IpecacWho: The Melvins Lite
What: The kinder, gentler side of sludgy grunge forbears The Melvins. Yes, they have a kinder, gentler side. And it sounds pretty much like the regular Melvins but with a double bass.
Why: The Melvins just released a new album in Freak Puke, which it should be obvious from the title was actually recorded in their stripped-down, Lite configuration. And since we don’t fit in their “50 States in 50 Days” record-breaking US tour this Fall, they may as well play it up here now.
When: Thursday, July 5, 2012
Where: The Opera House in Toronto (19+)
Who else: SoCal’s Retox opens up.
How: Tickets for the show are $26 in advance but courtesy of Union Events, 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 to see The Melvins” in the subject line with your full name in the body, and have that in to me before midnight, July 2.
What else: King Buzzo talks to Paste about the aforementioned attempt to conduct the fastest ever tour of the USA.

Stream: The Melvins – “Tommy Goes Berserk”

Frank YangI’m not really one for the mid-year list, but when the good folks at Hype Machine and BBC 6Music ask you nicely to round up your top artists of 2012 for just such a status report, you can’t really say no. And they specified “artist” and not “album”, otherwise this would be mostly wrong. Anyways.

1. The Afghan Whigs – Yeah, they’ve only released one piece of music this year – and a cover, no less – but they’re the big American alt.rock reunion band of 2012. And despite having gone through high school/college when they were in their prime, I never gave them a passing listen until this year and so, making up for lost time, each of Gentlemen, Black Love, and 1965 have been in heavier rotation in 2012 than pretty much anything else. I guess you need to be of a certain age to properly appreciate where they’re coming from.

MP3: The Afghan Whigs – “See And Don’t See”

2. Allo Darlin’ – The Aussie-fronted Brits released their second album Europe this Spring and a finer collection of indie-pop you’re not likely to find this year. Its got heart, hooks, and Go-Betweens references; anyone who assumes from surface appearances that it’s twee or slight or doesn’t contain a depth of emotion just isn’t listening.

Video: Allo Darlin’ – “Capricornia”

3. Yamantaka//Sonic Titan – Even though I didn’t write about this Montreal art collective/project until I explained why they found their way onto my Polaris Prize ballot with their debut YT//ST, they’ve been spending a lot of this year convincing me to overcome my skepticism at their high-concept blend of metal/prog/jazz/opera and accept that it is, in fact, as original, interesting, and out and out rocking as they intend it to be. And don’t get me started on the live show.

Video: Yamantaka // Sonic Titan – “Hoshi Neko”

Frank YangWhen we left off yesterday, I was biking furiously across town to get from The Rivoli to The Phoenix for Archers Of Loaf. So why not roll this show into the festival coverage? Well, although some wristbands were granted admission and the premiere of the What Did You Expect? live Archers doc was one of the big gets of the NXNE film festival, this show wasn’t technically part of the festival and I am, if nothing else, a stickler for these sorts of things. And having waited this long for the show, delaying it just that much longer seemed appropriate.

Since the Archers reunited in early 2011 and were willing to make it a long-term thing, I’ve been waiting for a local date – a wait exacerbated by the fact that real life commitments for most of the band kept touring restricted to weekends. Hell, Eric Bachmann brought Crooked Fingers through town twice in 2012 without an Archers sighting; certainly not a complaint as I love me some Crooked Fingers, but one couldn’t help wondering if we were being slighted. And of course we weren’t, it just took this long to get the proverbial ducks in a row, and on this night – the busiest night of music in the city in recent memory – it was happening.

And happening early, as it turned out. If they’d stuck to the posted set times there’d have been no problem but as I got into the venue, I could already hear the rumble of “Audiowhore” through the doors. Early? Who goes on early on a Saturday night? Well Archers did, clearly, though only just. The Vs The Greatest Of All Time selection was an unlikely opener, but it segued straight into arguably one of the best songs of the ’90s – “Harnessed In Slums” and we were off. A benefit of still being a sort of cult band was that most everyone in attendance was surely some degree of die hard fan and singles and deep cuts alike would be greeted with roaring enthusiasm, though obviously the likes of college rock classics as “Slums” and “Web In Front” got the mostly middle-aged crowd most rowdy.

