Photo via MySpace

When it comes to multi-day, acronym-ed, club-hopping music festivals I think that coming away with one new discovery that genuinely excites is a pretty good return for all the pavement pounding that inevitably goes into it. I’m not talking about acts that are already familiar or favoured, but ones that you take a chance on based on a single song or a couple MySpace streams. For me, this past NxNE, that honour went to London, England’s 6 Day Riot.

While I didn’t pick up any of their releases at the show – something I regretted a couple hours later when I realized I was still humming their songs – I rectified that posthaste, acquiring both a copy of their debut 2007 full-length Folie a Deux and their new EP Bring On The Waves, which is currently available in physical form from the band (not sure where else) and will be available digitally on iTunes and such as of August 11. Consequently the two records kind of blur into one in my mind and impressions are relative to either.

Building their ornate folk-pop compositions from blueprints loosely translated from Baltic and Gallic languages, the first reference points that come to mind might be the likes of Beirut or DeVotchKa (more the former than the latter) but the sprightly execution and crystalline vocals of singer/guitarist Tamara Schlesinger, often accompanied on harmony by co-conspirator Soren Bonke, set them apart as their own band. Their repertoire is divided up between boisterous clap/sing/stomp/dance-alongs and more pensive numbers, all arranged and executed beautifully and with a melodic skill and ingenuity that would be impressive from much more seasoned bands, let alone one so tender. And while the prevailing mood is jubilant, closer inspection of the lyrics reveal that even behind the widest smile there can be heartfelt sadness.

I’m reminded again of the packed Cameron House where the band played their official NxNE gig (Chart checked in when they played at Pearson Airport earlier in the fest), how most everyone in the tiny room seemed as enraptured with the band’s performance as I was – people were being turned away at the door – and am thankful that the band was apparently as taken with Canada as we with them. Besides dedicating the lead track on the new EP to us (“Go! Canada”), they’ve promised to return as soon as possible. But in the meantime, they’ve graciously offered up a copy of Bring On The Waves on CD to give away to one lucky reader. If you’d like it, email me at contests AT chromewaves.net with “I want to riot for six days” in the subject line and your full mailing address in the body. Contest is open to anyone, anywhere, and will close in… get ready for it… six days. At midnight, August 4. Rioting in the interim is optional.

MP3: 6 Day Riot – “The Last Stand”

I’m sure this tour was booked before the support act went off and got herself nominated for one of them Mercury Prizes, but expect no one to miss the opener when Johnny Flynn and Laura Marling play the Rivoli on October 4 (same night at Nuit Blanche!), tickets $10.50. But even pre-nomination, Marling had been getting a steadily growing amount of buzz reaching back before SxSW whereas the first I’d heard of Flynn was this tour announcement, though a copy of his new Hong Kong Cemetry EP happened to show up in my mailbox yesterday and a little digging has revealed that he’s also played with Emmy The Great so that’s a few (thousand) points in his favour right there. His new album A Larum is getting a North American release today, no idea when Marling’s Alas, I Cannot Swim will be released domestically though I’m sure someone’s trying to make it happen (though I doubt it’ll be cheaper than the import price linked above) Update: It’ll be out August 19 via Astralwerks. Anyway, between the two of them there’s little doubt that the tiny room at the Rivoli will be packed to the gills, so if you’re thinking about going, buying tickets early – they’re on sale Thursday – is recommended. Marling is featured at The Times and The Sydney Morning Herald while NPR has a session available to stream.

MP3: Laura Marling – “Ghosts”
Video: Johnny Flynn – “Tickle Me Pink”
Video: Laura Marling – “New Romantic”
Video: Laura Marling – “Ghosts”

Laura Marling is also associated with/a sometime member of cheery UK folk-pop outfit Noah & The Whale, whose own debut Peaceful, the World Lays me Down will get a North American release on September 16, following its UK release next month. BBC and The Times have features on the outfit.

MP3: Noah & The Whale – “2 Bodies 1 Heart”

And speaking of Emmy The Great, it seems there’s some sort-of/sort-of-not material from First Love – due out September-ish – available to stream at her MySpace. Have I mentioned lately just how much I’m looking forward to this record? Yes? Okay.

