Kyle Dean ReinfordMuch has changed for New Jersey punks Titus Andronicus since they unleashed the grandiose historical allegory/saga of The Monitor on the world in 2010. On the plus side, the success of that record raised their profile by an exponential degree, expanding their audience well beyond the dudes looking for a soundtrack to their mosh pit demographic. But on the down side, after they wrapped the heavy touring regimen in support of The Monitor, guitarist Amy Klein – who despite not being on the record was a crucial part of their intense live shows – left the band for her own project in Leda. And on top of that, an ill-fated late 2011 rehearsal left them down one mighty beard when frontman Patrick Stickles was electrocuted. He survived; the facial hair did not.

STill, they’ve soldiered on and already made a new record which they’ve dubbed Local Business, and while there’s little chance that it’ll will be quite as epic in scope or ambition as The Monitor – that’s not mathematically possible – it should offer more than the requisite amount of furious melody, righteous riffing, and dense lyricism. And it also gives them an excuse to get back on the road. The record is out October 22 and they’ve already put together a Fall tour and are bringing New York Bay area punks Ceremony with them for the ride. They’re at Lee’s Palace on November 27, tickets $18.50.

MP3: Titus Andronicus – “Upon Viewing Oregon’s Landscape with the Flood of Detritus”
MP3: Ceremony – “Hysteria”
Lyric Video: Titus Andronicus – “In A Big City”

That new Yo La Tengo single “Stupid Things” is now available to download. The new full-length is out next January.

MP3: Yo La Tengo – “Stupid Things”

Perfume Genius has released a new video from Put Your Back N 2 It, just in time for tonight’s show at 918 Bathurst. Pitchfork talks to Mike Hadreas about the video.

Video: Perfume Genius – “Take Me Home”

Paste are streaming a new song from Savoir Adore’s forthcoming Our Nature, out October 16, and God Is In The TV has a video session with the band. They’re in town at Rancho Relaxo on October 13.

Stream: Savoir Adore – “Empire Of Light”

The Atlantic, Interview, Buzzfeed, Stereogum, Pitchfork, and The Thread all have features on The Mountain Goats as they mark the release of their latest album, Transcendental Youth. They play The Phoenix on October 20.

Spinner, The Wall Street Journal, The Irish Independent, HitFix, and Denver Westword talk to Aimee Mann. She’s at The Danforth Music Hall on November 6.

The 405 has got a stream of the first new Saturday Looks Good To Me song in who knows how long, available on 7″ come November 6 and presumably appearing on their new record One Kiss Ends It All, which is slated for a Spring 2013 release.

Stream: Saturday Looks Good To Me – “Sunglasses”

Rumours of a new Sufjan Stevens Christmas set have been kicking around for a little while, and now they’re confirmed. The super-fancy Silver & Gold box set of five EPs – yes, just like the Songs For Christmas set – will be out November 13. Stream one of the selections below.

Stream: Sufjan Stevens – “Christmas Unicorn”

I’m not entirely sure what the deal with Death Grips is, but people seem to care when they spontaneously cancel entire tours or leak their new album without telling their label first. So those same people may be interested to know that they’re hitting the road – unless they cancel again – and will be at Wrongbar on November 18.

MP3: Death Grips – “Deep Web”

Critical Mob and The Awl talk to Mark Eitzel, coming to town for a show at The Rivoli on November 28.

Pitchfork has details on the new record from Memory Tapes, to be entitled Grace/Confusion and due out on December 4. A first MP3 from the album is already available to download.

MP3: Memory Tapes – “Shelia”

Band Of Horses chat with Drowned In Sound and Metro Pulse. They play Massey Hall on December 5.

Paul Westerberg has told Rolling Stone that he and Tommy Stinson – the only Replacements still alive and active in music – have recorded a limited edition covers EP which will be auctioned off later this year to raise funds for former guitarist Slim Dunlap, who suffered a stroke back in February. And yeah, I guess they’re calling it The Replacements – so that’s happened.

Divine Fits have released a first video from their debut, A Thing Called Divine Fits.

Video: Divine Fits – “Would That Not Be Nice”

Vulture delves into the life, times, and finances of Grizzly Bear. The Skinny, Portland Monthly, and Pitchfork also have features.

Spin has posted an extensive feature piece on Dinosaur Jr, including a sidebar about how J Mascis almost joined Nirvana and Built To Spill back in the day.

