Phil SharpIt took me a while to warm to England’s Metronomy – perhaps not unusual considering how deliberately chilly their particular vein of electro-pop tends to be. But warm to it I did, or at least to their 2011 Mercury-shortlisted album The English Riviera; just not quite in time to catch them on their last pass through town last October. I was still recovering from Iceland Airwaves and had something like four or five other shows that week – something had to give, and it was Metronomy.

Well, thank goodness for Coldplay and remixes. Yeah, that’s not something I ever thought I’d write, but thanks to being tapped to open up for some of Coldplay’s western North American dates and also the release this week of The English Riviera: Unreleased Remixes in the US, the band has enough cause to cross the Atlantic again. Okay, getting asked to play Coachella and having sold out at least some of the dates on that Fall tour were probably also some incentive. In any case, they’re back in town at The Hoxton on April 2, and I won’t miss them this time around.

Thanks to Embrace, you don’t have to either. I’ve got two pairs of passes to give away for the show and to win them, just email me at contests AT chromewaves.net with “I want to see Metronomy” in the subject line and your full name in the body, and have that in to me before midnight, March 25.

And while you’re waiting to find out if you won, maybe put their just-posted Daytrotter session on repeat while reading this interview with bandleader Joe Mounts in The Independent.

MP3: Metronomy – “The Look”
Video: Metronomy – “Everything Goes My Way”
Video: Metronomy – “The Look”
Video: Metronomy – “The Bay”
Video: Metronomy – “She Wants”

I’ve never prayed for autotune to be utilized on anything, let alone a live record, but there’s a not insignificant part of me that hopes the Florence & The Machine MTV Unplugged album just announced gets a little pitch polishing before it’s released on April 9. If you’ve heard her live – and you can do so on August 4 at The Molson Amphitheatre – then you know what I’m talking about. And oh yeah, there’s another new video out from Ceremonials.

Video: Florence & The Machine – “Never Let Me Go”

The Quietus chats with Elizabeth Morris of Allo Darlin’, whose new album Europe is due out in May. And as disappointed as I was that their Spring tour is just American and not North American, I’m very excited that they’re going to be part of this year’s NYC Popfest and that I’ll be in New York on the day – May 20 – that they’re playing. Huzzah!

Breakthru Radio has got a video session and The San Francisco Examiner an interview with Slow Club.

Veronica Falls compiles and annotates a mixtape for The Fly.

It escaped my notice until now that Elvis Costello – and presumably “The Spectacular Spinning Songbook” – was going to be back in the general geographic region this Spring. If you missed he and The Imposters last Summer, consider a trek up to Casino Rama on April 19; it’s a fantastic show.

MP3: Elvis Costello & The Attractions – “Radio Radio” (live at The El Mocambo)

Billy Bragg talks to Billboard about the forthcoming Mermaid Avenue: The Complete Sessions set coming out on April 21.

DIY, The Irish Times, and Clash have features on Lianne La Havas, whose debut album Is Your Love Big Enough will be out on July 19 in the UK.

The Twilight Sad are featured in a video session at Beatcast.

Mystery Jets are streaming a first taste of their new album Radlands ahead of its release date of April 30.

Stream: Mystery Jets – “Someone Purer”

The Cribs, on the other hand, are onto their second preview track from new record In The Belly Of The Brazen Bull. It’s out on May 8 and they’ll be showing off other new songs from it at Lee’s Palace on April 11.

Stream: The Cribs – “Come On, Be A No One”

London’s Dry The River are featured in pieces at The Fly and Spin and perform in a DIY video session. Shallow Bed gets a North American release on April 17 and they’re at The Garrison on March 27 opening for Bowerbirds.

This is an interesting little release – Swervedriver main man Adam Franklin has released a new 7″ consisting of a Wolf Parade cover on the a-side and his interpretation of a rare Clientele track on the reverse. You can stream both sides at Soundcloud.

Stream: Adam Franklin – “Shine A Light”/”Elm Grove Window”

The Guardian examines the thriving Scottish music scene.

DIY has a video session with Loney Dear.

The Guardian declares Amanda Mair their new artist of the day. Her self-titled debut gets a North American release on June 5.

State talks to The Jezabels, who just won The Australian Music Prize for Prisoner and are in town at The Mod Club on April 18.

