Frank YangIt’s basically a given that the songwriters who pen the saddest songs also have the wickedest senses of humour, right? I have no quantitative proof to support this – only anecdotal – but if I were to start assembling some scientific proofs in support of this hypothesis, I’d certainly include Rose Cousins’ show at The Rivoli on Thursday night in the lab report. It was a record release show for her third album We Have Made A Spark – the gorgeousness of which was saluted hereabouts last month – and while three months after it came out seems a little late for a record release show, she has been touring the record all over since it came out and has presumably been making each show an occasion. This one certainly was.

And not just because they put out chairs, dispensed with an opener, and scheduled an early start time, though those were certainly signs that it wasn’t going to be a typical show. As was Cousins opening up the show solo with a cover – Blue Rodeo’s “Five Days In May” – which would be one of two songs by others she’d perform that night (Ana Egge’s “Shadow Fall” being the other). The rest of the show, however, was dedicated to showcasing Spark in all its rich emotional nuances with Cousins moving from guitar to piano and being accompanied by two of the musicians who played on the album, Austin Nevins on electric guitar and Zachariah Hickman on upright bass. She was also joined through the night by special guests Suzie Ungerleider aka Oh Susanna, Ruth Moody of The Wailin’ Jennys and Robyn Dell’Unto who augmented Cousins’ own gorgeous vocals with some astonishing harmonies.

Between the songs, however, it was all charm and humour with Cousins proving herself quite the crack up with anecdotes, impressions and audience banter, the crowning glory of which was a hilariously detailed description of her ideal soundtrack placement for the song, “Go First” – specifically, the season finale of a surgical drama that included but wasn’t limited to a newborn child getting an arm transplant from a gorilla. It really is a shame that a video already exists for the song because her treatment had “viral” written all over it. It was moments of levity like this that helped provide the right amount of lightness to balance out the emotional weight and dark tones of the songs, though as Cousins pointed out the album isn’t all downcast – it acknowledges and arcs towards the silver linings of matters. No jokes were needed to end the show on a high note, however, as it was all hands on deck for a rowdy cover of Adele’s “Rumour Has It”. Not even the ginormous thunderstorm that awaited outside the Rivoli could dampen the spirits of those leaving the show after that finale; our clothes, yes.

NOW had an interview with Cousins in advance of the show.

Photos: Rose Cousins @ The Rivoli – May 3, 2012
MP3: Rose Cousins – “The Darkness”
Video: Rose Cousins – “Go First”

Bry Webb and Del Bel will team up for a Wavelength show at 918 Bathurst on June 1 to mark the release of a collaborative single which you can hear below. Single aside, both have excellent albums to draw from – Webb with Provider and Del Bel with Oneiric – and both have already put on impressive shows this year in support of them – Del Bel in January and Webb in February. All of which is to say you can’t go wrong here. Tickets are $12 in advance.

MP3: Bry Webb – “Rivers Of Gold”
MP3: Del Bel featuring Bry Webb – “No Cure For Loneliness”

Le Blogotheque has a video session from and Spin a conversation about hats with Patrick Watson; he plays the Music Hall on May 29.

Uptown and Beatroute have features on Great Lake Swimmers, back in town playing a show at the Music Hall on June 2. They’ve also just been announced as support for Blue Rodeo’s annual Molson Amphitheatre show on August 18.

Rolling Stone gets to know Japandroids, whose new record Celebration Rock is out May 29 and who play Lee’s Palace on June 23.

The Line Of Best Fit chats with Hooded Fang, whose next local show is their NXNE showcase on June 15 at The Silver Dollar.

Dan Mangan has released a new video for the opening track of his latest, Oh Fortune. He plays a free show at Pecault Square on the afternoon of June 16.

Video: Dan Mangan – “About As Helpful As You Can Be Without Being Any Help At All”

Long rumoured but now fact, Leonard Cohen will take his new record Old Ideas on the road and play the Air Canada Centre on December 4. Full dates at Pitchfork.

Video: Leonard Cohen – “Show Me The Place”

Braids talk to Spin about the direction of their sophomore record.

Frank YangI’d actually decided on this song for this week’s selection a while ago – the fact that Richard Hawley’s new album Standing At The Sky’s Edge was coming out in the UK this week was more than enough excuse to dig out this track.

