So Paste has finally posted online the whole of their “100 Best Living Songwriters” feature, complete with supporting essays for each listee. Topping the list, to on one’s surprise, is Bob Dylan – only the most devoted contrarian would try to take issue with his selection. Neil Young’s #2 placing might ruffle a few more feathers, but only amongst crazy people so we’ll disregard their complaints. Things potentially get a little more contentious in the middle of the pack (Sufjan Stevens over Richard Thompson? Hrmmm) but I’m not the sort to get all riled up over lists. That’s what Stereogum comments are for.

Anyway, if you’ve got an hour or two to kill, cruise the essays – they’re generally written by people with book-learnin’ or other smarts and it’s always good to entertain the rationale behind picks you may not agree with (Drive-By Trucker Patterson Hood defends #10 pick Prince). The list is broken up into 10 sections (1-10, 11-20, 21-30, 31-40, 41-50, 51-60, 61-70, 71-80, 81-90, 91-100) as well as a readers poll.

And to backtrack to Bobby Dylan a bit, Billboard has some more info and the tracklisting for his new album Modern Times, out August 29 and E! reports on the forthcoming Broadway musical based on his songs. Even with his endorsement, I can’t help but think it’s going to be a travesty and a half.

Golden Smog will release their latest Another Fine Day next Tuesday and in addition to being able to grab a full MP3 below, you can hear clips from the whole record here. The Pioneer Press talks to Dan Murphy about the logistics of the Smog and why you won’t see Jeff Tweedy (24) out with them as they try to support the new record.

MP3: Golden Smog – “5-22-02”

Being There conducts an intensive interview with Sufjan Stevens (47) about The Avalanche, which came out this past Tuesday while Salon makes do with three questions. Nextbook also has a brief interview. Allmusic, meanwhile, takes the wheel on the Sufjan backlash wagon and goes to town.

Billboard talks to Spoon-man Britt Daniel (-) about the follow-up to Gimme Fiction, which they’re in the midst of recording. The reissue package combining their first album Telephono with their early EP Soft Effects will be out July 25. It sounds almost nothing like current Spoon, but is still worthy in its own right. Check some out, the first track is from Telephono, the second from Soft Effects.

MP3: Spoon – “Idiot Driver”
MP3: Spoon – “Mountain To Sound”

eye talks to Land Of Talk’s Elizabeth Powell about Pootie Tang, a film I think I’ve actually seen at least some of. LoT open up the Dog Day Afternoon at Fort York tomorrow.

Some concert news – Finnish electro-pop outfit Husky Rescue will be at the El Mocambo on August 5 with Chicago’s Elanors, tickets $10. Husky Rescue were on my SxSW shortlist back in March so I’m pleased to get the chance to see them without, you know, having to go to Texas.

Also noteworthy – the Indie Unlimited festival happening at Harbourfront over the last weekend in August just got a lot more interesting. Great Lake Swimmers are still playing at 2PM, but the original headliner for the evening – Amy Millan – has now been moved to the 3:30PM slot, opening up the headlining slot (for around 9PM, I would estimate) for… The Hidden Cameras. Terrific news for those wanting to see them celebrate their new album Awoo, out August 15, but didn’t want to have to do the Virgin Festival to do so. After all – this show is also on the water and is decidedly FREE.

Also happening at Harbourfront but not till October 3 – newly-rediscovered British folk icon Vashti Bunyan will be at the Harbourfront Centre Theatre with Great Lake Swimmers supporting, tickets $24 to $27.

While Eugene Mirman isn’t a musician per se (though the Marvelous Crooning Child on his website is awesomeness), he IS signed to SubPop and I’m pretty sure he KNOWS a lot of musicians… and he’s one funny mofo. He turns the Horseshoe into a comedy club on August 17. Maybe they’ll put up one of those brick walls along the back.

np – The Cardigans / Long Gone Before Daylight

This Saturday night offers an opportunity for the Toronto club-hopper to put together their own Korn-free Family Values tour. First up is an early show at the Drake Underground featuring Brooklyn’s Say Hi To Your Mom and later that night Ottawa’s My Dad Vs Yours are at Lee’s Palace followed by a new local outfit I’ve never heard called Kids, but who claim some choice influences (Mojave 3, Belle & Sebastian). Since I can’t offer up any thoughts on them without having any any way to hear their stuff (not even a MySpace) and since I wrote up MDvsY not long ago, lets talk about Say Hi To Your Mom.