After years of seeing Eric Bachmann fronting Crooked Fingers and only offering Archers material via stripped down, Finger-y arrangements, it was astonishing to see him cut loose in full rock fury; he’s a big guy who plays at a sort of gentle giant figure with Crooked Fingers but here, he came out swinging. Despite wanting to distance himself from his old band in the years that it was in mothballs and concentrate on what he was actively working on, it was obvious he was having a blast playing these songs the way they were meant to be played and with the guys he’d written them with. It was great to see, and his bandmates were still having a great time of it as well, even almost a year and a half into their second act. Matt Gentling in particular – who’d incidentally come through town in the Dignity & Shame incarnation of Crooked Fingers in 2005 – was a maniac onstage, striking poses while attacking his bass, contributing vocals, or just bantering with the crowd. Though I’m not sure what his “Sixteen Sixty Four” Maple Leafs-esque shirt was about…

The Archers were loud, tight, and relentless, inciting the audience to behaviour most probably hadn’t engaged in in oh, fifteen years or so, like moshing, stage diving, and crowd surfing though I have to question if it’s really crowd surfing if it’s just the same group of people carrying the guy around? Bachmann applauded the effort, anyways. And after the band closed out their encore with “Plumbline”, the audience did their best to coax them back out for a second encore – I’ve not seen a crowd so insistent that a show not end in forever – but alas, that would be it this time and possibly for all time.

The band have not made any commitment to carrying on after the final two albums in their reissue series – All The Nation’s Airports and White Trash Heroes – come out on August 7. It’s interesting that though their stature in the annals of ’90s indie rock is enormous, their influence is not so easily traced. Not many bands have managed to or even tried to replicate their particular balance of heavy and abstract yet visceral rock, so if they were to put out something new, it’d probably still sound singular and distinct. But that’s getting ahead of things – for now, I was just thankful that Archers were here, that they were great, and that Bachmann had deigned to play “Chumming The Ocean” in the encore of the last Crooked Fingers show since it wasn’t being heard on this night.

BlogTO, Radio Free Canuckistan, and NOW also have reviews of the show, while CBC Music, Beatroute, and Torontoist welcome the band back to Canada for the first time this century.

Photos: Archers Of Loaf @ The Phoenix – June 16, 2012
MP3: Archers Of Loaf – “Dead Red Eyes”
MP3: Archers Of Loaf – “What Did You Expect”
MP3: Archers Of Loaf – “Wrong”
MP3: Archers Of Loaf – “Harnessed In Slums”
Video: Archers Of Loaf – “Harnessed In Slums”
Video: Archers Of Loaf – “Underachievers March & Fight Song”
Video: Archers Of Loaf – “Wrong”
Video: Archers Of Loaf – “What Did You Expect”
Video: Archers Of Loaf – “Lowest Part Is Free!”
Video: Archers Of Loaf – “Might”
Video: Archers Of Loaf – “Web In Front”

Paste has video of a Crooked Fingers set from SXSW back in March.

Mission Of Burma have made a second MP3 from their forthcoming album Unsound, out July 10.

MP3: Mission Of Burma – “Second Television”

Spin talks to Greg Dulli about the Afghan Whigs which makes its only Canadian stop on October 3 at The Phoenix. Stereogum has also taken it on themselves to enumerate the bands 13 “most vicious” songs.

DIY talks to Tobin Sprout about the already so-prolific Guided By Voices reunion, which yields its third album Bears For Lunch around November.

Consequence Of Sound, Philly Burbs, and Metro talk to Doug Martsch of Built To Spill.

Sun Kil Moon has released a new video from Among The Leaves; Mark Kozelek plays these songs and more at The Great Hall on October 3. Boxing Scene also has an interview with the man about the pugilist themes of his songwriting.

Video: Sun Kil Moon – “Black Kite”

Wayne Coyne talks about the new Flaming Lips record to Paste and Rolling Stone. It’s due out later this year.

Paste checks in with Ira Elliot of Nada Surf.

Pitchfork talks to author Jesse Jarnow about his book Big Day Coming: Yo La Tengo and The Rise of Indie Rock, the new book about Yo La TengoYo La Tengo and the rise of indie rock.

Stereogum gets into a turntable.fm session with Ted Leo and talks tunes.

JAM and Beatroute get a moment of Craig Finn of The Hold Steady’s time for some questions.

Stereogum and The Los Angeles Times check in to see what Liz Phair is up to.

Paste has premiered a new video from Mates Of State; it’s a Guided By Voices cover taken from the Science Fair charity compilation coming out July 3.