It dates back to 2006 when it appeared both as a b-side to the 7″ of “Hotel Room” taken from Cole’s Corner and as part of Q‘s Covered: Best of 86/06 CD compilation, which got artists doing stuff that year to reinterpret artists who were doing stuff two decades earlier and in this case, it meant The Jesus & Mary Chain – Hawley tackled the title track of the Some Candy Talking EP which came out in the Summer of 1986, not long after their 1985 debut Psychocandy.

The point being that it was on deck before the JAMC announced their first Toronto show in some fifteen years last week, making a date to play The Phoenix on August 3. But hey, double context – I’ll take it.

MP3: Richard Hawley – “Some Candy Talking”
Video: The Jesus & Mary Chain – “Some Candy Talking”

Jason TangWho: Allen Stone
What: Unlikely-looking but wholly convincing funk/soul singer from the backwoods of Washington state.
Why: He put out his self-titled effort last year, his second self-released, digital-only record. He sounds like the past but he’s living in the future.
When: Friday, May 11, 2012
Where: The Mod Club in Toronto (19+)
Who else: Support comes from Sugar & The Hi Lows and ZZ Ward
How: Tickets for the show are $18.50 in advance but courtesy of LiveNation, I’ve got a pair of passes to give away for the show. To enter, email me at contests AT chromewaves.net with “I want to see Allen Stone” in the subject line and your full name in the body, and have that in to me by midnight, May 9.

Video: Allen Stone – “Unaware” (live)
Stream: Allen Stone / Allen Stone

Dry The RiverI’ve talked a fair bit about British folk-rock band Dry The River over the past few months, thanks in large part to their rousing performances at SXSW in Austin in March and their Toronto debut supporting Bowerbirds shortly thereafter, but unless you were at those shows or one of their others, you had to take my (and everyone else who’s seen them’s) word for it – though their debut debut album Shallow Bed was released in the UK at the start of March, its only been available domestically in North America for a couple of weeks now.

That’s certainly enough time to have tracked down a copy for yourself, but if for whatever reason you haven’t done so, then procrastination may have been your friend. Courtesy of With A Bullet, I have three copies of Shallow Bed on CD to give away to. To enter, email me at contests AT chromewaves.net with “I want to Dry The River” in the subject line and your full name and mailing address in the body, and have that in to me by end of day, May 13. And sorry, only residents of Canada are eligible to win.

MP3: Dry The River – “New Ceremony”
Video: Dry The River – “No Rest”
Video: Dry The River – “Chambers & The Valves”
Video: Dry The River – “Weights & Measures”

Frank YangWhen I think back to School Of Seven Bells’ last headlining show in Toronto in September 2010 circa Disconnect From Desire, two things leap immediately to mind. One, that it was less than a month before Claudia Deheza announced her departure from the band and two, that it was shockingly poorly attended – as in you could count the dozens of people there on one hand from where I stood. That these come to mind before the fact that it was a great show – the best I’d seen from them at and not uncoincidentally the first time I saw them with a live drummer – was unfortunate.

Wednesday night wasn’t their first time back since then – they opened up for Interpol at The Sound Academy in February of 2011 – but it was their first in support of Ghostory, their third album and first as a duo, and first in front of their own local fanbase, however many that would turn out to be. To my ears they’d recovered quite well from losing a third of the band as far as writing and recording went, but was certainly curious to see how their live show adapted. Questions about whether or not they had fans in the 416 were thankfully answered early on as The Hoxton, while not nearly sold out, was respectably full. We’ll call that last show an exception, then.

Support on this tour came from fellow New Yorkers Exitmusic, a new act – their debut EP From Silence came out last year and their first full-length Passage is due May 22 – but one whose face may be familiar to viewers of Boardwalk Empire. Not that this tidbit offered any insight into what sort of music they might make; indeed, you don’t get much further from the sounds of the prohibition era than the dark and goth-y dreamscapes that they offered. They moved at a steady, determined pace that preferred to render dynamics on the scale of their set than in each individual song. Aleksa Palladino’s voice has a great range, but rather than show it off she tended to restrict it to what was necessary for the song – a commendable approach that you don’t hear as much as you should. Utilizing plenty of electronics but with few synthetic affectations, they succeeded at creating a distinct mood but were light on melody and the songs were ultimately only intermittently memorable.