The Line Of Best Fit interviews Beachwood Sparks.

Frank YangMaybe it’s because I tend to exist in a very Brit/Scandi/indie-centric music bubble that I figured by the time Niki & The Dove’s first proper North American tour rolled into Toronto, they’d have already been the buzziest thing going; this based on both the power of their performances at Iceland Airwaves last year and at SXSW this Spring, the overall impressiveness of their debut Instinct. So while they did indeed sell out the Drake on Tuesday night, I had expected demand would have moved it to a bigger room, that there’d be people offering to trade their kidneys for ducats on Craigslist, et cetera. Not so. But that’s okay.

I didn’t especially rate them while they were active, but if there comes a day in the not-too-distant future when Spiral Beach are held up as one of those important Toronto bands whose DNA can be found in countless others, I don’t think I’d be surprised. Already the band’s descendants includes Austra and Doldrums, and the for those wondering what former frontwoman Maddy Wilde and drummer Daniel Woodhead have been up to, the evening’s openers Moon King were the answer. But using Spiral Beach as a reference point wouldn’t get you very far, as Wilde has shifted to guitarist and backing vocal duties while Woodhead has stepped out in front of the kit and is now the frontman. Performing as a four-piece with drummer and keyboardist, they put on an impressive set that thanks to Woodhead’s affected feyness and Wilde’s aggressively chorused guitar work, you could reasonably describe as Kevin Barnes fronting a punk rock Cocteau Twins. It’s understandable if you’re unsure that that’s something you’d want to hear, but to my ears it worked quite well. And unlike Spiral Beach, whom I found overly precocious at times, Moon King are happy to indulge their pop instincts and let their talent and inherent eccentricities keep it from getting too obvious. There’s getting to be plenty of “Moon” bands out there, but this one is worth distinguishing and remembering.

You would think that having seen Niki & The Dove twice in the past year would give me a pretty good sense of what to expect from their show, but that was far from the case. This was one of a handful of headlining dates between high-profile support slots for Twin Shadow and Miike Snow, and so they were travelling on the cheap – it was just Malin Dahlström and Gustaf Karlöf, no dancers as in Iceland and not even drummer Magnus Böqvist, who accompanied them in Austin. And also, apparently, no lights. Perplexingly, they took the stage in total darkness and remained so for the first two songs – a curious choice for such a visual band, not that the lack of illumination kept Dahlström from dancing while performing – you could see her vague outline doing so. Eventually a single dim spot was raised and the house could get a reasonable look at the Swedish duo, who certainly didn’t look like they had any reason to be hiding, what with Dahlström donning a fancy headdress and some illuminated LED rings for the occasion.

Speaking of visuals, if someone were to look at their stage setup – a haphazard array of keyboards, sequencers, samplers, and guitar pedals but no acoustic instruments besides a single floor tom and snare drum – they might assume that this was a band that would have to adhere to a rigid show structure; after all, laptops aren’t necessarily the best instruments for live improvisation. They would, however, be wrong. Their set was surprisingly jammy with Karlöf taking his time to build and manipulate layers of synthetic sounds before Dahlström would begin singing, and she herself was more than equipped to at her own electronic workstation to add to the sonic melee. Most songs were extended from their album versions to some degree of live remix, often to the benefit of those in the audience who wanted to groove or dance. “Tomorrow” didn’t fare as well as the most anthemic number in their repertoire should have, sounding all out of time with itself, but I wouldn’t assume that it wasn’t deliberate.

Though they expressed some shyness about their English – which was fine, by the way – the duo were genuinely enthused about being in Toronto and the response they go, not least of all because it allowed them to break out a cover that they said they’d been preparing especially for the occasion – a sweet, low-key reading of Joni Mitchell’s, “A Case Of You”. It was a highlight of the hour-long set which closed with a particularly free-form “Drummer”, and for an encore which I’m not entirely sure they were prepared for but that was demanded, an extended “Gentle Roar”. An auspicious debut and even in the dark, they shone.

The Stool Pigeon also had a foreign correspondent on hand. Houston Press and The Phoenix have interviews with Niki & The Dove.

