Carlos van HijfteWho: Chelsea Light Moving
What: A relatively new band out of New York City whose lineup includes this one guy who used to be in another New York outfit that’s garnered a bit of a following over the years – Thurston Moore and Sonic Youth. Perhaps you’ve heard of them?
Why: They released their self-titled debut back in February, and with Sonic Youth on indefinite hiatus, does a pretty good job of filling in that noise-and-melody, abused guitar-shaped void in your life.
When: Sunday, March 31, 2013
Where: Lee’s Palace in Toronto (19+)
Who else: Someone called Fossils is opening. I cannot figure out what that is.
How: Tickets for the show are $19 in advance but courtesy of Collective Concerts, I’ve got one pair of passes to give away for the show. To enter, email me at contests AT chromewaves.net with “I want to see Chelsea Light Moving” in the subject line and your full name in the body and have that in to me by midnight, March 27.

MP3: Chelsea Light Moving – “Burroughs”
MP3: Chelsea Light Moving – “Frank O’Hara Hit”
MP3: Chelsea Light Moving – “Empire Of Time”
MP3: Chelsea Light Moving – “Groovy & Linda”

Frank YangWho: Phoenix
What: French electro-pop outfit who became international superstars on the back of 2009’s Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix and have graduated to headlining festivals and playing very big rooms.
Why: The long-awaited follow-up to Wolfgang finally arrives on April 23, and advance word on Bankrupt! is that it sounds very much like Phoenix, which should be a relief to all. Phoenix is not necessarily a band that people want massive artistic growth from – they want hooks, hooks, and more hooks. And Bankrupt! has hooks.
When: Thursday, March 28, 2013
Where: The Queen Elizabeth Theatre in Vancouver. That’s right, it’s a contest for the west coast – don’t you guys out there say I never do anything for you even though, really, I don’t.
Who else: Montreal’s Mac Demarco will warm things up.
How: Tickets for the show range from $45 to $70 in advance but courtesy of Universal Music Canada, I’ve got one pair of passes to give away for the show. To enter, email me at contests AT chromewaves.net with “I want to see Phoenix in Vancouver” in the subject line and your full name in the body, and have that to me by midnight (Vancouver time), March 21.
What else: Spin has details on what sorts of bonuses come with the deluxe edition of Bankrupt!

Video: Phoenix – “Entertainment!”

Norman WongIncreasingly, Friday posts are for clearing off the decks of whatever hasn’t gone out earlier in the week, but that doesn’t mean the content isn’t quality – this ain’t no fire sale, son. But it also doesn’t mean I’m not giving some stuff away. Because I am.

Earlier this week, Toronto electro-operatic sensation Austra announced details of their second album, to be entitled Olympia and due out June 18. And because they believe in deeds, not words, they also made the first single from the new record available to stream. And if you want to hear more new material – or are now in the mood to hear some Feel It Break material – you’ll probably want to be at The Danforth Music Hall next Saturday night, March 23, for their late-add Canadian Musicfest performance.

Though a limited number of festival wristbands and passes will be admitted, lineups and attendant stresses can be eliminated with advance tickets. Those are going for $24 in advance, but courtesy of Embrace, I’ve got four pairs of passes to give away for the show. To enter, email me at contests@chromewaves.net with “I want to see Austra” in the subject line and your full name in the body and have that me by midnight, March 20.

Stream: Austra – “Home”

The Line Of Best Fit talks to Alan Sparhawk of Low, who are in town at The Great Hall on Saturday night and release their new record The Invisible Way on Tuesday.

Brett Anderson of Suede chats with DIY. Their new record Bloodsports is out on March 18.

Brightest Young Things has an interview with Philip Ekstrom of The Mary Onettes about their new album Hit The Waves, due out next Tuesday, March 19. Ekstrom also proves game for mini Swede-pop summits, with The Line Of Best Fit having Sambassadeur’s Joachim Läckberg interview Ekstrom and vice-versa – Sambassadeur’s new record is due out later this year – and Q gets his label boss – Johan Angergård of Labrador – to ask him some questions.

Southern Souls has a video session with July Talk, taking part in Canandian Musicfest at Lee’s Palace on March 21.

The National Post has a feature interview with Nick Cave; he leads The Bad Seeds into Massey Hall on March 23.

The Strokes have rolled out the first video from their forthcoming Comedown Machine, out March 26.

Video: The Strokes – “All The Time”

The first video from The House Of Love’s forthcoming She Paints Words In Red – the one that went up last month and was almost immediately pulled – is back up, hopefully for good. The album is out April 1.

