Frank YangIt’s not overstating things to say that three of the four Mojave 3 shows I’ve seen over the years and Neil Halstead’s solo show at the Rivoli in 2002 have been some of my favourite concert memories, ever. The fourth and most recent Mojave 3 show in October 2006 broke that streak, however, or was memorable for the wrong reasons (terrible sound, half the band missing) so I had my fingers crossed going into Saturday night’s show at the Drake that Halstead would be able to renew the streak of memorable performances starring him.

The opener was a local (as of that day, as he mentioned he’d spent the day moving downtown) by the name of Andre Charles Theriault, but who used to ply his trade under the pseudonym “Ghost Hands”. It was as Ghost Hands that I saw him open for Beach House back in November 2006, and while his craft is approximately the same – deft guitarwork paired with detailed and conversational singer-songwriterness – the skill applied has greatly improved, with melodies and turns of phrase that were much more evocative. An impressive little set – now if only he had a more compact and memorable name… like, say, Ghost Hands?

One of the most distinctive things about Mojave 3 as a live band is how powerful and commanding they are, even when their volume is barely more than a whisper. It’s hard to explain, but once experienced, impossible to forget. So it’s remarkable that even without his bandmates and armed just with an acoustic guitar, Neil Halstead still has that sort of effect. Seated alone behind a couple of mics (one for his voice, one for his guitar), Halstead opened the set with a reading of “Martha’s Mantra”, from 2002’s
Sleeping On Roads, that set the tone for the night by absolutely silencing the well-filled room. Halstead’s persona is too low-key and laid-back to fit a descriptor as gaudy as “magician”, but what he creates is most definitely magic.

For a good portion of the set, Halstead was joined by a couple of bandmates on bass and guitar/mandolin who really helped fill out the sound. On a few occasions the lead guitar lost the plot, either in terms of staying on beat or generally over-playing, but for the most part kept things tasteful and more than made up for any transgressions with his spot-on backing vocals. I was somewhat and pleasantly surprised how deeply the set list delved further into the Mojave 3 songbook – given that Halstead had two excellent solo records to work with, the aforementioned Roads and this year’s Oh! Mighty Engine, he could have assembled a perfectly solid set just from those but I suppose he appreciated that there’s no probably no such thing as a Neil Halstead fan who’s not a Mojave 3 fan or vice versa.

It’s difficult to pick a high point since really – the whole gig qualifies – but a peculiar highlight was his inability to remember the final chords to “Sarah”. He tried gamely a few times to find the right one before aborting, and the crowd applauded. You know you’re in a room of devout fans when. And also remarkable was the encore, for the reason that there was one. Early shows at the Drake usually have a hard 11PM curfew and Halstead’s main set ran a full hour and a half to 11. I certainly didn’t expect there to be more. But more there was, as he came back for another three songs despite the house’s preference that we all clear out for a drinkier crowd – at one point they started to turn on the house lights but they were shouted back off by the audience. All told, almost two hours of glorious songs from one of my favourite songwriters ever. Does it get better than that? Maybe, but not by much.

amNY has an interview with Halstead wherein he explains why there’s no Slowdive material in his solo sets – the reason is more mundane than you might think, though I should point out that if I was able to learn to play “Dagger” in 20 minutes, then surely he can jog his memory. Just saying. And also definitely stop by MySpace Transmissions, for which Halstead recorded a beauteous session which is available to watch in video as well as download in high-res MP3 for free.

Photos: Neil Halstead, Andre Charles Theriault @ The Drake Underground – November 8, 2008
MP3: Neil Halstead – “Paint A Face”
MP3: Neil Halstead – “Witless Or Wise” (live on MySpace Transmissions)
MP3: Neil Halstead – “Martha’s Mantra (For The Pain)” (live on MySpace Transmissions)
Video: Neil Halstead – “Paint A Face”
Video: Neil Halstead – “Queen Bee”

A Ride “where are they now”… Andy Bell is in Oasis and cashing large paycheques. Mark Gardener is in Mark Gardener but not seemingly up to too much at the moment. Loz Colbert is in the newly-reformed Jesus & Mary Chain and also International Jetsetters (unremarkable band, sample below). But whither Steve Queralt? One Salient Oversight tracked down the Ride bassman for an interview wherein they cover his start in music, where Ride went right and where they went wrong, what he’s up to now and, of course, the chances of a reunion (slim to none). Good reading.