Photos: Niki & The Dove, Moon King @ The Drake Underground – October 2, 2012
MP3: Niki & The Dove – “Tomorrow”
MP3: Niki & The Dove – “Mother Protect”
MP3: Niki & The Dove – “DJ, Ease My Mind”
MP3: Niki & The Dove – “The Drummer”
MP3: Moon King – “Only Child”
Video: Niki & The Dove – “Dance Floor”
Video: Niki & The Dove – “Tomorrow”
Video: Niki & The Dove – “The Fox”
Video: Niki & The Dove – “DJ Ease My Mind”
Video: Niki & The Dove – “Mother Protect”
Video: Niki & The Dove – “The Drummer”
Video: Moon King – “Only Child”

In preview of tonight’s show at The Phoenix, NOW has an interview with Jens Lekman, who has released a new video from I Know What Love Isn’t.

Video: Jens Lekman – “Become Someone Else’s”

DIY has an interview with Victoria Bergsman of Taken By Trees, who opens up for Lekman tonight.

Norway’s Team Me have released a new video from To The Treetops.

Video: Team Me – “With My Hands Covering Both Of My Eyes I Am Too Scared To Have A Look At You Now”

NPR is streaming Efterklang’s recent New York concert with the Wordless Music Orchestra and The Epoch Times has an interview.

Irish power-pop vets Ash are finally coming back to town as part of a North American tour to mark their twentieth anniversary as a band. They’ll be at Lee’s Palace on November 17.

MP3: Ash – “Burn Baby Burn”

The Skinny, The Quietus, and Spin talk to Natasha Khan of Bat For Lashes about her new record The Haunted Man, due out October 22.

The New Yorker and The Chicago Sun-Times interview Beth Orton.

The Fly has a sit-down with The Vaccines.

The Stool Pigeon and FasterLouder interview Tame Impala about their new album Lonerism, out next Tuesday. They play The Phoenix November 12.

Christiaan FelberThe answer from many to the question posed by the title of The Vaccines’ debut album What Did You Expect From The Vaccines was, “great things”. That may have been overreaching – What Did You Expect was a solid bit of guitar rock that didn’t necessarily pin them down in any one stylistic cul de sac, ranging from punky throwaways to stadium-ambition anthems – but there’s no arguing they built up a pretty good head of steam on it before it all crashed to a halt at the end of the Summer when frontman Justin Young’s voice was shut down for vocal cord surgery.

One of the casualties of that bit of misfortune was the entirety of their Fall North American tour, including a date at The Phoenix last October, but on the bright side being put into dry dock meant they could get down to writing their second album when they would have normally kept at touring the first. As a result, they’ve put out Come Of Age – which is less rangy but maybe hookier, finding the Londoners happily settling into a simpler, garage-rock vein. And they’ve finally gone ahead and made up those North American dates – if a year and a quarter later – planning to again hit The Phoenix on February 4. Tickets for that are $18 in advance.

Video: The Vaccines – “Teenage Icon”
Video: The Vaccines – “No Hope”

Marina & The Diamonds, who’s enjoyed chart-topping success back home in the UK with her second album Electra Heart will be looking to see how much that – and her stint this Summer supporting Coldplay – has translated into in North American success. She’s coming across the pond this December and bringing Swedish duo Icona Pop – themselves riding a pretty good buzz – and will be at The Phoenix on December 3, tickets $25.

Video: Marina & The Diamonds – “How To Be A Heartbreaker”
Video: Icona Pop – “Nights Like This”

Maxïmo Park have released a new video from their latest, The National Health and The Sun talks football with frontman Paul Smith.

Video: Maxïmo Park – “The Undercurrents”

The Dumbing Of America talks to Claudette Thurlow of 2:54, in town at The Horseshoe on October 22.

Bat For Lashes has released a new video from The Haunted Man, due out October 22. The Line Of Best Fit and Loud & Quiet have interviews with Natasha Khan.

Video: Bat For Lashes – “All Your Gold”

Bat For Lashes bandmate – or at least she was the last time out – Charlotte Hatherley continues with her Sylver Tongue electro-pop project by scheduling the release of her debut EP in that guise – Something Big – for November 6. Altsounds has some details.

Black Cab Sessions has a session in a black cab with Hot Chip; eGigs also has an interview.

The Line Of Best Fit has a video session with Richard Hawley.

Pet Shop Boys have a new video from their latest, Elysium. There’s also a feature at BBC.