Video: The House Of Love – “A Baby Got Back On Its Feet”

In addition to announcing a local tour that includes a free show at the Parkdale Library on April 27, Dusted have made an unreleased track available to download and another rarity available to stream.

MP3: Dusted – “No Trouble”
Stream: Dusted – “In Yr Skull”

Exclaim and MTV Hive have interviews with Rachel Zeffira, coming to town as part of a two-date North American tour on May 2 at The Drake Underground.

MTV Hive talks to Airick Wooded of Doldrums. He’ll be at The Horseshoe on May 11.

I don’t know that a musical from the pens of Stephen King and John Mellencamp is something that I’d necessarily want to know existed, let alone hear, but that the Ghost Brothers of Darkland County soundtrack features performances from the likes of Neko Case and Elvis Costello, I can’t not pay a little attention. The album is out June 4 and a couple tracks are available to stream now. Neko Case is in town at the Toronto Urban Roots Fest at Garrison Commons on July 7.

Stream: Neko Case – “That’s Who I Am”
Stream: Elvis Costello – “That’s Me”

The 405 meets Ra Ra Riot, coming back to town on June 8 for Field Trip at Garrison Commons.

Ira Kaplan of Yo La Tengo compiles a list of his favourite albums for The Quietus. They’ll be at Garrison Commons for TURF on July 7.

The Von Pip Musical Express brings the good news that Nicole Atkins has just about completed her third album, entitled Slow Phaser, and while specific release details are still forthcoming, a first track from it is available to stream.

Stream: Nicole Atkins – “Red Ropes”

The AV Club is running a series of video session musical tributes to various states, and have kicked off in Texas – of course – with Iron & Wine’s Sam Beam offering an unreleased Texas-themed song in the first one and Shearwater’s Jonathan Meiburg covering Roy Orbison in another.

Also in interesting covers: Joanna Newsom tackling a Sandy Denny song in a performance for a Los Angeles clothing designer; watch the video at Spin and get a little background on the session at Style.com.

Exclaim talks to Mark Perro of The Men.

If you hadn’t heard, School Of Seven Bells guitarist Benjamin Curtis was recently diagnosed with T-cell Lymphoblastic Lymphoma. While treatable, they have set up a website through which they are soliciting support and donations to help cover the costs. Help out if you can.

Robyn Hitchcock discusses his new album Love From London with Spinner.

Neil KrugOn any given night, in this great city of Toronto, you’ve got no shortage of entertainment options vying for your evenings and dollars, but sometimes there occurs a confluence that simultaneously reminds you of how lucky we are as well as how unfair the universe can be. Case in point, this coming March 4, when the equivalent of a Pitchfork Festival sidestage will descend on Parkdale across two venues, and while you can try to club-hop, realistic logistics will probably force you to make some hard choices.

Over at Wrongbar, you’ve got: Kiwi-American acid-pop outfit Unknown Mortal Orchestra, touring behind their new album II; Los Angeles psych-folk duo Foxygen, whose debut We Are The 21st Century Ambassadors Of Peace And Magic is drawing raves; and Portland’s electro-pop duo Wampire, readying their debut Curiosity for release in May.

And just east, across the great Dufferin divide, The Drake Underground hosts the Nashville-based timeless Americana of Night Beds and their debut Country Sleep, and all the way from Copenhagen, Søen Løkke Juul – aka Indians – and his debut album of atmospheric pop, Somewhere Else.

Tough decisions, yes, and I’m here to make those decisions easier/harder. Tickets for the UMO/Foxygen/Wampire show are $13.50 in advance and Night Beds/Indians goes for $12, but courtesy of Embrace I’ve got two pairs of passes to each to give away. To enter, email me at contests AT chromewaves.net with either “I want to see UMO” or “I want to see Night Beds” in the subject line and your full name in the body, as well as which of the two shows you’d prefer should you enter both. Which you can do if you like. Contest closes at midnight, February 27.

Austinist has an interview with UMO principal Ruban Nielson; NPR has a World Cafe session with Foxygen; The Guardian makes Wampire their New Band Of The Day; MTV Hive, Gigwise, and American Songwriter talk to Night Beds frontman Winston Yellen; and Indians are profiled by The San Francisco Examiner, The Georgia Straight, and MTV Hive.

