were up first and while I will cite my usual disclaimer that I’m not a hip-hop guy and thus not really one who should be offering reviews of such, I’ve seen enough hip-hop live to know when it’s good and when it’s not and while Thunderheist weren’t the best I’ve seen, they were pretty good. Frontwoman Isis kept the energy high playing to all sides of the stage and brought out a trio of b-girl dancers to mix it up at a few points through the set, while DJ Graham put together some interesting beats that tended towards the lo-fi, fuzzy end of things. Entertaining stuff, and bonus points to Graham for continuing to spin records between sets, keeping the audience hepped up until the headliners.

Putting aside any ancillary controversy and considering the Crystal Castles record on its own merits, I rather surprisingly find myself rather partial to it, not least of all because it appeals to my inner 12-year old who spent far too many hours playing Nintendo games (and yet never beating them. I’ve still not finished Super Mario Bros and that may be the most personal thing I’m willing to admit in this blog). Marrying the fizzy 8-bit sounds of video games of yore with basic yet insistent beats, buoyant melodies and a slightly unhinged singer seems like a simple recipe but it’s also an effective one. Some to much of it is repetitive but those bits are replaced by something equivalently catchy before it overstays its welcome. In short, I get why people like Crystal Castles but only after experiencing it live do I understand why people are going batshit for them.

Taking the stage fashionably late (of course), Ethan Kath on synths and a hired drummer worked the audience, looking like Hipster Runoff come to life and already frothing with anticipation, into a further frenzy. From the photo pit, I had two thoughts – first, how glad I was that there was a sturdy metal fence between me and them, and second, I had no idea how I was going to get out of there intact. But thoughts of self-preservation vanished when the crowd somehow reached another level of volume – singer Alice Glass had finally come onstage. Game on.

Some preliminary research showed that shooting Crystal Castles, photographically speaking, was like shooting a single fish in a huge black ocean. Glass never stops moving – bounding across the stage, onto the monitors, into the crowd, and illumination was more often than not only a strobe light and pointed in the wrong direction, no less. She’s exponentially more the focal point live than on record, where she’s often buried in the mix or otherwise obscured, and the combination of her energy, the music turned up loud, the freaky lights and the audience collectively losing their shit made it feel less like a conventional concert than… I don’t know what it felt like. Super Mario on meth, coke and acid simultaneously. It wouldn’t have surprised me at all if Glass had leapt into the air, punched an invisible block and grabbed the giant mushroom hidden within to grow to twice her size. It was absolutely nuts, and with that overall experience I can understand people walking (staggering) away from a show like this feeling like they’ve just witnessed the second coming. More than likely they’ve actually suffered a concussion from guy beside them with the porno ‘stache and shutter shades elbowing them in the head, but hey – six of one, half dozen of the other.

I didn’t actually stay to the end of the show, though from the sounds of this eye review, I might have almost. By the time I’d fought my way out of the pit and the crowd, I had a dead battery, shot about 200 completely black frames and felt like I’d been through a war. Though I said that it’s the live experience that’d probably make believers out of most, I don’t think I ever need to experience that again. But I likely will listen to the album again. Go figure.

Photos: Crystal Castles, Thunderheist @ Harbourfront Centre – July 5, 2008
MP3: Crystal Castles – “Untrust Us”
MP3: Thunderheist – “Jerk It”
Video: Crystal Castles – “Courtship Dating”
MySpace: Thunderheist

Now if popular opinion were the only yardstick that mattered, then I’d continue to be talking about Crystal Castles in the context of the just-announced Polaris Music Prize shortlist, but as it happens the controversial duo were shut out of the top ten. Instead, the records that will be vying for the title of the best record in Canada and the big $20,000 cheque that comes along with it are:

Black Mountain / In The Future / MP3: “Tyrants”
Basia Bulat / Oh My Darling / MP3: “In The Night”
Caribou / Andorra / MP3: “Melody Day”
Kathleen Edwards / Asking For Flowers
Holy Fuck / LP / MP3: “Lovely Allen”
Plants & Animals / Parc Avenue
Shad / The Old Prince / MP3: “I Don’t Like To”
Stars / In Our Bedroom After The War / MP3: “The Night Starts Here”
Two Hours Traffic / Little Jabs / MP3: “Stuck For The Summer”
The Weakerthans / Reunion Tour / MP3: “Sun In An Empty Room”

