Forget what I said a little while back about what I was looking for in a new band – I now wanna be in The Hold Steady instead. On Monday night the Brooklyn combo steamrolled into town and absolutely destroyed a surprisingly packed Lee’s Palace with a torrent of beer, sweat and pure rock.

Openers were Horsey Craze, the Neil Young cover band alter-ego of some of The Constantines, former tourmates of The Hold Steady. At points sloppy enough to make the real Crazy Horse look tight, there was no denying that the band was just there to have some fun – they even apologized a few times for their ramshackleness. But no one really minded and in a way, they were living the Canadian dream – Lord knows I’d love the opportunity to get up and jam on “Like A Hurricane” for an hour or two.

Sounding like Robert Pollard fronting the E Street Band, The Hold Steady may well have been having a better time onstage than the audience was below, and the audience was having a hell of a time. Rowdy, raucous and often hilarious, over the set and two encores, they tore through material from The Hold Steady Almost Killed Me and Separation Sunday as well as previewing new material from Boys And Girls In America, out October 3. The new stuff sounds a lot like the old stuff – classic blue-collar guitar rock overflowing with wry observations and recriminations of down-and-outs and low-lifes, courtesy of Craig Finn.

A transplanted Minnesotan, Finn looks more like a beer league bowling champ or subsitute teacher than a frontman for a rock band. Despite that – or maybe because of it – he’s a manic, magnetic figure at the mic. Flailing, gesticulating, clapping, riffing (both on guitar and verbally) and otherwise just being a hell of a performer, the man could put on a clinic on how to front a rock band. I’ve actually always wondered about bands that put on these, “leave it all on stage” shows – how they do it every night, how they keep it fresh and honest. My theory is that they are completely drained by the end of each show – perhaps from all the sweat – but then recharge with beer. And then it’s on to the next show. Whatever the secret is, The Hold Steady have got it down pat.

Gig photos here. Bands as animated as The Hold Steady are fun to shoot, that’s fer damn sure. Also check out some AV, including a Separation Sunday b-side available to download from their MySpace and two versions of their video for “Your Little Hoodrat Friend” – one that apparently their management didn’t like and one they did. I prefer the rejected one. Pretty girls > dancing hipsters.

MP3: The Hold Steady – “Your Little Hoodrat Friend”
MP3: The Hold Steady – “Curves Nerves”
MP3: The Hold Steady – “The Swish”
Video: The Hold Steady – “Your Little Hoodrat Friend” (YouTube)
Video: The Hold Steady – “Your Little Hoodrat Friend” (rejected by management) (YouTube)
MySpace: The Hold Steady

This MySpace blog has got five live Eric Bachmann tracks recorded last Winter. All of them appear on his new album To The Races and sound a lot like the recorded versions – which makes sense since they were largely recorded live and solo. They sound great – the live stuff and album both. He’s playing the Horseshoe September 16.

Just two days too late to make my themed post, Australia’s Grates talk to Chart about songwriting and K-Mart.

Yo La Tengo will be in town to beat our asses at the Phoenix on October 2. Yay! And if you haven’t heard the second MP3 from I Am Not Afraid Of You And I Will Beat Your Ass, out September 12, well here you go.

MP3: Yo La Tengo – “Pass the Hatchet, I Think I’m Goodkind”

File under: rip-offs a-coming: Billboard reports that Universal has acquired the rights to the Elvis Costello catalog and is planning to reissue them with. In case you ran out of fingers, this will be the fourth edition of Costello’s early catalog and the third definitive one. I can’t imagine that there’s much left in the vaults to make this of any value even to die-hard completists, so unless someone out there’s been holding out on getting My Ain Is True for the past 30 years hoping that a better version will come out, then I hope to god there’s no audience for these. Enough already.

The Village Voice bonds with John Darnielle of The Mountain Goats over The Geto Boys and comic books. Darnielle is a Deadman fan. Who’d have guessed? Get Lonely! is out August 22 and they’re at Lee’s Palace on September 19.

And the comics section – PopMatters reviews the epic of Scott Pilgrim thus far (and to Largehearted Boy, who believes my life in Toronto mirrors Scott Pilgrim’s, I have to say alas – I never seem to get the power-ups). And the AV Club interviews the legendary Alan Moore about his controversial (it’s sexy) new graphic novel Lost Girls and shuffles up Brian K Vaughan’s iPod. Vaughan swears his musical taste isn’t that lame.

