MySpaceWhy lead with Hot Chip? Well nothing else especially newsworthy came down the pipe yesterday and their new one One Life Stand came out this week. I’ve been spinning it moderately the last little while, though not enough to try and assemble a proper review. Sufficed to say that while I’ve never been a massive Hot Chip fan in the past and this effort doesn’t sound/feel too different from what I recall of their earlier records, I’m enjoying this one alright. Maybe I should revisit their earlier records – mayhap my ears are more attuned to their chilled-out electro-pop than before.

There’s feature pieces on the band at Dose, Spin, Spinner, The National Post and The Irish Times and there’s also an album making-of video streaming this week at PitchforkTV. They are scheduled to be at the Kool Haus in Toronto on April 20, but the date is not appearing on their website itinerary – not sure if that’s something to be concerned about or not…

Video: Hot Chip – “One Life Stand”
Stream: Hot Chip / One Life Stand

NPR has a World Cafe session with The xx, who are also playing that Kool Haus show with Hot Chip as well as their own headlining gig at the Phoenix on April 4.

Spinner talks to Victoria Hesketh, aka Little Boots, about the long delay between the UK release of her debut album Hands and the impending North American release on March 2. She plays the Phoenix on April 30.

JAM and The AV Club have interviews with Elly Jackson of La Roux.

Drowned In Sound has details on the new album from The Futureheads – The Chaos is being released independently by the band and will be out in the UK on April 26.

Check out the first video from Jonsi’s Go. It’s out March 23 and he plays two nights at the Sound Academy on April 30 and May 1.

Video: Jonsi – “Go Do”

Stereogum has the MP3 and video for the title track from Under Byen’s new record Alt Er Tabt, out April 6.

Video: Under Byen – “Alt Er Tabt”

Swede Kristian Matsson, who plies his musical trade as The Tallest Man On Earth, is staging a North American tour in support of his new record The Wild Hunt, out April 13, and will be at the El Mocambo in Toronto on April 17. Check out a track from the album and another song he recorded as a theme song for the Yellow Bird Project charity out of Montreal – details here.

MP3: The Tallest Man On Earth – “King Of Spain”
MP3: The Tallest Man On Earth – “A Field Of Birds”

Check out a couple tracks from Bettie Serveert’s new record Pharmacy Of Love, due out March 23.

MP3: Bettie Serveert – “Semaphore”
MP3: Bettie Serveert – “The Pharmacy”

Paste reports that Josh Ritter will release a new record entitled So Runs The World Away on May 4 – they’re giving away an MP3 from his website in exchange for your email.

Falls Church News-Press and SF Station interview The Antlers. They’re at the Phoenix on February 16.

Muzzle Of Bees has a video performance from Sharon Van Etten, who will be at the Horseshoe on April 5.

Paste talks to Phantogram as part of their “best of what’s next” series. They have a show at the Drake Underground on February 20.

Daytrotter has your first preview of new material from Nicole Atkins & The Black Sea, recorded in a session last Fall. Her new record is currently in production and will be out later this year.

Lara Meyerratken of El May talks to Spinner about nearly getting fired from Luna and her new self-titled solo record.

Dan Mangan has released a new video from Nice, Nice, Very Nice. He’s got two shows as part of Canadian Musicfest, March 11 at The Great Hall and March 12 at The Courthouse.

Video: Dan Mangan – “Road Regrets”

Wilkosz + WayUnder normal circumstances, it’d be logical to consider the record that followed a band’s breakthrough album through the lens of how those successes might have affected their creative process and output. You can’t quite do that in the case of Woodpigeon’s newest record Die Stadt Muzikanten, however, because even though its predecessor Treasury Library Canada was the album that brought the Calgary outfit national recognition via the Polaris Prize long list, Muzikanten was already completed and in the can before the Treasury roller coaster ride began.

