Frank YangYes, that’s right – night zero. The Tuesday night of SXSW used to be a chance to settle in, to catch up with friends, to have a proper meal. And maybe get ripped and pass out. Whatever. The last few years have seen the number of Interactive closing party events grow significantly, and as of last year there were official Music showcases scheduled for the Tuesday; not a lot, but enough to see that the festival was growing yet again – remember when there wasn’t much going on on Wednesdays?

Anyways, I’ve been staging a bit of a protest of this by refusing to take part in any Tuesday shows – four nights of madness is quite enough, thanks – but this year, my options for the evening amounted to staying in and watching Escape From L.A. or just giving in and seeing some bands. After a little prodding from You Ain’t No Picasso, I gave in and saw some bands.

Inaugurating this year’s fest – for me, at least – were Guards from New York, whom I’d never heard, at Parkside, a bar I’d never been. I did know they were from New York and that band principal Richie James Follin was brother of Cults singer Madeline Follin – which explains why she and Brian Oblivion were standing side stage. And within a few songs of their set, which was given a bit of a Krautrock vibe thanks to a fire alarm beeping throughout their set, it was clear they specialized in a retro-friendly kind of garage pop that could and would take expeditions into psych jams when they felt like it. It wasn’t especially fresh but very much in vogue, and I suspect that a random sample of bands at the fest this year would sound similar. Still, they had good energy, a decent amount of showmanship and as warm-ups go, did the job.

Seeing Austin’s own Ume has become something of a SXSW tradition for me as dinner at Guero’s, and this time I was able to check them off early – so maybe there was an upside to this Tuesday night showcase thing. Their set was slightly delayed by soundchecking, but it gave time for a goodly-sized crowd to assemble on 6th St outside the open window of Bat Bar. You can probably refer back to any of the past writeups for a sense of how things went – high-energy rock showcasing crazy guitar heroics from Lauren Larsen. Nothing to complain about there. What made this show different was that it incorporated songs from their long-awaited full-length Phantoms, released last year. The new material didn’t necessarily grow the songwriting beyond what they demonstrated on the Sunshower EP, but did expand on it sufficiently to sate one’s appetite. And it gives Ume an excuse to keep touring and melting faces.

And some (mostly) non-SXSW content…

The Line Of Best Fit have premiered a new video from Veronica Falls, a track not taken from last year’s self-titled debut.

Video: Veronica Falls – “My Heart Beats”

Also with a new video – The Horrors, from Skying. The Quietus talks to director Pete Fowler about the clip.

Video: The Horrors – “Changing The Rain”

Tindersticks have released a new video from The Something Rain.

Video: Tindersticks – “A Night So Still”

Saw Clock Opera yesterday but won’t get around to writing that up for a bit so in the meantime, check out the new video from their debut Ways To Forget, out April 23.

Video: Clock Opera – “Man Made”

Summer Camp have re-recorded “Round the Moon” in French in honour of some upcoming French tour dates. DIY has the en francais version available to stream.

Stream: Summer Camp – “Autour De La Lune”

Katie SadieSo yeah, Canadian Musicfest kind of screwed me over this year. For the past however many years, we’ve had a good arrangement: Canadian Music Week, as it was once know, runs the week before SXSW and allows me to a) get into some semblance of game shape for a club-hopping festival, b) check out some bands that I might otherwise have to find time to see in Austin, and c) allow me to build up a backlog of content to allow me to keep posting while I’m experiencing taco country. Everybody wins. But for this year, for some inexplicable reason, CMW/CMF decided to move to the week AFTER SXSW, not only invalidating all of the above points but also making next week doubly busy as I try to plough through gigs of SXSW content and still hit the clubs for CMF. And oh yeah, go back to work.