And now I’m off to Lollapalooza. Dispatches from Chicago to come.

np – Shearwater / Everybody Makes Mistakes

I’ve been listening to Happy New Year, the new album from Brooklyn’s Oneida a lot lately – not because it’s addictive or I’m in love with it, but because it’s so dense and perplexing, but somehow intriguingly and not annoyingly so. Thick with synths, droning rhythms, psychedelic textures and vocals that are equal part medeival chanting and hippie folk revival, I can hear shades of early Pink Floyd, Stereolab, Primal Scream, The Olivia Tremor Control – it’s all over the place and yet somehow consistent. It’s also a strangely solemn-sounding record, certainly moreso than you’d expect from a band that goes my pseudonyms like Kid Millions, Bobby Matador and Baby Hanoi Jane. I’m not ashamed to admit that Oneida dwell somewhere on the outskirts of my musical comfort zone, but it looks like it could be interesting territory.

Exclaim! reviewed the new album and talked a bit to Bobby Matador while Seattle Weekly talks to Kid Millions and gushes about the live Oneida experience. An experience that Torontonians can take in August 4 at the Tranzac as part of the Bummer In The Summer festival which kicks off tonight and tomorrow night with a pre-parties here and there and then carries on through the weekend (day and night) at Tranzac with a lineup (over)loaded with local talent.

MP3: Oneida – “Up With People”
MySpace: Oneida
MySpace: Bummer In The Summer

Okkervil River are bringing gifts for their Australian tour this Fall – Overboard And Down is a new EP that will be made exclusive to folks down under (Australia and New Zealand). It will feature tracks recorded in the now-legendary (to Okkervil freaks) recording sessions from January of this year as well as a live reading of “Westfall”. Surely there will be a way for people on the upright side of the world to acquire this disc – when I find out, I’ll let ya know.

Rolling Stone caught up with Neil Young while on tour and talked a bit about Living With War arranged for CSNY. Neil also predicts that the first volume of Archives will be out within a year. Then after the reporter turned off his tape recorder he began laughing his ass off.

Asobi Seksu have put out a new video from Citrus. Now that the Cardigans tour is kaput, Asobi’s show at the Horseshoe is now your #1 thing to do on September 20.

Video: Asobi Seksu – “Thursday” (MOV)

Which segues nicely into more concert news. Drive-By Truckers come to bless and curse us at the Phoenix on October 18 with The Drams. Rogue Wave have a date at Lee’s Palace on September 9, Two Gallants are at the Horseshoe on October 2, tickets $10.50, and Damien Jurado is at the El Mocambo October 3.

There’ve been a couple additions to the lineup for the Virgin Festival at Toronto Islands September 9 and 10 – Razorlight are now playing day one while MSTRKRFT, The Mooney Suzuki and Born Ruffians augment day two.

Also note that Midlake is now off the French Kicks bill at Lee’s Palace on September 11, a makeup date for their cancelled show originally scheduled for this Friday. Instead Sound Team, who cancelled their show originally scheduled for the Horseshoe this past Monday night (the same night Midlake were supposed to play with The Hold Steady), will now support. Did you get all that? Me neither. Instead, those who want to see Midlake will have to pony up to see them open for Keane at the Hummingbird Centre on September 20. Oh, and as a bit of trivia, The French Kicks opened for Keane here in Toronto last year. Head… exploding… All I have to further to say is that while they may get nicer dressing rooms in the Hummingbird Centre, Midlake sure as hell would have had more fun touring with the Hold Steady. Full review of that show tomorrow.

And finally, the role of The Joker has been cast for the new Batman film, to be titled The Dark Knight. The role previously inhabited by Cesar Romero and Jack Nicholson (and Mark Hamill, sort of) now belongs to… Heath Ledger. Yeah. I suggest a letter-writing campaign to the studio petitioning to have Jake Gyllenhall cast as Harvey Dent/Two-Face. The on-screen chemistry would be electric.

np – Sufjan Stevens / The Avalanche

So since around SxSW, I’ve been hearing people talk about Australian band The Grates as a band to watch out for. When I ask what they sound like, the first point of comparison is almost inevitably The Yeah Yeah Yeahs. Now at this point, I can either a) fess up that I’ve never really listened to the Yeah Yeah Yeahs either so that frame of reference isn’t particularly useful, thus ensuring that I will be way behind the hipster 8-ball, or b) quickly change to subject to some long-defunct shoegazey band. But I recently got a copy of not only the Grates’ debut record Gravity Won’t Get You High but the Yeah Yeah Yeah’s latest record Show Your Bones so I can actually offer something resembling an informed opinion on both bands. Yay.

