I’m on a plane to Austin this morning, and one of the bands I’m likely to see an awful lot of whilst there are locals Shearwater. In addition to their slot in the Misra showcase at Maggie Mae’s on the 17th, they’re playing three other day shows over the course of the week. This is all to build up excitement for their new album Palo Santo, which is out May 9 and if it’s a patch on Winged Life, will be excellent. They’ve released the first MP3 from the album below and there’s more to listen to on their MySpace. 2005 was the year of Okkervil River – 2006 may well see Jonathan Meiburg and Will Sheff again put out one of the best albums of the year.

MP3: Shearwater – “Seventy Four Seventy Five”

As the festival draws nigh, there’s lots of tips, guides, suggestions, etc for the SxSW punter, newbie and veteran. Pitchfork and Drowned In Sound have some suggestions of hot acts worth the attendee’s attention (and all of those showcases just got 200% harder to get into… thanks…) and The Star-Telegram rates the buzz bands of SxSWs past. Central Village has some excellent day party suggestions including hard-to-find set times, Crackers United has some festival-going tips, (via BrooklynVegan, whom I probably won’t be running into around ye olde BBQ pit) as do Depraved Fangirls (re: band t-shirts… but I don’t have any other clothes!).

Festival sponsor Yaris (as in the Toyota) has set up a really nice guide with maps, schedules, music and tips and for those of us who didn’t have the foresight to book a hotel with free internet access, here’s a map of free wifi points around Austin. And WhereAustin has a terrific Google Maps app for finding all the night showcases.

For my part, here’s an idealized list of where I’ll be during the evening shows. Probably won’t shake out that way, but I’m avoiding a lot of the bigger shows so maybe I’ll get lucky and make everything I want to.

Wednesday, March 15:
Page France @ Emo’s Annex, 8PM
Luminous Orange @ Habana Calle 6 @ 8PM
Headlights @ Emo’s Jr, 9PM
Voxtrot @ Emo’s, 9PM
Field Music @ Emo’s, 10PM
The Czars @ Fox & Hound, 10PM
Serena Maneesh @ Emo’s, 11PM
The Octopus Project @ Emo’s Jr, 12AM
Monsters Are Waiting @ Nuno’s Upstairs, 1AM
Saturday Looks Good To Me @ Emo’s Jr, 1AM

Thursday March 16:
Margot & The Nuclear So And So’s @ Nuno’s Upstairs, 8PM
Belaire @ Emo’s IV, 8:30PM
Film School @ Club DeVille, 9PM
Mazarin @ Buffalo Billiards, 10PM
Some By Sea @ Redrum, 11PM
The Hidden Cameras @ Molotov Lounge, 12AM
Levy @ Nuno’s Upstairs, 1AM

Friday, March 17:
Ambulette @ Red 7, 7:30PM
Dirty On Purpose @ Spiro’s, 8PM
The Mendoza Line @ Maggie Mae’s, 8PM
Isobel Campbell @ Dirty Dog Bar, 9PM
Eric Bachmann @ 18th Floor At Capital Place, 10PM
Gemma Hayes @ Soho Lounge, 10PM
Sarah Hepburn @ The Drink, 10PM
The High Violets @ Molotov Lounge, 11PM
Hopewell @ Bourbon Rocks, 11PM
Shearwater @ Maggie Mae’s, 12AM
Centro-Matic @ Maggie Mae’s, 1AM

Saturday, March 18
Decoder Ring @ Red 7, 8PM
Bedroom Walls @ Habana Calle 6 Patio, 8:30 PM
Rainer Maria @ Karma Lounge, 9:30PM
Superchunk @ Antone’s, 11PM
I Love You But I’ve Chosen Darkness @ Emo’s Annex, 11:15PM
Camera Obscura @ Antone’s, 12AM
Okkervil River @ Emo’s Annex, 12:15AM

So you can see there are heavy periods and light periods. Saturday, in particular, is rather barren – I don’t even have a 1AM show picked! I can’t close out the festival sitting on a street corner narfing down pizza… though I bet that’ll sound like a pretty damn good idea by that point. But suggestions for filling in the gaps are welcome. Also, I will be photoblogging this week for Scene From My Life. One photo a day from Toronto and Austin. Hopefully I will manage to document something worth seeing.

Glide puts the spotlight on Centro-Matic, who will be playing the Misra evening showcase at Maggie May’s on the 17th and their day party at Red Eyed Fly on the 18th.