Video: Mates Of State – “I Am A Scientist”

Interview has premiered the new video from Savoir Adore, whose new album Our Nature will be out this Fall.

Video: Savoir Adore – “Dreamers”

Bowerbirds have released another new video from The Clearing.

Video: Bowerbirds – “Sweet Moment”

Spin have premiered a new video from and Interview has a chat with Best Coast. They’re at The Phoenix on July 21.

Video: Best Coast – “The Only Place”

Consequence Of Sound talks to Munaf Rayani and Nashville Scene and Red And Black to Michael James of Explosions In The Sky.

Frank YangJune 16 had been circled on many calendars of Toronto music-goers for months, thanks to the intersection of Radiohead, The Flaming Lips’ free headlining set at NXNE, and LuminaTO events. So, of course, I ended up doing none of the above and even only hit three NXNE-related shows… but at least they were good ones?

And I got started early; Vancouver’s Brasstronaut were on early at Yonge-Dundas Square, auspiciously following a 14-year old cover band. That was just a circumstance of scheduling, though, as there was little in common between the tweens reinterpreting Guns’N’Roses and the sophisticated six-piece jazz-pop ensemble. It’s no small thing to make an argument for the clarinet as a rock instrument, but they managed to do just that with a set drawn from 2010’s Mount Chimaera and their just-released Mean Sun that sounded simultaneously driving and mellow, a good match for the prevailing festival-goer’s mood of being both exhausted and excited. Or maybe just mine.

The Vancouver Sun, The Ottawa Citizen, The Georgia Straight, Pique, and Uptown have features on the band while Exclaim talks to frontman Edo Van Breeman about his upcoming Swiss prison sentence. No, that’s not a metaphor.

Photos: Brasstronaut @ Yonge-Dundas Square – June 16, 2012
MP3: Brasstronaut – “Hollow Trees”
Video: Brasstronaut – “Requiem For A Scene”
Video: Brasstronaut – “Old World Lies”

After an afternoon of record shopping, sweaty bike rides and general hangs, it was back to Yonge-Dundas for the start of the evening’s main programme and Of Montreal. When the original NXNE lineup was announced, it seemed like a no-brainer that Of Montreal would lead into The Flaming Lips and the combined psych-rock impact would result in Guinness record for spontaneous simultaneous lobotomies. No such luck – Portugal. The Man were inserted in between to mitigate the effects – but Kevin Barnes and company certainly set the tone for what the headliners would be offering.

This was actually my first time properly seeing Of Montreal since SXSW 2006; technically I saw them at Primavera Sound last year – where they were also on several hours before The Flaming Lips – but only sort-of paid attention on account of the “holy shit I’m in Spain” thing. There had been opportunities since then but I just hadn’t taken them, what with the band’s albums over that time becoming increasingly strange and patchy and despite the promise of over the top visuals, not enticing me to check it out. As such it was interesting to see them again up close and note that rather than the ringleader of the shenanigans, Barnes now looked a bit nonplussed about it all – as though he’d accepted that his lot was to be the epicentre of it all, and that he was mostly okay with it. I certainly remember him seeming more engaged before.

And there was plenty to be engaged in, what with the band’s performance being augmented with technicolour dancers in outrageous costumes, but all of it also a good reminder that with the likes of the giant breasts hidden under the glittery capes of the dancers’ first costume change, they really weren’t so family friendly but more subversive – like a musical Ralph Bakshi cartoon, but so ridiculous that it was unlikely that anyone would legitimately take offense. And for as difficult as some of their recent albums have gotten, they were able to cherry pick enough perfect disco-pop to make up a set that was nigh-impossible to not dance to. And if someone’s kid got an eyeful of some giant, shiny fake breasts, what of it?

Spinner, The National Post, and Paste have feature pieces on Of Montreal.