MP3: International Jetsetters – “Inside Yourself”

Cheers to Muzzle Of Bees for pointing out this blog entry from Belle & Sebastian frontman Stuart Murdoch pointing out that a new set of recordings entitled God Help The Girl are recorded and in the process of being mastered. But as I point out in the comments, this is not a proper Belle & Sebastian release, but the soundtrack to a musical film that Murdoch has been working on and set to start filming in Spring of next year – you can hear samples from it at both iMeem and MySpace. And though any number of band members will make an appearance on said soundtrack, Belle & Sebastian the band are currently on an indefinite hiatus. Fans will have to make do with the release of the BBC Sessions collection due out on November 18 and which contains four unreleased songs.

Those sessions all hail from early part of the band’s career, from 1996 through 2001, and those four new songs are the final ones to feature then-cellist/vocalist Isobel Campbell. She’ll also be appearing on another release coming out on November 18 – Sunday At Devil Dirt, the second album from Campbell and Mark Lanegan. The follow-up to 2005’s Ballad Of The Broken Seas, it was released in the UK in the Spring but will now be available domestically in North America with a half-dozen bonus tracks to sweeten the deal.

MP3: Isobel Campbell & Mark Langean – “Trouble”

Johnny Marr has submitted himself to an interview wherein he talks about the process of revisiting and remastering the material that’s gone into the latest Smiths compilation, The Sound Of The Smiths, out Tuesday. There’s also a conversation with Frank Arkwright, the mastering engineer on the reissue. Via The Music Slut.

Here’s something that certainly caught me by surprise – a Daytrotter session… featuring Wire.

Tech question – anyone running a NAS system, either via a router or a drive enclosure? My Apple Airport Extreme, after being flaky ever since I got it last Summer, finally appears to have died (Extreme POS, more like). I’m probably going to replace it with a non-NAS router, but that then leaves all my iTunes music – which I’d gotten used to being able to stream wirelessly – stuck being tethered to my laptop. And I was looking at getting a big-ass (1TB or so) external drive for backups and archiving so if you want to suggest something along those lines with an ethernet connection and which is reliable, please do so.

I hate technology.

Facebook…Okay, not exactly tonight, but very soon. Scottish quartet Franz Ferdinand won’t be releasing their third album Tonight: Franz Ferdinand until January 27, but they’re looking to drum up interest beforehand and remind people of a time when the disco hi-hat beat was fresh and novel. To that end, they’re booking a string of club dates in venues the size of which they haven’t played in some years (I think they went from the 350-capacity Horseshoe in February 2004 to the 2000-capacity Kool Haus four months later and then the 3000-plus Docks by October).

Anyways, this time they’ll be at Lee’s Palace on December 4 for an intimate dance party with approximately 500 of their lucky fans. Tickets are $25 and go on sale next Thursday, November 13, at 10AM. There’s also been a December 9 show in Vancouver at the Commodore Ballroom, so it’s reasonable to think that there’ll be an announcement with proper tour dates across North America in the not-too-distant future. But for now, the Canadian dates are all you get.

I haven’t paid too much attention to the band since their ubiquitous debut, but I just spun it again last night and enjoyed it more than I expected. How was You Could Have It So Much Better? Would it make a casual fan a believer or is it more of the same? I’m curious. Not that it’d affect my inability to attend the show either way – prior engagements with a certain Mr. Young and Mr. Wilco that night.

Rolling Stone and Exclaim talk to frontman Alex Kapranos about the new album while Chart covers the same ground with guitarist Nick McCarthy.

MySpace: Franz Ferdinand

Maximo Park’s Paul Smith talks to Spinner about making their third album in Los Angeles while living in fear of wildfires and being swallowed up by the earth. The band have some videos of their stay in the city of angels at their YouTube channel.

Emmy The Great discusses the single “We Almost Had A Baby” with I Like Music. The single is out on Monday and First Love, the album from whence it comes, is out in January.