The trio plays a downbeat yet hooky form of indie rock, equal parts dry, snaky guitar and whirring keyboard textures, DIY-recording aesthethic and effective atmosphere, topped off with a wry lyrical touch. Sufficed to say their fourth and latest album Impeccable Blahs, out July 25, is a low-key laid back treat. I want to namecheck Spoon and Luna, though I couldn’t necessarily back that up. The Postal Service gets held up as a reference point pretty frequently but I don’t really hear it. Yeah, it’s pop songs with electronic touches but its much more organic and less programmed than anything that act puts out. And you can’t really dance to Say Hi To Your Mom. Shuffle, maybe, but dance? Not so much.

But who wants to dance on a Saturday night? Say Hi To Your Mom will go on around 9-ish, leaving plenty of time to hoof it up to Lee’s for My Dad Vs Yours’ 11:30 set. Kids will get to stay up late on this eve, going on at 12:30. Cover for the former show is $7 advance, $10 at the door and Lee’s will be $5 at the door.

MP3: Say Hi To Your Mom – “Angels And Darlas”
MP3: Say Hi To Your Mom – “Sad, But Endearingly So”
MySpace: Say Hi To Your Mom

The Edmonton Sun welcomes Son Volt to town for the first time ever while The Ottawa Citizen takes the clever journalistic tact of comparing Jay Farrar’s career trajectory with Jeff Tweedy’s. And I Heart Music chats with Wilco’s Glenn Kotche about his solo record, Mobile, which you can hear a piece of below. Sure to appeal to fans of other men who’ve stepped out from behind the kit on their own, you know like Don Henley or Phil Collins.

MP3: Glenn Kotche – “Projections of (What) Might. . .”

The National go alligator hunting. Calamity ensues.

Pitchfork has details of My Morning Jacket’s upcoming double-live album Okonokos, out September 26.

The Rich Girls Are Weeping offers some clarification to their statements earlier this week about Shearwater’s future with Misra Records. As I posted in an update to my post a couple days ago, they are still very much working together to promote Palo Santo and you should go buy a copy now. I kinda think the band and label should have milked this for some PR though – nothing gets press better than good old fashioned knock down, drag out indie rock street fight. Pitchfork gave their recent live show in Chicago a solid thumbs-up.

Also worth noting – the MySpace for the Okkervil River Navigational Auxiliary Guild – a registration-required fansite – has a couple of unreleased Okkervil River songs streaming, one a radically different and dreamy version of “No Key, No Plan” and the other a demo from last year of uncertain fate. They also report that some of the tracks recorded at their marathon recording sessions from this past January will be seeing release in the form of vinyl-only singles, starting with a tune called “The President’s Dead” b-sided by “The Room I’m Hiding In”. No details on when to expect that yet.

Some of you who’ve been around a while may remember my old band Lake Holiday – well while I’m no longer playing with them, they soldier onwards and are embarking on their first tour of the American midwest. It’s a brief tour but does hit some key market cities, so if you’re around do try to stop in and check them out. Dates, bills and info are available on their MySpace. Their/our first album This Is How We Say Goodbye should be out next Tuesday. I say “our” because I play on it. I think. It’s been a while.

np – M Ward / Post-War

Okay, full disclosure time: I was originally approached by Warner Bros last week about doing a giveaway for tickets to see The Secret Machines at the Dog Day Afternoon festival at Fort York this Saturday in exchange for some writeup in ye olde blog. Now those of you who’ve been kicking around music blogopolis for a few years may remember this incident from a couple years ago when Warners sent out Secret Machines MP3s to a bunch of music blogs in hopes of drumming up some hype, though only one bit, albeit reluctantly.

That didn’t have anything specifically to do with me, but I was still concerned a bit about the optics of it – after all, this was a band I’d never heard or written about and who I’d first heard of in the context of a clumsy early PR attempt between major labels and blogs. I was perfectly happy to give away the tickets, but the quid pro quo was a bit unsettling. But an arrangement was reached where it was agreed that I would give the band some ink on the contests page which, in my mind anyway, carries less implicit approval about the acts involved in the giveaways. Not that I really expect you all care so much – free stuff is free stuff, right?