That makes the growth in sound and style from one record to the next that much more natural. The basic Woodpigeon recipe hasn’t changed much – Mark Hamilton’s compositions continue to be exemplary folk-pop rendered with delicacy in a widescreen scale, but this time the songs are delivered with more confidence and verve than before and are simultaneously more musically rangy and focused. Relative to what’s come before, Muzikanten is both louder – “My Denial In Argyle” is an unqualified rocker while “The Street Noise That Gives You Away” is epic in scope – and softer, with record closer and Jamie Fooks duet “Our Love Is As Tall As The Calgary Tower” one of their loveliest moments to date. Though it’s Hamilton’s vision that defines Woodpigeon, the record wouldn’t be nearly what it is without the contributions of his ever-expanding cast of supporting players, whose ability to bring to life the sounds in his head can’t be overstated. In particular, the backing vocals of Annalea Sordi-McClure and Foon Yap are a persistent, angelic choir hovering overhead throughout. Much of the charm of Treasury came from how it felt like a perfectly-matched collection of individual, snowglobe-like vignettes – Muzikanten pulls all those vignettes together into a single wondrous diorama, alive with song.

CMJ, Log Driver’s Waltz, Spill, The Record and Xtra all have feature pieces on Woodpigeon, who kick off their tour of Ontario and Quebec this week. They play the Drake Underground this Thursday, February 11, and will do an in-store at Soundscapes on February 14 at 5PM. Die Stadt Muzikanten will be released in the US on March 9 and in Europe on April 19.

MP3: Woodpigeon – “Empty-Hall Sing-Along”
MySpace: Woodpigeon

Beatroute and Spill have features on Woodhands, who are playing the Opera House on March 11.

The Wooden Sky are profiled by Beatroute and The Manitoban. They’re at the Horseshoe on March 13 as part of the Chart showcase for Canadian Musicfest.

Southern Souls has posted a video session with Forest City Lovers, of which one of the songs is “If I Were A Tree” and thus continues the “wood” meme running through the first bit of this post. Hey, I make my own fun.

Beatroute and The Winnipeg Free Press talk to The Rural Alberta Advantage, who will be performing on March 13 at the Royal York Hotel as part of the Indie Awards at Canadian Musicfest. Yeah, the Indie Awards. That’s right.

Chart talks to Zeus, whose Say Us arrives February 23 and who will be at Lee’s Palace on March 10.

Spinner talks to Laura Barrett about how she found herself opening up for The Magnetic Fields on their current North American tour, which stops in at the Queen Elizabeth Theatre tonight.

Vue, Alive Sydney and The Gateway have feature pieces on Dan Mangan, who has two showcases (at least) at Canadian Musicfest this year – March 11 at The Great Hall and March 12 at The Courthouse.

Ottawa X-Press and Aux interview Basia Bulat. She has an in-store at Soundscapes on February 16 at 7PM.

The Montreal Gazette, The Globe & Mail and PopMatters have interviews with Owen Pallett, whose next hometown show is April 8 at the Queen Elizabeth Theatre.

Good news for those who were still in diapers the last time Thrush Hermit were an active band – a third reunion show has been added to go along with their two sold-out gigs at Lee’s Palace – there’s now a dry, all-ages matinee show scheduled for March 28 at 4:45PM – tickets are $17.50 and go on sale Wednesday. Joel Plaskett has also just announced details of a Thrush Hermit Complete Recordings box set coming out in time to coincide with the reunion tour and consisting of all of the band’s albums and EP as well as a wealth of rare and unreelased material and a DVD. Seven discs in all, and suitable for kids of all ages.

Sloan announced via Twitter that they will be releasing a digital compilation of all their official b-sides this week, aptly entitled B-Sides Win.

The Sadies give Exclaim a guided tour of their equipment.

NOW and The National Post pay tribute to Wavelength, whose weekly concert series wraps up for good this weekend with the 500th show blowouts.

Updates could be slim/intermittent/non-existent this week – woke up to a laptop with a DOA logic board, so until that gets fixed, I’ve got my work machine (which is for work – ahem), my iPhone and my 7-year old Windows machine which is going to be pressed back into emergency service. Sounds like fun, right? Right? Wrong.

Michael PalmieriWhen I wrote up Sharon Van Etten’s debut album Because I Was In Love back in October, I felt a bit bad about giving it just a passing mention as I liked it more than just a sentence or two might have implied. But at the time my web hosting was self-destructing and I wanted to get something out there before her local appearance opening for Rain Machine, so a cursory mention it was.