Video: Emmy The Great – “We Almost Had A Baby”

Robyn Hitchcock discusses the next Venus 3 album with Paste and his past solo works with The Chicago Sun-Times. The aforementioned Venus 3 record, Goodnight Oslo, will be released on February 17.

Pitchfork reports that Swedish pop-smith Loney Dear – now comma-free – will release a new album entitled Dear John on January 27. They’re also streaming a new track from the record.

Stream: Loney Dear – “Airport Surroundings”

Drowned In Sound has run the second part in their interview with The Dears’ Murray Lightburn, the first part of which ran in mid-October.

Casiotone For The Painfully Alone have a date at 6 Nassau (the cryptically-named new venue in Kensington Market located at 6 Nassau St) on November 15. The Post has an interview with Mr Casiontone, Owen Ashworth, whose Town Topic EP was re-released at the end of September

PitchforkTV is currently streaming the Dirty Old Town live doc featuring Ted Leo & The Pharmacists. I bought the DVD of this like three years ago… still haven’t watched it. Like most music DVDs I buy.

Bill CarterI had any number of reasons to be feeling good after seeing Calexico on their last visit through town in July. There was the fact that I’d just seen a terrific live band in a venue half the size from what they normally play, or also the fact that without a particular album to promote they’d opted for a set list that ranged all across their career. But what was most exciting was the fact that the new material that got showcased sounded terrific, and proved that the band had gotten the ill-suited songwriter-pop out of their system and had returned to the sun-bleached Tejano-rock that they do so well. Their next album would be cause for anticipation, not trepidation.

And that album, Carried To Dust, doesn’t disappoint. From the opening notes of “Victor Jara’s Hands”, there’s an unmistakable atmosphere and earthiness that was absent from Ruin and is a fundamental part of Calexico’s sound – the titular Dust, perhaps. Similarities can be drawn to their previous highwater mark, Feast Of Wire, but even in recalling their past Calexico still plough forward. They capture the musical ranginess and restlessness of that record but cast it in a ghostlier, more slow-motion context. They also maintain the focus on song structure and vocals that came out of Garden Ruin, in fact Dust features a wide range of guest vocalists to compliment Joey Burns and all of whom manage to enhance the proceedings, never detract. Once again making the sort of music that only Calexico can make, they may have rebounded from the worst record of their career with what could well be their best.

Calexico are returning to Toronto on November 18 for a show at the Phoenix, and courtesy of Against The Grain, I’ve got two pairs of passes to give away for the show. If you want them, email me at contests AT chromewaves.net with “I want to be carried to dust” in the subject line and your full name in the body and get that in to me by midnight, November 13.

Blurt and The Dallas Observer have feature pieces on Calexico and FabChannel is streaming a gorgeous video of a recent show in Amsterdam.

MP3: Calexico – “Two Silver Trees”
Video: Calexico – “Two Silver Trees”
MySpace: Calexico

Mojo features the band that opened up for Calexico that night at the Mod Club, Calgary’s Woodpigeon, and also offers a track from their Songbook album which was just-released in the UK but isn’t available at all in Canada. Go figure.

MP3: Woodpigeon – “Home As A Romanticized Concept Where Everyone Loves You Always And Forever”

Another Canadian band that’s been opening some US dates for Calexico is The Acorn. Their November 27 show at Lee’s Palace with Ohbijou – already guaranteed to be a fantastic evening – just got that much more fantastic with the addition of The Rural Alberta Advantage to the bill. Best lineup ever? Quite possibly.

Sam Roberts will be playing an in-store at Sonic Boom on November 15 at 3PM in advance of his show at the Music Hall, the last of a four-night stand.

This Is Fake DIY has a video interview with Ra Ra Riot.

Pitchfork reports that Okkervil River frontman Will Sheff and one-time Okkervil River guitarist and full-time Wren Charles Bissell will cover each other on a long-awaited, oft-delayed 7″ release with Sheff doing the Wrens’ “Ex-Girl Collection” and Bissell doing Okkervil’s “It Ends With A Fall”. It’ll be in limited release (shows, mail order, etc) on December 9 and in wide release sometime in January.

Nicole Atkins discusses her recent covers EP with The Washington Times.

Filter has posted online their recent cover feature on Conor Oberst.

