Belle & Sebastian have released details about the first single from their new album The Life Pursuit, out February 7. Funny Little Frog will be out on January 16 in the UK and will be available in not one, not two, but three different formats. There’s the CD single, which will feature b-sides “Meat & Potatoes” and “I Took A Long Hard Look”, a 7″ flipsided by “The Eighth Station of the Cross Kebab House” and a DVD single featuring a video of the single and a live performance of “Lazy Line Painter Jane”.

This is the first B&S single since This Is Just A Modern Rock Song to not get a North American release, but completists like myself should note that RecordStore.co.uk are offering all three singles in a special package deal for 5 pounds sterling (plus shipping). Thankfully, the package deal counts as one item as far as shipping is concerned, so it’s only an extra 3.39 quid postage (I asked). For those of you refusing to do math over the holidays, that’s a total of 8.39, or $17 Canadian ($14.50 USD). Not bad. I also asked about the DVD, and while it should be region-free, it’s also in PAL format so North American players may not be able to play it. I read the manual for mine and it said that while it can play PAL DVDs, the TV has to be PAL as well. I don’t know what any of this nonsense means, to be honest. Technology confounds me.

“Funny Little Frog” has been kicking around for a while – the band performed it on a Peel Session for the BBC as far back as 2004, which you can here below (MP3 courtesy of Revolution In The Head. I would imagine the album version sounds considerably different – after all, it had a year to evolved. Angloplugging has an embaressingly enthusiastic review/press release of the single, if you’re in the mood for hyperbole. And really, who isn’t?

MP3: Belle & Sebastian – “Funny Little Frog” (Peel Session)

And whilst on the topic of Belle & Sebastian and the late, great John Peel, ’tis the season to pull out their 2002 Christmas Peel Session in which they pulled out originals, covers and standards and generally had a good time. Each Note Secure currently has the whole thing wrapped (zipped) up with a bow for you to download. The BBC considerately has the set list and photos from the party still archived.

So I’m leafing through the new issue of Magnet and what do I see on page 7 but a full-page, full-colour ad for hardcore porn DVDs. At first I thought it was an ironic Matador ad, but no. Porn. How… odd.

But a few pages later there was a brief sidebar with Dean Wareham about his post-Luna projects and it revealed that Tell Me Do You Miss Me, the DVD chronicling Luna’s final tour over the Fall of 2004 and Winter of 2005, will be getting a release in March via Rhino. Yes, Luna, I do miss you. Sniff. Oh, Dean and Britta have reposted their Christmas track “Old Toy Trains”, a cover of an old Roger Miller tune.

MP3: Dean Wareham & Britta Phillips – “Old Toy Trains”

So it’s back to the old homestead today for Christmas festivities, which should involve rewiring my mom’s byzantine VCR system (don’t ask), watching the bonus features on The Life Aquatic DVD and perusing the latest Big Takeover for last-minute additions to the Boxing Day shopping list. It’s looking really meagre right now, which makes me antsy in that “I don’t feel as though I’m taking full advantage of the sales” sort of way. But hey, beats working. Which I won’t be doing until the first week of January… Vacation! Whoooo.

But for now, I have to go try and do some Christmas shopping. Yeah, shut up.

np – The Zephyrs / Bright Yellow Flowers On A Dark Double Bed

I get a lot of stuff from promo companies, usually telling me so-and-so is the next greatest band I have to listen to (and blog about). Mostly I ignore them (and that, right there, is the sound of people no longer sending me stuff…). But when Shawn from Cornerstone recommended Australia’s Howling Bells to me but added that he wasn’t working them, he just liked them and thought I would too, my cold cold heart thawed and I went to have a listen – and I’m glad I did.

