So the 2007 edition of NxNE kicks off tomorrow evening (if you don’t count the satellite “NxNExtra” shows) and I must say I’m more excited about this year’s lineup than I’ve been before. Of course, I’ll be missing many of the bands who’ve piqued my interest because I haven’t yet mastered the art of being in three places at once, but as a matter of principle, it’s a good sign for the fest.

One act that’s coming to town who might be flying under the radar but are worthy of note are North Carolina’s Schooner. I caught them at Pop Montreal last October and just got a copy of their new record Hold On Too Tight, due out on August 21. Live, they demonstrated a good blend of classic 50s and 60s pop traits combined with some of the college rock skronk that put their home state on the music map in the 90s.

The album, on the other hand, still combines those same ingredients but in markedly different proportions. Though still pop to the core, there’s a much stronger Motown and Stax vibe throughout with some orchestral flourishes and the occasional foray into gently twangy country, all anchored by Reid Johnson’s weary croon. But what I found to stand out the most was just how beautifully downbeat the record is, an impression bolstered in no small part to the deliberate haziness of the production. Even when things get uptempo, there’s a glumness that I personally find quite appealing. The best parallel I can offer is that at their best moments, they sound like a bummed-out Saturday Looks Good To Me. This is definitely meant as a compliment.

They’re playing on Saturday night at C’est What, 10PM. Check them out.

MP3: Schooner – “There’s Enough To Do”
MP3: Schooner – “They Always Do”
MySpace: Schooner

As for the rest of the fest, I’ll repost the rough list of names I put up a few weeks ago, with some additions and edits (Nicole Atkins & The Sea are no longer at the Reverb on Friday night, so that’s one I won’t feel bad about missing but they will still be at Lee’s Palace on Monday night with The Long Blondes). My Thursday will pretty much find me fixed at the Horseshoe and Friday is overbooked as is (see below) but Saturday is still a bit up in the air, mainly due to logistics. I’ll figure that out later, I guess. But also refer to NOW‘s festival preview and note that Torontoist has begun offering day-by-day recommendations.

Thursday, June 7

Future Clouds & Radar @ The Horseshoe – 9PM
Les Breastfeeders @ The Boat – 10PM
Sea Wolf @ The Horseshoe – 10PM
Kathleen Edwards @ Lee’s Palace – 10PM
Woodpigeon @ The Drake Underground – 11PM
Buffalo Tom @ The Horseshoe – 12AM
Jason Falkner @ The Reverb – 12AM
The Parkas @ The Dakota Tavern – 12AM
A Northern Chorus @ Sneaky Dee’s – 12AM
Justin Rutledge @ Lee’s Palace – 12AM
Royal Wood @ The Gladstone – 12AM
Adam Franklin @ The Reverb – 1AM
Blue Rodeo @ Lee’s Palace – 3AM

Friday, June 8

The Pantones @ The Savannah – 9PM
Sunparlour Players @ Lee’s Palace – 9PM
The Vulcan Dub Squad @ Holy Joe’s – 11PM
Carmen Elle @ The Free Times Cafe – 11PM
Handsome Furs @ The Comfort Zone – 12AM
Jesse Malin @ The Reverb – 12AM
The Sadies @ Lee’s Palace – 12AM
Therapy? @ The El Mocambo – 12AM
Love Kills @ Clinton’s – 1AM
Jenn Grant @ C’est What – 1AM
John Doe @ Lee’s Palace – 1AM

Saturday, June 9

Ohbijou @ The Horseshoe – 10PM
Schooner @ C’est What – 10PM
She Keeps Bees @ Holy Joe’s – 10PM
Fjord Rowboat @ The Reverb – 11PM
Fox Jaws @ The Dakota Tavern – 11PM
The Coast @ The Boat – 11PM
Man In Gray @ The Kathedral – 11PM
Great Northern @ Lee’s Palace – 12AM
Urge Overkill @ Lee’s Palace – 1AM

And looking to some of the NxNExt showcases (the festival-affiliated shows featuring international/touring bands that allow a limited number of wristbands and passes admission), Harp and NOW have features on Dinosaur Jr, playing at the Phoenix on Friday night. It’s an early show, but probably not early enough to realistically allow me to pull off the double-header with the Voxtrot show at Sneaky Dee’s that I’d hoped to accomplish (to say nothing of the toll it’d take on my limited energy). I’m not taking it off my calendar just yet but I’m thinking that I may end up having to bail on J and gang. Alas.

