last.fmUsually when you assemble a “supergroup”, you assemble top-notch artists for each conventional band position – kick-ass drummer from group A, shredmaster guitarist from group B, supreme bass-slapper from group C and a lead singer (assuming they’re not already one of A, B or C) whose usual bandmates are probably more than happy to get a break from and voila – a can’t-miss recipe that usually misses as often as it hits, if not more. Rarely, however, do you find multiple frontmen working together, with even the notion of managing egos and personalities enough to scare any right-thinking people away. The one notable exception being The Traveling Wilburys and the names involved there were so huge that it’s hard to imagine any of them really feeling insecure. Okay, maybe Jeff Lynne got tired of always being the last one to be named, but whatever.

While the principals of Monsters Of Folk – My Morning Jacket’s Jim James, M Ward and She & Him’s Matt Ward, Bright Eyes and The Mystic Valley Band’s Conor Oberst and Bright Eyes sideman and producer extraordinaire Mike Mogis – aren’t household names on the scale of the Wilburys, they are essentially superstars in the circles they run in. And while the first three’s getting together to tour as solo artists in 2004 made perfect sense, heading into the studio to craft a record of original material was less of a sure thing. After all – getting onstage to harmonize or tackle a cover is one thing, creating all new material together is quite another.

So the fact that the Monsters Of Folk self-titled debut, five years or so in the making, is pretty good on a universal scale can probably be interpreted as being terrific once the supergroup curve is applied. It achieves this largely by not trying to be much more than exactly what it advertises – James, Ward and Oberst contributing songs while Mogis ensures that while each composer’s tunes sound very much like they could have appeared on one of their own records, they still hang together seamlessly. James continues with the soulful excursions that marked the last couple of MMJ records, Ward’s pieces are rollicking AM radio revivals and Oberst still plays the moody, angsty card though he thankfully keeps his love-or-hate vibrato largely in check and doesn’t bring down the prevailing sense of fun that runs through the record as everyone romps in their common ground of classic rock, country, and yes – folk. No one would accuse them of saving A-grade material from their day jobs for this project, but nothing’s a throwaway, either. It’s a solid collection of songs from some top talent – nothing more, nothing less.

And it gives them an excuse to tour, as they currently are, and they’ll be in Toronto on Monday night, November 2, for a show at Massey Hall. Tickets are $36.50 to $49.50 with $1 from each going to Food Share, but courtesy of Against The Grain, I’ve got two pairs of tickets to the show to give away. To enter, email me at contests AT chromewaves.net with “I want to be a Monster Of Folk for Hallowe’en” in the subject line and your full name in the body. Contest closes at midnight, October 31. Update: Special four-packs of tickets for the show are now available – buy four and they’re $25.50 each (plus $1 charity fee).

The Vancouver Sun, The Chicago Tribune and Victoria Advocate have interviews with the Monsters Of Folk.

MP3: Monsters Of Folk – “Say Please”
Video: Monsters Of Folk – “The Right Place”
MySpace: Monsters Of Folk

Express Night Out and The Vermont Cynic chat with Annie Clark of St. Vincent.

Austinist talks to Jonathan Meiburg of Shearwater about their forthcoming album The Golden Archipelago, tentatively set for a February 9 release.

Rolling Stone declares The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart to be a “breaking band”. Way to stay ahead of the curve, Rolling Stone.

The Aquarian interviews Charlie Fink, frontman for Noah & The Whale. A reminder that their double-header performance in Toronto this Saturday comes with a 12-hour gap – the in-store at Criminal Records starts at noon while their headlining set at the Horseshoe begins at midnight.

The xx’s remix/cover of Florence & The Machine’s cover of Candi Staton has been given an official video, which is itself a remix of sorts of the official video of Florence’s version. Good luck sorting out the royalties on that. Florence is at the Mod Club on November 2, The XX are at the Phoenix on December 2 – if they don’t burn out first.

Video: Florence & The Machine – “You’ve Got The Love” (The xx remix)
Video: Florence & The Machine – “You’ve Got The Love”

Ian McCulloch of Echo & The Bunnymen talks to Exclaim.

