What Made Milwaukee Famous were smart in picking their name – besides being instantly memorable and music relevant (it’s taken from a Jerry Lee Lewis song title), it’s an obvious conversation starter. So for the record, they are not from Milwaukee, they are from Austin, Texas.

I’m probably a little late on the wagon with these guys – they originally released their debut Trying To Never Catch Up in 2004 but I didn’t hear them until I received a promo of the reissue forthcoming on their new label Barsuk (with a new/different tracklisting) next Tuesday. Add in an impressive appearance at Lollapalooza and I’m now happily quite immersed in this disc.

And it’s definitely an eclectic listen, as much angsty new wave as anthemic classic pop – sometimes in the same song – but still remarkably consistent and cohesive thanks to Michael Kingcaid’s deceptively elastic and versitile pipes. That’s pipes as in voice, not, like Zamfir pipes. All the lines of influence you can draw will surely lead back to the late ’70s and early ’80s, but What Made Milwaukee Famous’ record collection is a lot deeper than many of their compatriots who you could say the same thing about. Highly recommended and growing more so with every listen. The San Francisco Bay Guardian has a profile of the band. Update: Thanks to Mike for pointing out that WWMF have just been added as support for The Long Winters’ upcoming tour which includes an October 4 show at Lee’s Palace.

MP3: What Made Milwaukee Famous – “iDecide”
MP3: What Made Milwaukee Famous – “Sweet Lady”
Video: What Made Milwaukee Famous – “Selling Yourself Short” (MOV)
eCard: What Made Milwaukee Famous
MySpace: What Made Milwaukee Famous

Aaron Dessner of The National gives Billboard an update on the band’s progress in recording their follow-up to Alligator.

Some show announcements – the Exclaim-sponsored New Pornographers/Novillero/Immaculate Machine tour will stop in at the Kool Haus on October 11. Sonic Boom is at the El Mocambo on September 30.

Andd the following are all at the Mod Club: Holy Fuck, Shout Out Out Out and Land Of Talk on September 22, Joanna Newsom finally comes to town on October 4 – her new one Ys is out November 14 – and Badly Drawn Boy is there on October 14 previewing material from his new album Born In The UK, which is out October 17. The first video from said album just came out – check it out.

Video: Badly Drawn Boy – “Born In The UK” (YouTube)

And again with the YouTube – check out this elaborate fan-made (Jason Sievers, to be precise), animated video for The Wrens’ “She Sends Kisses”. File under: wow.

Video: The Wrens – “She Sends Kisses” (YouTube)

NME reports that we can expect a flurry of Peel Session collections to start coming our way later this year for bands such as Pulp, Gene and House Of Love. It’s unclear whether it’ll be a collection per band or just compilations featuring many artists, but look for the on or around October 18. I’m a little surprised, though pleasantly so, that HoL is going to be included since they’ve already released a Peel Sessions disc. I imagine that this next one will cover the post-Bickers era stuff which usually gets unfairly dismissed. Babe Rainbow was a good record, dammit. Audience With The Mind… okay, not so much. And while I won’t say definitively that the reunion which yielded the alright but could have been better Days Run Away is over, no news from a famously volatile band in almost a year isn’t usually good news. Pity. Via For The Records.

The Ottawa Sun talks to bassist Sean Dean about The Sadies’ in concert and In Concert. They will be in concert at the Horseshoe on September 8 and 9.

And just a note to all the Toronto alternative/indie comedy fans (aka those in attendance at last night’s Eugene Mirman gig at the Horseshoe) – it doesn’t matter how funny you, or your boyfriend/girlfriend or your mom thinks you are , you’re almost certainly not. And trying to outwit, outfunny or otherwise go toe-to-toe with the touring professional comics is just going to end badly for you… so please don’t try. Otherwise the show was hilarious punctuated with moments of utter awkwardness thanks to certain people. You know who you are. James.

np – The Concretes / In Colour

The joke about drummers suggesting, “hey – let’s do one of MY songs!” is about as old as they come, despite the fact that the track record of drummers gone frontmen isn’t really all that bad. But luckily for Tim O’Reagan, he’d proved his songwriting ability long ago with his contributions to the Jayhawks catalog, which were usually album highlights for me. So with that band on permanent hiatus, there were no raised eyebrows when he released his self-titled solo debut last month which he was in town to promote.