They only have one song, “Velvet Girl”, streaming on their website, but I actually don’t mind that it loops over and over again. It’s addictive. Led by vocalilst Juanita Stein, who with brother/guitarist Joel had some success in the Aussie outfit Waikiki, they sound like a slightly fuzzier, twangier Mazzy Star. They have a dreamy, velvety quality that’s utterly beguiling, but has a hint of danger underneath. Of course, this is a lot to assume from just one song, so it’s a good thing I’ve dug up two. They have “Blessed Night” streaming on their MySpace page, but I’ve found an mp3 (a straight recording of the myspace stream, I think) for your downloading pleasure – it’s a rougher, bluesier track than “Velvet Girl” but also excellent. Between these two samples, consider me officially tantilized.

MP3: Howling Bells – “Blessed Night”

They just released an e-single for “Low Happening” last week through a variety of online music shops, none of which seem to be available to Canadians. I guess I’ll just have to wait until their debut album, Liberation, comes out April 2006. They seem to be signed to V2 in some territories and Bella Union in the UK, but I can’t find any info about North America. Hopefully the record will be available here through someone… They were actually here back in October, but my unwillingness/inability to do four shows in four nights meant I had to give them a pass. And while I’m sure that night’s sleep was well needed, I’m sorry I missed it. Fingers crossed they’ll make it back.

Rhett Miller talks solo projects with Chart.

Matt Pond PA are saying “Happy holidays” to their fans with a new demo streaming off their MySpace page. And tickets are on sale for their February 11 show with dios (malos) at the Mod Club for $13.50.

Local promoters Emerge are using their blog to great effect, having just posted a list of their upcoming shows for 2006. The only one that really catches my interest is The Guillemots at the Horseshoe on March 15. Unfortunately, I will probably be in Austin that week, which sort of raises the question – why is a young, up-and-coming band from abroad in Toronto that week instead of the giant schmoozeola of SxSW?

Blogger year-end lists from Kathryn Yu, Coolfer and Information Leafblower. You know, with all these best-of lists, I’d been hoping to pad my shopping list with new and interesting stuff but I’m not finding a lot of stuff that’s slipped under my radar this year – either I like it and already have it, or I know I don’t dig it.

Under The Radar talks to director Margaret Brown about making Be Here To Love Me, the Townes Van Zandt documentary I saw last year at the Toronto International Film Festival.

np – The National / Black Session – 2003

So four years after the release of their last album, The Flaming Lips have finally completed their new record, At War With The Mystics, and given it a release date of April 4. They’re also releasing a 5.1 surround sound version of The Soft Bulletin on DVD-A on January 31, along with a slew of bonus cuts. Billboard has more details.

It’s also worth noting that another holiday season is about to come and go without the Lips’ cinematic opus Christmas On Mars seeing the light of day. It went into production more than five years ago and wrapped filming in October and according to the Wikipedia entry, will be released next Summer. Maybe that’s the Christmas season on Mars? I don’t know if anyone is REALLY anxious to see this film – at least not after seeing the trailer, which first appeared on the Fight Test EP. I don’t care how big a Lips fan you are, there’s no way you can say this thing doesn’t look awful. But for your Flaming Lips Christmas fix, Filter helpfully points to this streaming version of “White Christmas” by the Lips which isn’t awful, but isn’t great either.

Blake Sennett tells Billboard that his and Jenny Lewis’ respective solo projects do not spell the end of Rilo Kiley by any means. Filter has an early review of Lewis’ Rabbit Fur Coat while Chart wants to talk about both of them. There’s finally a legal download from Rabbit Fur Coat courtesy of Insound – for the five of us who haven’t downloaded the leaked copy…

MP3: Jenny Lewis with The Watson Twins – “Melt Your Heart”

The official Life Pursuit bio for Belle & Sebastian is now up at Matador Records. Click on the lovely ad over on the right to see it!

Stylus conducts a comprehensive-like interview with Feist.

The Sydney Morning Herald talks to Jonathan Bree of Kiwi popsters The Brunettes, who will release their first album for Sub Pop in August of next year. Via Largehearted Boy.

And both Largehearted Boy and I are on Armchair Novelist’s list of the best blogs of 2005.

