MySpaceThe word is that Living Thing, the new album from Swedish trio Peter Bjorn & John is not only more downbeat than its predecessor, the breakthrough Writer’s Block, but it’s also whistle-free. That a band would choose the eschew the very things that made them international sensations a couple years ago – super-peppy pop with whistle-hooks – might seem a curious strategy, but Moren, Yttling and Eriksson are hardly naive to how the music industry works and they surely know what made you fashionable two years ago can be the exact things that make you unfashionable today. Whether the strategy has worked is up to someone who’s heard the new record to decide – I myself have not. I kind of overdosed on Writer’s Block back in ’07 and haven’t been able to get myself in the frame of mind to go back for more yet.

PB&J – I still can’t decide if that acronym is intentional or just a ridiculous coincidence – will take their new record on the road in North America following this weekend’s performance at Coachella, and will be at the Phoenix in Toronto next Saturday, April 25. And courtesy of Rootmeansquare, I’ve got a pair of passes to give away to the show, which will also feature Chairlift on the bill. To enter, email me at contests AT chromewaves.net with “I want to a PB&J” in the subject line and your full name in the body and get that in to me before midnight, April 22.

There’s interviews with members of the band at Magnet, Exclaim!, MTV and The London Free Press.

Video: Peter Bjorn & John – “Nothing To Worry About”
Video: Peter Bjorn & John – “Lay It Down”
MySpace: Peter Bjorn & John

George WrightWith most of his recent releases being of the archival sort – two box sets in the last two years in the form of I Wanna Go Backwards and Luminous Groove and with more to come – you might be forgiven for thinking that Robyn Hitchcock had his hands full reflecting on an enormous and impressive career. You would also, of course, be wrong. Even while supervising the extensive retrospective project, Hitchcock found the time to regroup with the Venus 3 – the 3/5 of R.E.M., Peter Buck, Bill Rieflin and Scott McCaughey, with whom he recorded 2006’s wonderful Ole Tarantula – and recorded yet another new album, the just-released Goodnight Oslo.

Unlike the bright and sprightly Tarantula, Oslo feels darker in mood and more expansive in tone, favouring more meditative, droning song structures and incorporating the likes of strings, horns and backing singers into the brew. But more importantly, like its predecessor, Oslo is full of classic-sounding, jangly pop songs turned on their heads by Hitchcock’s clever and curious wordplay and distinctive delivery. Having been at it for thirty-odd years, the man has a signature. And more importantly, he’s still working at an impressively high level. While he may have spent the last little while looking backwards, there’s no question he’s still moving ever-forwards.

Hitchcock and his crew are touring North America and will be at the Mod Club in Toronto this Thursday night, April 16. I saw them there in 2006 and even for someone only casually familiar with Hitchcock’s oeuvre, it was a tremendously enjoyable show. This should be no different. Courtesy of Against The Grain, I’ve got two pairs of passes to give away for this show. To enter, email me at contests AT chromewaves.net with “I wanna go backwards” in the subject line and your full name in the body, and get that in to me by midnight tomorrow evening – April 14.

There’s interviews with Hitchcock at Wired, JamBase, Philadelphia Daily News and Nashville Scene. And while there’s no album MP3 from Goodnight Oslo available, Hitchcock’s live shows are freely available at archive.org and that includes shows from the current tour, like this one from Carrboro, North Carolina where he naturally played some of the new material.

MP3: Robyn Hitchcock & The Venus 3 – “What You Is” (live)
MP3: Robyn Hitchcock & The Venus 3 – “Goodnight Oslo” (live)
MySpace: Robyn Hitchcock

Thanks go to Anika In London for pointing the way to this video session with Emmy The Great at Channel M. There’s also an interview with Emmy at The Is Nottingham.

And digging through those Channel M archives unearthed this session with Fanfarlo. Have I mentioned how great their Reservoir album is? I have? Good. Because it is.

Gomez have a date at the Phoenix on May 29 in support of their new album A New Tide.

Beatroute, The Georgia Straight and Decider have interviews with Friendly Fires.

Incendiary and The Skinny interview Micachu & The Shapes.

St Vincent has a new video from her new album Actor, due out on May 5.

Video: St Vincent – “Actor Out Of Work”

At long last, Los Angeles-based music mag Under The Radar has a proper website with actual content. Like this interview with Bob Mould. Under The Radar remains one of the best (and last) indie-centric music magazines out there in the physical world, I look forward to seeing the same high level of quality from them online.