Photos: Of Montreal @ Yonge-Dundas Square – June 16, 2012
MP3: Of Montreal – “Wintered Debts”
MP3: Of Montreal – “Dour Percentage”
MP3: Of Montreal – “Coquet Coquette”
MP3: Of Montreal – “Famine Affair”
MP3: Of Montreal – “Id Engager”
MP3: Of Montreal – “An Eluardian Instance”
MP3: Of Montreal – “Heimdalsgate Like A Promethean Curse”
MP3: Of Montreal – “The Party’s Crashing Us”
MP3: Of Montreal – “So Begins Our Alabee”
MP3: Of Montreal – “Rapture Rapes The Muses”
MP3: Of Montreal – “Disconnect The Dots”
MP3: Of Montreal – “A Question For Emily Foreman”
MP3: Of Montreal – “Pancakes For One”
MP3: Of Montreal – “Penelope”
MP3: Of Montreal – “One Of A Very Few Of A Kind”
MP3: Of Montreal – “Dustin Hoffman Gets A Bath”
MP3: Of Montreal – “Dustin Hoffman Thinks About Eating The Soap”
MP3: Of Montreal – “Spoonful Of Sugar”
Video: Of Montreal – “Spiteful Intervention”
Video: Of Montreal – “L’age D’or”
Video: Of Montreal – “Famine Affair”
Video: Of Montreal – “Coquet Coquette”
Video: Of Montreal – “Mingusings”
Video: Of Montreal – “An Eluardian Instance”
Video: Of Montreal – “Id Engager”
Video: Of Montreal – “Gronlandic Edit”
Video: Of Montreal – “Heimdalsgate Like A Promethean Curse”
Video: Of Montreal – “Suffer For Fashion”
Video: Of Montreal – “Wraith Pinned To The Mist And Other Games”
Video: Of Montreal – “So Begins Our Alabee”
Video: Of Montreal – “Requiem For OMM2”
Video: Of Montreal – “Disconnect The Dots”

For many festival-goers, if you weren’t at Yonge-Dundas Square for The Flaming Lips on Saturday night then you were doing it wrong. Perfectly fair, but as I’d said since my festival preview, my one must-see band for the weekend was Sweden’s Deer Tracks and if it came down to a conflict with Wayne Coyne bubblewalking over the gathered throngs, then Wayne was going to lose out. And it did and he did.

The decision was certainly helped along by reports from earlier dates on the tour that confirmed that their live show was great; if there was a question, it was whether there’d be many people there to see it. They were clearly the odd band out in the lineup at The Rivoli, amidst singer-songwriters and following a blues trio to say nothing of being on at the same time as The Lips, so I expected that it would be lightly attended and whomever was there probably wouldn’t be their audience. And who was? Well, anyone who liked gorgeous electro-pop that was simultaneously dancey, demure, and dramatic and unabashedly arty without any of the attendant aloofness. With two-thirds of their Archer Trilogy released – the third instalment is due this Fall – David Lehnberg and Elin Lindfors (and their keyboardist and drummer) crammed what seemed like an epic tale into just over 30 minutes, rendered with synths, guitars, bowed saw, glockenspiels, clarinet (again!) and both Lehnberg and Lindfors’ soaring, emotive voices.

It was a more than welcome set of otherworldly beauty in a festival too easily described by adjectives like “garage”, and when the show was over and I turned around to hightail it to my next stop, it was more than gratifying to see that a good-sized crowd had gathered and looked to have enjoyed the show as much as I had. It deserved an audience.

NOW talked to The Deer Tracks ahead of their festival appearance.

Photos: The Deer Tracks @ The Rivoli – June 16, 2012
MP3: The Deer Tracks – “W”
MP3: The Deer Tracks – “Dark Passenger”
Video: The Deer Tracks – “Meant To Be”
Video: The Deer Tracks – “Tiger”
Video: The Deer Tracks – “Fall With Me”
Video: The Deer Tracks – “Fra Ro Raa / Ro Ra Fraa”
Video: The Deer Tracks – “Ram Ram”
Video: The Deer Tracks – “Slow Collision”
Video: The Deer Tracks – “12sxfrya”

That wasn’t the final stop of the night – more on that tomorrow – but it was the last NXNE 2012 showcase; a great end to another great fest, though despite being as exhausted or moreso than I normally am, I didn’t actually see as many showcases as I typically do. Not sure how that happened, exactly. But as we wrap things up, for more festival-y things check out this oral history of NXNE as told to aux.tv and this conversation with festival found Andy McLean at Billboard.

Since Spinner footed the bill for the big Flaming Lips show, they get the big interview with Wayne Coyne. Them’s the rules.

The Toronto Star and Toronto Sun chat with Janelle Monáe, who kicks off the Toronto Jazz Festival at Nathan Philips Square tomorrow night.

Clash talks to Kristian Mattson about what it’s like being The Tallest Man On Earth.