It’s funny that not too long ago, I was toying with the idea of building another website for the sole purpose of listing local shows with as much useful, accurate information as possible. Clearly I didn’t get around to it, and it’s just as well because in addition to JustShows.com, which popped up a few months back and gets kudos for being clean, timely and accurate, we now have Show Gopher, which distinguishes itself with a handy grid layout and streaming audio for as many of the artists as possible. Which just goes to show – if you want something done, just procrastinate long enough and someone else will do it for you.

D.L. AndersonIt’s unlikely bird videos will ever achieve the same degree of online adoration as, say, cat videos, but when said clips come courtesy of artists who push the boundaries of what can be called folk music the way that North Carolina’s Bowerbirds and Chicago’s Andrew Bird do, a little more attention should be paid. Both artists released their new albums this week – The Clearing and Break It Yourself, respectively – and both have marked the occasion with the release of a new video.

Both are also streaming the new records in whole – not new news, but always good to be reminded of – and are doing quite a bit of press to promote their records. Bowerbirds are featured in The Quietus, The 405, Consequence Of Sound, Interview, Paste, and NPR while Mr. Bird has chats with each of Interview, PopMatters, The Stool Pigeon, The Guardian, Spinner, and The AV Club.

Where they differ is in their migratory patterns – Bowerbirds have long had a March 27 date at The Garrison in Toronto booked as part of their Spring tour, whereas Andrew Bird’s tour dates come as close as Detroit, but no closer – at least for now. I don’t think he’s been here since Spring 2009 so it’s reasonable to say he owes us a visit.

MP3: Bowerbirds – “Tuck The Darkness In”
MP3: Bowerbirds – “In The Yard”
Stream: Andrew Bird – “Eyeoneye”
Stream: Andrew Bird – “The Crown Salesman”
Video: Bowerbirds – “Tuck The Darkness In”
Video: Andrew Bird – “Eyeoneye”
Stream: Bowerbirds / The Clearing
Stream: Andrew Bird / Break It Yourself

Shearwater is named for a kind of bird, so they’re up next. Rolling Stone talks to frontman Jonathan Meiburg about their new record Animal Joy.

Mother Jones chats with Sharon Van Etten, who just premiered a new video from Tramp at The Los Angeles Times.

Video: Sharon Van Etten – “Leonard”

Perhaps hoping to get people talking about something besides their collaboration with a corporation as ethically vile as Urban Outfitters, Best Coast have announced the May 15 release of their second album The Only Place and accompanying tour which hits The Phoenix on July 21, tickets $18.50. Details on the record and full tour dates over at Tiny Mix Tapes.

MP3: Best Coast – “Boyfriend”

The Decemberists are spreading the love around, streaming both discs of their forthcoming live set We All Raise Our Voices at two different sites – Rolling Stone and Paste.

Stream: The Decemberists / We All Raise Our Voices to the Air (Live Songs 04.11-08.11) disc one
Stream: The Decemberists / We All Raise Our Voices to the Air (Live Songs 04.11-08.11) disc two

They haven’t fessed up to the accuracy of reports that their new album would be called Bloom and released on May 15, but the fact that a new Beach House song showed up to stream on their website the other night certainly makes it seem to be the case. The track is called “Myth” and it sounds like Beach House. Update: Okay, the above new album info is officially official.

Stream: Beach House – “Myth”

NOW welcomes EMA back to town; she’s at The Garrison on March 13. The Chicago Sun-Times, Montreal Mirror, and Playback:STL also have interviews.

Death & Taxes, Clash, and DIY have interviews with Sleigh Bells, making up a cancelled date at The Phoenix on March 26 and supporting Red Hot Chili Peppers at The Air Canada Centre on April 27 and 28.

For a guy with a reputation for being a tough interview, Stephin Merritt sure is entertaining a lot of inquiries. The Magnetic Fields mastermind chats Love At The Bottom Of The Sea with PopMatters, Rolling Stone, Clash, Beatroute, Salon, and Vulture. They will play The Sound Academy on March 30.

They Shoot Music has a video session and Magnet and Beatroute interviews with Nada Surf. They play The Opera House on April 4.

co.create looks at the marketing campaign being organized to help make Minneapolis’ Howler your new favourite band. They may or may not include this video session and interview at The Alternate Side or this interview about their already in-process second album at Paste, and if they work, you may find yourself seeing them at The Drake Underground on April 5.

Also courtesy of The Alternate Side is a session and interview with Perfume Genius, and also worth reading is an interview with Mike Hadreas at Slutever. Perfume Genius is at The Drake on April 8.