Accompanying him on this tour was Greg Laswell, whose Through Toledo I reviewed and enjoyed last month. One of the great strengths of the album was the rich production but I’d heard that Laswell was doing this tour on his own so I had expected an opportunity to see how well the songs stood up in solo performance. As it turns out, he was actually touring with a band but had to leave them behind at the border to babysit merch that wasn’t going to be coming into Canada.

So for this show, he enlisted a couple members of O’Reagan’s band to back him – Jim Boquist (formerly of Son Volt) on bass and O’Reagan himself on drums. If you need pinch hitters, you could certainly do a hell of a lot worse. Anyway, Laswell sounded really good in working the melancholic piano ballad vibe, particularly on his cover of Cyndi Lauper’s “Girls Just Want To Have Fun” which was turned into a lounge-y lament, with only a touch of irony. Can’t help wondering what he’d have sounded like in full band form, though.

Not surprisingly, O’Reagan’s new stuff sounds very much in the vein of the later Jayhawks material – laid back pop tunes with a distinct twang to it. Thoroughly pleasant listening though I didn’t find any of the newer material was as strong as his Jayhawks material. Happily, both “Tampa To Tulsa” and “Bottomless Cup” were performed – the latter is one of my all-time favourite ‘Hawks tunes. But as a set, mixed in with a few Can-Con-approved covers and a couple of Boquist-sung tunes (O’Reagan’s tunes or his own? I don’t know), it was a thoroughly solid and enjoyable night of heartfelt countrified singer-songwriter-ness. Just the thing to ease me out of my (brief) post-Lollapalooza live music moratorium.

O’Reagan and band will be back in town on October 16 opening for Mojave 3 at the Mod Club. Pittsburgh Live has an interview with Laswell.

Photos: Tim O’Reagan and Greg Laswell @ The Horseshoe, Toronto – August 15, 2006
Stream: Tim O’Reagan – “These Things” (ASX)
MP3: Greg Laswell – “Sing, Theresa Says”
Video: Greg Laswell – “Sing, Theresa Says” (MOV)
MySpace: Tim O’Reagan
MySpace: Greg Laswell

And O’Reagan’s former bandleader, Gary Louris, just gave jayhawksfanpage.com an update of all his current musical activities – the man is certainly keeping busy, that’s for sure. There’s an audio interview with some of Golden Smog about making Another Fine Day, which they will be touring for but not up here, alas.

M Ward’s Post-War may have been pushed back a week till August 29, but you can hear it now via the modern marvel of streaming technology. Ward is at the Mod Club on September 11.

Stream: M Ward / Post-War

Prefix talks to a former member of Grandaddy who isn’t Jason Lytle – drummer Aaron Burtch.

An addendum to Tuesday’s Hidden Cameras post – they’re holding a CD release party at The Beaver (1192 Queen St W) next Tuesday, the day of release for AWOO. No performance but the band will be playing DJ and auditioning go-go dancers for their triumphant August 26 show at Harbourfront. Could that be you in the balaclava? Only one way to find out. AND, there’s a couple promo MP3s now available. Dig it, yo.

MP3: The Hidden Cameras – “AWOO”
MP3: The Hidden Cameras – “Death Of A Tune”

Paste declares Shearwater their band of the week. They’re at Lee’s Palace on September 12.

Chart and eye talk comedy with Eugene Mirman. He’s doing stand-up at the Horseshoe tonight. Should be funny. It BETTER be funny because otherwise it’s just, you know, awkward. HEY LOOK, A VIDEO CLIP:

Video: Eugene Mirman – “Sexpert” (MOV)

Matador responds to the Interpol signing to Capitol Records reports. Sort of. Not really.