Video: Pet Shop Boys – “Leaving”

eMusic and The Telegraph have interviews with Beth Orton.

Mumford & Sons stop in at Daytrotter and NPR for studio sessions and also offer The National Post and New York Times interviews.

DIY has a feature on Tame Impala, who are streaming their new record Lonerism over at NPR. It’s out next Tuesday, October 9, and they are at The Phoenix on November 12.

Stream: Tame Impala / Lonerism

Ingram BarssThere’s been a series of articles The Grid for the past year called Then & Now that has been diligently recording the history of Toronto’s musical history by way of its clubs and venues, many of which have been consigned to history regardless of what legendary acts have sweat upon their stages. It’s truly fascinating reading – especially if you take the time to look up what sort of pedestrian businesses reside at those addresses today – but it’s comforting to know that the odds of The Legendary Horseshoe Tavern ever entering that particular dead pool are slim to none.

The Queen West bar – beloved in the city and renowned internationally as an amazing place to both see and play a show – is marking its 65th year this December, and while the birthday celebrations will last for the better part of the month, one of the main events will run from December 12 to 16, when Can-rock icon and friend to woodland creatures Joel Plaskett sets up shop for five nights, including an all-ages throw-down on the final day – hey, even kids love Joel Plaskett. If this all sounds familiar, it may be because he did the same thing back in 2007 for the ‘Shoe’s 60th birthday, playing one of his albums in its entirety each night for six straight nights. It’s not clear if there’s going to be any sort of theme for these shows – one would think there has to be some way that they’re going to be distinguished from each other – but whatever it is, you know it’s going to be a good time. Tickets range from $25 to $29.50 per show and go on sale this Thursday.

MP3: Joel Plaskett – “When I Go”

Also making a date at The Horseshoe are Montreal’s Malajube; their last release La Caverne came out last year, but they’ll be in town on November 24, tickets $15.

MP3: Malajube – “Synesthésie”

The Toronto Public Library’s Make Some Noise program is back, and they’ll be bringing Bry Webb to the Parkdale branch on October 26 to play some songs from Provider, which was just released in the US today. That show is free and starts at 8PM.

MP3: Bry Webb – “Rivers Of Gold”

Fans of art and music (which is also art, yes, let’s not get pedantic) may be interested in the 1st Thursdays series at the Art Gallery of Ontario, which kicks off this Thursday, October 4, with a performance from Bahamas; he just released a new video from Barchords.

Video: Bahamas – “Lost In The Light”

Bruce Peninsula vocalist Misha Bower has just released a book of short stories entitled Music For Uninvited Guests, and it comes with musical accompaniment in the form of a mixtape of music from her various projects and a new song, which is streamable. There’s a book launch/concert on October 11 at the Great Hall which will feature performances from Doug Paisley, Simone Schmidt, Sean Donald and some of Bruce Peninsula.

Stream: Misha Bower – “I’m All About”

Toronto’s METZ may sound all rough and tumble – and hella loud – on their self-titled debut, but they’ve got some fancy friends. To wit, this feature piece in The New Yorker by no less than Sasha Frere-Jones, accompanied by a stream of the entire thing. The piece at Exclaim is fine too, I guess. The album is out next Tuesday and the band plays a hometown release show for it at the Horseshoe on October 12.

MP3: METZ – “Wet Blanket”
MP3: METZ – “Headache”
Stream: METZ / METZ

AC Newman’s new solo record Shut Down The Streets has apparently inspired a short film. It’s out October 9, he brings it to Lee’s Palace on October 21, and he talks to Chronogram about it. Update: And now the album is streaming at Pitchfork.

Video: Want You To Know
Stream: AC Newman / Shut Down The Streets

So there’s a new Godspeed You! Black Emperor record coming, their first in a decade. ‘Allelujah! Don’t Bend! Ascend! is out October 16 though physical copies are already on sale at their shows. Big news, short blurb. What, did you expect a series of making-of YouTube vids starring Efrim? No. The record exists. The end.

Caribou’s Dan Snaith will release Jiaolong, his first record under the alias of Daphni, on October 16 but it’s now streaming in whole over at Resident Advisor.

MP3: Daphni – “Ye Ye”
Stream: Daphni / JIAOLONG

Dan Mangan will have something new to go with his Fall tour that brings him to the Danforth Music Hall on October 25 – the “Radicals” 7″ single will be out October 16 and feature a new song on the A-side and a Yukon Blonde cover on the flip. Stream the former and watch a video for the latter now.