TravisI’ll not be so ungenerous as to say something like, “Travis? They’re still around?”. After all, I got a lot of enjoyment out of their 1999 breakthrough album The Man Who, although those good feelings may have just been dispelled by the realization that that record came out a full decade ago. And though they never quite reached that level of popular success again, I know the Scottish quartet have forged a very respectable career in the interim.

But still, they’d fallen off my radar more than a little and I was a bit surprised when their latest album Ode To J Smith showed up in my mailbox last year, it being the first physical evidence of their continued plugging along I’d been faced with in some time. And I was even more surprised to find that rather than get softer in their old age – they were hardly rock monsters even in their youth – Smith presented a louder and more aggressive Travis than I’d expected. Fran Healy’s yearning voice does still soften the edges of anything it’s laid overtop and the ballad end of things is well-represented, but the record has an energy level that they are to commended on. I don’t know that the songs themselves are that noteworthy – loud or no, they’re still a pop band and there’s nothing that’s as hooky or affecting as their best work (though the anthemic “Song To Self” comes pretty damn close) – but it’s pleasing to see they’re still kicking and with such vitality.

And they’re currently kicking their way across North America on tour for J Smith and that itinerary includes a date at the Sound Academy in Toronto on April 21. And, courtesy of Fontana North, I’ve got a pair of tickets for the show to give away. If you want to go and promise to cheer just as loudly for the new material as you will for “Why Does It Always Rain On Me?”, them email me at contests AT chromewaves.net with “I want to see Travis” in the subject line and your full name and mailing address in the body. These are physical tickets that will need to be delivered. And as such, this contest will close at midnight, April 14 so that the post office has time to do their thing.

There’s interviews with the band at Planet Radiocity, Deseret News and The Salt Lake Tribune.

Video: Travis – “J Smith”
Video: Travis – “Song To Self”
Video: Travis – “Why Does It Always Rain On Me”
MySpace: Travis

Brooke FitsDamien Jurado is a big guy. At first glance, certainly not the sort of guy you’d expect to deal in songs such as his, full of frailty and heartbreak, but it just goes to show you can’t… I don’t believe I’m going to use this phrase… judge a book by its cover. But with his latest release, last year’s Caught In The Trees, it seems Jurado is adding a new chapter to that book, one with brighter tones and tempos and perhaps a lighter mood. The plot is unchanged from one of dark, aching beauty, but at least the setting has shifted a bit.

Jurado is taking his show on the road this Spring accompanied by Laura Gibson and will be at the Drake Underground in Toronto next Tuesday night, April 14. And courtesy of Against The Grain, I’ve got a pair of passes to give away for the show. To enter, email me at contests AT chromewaves.net with “I want to see Damien Jurado” in the subject line and your full name in the body, and get that to me by midnight Sunday, April 12.

MP3: Damien Jurado – “Gillian Was A Horse”
MP3: Damien Jurado – “What Were The Chances”
MP3: Damien Jurado – “White Center”
MP3: Damien Jurado – “Texas To Ohio”
MySpace: Damien Jurado

Wes FrazerMemphis, Tennessee’s Lucero have earned themselves quite the reputation as the live act, leaving a trail of sweat and beer stains in their whiskey-soaked wake, and though they haven’t released a new record since 2006’s Rebels, Rogues & Sworn Brothers – aside from frontman Ben Nichols’ solo mini-album The Last Pale Light in the West earlier this year – they’re back on the road again doing what they do best.

And they’re bringing along sons of New Jersey Titus Andronicus, named for one of Shakespeare’s more gruesome plays (the Julie Taymor adaptation left me more than a little slack-jawed, but I digress), who released their debut The Airing Of Grievances last year and had it re-released this past January.

This double-bill of undistilled rock will hit the Horseshoe next Sunday night, April 12, and courtesy of Against The Grain, 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 spend Easter with Lucero” in the subject line and your full name in the body. Contest will close at midnight tomorrow night, April 8, so if you want a piece of this get on it.

MP3: Lucero – “What Else Would You Have Me Be”
MP3: Lucero – “I Can Get Us Out Of Here”
MP3: Lucero – “The Mountain”
MP3: Titus Andronicus – “Titus Andronicus”
Video: Lucero – “Just That Kind Of Girl”
Video: Titus Andronicus – “Titus Andronicus”
MySpace: Lucero
MySpace: Titus Andronicus