Radio Free Canuckistan has a fascinating conversation with to Stuart Berman about his Broken Social biography
This Book Is Broken, and the past ten years in Canadian independent music in general. Berman is being interviewed about the book in front of a live audience this Friday night at Harbourfront Centre as part of the International Festival of Authors – congratulations go to Janet for winning the passes to the event.

Sebastian MlynarskiLet it never be said I’m beholden to the traditional press cycle when it comes to reviews. At least not when it comes to Brooklyn’s Bishop Allen. I only got around to writing up their second album, The Broken String last December, almost a year and a half after it was released, and here I am now just getting to their latest Grr… though in this case, the delay is a mere seven months. Almost eight. At least I got the review of their show here in January up within days.

With regards to the lag times, for The Broken String the defense was that, well, I didn’t really know the band but had hung onto the CD for just that long because I had a hunch I’d like it. Why I didn’t just spin the thing sooner and find out is an excellent question. I have a team of experts researching that right now. But for Grr…, it was simply a matter of waiting for the record to win me over the way its predecessor did. And waiting. And waiting. See, what I appreciated about The Broken String was the collegiate cleverness, tempered with open-hearted earnestness and mated with terrific singalong melodies.

And while you can still sing along with Grr…, the band seems to have regressed to a simpler state as far as songwriting goes. This doesn’t seem to be an accident, but a deliberate stylistic shift – the lyrical density and detailed storytelling has given way to more impressionistic wordplay and sometimes nonsensical rhymes. The production is much drier and leaner, often emphasizing just Justin Rice’s voice and Christian Rudder’s guitar, and even the album title and art is primary school basic and playful. And maybe that’s the point of this record, to step back from The Broken String, strip things down to and get back to basics for a spell. If so, job well done. Grr… is a study in simplicity, doing more with less and seeing just how far you can go powered just by melody. It was personally a bit frustrating to have a band I’d just gotten into shelve from those characteristics that drew me to them in the first place, but Grr… is still a pop treat by more objective standards.

The band is currently on tour and will be at the El Mocambo in Toronto on Friday night, October 30. Tickets are $15 in advance but courtesy of REMG, 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 go Grrr” in the subject line and your full name in the body. Contest closes at midnight, October 28.

MP3: Bishop Allen – “Dimmer”
MP3: Bishop Allen – “The Ancient Commonsense Of Things”
Video: Bishop Allen – “Shanghaied”
Video: Bishop Allen – “Dimmer”
MySpace: Bishop Allen

Pitchfork and Offbeat have interviews with Wayne Coyne of The Flaming Lips.

PopMatters and The AV Club chat with Thao Nguyen, namesake of Thao with The Get Down Stay Down. They’re at the El Mocambo this Sunday, November 1, and passes and CDs are still up for grabs.

Daytrotter has got a massive session with The Magnolia Electric Co available to download.

Stereogum points out that a the CBC’s QTV has been compiling a series of video guitar lessons from musical guests passing through their studios, including The National and Vampire Weekend. Did I just stop writing to dust of the guitar and learn to play, “Fake Empire”? Maybe I did. Maybe I did. Also discovered I lost my capo. No “Slow Show” for me.

Neither of these are officially confirmed, but February 9 may see a new record from Shearwater entitled The Golden Archipelago appear in stores. Jonathan Meiburg provided some details on the record this Summer to Michael Hoinski and chimed in on the band’s message boards to discuss some of the possible forms the album would be appearing in – namely different tracklistings and running orders for the CD and LP editions, with the LP coming out as a longer entity than the CD.

PitchforkTV coaxes Yo La Tengo onto a rooftop to play some songs. Or else.

The California Literary Review has an extensive feature on Nicole Atkins, currently on the road with her band The Black Sea road-testing material for album number two, set to be recorded this Winter and released next year.

NPR has a World Cafe session with New York’s Freelance Whales, who will be touring with Fanfarlo this Fall including their December 9 date at the El Mocambo so if you’re planning on being at that show – which you obviously should – make their acquaintance now. Stereogum also declared them a band to watch back in September.

Check out the third new video appearing on the Land Of Talk EP Fun & Laughter, out today. It’s stunning.