If you ever need a reminder of how gorgeous Low can be, this performance recorded in a Duluth church for a new television programme called Audio-Files should do the trick. They’re here on April 19 at Massey Hall opening for Death Cab For Cutie.

Video: Low – “Point Of Disgust” (live for Audio-Files)

Interview gets to know Hospitality, in town at The Garrison on May 5.

The Fly talks to James Mercer of The Shins, whose Port Of Morrow arrives March 20. They are at The Molson Amphitheatre on August 4.

Clash talks to Jay Farrar about the Woody Guthrie tribute project New Multitudes, of which he’s a part.

Jeff Tweedy and Nels Cline discuss the guitar (read: gear) side of Wilco’s The Whole Love with Guitar World.

Also talking the gear: St. Vincent’s Annie Clark with Guitar Player.

Pitch, The Daily Nebraskan, and SXSW interview Lauren Larsen of Ume.

Daytrotter has posted a session with Telekinesis.

NYC Taper has shared a recording of one of Craig Finn’s recent performances in New York while Allentown Morning Call shares an interview.

The Quietus talks reunion with Greg Dulli of The Afghan Whigs.

Dirty Laundry hangs out in a laundromat with Eric Bachmann of Crooked Fingers and Archers Of Loaf.

Loud & Quiet talks to Robert Pollard of Guided By Voices.

PopDose talks to Bill Janovitz about the 20th anniversary of Buffalo Tom’s excellent Let Me Come Over.

Dine AloneImpressing with a live show is one thing, but eliciting a similar positive response with a record, away from the energy the crowd and the volume of the PA, can be a good deal tougher. Vancouver’s Chains Of Love nailed the former and then some at NXNE last year, but despite one of the most impressive things about the show being that they obviously had good songs to go along with their crackling Motown-friendly, garage-soul sound and onstage charisma, I didn’t immediately assume that their debut album – whenever it arrived – would necessarily deliver the same punch.

Happily, said debut – Strange Grey Days, due out next Tuesday – doesn’t disappoint. At seven tracks and 20 minutes, it’s a bit slight – okay, a lot slight although the CD version appends both sides of last year’s “In Between”/”Breaking My Heart” single – but its an enjoyable ride. The fuzzy, faded sonic aesthetic feels authentic but thankfully doesn’t obscure the polished musicality of the band or bury Nathalia Pizarro and Rebecca Marie Law Gray’s sweet vocals. The record is decidedly front-loaded with the uptempo numbers are unquestionably the strongest numbers, but the momentum of those earlier tunes is more than enough to keep things moving and put the whole thing in the “win” column. When – not if – the outfit manages to really stick the slower numbers, they are going to be a force.

The album is currently available to stream in whole courtesy of Exclaim, and they’ve no shortage of local dates coming up – two showcases for Canadian Musicfest at The El Mocambo on March 23 at 11:30PM and March 24 at The Horseshoe at 9:20PM, and then they’re back on April 14 in a supporting role for Said The Whale at The Great Hall.

MP3: Chains Of Love – “In Between”
MP3: Chains Of Love – “Breaking My Heart”
Stream: Chains Of Love / Strange Grey Days

Speaking of Canadian Musicfest, Montreal’s Adam & The Amethysts have three shows during the fest: 8PM on March 22 at The El Mocambo, the afternoon of March 23 at Saving Gigi and 11PM on March 24 at The Drake Underground. They’ve released a new video from this year’s Flickering Flashlight to get y’all excited.

Video: Adam & The Amethysts – “Prophecy”

Rich Aucoin has only got the one March 24 appearance at The Indie Awards on the calendar for Canadian Musicfest, but he’s also released a new video from We’re All Dying To Live, this one all fancy and animated and such.

Video: Rich Aucoin – “P.U.S.H.”

We’ve been waiting so long for the debut full-length from Guelph disco-pop band The Magic – since NXNE 2009 for me, at least – but it’ll finally be here in June and based on the first sample track, it’s been worth the wait.

MP3: The Magic – “Door To Door”

One of Arcade Fire’s contributions to the Hunger Games soundtrack is now available to stream over at Entertainment Weekly. It’s out March 20.

Stream: Arcade Fire – “Abraham’s Daughter”

Kill Screen talks video games with Damian Abraham of Fucked Up.

Pitchfork reports that one of the many Record Store Day goodies coming on April 18 will be the very first vinyl pressing of Destroyer’s 2006 album Destroyer’s Rubies. Destroyer plays The Opera House on June 23.

