Mates Of StateIt’s a billing that sounds more like a sit-com than an evening of music – the most adorable parents in indie-rock, Mates Of State, teaming up with the precocious dance-floor wundkinds of Black Kids – but it’s a co-headline tour and it’s on right now, and it’s coming to Toronto on Friday evening with Mates Of State closing and Sunbears opening. If this were the sit-com, I guess they’d be the wacky neighbours.

And courtesy of rootmeansquare, I’ve got a pair of passes to Friday’s show to give away. To enter, email me at contests AT chromewaves.net with I want to see Mates Of State” in the subject line and your full name in the body. Get that in to me by midnight, April 7.

NPR is webcasting tonight’s MoS/BK show at the 9:30 Club in DC starting at 10PM ET. Mates Of State will also be releasing Re-Arranged Remixes: Volume 1 on April 14, a limited edition 12″ featuring four remixes of tracks from their latest album, Re-Arrange Us. They give an interview to The Boston Globe while Black Book talks to Black Kid Reggie Youngblood.

MP3: Mates Of State – “My Only Offer”
Video: Mates Of State – “Get Better”
Video: Mates Of State – “My Only Offer”
Video: Black Kids – “Hurricane Jane”
Video: Black Kids – “I’m Not Gonna Teach Your Boyfriend How To Dance With You”
Video: Black Kids – “Look At Me (When I Rock Wichoo)”

Steve GullickSome folks have been complaining (jokingly, I hope) about the “Canada only” nature of some of my giveaways. Just for the record, this isn’t my restriction but based on the jurisdiction of the folks who’re giving the goods away – ie, Canadian labels, distributors, etc. You Americans want free stuff from me, complain to the American divisions of these labels. Not that I expect that makes it any more palatable, I suppose.

And here’s another dose. Anthemic Scots Glasvegas are in the middle of their North American tour which crosses the border later this week for shows in Montreal at La Tulipe on April 2 and in Toronto at the Mod Club on April 3. And while here, they’ll stop in at their label’s Canadian offices to put their signatures on some swag and, courtesy of Sony Music Canada, I’ve got some of that stuff to give away. Specifically, two copies of their self-titled debut on vinyl and one on CD, all for three lucky Canucks. Sorry America, but this is one of the perks of still being in the Commonwealth.

To enter, email me at contests AT chromewaves.net with “Viva Glasvegas” in the subject line and your full name and mailing address in the body, indicating whether you want the vinyl, the CD or you don’t care which just for the love of god give you something. Get that in to me before midnight, April 3. And in case you’ve made it this far without actually reading anything, contest is open to residents of Canada only.

But anyone can read these interviews with the band at Filter, The Daily Record and Metro. Yay you.

Video: Glasvegas – “Please Come Back Home”
Video: Glasvegas – “Daddy’s Gone”
Video: Glasvegas – “Geraldine”
MySpace: Glasvegas

Jon BermanAn eyebrow may have been raised last year when preternaturally perky Welsh pop conglomerate Los Campesinos! announced that they’d be following up their debut full-length Hold On Now, Youngster…, released in February, with another full-length in October. And the other eyebrow went up when it was revealed this second record would be darker in theme and tone than its predecessor.

But anyone expecting that We Are Beautiful, We Are Doomed would be the band’s Closer was sadly mistaken – it’s almost as peppy and insulin coma-inducing as Youngster, but that “almost” is significant in that the glee, which made the debut almost unlistenable for me, is dialed down just enough that I can make it through this new record without wanting to go out and get in a fight. That’s progress.

The band are on tour across North America through mid-April when they play Coachella. That jaunt includes a stop here in Toronto at the Opera House on Wednesday, April 1, and while I don’t have passes to give away, I have something that’s arguably better – courtesy of Arts & Crafts, I’ve got three prize packs consisting of a copy of both full-length albums – We Are Beautiful, We Are Doomed and Hold On Now, Youngster… – on 12″ vinyl and a limited-edition poster featuring artwork by Jeffrey Brown. If you want, email me at contests AT chromewaves.net with “I am beautiful, I am doomed” in the subject line and your full name and mailing address in the body. Contest is open to residents of Canada and will close at midnight, April 1 – right about when Los Camp decamp from the Opera House stage.

The band has also been blogging work on album number three. Including pictures of poo.

MP3: Los Campesinos! – “We Are Beautiful, We Are Doomed”
MP3: Los Campesinos! – “How I Taught Myself To Scream”
MP3: Los Campesinos! – “Miserabilia”
MP3: Los Campesinos! – “Don’t Tell Me To Do The Maths”
MP3: Los Campesinos! – “We Throw Parties, You Throw Knives”
Video: Los Campesinos! – “My Year In Lists”
Video: Los Campesinos! – “Death To Los Campesinos!”
Video: Los Campesinos! – “The International Tweexcore Underground”
Video: Los Campesinos! – “We Throw Parties, You Throw Knives”
Video: Los Campesinos! – “You! Me! Dancing!”
MySpace: Los Campesinos!

zebra societyYou might think that a band whose pedigree includes Edmonton electro-shoegazers Faunts and dance-punks Shout Out Out Out Out would be, well, like some kind of electro-gaze-dance-punk hybrid. But The Whitsundays, who draw members from each of the aforementioned bands, could not possibly be farther from that description. Instead, they channel the baroque, British Invasion spirit of The Zombies and do so quite convincingly – perhaps its just the tonic for spending all that time playing electro-shoegaze and dance-punk.

They released their debut, self-titled album last January and are taking advantage of the Spring thaw to set out on a Canadian tour next week that brings them to Sneaky Dee’s in Toronto next Saturday, April 3, alongside Pick A Piper and The Superstitions.

And courtesy of No Shame, I’ve got a pair of passes to the Toronto show and copy of their CD available to give away to one lucky winner. To enter, email me at contests AT chromewaves.net with “I want a Whitsunday” in the subject line and your full name in the body. Get that in to me by midnight, April 1.

MP3: The Whitsundays – “It Must Be Me”
MP3: The Whitsundays – “Sorry James”

Frank YangThe Thermals
Portland, Oregon, USA

Power-trio will release their new album Now We Can See on April 7, to be followed by an extensive North American tour including a May 3 date at the Horseshoe in Toronto
– Show review
– interviews at Rolling Stone and Austin360

Photos: The Thermals @ Club DeVille – March 20, 2009
MP3: The Thermals – “Now We Can See”
MP3: The Thermals – “Here’s Your Future”
MP3: The Thermals – “Pillar Of Salt”
MP3: The Thermals – “A Stare Like Yours”
MP3: The Thermals – “How We Know”
MP3: The Thermals – “No Culture Icons”
Video: The Thermals – “A Pillar Of Salt”
Video: The Thermals – “Returning To The Fold”
Video: The Thermals – “How We Know”
Video: The Thermals – “No Culture Icons”
MySpace: The Thermals