All of which would be more acceptable if the schedule shift had been to accomodate some impressive talent in the festival lineup; I don’t think I’m creating any scandals by saying that that is not so much the case. Compared to past years, there’s seems to be a real dearth of either breakout or on-the-cusp acts, be they local or international – or maybe I’m just not up on what the kids are into these days. They still like the I Mother Earth? Really? Anyways, none of this is to say there’s nothing worth seeing next week – not at all – it just might take a little more research to fill out one’s schedule. I’ve done some of that research. Let me share some of it with you.

Army Girls – It’s a bit cruel that the only showcase I could theoretically make for this duo – my pick for the best up-and-coming act in Toronto – is at the most remote venue in the city and appears to be scheduled so that the set’s no longer than 20 minutes, but even so I will bet that it’d be worth the trek. Amazingly hooky guitar pop with the right amount of abrasiveness.

Thursday, March 22, 10:30PM @ Parts & Labour
Friday, March 23, 2:00PM @ The Toronto Institute For The Enjoyment Of Music

Stream: Army Girls / Close To The Bone

Lake Forest – you might think that a solo project from The Wilderness Of Manitoba’s Will Whitwham a touch redundant since he sings lead and writes most of the WOM material, but his debut album Silver Skies stands apart enough to justify itself while offering plenty to appeal to fans of his band.

Thursday, March 22, 1:00AM @ The Cameron House

MP3: Lake Forest – “Autumn Skies”

Benjamin Francis Leftwich – Singer-songwriter whose debut Last Smoke Before the Snowstorm has made him something of a rising star in his native England; nothing wrong with taking the opportunity to see him in an intimate setting in case he catches on similarly over here.

Thursday, March 22, 11:00PM @ The Cameron House
Friday, March 23, 9:10PM @ Supermarket

MP3: Benjamin Francis Leftwich – “Ticket To Ride” (Beatles cover)
Video: Benjamin Francis Leftwich – “Pictures”

Neufvoin – solidly anthemic guitar rock from hailing from the fjords of Norway wilds of Finland. They’re still young – a debut album is supposed to be out this Spring – but they already sound sophisticated and assured. Was originally just looking for something to fill a time slot but now I quite want to see these guys.

Thursday, March 22, 12:30AM @ El Mocambo (upstairs)
Friday, March 23, 9:00PM @ Rancho Relaxo

MP3: Neufvoin – “Drunken Captain”
MP3: Neufvoin – “Polar Song”
MP3: Neufvoin – “Villasukka”
Video: Neufvoin – “Polar Song”

Fred – I’m pretty sure I’ve seen these Cork (Ireland) natives on the lineups for past CMWs and NXNEs both, so they’re no strangers to our city. But if they’re still strangers to you, and you like big, friendly pop-rock of the sort that fills their new record Leaving My Empire, then you ought to get acquainted.

Thursday, March 22, 11:00PM @ The Rivoli

MP3: Fred – “Eleven”
Video: Fred – “Eleven”

Husky – recent signees to SubPop who fit the label’s rustic/bearded division perfectly, despite hailing from Australia rather than the Pacific Northwest. Their debut Forever So is out July 10; get on board now.

Saturday, March 24, 2:45PM @ The El Mocambo
Saturday, March 24, 9:00PM @ The Garrison
Sunday, March 25, 9:00PM @ The Velvet Underground

MP3: Husky – “The Woods”
Video: Husky – “The Woods”

Louise Burns – Vancouver artist whose debut Mellow Drama made my shortlist for the 2010 Polaris Prize; I wasn’t surprised she didn’t make the shortlist but I wouldn’t have been surprised if she had. For some reason, she’s got no official showcase – just this day show. So if you’re free, take advantage of the opportunity. Update: An official showcase has been added.