And speaking of Voxtrot (who’re also doing an early show at Sneaks on Friday), Austin360 has an interview with the band while Daytrotter one-ups them with an interview AND a downloadable session.

Also on the Daytrotter trip, The Broken West were also in their studios recently and have an interview and session for your seeing and hearing pleasure. The Broken West are at Lee’s Palace on Sunday night opening for Fountains Of Wayne – also a NxNExt show if you want to squeeze a little more out of your wristband.

And if you like your Britrock a little more on the goth side, try The Horrors. For whatever reason they had to cancel their tour with Black Rebel Motorcycle Club but are still coming to America on their own to promote their new album Strange House including a stop at the Mod Club on Monday, June 11.

Courtesy of Against The Grain, I’ve got two pairs of passes to this show to give away. To enter, email me at contests AT chromewaves.net with “I want to see The Horrors” in the subject line and your full name in the email body. Feel free to enter this contest and the Long Blondes one but if you do, indicate which of the two shows you’d rather go to in case you win both. Thanks, and the contest closes at midnight, June 8.

Stream: The Horrors – “Count In Five”
Video: The Horrors – “Count In Fives”
MySpace: The Horrors

Congrats to winners Mark and Kavin!

Too much going on, must be quick about things.

The Long Blondes’ album Someone To Drive You Home finally got a North American release this week and their first North American tour has been timed to coincide perfectly and rolls into Lee’s Palace on Monday, June 11.

Now you know as well as I do that Toronto goes batsh!t for anything remotely Anglo so you can expect that this show is going to be a bit of a zoo, and while not sold out yet almost certainly will. So if you haven’t gotten tickets yet, I’m here to help out. Courtesy of Against The Grain, I’ve got two pairs of passes to said show to give away – if you want, email me at contests AT chromewaves.net with “I want to see The Long Blondes” in the subject line and your full name in the email body. Under other circumstances I might have some fun and make you jump through some hoops to enter, but as I said above – no time. Contest closes at midnight, June 8.

MP3: The Long Blondes – “Once And Never Again”
Stream: The Long Blondes / Someone To Drive You Home
Video: The Long Blondes – “Weekend Without Makeup” (YouTube)
Video: The Long Blondes – “Giddy Stratospheres” (YouTube)
Video: The Long Blondes – “Separated By Motorways” (YouTube)
Video: The Long Blondes – “Once And Never Again” (YouTube)
MySpace: The Long Blondes

Congrats to winners Thierry and Andrew.

I’m going to preface this review by saying that exhaustion and jet lag probably doesn’t make for the best mental state for trying to review a show, for good or ill, so let me just put that caveat out there.

Loney, Dear’s North American debut Loney, Noir has been one of the more pleasant discoveries of 2007 and having caught them play a compact set at SxSW back in March I knew that it translated very well live so I was willing to caffeinate as necessary to make it to the band’s show at Lee’s Palace on Sunday night.

Support for the show was Toronto’s own Guest Bedroom. An odd match for Loney, Dear’s gentle orch-pop, they turned in a set of moderately aggressive post-punk from their debut EP Movement. Frontwoman Sandi Falconer’s urgent howling sounds not unlike early PJ Harvey or Forget Cassettes’ Beth Cameron while musically, the creepy carnival keyboards recalled Walkmen forebears Jonathan Fire*Eater. Maybe some other night I’d have been more receptive to their abrasive (though not without a softish underbelly) sound but not so much this one.

Radio Free Canuckistan has done a pretty bang-up job of capturing the charm of Emil Svanangen and his crew on the occasion of their Canadian debut so I’ll just add some comments on top of his. One of the things that I found most interesting was how the songs were subtly but completely rearranged from the album versions, full of orchestral flourishes and performed entirely by Svanangen, and rejigged for the five-piece band. Live, the songs were leaner and much more vocal-centric – not only with Svanangen’s lost Gibb brother falsetto but the lush three- and four-part harmonies contributed by the other band members. They also weren’t shy about indulging in a capella vocal breakdowns, all “da da das” and “la las”.

I was also rather surprised that the set list ranged well beyond just Loney, Noir and into their back catalog, much to the delight of some hardcore fans in attendance. And it’s not that Svanangen could have known that there’d be old schoolers in the audience who’d appreciate it – he seemed genuinely surprised that anyone was there at all, let alone the modest but enthusiastic crowd who came out to see them play and demand two encores (and it’s a good thing, lest “Sinister In A State Of Hope” be left unplayed). So while I would probably have been perfectly happy to just hear the new album played live, the wealth of unfamiliar material on display and reconfigurations of the stuff I did know made the show a bit more demanding than I’d expected but probably also that much more satisfying. But I think my favourite part of the show was simply watching how gratified the band were to get such a warm response from the audience. A nice cozy show and a good way to ease back into reality for me.