But with there seeming to be even more attention being paid to Van Etten and her record now than when it was initially released back in May 2009, now’s as good a time as any to revisit the album and, at the very least, elaborate a bit more on why it’s worthy of notice – and in a word, it’s the voice. Slow, rich and seemingly operating at the resonant frequency of melancholy and with the texture of tears, it’s the perfect vehicle for her spare, almost skeletal songs of longing and disappointment, transporting them directly through the ears and into the heart. That might seem a bit flowery a description, but I defy you to listen to the “ooohs” in “Much More Than This” and tell me otherwise. That voice, with the languid, low-key acoustic atmosphere and strategically-placed bits of electric guitar and piano make for a record that’s worth revisiting again not only a few months later, but again and again.

Blurt has a feature piece on Van Etten and Weather Vane Music has a stunning new song recorded for their Shaking Through series available to download. Sharon Van Etten opens up the sold out Great Lake Swimmers show at Trinity-St. Paul’s tomorrow night and returns on April 5 for a show at the Horseshoe with Megafaun.

MP3: Sharon Van Etten – “For You”
MP3: Sharon Van Etten – “Love More”
Video: Sharon Van Etten – “For You”
MySpace: Sharon Van Etten

The Skinny discusses Shearwater’s new record The Golden Archipelago with frontman Jonathan Meiburg. The record is out February 23, they play Lee’s Palace on April 1.

Midlake’s Eric Pulido talks to The Quietus about coffee while his bandmates discuss their music with BBC6 and The Independent.

Spoon are using a live studio performance for the first video off Transference. They’re at the Sound Academy on March 29.

Video: Spoon – “Written In Reverse”

PitchforkTV has padded out their special video series with Beach House with a few more songs and The Chronicle-Herald and New York Magazine have interviews. They’re at the Opera House on March 30.

A Sunny Day In Glasgow have put out a new video from their forthcoming Nighttime Rainbows EP, out March 2. They play The Garrison on April 2.

Video: A Sunny Day In Glasgow – “So Bloody, So Tight”

Beatroute, North County Times and The Georgia Straight talk to St. Vincent, who just released a new video/comedy sketch from Actor, featuring the thespian skills of Fred Armisen and Carrie Brownstein, also known as ThunderAnt.

Video: St. Vincent – “Laughing With A Mouth Of Blood”

Paste has got a video session with Nicole Atkins & The Black Sea.

BeatRoute talks to Nels Cline of Wilco.

MusicOmn, The Line Of Best Fit, Montreal Mirror, Montreal Gazette, The Advocate, CBC, eye and NOW have conversations with Stephin Merritt of The Magnetic Fields, who are in town at the Queen Elizabeth Theatre on Monday night. There’s also an official trailer up for Strange Powers: Stephin Merritt & The Magnetic Fields, the forthcoming documentary film on the band, and an MP3 from the 69 Love Songs vinyl box set, coming out on April 20. And for folks in Toronto looking to pick this up, Criminal Records has got your best deal as far as pre-orders of the limited edition go.

MP3: The Magnetic Fields – “The Book Of Love”
Trailer: Strange Powers: Stephin Merritt & The Magnetic Fields

Paste gets some info on She & Him’s Volume Two, out March 23, from Zooey Deschanel.

Good news for Toronto roots-rock fans – in addition to their free show at the Horseshoe this coming Tuesday night, Those Darlins have slated a return engagement on April 6 at the same venue with Deer Tick. Bad news is that’s the same night as the Drive-By Truckers’ gig at Lee’s Palace. Good news is that the Truckers are doing a second night at the same venu on the 7th. Unless you were planning on hitting both, in which case I think you break about even.

MP3: Deer Tick – “Easy”
MP3: Those Darlins – “Red Light Live”

Speaking of the Drive-By Truckers, Billboard talks to frontman Patterson Hood about their new record The Big To-Do, which will be out March 16.

The Jon Spencer-powered Heavy Trash have a date at the Horseshoe on April 23. Their latest Midnight Soul Serenade came out last year.

The Control GroupSadness is Sarah Assbring’s stock in trade, a point I’ve rather drilled home in my reviews of her output as El Perro Del Mar – the 2007 self-title and 2008’s From The Valley To The Stars. While both records were beautiful in their downbeat demeanor, you couldn’t help but hope that Assbring would find a way to cheer up, if only for her own emotional well-being.