Gotham Acme talks politics and music with Patterson Hood of Drive-By Truckers. The New York Daily News sticks to the music. The Truckers are at the Phoenix on Tuesday night with The Hold Steady – congrats to Kim and Luke who won the passes to the show.

Wayne Coyne of The Flaming Lips discusses Christmas On Mars with The Times. The DVD and soundtrack are out on Tuesday.

The Indianapolis Star profiles Blitzen Trapper, who’re at the Phoenix opening up for Iron & Wine next Thursday.

www.thisisyesterday.comIt’s pretty typical for veteran bands who might be a little ways from their most creatively fertile periods to periodically come out and say that their next album will be a stripped-down affair, a return to their roots, what have you. And it’s generally all marketing-speak to try and convince their fans or former fans that they still have something left in the tank and that they’re still viable artistic entities.

For the Manic Street Preachers, it’s not that hard of a sell as their last album Send Away The Tigers was a very decent effort, certainly head and shoulders above the previous few records, and showed that the band wasn’t ready to be dismissed just yet. But with the posting of message on their website earlier this week, the Manics seem to be looking to simultaneously return to their roots without actually sounding anything like they ever did.

They announced they’re currently in the US recording with legendary producer Steve Albini, whose analog-only, ultra-dry aesthetic is light-years from the ’80s-era glam-gloss that defined their first few albums, not that any of their albums have ever been less than slick-sounding. And further, they’re using lyrics left behind by former Manic Richey Edwards who disappeared back in 1995. Though he’s turned in more than his share of clunkers, Nicky Wire has done a more than respectable job as lyricist for the Manics in the years since Edwards’ disappearance but there’s a reason that The Holy Bible is still held up as the band’s masterpiece after all these years. Edwards has been over-mythologized in the past decade plus, to be certain, but he was undoubtedly a compelling writer.

While I’m not thinking the above equals instant classic by any means, it is an interesting combination of factors that could make for one of the more compelling Manics records in recent years. I don’t, however, expect there’ll be anything as gloriously poppy as the Nina Persson duet from the last album (vid linked below) but you can’t have everything. The band are targeting an April or May 2009 release and are toying with typically sunny titles like Journal For Plague Lovers or I Know I Believe In Nothing But It Is My Nothing.

Video: Manic Street Preachers – “Your Love Alone Is Not Enough”

BBC reports that The Kinks reunion is finally a go and that the writing of new material, with an eye towards a new album, has commenced.

Also at the BBC, Damon Albarn refuses to close the door on the possibility of a Blur reunion.

Oasis have released a second video from Dig Out Your Soul.

Video: Oasis – “I’m Outta Time”

Laundromatinee welcomes Supergrass to their studios for a video session.

The Tripwire interviews James Allan of Glasvegas and offers up a non-album MP3 that really doesn’t capture the sonic grandeur of the record. Their self-title is coming out in North America on January 6.

MP3: Glasvegas – “I’m Gonna Get Stabbed”

NME reports that Black Rebel Motorcycle Club have released The Effect Of 333, an ambient/instrumental album, and are making it available online.

Paste catches up with Nick Cave on matters of novels, films and Grinderman.

Sigur Ros premiered their latest video from Med sud I eyrum vid spilum endalaust, the deluxe version of which is out November 24.

Video: Sigur Ros – “Vio spilum endalaust”

The Line Of Best Fit interviews Kevin Barnes of Of Montreal.

Frank YangThe Dakota Tavern, a little subterranean rec room of a bar, has fried chicken. This is a very exciting fact to me, as I’ve been at a loss as to where to get non-gross, non-fast food fried chicken in this town. This assumes, of course, that the quality of foodstuffs there measure up to reputation the Tavern has as both a cool, rootsy watering hole and a friendly, intimate venue. It was these qualities that made it the perfect locale for a warm-up show in advance of the “Hurtin’ And Flurtin’ Tour” that would take co-headliners Kathleen Edwards and John Doe across America, starting tonight.

