Johnny MotoAdam Franklin’s resume is a long and impressive one – guitarist in Shake Appeal, leader of Swervedriver, principal of Toshack Highway, half of Magnetic Morning and title role in Adam Franklin & The Bolts Of Melody, with duties throughout all of them remaining consistent – craft guitar rock that ranges from the roaring to hypnotic and make it look effortless. And while technically Swervedriver’s reunion continues and anytime Sam Fogarino has a spare moment Magnetic Morning can be back in action, it’s as the last of these projects that currently has Franklin’s full attention.

Though his last solo album Spent Bullets came out just last March, he’s already completed a follow-up entitled I Could Sleep For A Thousand Years and set a May 18 release date for it. And while that’s a ways off yet, Franklin isn’t being idle – clearly that’s not in his nature. He’s currently on a North American tour that’ll surely feature material new and old and which stops in at the Drake Underground in Toronto on January 31. Tickets for the show are $10 in advance, $12 at the door, but courtesy of Collective Concerts (formerly the good folks at ATG and RMS, if you were wondering), I’ve got two pairs of passes to give away to the show. To enter, email me at contests AT chromewaves.net with “I want to be a Bolt Of Melody” in the subject line and your full name in the body, and have that in to me before midnight, January 29.

There’s feature articles on Franklin at The Georgia Straight, The San Francisco Examiner and The AV Club.

MySpace: Adam Franklin

Cameron WittigI only discovered Low circa 2001’s Things We Lost In The Fire, which I think is right around the time the slowcore heroes began expanding their sound and the long-time faithful began to peel off. And if the (relatively) faster tempos and broader sonic palettes were anathema to them, they were manna to me – which is why my favourite of their records, 2005’s unapologetically loud and dynamic The Great Destroyer was the final straw for some. If they’d stuck around, though, they’d have found the last Low record – 2007’s Drums & Guns – to be a return to their quieter ways, albeit aided by loops, samples and seething anger.

Frontman Alan Sparhawk hadn’t suppressed his more rock-out tendencies, however – simply sublimated them into his side project, Retribution Gospel Choir. Their 2008 self-titled debut was compact, loud and sludgy and quite possibly everything that 20th century Low fans were against. The appropriately-titled follow-up 2 offers more of the same, with the emphasis on “more”. 2 is more dynamic, more anthemic and more guitar-heroic than the debut – still chock-full of distorted riffage but also loaded up with some seriously fierce soloing.

It’s never been a secret that Sparhawk was a killer guitarist, but here those skills are front and centre, though not at the expense of the songwriting – as always, it’s impassioned, melodic and more than a little pissed off. Those former Low fans I mentioned earlier will want to stay far away but may want to pay more attention when the next Low record comes out – it’s hard to imagine Sparhawk hasn’t gotten all the rock out of his system, at least for the time being, and the follow-up to Drums & Guns won’t be whisper quiet.

2 is out on Tuesday, January 26. Retribution Gospel Choir is touring through the Winter and Spring and will be at the Drake Underground in Toronto next Monday, January 25. The Cleveland Plains-Dealer has a conversation with Alan Sparhawk.

Update: And I’ve now got a couple pairs of passes to the show to give away, courtesy of Collective Concerts. To enter, email me at contests AT chromewaves.net with “I want to sing in the Retribution Gospel Choir” in the subject and your full name in the body, and get that in to me before midnight, January 23.

MP3: Retribution Gospel Choir – “Hide It Away”
Video: Retribution Gospel Choir – “Hide It Away”
MySpace: Retribution Gospel Choir

Drowned In Sound talks to Shearwater frontman Jonathan Meiburg about their new album The Golden Archipelago, which will be released on February 23. Matablog has details on their upcoming Spring tour, which includes a Toronto date April 1 at Lee’s Palace, and the special dossier that will be released with the record. And they’ve also got a second MP3 from the album to tide you over the next month.

MP3: Shearwater – “Black Eyes”

Daytrotter has got a session with The Rosebuds.