The AV Club, hour.ca, here, and Beatroute talk to The Wooden Sky.

Islands are interviewed by Torontoist, The Province, Calgary Herald, Beatroute, and Chart and play a video session for Exclaim.

Pedro WinterSo yes, Radiohead was far and away the big concert announcement of yesterday, but not far behind was the announcement of the lineup for this year’s HARD, an electronically-oriented festival that’s made Toronto stops the last few years. It’s existed on the periphery of my radar, but the 2012 edition has my firm attention.

HARD will bring some French electro action in electro-disco duo Justice – supporting last year’s Audio, Video, Disco – and retro-futurist shoegazers M83 – marking their third show in Toronto in support of Hurry Up, We’re Dreaming – to Fort York on August 4 with Toronto’s own Austra and Portugese dance crew Buraka Som Sistema as the undercard. And if you’re Osheaga or Lollapalooza lineup-spotting, well it seems a safe bet that both fests will have some synthetically Gallic flavour this year.

A national historic site – particularly one that’s celebrating the 200th anniversary of being blown up – seems an odd place for a rave-up, but also somehow perfect. Either way, I’m just super-keen for any kind of festival in the city’s downtown and even though this is maybe dancier than I’d normally hit up, I’m surprisingly keen on it. Tickets are $49 and are on sale now; there were a limited number of $39 early birds, but I think they’re all gone now. Alas.

MP3: Austra – “Lose It”
Video: Justice – “Audio, Video, Disco”
Video: M83 – “Midnight City”
Video: Buraka Som Sistema – “Hangover (BaBaBa)”

Joel Plaskett – who is eight weeks into the recording of his one-song-a-week album Scrappy Happiness – still due out March 27 – has been announced as the main attraction at this year’s Canadian Musicfest kick-off party way up on top of the CN Tower on March 21. Admission is gained only by winning a contest, so if you want to be there, get on that. And if you want to see him a little closer to sea level, there’s still the May 18 and 19 dates at the Queen Elizabeth Theatre. Spinner and The Globe & Mail talk to Plaskett about the Scrappy Happiness experience so far.

Video: The Joel Plaskett Emergency – “Somewhere Else”

Memoryhouse will play an (adopted) hometown record release show for The Slideshow Effect on April 13 at the El Mocambo.

MP3: Memoryhouse – “The Kids Were Wrong”

With his debut album Acousmatic Sorcery set for an April 3 release, up-and-coming Chicago singer-songwriter Willis Earl Beal has made an April 30 date at The Drake Underground as part of a Spring tour. Pitchfork has a profile on him.

Video: Willis Earl Beal – “Evening’s Kiss”

Los Angeles hippy-rock collective Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeroes will be at the Kool Haus May 13 to preview songs from their new album Here, due out May 29. Tickets for that are $29.50 in advance.

MP3: Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeroes – “40 Day Dream”

The Big Pink have released a new video from Future This

Video: The Big Pink – “Give It Up”

Pitchfork talks to both Claire Boucher and director Emily Kai Bock about the new Grimes video from Visions; D also has an interview. She plays The Horseshoe on March 19.

Video: Grimes – “Oblivion”

The Guardian talks to folks responsible for creating Chairlift’s new, “choose your own adventure”-styled video from Something. They’ll be at The Horseshoe on March 28.

Video: Chairlift – “Met Before”

Blouse have released a new video from their self-titled debut. They play The Garrison on May 5 supporting Bear In Heaven.

Video: Blouse – “Ghost Dream”

Hot on the heels of the first video from Port Of Morrow – out March 20 – comes a second one from The Shins, though this much simpler than the one for “Simple Song”. At this rate, there’ll be clips for every song on the album by the time they hit The Molson Amphitheatre on August 4, opening for The Black Keys.

Video: The Shins – “Bait And Switch”

Bjork goes all “fantastic voyage” in the new video from Biophilia, just premiered at NPR.

Video: Bjork – “Hollow”

Neil KrugThe Söderberg sisters of First Aid Kit make no attempt to represent themselves as anything other than what they are – two girls barely on either side of 20 harmonizing on heartfelt songs that conjure the spirit of bygone and world-weary Appalachian folk traditions a world and era away from the from the Stockholm suburbs where they grew up. It’s a contrast and harmony that made their first two releases – 2008’s debut EP Drunken Trees and the 2010 full-length The Big Black & The Blue so interesting; feeling simultaneously young and old, wise yet naive, clearly foreign yet still so authentic.

