Joseph YarmushDespite seeming, on paper at least, as exactly the sort of band I’d like – atmospheric space-rock with male-female vocals – I’ve never really warmed to Montreal’s Young Galaxy. Their self-titled debut made little impression and the most remarkable thing about my live introduction in January 2007 was how singer-guitarist Stephen Ramsay managed to make it through the whole set without falling over, considering how completely glazed-over he looked. Things improved somewhat with their punchier second record Invisible Republic and their more energized performance at the Toronto Islands show opening for Death Cab For Cutie in June 2008, but not quite enough to put me in the ranks of their fandom.

And while their third effort Shapeshifting, out tomorrow, isn’t necessary a Damascene moment for me, it’s a much more interesting and engaging record than I’d have ever thought they’d be capable of. Some have attributed this to the recruitment of Swede Dan Lissvik of Studio to mix the record… and this is where I fess up and admit that I have no idea who Dan Lissvik or Studio are, or why this is important. But if he’s responsible for making this a Young Galaxy record that I feel compelled to listen to out of interest rather than obligation, then credit where credit’s due.

Having the perfect producer, however, means nothing if the band and the material can’t give them something to work with, so ultimately the credit should go to Young Galaxy themselves. There’s a focus in the songwriting that’s new to me, at least, and while Catherine McCandless still has an oddly hard-edge to her phrasing, both her and Ramsay’s vocals have more personality and vitality than I’d heard on past records. That, combined with a distinctive sonic space – tight, clean, dancey and strangely sterile in an otherworldly sort of way – that’s clearly established from the opening notes of “Nth” and thoroughly explored from the pop end to the experimental over the course of eleven songs. Whereas Young Galaxy’s first two records felt like legs of a journey, incomplete when taken on their own, Shapeshifting is very much a destination and one worth revisiting. Welcome.

Young Galaxy’s previously-announced March 4 show at Lee’s Palace was canceled when tourmates You Say Party had to pull out on account of singer Becky Ninkovic’s bronchitis but a new date has been announced as part of Canadian Musicfest; they’ll be anchoring the March 10 showcase at Lee’s with Miracle Fortress and The Wilderness Of Manitoba, amongst others to be announced. Festival wristbands will be admitted, but that’s dependent on capacity – the $16.50 advance ticket is your only guarantee for getting in. Exclaim, Sticky and The National Post have interviews with the band.

MP3: Young Galaxy – “Peripheral Visionaries”
MP3: Young Galaxy – “We Have Everything”
MP3: Young Galaxy – “Cover Your Tracks”
Stream: Young Galaxy / Shapeshifting
Video: Young Galaxy – “We Have Everything”

Stars are all about the video sessions, being featured in a Take-Away Show at Le Blogotheque and Tiny Desk Concert for NPR.

NYC Taper is sharing a recording of Suuns at The Rock Shop in New York a couple weeks ago, and the band have premiered a new video from their debut Zeroes QC. They’ll be at Lee’s Palace on April 14 opening up for The Black Angels.

Video: Suuns – “Pie IX”

Chart talks to Brendan Canning and Spinner to Kevin Drew about Broken Social Scene’s Juno Award nominations.

Paste has premiered a new video from Dan Mangan’s Nice, Nice, Very Nice.

Video: Dan Mangan – “Sold”

Also showing off a shiny new start-studded video – if Jon Wurster, Ted Leo, Donald Glover or John Hodgman are your idea of stars – are The New Pornographers, from last year’s Together.

Video: The New Pornographers – “Moves”

Interview interviews Dan Bejar of Destroyer. He plays Lee’s Palace on March 31.

Beatroute talks to Dallas Good of The Sadies. They’re playing March 11 at The Mod Club as part of Canadian Musicfest with a secret guest headliner who’ll be announced March 8. That usually means it’s someone who’s playing in town on March 7 or thereabouts, but I don’t see any likely candidates. Levon Helm? Lady Gaga? Someone bigger than The Sadies, anyways.

Basia Bulat discusses giving her music the orchestral treatment with Spinner.

And Under The Radar has posted their year-end piece about blogs, hype and blog hype online, including interviews with online peeps Said The Gramophone, Drowned In Sound, My Old Kentucky Blog and yours truly. I’m not as grumpy as I sound in the piece in real life, honestly. Or more accurately I am, but am more charming about it. I think.