Germany’s Aufgemischt interviews Beach House, who’ve been premiering new videos from Teen Dream each day this week – and for one day only – at Gorilla Vs Bear, leading up to next Tuesday’s record release. And don’t worry about the ones you’ve missed, as all of the videos – they made one for each track of the album – will be available on the DVD that accompanies the CDs and LPs of the album. The record is currently streaming in its entirety at NPR and they play the Opera House on March 30.

Stream: Beach House / Teen Dream

BRM interviews Nick and Tristan of Headlights.

The New York Post and NPR interview Spoon. They’re at the Sound Academy on March 29 and will also appear on this year’s edition of the Starbucks-sponsored Sweetheart Valentine’s Day covers compilation, now available at iTunes US – details at Pitchfork.

Wayne Coyne of The Flaming Lips talks to Drowned In Sound.

The Quietus interviews Stephin Merritt of The Magnetic Fields. Realism is out on Tuesday and they play the Queen Elizabeth Theatre on February 8.

Matablog has posted a new MP3 from the Girls debut Album, in case all those year-end lists weren’t quite enough to convince you. You can also grab the file from them in lossless FLAC format. If you swing that way. Blurt talks to the guy from Girls who kinda looks like a girl, Christopher Owens.

MP3: Girls – “Laura”

Bring Back The Boombox has an interview with Oh No Forest Fires on the almost-eve of their final show. They call it a day after a final blow-out at the Horseshoe this Saturday night.

Rolling Stone interviews Arcade Fire frontman Win Butler.

Under The Radar chats with Neko Case.

Those of you unable to make either the Dinosaur Jr in-store at Sonic Boom tomorrow evening or the show at the Phoenix later that night can try and console yourselves with this NYC Taper recording of their show in New York from Saturday night – there’s also an interview over at JAM.

And Dinosaur Jr are one of the case studies in this PopMatters piece about the reunions of ’80s alt.rock legends and why they should be celebrated.

Out Of This SparkAnniversaries are those sorts of things that seem to keep coming around – every year or so, by my count – and so it is that just twelve months following their last “happy birthday to us” thrown down, Toronto label Out Of This Spark is doing it again. To mark their third anniversary, Out Of This Spark is commandeering The Garrison next Friday night, January 22, and putting on a show, Little Rascals-style.

On the bill will be The D’Urbervilles, Forest City Lovers, Evening Hymns and Jenny Omnichord – and yes, three of the four played last year’s show. It’s not an expansive roster, folks. Both The D’Urbs and Forest City Lovers are readying new records for 2010, Evening Hymns are still celebrating the late 2009 of their wonderful Spirit Guides and Jenny Omnichord’s last release was 2008’s Charlotte Or Otis: Duets For Children, Their Parents, And Other People Too.

Tickets for the show are $8 in advance and $10 at the door, but consider this your personal engraved invitation – courtesy of Out Of This Spark, I’ve got a pair of passes to give away for the show so if you’ve always dreamt of saying, “I’m on the list”, email me at contests AT chromewaves.net with “I am out of this spark” in the subject line and your full name in the body, and get that in to me before midnight, January 20.

MP3: The D’Urbervilles – “Hot Tips”
MP3: Forest City Lovers – “Scared Of Time”
MP3: Evening Hymns – “Broken Rifle”

Jenna WakaniSince first seeing her in a little basement pub at Pop Montreal 2006, it’s been a real treat watching Basia Bulat’s career blossom. 2007 saw her gig relentlessly – I saw her a half-dozen times and wasn’t even really trying – and release her debut Oh, My Darling to much acclaim both at home and abroad and earn a place both in my favourites of the year and the almost-as-prestigious 2008 Polaris Music Prize shortlist. As debuts go, it yielded a pretty good narrative and so it’s not surprising that the follow-up, Heart Of My Own, takes what worked best and builds on that.

Whereas Darling has it’s share of bigger, more orchestrated numbers, it was evident that the songs had started out more homespun, and a few of them simply grew into something more grandiose. it’s notable that rollicking single “In The Night” didn’t appear on the initial European tracklisting but would be regularly held up as a high point in reviews of the North American edition. Heart follows that trajectory, clearly benefiting from the constant touring as a full band, with all the instruments, voices and ideas that came with it.