I’m actually rather surprised at the results of the short list – though only two of my five submissions, even after long list revisions, made the finalists, I’m passingly to very well acquainted with nine of the ten. What this says to me is that the cosmos of critical taste in this country is aligning with mine. Excellent. And now, of course, the discussion turns from “who’s going to make the shot list” to “who’s going to win the prize?” with a brief stopover in “why in hell did/didn’t [insert name here] make the list?”. And speculation on who will win is really pointless – the way the prize is set up, where a final jury of 11 is sequestered away on the eve of the award ceremony (September 29) to deliberate until a consensus is reached, any combination of the 178 jurors could reach a different conclusion. Even if you think there’s a no-brainer best album out of the bunch – and for the record, I don’t though right now my gut is saying Black Mountain might take it – if it doesn’t have a few zealous supporters on that final jury, it won’t get the nod. But as it stands, we’ll have almost three full months of discussion and debate (or indifference) before a record is crowned.

The National Post, London Free Press and The Montreal Gazette talks to a couple of the nominees about getting the nod, Chart has video interviews with the two of my nominees who made the cut – Basia Bulat and Two Hours Traffic – and over at Stille Post, a discussion about the nominations very quickly turns into a demonstration of why Crystal Castles might have gotten the snub and then gets back to complaining about everything about the list and the prize in general.

Spin spends some time with a band likely to get some attention for next year’s Polaris, Wolf Parade and At Mount Zoomer. They’ll be at the Kool Haus on August 9.

Chart reports that one of last year’s finalists, Chad Van Gaalen, will release his new record Soft Airplane on September 9.

Photo by Frank Yang

Though celebrating its fifth anniversary this year and surely the longest running program of Harbourfront Centre’s World Routes Summer festival series, I’d never been to any of the Beats, Breaks & Culture shows before. Not the biggest fan of beats or breaks, and the jury is still out on this whole “culture” thing. But as I mentioned a couple weeks back, Ladytron’s latest Velocifero has been in very heavy rotation lately and with them playing a free show on Friday night as part of the aforementioned festival, there was simply no way I was missing it (and if my Facebook friends’ status’ were any indication, no one else was missing it either).

Ladytron’s tourmates throughout their North American itinerary had been Datarock and they’d originally been slated to play this date as well, but at some point they were removed and French outfit Poni Hoax added. This was disappointing as I’d seen Datarock before and if nothing else, they’re fun to watch. Poni Hoax, on the other hand, really wasn’t. By dressing up synth-rock with Euro-lounge accouterments, the five piece might have aspired to the likes of Roxy Music, but came off more like Dead Or Alive. A large part of the problem was frontman Nicolas Ker, who looked about ten years older than his bandmates and with a decidedly unsettling, creepy uncle vibe. Perhaps a superficial reason to dismiss a band, but they didn’t do anything musically interesting enough to distract me from it. The most memorable facet of their set was the drummer, who despite being barely functional in English, enthusiastically handled all of the band’s between-song banter. Entertaining and incomprehensible.

Watching they set up the stage for Ladytron, it occurred to me that for all the times I’d been to shows at the Habourfront Centre mainstage, it was always for local or Canadian acts who came without especially elaborate stage setups. The difference between those shows and this one became clear when the roadies pulled the covers off the massive banks of lights across the back of the stage – Ladytron came equipped with visuals, oh yes. Now I’d been led to believe by others who’d seen them live before that they were almost Kraftwerk-ian in their stoic stage presence, which is to say I wasn’t expecting them to move any more than was absolutely necessary to play their instruments and sing. Thankfully, this was not the case. While frontwomen Helen Marnie and Mira Aroyo didn’t stray far from their massive banks of synths, they did step up to the mics when it was their respective turns to take vocals as well as dance, or at least sway and skip. Bandmates Reuben Wu and Daniel Hunt sensibly stayed well in the back along with the touring drummer and second guitarist – no one was there to look at them, after all. There weren’t any extravagant antics, but they were hardly the robotic presence I’d half-expected. After all, robots don’t lead two thousand people in clap-alongs (okay, you could probably program one to do so but it wouldn’t be the same).