Sara KieslingIt might not have seemed like four years, what with Alan Sparhawk’s Retribution Gospel Choir putting out not one but 2 records in the interim, but it really has been that long since Low released their last album. The wait for a new record finally comes to an end on April 12, though, when their uncharacteristically breezily-titled ninth album C’Mon is released.

Whereas once you sort of knew exactly what to expect from a Low record – beautifully slow, slowly beautiful – they threw expectations out the window in 2005 with the unqualified rock squalls of The Great Destroyer and then followed that with the exceedingly dark and skeletal Drums & Guns. So what will C’Mon bring? Hard to say, but Dave Fridmann, who lent his unmistakeable sonic signature to those last two records is out as producer and Matt Beckley, whose resume skews decidedly top 40 has a co-producer on the record, so there’s that. The first MP3 from the record certainly sounds gentler and more organic than the last couple records, reminiscent of the warm tones of Trust, but obviously this is just one song of ten – the other nine could well be auto-tuned dance floor jams.

In conjunction with the new record, Low have slated a Spring tour that brings them to Toronto for a May 2 show at the Mod Club – their first visit since opening for Wilco at Massey Hall in June 2007 and their first headlining show since January 2006. Stereogum has an interview with Mimi Parker about the new record and how she spent the downtime, and props go to Bradley’s Almanac, who took the photo that’s being used as the cover art.

MP3: Low – “Try To Sleep”

Young Prisms, who are opening up for The Radio Dept.’s sold-out show at Lee’s Palace on the evening of February 7 will warm up with an in-store at Sonic Boom at 4PM that afternoon. And if these two appearances are insufficient or inconvenient, they’re back on April 21 at Parts & Labour supporting The Fresh & Onlys.

MP3: Young Prisms – “Sugar”

Phosphorescent, who had to cancel their show at The Horseshoe last July on account of all their gear being stolen (it was later miraculously recovered) will finally make it to town on April 10 for a show at Lee’s Palace. Their latest is last year’s Here’s To Taking It Easy.

MP3: Phosphorescent – “It’s Hard To Be Humble (When You’re From Alabama)”
MP3: Phosphorescent – “The Mermaid Parade”

Parisian pop from Jamaica may sound like a geographic impossibility but it’s a real thing. Jamaica (the band) will release their debut No Problem in North America on April 12 and follow it with a North American tour that includes a stop at Toronto’s Drake Underground on April 19.

Video: Jamaica – “I Think I Like U 2”
Video: Jamaica – “Short And Entertaining”

And whilst on the topic of French pop, Yelle is giving away an MP3 of the title track from her new record Safari Disco Club, which will be released March 29. Her massive North American tour brings her to The Opera House on May 4.

MP3: Yelle – “Safari Disco Club”

The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette and Pittsburgh Tribune talks to Ira Kaplan and James McNew of Yo La Tengo about the wheel of fortune controlling the destiny (and set lists) of the shows on their current tour – The AV Club examines the possibilities the wheel offers. Beatroute has a regular old interview with Kaplan.

NYC Taper is sharing a recording of The Hold Steady’s show in Brooklyn last week.

Pitchfork has a Q&A with The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart as well as a stream of the title track of their new record Belong, due out March 29, while Spinner solicits frontman Kip Berman’s Super Bowl predictions.

Spin talks to The Submarines about their new record Love Notes/Letter Bombs, out April 5. They play The Horseshoe on April 22.

Crawdaddy talks songwriting with Sam Beam of Iron & Wine.

And finally, I – along with what seems like every other website in the country – has made the long list of CBC Radio 3’s survey of “Best Canadian Music Website, which is nice because it’s been a while since I’ve lost any awards. If you’re feeling like exercising your franchise and helping me lose by a smaller margin than usual, please head over there and vote because if you don’t, then the terrorists have won.

Autumn De WildeWith a massive-ass snowstorm bearing down on most of the eastern half of the continent last night, the smart thing to do would probably have been to stay home and hunker down. I opted for option b), trying to beat the storm to the Sound Academy and back for The Decemberists, so today’s post is weather-shortened and consists of just show announcements.

Starting with adorable duo The Submarines from sunny California. They’re going to be releasing a new record in Love Notes/Letter Bombs come April 5 – their first since 2008’s Honeysuckle Weeks – and while the full tour itinerary to support it hasn’t been released yet, it starts in Austin, Texas in mid-March during SxSW and makes it up to Toronto for a show at The Horseshoe on April 22, tickets $12.50. Assume that any points in between there and here is fair game over the intervening month. Check out the first MP3 from the new record.

