Amanda SchenkThe Sadies have no shortage of experience in the role of backing band, having worked with the likes of Neko Case, Robyn Hitchcock and Jon Langford in addition to carving out their niche with their unique blend of country, rock, punk and psychedelic influences. John Doe has no shortage of experience fronting bands, most famously with Los Angeles punk legends X but also with country outfit The Knitters, to say nothing of his impressive solo career. So that the two parties would opt to work together on a record initiated, as Doe recalls, by “a drunken promise or threat” seems like a match made in country heaven.

Though Country Club, the resultant album, may have been conceived in a rather off the cuff manner, the execution is far from haphazard – quite the contrary, it’s a decidedly smooth and polished effort. The Sadies are as absurdly tight as ever – I think they’re genetically incapable of being sloppy – but stay largely in the background across the collection comprised mainly of old country covers, allowing Doe’s richly weathered voice to take centre stage. Doe and The Sadies favour a casual, back porch vibe on this record, focusing more on croony, country weepers featuring Doe and a variety of lady duet partners, including Kathleen Edwards. Foreknowledge of the tunes isn’t necessary – besides the Sadies original “Before I Wake”, I only recognized Johnny Cash’s “I Still Miss Someone” and the Hag’s “Are The Good Times Really Over For Good” – just an appreciation for the hurtin’ side of country. Anyone looking for raucous, boozed-up jams should keep on walking; everyone else, grab a peer, pull up a stool and sit a spell.

And if you feel so inclined to do just that, Doe and The Sadies will be entertaining guests at the Horseshoe this Thursday night, April 30, and courtesy of Against The Grain and Outside Music, I’ve got a couple prize packs consisting of a pair of passes to the show and a copy of Country Club to give away. To enter, email me at contests AT chromewaves.net with “I want to join The Country Club” in the subject line and your full name and address in the body and get that in to me by 7AM, April 29 (morning deadline what?). And, if you either don’t win, can’t make it or just need more Doe and Sadies in your musical diet, they’ll be doing an in-store at Sonic Boom Thursday evening at 7PM. Anyone who was at their in-store there back in November 2007 knows that the wood-paneled setting is perfect for the Good brothers and that unplugging them makes them no less fearsome a band.

Stream: John Doe & The Sadies / Country Club
MySpace: John Doe & The Sadies

Reuters talks to Steve Earle about his forthcoming Townes Van Zandt tribute record Townes, due out May 12.

Clash interviews Jason Lytle, whose new solo record Yours Truly, The Commuter is out May 19.

Billboard verifies that Wilco will release their new album on June 30. Unconfirmed is that the record, the band’s seventh, will be self-titled. How meta would that be – Wilco the band releases Wilco the album which contains “Wilco The Song”. Update: Rolling Stone confirms: Wilco (The Album) out June 30. Huzzah!

Chairlift has an Interface session with Spinner.

The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart have released a new video, just in time for their show at Lee’s Palace tonight. There’s interviews with the band at The Ithaca Journal, The Cornell Daily Sun, New Haven Advocate and Hartford Courant.

Video: The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart – “Young Adult Friction”

Interview interviews Beach House, who will be part of the Olympic Island concert taking place at the Toronto Islands on July 11.

British Sea Power will release their new album, a soundtrack for the 1933 documentary film Man From Aran, on May 18 and there’s now an MP3 from the soundtrack and a trailer for the film. The band are already at work on their fourth proper studio album – Noble gives NME a progress report.

MP3: British Sea Power – “Come Wander With Me”
Trailer: Man From Aran

Another Dears b-side is up for grabs. They’re at the Mod Club on Thursday evening.

MP3: The Dears – “Crisis 1 and 2”

It’s Metric week at Drowned In Sound, and they lead off their coverage with a track-by-track annotation of Fantasies by Emily Haines and a five-part serialization of the The Rawside Of… docu-feature. One part a day, the first one is here.

Dog Day have rolled out new video to go along with the release of their new album Concentration. They’ve got a date at Lee’s Palace on May 28.

MP3: Dog Day – “Rome”
Video: Dog Day – “Happiness”

Malajube have announced some Canadian dates including a June 12 show at Lee’s Palace.

MP3: Malajube – “Porte Disparu”

Dead OceansExhaustion was cited as the reason North Carolinan folk outfit Bowerbirds had to cancel their scheduled Fall 2008 tour in support of Calexico – including the November Toronto date – and it’s understandable why. They’d been on the road constantly all year in both North America and Europe in support of their debut, Hymns For A Dark Horse, and just had to take a break.

But they’re feeling better and refreshed and are embarking on a Spring tour that will take them and their elegant, percussive and harmony-laden folkery through many of the markets they didn’t make it to in the Fall, including a stop at the Drake Underground in Toronto this Saturday night, May 2. And in addition to selections from Dark Horse, expect to hear new material from their just-announced sophomore album Upper Air, which will be out July 7.