But even if they did have the charisma of automatons, the show would have rocked. First, the venue was obscenely packed with frantic fans who would have easily made up the net energy and second, Ladytron sounded fantastic. Obviously I’m a guitar guy at heart, but I can fully appreciate being hit in the face with a big fat analog square wave, especially when it’s riding songs as unrelentingly propulsive and hooky as these. The benefits of volume became clear to me earlier in the week when I listened to Velocifero on the stereo turned up loud, and they were even more obvious in a live setting with a pretty much perfect mix. Almost half the set drew from the latest album, guaranteeing that I’d at least recognize a lot of the songs, and the rest is definitely forcing me into a reappraisal of their entire catalog – I already have The Witching Hour on order, though as it turns out they were selling it at the show. Alas.

Photos: Ladytron, Poni Hoax @ Harbourfront Centre – July 4, 2008
MP3: Ladytron – “Black Cat”
MP3: Ladytron – “Destroy Everything You Touch”
Video: Ladytron – “Ghosts”
Video: Ladytron – “Destroy Everything You Touch”
Video: Ladytron – “Sugar”
Video: Ladytron – “Evil”
Video: Ladytron – “Blue Jeans”
Video: Ladytron – “Seventeen”
Video: Ladytron – “Play Girl”
Video: Poni Hoax – “Antibodies”
Video: Poni Hoax – “Budapest”
MySpace: Ladytron

BeatRoute talks to Andrew Bird.

Spin has an interview – and fashion spread – with She & Him. Matt and Zooey will be at the Opera House and looking dapper (well her, anyway) on July 23.

Pitchfork.tv is streaming the whole of the Guyville Redux documentary that ships as a bonus DVD with the deluxe edition of Liz Phair’s Exile In Guyville.

And on the non-tv side, Pitchfork marks SubPop’s 20th anniversary with a conversation with label founders Bruce Pavitt and Jonathan Poneman.

Photo by Ben Corrigan

My first couple times through The Duke Spirit’s second album Neptune, way back in March, my impressions were that it was a remarkably unremarkable record. Certainly passable straight ahead rock, but nothing especially distinctive. A revisit some months later… and still not much to speak of.

When I saw them live a few years back I was impressed by their energy onstage, but don’t think any of their songs stuck with me and again, that’s the case. Neptune‘s garage/blues-rock is proficiently played with some interesting production flourishes and all delivered with the requisite amount of energy to make you believe the band is fully invested, but nothing jumps out as being exceptional. They display some decent melodic instincts on the piano-led “My Sunken Treasure” but don’t indulge it often enough, preferring to lean on the tried and true (or should that be “tired”?) rawk. If I had actually expected anything of this record, I’d probably be disappointed but as it is, I’m mostly just indifferent.

But hey, if you like them don’t let me harsh on your buzz. Courtesy of Filter, I’ve got three prize packs consisting of a Duke Spirit t-shirt, a copy of Neptune on CD, an instrumental-only mix of Neptune on CD (for DIY karaoke?) and a copy of Neptune on LP, autographed by the band. If you want, email me at contests AT chromewaves.net with “I’ve got the Duke Spirit” in the subject line and your full name, mailing address and t-shirt size in the body. Hopefully the prize fulfillment elves will be able to provide a properly-fitting garment. Contest closes in one week, July 12, and is open to whomever, wherever.

The Duke Spirit talk to Spinner and GigWise and are setting out on an American tour in a couple weeks.

MP3: The Duke Spirit – “Lassoo”
Video: The Duke Spirit – “Lassoo”
Video: The Duke Spirit – “The Step & The Walk”
MySpace: The Duke Spirit

Photo via We Are Soldiers We Have Guns

I’d never heard of Spanish site Buffet Libre before, but they’ve made a hell of a first impression with their enormous, 58-song ’80s covers and remixes compilation entitled Rewind, all available to download for free (and legal). The majority of artists are unknown to me but range from around the world and there are some familiar names in the mix – Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin throwing some massive synths at XTC, Electric Soft Parade tackling Pet Shop Boys and We Are Soldiers We Have Guns paying tribute to The Go-Go’s. I can’t imagine I’ll ever get through everything in this collection, but it’ll (hopefully) be fun to try.