Hour and The Cleveland Free Times interview Emil Svanangen about Loney, Dear.

Photos: Loney, Dear, The Guest Bedroom @ Lee’s Palace – June 3, 2007
MP3: Loney, Dear – “I Am John”
MP3: Loney, Dear – “A Few Good Men”
MP3: The Guest Bedroom – “Fake Flowers”
MP3: The Guest Bedroom – “We Need Trips”
Video: Loney, Dear – “I Am John” (YouTube)
Video: Loney, Dear – “Saturday Waits” (YouTube)
MySpace: Loney, Dear
MySpace: The Guest Bedroom

If you’re looking for something to do tonight (besides see The National at the Opera House), maybe head over to the Phoenix for the White Ribbon Benefit Concert, now thankfully Tea Party-free. This year the theme is Heart of Gold: The Music Of Neil Young and as implied, it will feature a wide roster of artists including Luke Doucet, Ron Sexsmith and Justin Rutledge covering the songs of Neil Young (though I suspect “A Man Needs A Maid” might get skipped over on this evening). Tickets are $25 in advance.

Some new release news – The Yeah Yeah Yeahs will release Is Is on July 24, Eisley’s sophomore record Combinations is out August 14 and Rilo Kiley’s Under The Blacklight will be out on August 21 – Billboard has details.

Billboard also has news of another Ryan Adams release to go along with Easy Tiger, out June 26. This one’s a box set compiling some of the unreleased material from the last few years. No title, release date or track listing available yet, just the fact that it’s being planned.

Spinner has got a studio session and interview with Wilco that’s worth watching. And for more reading, check out interviews with the band in Harp, Mother Jones, The Age, Perth Now, Stuff and The Independent. Media saturation? Maybe just a little. Wilco are at Massey Hall on June 30.

The New Yorker talks to Steve Earle about his new album Washington Square Serenade. Earle will also be performing Tom Waits’ “Way Down In The Hole”, the theme song for The Wire this season. I’m almost done season two. Gotta get caught up before the fifth and final season starts!

Patrick Wolf talks to NME about how touring North America has politicized his next album, which he’s hoping to have out next Spring.

Pitchfork discusses Okkervil River’s new album The Stage Names with Will Sheff.

Hungary photos are now up.

…And so yes, I’m back. Touched down in Toronto Saturday afternoon, safe and sound and rather happy to be back. Maybe not so much to be trading in the jagged majesty of the Swiss Alps, the lush greenery of the German forests, the Adriatic splendor of Venice or the rolling fields of the Czech Republic for, well, the sweltering asphalt embrace of ol’ Hogtown, but home is home.

Happily, I can say almost without qualification that I had a great trip. Sure, a bus tour across the middle of Europe with the parentals might not rate too highly on the hijink-o-meter, but I actually drank more in the past two weeks than I have in the whole of 2007 to this point. Do with that information what you will. I also slept a lot on buses and planes and ate more pork than is probably wise. Happily, the whole tour group thing didn’t turn out to be as heinous as I’d feared it might – while the demographic still skewed decidedly senior, there were some younger folks along as well who I could talk to and most everyone was friendly and got on well. Which is really necessary when you’re stuck on a bus together for a fortnight. That said, I think my tour group vacationing days are over or at least put off a good long while – buffet-style holidays are simply too exhausting and hectic. From here on out, it’s going to be picking one or two countries at a time and exploring them properly – and ideally only dealing with a single currency or language while I’m at it.

I’m not going to get into a day-by-day recap of my travels here, instead saving those for my Flickr to accompany my photos. Yes, there’s lots of photos. So far I’ve gotten sets for the first stops in Germany, the Czech Republic and Austria with many more to come. And while I’ve never wanted to be the guy who was all, “hey check out my holiday snaps”… hey, check out my holiday snaps. I’ll link to more sets as I get them up over the next week or so.

As far as the hoped-for recharging of the batteries while away, I think that’s mostly been a success though I have to say – not having to get up every day and think “what am I going to write about?” was a welcome relief… I almost hate to give that up. And while it was strange to be extracted wholesale from my daily life and dropped somewhere else entirely for so long, it was also good for getting some perspective on things, blog and otherwise. Did I go to Europe and find myself? Not so much, but I did turn up some promising leads.