Did anyone get an Insound newsletter yesterday? The one week I actually want to order something and it doesn’t show up. Figures.

And BrooklynVegan has the first salvo of confirmed bands for this year’s Pop Montreal, taking place October 4-8. Certainly some interesting names on the list – Joanna Newsom, Under Byen, Portastatic and Land Of Talk to name a few. I will actually be attending this year – not just because I haven’t been to nearly enough music festivals this year, but because I will be a panelist at the Future Of Music Policy Summit taking place at McGill University, taking place in conjunction with Pop Montreal. My panel will be called “The New Deciders: Metafilters, Blogs, Podcasts” and I’m glad it’s not happening for another two months because I’m going to need that time to come up with some informed opinions. “The internet is not a dump truck!”

np – The Mendoza Line / Fortune

Based on how much I enjoyed their Enemies EP, rereleased by Polyvinyl this Spring, the debut full-length from Champaign, Illinois’ Headlights’ was very high on my anticipated releases list.

The band has taken advantage of the long player to stretch out a bit and prove they’re more than a pop-shoegaze act, not that there’s anything wrong with that. There’s still atmosphere and fuzz but it’s tightly controlled and the overall mix is quite clean, with the keyboards and vocals turned way up – which is how it should be. Tristan Wraight and Erin Fein’s boy-girl vocals are delicious, with Wraight’s rougher tones complimenting Fein’s wide-eyed chirpiness perfectly.

That dichotomy also defines the trio’s songcraft pretty well, blending wistful moodiness with buoyant hookiness. But the balance definitely leans toward the peppy side of equation – if you didn’t listen to the lyrics, it’s a perfect Summer soundtrack. And even if you do, it only shifts things into maybe a late September vibe and personally, I’ve always been more of an Autumn anyway.

The band is touring like mad to promote the disc but have no Toronto dates scheduled this time out – the closest they’re coming is Buffalo on the 27th of October. Maybe next time, though it’ll have to wait till after their European tour in early 2007. Wow, good on ’em. In the meantime, check out some audio below and note that Spin has another album track available to download.

MP3: Headlights – “Put Us Back Together Right”
MP3: Headlights – “TV”
MySpace: Headlights

Aversion is streaming the whole of Eric Bachmann’s To The Races, also due out next Tuesday. He’s at the Horseshoe September 16.

And just announced – Birdmonster, Catfish Haven and Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin will be at the Horseshoe on September 11. It’s like a music blog come to life! All have new releases coming out this Fall – Birdmonster’s No Midnight is out August 29, Catfish Haven’s debut full-length Tell Me is out September 12 and SSLYBY’s Broom is being reissued by Polyvinyl on October 22.

MP3: Birdmonster – “‘Cause You Can”
MP3: Catfish Haven – “Crazy For Leaving”
MP3: Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin – “House Fire”

The Yo La Tengo Beat Your Ass Season Pass. For $13.99 from Insound, I’d call that a deal. And while you’re at it, throw your support behind their petition to make ketchup the official condiment of the USA. Via Pitchfork.

CBC declares the guitar solo passe.

np – Shearwater / Palo Santo

To Hidden Cameras fans, the release of their new album has been a long time in coming. The public initially got a peek at three of the songs on Awoo in June of last year when they were released in demo form on the “Learning The Lie” 7″ and many of the songs were unveiled last November as part of “In The Boneyard”, their collaborative performance with the Toronto Dance Theatre. Hell, they had even announced the album title over a year ago.

But next Tuesday, AWOO will be made available to the world – or Canada, at least, via Outside Music. It won’t be out in the US till September 19, courtesy of Arts & Crafts. I’ve generally found that one Hidden Cameras record sounds an awful lot like the last, give or take some refinements in arrangement or production value, but when you’re such an utterly unique-sounding band, there’s no shame in that. Joel Gibb’s lyrics have become less titillating – a cursory look through the lyrics reveals no mention of watersports or enemas or anything of the like though other bodily fluids are still very much in play – but they’re also much stronger and evocative while the musical backing remains alternately effervescently jubilant and dreamily solemn.