Courtesy of Against The Grain, I’ve got a couple pairs of passes to see Bowerbirds at The Drake on Saturday to give away. To enter, email me at contests AT chromewaves.net with “I want to see Bowerbirds” in the subject and your full name in the body. Contest will close at midnight, April 30.

Diamondback Online has an interview with the band.

MP3: Bowerbirds – “In Our Talons”
Video: Bowerbirds – “In Our Talons”
MySpace: Bowerbirds

David WaldmanI feel a fair bit peer pressure around Toronto youngsters Great Bloomers, on account of the fact that I have friends who really like them and friends who are working with them and yet the couple times I saw them like last Summer, I came away impressed with various facets of them – their impressive musicianship in particular – but overall, not as smitten as I thought I would be. Their promise was obvious, but I didn’t think it was as coalesced as it needed to be at that point.

And now, some time later, they’ve just released their debut album Speak Of Trouble and it demonstrates a band that’s made great strides since we last crossed paths. It’s impeccably recorded and performed – almost unsettlingly so for an outfit just getting started. Theirs are an impressively polished batch of songs led by Lowell Sostomi’s twangy voice but also incorporating Southern rock boogie and jangly guitar and piano pop hooks. If you’re looking for the sloppiness of youth, look elsewhere – and therein lies the heart of my reservations, which are the same as I’d have since day one. It’s all so polite. Which is certainly better than affected angst, but still. Oh well, I suppose there’s plenty of greater complaints one could have than a record sounding too good, right?

The Great Bloomers are celebrating their album’s release next Saturday at the Horseshoe, May 2, and courtesy of Maple Music, I’ve got three prize packs to give away consisting of a pair of passes to the show and a copy of the new record on CD. AND for those who can’t make it or simply reside elsewhere, two more copies of the CD to dispense. To enter, email me at contests AT chromewaves.net with “I want to see Great Bloomers” in the subject line if you can go to the show and “I want the Great Bloomers CD” if you just want the disc. In either case, include your full name and mailing address in the body and get that to me by midnight, April 30.

There’s an interview with the band at The Cord and a video feature at The National Post.

MP3: Great Bloomers – “The Young Ones Slept”

Annie MusselmanPrior to last year, M Ward’s career path was one of fairly slow and steady growth. His earlier works cultivated a mysterious, almost baroque tone and largely showcased his instrumental virtuosity and occasionally his world-worn rasp. Subsequent works found him acting as a sort of musical time capsule, an archivist for music of bygone eras of Americana country and folk whose increasingly confident singing and songwriting allowed him to not only pay tribute to, but contribute to that canon.

She & Him, his 2008 collaboration with singer-actress Zooey Deschanel, was probably intended as a diversion but perhaps predictably blew up into the highest-profile project Ward has been involved in, their debut album Volume One garnering no small amount of praise – much (but not all) of it deserved. The musicality was pure Ward, but Deschanel’s bright vocals and direct, simple songwriting gave it a sunnier disposition than you’d usually associate with him.

And judging from his latest record, it’s rubbed off on him. Hold Time finds a jauntier Matt Ward than on past works, still laid back and in no real rush to get anywhere besides the back porch but with a bit more spring in the step nonetheless. Though things still get evocatively sad and nostalgic where necessary – the duet with Lucinda Williams on “Oh Lonesome Me” and the title track, for example – there’s a sense of fun that runs through much of the album and makes it feel extra fresh – Ward has mastered and assimilated classic pop idioms into his fearsome musical repertoire, and the world is a better place for it. Those who long for his fearsome solo guitar pieces or transformative cover songs may find things a bit too straight for their liking, but for the rest of us who know you can throw Transfiguration Of Vincent on anytime, it’s another great effort from an artist who manages to constantly move forward by staying rooted in the past.

Ward is currently on the road and will be at the Phoenix in Toronto on Monday, April 27 and courtesy of Against The Grain, I’ve got a couple pairs of passes to give away for the show. To enter, email me at contests AT chromewaves.net with “I want to hold time” in the subject line and your full name in the body. Contest closes at midnight, April 23.

The Fort Wayne Journal-Gazette and CNN have interviews with Ward.

MP3: M Ward – “Never Had Nobody Like You”
MP3: M Ward – “Rave On”
Video: M Ward – “Hold Time”
Video: M Ward – “Rave On”
MySpace: M Ward

The Independent lists off 20 things you probably didn’t know about Bob Dylan. His new album Together Through Life is out next week and there’s now a video for one of the songs.

Video: Bob Dylan – “Beyond Here Lies Nothin'”

Filter profiles Andrew Bird.

Paste hangs out with The Decemberists. They’re at the Kool Haus on August 3.

Aquarium Drunkard talks to Jason Lytle about his new record Yours Truly, The Commuter. The record is out May 19 and Spinner has the title track to download.

MP3: Jason Lytle – “Yours Truly, The Commuter”

Originally supposed to be out yesterday, Ohbijou’s sophomore album Beacons appears to have a new release date set for June 2.