But vacations are only really enjoyable when they’re relative to non-vacations, so it’s back to the (mostly-)daily grind. And what a week to do it in – starting last night, with Loney, Dear at Lee’s Palace, The National at the Opera House on Tuesday and then NxNE Thursday through Saturday. And let’s not forget the Long Blondes/Nicole Atkins chaser on Monday night. When THAT’S all over, then I can rest a bit.

But while I’ve been away, I haven’t been completely inactive. Though internet access was sporadic in Europe, it was there and I did keep up with some of what was going on while abroad. Some of it will filter out over the next few days, but some stuff that bears mentioning now:

The first MP3 from Okkervil River’s new album The Stage Names. First impression? Sounds slick (for Okkervil) – listen to those drum sounds! – and is it me or does Will Sheff sing in tune through the whole song? No, never mind. Still, sounds pretty damn good – August 7 can’t come soon enough. Will has some notes on the song over at the ORNAG and Playback:StL has an interview.

MP3: Okkervil River – “Our Life Is Not A Movie Or Maybe”

Arcade Fire’s rhythm section draws press duties as bassist Tim Kingsbury talks to The Georgia Straight and drummer Jeremy Gara with The Brisbane Times.

Happy to hear there’s a new record coming from Shivaree – Tainted Love: Mating Calls and Fight Songs, a cover album of love songs, is out July 31. Harp has some details.

And a whole pile of shows announced in the past couple weeks which I’m just going to run them off laundry list-style.

June 14 – The Veils, The Comas @ The El Mocambo, $12.00
June 20 – The Lemonheads @ Lee’s Palace, $23.50
June 23 – Montag, Miracle Fortress @ The Whippersnapper Gallery
June 26 – Get Him Eat Him @ Sneaky Dee’s
June 28 – Bishop Allen @ Lee’s Palace, $10.00
June 29 – Ryan Adams & The Cardinals @ The Enwave Theatre (official capacity is 422? That’s TINY, and of course this is as sold out as you can get)
July 8 – The Blow @ Horseshoe, $10.00
July 18 – Deerhunter, The Ponys @ Lee’s Palace, $15.50 (missed both acts their last times through town – not this time?)
July 21 – Slint @ The Phoenix, $21.50 (So does this mean Dave Pajo doesn’t hate us anymore?)
July 23 – They Might Be Giants @ Mod Club, $26.00
July 24 – Jason Isbell @ El Mocambo, $8.50 (Hey, nice profile photo…)
August 6 – The Hold Steady @ The Opera House, $15.00
August 26 – Camera Obscura @ The Phoenix, $21.50
September 26 – Ulrich Schnauss @ The Rivoli
October 10 5 – The Magnolia Electric Co @ Lee’s Palace (More interested to see who’s playing with them – Jason Molina has some great taste in tourmates)

And a few very enticing additions to the Virgin Festival lineup for day two – what had been rather the weaker day (IMO) is now pretty damn meaty with the the presence of Stars, Explosions In The Sky and Blonde Redhead. I’m really really starting to get psyched for September 8 and 9 now.

And some more of those free Beautiful Noise shows coming soon to the Berkeley Church – more info to come, but I expect the details will be the same as for the Long Winters show there last month.

June 18 – The Ponys
June 19 – Sloan / The Apples in Stereo
June 20 – The Lemonheads Voxtrot
June 21 – Voxtrot The Lemonheads

NOW considers the solo careers of the ladies of Broken Social Scene. Harp, The Montreal Gazette and Pitchfork have interviews with Broken Social diva du jour, Ms Feist.

Pitchfork interviews The Clientele. Have I posted anything from their new record God Save The Clientele yet? Oh, sorry. They’re at the El Mocambo tonight.

MP3: The Clientele – “Bookshop Casanova”

PopMatters pays tribute to the long and winding career of The Wedding Present.

And a bummer to hear about Sam The Record Man closing on June 30, but I’m not surprised. When they reopened after their big bankruptcy scare a few years ago, I was confounded to see that their prices were just as high as they were before they nearly went under, if not higher. Way to be competitive. But like most, I will be saddened that the giant neon records that have been a Yonge St mainstay pretty much my entire life will now be gone. I still have a small hole in my heart where the giant neon A&A Records sign from just up the street used to be. Okay, not really.

I think I’m running on Newfoundland time.