But the main reason this album sounds so familiar to me isn’t because it’s a rehash of Missisauga Goddam, but because the songs had been so ingrained into my skull from seeing “In The Boneyard” last year. Granted, I got a refresher when seeing them at SxSW in March but even then, I was struck by how strongly the tunes had persisted in my memory. This is remarkable because “In The Boneyard” was such a visual experience that I wouldn’t have expected the aural component to have made as indelible an impression as it did. Even now, when listening to the record, my little mental cinema can replay the accompanying dance numbers quite clearly and it’s still a joy to watch. In my head. Man, it’d have been awesome if one of those shows had been videotaped and was included as a bonus DVD…

The Hidden Cameras machine is pulling out all the stops to celebrate the release of the new record. Next Tuesday they’ll be performing on MTV Live for MTV Canada – yes, we apparently have an MTV in Canda – and tickets for the show are free. Go here for more info. And again with the free, the Cameras will headline the Saturday night of the Indie Unlimited festival at Harbourfront next weekend. That’ll be followed by some fairly extensive touring across Ontario including another Toronto show as part of the Virgin Festival on September 9 – a show that is decidedly NOT free.

The American tour kicks off in mid-November and carries on into December, which sadly means that there probably won’t be a new Toronto Dance Theatre collaboration this year. Also targeted to the US market though sure to be available here as well is a limited edition 7″ single for “Death Of A Tune” which will be available through Arts & Crafts on September 5. And CokeMachineGlow has a combination interview/review of the new album. Meaning they interview Joel Gibb and review AWOO. You can’t interview an album.

Video: The Hidden Cameras – “Awoo” (MOV)
MySpace: The Hidden Cameras

Tiny Mix Tapes talks to Oakley Hall, in town on September 11 opening for M Ward. I’ve heard the release of Ward’s Post-War has been pushed back a week to August 29 but haven’t been able to confirm that officially. But if you’re looking for it next week and can’t find it, then maybe that’s why. But the first, wonderfully animated video for the album is definitely out.

Video: M Ward – “Chinese Translation”

news.com.au tallks to Howling Bells about the long, slow climb to success. You can hear their recent radio session for XFM here.

Neko Case advises The New York Times on what’s hip in pop culture.

A couple show announcements for the Phoenix – Kasabian are there on September 27, $23.50, and Regina Spektor on October 10, $18.50. And Pretty Girls Make Graves will be in town November 4 at a venue to be determined (via For The Records).

Ira Kaplan explains the title of Yo La Tengo’s new album to Pitchfork. He blames James. The Mercury News also has an interview. I Am Not Afraid Of You And I Will Beat Your Ass is out September 12 and they’re at the Phoenix October 2.

And finally, Pitchfork also reports that Interpol have gotten on the major label roller coaster and signed to Capitol. You may recall that Coolfer reported that the ‘Pol had signed to Interscope back in March, and those rumours turned out to be false. This one smells true, though. Tiny Mix Tapes expresses appropriate indie snob disgust. The rest of you, get in line.

np – Richard Buckner / Meadow

In 2004, The Mountain Goats released We Shall All Be Healed and one song – “Mole” – simply stopped me in my tracks. Lyrically, it was like John Darnielle was looking out of my own eyes at that specifc point in my life. It was more than a little eerie but also immensely comforting, somehow. I’ve never been one to really try and take solace in pop music, it’s just not my style, but it really did make me feel reassured in a way I couldn’t really explain. And still can’t today, even though the circumstances that created that emotional opening in me are long past and healed. It still gives me chills to hear it.