MP3: Unknown Mortal Orchestra – “I’ll Come Back 4 U”
MP3: Foxygen – “Waiting 4 U”
MP3: Night Beds – “Even If We Try”
MP3: Indians – “Cakelakers”
Stream: Wampire – “The Hearse”

Jamie-James MedinaBoth The xx and Grizzly Bear have pretty well established their bona fides as a couple of the biggest names in what we colloquially call “indie rock” circa 2013, and while neither are quite at the point where they could headline a top-tier festival, they can sure as heck team up for a pretty impressive standalone bill in a festival setting. En route to New York City to play the Governor’s Ball, the two acts – last seen hereabouts in the elegant setting of Massey Hall both – will show off their big outdoor stage chops with a show at Downsview Park the evening of June 6, in support of last year’s Coexist and Shields, respectively.

Tickets for the show are $59.50 in advance for general admission and $99.50 VIP, though a limited number of early bird GAs will be available this Friday for $49.50. Courtesy of Collective Concerts, however, I’ve got one pair of VIP passes plus a copy of Coexist on vinyl to give away ahead of the on-sale. To enter, email me at contests@chromewaves.net with “I want to see The xx and Grizzly Bear” in the subject line and your full name in the body and have that in to me before midnight, February 14 – winners will be notified before tickets go on And note that while the general admission area is all-ages, VIP is 19+ so you must be of age to enter.

And if you’re wondering what The xx would be like on a big outdoor stage, it’ll probably be the complete opposite of this Tiny Desk Concert they played for NPR.

And please note that management is not responsible for any sexytimes that may ensue in the grass, in the dark, during The xx’s set.

MP3: The xx – “Reconsider”
MP3: Grizzly Bear – “Yet Again”

Ducktails – perhaps better known as the solo endeavour of Real Estate guitarist Matt Mondanile – will be hitting the road in support of the just-released The Flower Lane. Exclaim has all the tour dates, which include an April 3 date at The Garrison, tickets for which are $12.50. DIY has an interview with Mondanile.

Stream: Ducktails – “The Flower Lane”

Any way you look at it, whether counting off eight months from the release of their excellent Researching The Blues, the almost five years since they played a one-off NXNE appearance, or the who knows how long it’s been since an east coast tour – well over a decade – it’s great to be able to welcome Redd Kross back to town – they’ll be at The Horseshoe on April 11.

MP3: Redd Kross – “Stay Away From Downtown”

Brighton two-piece rock machine Blood Red Shoes are back again on April 23 – this time at The Horseshoe – again in support of last year’s In Time To Voices but also their new Water EP, which they give DIY a track-by-track guide through and which you can stream below. Tickets $11.50 in advance.

Video: Blood Red Shoes – “In Time To Voices”
Stream: Blood Red Shoes / Water

In today’s good news/bad news department, Foals have announced a North American tour in support of Holy Fire – out today – and will be at The Kool Haus on May 11, tickets $24. The bad news, besides it being the same night as Charles Bradley and The Breeders, is their support act will be Surfer Blood, who were terrible even before their singer’s predilection for domestica abuse came to light. Go see Foals, by all means, but feel free to turn around or talk right through Surfer Blood’s set, and if you find you have some litter with you, the stage is as good a place as any to discard it. Clash and Filter have feature pieces on Foals, the Filter one with a rather unfortunate headline all things considered.

MP3: Foals – “Inhaler”

Trevor Powers, aka Youth Lagoon, is prepping for the March 5 release of his new album Wondrous Bughouse and has announced a brace of North American dates – May 13 at The Great Hall, Toronto, $16.50 in advance – as well as made a couple new track from the album available to stream. CMJ also has an interview.

Stream: Youth Lagoon – “Mute”
Stream: Youth Lagoon – “Dropla”

Twin Shadow has announced a return engagement in support of last year’s Confess – he and his dad (really) will be at The Phoenix on June 7, tickets $26.50 in advance.

MP3: Twin Shadow – “Changes”

Buoyed by the success of the first four installments – and the fact that March is still mostly part of Winter – Fucked Up has extended their Long Winter concert series to include, well, March. No details on the who, what, or when, but if the scheduling pattern holds it will be on March 8 at The Great Hall. Update: Pattern schmattern – it’s March 23. Which is not Winter.

Speaking of scheduling, Canadian Musicfest – running March 19 to 23 – has published their first pass at the festival schedule and I’m excited to see that a handful of acts I’d been happy to see on the initial artist listings are now nowhere to be found. Way to keep with tradition, CMF! Still, there’s some good stuff in there and not all of it is opposite Nick Cave, so if you’re attending, have a look.