More concert news – Imogen Heap is at the El Mocambo on January 12, tickets $15, The Walkmen are at Lee’s on January 28, tickets $15 on sale next week, and The Airfields will be supporting The Wedding Present at their Toronto show at Lee’s Palace on March 10. And thanks to Sara for pointing out that Bloodshot has two Toronto dates listed for Neko Case on February 3 and 4, venue TBA. It’s hard to tell if these are her shows or if she’s guesting, because they also list Jon Langford, The Sadies and Ronnie Hawkins on the same bill. But whatever it is, I’m sure it’ll be twangy. Update: The ads in today’s NOW indicate that this is a Jon Langford show – no mention of the guest stars, though.

Your daily year-end list roundup: The AV Club tallies their top movies of 2005, Aversion selects their albums of the year and eye rounds up their best concerts of the year along with good things and bad things in the Toronto scene.

Looking forward to the premiere of 24 on January 15 and 16? Pissed that they’ve put a ten-minute bridging prequel on the season 4 DVDs? Gripe no more – you can see the whole thing here (though I’m sure it’s torrented everywhere as well). Both Jack and Chloe have new hair! Chloe’s is good. Jack’s, not so much. Still – getting excited for the new season! Via Bradley’s Almanac.

np – Ryan Adams & The Cardinals / Jacksonville City Nights

Honestly, I was tempted to not report this one… at least not until I’d secured tickets for myself. But I’m just too damn nice to do that, so here you go. Neko Case will be previewing her new album, Fox Confessor Brings The Flood, with a super-intimate show at the Rivoli on January 4. That’s right, the Rivoli. That little place that holds maybe 150 people. For serious. Tickets are $20 and go on sale today at 10AM – I’m biting the bullet and going Ticketmaster to make sure I snag one, but will probably swing by Rotate after work to get at least another, so I may have one to sell if anyone misses out.

Update: Okay, the $7.50 service charge has dissuaded me… I will be making a bee-line for Rotate This after work and crossing my fingers.

Though Fox Confessor isn’t out till March 7, there’s already been a tase of the new material via a radio session she did for WNYC back in November. It’s from this broadcast that these two mp3s come, courtesy of Home In Your Radio. The new official bio is also up at Anti and Starpulse got to talk to Neko about the new record at the end of November.

MP3: Neko Case – “The Fox Confessor Brings The Flood” (live @ WNYC)
MP3: Neko Case – “At Last” (live @ WNYC)

Oh, and I have no idea why Ticketmaster lists the January 4 show as being Matt Pond PA – the event description is all Neko… But Matt Pond PA are coming to town with Dios Malos on February 11 at the Mod Club (how’s that for a segue?). Also, Texan family act Eisley return to Toronto for a show at The Mod Club on April 3 ($13.50). They’re even more genetically pure now – bassist/best friend Jon left the band this Summer and has been replaced by a cousin, so every surname in the band is now DuPree. That’s almost sinister. And there is speculation that the March 25 Magnolia Electric Co show will also feature Destroyer, supporting Destroyer’s Rubies. No confirmation on this or venue, but I’ll keep you posted. And speaking of shows, JAM! says I wasn’t at a single one of the best club shows in Toronto this year. Boo.

Release news – Sweden’s Concretes will release In Colour, the follow-up to their 2004 self-titled debut on March 21. It was produced by Saddle Creek’s resident wunder-producer Mike Mogis. And thanks to Anthony for confirming in the comments that Wheat are indeed working on a fourth record entitled Everyday I Said A Prayer For Kathy And Made A One Inch Square, which should be out in late 2006. Apparently this announcement came via MySpace but I can’t find it – maybe it came as a bulletin to friends? Anyway, Anthony asked if I could make the Nude version of Per Second Per Second Per Second Every Second available to the general populace and I would but don’t really know how to. FLAC? Torrents? What? And scratch Nellie McKay’s Pretty Little Head from your release calendar – originally scheduled to come out January 3, it is now in hiatus-land as Nellie has left Columbia Records over the dispute about the album length. Full details at the LA Times (Bugmenot). Via Achtung Baby!.

