The Undertow Orchestra tour, so named becaue all the participants share a management company, kicks off tomorrow night and while it won’t be crossing the border to our fair country, the fact that it’s happening at all is still exciting to me. The bill features four top-notch American singer-songwriters sharing a stage, playing each others’ songs, being each others’ bands. The artists in question are Will Johnson, mastermind of Centro-Matic and South San Gabriel, Dave Bazan, formerly of Pedro The Lion and currently of Headphones, American Music Club’s Mark Eitzel and Georgian eccentric Vic Chesnutt.

Glide finds out how the tour came together and plays Q&A with the performers on the bill, while Red & Black talks to Johnson and Chesnutt about playing with their new tourmates. If you’re not familar with some or all of these artists, you owe it to yourself to at least check out some of their work. And if the tour is coming to your burg, consider yourself lucky.

MP3: Will Johnson – “Just To Know What You’ve Been Dreaming”
MP3: Will Johnson – “Closing Down My House”
MP3: Vic Chesnutt – “I Melt With You”
MP3: Vic Chesnutt – “Tablet”
MP3: Pedro The Lion – “Discretion”
MP3: Mark Eitzel – “My Pet Rat St. Michael”

And as a bonus, I’ve found the whole of American Music Club’s awesome Everclear album available for free legit downloaded right here. It’s a masterpiece. Go get it.

Brian Pearl of Matt Pond PA will be keeping a tour diary over the course of their North American tour, which kicks off tonight in New York City and rolls into the Mod Club in Toronto on February 11. Mr Pond tells the Boston University Daily Free Press why students should shun their studies to see him play (Bugmenot).

Matt Berninger of The National admits to Pitchfork that he inadvertently missed meeting Bruce Springsteen after a recent tribute show because he went home to watch The West Wing. The National currently bear the dubious distinction of being the Susan Lucci of indie rock – they were nominated for six Plug Awards and headlined the awards ceremony but still went home empty handed. Hell, they even have to suffer the indignity of The Village Voice calling them “Coldplay, with teeth”. But being the troopers they are, they’re not holing up at home with a tub of Hagen-Dazs, but are hitting the road in March for a short tour that will bring them to the Horseshoe on March 22 (get your tickets! Go! Now!). Also on the bill are The Cloud Room, who were just here last week and recently had a Pitchfork feature of their very own.

In the wake of Lookout Records’ implosion, Ted Leo has packed up his apothecary bag and found a new home at Touch & Go records. Full deets in their press release, though nothing firm about his new album. And if you’ve tabbed out any of Ted’s songs, he wants to see them so he can correct them if necessary. Is this guy the greatest or what?

Some show rumours – The New Pornographers may be doing a CFNY-drone only show at the Horseshoe on February 24, the day before kicking off their tour with Belle & Sebastian at The Docks. And whether she’s on that New Pr0n tour or not, Neko Case may be in town April 2 or 3 for a show at the Danforth Music Hall. Via the fine print at Sucking A Lemon and For The Records. And more officially, Josh Rouse will be at Trinity-St Paul’s on April 11 in support of his new album Subtitulo, which is out March 21.

24: Figures – they follow up one of the best episodes of the show in some time with one of the, well, not best. So many recycled plot points last night – CTU head with a fucked up relative who happens to have a breakdown on crisis day? Check. A traitor being the only one who has the skills in their hour of need, and has to be released to do it? Check. Hell, when Jack busted into that bedroom and yelled, “hands up!”, I half expected Mandy to be hiding behind the bed. Or Zombie Nina. And, um, how does someone who’s in custody on charges of high treason (or something like that) get left alone long enough to hang themselves? And speaking of rhetorical questions, why do people always believe the bad guys when they say, “I’m not going to hurt you”? Of course they’re going to hurt you! That’s what they do! Oh, and I would be remiss if I didn’t mention… the impending return of Kim! Urrghghghghhhh. Someone’s going to lose a limb.

np – American Music Club / 1984-1995

Chalk Champaign, Illinois’ Headlights as one of the first new bands I’m excited about seeing at SxSW. They’ve got great pop songs with sweet boy-girl harmonies and just enough mope and fuzz around the edges to keep things from getting too saccharine. For RIYLs, I’d say Dirty On Purpose or The Comas (and if you don’t know either of them, you should check them out as well).

Under The Radar featured the band in their “New Artists 2006” feature in the latest issue and talked to the band about their forthcoming debut full-length, which is currently being recorded and should be out in August or so. So far their recorded output amounts to a single EP which was rereleased by Polyvinyl late last year after selling out as a limited edition wholly independent release, with a 7″ due out sometime this Spring before the proper album is done. For the curious who will be in Austin next month, their main SxSW showcase will be on Wednesday night at Emo’s as part of the showcase, but they look to have some day parties on tap as well over the course of the festival.