Wednesday, March 21, 10:00PM @ The Drake Underground
Thursday, March 22, 4:00PM @ The Toronto Institute For The Enjoyment Of Music

MP3: Louise Burns – “What Do You Wanna Do?”
MP3: Louise Burns – “Drop Names Not Bombs”

And this isn’t all I’d recommend at all, but I need to save some stuff for my actual festival coverage, yeah? Yeah. And the full, three-day sched for those Toronto Institute For The Enjoyment Of Music afternoon shows is over here

BlogTO gets to know The Elwins, whom they declare one of the city’s breakout bands for this year. I don’t disagree. Their next show is March 25 at Rancho Relaxo as part of the Canadian Musicfest grace note and if you ever wanted to see the band, along with Luke Lalonde of Born Ruffians cover Beyonce – this is your lucky day. There’s also an interview at Exclaim where they talk about how they personalised their tour down to SXSW for each tour stop.

Video: The Elwins with Luke Lalonde – “Countdown”

Exclaim and The Georgia Straight talk to Memoryhouse; they play a record release show for The Slideshow Effect at The El Mocambo on April 13.

Forest City Lovers have made a date at The Great Hall on April 19. Tickets $12 in advance.

MP3: Forest City Lovers – “Light You Up”

American Songwriter is hosting the second instalment of The Wooden Sky’s “Grace On A Hill” video session series. The band is at The Opera House on April 20.

Billboard talks to Patrick Watson about his new record Adventures In Your Own Backyard, out April 30. He’s at The Music Hall on May 29.

Congratulations to the newly pregnant Coeur de Pirate, who has just released a new video from Blonde.

Video: Coeur de Pirate – “Golden Baby”

Beatrice Martin is also featured in a fashion spread for Brixton. Which in and of itself wouldn’t necessarily be noteworthy, but it also allows me to point at this fashion shoot for The Bay featuring some familiar local musician faces belonging to Diamond Rings and Fucked Up, amongst others. Sassy!

Clash and State profile Grimes. She plays The Horseshoe March 19.

Macleans looks at the ongoing trend of ’90s Can-rock bands hopping on the reunion bandwagon, including The Inbreds and Treble Charger, both of whom are getting high billing at Canadian Musicfest next week.

The Grid salutes Exclaim on the occasion of their 20th anniversary. I am doing the same. Exclaim, I salute you!

SethA Yo La Tengo show can be a pretty variable thing – even without taking into account the spinning wheel of randomness that dictated the course of their recent tours – seemingly depending on how the band is feeling and regardless of what record they have to promote. I’ve seen them play ultra-extended and often tedious versions of the likes of “Blue Line Swinger” and “Nuclear War”, usually when it seems Ira isn’t in the best mood and might even be taking it out on the audience, and also seen nearly transcendent sets that balance out their pop and experimental sides, replete with jokes, jams and synchronized dancing.

I can tell you one thing, though – when the band visits Toronto next on April 21, you’ll get none of the above. And that’s because it’s nothing like a regular tour stop, but instead an appearance for the closing gala of the Images Festival, wherein they will perform The Sounds Of Science. For the unfamiliar, that’s a series of short nature films made by the avant-garde French director Jean Painlevé in the 1920s and 30s about aquatic life which the band created a score for a screening at the 2001 San Francisco Film Festival and have performed only very occasionally as well as releasing as the album The Sounds Of The Sounds Of Science and the DVD Science Is Fiction: 23 Films By Jean Painlevé (though the DVD features completely different compositions). I have the former and while I can’t claim it’s one of my more listened-to Yo La records – okay, I hardly ever play it – it’s quite lovely and this will be a unique experience.

Tickets for the screening, which will take place at The Toronto Underground Cinema, are $25 in advance. And no, they probably won’t play “Sugarcube”.

MP3: Yo La Tengo – “The Love Life Of The Octopus”
Video: Yo La Tengo – “Sea Urchins”

Norwegian-born, Sweden-based singer-songwriter Ane Brun will pay us a rare visit on May 10 when she plays The Great Hall in support of her new record It All Starts With One, which will be getting a North American release soon. Tickets for the show are $16.50 in advance.