Wondering why you couldn’t get tickets for any of the Stars shows this past weekend? It’s because The Toronto Star took em all… but at least they had the courtesy to write up a review – for all six of the shows.

Glide presents more artists’ best-of lists for 2005 and Filter, whose artists lists series is still ongoing, lets their own writers put their picks in the spotlight. Art-rock rules Tiny Mix Tapes’ albums of the year list (and be sure to check out all the extra year-end features along the side) and Zoilus has his 2005 retrospective up.

np – The Hold Steady / Separation Sunday

It’s been over four months since Scotland’s Delgados decided to split after bassist Stewart Henderson announced he was leaving the band. Both principal songwriters Alun Woodward and Emma Pollock decided to carry on with solo projects, but it’s Pollock who is the first back in the public eye. She signed with legendary label 4AD not three weeks after the Delgados called it a day, and has recently begun gigging material from her forthcoming solo debut (due in 2006, still untitled). She muses on her solo career and the legacy of The Delgados to The Scotsman and you can hear some of her new material performed on a BBC radio session here. Her website is up but is still pretty vacant.

As for the rest of the band, they may not be making music together but they continue to run Chemikal Underground records, which was the subject of a BBC radio documentary last week. No archives that I can find, though. The label also has its own MySpace page.

I missed it but Thrasher’s Wheat has a very nice recap of Neil Young’s appearance on Saturday Night Live this past Saturday.

It’s probably far too much to hope that that open date on February 15th is earmarked for a Toronto show, but the “Undertow Orchestra” tour, featuring Mark Eitzel, Will Johnson, Vic Chesnutt and Dave Bazan looks pretty damn impressive. Don’t miss it if your burg is on this schedule.

Death Cab have commissioned videos for each of the twelve tracks on Plans and will debut the results on their website in the near future. Billboard has more info on the project and SPIN talks to Aaron Stewart-Ahn, the director who is heading up the project.

Prefix is stretching their best of 2005 list out over the entire week while radio station WOXY has also compiled a list. And the one everyone has been waiting for (but won’t admit it), Pitchfork’s top albums of 2005. Most of my picks ended up ranked fairly low, and somewhat surprisingly, The National didn’t make the cut at all…

And speaking of Pitchfork, The Toronto Star examines the tastemaking power of The ‘Fork. A lot of people loathe their reviews (and lists – just wait for the fallout from this one), but don’t seem to be able to stop reading them. I’m a daily reader but don’t put that much stock in their (or anyone else’s) reviews, preferring to read aggregate review sites like Metacritic. I mean, one reviewer can be wrong, but ten or twenty? They’re probably on to something, like it or not.

Metacritic has also tallied up their best books of 2005 – fiction AND non-fiction! And Salon is also running off their best books of ’05. I need to read more.

Yesterday I linked the trailer for V For Vendetta – today, there’s news from Alan Moore’s other landmark work which he is disgusted to be associated with (the film version, anyway). Comic Book Resources reports that the film adaptation Watchmen, which has already died (at least) twice, will be given another shot by Warner Bros. Neither principals associated with the last attempt at Paramount, writer David Hayer or director Paul Greengrass, will follow the property to the new studio, though. Greengrass talked to CHUD about what happened to his project – basically, the studio decided they didn’t want to make the film anymore. Fin.

So I’m in the market for new portable headphones. My beloved Sonys have developed a nasty buzz in one ‘phone, and that model has been discontinued so I’m looking at other options. Currently considering the Koss Porta Pros and the Sennheiser PX100s – both kinda dorky over-the-head jobbies, but I can do kinda dorky. I’m also thinking about waiting till Grado releases their promised street-style headphones… Any suggestions? I am not crazy about the idea of the ear canal-phones, blocking out the outside world seems like a good recipe for missing a streetcar stop or getting hit by a streetcar.

np – My Morning Jacket / At Dawn