Notes from the UK – Doves will release a live, e-EP on April 10 consisting of five songs recorded during their 2005 Some Cities tours and Primal Scream tell NME about their new album, still untitled but due out June 5 across the pond.

Shows news – the Death Cab/Franz Ferdinand has been moved from The Docks to the Ricoh Coliseum. This may be the first time anyone has celebrated a show being moved into a bigger arena. The Strokes will also be at the Ricoh on May 6, presale starts today, and Architecture In Helsinki will make up their cancelled Fall date with a show May 20 at the Horseshoe.

The Asheville Citizen-Times stands up for vinyl (via Coolfer).

Oh look, I lost at the Bloggies again. 0-for-4. I rule. Congratulations to Photojunkie on the win.

24: The lifeboat episode! Chloe sheds a single tear! Lynn gets dressed down by an anonymous security guard. Jack plays Macgyver and holds his breath! But really, wouldn’t any nerve gas worth its salt affect any mucous membranes, like his eyes or his nose? Not that I wish severe hemmorhaging on Jack, but come on. Don’t know why the security guy was so upset about dying, surely he knew when he put on that red shirt he was a goner? Hasn’t he ever seen Star Trek? Poor Bill, he’ll never get to stay in charge. Collette? Who’s Collette? WE WANT MANDY. Oh, and who wants to bet that Kim gets caught in the martial law crackdown? No one? Smart. Not like Tony. Tony is stupid. Stuid and dead. And as a chaser – The Toronto Star has a requiem for dear, departed Edgar.

Hey, question – yesterday afternoon my MSN crapped out. Like the application itself crashed, and would do so any time I tried to log in. I uninstalled and reinstalled, same thing. I can login via web and through Windows Messenger fine, but MSN Messenger? No dice. Now this wouldn’t normally alarm me that much, but the exact same thing happened on my laptop install as well – the program crashes the exact same way. So, uh, WTF? Anyone having this happen to them?

np – Okkervil River / Black Sheep Boy

This past weekend the city of Toronto was blessed with a healthy dose of Billy Bragg, who was in town doing interviews, shows and generally just being man about town before heading down to Austin this week to be a keynote speaker at SxSW and kick off a compact US tour. All this activity was to celebrate the release of his new Volume 1 box set, but I’d like to think that it’s also Billy finally making good on his promise back in July 2003 to come back and play some of his own songs for us. It probably wasn’t, but I like to think it was.

The show at the Opera House was quite thoroughly sold out and there was more excitement in the air than at a usual gig, but a Billy Bragg show isn’t just a concert – it’s as much a socialist rally and public speaking engagement as it is a musical performance and having been absent from our shores for so long, Torontonians were understandably anxious for him to come out and grace us with his wry commentary on the politics of state, society and the heart. But first the opener, who hadn’t been announced in advance and whose existance wasn’t entirely certain until she showed up, was one Simon Wilcox. She killed some time with some generally unimpressive affected folk grunge, name-dropping, (unsuccessful) guitar tuning and uninteresting banter. It seemed that she talked to the audience more than she played, assuming incorrectly that anyone was at all interested in hearing her talk about herself. Thankfully, she was over and out after half an hour – and then it was Billy’s time.

Though he apologized for bringing his English cold across the Atlantic, there was no sign of any ill effect in his performance or energy levels. He’s one of those rare artists who is just as entertaining and engaging no matter if he’s playing or not. His rapid fire wit didn’t miss a beat whether he was offering support for the Ontario college staff currently on strike, confessing his fears of being eaten by a polar bear or debating the Incredible Hulk-repellant properties of his guitar with a young (like 7 or 8 years old) concert-goer. He was also quick to quip during the outro for “Greetings To The New Brunette” where he quipped (paraphrased), “Makes me look around and wonder where Johnny Marr is… I bet Morrissey thinks the same thing”. But he also showed his respect for The Smiths during an acoustic “busker” portion of the set with his cover of their “Jeanne”, as well as a rather nice if bumpy cover of The Verve’s “The Drugs Don’t Work”.