Unfortunately for Assbring – but fortunately for her listeners – delectable heartache is still the order of the day, and her third album Love Is Not Pop is again chock full of it, but the record stands a good distance apart from its predecessors for other reasons. Rather than the spare, ’50s doo-wop stylings that defined her previous work, Pop draws on a distinctly different aural palette. The core songwriting style and Assbring’s signature forlorn vocals remain, but the introduction of electronic textures and rhythms and Shields-y glider guitar overtop the spare (but occasionally orchestrated) arrangements is unexpected and welcome. Of course, the fact that the album proper is only seven tracks long, and the rest is padded out with remixes adds to the impression that this is a fresher, more sonically adventurous and dance-friendlier El Perro Del Mar. Actually, danceable might be a bit of a reach, but the extra tracks do showcase Assbring with an extra spring in her shuffle.

El Perro Del Mar is at the Mod Club on February 21 as part of a co-headlining tour with fellow Swede Taken By Trees, with the latter closing out this particular show. This is exciting as Victoria Bergsman – she who is Taken By Trees – isn’t especially predisposed to life on the road and hasn’t been to Toronto since the last visit from The Concretes. Unfortunately, it’s meant that Anna Ternheim, previously slated to open for El Perro Del Mar, will no longer be appearing. But maybe it’s a bit of a consolation that another MP3 from Taken By Trees’ East Of Eden is now up for grabs and is, appropriately enough, entitled “Anna”.

MP3: El Perro Del Mar – “Change Of Heart”
MP3: El Perro Del Mar – “Change Of Heart” (Rakamonie Remix)
MP3: Taken By Trees – “Anna”
Video: El Perro Del Mar – “Change Of Heart”
MySpace: El Perro Del Mar

Also Swedish but totally not sad are Love Is All. Their new record Two Thousand and Ten Injuries is out MArch 23 and they’re at the Horseshoe on April 3. Check out another track from the new album.

MP3: Love Is All – “Repetition”

Danish orchestral post-rock outfit Under Byen will release a new album in Alt Er Tabt on April 6.

Magnet Q&As Los Campesinos!, whom they’ve made guest editors of their site this week. Hope they hid all the breakables. Spinner, Islington Tribune, CMJ and Wales Online also have conversations, but don’t hand over the keys to the car. Los Campesinos! are at the Phoenix on April 20.

Laura Marling talks to NOW, The Visalia Times Delta and The San Francisco Examiner about making her new album I Speak Because I Can, out April 6. She plays Lee’s Palace on Tuesday night.

Chart, The Georgia Straight, The National Post, The Aquarian, San Jose Mercury News and The San Francisco Examiner talk to various members of Editors, who play the Phoenix on February 16.

Spin asks Dev Hynes about the secret origin of Lightspeed Champion. His second album Life Is Sweet! Pleased To Meet You, out February 16.

State has a word with Massive Attack, who’ve released a new video from Heligoland, out next week.

Video: Massive Attack – “Splitting The Atom”

Ska fans prepare to skank: The Specials reunion tour will include a stop in Toronto – the two-tone pioneers play the Sound Academy on April 19 – tickets $36.50 for floors, $46.50 for VIP balcony and The English Beat have a date at Lee’s Palace on May 18, tickets $23.50.

Video: The Specials – “Message To You Rudy”
Video: The English Beat – “Mirror In The Bathroom”

Pitchfork talks to Phoenix’s Thomas Mars about how it feels to be a Grammy Award winner.

The Music Fix has details on the next batch of Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds reissues, which will arrive in 5.1 surround sound and with a plethora of bonus goodies, on April 5.

Aux.tv has assembled a guide to the many, many online video session sites out there in the wilds of the internet. Not comprehensive – five more started up while I was typing this sentence – but a good start.

Joseph YarmushWhen you’re Land Of Talk fan, you’ve got to keep an eye open. While any self-respecting follower of the band – or music-lover, for that matter – owns copies of their buzzsaw debut EP Applause Cheer Boo Hiss and the more nuanced but just as rewarding full-length Some Are Lakes, not everyone even knows about let alone possesses the now sold-out live acoustic L’aventure Acoustique document released between the EP and full-length. And while I, at least, did my best to notify the masses, I wouldn’t be surprised if most haven’t heard their most recent release, the Fun And Laughter EP which came out in the Fall to coincide with their first tour following Liz Powell’s recovery from throat surgery.