It’s a tension that’s less pronounced on their second album The Lion’s Roar, but that’s because rather than tip things one way or the other, they’ve managed to not just balance their elements but blend them. Credit must go to veteran producer Mike Mogis, an expert at helping bands bloom creatively while keeping their roots firmly intact – sonically, the album stays close to the sparer arrangements of the debut but when it needs to get big, it does – but you cannot discount the experience the duo have gained in the past couple years on the road; they’ve simply gotten much better, and were pretty good to begin with. The weightiness that’s always existed in their songwriting feels more comfortably borne, and yet Roar also contains some of their most buoyant songs to date – “Emmylou”, a gorgeous paean to two of the great partnerships of country music, is an early frontrunner for one of the songs of the year and “I Found A Way” soars close behind.

I don’t think there was ever a time when First Aid Kit were regarded as any sort of novelty – “oh look, young Swedish girls who think they’re country!” – but if anyone ever took them less seriously for any of that, they’ll be hard-pressed to hold onto those prejudices. The Lion’s Roar is a strong statement and demands to be heard.

MTV UK has an interview with First Aid Kit, who kick off a headlining North American tour at the end of this month and will be at the Great Hall in Toronto on April 4. Tickets for the show are $18 in advance but courtesy of Embrace, I’ve got two pairs of passes to give away for the show. To enter, email me at contests AT chromewaves.net with “I want a First Aid Kit” in the subject line and your full name in the body. Contest closes at Midnight, March 31.

Stream: First Aid Kit – “Emmylou”
Stream: First Aid Kit – “The Lion’s Roar”
Video: First Aid Kit – “Emmylou”
Video: First Aid Kit – “The Lion’s Roar”

In talking about another young female Swedish artist worth watching – Amanda Mair – I’ve been saying that her self-titled debut was supposed to come on back on February 15; that it did, but only in Sweden, apparently. about.com has a June 5 North American release date written down and DIY reports that it will be out officially in the UK on June 11. To tide us over, another single is now available to download to go with the previously released video. It’s good.

MP3: Amanda Mair – “Sense”
Video: Amanda Mair – “Sense”

Under The Radar brings word of a collaboration between the wonderful I Break Horses and the I-hadn’t-heard-of-them-before-now Philadelphia-based electronic outfit CSLSX, the first fruits of have both a downloadable and video. I Break Horses are at The Sound Academy on May 5 opening for M83.

MP3: CSLSX & I Break Horses – “Violent Sea”
Video: CSLSX & I Break Horses – “Violent Sea”

DIY chats with Norwegian pop collective Team Me, who are on my to-see list at SXSW next week (NEXT WEEK). If all goes well, you’ll be hearing more about them hereabouts. Their debut To The Treetops is out next week.

MP3: Team Me – “With My Hands Covering Both of My Eyes I Am Too Scared To Have a Look At You Now”

The Line Of Best Fit introduces Kiasmos, the new electronic project from Ólafur Arnalds.

Stream: Kiasmos – “Thrown”

New York Magazine has an in-depth profile piece on Bjork and NYC Taper has posted recordings of another of her NYC residency shows from last week.

DIY and The Sun get to know Dry The River, the next great folk-rock hope out of the UK. Their debut Shallow Bed is out April 17 in North America, and they’re streaming the excerpts of the whole thing with commentary over here. The intrigued can see them March 27 at The Garrison opening for Bowerbirds.

Video: Dry The River – “Chambers & The Valves”

Those scamps in Radiohead have announced another block of North American dates and Toronto is in the mix. They’ll be at Downsview Park on June 16 with Caribou, and I’ll save you from double-checking the calendar – that is indeed the Saturday of NXNE. The festival has managed to hold its own agains interloping major shows in the past, but if it takes a free Iggy & The Stooges show to counter Pavement/Broken Social Scene, they’re gonna need something pretty major to keep the kids in the city this time around. But whatever you end up doing that day, let’s not overlook the fact that this means the Caribou machine is back in action, and that’s good news for everyone. Tickets for Radiohead go on sale at noon on Friday.

MP3: Caribou – “Odessa”
Video: Radiohead – “Lotus Flower”

Daytrotter welcomes The Naked & Famous to their studios for a session. They play The Sound Academy on April 5

Digital Spy and DIY talk to Pip Brown of Ladyhawke, whose second album Anxiety has been pushed back from its March 27 release date all the way to May 25.