Video: Ane Brun – “Worship” (featuring Jose Gonzalez)

Playground interviews Icelandic composer Ólafur Arnalds.

DIY has a feature piece on The Big Pink.

SXSW poses some questions to James Graham of The Twilight Sad.

The New York Times profiles Jonny Greenwood’s activities both within and without Radiohead. He’ll be with them when they play Downsview Park on June 16. I assume.

The Joy Formidable have released a nice little session video to coincide with their just-started North American tour, which finishes with a sold-out show at Lee’s Palace on April 2.

Video: The Joy Formidable – “The Everchanging Spectrum of a Lie” (live in session)

Rolling Stone talks to Steve Earle about his appreciation for The Rolling Stones.

NPR is streaming the whole of the new Lost In The Trees album A Church That Fits Our Needs ahead of its formal release next Tuesday. They’re at The Drake on April 6.

Video: Lost In The Trees – “Red”
Stream: Lost In The Trees / A Church That Fits Our Needs

eMusic and NPR interview Andrew Bird.

Filter and DIY talk to James Mercer of The Shins. Port Of Morrow is out March 20 and they play The Molson Amphitheatre on August 4.

The AV Club’s Undercover series returns, kicking off with Sharon Van Etten and Shearwater – or “Shearwater/Van Etten” – covering Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers and Stevie Nicks. Awesomely.

Texas bound! Seeya.

Frank YangA little time off can be nice, but as much as I was enjoying the very unusual but welcome two-week break from show leading up to SXSW this week, it was also making me a bit antsy. Thank goodness for the Young Prisms in-store at the new Kensington Market location of Sonic Boom, in advance of their show that evening at The Drake. It would give me a quick, convenient way of scratching the live music itch and also let me pick up some LP sleeves. Everybody wins.

I saw the San Francisco outfit last February opening up for The Radio Dept., and while their dream-pop tended more to the murkier side than I’d like, they were a charming crew and so young that they could have grown plenty in the elapsed time. After all, In Between – the follow-up to their 2011 debut Friends For Now – was already done and coming out in a few weeks; it seemed highly unlikely that they would still be the same band as they were a year ago.

Turns out that was true in the literal sense – they were now a five-piece with the addition of guitarist/vocalist Ashley Thomas to the mix, and while her presence didn’t totally invert their sound, it made a difference. They still sounded very much like My Blood Valentine mixed with morphine – the opiate, not the band – being loud and fuzzy yet not especially aggressive, but the tunefulness that they previously seemed to prefer buried was now being allowed to surface. The second guitar was able to pick out melodies overtop of the churning bed of glider guitar and pounding rhythm section and when Thomas and lead vocalist Steph Hodapp harmonized as they did on new song, “Four Hours (Away)”, well it was clear that Young Prisms had a potent new instrument at their disposal.

Based on a few songs, it’s hard to say too definitively how far Young Prisms have come – the new record isn’t out until March 27 – but it sounds as though they’re mixing some Slowdive romanticism into their MBV sonic stew, and that can only be a good thing. And if these reference points have no meaning or interest to you, then you’d best just move along.

NYCTaper is sharing a recording of the band’s show in New York last week.

Photos: Young Prisms @ Sonic Boom (Kensington) – March 10, 2012
MP3: Young Prisms – “Floating In Blue”
MP3: Young Prisms – “Sugar”
MP3: Young Prisms – “Weekends And Treehouses”
Video: Young Prisms – “Floating In Blue”
Video: Young Prisms – “These Daze”
Video: Young Prisms – “Breathless”
Video: Young Prisms – “Sugar”

Rot Gut, Domestic – the new album from Margot & The Nuclear So & So’s – is out March 20 and a new MP3 is available to download. They play The Garrison on April 5.