While I expect the tour itself will be decidedly more put-together and probably feature full backing bands, I would hope for the sake of their audiences that Edwards and Doe continue to eschew the traditional opener/closer roles and play as they did Monday night to a packed house, alternately playing together and separately. This format allowed them to display their obvious musical and personal chemistry, backing each other up and harmonizing on a choice selection of covers and songs of their own, including “The Golden State” off of Doe’s latest A Year In The Wilderness on which the two duet marvelously. They apologized in advance for being a bit under-rehearsed, and while they definitely were that, they were also quite relaxed and having a great time of it. The tightness will come – the rapport was already there.

I’m not as well-versed in Doe’s repertoire as I probably should be – I know some X material and had a couple of his solo records in university, but that’s about the extent of it. That lack of familiarity didn’t keep me from thoroughly enjoying his songs, though – the man has been at it for some 30 years and is damned good at what he does. I had expected from the company he was keeping that he’d be operating in a more country-rock vein, but I guess he saves that for The Knitters – his solo material was thoughtful, melodic and direct singer-songwriter fare, seasoned with charming and witty banter. And the mention that he was in the process of cutting an album with The Sadies was particularly exciting to hear.

But it was Edwards who really impressed. I’ve counted myself a fan since her debut Failer, but my interest had drifted since then and I’m on record as having found her latest effort Asking For Flowers, Polaris-nominated as it may have been, decidedly underwhelming. I had, however, never seen her live. Came close a number of times but it’d just never happened. And based on this performance, I have to wonder if I might have been even more favourably inclined to her stuff than I am because she was really terrific. It’s difficult to say exactly what’s different about hearing her live than on record because production-wise, her albums have always been pretty straightforward, but for whatever reason her songs – and in particular the characters contained within – really came alive. I think I now more fully appreciate her more intangible qualities, that certain resonance that she has beyond just her songs and her voice. It really was an eye- and ear-opener.

Though there’s no local – or even Canadian – dates on the formal tour, Edwards has already started planning her 2009 and it includes a date on February 13 at Trinity-St Paul’s Centre, a venue that – as lovely as it is – couldn’t be further in vibe from the Dakota. I guarantee you they don’t serve fried chicken.

The Richmond Times-Dispatch has an interview with Kathleen Edwards.

Photos: Kathleen Edwards & John Doe @ The Dakota Tavern – November 3, 2008
MP3: Kathleen Edwards – “In State”
MP3: Kathleen Edwards – “Back To Me”
MP3: Kathleen Edwards – “Copied Keys”
MP3: Kathleen Edwards – “One More Song The Radio Won’t Like”
MP3: Kathleen Edwards – “National Steel”
MP3: Kathleen Edwards – “Six O’Clock News”
MP3: John Doe – “The Golden State”
Video: Kathleen Edwards – “The Cheapest Key”
Video: Kathleen Edwards – “I Make The Dough, You Get The Glory”
Video: Kathleen Edwards – “In State”
Video: Kathleen Edwards – “Back To Me”
Video: Kathleen Edwards – “Hockey Skates”
MySpace: Kathleen Edwards
MySpace: John Doe

Beirut mastermind Zach Condon will be releasing two new EPs of material next year on February 17 – March of the Zapotec under the Beirut banner and Holland under the Realpeople nom de plume. Details at Paste.

Okkervil River’s Will Sheff makes a mixtape for Drowned In Sound, makes conversation with Filter.

JAM talks to Emily Haines and James Shaw of Metric about the process of getting their heads together to create album number four, currently looking for an early 2009 release. They’re headlining that big Canuck-rock shin-dig at Sound Academy on December 13.

Spinner’s Interface welcomes Margot & The Nuclear So And So’s to their studios.

Daytrotter offers up a Born Ruffians session for download. And congratulations to Andrew, who won the tote bag and stuff.

In addition to headlining the Make Some Noise concert at the North York Central Library on November 15, Gentleman Reg has got a show scheduled at the Drake Underground for December 4, tickets $12. The release date for his new album Jet Black is still a moving target (though you can hear new material at his MySpace) but there’s a new 7″ single out now and an EP intended to introduce Reg to US audiences entitled Little Buildings is set for release south of the border on November 11.

And speaking of things south of the border… congratulations America. You did a hell of a thing. Though between you and me, I think I was more choked up when Jimmy Smits won the White House on The West Wing. Yeah, sometimes I’m weird like that. But still, bravo.