PopMatters asks 20 questions of We Are Serenades.

First Aid Kit have released a new video from The Lion’s Roar. They’re at The Danforth Music Hall on September 26.

Video: First Aid Kit – “Blue”

Swedish punk rock newcomers Holograms have made a date at The Shop Under Parts & Labour for September 11, tickets $10.50 in advance. Their self-titled debut is out July 10. Tupac does not make an appearance.

MP3: Holograms – “Chasing My Mind”
MP3: Holograms – “ABC City”
Stream: Holograms – “Monolith”

The Line Of Best Fit has premiered the new single from El Perro Del Mar, which is also available to download. It comes from her new album Pale Fire, due out later this year.

M4A: El Perro Del Mar – “Innocence Is Sense”
Video: El Perro Del Mar – “Innocence Is Sense”

Sigur Rós has rolled out another video from Valtari, though this one comes with a warning that it may not be suitable for people with good taste as it contains Shia Labeouf. No, it really doesn’t matter that he’s naked – that he’s in it is bad enough.

Video: Sigur Rós – “Fjögur píanó”

NPR has a World Cafe session with Of Monsters & Men.

Frank YangIt was sometime on Friday that, in looking at my NXNE schedule, that I realized just how Pitchfork-y it all was and for that, I apologize. It wasn’t intentional, but there’s no arguing that the balance of stuff I’ve heard of/stuff I was curious about/stuff that doesn’t come through town all the time is pretty influenced by the online echo chamber.

But to be fair, the options amongst my usual go-to of acts from the UK and Scandinavia was frightfully lean this year; like I can count them on one hand. A consequence of the global recession, I suppose, but at least one of the acts who did make it over was 2:54. Their show kicking off the night at Lee’s Palace wasn’t far removed from when I saw them at SXSW but definitely better, both for my being familiar with the material and their having developed some more stage presence, frontwoman Collette Thurlow having traded her thousand-yard glare for some dramatic sway-dancing. I like but can’t claim to love their self-titled debut – they excel at atmosphere but the songwriting could be stronger – but they were tight and had an air of slight aloofness, and as one of the few British acts at the festival, they played ambassador well.

Londonist has an interview with the band.

Photos: 2:54 @ Lee’s Palace – June 15, 2012
MP3: 2:54 – “The March”
Video: 2:54 – “Creeping”
Video: 2:54 – “You’re Early”
Video: 2:54 – “Scarlet”

You probably didn’t need to be told that DIIV were from Brooklyn; just a look at their outfits and/or haircuts would have made that conclusion obvious. But assuming that meant they were going to be some unworthy, overhyped flavour-of-the-minute would have been a mistake. To be clear, they certainly sound very “now”, their shimmery jangle being very reminiscent of fellow buzz band Real Estate, but with more jump and less emphasis on vocals and more focus on creating a tight, airy groove. The initially claimed the were going to play their new album Oshin in its entirety, but the insertion of a “new song” mid set made that claim questionable, though I suppose that with the album not out until next week, they’re all technically new songs. Oh, and then there was the Nirvana cover that’s probably not on the record. In any case, their music was well-personified by their live show: the rhythm section kept their heads down and tended to business whilst the guitarist danced around like electrified marionettes.

Interview, The Line Of Best Fit, and NOW have features on the band, Spin gets to know their pet rat, and Oshin is streaming in its entirety right now over at Hype Machine.

Photos: DIIV @ Lee’s Palace – June 15, 2012
MP3: DIIV – “Sometime”
Video: DIIV – “Sometime”
Video: DIIV – “How Long Have You Known?”
Stream: DIIV / Oshin

The build-up around New York’s Friends started a good year ago, so by the time their debut album Manifest! came out a couple weeks ago, they were probably due some good, solid backlash. And while I haven’t heard the album, the live show certainly entertained for the 30-plus minutes they were on. They had far less reliance on electronics than I’d have expected – lots of percussion to with the guitar and bass, and less electro-pop than old school disco/funk. Frontwoman Samantha Urbani had presence to spare, offering a great impression of an ’80s pop diva with a simpler, more innocent kind of sexy. Her pipes were also good but her breathy-to-squeal move got formulaic pretty quickly. The same could be said for their sound as a whole – it’s pretty templated – but if you were looking for a band to soundtrack a dance party for this night, at least, you couldn’t do much better.