But anyway, a funny thing happened as I was preparing to put the contest up – I went to the Secret Machines webpage to look for some basic info and started listening to the album stream of their new one, Ten Silver Drops, and what do you know – it was pretty damn good. For whatever reason, I’d had it in my head that the band were some overwrought glam-rawk outfit with more style than substance and more chops than sense, but from what I was hearing, they were actually a very tuneful and engrossing space-rock trio with a good balance of subtlety and bombast and a definite ear for an anthem. Certainly the sort of thing I could see myself getting into. Which made me quite comfortable with the idea of writing them up here instead of the contests page – and anyway, my Futureheads contest is still running and I wasn’t really looking forward to reprogramming things to run two simultaneous contests…

So speaking of the contest – I have two pairs of tickets to the aforementioned Dog Day Afternoon fest at Fort York on Saturday. In addition to the Secret Machines, you’ve got a very solid lineup of acts including Land Of Talk, The Fiery Furnaces and festival curators Metric. To enter, just email me with “You sell-out! Give me the tickets!” in the subject line. Since the show is this weekend, this will be a limited-time affair – the contest will close at midnight tonight. And since I have the tickets physically in my possession, some arrangement will have to be made to get them from me to you – please be local or be able to meet up in downtown Toronto (Eaton Centre-ish) on Friday or early Saturday. Update: Winners have been selected. Thanks for playing. Even if you didn’t win passes, you’re still winners in life.

A postscript – I only heard about the MP3 debacle after the fact since I never recieved the mailing from Warner Bros asking me to post the track… until about a week after it all blew over. The email was dated about a month prior but had gotten lost in the internet ether until well after I would have had to decide whether to play along or not. Funny, no? Also ironically, there is no free-and-legal MP3 from the new album for me to link, so I can only offer you a video, a MySpace and this Rolling Stone live session.

Video: The Secret Machines – “All At Once” (MOV)
MySpace: The Secret Machines

The Chronicle Herald profiles The Futureheads.

I Like Music discusses the new Sigur Ros single for Saeglopur, out as a CD+DVD package on August 8.

The Guardian reports on the passing of Syd Barrett this past weekend at the age of 60.

Mates Of State’s September 16 show has been confirmed for Lee’s Palace. Also, Harvey Danger will be there on October 3, tickets $9.

CokeMachineGlow argues in favour of the indie artist selling out.

np – DeVotchKa / How It Ends

Three years on from the release of their debut album Lovers, Perth, Australia’s Sleepy Jackson return on July 25 with their new record Personality (One Was A Spider One Was A Bird). Or if you live in Australia, you’ve been enjoying this album since its release on the first of the month.

If you thought Lovers was lush, you haven’t heard anything else. While the debut was undoubtedly indebted to the Beatles and Beach Boys in terms of sonic ambition, it also had a ragged, eccentric streak through it (an impression definitely reinforced by their chaotic, eardrum-bursting live shows of the era). Well in the interim, someone must have prescribed songwriter/svengali Luke Steele some Focusin because that manic energy has been channeled… into even more lush, orchestral sonic ambition. Personality is a giant, sparkling monument of pop grandeur – the cover art is not fooling around.

While there is much to like about Personality, not least of all the sheer audaciousness of Steele’s vision, I have to admit I miss the countryish tinges on Lovers that made songs like “Miniskirt” and “Old Dirt Farmer” such joys. Instead, they’ve traded the twang for a more soul/gospel influence – more grooves, falsetto vocals, smoother production. The spirituality is also reflected in the lyrical content – there’s a running theme of God, the Devil and the places they dwell. Perhaps what I find most interesting is that for a record that is so rich and melodic, the hooks on Personality seem quite subtle and overall it seems to be more of a grower than you’d expect it to be. I’d attribute this as much to the production as anything else – there’s simply so much going on aurally that it’s easy to be overwhelmed. But once you find stable footing in facing the onslaught of voices, strings and sound, it’s a treat.

The Times profiles Luke Steele, who talks to X-Press Online about the agonies of creating Personality, The West Australian about his inspirations. Drummer Malcom Clarke also handles som press duties in talking to Perth Music about the new record.