Utilizing many of the same players and again recorded under producer Howard Billerman’s auspices, Heart maintains the sweetness of Darling, but delivers it with considerably more sophistication, exuberance and sass. The rhythms, arrangements and textures at play are all considerably more complex without sacrificing any of the simplicity that’s at the heart of Bulat’s appeal. That sense of growth also applies lyrically – where Darling‘s protagonist was very much the ingenue, Heart finds her older and wiser; not necessarily more cynical, but certainly more experienced. Oh, My Darling was the first, impressive step from an artist with a clear vision of the sort of folk-pop she wanted to create; Heart Of My Own offers no creative left turns, just a determined, confident stride forward. It’s simply what comes next.

Bulat talks to Spinner about finding inspiration in the Canadian north and gives an in-studio interview and performance for The National Post.

Heart Of My Own is out on January 26 and Basia Bulat has a show at Trinity-St. Paul’s this Saturday night, January 16. Tickets are $20 in advance but courtesy of Secret City, I have a pair of passes to give away to the show. To enter, email me at contests AT chromewaves.net with “I want to see Basia Bulat” in the subject line and your full name in the body. Contest closes at midnight, January 13.

MP3: Basia Bulat – “Go On”
MP3: Basia Bulat – “Gold Rush”
MySpace: Basia Bulat

Suitcase Orchestra and Chart talk to Mark Hamilton of Woodpigeon. Die Stadt Muzikanten is out tomorrow and they play the Drake Underground on February 11.

Great Lake Swimmers are keeping a tour blog of their ongoing trip to China at Spinner. They play Trinity-St. Paul’s on February 6.

Beatroute chats with An Horse. They play an in-store at Criminal Records on January 20 at 6PM.

Sadly, the Charlotte Gainsbourg show at the Phoenix January 26 announced just last week has been cancelled. No reason has been given and other dates on her North American tour still appear to be a go, so one can only surmise that there’s a conflict with something else, or she has a hate-on for Toronto. Her new record IRM is still out that day and The Guardian has an interview.

The Mountain Goats are featured in PitchforkTV’s “Cemetery Gates” video session this week.

Karen O of Yeah Yeah Yeahs talks to Variety about her soundtrack work on Where The Wild Things Are.

Shout Out Louds singer Adam Olenius discusses their new album Work, out February 23, with Spinner.

Bjork’s recent concert film Voltaic, documenting shows in Paris and Reykjavik, will be getting a theatrical screening in Toronto on January 22 at the Acacia Centre, formerly the Golden Classics Cinema in Chinatown. Tickets are $10 in advance at Soundscapes, Queen Video and online.

Marshall AngusIf you can think waaay back to last year (or last week), I talked about the new, made-in-a-day debut EP from Novels, the band that counted Graham Wright of Tokyo Police Club, Luke Lalonde of Born Ruffians, Will Currie of The Country French, Ex-Po’s Dean Marino and Jay Sad as members. In the piece it was mentioned that the band were keen to get their record to go viral both online and in the real world, so in addition to giving the thing away as a download, they were encouraging fans to burn copies of the record and hand them out to friends, family and strangers, drop them off in peoples’ mailboxes, leave them unattended in airports to be detonated by security, whatever. And they asked them to report back on their efforts, which are now being documented in a blog.

And if you haven’t found much luck finding a copy of the CD either dumpster diving or filed amidst the “Memories Of” sauces at Loblaws, here’s another way. The band made up a limited run of 200 CDs with silkscreened cardboard packaging and are offering a couple of them – that’s a whole 1% of all copies in existence – for me to give away. So if you’d like a copy without all the hassle of clicking “download” or, more understandably, would prefer to hear things uncompressed (presuming they ran the CDs from the original recordings and not just burned MP3s), send me an email at contests AT chromewaves.net with “I want to hear a Novel” and include your full name and mailing address… and the name of the last good novel you read. I need something new to read. Contest closes at midnight, January 16.

MP3: Novels – “Mr. Foster’s Teenage Daughter”
MP3: Novels – “This Wouldn’t Be The Last Time”
ZIP: Novels / Novels