Blurt has a feature piece on Friends and The Line Of Best Fit a Bands In Transit session.

Photos: Friends @ Lee’s Palace – June 15, 2012
Video: Friends – “Mind Control”
Video: Friends – “I’m His Girl”
Video: Friends – “Friend Crush”

At this point it was goodbye Lee’s, hello mad dash across town to The Garrison. And while I made pretty good time if I do say so myself, I still needed to brandish the priority pass to jump the queue for Yamantaka//Sonic Titan. I already explained how their debut YT//ST improbably found its way onto the number two slot on my Polaris Prize ballot, but it probably counts as remarkable that they did so without my having seen their live show. Not that live performance is supposed to influence our voting, but it’s hard to imagine not being influenced by such an elaborate production. And with the costumes, the Kabuki paint, the stage dressings, they arguably had the most going on onstage at the fest for a band not named Of Montreal or The Flaming Lips.

And yet for all that they put into it, there was a refreshing lack of pretence from the band. They set up their gear and props like anyone else, and the cognitive dissonance of hearing them finish an intense, thrash/operatic passage and then ask for monitor adjustments was pretty funny. In performance, though, they were all business and deadly serious – there was no irony detectable, and I don’t even know if allowing themselves to dance a bit during “Hoshi Neko” even counts as breaking character; it’s a pretty danceable song. It was a unique, breathtaking performance that left you dazed and feeling like you may have just joined a cult. And you may be right.

Killscreen Daily talks to band principals Ruby Attwood and Alaska B about the influence of video games on their music.

Photos: Yamantaka//Sonic Titan @ The Garrison – June 15, 2012
Video: Yamantaka // Sonic Titan – “Hoshi Neko”
Stream: Yamantaka // Sonic Titan / YT//ST

Following that show was going to be tough and topping it impossible, so it’s probably a good thing that New York’s Widowspeak don’t even attempt to blow you away with theatrics or spectacle. Their sleepy country/dreampop had the perfect sort of late night vibe that didn’t quite come across during their mid-afternoon set at SXSW. It wasn’t all aural narcolepsy, though – the guitars got a little more aggressive than I expected and downright heavy at points, but despite wielding a mean axe, Molly Hamilton’s voice smoothed it all over. Those asking for more vocals in the mix slightly missed the point – she’s at her best as a honeyed whisper you have to lean in to hear. And though the audience seemed a bit restless – understandable if they were still on a Yamantaka come-down, they were largely appreciative. As they should have been.

Photos: Widowspeak @ The Garrison – June 15, 2012
MP3: Widowspeak – “Harsh Realm”
MP3: Widowspeak – “Gun Shy”

A brace of new videos coming at you from across the pond – first there’s Summer Camp with a murderous clip for the title track of their forthcoming EP Always, out July 10. You can also hear it in French, if that’s your thing.

Stream: Summer Camp – “Always” (French)
Video: Summer Camp – “Always”

Richard Hawley has released a video from his latest album Standing At The Sky’s Edge, out August 28 in North America.

Video: Richard Hawley – “Down In The Woods”

The Guardian talks to Charles of Slow Club about getting Daniel Radcliffe to star in the new video from Paradise.

Video: Slow Club – “Beginners”

Noel Gallagher goes the guest celeb route for the new clip from Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds; Mischa Barton! Remember her?

Video: Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds – “Everybody’s On The Run”

Kate Nash has put out a new video for a non-album track that was apparently written and recorded in under 24 hours. Who’d have guessed.

Video: Kate Nash – “Under-Estimate The Girl”

And a few more show announcements over the last few days: John K Samson returns to get intimate – and all-ages – for a show in support of Provincial at 918 Bathurst on September 6, tickets $25 in advance.

Video: John K. Samson – “Longitudinal Centre”

San Fransico folkers Vetiver return to The Horseshoe on September 14, tickets $15 in advance. They’re still working last year’s The Errant Charm.

MP3: Vetiver – “Wonder Why”

Bluegrass all-stars Punch Brothers will be at The Phoenix on September 28 as part of a Fall tour, admission is $19.50. Acoustic Guitar has a feature on the band.

Video: Punch Brothers – “Kid A” (live)

The Besnard Lakes have been tapped to open up all three nights of Dinosaur Jr’s Lee’s Palace residency on September 24, 25, and 26. Tickets for each night are $34.50.

MP3: The Besnard Lakes – “And You Lied To Me”