Video: Land Of Talk – “It’s Okay”

Basia Bulat will lead up to the January 26 release of her new record Heart Of My Own with her biggest and fanciest Toronto show yet, playing Trinity-St. Paul’s on January 16. Tickets are $20 in advance, on sale Thursday.

MP3: Basia Bulat – “Gold Rush”

The Line Of Best Fit has details on the next Los Campesinos record Romance Is Boring, due out January 26.

Interview has a short chat with The xx. They’re at the Phoenix on December 2.

Elbow’s Guy Garvey gives Drowned In Sound a track-by-track blow-by-blow of the deluxe edition reissue of their debut Asleep In The Back, due out on November 10.

As much as I want to put stock in this typically sensationalistic NME piece on a possible Pulp reunion for Glastonbury next year, I’m far more inclined to side with Idolator’s take on it. Jarvis is much too canny to let something as huge as that slip in that manner. And on second thought, I hope it’s false because I don’t want to have to really face the question of just how far (distance, expense, camping in mud) would I be willing to go to see Pulp live. I suspect the answer is not as far as would be necessary.

Matt MartinAm I excited about this coming Wednesday night and the opportunity to see Sky Larkin at the Cameron House? Yes, yes I am. But they’re not the only reason to haul one’s butt down to the back room of the Cameron that evening – the Leeds trio are touring with fellow Brits Peggy Sue (nee Peggy Sue & The Pirates), whose decidedly off-kilter folk is some distance away, stylistically, from Sky Larkin’s barbed sugar guitar pop but their four-song, 10-minute Lover Gone EP is an intriguing tease. I look forward to hearing more of what they have to offer – presumably their set will go longer than 10 minutes.

Admission is $5 at the door but courtesy of Outside Music, 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 say hello to Peggy Sue” in the subject line and your full name in the body. Contest closes at midnight, October 26. Yes, that’s tomorrow.

MP3: Peggy Sue – “Lover Gone”
Video: Peggy Sue – “Lover Gone”
MySpace: Peggy Sue

AmazonYes, the “I” in IFOA stands for “International” (the rest of it is “Festival Of Authors”), but that’s no reason we can’t celebrate writers that hail from somewhat closer to home, and that’s why eye and Pitchfork scribe Stuart Berman will be the featured guest at the Harbourfront Centre’s Lakeside Terrace this Friday night, October 30, to be interviewed by The Toronto Star’s Ben Rayner about his recent book This Book Is Broken: The Broken Social Scene Story, the biography of Broken Social Scene. Also joining the music scribes in the talk will be Arts & Crafts honcho Jeffrey Remedios and Broken Social principals Kevin Drew and Brendan Canning and the discussion will be followed by a performance from BSS guitarist Jason Collett.

Tickets for the all-ages event are $15 or free for students with a valid student ID, but courtesy of the IFOA, I’ve got a pair of passes to give away for the evening. To enter, email me at contests AT chromewaves.net with “I want my book broken” in the subject line and your full name in the body. Contest closes at midnight, October 28.

Joel BarhamandConsidering the sheer number of bands in the five boroughs, laying claim to being “the loudest band in New York” is no mean feat, never mind holding onto it. Brookyln’s A Place To Bury Strangers certainly got a lot of mileage out of that title when they first burst onto the international stage with their 2007 self-titled debut, a searing groin kick of white noise that still managed to pass itself off as melodic and even pop at times. The follow-up Exploding Head doesn’t give up much in the way of decibels, but some aesthetic tweaks in the production allow the songs to shine through even more, giving the record some more substance beyond the visceral sonic attack.

But APTBS’ reputation for eardrum destruction was mainly earned through their deafening, strobe-saturated live shows and there’s no reason to think that they’ve tempered that much, if at all. Their touring roadshow winds its way through Toronto next Tuesday night, October 27, for a date at the Mod Club – tickets are $13 in advance but courtesy of Rootmeansquare, 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 bury strangers at Mod” in the subject line and your full name in the body. Contest closes at midnight, October 25.

The Quietus has an interview with head Stranger Burier Oliver Ackerman.

MP3: A Place To Bury Strangers – “In Your Heart”
Video: A Place To Bury Strangers – “In Your Heart”