The Sleepy Jackson have a few live dates in America for the end of July, but with only three shows in New York and Los Angeles, it’s little more than a press junket. Hopefully they will return for a proper tour before too long and hopefully Steele leaves his medication at home – they were insane opening for My Morning Jacket way back in Septebmer 2003. And while their main website is under construction, go here for news and info.

Stream: The Sleepy Jackson – “God Lead Your Soul” (ASX)
Stream: The Sleepy Jackson – “Devil Was In My Yard” (ASX)
Video: The Sleepy Jackson – “God Lead Your Soul” (YouTube)
MySpace: The Sleepy Jackson

One of the bands The Sleepy Jackson get compared to are The Flaming Lips, though that’s not a comparison Steele particularly appreciates (Quoth Steele: “Don’t know about the new Flaming Lips record. There’s no good songs on there”). Guitar Player talks to Steve Drozd, the guy who used to be the Lips’ drummer and was one of the best in the biz, but also now handles the lion’s share of guitar duties on Lips records. It’s an interesting piece since most press talks to Wayne Coyne about the spectacle and overshadows the musicianship aspect of the Lips. The Big Takeover has also finished off their interview with the other Flaming Lip who is not Wayne Coyne, Michael Ivins. I linked part one a while back – here’s two and three.

The act just below the Lips on day one of the V Festival at Olympic Island on September 9, Gnarls Barkley, will be in town one month prior on August 9 for a gig at the Kool Haus. Tickets go on sale Friday for $31.25 so if value is of any issue to you, you might as well just shell out the extra $16 and see the other dozen-plus bands on the V Fest bill. Plus you get a ferry ride. Which is like a pony ride, but on a boat.

From The Rich Girls Are Weeping comes the perplexing news that Shearwater is no longer on the Misra roster? Like one of the commenters points out, I have no idea what being dropped from an indie label entails, but the timing seems strange since Shearwater have just released the best record of their career and certainly one of the best of the year. The New York Times profiled the band and gave their recent NYC show a glowing review – GoodHodgkins is also spreading the Shearwater love. Make sure you come out and see them open for Magnolia Electric Co at Lee’s Palace on September 12. Update: Rumours, innuendo, gotta love the internet. For the record, Shearwater are still at home on Misra records. Now go buy Palo Santo.

And the night before, swing by the Mod Club to see Oakley Hall open for M Ward. The band recently gave an interview to Daytrotter and performed an exclusive session that you can download.

np – Ladyhawk / Ladyhawk

Really, what sort of preamble is necessary when talking about Wilco? By numbers – Friday night was my seventh time seeing them live, the third with the Ghost lineup and the first in a year and a half. I suppose you could say this was a Kicking Television tour, but I’ve never really held with the idea that you can/should tour a live record. Anyway. Wilco needs no excuse or reason. If and when they want to visit, you just roll out the carpet.

Opening up was fellow Chicagoans The M’s, whose new record Future Women I reviewed last month and who had the rather unenviable task of playing to a nearly-empty Massey Hall. In addition to it surely being a much larger venue than they were accustomed to playing, the normally excellent acoustics were muddled and boomy, probably on account of the fact that it was designed to sound good with people in it. Regardless, The M’s plugged ahead with a 40-minute set of retro-esque garage-glam – I thought they were fine though they didn’t get me any more excited about their album.

Wilco has been working A Ghost Is Born for two years now, and as I mentioned this would be the third time I’d seen them in support of that particular record – which is why it was more than a little exciting to hear them start the show with an all-new song, played for the first time anywhere. “There’s A Light” was a beautiful acoustic-led number in a folky vein that Wilco hasn’t mined much in recent years. In addition to “Light”, there were two other new songs thrown into the set – “Walken”, a straightforward stomper that’s been kicking around for a while and “Impossible Germany”, which was simply dazzling and certainly bodes well for the forthcoming album. Of course, “Spiders” was also a live favourite before they got into the studio with it and turned it on its head (into a completely different live favourite).