MP3: Margot & The Nuclear So And So’s – “Shannon”

NPR is streaming a complete Shins concert in New York last week while JAM and The Line Of Best Fit share interviews with James Mercer; their new record Port Of Morrow is out March 20 and they’re at The Molson Amphitheatre August 4.

eMusic talks to Bowerbirds. They play The Garrison on March 27.

Le Blogotheque has posted a Take-Away Show with Perfume Genius; he plays The Drake Underground on April 8.

Billboard and Rolling Stone talk to M. Ward about his new record A Wasteland Companion, due out April 10.

J Tillman has released a new video from Fear Fun, his debut under the Father John Misty marque. It’s out May 1 and he is at The Horseshoe on May 14.

Video: Father John Misty – “Nancy From Now On”

Ramona Falls, aka the side-project of Menomena’s Brent Knopf, will release their second album Prophet on May 1 and follow it with a show at The Drake Underground on June 8.

MP3: Ramona Falls – “Spore”

Hey, remember Garbage? They certainly hope so. They’ve got a new album called Not Your Kind Of People coming out May 15 and will be embarking on a short tour that ends at The Phoenix in Toronto on May 28.

Video: Garbage – “Vow”

Class Clown Spots A UFO – the second album of the reunited Guided By Voices era is coming in June and the first sample is available to stream. It’s gorgeous. Details on the release and Bob Pollards new solo record – of course there’s another new Bob record – are available at Pitchfork.

Stream: Guided By Voices – “Keep It In Motion”

Pitchfork reports that Bob Mould has signed to Merge records for his next solo record, due out this Fall.

Greg Dulli talks to Rolling Stone about rediscovering The Afghan Whigs – just in time for their reunion this year.

Interview has an interview and NPR a World Cafe session with Sharon Van Etten.

Billboard and Spinner talk to Jay Farrar about the New Multitudes Woody Guthrie project; the project also stopped in at Daytrotter for a session.

Patterson Hood reflects on the making of Drive-By Truckers’ 2001 masterpiece Southern Rock Opera to Boulder Weekly.

iTunesBack in high school, like many others, I was a huge Smashing Pumpkins fan. Siamese Dream was the jam. Played the cassette to death, eventually replaced it with a CD and if it were possible, the laser in my discman would have burned right through it. And yet, I didn’t take to Mellon Collie & The Infinite Sadness at all – too many reasons to get into here, but they’re probably the obvious ones. In fact, I think I listened to the whole thing maybe once, ever, and cherry-picked the songs I liked onto mix tapes before falling off of the Pumpkins bandwagon completely.

All of which is to say that I have no recollection of the existence of the song, “We Only Come Out At Night” whatsoever. It wasn’t a single, so it wouldn’t have been inescapable on MuchMusic and the radio and whatnot, and yet the jaunty little tune seems to have become enough of a favourite that it was the band’s encore closer around 2008 – maybe they even closed their V Fest 2007 appearance with it, I don’t know, I’d left by that point – and spawned countless amateur covers on YouTube. And also this one by Anglo-Swedish pop outfit Fanfarlo. They recorded it for a 2010 iTunes session and, while on paper the idea of a pop band such as they covering an ’90s-alt band such as the Pumpkins would seem irreconcilable, this one quite suits their sound. See above about “jaunty”.

Fanfarlo released their second album Rooms Filled With Light last week and will be in town at The Mod Club next Saturday – March 25 – as part of Canadian Musicfest. Smashing Pumpkins – that is to say Billy Corgan and whomever is playing with him at the moment – have been busy both releasing new music – Teargarden by Kaleidyscope is an ongoing 44-song series/album that’s being made available free to subscribers – and an album comprised of songs from that series entitled Oceania is supposed to be due out this Spring. Oh, and both Siamese Dream and Gish were reissued in fancy deluxe formats last year… I think I may have to get that Siamese Dream one. High school me would have loved it.

MP3: Fanfarlo – “We Only Come Out At Night”
Video: The Smashing Pumpkins – “We Only Come Out At Night” (live in New York – June 11, 2008)