I probably make too much out of the loss of Claudia Deheza from School Of Seven Bells. Certainly it disrupted my sense of symmetry and novelty, but as Ghostory proved it didn’t adversely affect them creatively, this show proved it wasn’t even a speed bump in their ever-improving live show. Recall that when they first started performing, it was as near to a literal translation of a studio project to stage as you could get with the Deheza sisters on guitar and keys flanking Ben Curtis on guitar, all playing over dense backing tracks – it sounded note-perfect, but felt overly mechanical. Now with their sound having evolved towards a full-on dance-rock hybrid, having a live drummer and keyboardist/backing vocalist augmenting Allie Deheza and Curtis may have made them a more conventional band, but also a much better one.

With Deheza as the focal point – okay, the glowing Ghostory glyphs on either side of the stage were also eye-catching – they worked a set that had good weight and flow and stretched equally across their discography, sounding much more organic than you might have expected but still sleek and gleaming where it counted. Allie Alvarado didn’t try to replace all of Claudia’s departed harmonies, but when called on to double Deheza as on “Iamundernodisguise”, she acquitted herself alright – for the most part though, they were able to get the listener to gently accept that that facet of the band was no more but it was going to be alright. It was impressive just how many great songs they’ve produced in just three albums and half a decade, but it was the set-closing selections from Alpinisms that still got me the most – “Half Asleep”, which opened the encore, is still pure and glorious pop. And this time, there were people there to see it.

The Detroit Free Press has an interview with School Of Seven Bells’ Ben Curtis and The Daily Kansan Q&As Exitmusic’s Aleksa Palladino.

Photos: School Of Seven Bells, Exitmusic @ The Hoxton – May 2, 2012
MP3: School Of Seven Bells – “Lafaye”
MP3: School Of Seven Bells – “The Night”
MP3: School Of Seven Bells – “Windstorm”
MP3: School Of Seven Bells – “Babelonia”
MP3: School Of Seven Bells – “Connjur”
MP3: Exitmusic – “The Sea”
Video: School Of Seven Bells – “Reappear”
Video: School Of Seven Bells – “Lafaye”
Video: School Of Seven Bells – “Windstorm”
Video: School Of Seven Bells – “My Cabal”
Video: School Of Seven Bells – “Half Asleep”
Video: Exitmusic – “Passage”
Video: Exitmusic – “The Hours”

Before opening up for Bear In Heaven at The Garrison later that night, Blouse will stop in at Sonic Boom’s Kensington location this Saturday – May 5 – for a little record-shopping and in-store performing at 5PM. There’s features on the Portland dream-pop outfit at The Boston Phoenix and SSG Music.

MP3: Blouse – “Into Black”

Exclaim reports that How To Dress Well – the pseudonym of Brooklyn’s Tom Krell – will bring his take on R&B sounds backed by a full band to The Drake Underground on June 7 as part of a Summer tour, presumably in support of a new record.

Video: How To Dress Well – “Lover’s Start”

!!! have made a date for Lee’s Palace on July 7, tickets $16.50 in advance. Could a follow-up to 2010’s Strange Weather, Isn’t It? be on the way?

MP3: !!! – “AM/FM”
MP3: !!! – “Jamie, My Intentions Are Bass”

After putting on a helluva show at The Horseshoe in November, Chicago soul outfit JC Brooks & The Uptown Sound will return to that same room for a show on July 13, tickets $9. For a taste of what to expect, check out their Epitonic Saki Session and read and interview at Go Pride Chicago. They also just released a new video from Want More.

MP3: JC Brooks & The Uptown Sound – “Everything Will Be Fine”
MP3: JC Brooks & The Uptown Sound – “Sister Ray Charles”
Video: JC Brooks & The Uptown Sound – “Sister Ray Charles”

Reunited San Diego hardcore legends Hot Snakes are coming to town for a show at The Horseshoe on September 21, tickets $20 in advance.

MP3: Hot Snakes – “Who Died”

NPR welcomes Hospitality for a Tiny Desk Concert. They’re at The Garrison tomorrow night – May 5 – opening up for Eleanor Friedberger.

NYC Taper has a recording of a recent Lower Dens show and Paste, Blurt, and The Baltimore Sun have interviews. They’re at Lee’s Palace on July 17.

Design Sponge gets a tour of Sharon Van Etten’s apartment. Can’t say I’m not disappointed that she’s got one of those terribly Crossley turntables… There’s also interviews at The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette and Nashville Scene. Van Etten plays The Phoenix on July 31.

DIY interview Peter Silberman of The Antlers.

Perfume Genius has released a new video from Put Your Back N 2 It, starring Mike Hadreas and his mom.

Video: Perfume Genius – “Dark Parts”

The Alternate Side and The Guardian both have video sessions with The Magnetic Fields and The Silver Tongue an interview.