And then, of course, there were his own songs. With the exception of some Mermaid Avenue songs, he drew almost exclusively from the four early albums that comprise the new box set. It’s just as well that he was touring solo, just him and an electric guitar – I don’t think those stripped down, early songs wouldn’t have sounded nearly as vital and visceral had the Blokes been along for the ride. All in all, we got an hour and forty-five minutes of classic Bragg though I certainly wouldn’t have minded hearing a little more from Worker’s Playtime, but have no complaints with the material that was played. Hell, I finally got to hear “Levi’s Stubbs Tears” played live and even figure out the chords for the bridge, something that’s been plagueing me for many years now (G-D-F#5-G5 and then A5 at the end, if you were wondering). Interestingly, the encore, which contained all the old “hits” that most of the audience was clamoring for, was pretty much exactly the set he played at his instore at the HMV flagship location on Yonge St earlier that afternoon. Still great, but kind of anticlimactic to have the finale be a set of songs you heard just eight hours ago. But hey – there was better lighting.

Only black mark on the show? I had the misfortune to be standing beside the five most obnoxious people on the face of the earth. At first there were three who wouldn’t shut up through the opener (I didn’t really care to hear her, but would have rather heard her than them) and then before Billy came on, they were joined by a pair of girls who made them seem like choirboys by example. They actually talked – nay, YELLED – through almost the whole of Billy’s set. It was unbelievable. It was like together, they’d formed some giant Voltron of obnoxiousness. Eventually the security guard came by and told them to shut the hell up, but that was an hour too late. Still, despite this, it was a great great show. And for those who missed the show or just can’t get enough, keep in mind that he will be back in September.

I have photos up from both the in-store and the gig proper and The Globe & Mail poses some questions to the Barking Bard. I can’t imagine that given the opportunity to sit down and talk with Bragg, El Zoilus only asked seven questions – maybe Carl will let us in on the rest of the interview (assuming there is more)? And Billy has compiled a list of recommended listening for Amazon UK.

Michigan Live! talks to Jenny Lewis and So Much Silence has MP3-ified part of her recent performance on KCRW. Also, winners have been selected for passes to her show at the Opera House this Wednesday – thanks to everyone who entered. And now for the results of my unscientific Jenny Lewis, child star poll. While Foxfire and Pleasantville had their supporters, the most overwhelmingly popular film of her ouvre is, not surprisingly, The Wizard. As one entrant put it, “Lewis + Fred Savage + Nintendo’s Powerglove = totally awesome”. So as a treat to all you NES freaks, here’s a Jenny Lewis Wizard soundboard for you to play to your heart’s content. In a dark room. Wearing your power glove.

The Airfields will be holding a CD release party for their new Laneways EP on March 25 at Sneaky Dee’s. They played the same venue just last Sunday as part of Wavelength, for whom they did a short interview.

The Chicago Sun-Times has a Q&A with head New Pornographer Carl Newman, who will be appearing at the Matador Records SxSW showcase on Sunday, while The Independent talks to Cat Power, who will not.

np – I Love You But I’ve Chosen Darkness / Fear Is On Our Side

Raising The Fawn / The Maginot Line (Sonic Unyon) John Crossingham’s Raising The Fawn seems to be the dark horse of the Broken Social Scene extended family, rarely getting the love or lip service of most/any of the other bands. It could be because they’re not on Arts & Crafts or it could be because their sweeping, dramatic, hyper-emotional prog rock was a little too removed from the BSS house sound, maybe their irregular performance/recording schedule made it harder to stay on peoples’ radar or maybe being 12th live guitar in the BSS cosmos just doesn’t carry that much weight, but the popularity proximity effect of the mothership collective hasn’t seemed to have trickled down to RTF. Which is good in its own way, in that the project is able to stand (or fall) on its own merits. The Maginot Line starts very strongly, the double-shot of “Pyotr” and “Carbon Paper” being as strong an opener as you may be likely to hear all year. The album nearly reaches these peaks again at a few points, but also suffers from a bit of meander that makes the album, at the least, a bit of a challenging listen but one that could prove rewarding in the long term. The Maginot Line was released last week and they play the Horseshoe April 29. MP3: Raising The Fawn – “Carbon Paper” Raising The Fawn @ MySpace.

Dead Heart Bloom / Dead Heart Bloom (KEI Records) Dead Heart Bloom is the new nom de plume for Boris Skalsky, who may be known to you as the former bassist in DC space-rock outfit Phaser. With this new project, he’s made a rather hard left from his old outfit’s sound, choosing instead to wander out in a field for a while. The bulk of Dead Heart Bloom is in a folky, countryish vein – comparisons to Iron & Wine are valid – but there are also some heavier, Calla-esuqe moments and some more gothic numbers with a Nick Cave feel. If this sounds like it’d make for an eclectic mix, it certainly does but not all the ingredients sit comfortably together. Individually, some of the tracks are standouts but as a whole, it’s not that cohesive. If Skalsky can blend everything together better the next time around, he could well be creating something really worth hearing. But don’t take my word for it – the whole of the Dead Heart Bloom is available to download, complete, legal and free of charge, here. Listen for yourself. MP3: Dead Heart Bloom – “Sodom” Dead Heart Bloom @ MySpace