This track comes from their aforementioned The Enemies EP – they’ve also got samples on their MySpace page and in a Flash player on their own website.

MP3: Headlights – “Tokyo”

The Toronto Star talks to Neil Young and Jonathan Demme about their Heart Of Gold concert film, the website for which has finally gone live with lots of goodies and downloadables. The film opens next Friday.

Mark Kozelek tells Harp how Neil Young’s Decade changed his life and Paste about tackling Modest Mouse. The Santa Cruz Sentinel also runs a piece on Mark’s Tiny Cities.

PopMatters talks to twee queen Amelia Fletcher about the road from Talulah Gosh to Tender Trap, and their new EP Language Lessons.

Everyone’s favourite Norwegian DJ/popstar/cutie-patootie Annie is at the Mod Club on March 21, tickets $18.50.

Zoilus picks up on my indie vs Best Buy post from last Monday, and takes it to another level with the help of Mr Catbirdseat. Required reading if you were at all interested in the discussion that took place here (and elsewhere).

Harp loves the live album and doesn’t care who knows it.

The Globe & Mail places Arrested Development in pallative care.

np – Elvis Costello & The Attractions / Blood & Chocolate

Electric Six / Senor Smoke (Warner Bros) If anyone knows the guys in Electric Six, and knows for a fact that they’re not kidding, please don’t tell me. I don’t think I can live in a world where someone can sing about “Evil boys eating evil hamburgers/Evil boys eating evil fries” and be dead serious. This E6 is not to be confused with the Elephant 6 collective. They sound like a dance-y KISS (the fact that they are from Detroit Rock City and have lightning bolt letters in their band logo is not to be overlooked) perfecting a set for a Hallowe’en party. Dumb, but fun from a certain point of view. Electric Six @ MySpace

She Wants Revenge / She Wants Revenge (Flawless/Geffen) Please, God, make it stop. No more fucking monotone disaffected Ian Curtis-aping vocals over stabby trebly guitars and disco beats. No more attacks by the lame-ass, wannabe zombie corpses of 80s British post-punk art-rockers. It ends now. Someone needs to be made an example of, and I nominate these nimrods. No. Fucking. More. This album came out last week – if you happen to encounter it, do not make eye contact or acknowledge it. Just keep walking, and when its back is turned, smash it into little itty bitty pieces. And then burn them. And then nuke it from orbit. It’s the only way to be sure. She Wants Revenge are on tour with Electric Six in February, but will not be on the bill this Thursday when the latter plays Lee’s Palace. Electric Six fans, consider yourselves lucky. She Wants Revenge @ MySpace

Crosstide / Life As A Spectator (Slowdance) I listened very carefully to this record, looking for some angle – any angle – from which to review this record, and came up pretty much empty. It’s not especially good, it’s not especially bad (though if you read the above review, you’ll note that my benchmark for “bad” just sank a few points), it’s just sort of… there. Reasonably melodic and well-executed, the record offers a balanced blend of angsty rockers, dancey numbers, emotional ballads… a little bit of everything. This is a record that if someone asked me what it sounded like, I could say “alternative rock” with a completely straight face and I’d be right. MP3: Crosstide – “Empathy” MP3: Crosstide – “Opposite Day” Crosstide @ MySpace

np – Crooked Fingers / Crooked Fingers

Okay, so grok the roll call: Neko Case, Kelly Hogan, Gary Louris, Rick White, Blue Rodeo, Jon Langford, The Good Brothers, The Deadly Snakes, Heavy Trash, Garth Hudson and Steve Albini, all in attendance at the behest of The Sadies. Tell me how this could not possibly kick incalcuable amounts of ass?

This was the first of two sold-out nights at Lee’s Palace being recorded for The Sadies’ first live album, and to get it right, they invited pretty much everyone they’d ever collaborated with to come and join the festivities. They split what would be a nearly four-hour long show into two (though really three) sets, the first taking a more traditional roots/country feel as they opened with some of their own material, Dallas politely introducing the song before and thanking the crowd after each song. They then invited The Good Brothers, aka their parents and uncles, onstage for a few and then Bob Egan, Kelly Hogan and The Band’s Garth Hudson out before calling a brief intermission.