MP3: Ohbijou – “Black Ice”

Ohbijou’s Casey Mecija has also begun organizing a new music series in town entitled “Heavy Vessel”, which is intended to feature local bands playing in a sandbox in a schoolyard, but inclimate weather forced the inaugural edition to be held indoors instead. Chart has a review of the first show and some video footage has also surfaced – Sucking A Lemon with a clip featuring a scaled-down Bruce Peninsula and Colin Medley capturing a performance by The Acorn’s Rolf Klausener.

JAM talks to Gentleman Reg. He’s at the Mod Club June 1 opening for A Camp.

To mark the start of their upcoming tour, which begins April 30 at the Mod Club in Toronto, The Dears will be releasing a new b-side or unreleased track to download every week, the first of which can be grabbed below. Also check out an interview with Natalia Yanchak at Singing Lamb.

MP3: The Dears – “Halfmast”

Prefix interviews Metric.

Decider talks to Ida Maria.

The Washington Post, Duke Chronicle and Decider talk to Thao Ngyuen of Thao with The Get Down Stay Down. I’ve failed to see them every time they’ve come to Toronto and also missed every one of their shows at SxSW, but they’re playing The Bowery Ballroom in New York the evening I get there next month. I think I should make the effort to out and see them. They’ve made a puppet-powered video for a Lovin’ spoonful cover they recorded for a split 7″ for Record Store Day.

Video: Thao with The Get Down Stay Down – “Did You Ever Have To Make Up Your Mind”

Having just released their self-titled debut, The Mt St Helen’s Vietnam Band have a date at the Horseshoe on June 2. Decider has an interview with the band.

MP3: The Mt St Helen’s Vietnam Band – “Cheer For Fate”
MP3: The Mt St Helen’s Vietnam Band – “Anchors Dropped”
Video: The Mt St Helen’s Vietnam Band – “Cheer For Fate”

City Pages and Black Book Q&A Chairlift, who just reissued their 2008 album Does You Inspire You in remastered form and with a couple of bonus tracks, one of which you can hear over at Stereogum. Chairlift are in town this Saturday, April 25, at the Phoenix opening up for Peter Bjorn & John, with whom JAM and Metromix have interviews and MPR a session.

Hooray for the short turnaround contest! I asked the good folks at Against The Grain if they had anything for me to give away in the next little while in the way of concert passes, and indeed they did – all over the next week! So rather than divvy them up and dole them out individually, I’m just going to lump them all together and let you have at them all at once. Here we go. And if you find yourself complaining you’ve got nothing to do this week, don’t blame me.

Mark Owen

Who: The Handsome Family with Marissa Nadler Where: The El Mocambo When: April 21, 2009 Why: Both The Handsome Family and Marissa Nadler have new records – they with Honey Moon, she with Little Hells What: Two pairs of passes to the show How: Email me at contests AT chromewaves.net with “I want to see The Handsome Family” in the subject and your full name in the body by noon, April 21. MP3: The Handsome Family – “When You Whispered” MP3: Marissa Nadler – “River Of Dirt” Video: The Handsome Family – “My Friend”

World’s Fair

Who: Youth Group Where: Lee’s Palace When: April 23, 2009 Why: The Aussie rockers have a new album out in The Night Is Ours What: Five pairs of passes to the show How: Email me at contests AT chromewaves.net with “I want to see Youth Group” in the subject and your full name in the body by midnight, April 21. MP3: Youth Group – “All This Will Pass” Video: Youth Group – “Two Sides”

Julé Malet-Veale

Who: Hey Rosetta Where: Lee’s Palace When: April 24, 2009 Why: The Haligonian St John’s-ian outfit is continuing to tour last year’s Into Your Lungs (And Around In Your Heart And On Through Your Blood) What: Two pairs of passes to the show How: Email me at contests AT chromewaves.net with “I want to see Hey Rosetta” in the subject and your full name in the body by midnight, April 22. Video: Hey Rosetta – “Yes! Yes! Yes!” Video: Hey Rosetta – “Red Heart”

Gravy

Who: Shout Out Out Out Out Where: Lee’s Palace When: April 25, 2009 Why: The Edmonton electro-dance-punk crew rockers will release Reintegration Time on May 5 What: Two pairs of passes to the show How: Email me at contests AT chromewaves.net with “I want to see Shout Out Out Out Out” in the subject and your full name in the body by midnight, April 23. MP3: Shout Out Out Out Out – “Bad Choices” Video: Youth Group – “Two Sides”

Matthew Stinchcomb

Who: French Kicks Where: The Horseshoe When: April 27, 2009 Why: The New York band are continuing to work last year’s Swimming What: Two pairs of passes to the show How: Email me at contests AT chromewaves.net with “I want to see French Kicks” in the subject and your full name in the body by midnight, April 23. Video: French Kicks – “Abandon”