(The Sounds Of) Kaleidoscope / From Where You Were to How You Got There (Hackshop) How often does a band’s name perfectly reflect the noises they make? Washington DC’s The Sounds Of) Kaleidoscope’s name is a truly appropriate description of their sound, as their debut full-length is a fascinating aural melange, the end product sounding like Barrett-era Pink Floyd produced by Kevin Shields – an acid trip with an ecstasy and wine chaser. A classic and contemporary slice of psychedelia… or maybe it’s just a flashback? Either way, good listening. (The Sounds Of) Kaleidoscope @ MySpace

np – The Wedding Present / Take Fountain

When do you stop calling a reunion tour a reunion tour? Maybe when the band comes through town for the second time in less than a year and the whole “only chance this lifetime” angle is no longer quite so compelling, or maybe when half the players have been replaced? If so, then last night’s Wedding Present gig wouldn’t qualify as a reunion show, just a really damn good one.

Since they were in town last April, the lineup has changed with the addition of a new drummer and longtime Gedge cohort Simon Cleave stepping aside for this tour. Since the roster of both The Wedding Present and Cinerama had been fairly fluid through the years, this wasn’t an especially big deal – both replacements were well up to the task and bassist Terry De Castro was still along for the ride to add her backing vocals to the mix. Perhaps because they didn’t necessarily feel like they were promoting 2005’s excellent Take Fountain, the setlist covered a much broader range of material than last time. Every album from the Wedding Present’s catalog was accounted for, including both Hit Parade collections and even a couple of Cinerama tunes. It’s interesting to see how things have turned around – it used to be that the audience would cheer when Cinerama would play Wedding Present tunes, now there’s a portion of the audience that’s thrilled when something from Cinerama gets an airing. Personally, I loved Cinerama just as much as the Wedding Present (and actually got into them first), so any nods to their material is alright with me.

The band powered through the set with efficiciency and aplomb, fitting 21 songs into about an hour twenty. Gedge, charming and self-effacing, took the time to remind the crowd that the band never played encores or requests, not that that stopped the audience from shouting them out at every given opportunity anyway. Lee’s Palace was damn near full on this night, an encouraging sign that the fans are remaining faithful and weren’t just sucked in last time by the reunion gimmick. As long as Gedge’s furious right hand doesn’t let up anytime soon, we will be there.

Opening things up on this night was one of my favourite new local acts, The Airfields. An excellent pick as openers, as their atmospheric jangle pop draws heavily on the spirit of C86 from which the Wedding Present also sprung forth. On this night they were celebrating the release of their new Laneways EP, which is a rather remarkable leap forward in sonics and songwriting from the shy, lo-fi bedroom pop of their City-State EP. Their live show, similarly, has made some significant strides – they’ve maintained their fragile charm while adding some muscle and teeth to their sound. At some points they got positively noisy, taking a page from the headliners’ book in discovering the merits of strumming your guitar really hard and fast. It would be nice if someone could step up to add backing vocals to David Lush’s whispery voice, some harmonies would really put things over the top, but even without they were doing pretty well. They still don’t quite have the presence or polish to really command a larger stage but judging from the enthusiastic response of the audience, the brass ring is there for them to reach out and take.

Photos from the gig here. And a consequence of the second go-around of touring is a second round of reunion-related interviews. Here’s a couple from The News & Observer and The Northwest Indiana Times.

Accompanying the Wedding Present on all dates on this tour except the Canadian ones are Brits Sally Crewe & The Sudden Moves. A new find, but their lean, swagger-y rock is immediately appealing. Hope someone brings em to town soon… Grok their MySpace and check out this song from their latest album Shortly After Take-Off.

MP3: Sally Crewe & The Sudden Moves – “Pane Of Glass”

Billboard talks to the director of the forthcoming Pixies reunion documentary loudQuietloud. He reveals that time has not healed all wounds between Pixies principals Frank Black and Kim Deal, but it seems that dollar bills make excellent bandages.

My Morning Jacket are working on a live DVD and double CD for release later this year. Billboard has details.