MP3: The Submarines – “Birds”

I’ve never fully understood what the deal was with the Verge Music Awards, sponsored by XM station The Verge, but the awards ceremonies usually feature a pretty solid lineup of acts. And so it is this year that on March 1, the Mod Club will host Gord Downie, Tokyo Police Club and The Acorn – tickets for the show are $20 in advance at Rotate This down on Queen St.

MP3: The Acorn – “Restoration”
Video: Gord Downie – “The East Wind”
MP3: Tokyo Police Club – “Wait Up (Boots Of Danger)”

Born Ruffians’s previously-announced cross-Canada tour now has a hometown finale – they’ll be at The Opera House on April 16, tickets $15 in advance.

MP3: Born Ruffians – “Sole Brother”

The Rural Alberta Advantage have also announced a homecoming date for their Spring tour in support of Departing, out on March 1. They’ll be at The Phoenix on April 29, tickets $18.50. Hey, remember when you could see these guys at a half-filled Boat? Yeah, those days are GONE.

MP3: The Rural Alberta Advantage – “Stamp”

Montreal’s Malajube have set an April 30 date for the Horsesehoe, tickets $15. Their new record La Caverne is out April 19 and there’s a video trailer thing for it.

MP3: Malajbue – “Porte Disparu”
Trailer: Malajube / La Caverne

Peter Bjorn & John have assembled a world tour to support their new record Gimme Some when it comes out March 29. Look for them on May 6 at Lee’s Palace, tickets $20.

Video: Peter Bjorn & John – “Breaker Breaker”

tUnE-yArDs has announced an April 18 release date for her new record w h o k i l l and talks to Pitchfork about it. They also have the tour dates, which includes May 12 at The Horseshoe.

MP3: tUnE-yArDs – “Sunlight”

And finally, that Sleigh Bells/CSS show which looked like it was going to be two jammed night at the Mod Club has congealed into a single evening at the Sound Academy, so stow that excitement. It goes down on May 17 and tickets are $20. And oh yeah, Sleigh Bells just put out a new vid.

MP3: Sleigh Bells – “Crown On The Ground”
MP3: CSS – “Alala”
Video: Sleigh Bells – “Rill Rill”

PolyvinylSo I’ve had to check myself a couple times from taking a, “Shugo Tokumaro‘s music is so weird and wonderful, it must be because he’s Japanese!” angle on this writeup. Because even though it’s not incorrect – Tokumaru IS Japanese and sings entirely in Japanese and many things that come out of Japan are weird and wonderful to Western sensibilities – it’s too reductive and doesn’t give Tokumaru enough credit for what he’s done with his music.

His latest album, Port Entropy is the second of his records I’ve had the pleasure of immersing myself in after 2008’s Exit and like its predecessor, it’s a whimsical whirlwind of instruments and orchestration, almost all played by Tokumaru, that lifts aloft his winsome and dreamlike melodies. For all the musical sophistication and cinematic scope of his recordings, the songs at their core have a childlike simplicity and pop appeal that transcends things like language or culture, and anyways “la la la” pretty much means the same thing universally.

Port Entropy was released in the Spring of 2010 in Japan and will be out in North America on February 15. Tokumaru toured over here behind Exit, assisted in the live setting by members of such acts as Beirut and The National, and word is that he’ll be crossing the Pacific again to support the new record.

MP3: Shugo Tokmaru – “Lahaha”
Video: Shugo Tokmaru – “Lahaha”
Video: Shogu Tokumaru – “Tracking Elevator”
Video: Shugo Tokumaru – “Rum Hee”

Spin talks to Bob Nastanovich about the future of the Pavement reunion, which apparently isn’t as over as though who saw them melt down at Matador 21 might have guessed – but even if they play more shows, don’t expect any new material.

PopMatters, Exclaim and The Star-Tribune talk to Mark Olson of The Jayhawks.

Spinner talks to Nicole Atkins about her Canadian connections while Vol. 1 Brooklyn asks her about her reading habits. Atkin’s second record Mondo Amore is out February 8 and she plays The Horseshoe on February 26.

State and Baltimore Magazine talk to Dean Wareham.

Black Book returns to Chicago’s Wicker Park with Liz Phair. Nashville Scene also has an interview.

The National Post, The Independent and Time talk to Colin Meloy of The Decemberists, who are at The Sound Academy tomorrow night. NYC Taper is sharing a recording of their show in New York from last week.

Paste catches up with Sam Beam of Iron & Wine.

Le Blogotheque serves up an order of Take-Away Show with Spoon, up-sized to include downloadable MP3s of the performance.