The rest of the set was the usual suspects – heavy on Yankee Hotel Foxtrot and A Ghost Is Born, a couple cuts from Summerteeth and from the Mermaid Avenue records (I was perfectly happy to trade “California Stars” for “Airline To Heaven”), nothing from AM and “Misunderstood” representing Being There. A surprise addition to the set, however, was Being There‘s “Kingpin”, which closed the first encore. In the past seven years, Wilco has never played it’s not our fault that we didn’t know the audience participation drill – Jeff Tweedy, resplendent in bushy beard and leg brace (stress fractures from running) had to coach the crowd in yelling at the top of our lungs in response to the “How can I…” lyric. I don’t know when or where that started, but it was fun, I admit.

Which brings us to the most common post-game topic of discussion of this particular show. It was fully fifty minutes into the show before Jeff addressed the audience, who to that point had been seated politely but responding to each song enthusiastically. And before long, he was calling the audience “motherf*ckers” and basically demanding everyone get up and if not dance, at least demonstrate a little energy. Which we all did, happily, and I won’t say that the energy level of the show didn’t pick up at that point (well, shortly thereafter – getting everone to stand and then playing a mellow number like “Jesus, Etc” seemed a bit odd), but standing at seated venues is always tricky. Unless my dogs are barking, I don’t really care one way or the other but I never want to be the one blocking five rows behind me because I think because it’s a “rock show” that courtesy and consideration go out the window. But anyway, it was as good a time as any for everyone to stand and shake it a bit. Tweedy also offered suggestions to behaviour at future shows, which I’ve linked in video form below. Kinda funny. However to anyone who complains about seated venues like Massey Hall, let me say that a) it has far and away the best sound in the city, and b) if you don’t like it and want to stand, just consider these four words: “Wilco. At. The. Docks”. Now shut up.

But the show, overall, was spectacular though I expect nothing less. Enough time had passed that I was able to enjoy the show for what it was, and not be tempted to compare it to the unmatchable intimacy of the August 2004 Mod Club show, which I couldn’t say for the last Massey Hall show in October of the same year. In that time, even though I wouldn’t have believed it if you told me at the time, the band has gotten even tighter and more simpatico each time out. This time Nels Cline’s guitar leads, which in the past may have been ready to burst out of the seams of Wilco’s songs, finally seemed to fully mesh and pull bring the song along with it when it soared. The triple-guitar outro of “Handshake Drugs” was also stunning, thanks to utility man Pat Sansone. Even though I’d heard most of the set countless times either live or in live recordings, they still manage to entrance – a testament both to the songs and the band. That doesn’t mean that I’m not happy to hear that Wilco will be going off the road after this Canadian tour and working in earnest on a new record. Get to it, boys.

When I was in New York last week, I went out and bought a long, fast lens expressly for the purpose of getting some decent photos from the 6th row. While it’s also turned out to be superb for in-close club shots, it also did the job really well on Friday night – check out the pics. Even with heavy cropping, most still look pretty damn sharp if I do say so myself.

Further support materials – the MP3 of the Bill Fay cover, “Be Not So Fearful” comes from the October 2004 Massey Hall show. I had the Loose Fur version as one of my very first MP3s of the week back in 2002, but this version is much fuller and nicer. The track is one of my more frequent archive requests and seems to mean an uncommon amount to people, so everyone – enjoy. I’ve also posted an mp3 of “Impossible Germany” from their show in Milwaukee last week – you can torrent the whole of that show at Dime A Dozen. Apologies if posting the MP3 is a heinous breach of taper ettiquite – if posting the one track compressed is evil, let me know and I’ll take it down.

Also, thanks to Thom, who also has photos from the show, for the video of Jeff Tweedy thanking Toronto for their politeness but also imploring us to get up and get rude. The Toronto Sun has a review of the show, as does For The Records and Torontoist along with some nice centre-balcony photos. Chart also has a review.

MP3: Wilco – “Be Not So Fearful” (live in Toronto 2004-10-04)
MP3: Wilco – “Impossible Germany” (live in Milwaukee 2006-07-05)
MP3: The M’s – “Plan Of The Man”
Video: Wilco loves Toronto (AVI) – 10MB
Video: The M’s – “Mansion In The Valley” (MOV)
MySpace: Wilco
MySpace: The M’s

np – TV On The Radio / Desperate Youth, Blood Thirsty Babes