Now up in Wilco’s Roadcase – Jeff Tweedy’s February 25 solo show at the University of Chicago,

Synthesis.net discusses Ballad Of The Broken Seas with Isobel Campbell and Belle & Sebastian tell MTV they want people to dance.

Shows – Regina Spektor is at the Mod Club on April 24 and The Walkmen return to town for a show at the Phoenix on June 26 in support of their new album A Hundred Miles Off, out May 23. Presale here.

np – Jeff Tweedy / Live From Mandel Hall, University of Chicago

Sound On Sound, the recently released odds-and-sods compilation from Detroit’s Saturday Looks Good To Me is like a 30-song, 80-minute trip into the twisted pop psyche of SLGTM mastermind Fred Thomas consisting of tracks culled from the band’s plethora of limited edition 7″s, compilations, EPs and so forth. Fully-fleshed out pieces bump elbows with ultra lo-fi demos and song sketches, some sounding like they were committed to tape with maximum expediency, before inspiration fled. A goodly number of the tracks are built on drum machines and loops, adding a new dimension to SLGTM’s usual Motown/Spector homages. It’s also fun to compare and contrast vocalists, in particular the wide-eyed sweetness of Kelly Jean Caldwell’s voice circa All Your Summer Songs with the Every Night girl-group sass of the incomparable Betty Marie Barnes.

It may only be March, but Sound On Sound is like the best Summer mix tape you’re likely to hear this year, even the Christmas songs, at least until a better one comes out – and that might just well be the next Saturday Looks Good To Me full-length. But be warned – as Thomas tells The Hub, the new record, which is due in the Fall, will be a more polished departure from his earler works and feature – gasp – only his vocals. I guess we’ll see how that sounds when whatever incarnation of SLGTM he’s touring with hits SxSW next week. I had planned on basing much of my schedule around catching as many SLGTM shows as possible (there are four in three days but not on Saturday, ironically), but if there’s no BMB hottness in effect, I may be content with just their Wednesday night showcase at Emo’s.

You’d think that after compiling Sound On Sound the vaults would be empty, but not so – if you go to the band’s MySpace page, you can listen to and download two more rarities that didn’t make the album. Prolific? Yeah, just a little. Here are three songs from Sound On Sound for your listening pleasure.

MP3: Saturday Looks Good To Me – “Can’t Ever Sleep”
MP3: Saturday Looks Good To Me – “Lift Me Up”
MP3: Saturday Looks Good To Me – “Disaster”

And continuing today’s unofficial theme of Chromewaves celeb crushes, it appears that Ms Gemma Hayes, or more accurately her label, have decided that releasing The Roads Don’t Love You internationally is no longer a priority. There was supposed to be a May North American release, but I guess that’s been trumped. Thank goodness for CDWow. With this in mind, you can be damn sure I won’t be missing her SxSW showcase at Soho Lounge on March 17 at 10PM (St Patrick’s Day, natch). Finally, Prefix has a live video of Gemma performing “Undercover”, Contactmusic has an interview and there’s some more tracks, album and live/demos, at her MySpace page. And there’s a rumour floating about that she’s making a record with none other than Kevin Shields… best news ever? Maybe so.

Amy Millan of Stars’ debut solo album, Honey From The Tombs, will finally see the light of day on May 30 and Arts & Crafts are offering a preview – you can download “Skinny Boy” for free from the Arts & Crafts store. Via Just Keep Bloggin’, who also has the cigar lounge-approved cover art.

Sweden’s Concretes have a new album completed and a new video to go along with it. The first single from In Colour, out April 4, is “Chosen One” and you can see the vid below. The band sadly had to bail on their SxSW plans, but will still be hitting North America this Spring including a date at the Horseshoe on May 4, tickets $15.

Video: The Concretes – “Chosen One” (WMV)

For The Records reports that Billy Bragg will be doing an instore/autograph session at the HMV on Yonge St on Saturday before his show at the Opera House that night. I will be doing my bit and swinging by later today to find out exactly when Mr Bragg will be doing his PR duties – check back for an update this PM. In the meantime, Rolling Stone talks to Bragg about his new Volume 1 box set. Update: Sir William of Bragg will be at His Master’s Voice at 2PM.

Miss Neko Case on Leno last night? That’s why we have Prefix. And also in the realm of late night TV, Neil Young was on The Daily Show on Wednesday night. I had no idea. If you missed it, go torrent the March 8 episode. It’s great, and not just for Neil. WEIGHTLIFTING PANDA!

np – (The Sounds Of) Kaleidoscope / From Where You Were to How You Got There