The Georgia Straight talks to Daniel Kessler of Interpol, who have a date at The Sound Academy on February 15.

The Strokes make the press rounds in advance of the March 22 release of Angles, offering interviews to Spinner, Myspace and Spin.

Beggars USA reports that Alela Diane will release a new record entitled Alela Diane & Wild Divine on April 5th.

The New Zealand Herald and Pitchfork talk to Sufjan Stevens.

In support of the release of their new record Long Live on February 15, Snowblink will play an in-store at Soundscapes on March 3 followed by a record release show at The Music Gallery on March 5.

MP3: Snowblink – “Ambergris”

Plants & Animals will warm up for their March 5 show at Lee’s Palace with an in-store across the street at Sonic Boom that same afternoon at 4PM.

MP3: Plants & Animals – “Tom Cruz”

The National has words with Dan Bejar of Destroyer. They are at Lee’s Palace on March 31.

NOW checks in with Joel Gibb of The Hidden Cameras.

jenngrant.comJust to be clear – Haligonian songstress Jenn Grant’s upcoming Toronto show would have been pretty much a must-see regardless. Her latest album Honeymoon Punch is just about the record I’ve been hoping she’d make since she arrived with her debut Orchestra For The Moon in 2007. It sheds some of the overly tasteful production choices that held it and 2009’s Echoes back and gets both breezy and scrappy, pushing the electric guitars up, and introducing synths and nimble rhythms to accompany Grant’s splendid voice and accentuate its playful qualities.

In short, it’s a treat and the opportunity to hear these songs live would have made for a great evening unto itself, but Grant’s gone off and stacked the bill meaning that if you’re anywhere but the Horseshoe Tavern from doors to last call on February 19, it can only be because you are crazy. Opening up the evening will be Calgary’s Rae Spoon, whose 2010 hybrid electro-folk effort Love Is A Hunter surprised and impressed and then you’ll have London’s Olenka & The Autumn Lovers, whose second full-length And Now We Sing may have been an 11th hour add to my year-end list but has more than proven that it belongs in the weeks since. Folks, this will be a superb show and there’s not much else to say besides that tickets are $15 in advance and you should get one.

The Chronicle Herald and Chart have interviews with Jenn Grant while Here chats with Rae Spoon.

MP3: Olenka & The Autumn Lovers – “Odessa”
MP3: Rae Spoon – “Death By Elektro”
Video: Jenn Grant – “Getcha Good”

Earlier that day – 5:30PM to be exact – you can see another Canadian buzz band in Braids as they play an in-store at Sonic Boom in advance of their show at the El Mocambo later that evening in support of Baths. They do pretty much nothing for me but their just-released debut Native Speaker is garnering all kinds of praise so I’m betting people will be interested in seeing them for free (well, for the price of a canned good donation). There’s interviews with the band at Culture Bully and Midnight Poutine, and they just released a new video.

MP3: Braids – “Plath Heart”
Video: Braids – “Plath Heart”

It’s a combination of words that I just can’t reconcile – “The Lowest Of The Low” and “Massey Hall” – and yet those two very things will come together when the Low, whose 2007 dissolution clearly hasn’t taken, play the fanciest stage the city has to offer. Tickets are $29.50 and $49.50 plus fees. The Low. Massey Hall. Crazy-pants.

MP3: The Lowest Of The Low – “Bleed A Little While Tonight”
MP3: The Lowest Of The Low – “Subversives”

Basia Bulat performs a Tiny Desk Concert for NPR.

QRO talks to Greg Alsop of Tokyo Police Club. They play Edgefest 2011 at Downsview Park on July 9.

The Sadies have released a new video from Darker Circles, made with a little help from The Hilarious House of Frightenstein.

Video: The Sadies – “Another Day Again”

Also with a new video are Born Ruffians, who’ve just announced a cross-Canada tour that at present doesn’t include a Toronto date. But there’ll be one. They live here for goodness’ sake. They have to come back eventually.

Video: Born Ruffians – “The Ballad Of Moose Bruce”

Gentleman Reg checks in with NOW from the road and discusses how writing is going for his next album.

NPR, The AV Club, Exclaim, American Songwriter and The Vancouver Sun all have interviews with Dan Bejar of Destroyer about his new record Kaputt. He plays Lee’s Palace on March 31.

The Line Of Best Fit has got another “Oh! Canada” compilation of Can-con goodies available to download. That’s fourteen, if you’re counting.