Also anticipated but out considerably sooner – as in today – is Neil Halstead’s second solo record Oh! Mighty Engine. He’s not in town anytime soon, per se, but will be at Burl’s Creek Park in Oro, Ontario on Sunday with Jack Johnson, if you really want to see him. Yeah, didn’t think so. You can stream the whole record at Spinner.com and if you didn’t already, grab the first MP3 to play over and over and over again.

MP3: Neil Halstead – “Paint A Face”
Stream: Neil Halstead / Oh! Mighty Engine

Via Music Snobbery, another Mercury Prize nominee is coming to to town – Rachel Unthank & The Winterset, who will bring their nominated record The Bairns to Hugh’s Room on September 23.

MySpace: Rachel Unthank & The Winterset

Accompanying Liam Finn at the El Mocambo on October 4 will be The Veils.

MP3: The Veils – “Advice For Young Mothers To Be”

NPR is streaming a Fleet Foxes session at the World Cafe with legendary producer Steve Lillywhite. If you hadn’t heard, the band had to cancel out of their show at the Phoenix a couple weeks ago, citing exhaustion though apparently the one day off did wonders for them as they met all their Pitchfork Festival-related commitments… hopefully they’ll be rescheduling that sooner rather than later.

Le Blogotheque gets all Takeaway Show with El Perro Del Mar and Lykke Li, the latter of whom will release Youth Novels on August 19 and is at the Mod Club on October 24.

Photo by Frank Yang

Call it a bait and switch of the best kind. Saturday night’s soiree at Sneaky Dee’s was billed as a Miracle Fortress show – perfectly logical, considering last year’s Polaris finalist had the highest profile of the four bands on the bill, and were certainly the draw for me who hadn’t seen them since Pop Montreal last year. But upon arrival, it was revealed the final two acts had swapped slots, and that the Fortress of Miracles would be the penultimate act while Graham Van Pelt’s other band – Think About Life – would close things out.

This was an eminently logical decision – those who were there to see the “big” band would get to do so that much sooner and be on their way that much sooner, and TAL’s fierce live reputation would be a difficult, if not impossible, to follow. But hey, what’s a little headliner haggling amongst family? And it was a family affair, with three of the four bands sharing members including the first act up, Adam & The Amethysts with 50% Miracle Fortress personnel. I wrote up their debut Amethyst Amulet last week and while to say they did a fine job of reproducing their musical travelogue to Thunder Bay may sound like faint praise, it’s not intended as such. It’s quite a good record and that the four-piece was able to reproduce the little tics and details so well is no mean feat. A longer set would have been nice, but there was much to get through this night.

The only non-MF related band on the bill was Ruby Coast, who drew a large and rowdy contingent from their hometown down for a night in the big city (Aurora is a suburb north of Toronto). Their spirited set ably demonstrated the perks and downfalls of being exceptionally young (fresh out of high school). On the pro side, they demonstrated terrific energy and a musicianship that was miles ahead of anyone I knew in a band when I was in high school. On the con side, they wore their influences very clearly on their sleeves, and those influences read a little too much like their north-of-Toronto peers. Take the sprightly, pop-punk of Tokyo Police Club and mix in some of the Born Ruffians’ idiosyncrasies and you’re pretty much there, though there’s a latent potential there that if nurtured properly could see them blossom into something entirely their own. But with TPC frontman David Monks supervising the re-recording of their debut EP, that’s not likely to happen in the immediate future. Good thing they’re still young. Ruby Coast were featured in this week’s eye and will be at the Horseshoe on August 6 opening for Margot & The Nuclear So and So’s.

Miracle Fortress’ set began as the project originally did – with Graham Van Pelt solo, surrounded by noisemaking toys. Since turning the project into a live proposition, there’ve been some growing pains as the grandiose sonics of Five Roses were adapted to a conventional band format – the first few shows I saw weren’t entirely successful, but they were definitely getting better each time. Now it seems that they’ve gone in the other direction, adapting the band – now a five-piece – to serve the original vision of the songs. Or at least that’s what I perceived, it’s entirely possible that I’m making stuff up. Either way, Van Pelt looked as comfortable up there as I’ve seen them so however they’ve done it, they’ve grown into quite a decent live act. Their set blended old material and new and reminded that even though Five Roses is only just over a year old, some new work would be greatly appreciated. It was also a bit shorter than I’d have expected, but hey – the weren’t the headliner anymore and Van Pelt needed to save some energy for the nightcap.