Stream: Dan Mangan – “We Want To Be Pleasantly Surprised, Not Expectedly Let Down”
Video: Dan Mangan – “Stairway”

The Wilderness Of Manitoba have released a video from their new record Island Of Echoes, which they bring to Trinty-St. Paul’s on October 26.

Video: The Wilderness Of Manitoba – “Morning Sun”

NPR has an interview with Neil Young and Spin offers some choice excerpts from his new memoirs Waging Heavy Peace. His new album with Crazy Horse, Psychedelic Pill, is out October 30 and they play The Air Canada Centre on November 19.

Crystal Castles have confirmed a November 6 release date for their new record (III) and to mark the occasion, have made a new track from it available to download. They play The Kool Haus on November 3.

MP3: Crystal Castles – “Wrath Of God”

Beatroute, The Halifax Chronicle-Herald, and The Regina Leader-Post talk to Jenn Grant about her new record The Beautiful Wild, which came out last week and has been streaming at Exclaim, along with a new video. She’s at The Winter Garden Theatre on November 24.

Video: Jenn Grant – “In The Belly Of The Dragon”
Stream: Jenn Grant / The Beautiful Wild

The Wooden Sky have released a new video from Every Child A Daughter, Every Moon A Sun. They’re at The Phoenix on December 1.

Video: The Wooden Sky – “I’m Your Man”

CBC Music reports that Chad Van Gaalen is working on a full-length animated science fiction feature which he’s called Tarbox. Yeah, that won’t be weird at all.

Spanish site Vigopolis has got a video session of Basia Bulat playing a new song, so if you were wondering what Basia was doing – she’s in Spain playing new songs for Spanish websites. And giving interviews in Spanish. Because why wouldn’t she.

Spinner talked to Vancouver’s You Say Party, who officially returned to active duty this weekend at PBR10.

CBC Music talks to Snowblink.

Michael Barclay of Radio Free Canuckistan givs Macleans as detailed a description as he’s allowed of how things went down in the Polaris grand jury room last Monday such that Feist was allowed to walk away champion.

ExumThings that happened in 2002: Spider-Man the movie was released, the Queen Mother died, this blog started, and Interpol released their debut Turn On The Bright Lights, furthering the work started by The Strokes the year before in entrenching New York as the coolest music city going and making the world safe for post-punk bands in sharp suits and asymmetrical haircuts to wear their Chameleons fan club pins without fear of reprisals.

While the follow-up Antics sold and charted better and they continue on a decade later (less one iconic bassist), the band never recaptured the same sense of embodying the zeitgeist the way they did with Bright Lights. And so as the tenth anniversary of that record’s release comes and goes – it technically turned ten on August 19 – Matador has announced plans to reissue the album, remastered and expanded with a bonus disc of demos and b-sides for both CD and LP editions and both coming with a DVD with the album’s videos and period-correct live footage. It will be out November 19.

Guitarist Daniel Kessler left a note about the impending reissue on the band’s Facebook.

MP3: Interpol – “NYC”
Video: Interpol – “NYC”
Video: Interpol – “Obstacle 1”
Video: Interpol – “PDA”

Back in the present, Interpol frontman Paul Banks is returning his attention to his solo project but has shed the silly Julian Plenti monicker that branded his 2009 debut Is… Skyscraper; this time out he will simply be Paul Banks and the album will even more simply be Banks. It’s out October 23, the first tune from it sounds like this, and there’s a short documentary about what it is to be Paul Banks over at Noisey.

MP3: Paul Banks – “The Base”

Pitchfork, The Philadelphia Inquirer, and Philly Burbs gets a status report on their new album from Yo La Tengo; the still-untitled long-player will be out in late January 2013. They released their new Stupid Things 12″ last week and made the title track available to stream, but only on the annoyingly geoblocked Spotify – pretty stupid indeed. It took a while but I’ve found a regular stream to share thanks to Yagotamullet’s Song Of The Day.

Stream: Yo La Tengo – “Stupid Things”

The Quietus talks to Mark Eitzel about life post-American Music Club (again) and life in general. His new record Don’t Be A Stranger is out tomorrow and he plays The Rivoli on November 28.