And now, two and a half years later, John Darnielle has somehow done it again. The album is Get Lonely!, due out next week, and the song is “Woke Up New”. I swear, this man is somehow plugged into the collective unconcious of humanity, or maybe just mine. And the fact that he’s somehow written these songs well in advance of my life catching up with them has some truly sinister implications – you can bet I’ll be confronting him about playing puppet master for my life when the Mountain Goats are at Lee’s Palace on September 19. Or maybe I’ll ask him to start writing happy songs. But seriously, though Darnielle doesn’t actually have any words in his vocabulary that you and I don’t, give or take, in his hands they’re somehow so much more than just words. Instead, they become little emotional land mines, innocuous and unnoticed until you’re right on top of them and then they become either lethal or liberating, depending on how attached you are to your current state of being.

Most of the record is in keeping with the sombre lyrical tone and austere musical arrangements of “Woke Up New” – there’s nothing as frantic or cathartic as “Dance Music” or “This Year” from The Sunset Tree. In fact, it’s the quietest record he’s put out on 4AD though he hasn’t returned to the boombox fidelity of his earlier recordings – even in its starkness, it still sounds quite rich and lovely in its way. The accompanying press release is probably quite correct in calling it the quiet aftermath of The Sunset Tree though it doesn’t really feel like a companion piece. Its emotional heft feels far more universal than its predecessor. It could be an album for break ups or an album for mourning though I suspect those pretty much amount to the same thing. I don’t know. I had been calling this record my album of the year but it’s probably more correct to say that it’s the album of my year.

Athens Exchange and Erasing Coulds have interviews with John Darnielle while The Sydney Morning Herald talks to Rian Johnson, who directed the elegant little video for “Woke Up New”. The MP3 is also up for grabs below and NPR is streaming another track from Get Lonely!.

And a question – I only have the Goats’ 4AD releases. If I wanted to begin exploring the earlier stuff, where should I begin? The back catalog is rather intimidating.

MP3: The Mountain Goats – “Woke Up New”
Video: The Mountain Goats – “Woke Up New”

Thematically tangentially – I saw Me And You And Everyone We Know this weekend based on some very positive reviews and you know what? I didn’t like it. Maybe I need to declare a moratorium on navel-gazing indie flicks about relationships where every line of dialogue is meant to be dripping with profundity, but on the whole I found it almost unbearably precious. There were some really funny bits and some really poignant bits but mostly I found it trying far too hard and largely missing its target. So yeah. There you go.

Trailer: Me And You And Everyone We Know

So you’ll note this week’s MP3 of the week was inspired by a Shoegaze Covers Show happening next Wednesday (August 23) at the Tranzac (no longer The Boat as originally planned) and which I will be playing DJ for the first (and possibly last) time. Disc jockeying isn’t something I’ve ever had any real inclination to get into, but I’m making an exception this time because a) Greg asked nicely and b) I have no obligation to get anyone to dance. If everyone in attendance just stares uncomfortably at their feet the whole night, I will consider it a triumph. But yeah, the lineup of bands is quite solid, the poster is styling and it should be a good time. Tickets are $8 in advance at Rotate and Soundscapes or $10 at the door. Do come out and request something that I will refuse to play.

I already reported on their October 16 show at the Mod Club, but Mojave 3 have officially announced large chunks of their Fall North American tour – check out their MySpace to see if they’ll be playing a town near you. Note the 10-day gap between Santa Monica and Chicago. I have to imagine there’ll be some hot midwest action going down in that span, so if you live around there keep checking back.

A torrent of Broken Social Scene’s much-lauded Lollapalooza set has surfaced on Dime A Dozen. Not the best audio quality, but considering the circumstances – audience recording in an outdoor festival amongst 70,000 other people – it’s not bad.

and if you haven’t noticed the banner over to the right there, I am running a contest right now to give away passes to the Virgin Festival on the Toronto Islands in September. Big contest. Big prizes. You should enter. The odds in my contests are usually a lot better than you might think… Just ask Thierry.

np – The Wedding Present / Search For Paradise