MP3: Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin – “Another Satellite”
MP3: Electric Soft Parade – “Jealousy”
MP3: We Are Soldiers We Have Guns – “Our Lips Are Sealed”

That last act is the current project of Sweden’s Malin Dahlberg, also of Douglas Heart, and her debut album Get Up, Get Out is out July 28. I’m losing hope for a new Douglas Heart record any time soon – I’m not sure when the two rough mixes on their MySpace went up but I’m betting it wasn’t recently – so this record will have to do. It’s interesting how much less introverted Dahlberg sounds outside the context of Douglas Heart’s dreamy aesthetic. It’s still certainly bedroom wallflower pop, but sunnier somehow.

MP3: We Are Soldiers, We Have Guns – “November”
MP3: We Are Soldiers, We Have Guns – “Songs That No One Will Hear”
MP3: We Are Soldiers, We Have Guns – “Damn Those TV Shows, Damn Them Straight To Hell”
MP3: We Are Soldiers, We Have Guns – “Tourists In Our Hometown”
Video: We Are Soldiers We Have Guns – “The Line Is A Dot To You”
Stream: We Are Soldiers, We Have Guns / Get Up, Get Out
MySpace: We Are Soldiers We Have Guns

Drowned In Sound talks to Sarah Assbring of El Perro Del Mar.

Though almost a third of the spots for this year’s Virgin Festival remain unannounced, they’ve made some progress in filling out what’s going on the weekend of September 6 and 7 by announcing the DJs for the Bacardi B-Live tent. Not being a dance/electronic music guy, most of the names meant nothing to me, but the big one certainly did. were announced this week with a bunch of names I don’t know and one that I do – Moby. My arch-nemesis – my great white whale, if you will – will be spinning on day two. There will be a reckoning. Oh yes. But first, hopefully there’ll be some more performers announced sooner rather than later.

Also happening on Toronto Islands this Summer is Wakestock, running July 24 to 27. There’s usually a passel of bands of the punk rock variety along for the ride and this this year they’ll also have the likes of Metric and We Are Scientists to soundtrack all the extreme sporting.

JAM, NOW and OnMilwaukee.com talk to Alejandro Escovedo about his new record Real Animal. He’s in town Monday and in addition to his show at the Mod Club that evening, he’s doing an acoustic in-store and signing at the HMV in Yorkville at 12:30 PM. And congratulations to Neil who won the passes to the evening performance.

Mogwai have offered up the first taste of their next album The Hawk Is Howling, out September 23. They’re at the Kool Haus on September 24.

MP3: Mogwai – “The Sun Smells Too Loud”

JAM chats with Adele.

Spin reveals what the cover of The Verve’s forthcoming Forth – due August 19 – will look like. Well, I suppose we should be thankful there’s not a rainbow.

Pitchfork finds out what Rose Elinor Dougall – aka Rosay – is up to as an ex-Pipette.

Jane Vain & The Dark Matter will be back in town at month’s end with two shows at the Horseshoe – one on July 26 with The Coast and a free one that following Tuesday, July 29.

Forest City Lovers have been keeping a tour diary for Exclaim! as they traipse across the continent on tour. Follow along at home! Vue Weekly also chats with singer-songwriter Kat Burns.

Joey Burns of Calexico discusses the back to basics creative process behind Carried To Dust with Beatroute while John Covertino talks to Metro Times. We’ll hear the fruits of their labours this Sunday night when they play the Mod Club. Also on the bill are Woodpigeon, who talk to eye about the state of the arts in their native Calgary. Congratulations to Joe who won the passes to the show.

Nashville Scene talks to The Black Angels. WOXY is also sharing a studio session with the band.

Black Mountain will be returning to town on September 27 with Jesse Sykes & The Sweet Hereafter in tow – that show will be at the Opera House.

Grizzly Bear update Billboard on the status of their next album. They’re at the Molson Amphitheatre with Radiohead on August 15.

Matablog points to a number of recent Shearwater radio sessions to stream.