The main thing I’d heard about the Grates is that they’re a tremendously fun live act, and while I’ve not seen them, it’s not for lack of opportunity. I think they’ve played Toronto at least twice in the last six months, most recently barely a month ago. Interestingly, I don’t believe any of these shows were headlining gigs – instead they’re coming all the way from Australia to open. I also missed them at SxSW but BrooklynVegan was not only there but has some photo evidence of singer Patience Hodgson’s remarkable hang time.

And listening to thre record, it’s hard not to want to jump up and down – chock full of energy, sass and general jubilation, It’s eminently danceable in a refreshingly non-post-punk way. And while it’s a fun ride start to finish, it paces itself just well enough to not exhaust the listener. It’s not easy walking the line of being fun and youthful without being silly or a novelty but The Grates pull it off. Maybe they’ll come back to town a third time in ’06…? The album is out domestically on August 29. and LAist asked six questions of Hodgson – how she manages so much vertical is not one of them. It’s gotta be the shoes.

MP3: The Grates – “Sukkafish”
Video: The Grates – “19-20-20” (YouTube)
eCard: The Grates – “19-20-20”
MySpace: The Grates

If Gravity Won’t Get You High‘s charms are broad, playful strokes in primary colours, Show Your Bones a technicolour action painting that somehow manages to both abstract and realist at the same time. I was rather surprised how much I liked the Yeah Yeah Yeahs disc – I had been under the impression that they were more spastic and Karen O’s vocals more caterwaul-y. Based on what, I do not know, but that’s what I thought. O’s voice is indeed powerful and elastic (and surprisingly twangy?), but she’s in total control of it the whole time. The whole band is superbly tight and the songcraft also up to par – hooky, rocking and more than a little nervy and brash. Does it sound like I’m surprised how much I like this record? Well that’s because I am. Maybe in the future I’ll pay more attention to what a band actually sounds like instead of just what I think they sound like. Even though that really does make my life easier. Prefix has an interview with Yeah Yeah Yeahs drummer Brian Chase.

Video: The Yeah Yeah Yeahs – “Gold Lion”
Video: The Yeah Yeah Yeahs – “Cheated Hearts”

What will surely be one of the highlights of Lollapalooza this weekend is the almost-final performance from Sleater-Kinney. Even though they’ve added two more Portland shows for a proper hometown farewell, this Friday will surely be their last for many of their fans. The Chicago Tribune and This Is Fake DIY (two parts) both have tributes to the massively influential and sure-to-be-missed band.

Check it out – new Mogwai video.

Video: Mogwai – “Friend Of The Night” (iFilm)

So good and bad concert news – good news being that Mojave 3 have confirmed a Toronto date for October 16, presumably at Lee’s Palace. Tim O’Reagan opens. Bad news is that The Cardigans’ North American tour is slowly being cancelled. With New York, Boston and Minneapolis cancelled, I imagine it’s only a matter of time before the whole thing is nixed. Update: Toronto cancelled! See? When Magnus said, “The US tour not confirmed yet!”, he wasn’t messing around. Alas. But hey – Asobi Seksu at the Horseshoe, come on down.

np – Red Sparowes / At The Soundless Dawn

Somehow, it’s been five years since I last saw The Weakerthans live. No excuse, they’ve been through town lots of times. I’ve just never gone. Which is weird, since I really do like them and think John K Samson is one of the top songwriters this country has to offer right now – the fact that his band also rocks out is gravy. But as their headlining show at the “From The Peg” festival at Harbourfront (celebrating the city of Winnipeg) showed, it has been far far too long.

Fittingly, Samson opened the show solo with the affectionate and ironic ode to his hometown, “One Great City!”. But once joined onstage by the rest of the band the Weakerthans ratcheted up the tempo for the next hour fifteen with selections from all three of their records and a handful of new songs which will hopefully see the light of day sooner than later – it’s already been three years since Reconstruction Site. While the grinning Samson mostly played the shy boy frontman, his bandmates were a whirling rock machine, striking poses, doing windmills, the whole bit. I know it’d been half a decade since I’d seen them last, but I really don’t remember them being such… extroverts. Samson did step up on a riser for his one guitar solo but for the most part, was content to let his words speak for him.

It’s amazing that a band that at first listen sounds so straightforward can actually possess so much depth. You could call them emo-punk, power-pop or indie-rock and they’d be all reasonably accurate descriptors but at the core of it all, Samson is really a folk singer and poet of the people. Maybe because he grafts them to music so simple, energetic and melodic they can get overlooked but Samson’s lyrics are some of the most splendid in contemporary music. Whether channelling a cat concerned for its owner or an Antarctic explorer, his words are never less than literate, wry and warm but never come off as overly-earnest, pretentious or cloying. He’s got an almost unnatural gift in his ability to capture in words the frailty, poignancy and very essence of the human heart. I know how high-faluting that probably sounds but it’s true. I don’t know if the show necessarily convinced me to book my next vacation for Winnipeg, but it did remind me that The Weakerthans are a band I always forget how much I love until I hear them. Almost without fail, if I listen to one album I need to hear the other two straight after before I can move on. It surely won’t be five years before I see them live again.

