Amelia ShawBrisbane is a long way from Toronto. So long that many Australian artists barely make it over here once in their careers, let alone as many times as An Horse have been here in just the last 10 months. The duo of Kate Cooper and Damon Cox brought their scrappy two-piece pop to town five – that’s FIVE – times in 2009 at venues of all sizes; in March at the Tranzac as part of Canadian Musicfest, at the Horseshoe in April and again in June supporting The Appleseed Cast and Telekinesis respectively, they had their own show at the Drake Underground in September and were again in the support slot in October at the massive Sound Academy with Silversun Pickups. Sufficed to say, if you didn’t see them live last year, it’s because you were actively trying not to.

And if you want to keep that An Horse-less streak alive – and I can’t imagine why you would, they’re a charming and entertaining band and their debut Rearrange Beds well worth a listen – you’d best avoid Massey Hall on January 19 and Criminal Records on January 20. That’s because the first night they’ll be at the grand old lady of Shuter Street opening up for Tegan & Sara and then they’ll go from one of the biggest stages in the city to one of the smallest – really, it’s a floor – when they play an in-store at Criminal Records the next night at 6PM.

Auto Straddle has an interview with Cooper, who now apparently resides in Montreal. So I suppose her commute is easier, at least.

MP3: An Horse – “Postcards”
MP3: An Horse – “Camp Out”
Video: An Horse – “Camp Out”

Quiet and lovely will be the watchwords on January 21 at the Garrison when the bill will feature The Wilderness Of Manitoba, Ghost Bees and Ohbijou’s Casey Mecija. Admission $8 at the door.

MP3: The Wilderness Of Manitoba – “Bluebirds”
MP3: Ghost Bees – “Vampires Of The West Coast”
MP3: Ohbijou – “Black Ice”

Patterson Hood of Drive-By Truckers talks to Spinner about their new album The Big To-Do, out March 16.

Guitar International talks guitars and songwriting with Joel Plaskett.

The Mountain Goats perform a Tiny Desk Concert for NPR.

Under The Radar talks to Love Is All’s Josephine Olausson about their just-completed third album, due out in the Spring.

The Brother Kite have completed their new album and while details like label and release date are still to be determined, it has a title – Isolation – and a companion EP entitled The Eye To Eye EP. As I make a point of saying every opportunity I get, their last effort Waiting For The Time To Be Right was one of my favourite albums of the last decade so expectations are high for this one. If you have a label and want to put out an awesome record, get in touch (with them, not me).

Spinner looks at the trend of uber-fancy CD packaging, as practiced recently by The Flaming Lips and Pixies. The Quietus has a conversation with one of the men responsible for the latter’s ridiculously fancy Minotaur box set (and the unique style of 4AD in general), Vaughan Oliver of 23 envelope/v23.

Frank YangLate last month, Owen Pallett announced that he was shedding the “Final Fantasy” moniker with which he’d won the inaugural Polaris Prize-winning He Poos Clouds and would be releasing its long-awaited follow-up, Heartland, under his own somewhat less exciting but infinitely less copyright-infringing name.

And so I hope I’m not getting anyone in trouble by posting this recording under his old stage name, but it does date back to 2007, when “Final Fantasy” still shone from marquees around the city (well the Tranzac and Harbourfront Centre, at least) and this John Cale cover was a fixture of his live sets though this version comes, I believe, from his CBC Fuse session with Cadence Weapon. It was also just last month that I got a copy of Cale’s Paris 1919 on LP, so the selection of Pallett’s cover of the title track seems a logical choice to start off this new year/decade. Though really, both original and reinterpretation are beautiful works that don’t need any excuse to show off and share.

Heartland is out next Tuesday and Pallett has a show at the Mod Club that evening – The Guardian talks to him about his new record and the name change decision. Cale continues to produce and record and in March of this year, will perform Paris 1919 in its entirety with The Heritage Orchestra at the Southbank Centre in London. Oh, that would be a thing to see.

MP3: Final Fantasy – “Paris 1919”
Video: John Cale – “Paris 1919” (live)