After the break, the show got down and dirty, thanks in no small part to the presence of Heavy Trash, with Jon Spencer playing MC and working the crowd up into a frenzy while Matt Verta-Ray and Travis Good threw down greasy rockabilly licks. They were then joined by The Deadly Snakes for a number before stepping aside to allow The Mekons’ Jon Langford to hold court. After reeling off some numbers from his Mayors Of The Moon record, recorded with The Sadies, he gave up the stage for longtime collaborator Neko Case, who also brought back out Hogan and Hudson for a few. The next guest was a fellow I was especially excited to see – Gary Louris of The Jayhawks. Louris is producing the Sadies’ next album, and I was thrilled to hear them play “Tailspin”, off the last Jayhawks record, as well as a cover of Pink Floyd’s “Lucifer Sam”. Next up were The Sadies’ cohorts in The Unintended, Rick White and Greg Keelor, then Canadian roots-rock royalty in Blue Rodeo and finally the mandatory, everyone-on-stage big finish.

Except that wasn’t the finish. The encore ran almost as long as the other sets, and featured a steady revolving door of guests with returns to the stage by pretty much everyone who’d already played. Things ran till 2AM, last call, when Dallas Good thanked everyone for coming – both performers and audience – and bid us all good night. Until tonight, when they do it all over again.

If it seems like I’m rushing through the review, I apologize, but there was so much great music and performance that the only real coherent thought that could come out of it all was, “wow”. Wow at all the stars, wow at the music, wow at The Sadies. It’s really unbelivable how versitile they are as musicians – backing Louris, they were a pop band. As The Unintended, they were psychedelic. With Heavy Trash they were rough and raw blues-rockers. Langford-led, they were country-punk and with the Good Brothers, Case, Hogan and Blue Rodeo, untouchable country. But no matter who they were playing with, they were always unmistakably themselves. Pure diamond gold.

I nearly filled up an entire memory card with pics (note to self – get backup memory card), but here are the best ones. The first pic is of uber-producer/engineer Steve Albini, who recorded the first few Sadies records, and was out in the mobile truck on this night getting every note down on 2″ tape. If you’re going tonight, man are you in for a treat. And if you didn’t make either show – hey, at least there’ll be a live album soon.

np – Trespassers William / Different Stars

Beth Orton will release her fourth album Comfort Of Strangers on Tuesday, and after the rather universal (at least in my universe) indifference to her last studio album, Daybreaker, I’m only mildly curious at best. On paper, it helps that Jim O’Rourke produced the record and as this four-star NOW review correctly points out, Orton has usually only been as good as her collaborators (William Orbit and Terry Callier yes, Ryan Adams no). I will be watching the upcoming reviews to see if there’s any sort of concensus that Beth has got her game back. Exclaim! asks the alt.folkie about her run-in with a naked Keifer Sutherland and Harp finds out why she’s feeling so dang happy these days. And Carl Wilson has a review in today’s Globe & Mail.

I haven’t found any official MP3s to preview, but that doesn’t mean there’s not media out there to audition. There is this KEXP radio session from last month and Prefix has her recent appearance on Late Night With David Letterman available to check out. There’s also this puppet-powered video for the first single, “Concieved” – the song is alright but maybe a little jaunty for what I like to hear from Beth. Is it awful to say I prefer to hear her sing sad songs? Anyway, she’s in town for a show at the Carlu on April 6.

ASX: Beth Orton – “Concieved”

It’s a family thang as Dallas Good gives eye a field guide to the guest stars we can expect to see at Lee’s Palace tonight and tomorrow helping The Sadies record their first live album, brother Travis talks to The Toronto Star how the idea to record a live album came about and Papa Bruce tells NOW what he’s been listening to lately.

The San Francisco Bay Guardian talks to Jenny Lewis and Blake Sennett about their extra-Rilo Kiley-cirricular activities. Paste has also run a piece on The Elected to go along with their Jenny Lewis piece from a couple weeks back.

Howling Bells have posted the video for “Low Happening” on their website. It’s dark! Not in tone, but in lighting.

Stars’ Torq Campbell tells The Saskatoon Star-Phoenix that Saskatoon is a fantastic place to play. Really. Stars are playing The Docks in Toronto on March 1 with Magnet, who is featured in Filter’s MySpace Booth this week, as part of the Indie Awards.

Simultaneously the most incongruous, yet completely logical bill in recent memory – Franz Ferdiand and Death Cab For Cutie – are going on tour together and will stop at The Docks in Toronto on April 17.

Sweden’s Love Is All will be at Lee’s Palace on March 21 to try and prove themselves worthy of the Pitchfork love. Their website is useless, so hit up their MySpace page for info. And by the by, speaking of PF faves, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah’s April 8 show has been moved from Lee’s Palace to The Opera House, though the extra 300 or so tickets that freed up are apparently all gone already?

The Guardian declares digital downloads a rip-off, aurally speaking. Via Largehearted Boy.

np – Six By Seven / Artists Cannibals Poets Thieves