I didn’t get too far into Think About Life’s self-titled debut when I gave it a spin a few years ago, don’t rightly recall why but it was probably too noisy and frantic for my tastes. And though it sort of goes against what I was saying a couple weeks ago, it took until I saw them live to get why their fans are so devout – it gives them all an opportunity to mosh like it’s 1994 again. From note one, the crowd was going nuts, frontman Martin Cesar was going nuts and I was thankful for my relatively well-protected position wedged between a PA speaker and bass bin. If anyone was going to smash into me, they were going to smash into a very large, heavy and fixed speaker cabinet first. But beyond the utter chaos of the performance, the band actually sounded better than I remember from the recording. The lo-fi (lack of) sheen was gone and the power of the band, even without their bassist, and strength of Cesar’s vocals, even while pogoing around the stage and into the audience, was much more evident. After a set that was so exhausting to watch I couldn’t imagine actually having to perform it, the audience still called the band back for an encore, testing the structural integrity of Sneaky Dees’ floor for one more song. Amazingly it held up, and while I’m not hunting down another copy of the album, I might well go and see them live again. After I’ve made sure my life insurance is paid up.

Photos: Think About Life, Miracle Fortress, Ruby Coast, Adam & The Amethysts @ Sneaky Dee’s – July 26, 2008
MP3: Think About Life – “Paul Cries”
MP3: Miracle Fortress – “Have You Seen In Your Dreams”
MP3: Ruby Coast – “Brittle Bones”
MP3: Adam & The Amethysts – “He Passed Away (The Darkness In His Head)”
MP3: Adam & The Amethysts – “Sonic Youth Centre”
Video: Miracle Fortress – “Have You Seen In Your Dreams”
Video: Miracle Fortress – “Maybe Lately”
MySpace: Think About Life

ArtistDirect discusses cursing and income with Aimee Mann. A note – in a PR email the other day, I saw Aimee’s August 28 show with Squeeze listed as being at the Danforth Music Hall. Every other listing I’ve seen still says it’s at the Kool Haus, but if you’re the paranoid type, I’d suggest double-checking the venue before heading out.

The News & Observer talks to She & Him’s Zooey Deschanel. Filter also offers a profile.

This week The Interface and NPR feature sessions with Mates Of State. They’re at Lee’s Palace next Monday night.

Also on NPR is a stream of last week’s Spiritualized show in Washington DC, while The Chicago Sun-Times offers up an interview. Apparently the serenity of last year’s Acoustic Mainlines tour has been jettisoned in favour of volume. Lots of it. Bring your earplugs when they play V Fest day one on September 6.

Blurt has an interview with living legend Ray Davies.

The Hold Steady gives The New York Times a run-down of what’s tickling their eardrums these days. Which is to say, what they’re listening to.

Photo by Paul Hammond

Title holder of the most laid-back festival in existence, Dog Day Afternoon celebrates its 10th anniversary this year and will be held on August 17 at a top-secret, undisclosed location somewhere outside of Guelph. I had the pleasure of attending the one-day event last year and it was a wonderful day of sitting on the grass, listening to music, eating, drinking and… well, imagine a long, lazy picnic with a terrific soundtrack.

This year, as with all the others, The Sadies will be headlining the festivities – and believe me there’s nothing quite like watching the Sadies under a starry night sky – and will be joined by The D’Urbervilles, The Shovels, Dog Day, Gentleman Reg, Now YR Taken and One Heart Many Hands. A very solid lineup all-around, but I’m especially pleased to be able to see Haligonians Dog Day again and not just because their presence satisfies my sense of cosmic order (not that that means I’m lobbying for The Virgins to play V Fest). I enjoyed their show at the Drake last December and continue to enjoy their last record Night Group. The band, ever the road warriors, kept a tour blog for Exclaim on their just-completed jaunt out west and in addition to this show, they’re playing a free show at the Horseshoe on the following Tuesday, August 19.