See gig photos here and read the The Globe & Mail piece where talk to Weakerthans guitarist Stephen Carroll about being Winnipeg icons.

MP3: The Weakerthans – “Plea From A Cat Named Virtue”
MP3: The Weakerthans – “Aside”
MP3: The Weakerthans – “The Last Last One”
Video: The Weakerthans – “The Reasons”
Video: The Weakerthans – “Psalm For The Elks Lodge”
MySpace: The Weakerthans

Billboard talks to Eric Bachmann about creating To The Races, his solo album due out August 22. I got a copy of this last week and can say without hesitation that if this is what living in a van does for your creative muse, everyone should do it. It’s an amazing record. He’s at the Horseshoe on September 16.

This month’s Exclaim! cover story tells tale of The Sadies, country music and their live album In Concert, Volume 1, out August 8. Tickets for the Sadies’ shows at the Horseshoe September 8 and 9 are now on sale for $15.

JAM! talks to Kathleen Edwards about gearing up for her third album.

Filter breaks news of Swan Lake, a new project featuring Dan Bejar (Destroyer/The New Pornographers), Carey Mercer (Frog Eyes) and Spencer Krug (Sunset Rubdown/Wolf Parade). Why do I get the feeling that there’s going to be yelping on this one?

Couple show announcements – …And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead (Trail Of Dead to their friends) are at the Phoenix on November 5 with The Blood Brothers and Gang Gang Dance are at Lee’s for a Hallowe’en show October 31.

np – The Hold Steady / Almost Killed Me

Greg Laswell / Through Toledo (Vanguard) It’s no secret that I can be a little tough on singer-songwriter types, so when I say that San Diegan Greg Laswell’s new record Through Toledo really impressed on first listen, that’s saying something. Written, performed and produced entirely by Laswell, Through Toledo is a lovely slice of adult-ish pop. Heavy on melancholy but also hooky and melodic and able to range from delicacy to rocking out without ever sounding forced or overwhelming Laswell’s emotive, weary rasp. There’s actually something very Coldplay-ish about this record, but only in a positive sense – replace Chris Martin’s empty platitudes and arena rock gestures with real emotional depth and intimacy, for example. I’m actually somewhat surprised how much I’m enjoying this record, but I do/am/whatever the gramatically correct way to end this sentence is. Laswell plays the Horseshoe on August 16 with ex-Jayhawk Tim O’Reagan. It’s a free show – there’s no excuse not to check it out. MP3: Greg Laswell – “Sing, Theresa Says” Video: Greg Laswell – “Sing, Theresa Says” (MOV) NPR: Greg Laswell MySpace: Greg Laswell

Anathallo / Floating World (Nettwerk) High school band geeks owe Sufjan Stevens a debt of gratitude. By making earnest, orchestral indie rock cool, he’s opened the door for bands like Mount Pleasant, Michigan’s Anahtallo to do their thing which is, well, earnest, orchestral indie rock. But while part of what makes Stevens’ work so appealing is how he tempers the musical lushness with a necessary amount of understatedness and irony, Anathallo are deadly serious in a way that only kids just out of their teens, and who used to be (or still are) emo kids, can be. And if you thought that an album for each of the fifty states was pretentious, consider that Floating World is a concept album based on a Japanese folk tale. But also consider that I am a grumpy old man and don’t understand kids these days and their music. Anathallo are at the Opera House August 5 with The Format. MP3: Anathallo – “A Great Wind More Ash” MP3: Anathallo – “Hoodwink” MySpace: Anathallo

The Pantones / Sleepless Nights, Silent Mornings (Phonophore) The weepy pedal steel guitar and fiddles that permeates this record certainly says country, but there’s something bright-eyed (not Bright Eyes) and optimistic about Matthew Carlson’s voice that won’t let The Pantones sob into their beer. Gram Parsons is an obvious reference point and Carlson certainly knows and embraces it – consider the title of this album and of their debut, Cosmic Americana. But it’s sort of refreshing to hear someone willing to wear their influences on their sleeve, and The Pantones certainly do that. Clean, polished Americana is the order of the day and The Pantones serve it up in spades and serve it with a smile. MP3: The Pantones – “Blue To Overcome” MySpace: The Pantones

np – Oneida / Happy New Year