And if it’s slipped under your radar on account of not being available in stores, go rectify that right now. At four tracks (and three videos), it’s a bit slight in volume but there’s not a throwaway or weak track in the bunch – if anything, it’s a reaffirmation of everything that makes Land Of Talk great. The front half marries the more polished aspects of Lakes with the fierier approach of Applause and the last couple of tracks invokes their gentler side without sacrificing meatiness or feeling overly pastoral. Really, Fun And Laughter occupies the middle ground between their previous two releases which hasn’t actually been explored yet and if this is a sign of what’s to come on full-length number two, due out in Spring or Summer, then it’s going to be a doozie.

The aforementioned Fall tour covered both coasts of the US but didn’t end up making its way into eastern Canada, an oversight that’s being rectified in April as the band charts a short jaunt with Adam & The Amethysts starting in Powell’s old stomping grounds of Guelph, through Toronto and Kingston and up to Wakefield, Quebec, a little ways outside Ottawa. The Toronto date is April 8 at Lee’s Palace and while tickets are $10, area folk who’ve not gotten their hands on a copy of the EP will actually be rewarded for their procrastination because they’re offering a deal wherein you can get the EP, normally $7, and a ticket to the show for a total of $15 – so that’s essentially admission for $8 with no service charge. There is no earthly reason to not do this.

MP3: Land Of Talk – “May You Never”
Video: Land Of Talk – “It’s Okay”
Video: Land Of Talk – “The Man Who Breaks Things (Dark Shuffle)”
Video: Land Of Talk – “Some Are Lakes”

Okay, one reason not to go to the Land Of Talk show is that it’s the same night Owen Pallett plays the Queen Elizabeth Theatre. Maybe you already have tickets. Maybe you prefer violins to guitars. Maybe you know who’s opening. Either way, Chart and Tiny Mix Tapes have interviews with Pallett and NYC Taper is sharing a recording of his show in New York in January. NYC Taper, incidentally, was recently profiled by The Village Voice. There’s a new remix of a Heartland track up for grabs as well.

MP3: Owen Pallett – “Keep The Dog Quiet” (Simon Bookish remix)

To everyone who’s been enjoying the (relatively) low profile that Broken Social Scene has been keeping for the past four years or so… break’s over. Just in time for their performance at the Toronto Islands on June 19, they’ll release their new, as-yet untitled album on May 4 – which happens to be the same day The New Pornographers drop their latest, Together. Shades of Blur vs Oasis, August 1995? If only. Pitchfork talks to Kevin Drew about the making of the new album and Paste does the same with head Pornographer Carl Newman.

The now-defunct Oh No Forest Fires have left a farewell gift in the form of a second album, entitled Wants To Try Something. And an unsightly stain on the Horseshoe stage, but let’s not talk about that.

ZIP: Oh No Forest Fires / Wants To Try Something

Spinner declares The Balconies a band you oughta know. They’re at the Drake Underground on February 10, as soon as they’re back from their tour of eastern Canada which they’ve been diligently blogging.

Exclaim talks to Woodhands, who’re giving away a new Pitchfork-baiting/hating track. For kicks, I guess.

MP3: Woodhands – “P’iss”

The Hylozoists have released a new video from last year’s L’Ile de Sept Villes.

Video: The Hylozoists – “Bras D’Or Lakes”

Spinner talks to Woodpigeon’s Mark Hamilton. They play the Drake Underground on February 11 and do an in-store at Soundscapes on February 14.

Le Hiboo has a video session of Basia Bulat performing “The Shore” in Paris whilst wearing a jaunty beret. The London Free Press has an interview with Bulat and a short chat with her viola player, Alison Stewart. Basia Bulat plays an in-store at Soundscapes on February 16.

The Toronto Star contemplates the many faces of Neil Young while Paste reports that he’s started work on his next album.

The Line Of Best Fit has posted their seventh volume of “Oh! Canada” Can-con mixes to download.