While it used to be a private/invite-only party, Dog Day Afternoon now also has tickets available to the public. Inquiries can be sent via the MySpace or to dogdayafternoon@bust.com.

MP3: Dog Day – “Great Pains” (live)
Video: Dog Day – “Oh Dead Life”
Video: Dog Day – “Lydia”
MySpace: Dog Day

Crawdaddy talks to Silver Jew David Berman. He/They’re at Lee’s Palace on September 2.

Paste talks with both Mark Olsen and Gary Louris about their forthcoming, “don’t call it a Jayhawks record” record Ready For The Flood, out September 16.

Pitchfork has specifics on the next TV On The Radio album. Dear Science will be out September 23.

The Vancouver Sun profiles Black Mountain, in town September 27 at the Opera House.

Thanks to For The Records for pointing out that Dirty On Purpose will be the support for The Wedding Present on their Fall tour, including the October 3 date at Lee’s Palace. DoP skipped SxSW for the first time this year, and thus I haven’t had my annual live fix yet.

Also in town on October 3 is newly-signed to Dead Oceans outfit These Are Powers. They’ll be at Sneaky Dee’s.

MP3: These Are Powers – “Cockles”
Video: These Are Powers – “Cockles”

Billboard has details on Rachael Yamagata’s long-delayed sophomore record, and she’s making up for the wait with volume. Not as in loud, as in quantity. The two-CD A Record in Two Parts … Elephants and Teeth Sinking Into Heart will be out on October 7 with touring to follow.

The Anchorage Daily News talks to John Stirratt of Wilco.

The Georgia Straight talks to Jonathan Meiburg of Shearwater.

Hutch Harris of The Thermals updates Pitchfork on the status of their new album Now We Can See, set to be released sometime.

MTV gets some vague ideas from Colin Meloy about what direction the next Decemberists record might be heading.

Daytrotter sessions up with The Blakes.

Finally got around to seeing The Dark Knight last night. Last thing the world needs is another review, so I’ll simply say it was good. Even made up for the worst Taco Bell meal I’ve ever had, and I’ve had some bad ones. I had a notion of what I thought would make a good plot for the third film – I think I mentioned it after I saw the first one – but something focusing on Batman’s detective skills, perhaps with the Riddler as a villain but never even seen till the final act when Bats unravels the mystery at han. But considering the status quo established at the end of this film, that’d be difficult to do. Still though, something that emphasizes the intelligence of Batman beyond just the toys and fighting would be a novel twist.

And lastly, Rotten Tomatoes has a detailed, frame-by-frame analysis of the Watchmen trailer. It looked mighty good up there on the big screen, let me tell you.

Photo by Frank Yang

It may have sat on my bookshelf for almost three months before I even cracked the spine, Dean Wareham’s memoirs Black Postcards: A Rock & Roll Romance barely took me a day to finish reading. No doubt my being a long-standing fan of all his works, from Galaxie 500 through my beloved Luna to his present works as Dean & Britta, contributed to the rate at which I plowed through it but I think that anyone who’s interested in the life and times of a cult indie rock band would have found it just as compelling, whether they knew his work or not.

Black Postcards reminded me very much of Bob Dylan’s own memoirs, Chronicles, and not just because it was the last rock bio I read. Both their careers have obviously taken much different trajectories, they’re both famously cryptic in their songwriting and standoffish at best with the press, yet both their books are surprisingly clear and forthright. Starting at the very beginning and his childhood in New Zealand and Australia, Wareham is comprehensive in his recollections. He traces the path of Galaxie 500 from a university dorm project to cult band playing the European festival circuit and offers his own perspective on quitting the band when they seemed on the cusp of something greater – bandmate Damon Krukowski has gone on the record with his account of the band’s dissolution and while Wareham doesn’t necessarily contradict them, he does offer his own reasonings for needing to get out.

The Luna years are similarly covered. Though it features numerous entertaining anecdotes about the mundanity of life on the road – common topics are hotels, food, narcotic adventures and occasional dalliances – the running theme is mostly of Wareham’s frustrations with essentially having plateaued as a band, commercially speaking. Playing the same venues tour after tour, ongoing label issues, intra-band tensions – certainly not unique to Luna, but that doesn’t make it easier to take. Wareham is also extremely forthcoming on his personal life, particularly about his affair with bandmate (and now wife) Britta Phillips and all the ensuing drama, including the subsequent dissolution of his first marriage. He recounts most everything matter of factly, not necessarily apologetically but with the benefit of hindsight. It’s a wholly engrossing read, particularly for someone as emotionally invested in the music around it all as I am, and it’s interesting how much of Wareham’s seemingly nonsensical lyrics are actually about something concrete. And yeah, it totally made me miss Luna, like a phantom limb.

And it also prompted me to do as I’ve intended for over two years and watch the band commentary for the Tell Me Do You Miss Me documentary DVD. The film runs in parallel with the last portion of the book quite tightly but rather than offer any more insight into the final days of the band, the commentary is more a reminiscence about the making of the film. Recorded a year after the band officially broke up, the interplay amongst Dean, Britta and Sean Eden (Lee Wall recorded his track on his own in Los Angeles) is friendly though some of the lingering band tension does surface occasionally. It’s sort of a silly thing to care about, but it pleased me see that all of them still get along. Or at least did a couple years ago.

Here in the present, Dean and Britta are obviously carrying along quite nicely with Dean & Britta. Their debut album, L’Avventura has been out of print for a while but will be getting a reissue on September 2 with some bonus tracks from the Sonic Souveniers remix EP tacked on for good measure. Lee Wall has a MySpace. Sean Eden was running with Elk City but is now also with Gramercy Arms. Odds of a Luna reunion are slim to none unless you start throwing lots of money at them. Le sigh.

MP3: Luna – “Friendly Advice” (live)
MP3: Luna – “The Slow Song (live)
Video: Luna – “Slash Your Tires”
Video: Luna – “Season Of The Witch”
Video: Luna – “Lovedust”
Video: Luna – “1995”

Billboard has details on Paul Westerberg’s just-released 49:00, which as the name implies is 49 minutes of music which he’s selling online for $0.49.

Neil Young discusses his plans surrounding the release of Archives this Fall with Billboard. He reveals that there will be CD and DVD editions, not just Blu-Ray, and there will also be extensive touring to support. He does not reveal a release date. He also stopped in at the Charlie Rose show – video clip at The Daily Swarm.

Drowned In Sound, NPR and The Stranger q&a The Hold Steady.

QRO, Metro and JAM interview Brendan Canning.

The Quietus hit the road with Radiohead in 2003, took notes, and have now published them online. And a second part. More to come? Radiohead’s 2008 edition are at the Molson Amphitheatre on August 15.

Also at The Quietus is also offering up an audio guide to Sheffield, England courtesy of Jarvis Cocker. Paste also reports that Jarv is composing songs for Wes Anderson’s adaptation of The Fantastic Mr Fox. Five will get you six that he’ll also have to cover a Kinks song for the soundtrack. Cocker, by the way, may well now be #1 on my list of artists whom I have yet to see live (and have a reasonable expectation of doing so). Seeing the reports back from Pitchfork and New York City this past week have made me all angsty that he hasn’t come to play Toronto yet – and hasn’t been here since Pulp’s final show at Massey Hall in 1998 (I believe – do correct me if I’m wrong unless it means that I’ve actually missed seeing him here in the past decade).

There’s some kind of meme running through the whole of the music media in the last few weeks… The San Francisco Chronicle gets Rob Dickinson to discuss Catherine Wheel’s place in the annals of shoegazing.

Chad Van Gaalen, whose new record Soft Airplane is out September 9, will be at the Mod Club on October 4.

MP3: Chad Van Gaalen – “Willow Tree”

No, I didn’t go to the She & Him show last night – a combination of general tiredness and too many things to do took precedence. And anyway, I saw them at SxSW, so I’m good. The Toronto Star talked to Matt Ward, Metromix and The Philadelphia Inquirer to Zooey Deschanel.