Earlier this year I was all about NYC outfit Asobi Seksu’s self-titled debut, and their blend of J-Pop and shoegaze stylings. The record hasn’t gotten nearly as many spins in the second half of the year, but it’s still with a fair amount of interest that I note their follow-up, Citrus, is complete and should be out in the Spring of 2006. And in keeping with the holiday spirit, they’ve released a split 7″ with Detroit’s PAS/CAL, their contribution being a cover of The Ramones’ own Christmas carol, “Merry Christmas (I Don’t Wanna Fight)”, which they’re generously allowing to be downloaded off their website. Like many bands, they’re using their MySpace page for keeping fans abreast of news, but I have Indie MP3 to thank for reminding to even check it out.

MP3: Asobi Seksu – “Merry Christmas (I Don’t Wanna Fight)”

Awful Bliss talks to Will Johnson of Centro-Matic, South San Gabriel and Will Johnson about songwriting and hats. Centro-Matic’s new one Fort Recovery is out March 7.

The Toronto Sun previews Stars’ now completed four-night, six-show stand at Lee’s Palace this weekend.

The Tennessean talks very briefly to Sam Beam about the In The Reins tour and the Associated Press, via The Asbury Park Press, talks to Beam and Joey Burns of Calexico about the fine art of collaboration.

Billboard solicits year-end lists from a wide range of artists. Their critics have also posted their lists, but really – who cares what critics think? They’re not celebrities. Also- lists from Questionable Content, Cokemachineglow and More Cowbell. And the big guns are finally out – Popmatters has their year-end retrospective up, Stylus has begun their week-long countdown and Pitchfork has tallied up their top 50 singles of the year. I find it really interesting that while most lists have a lot of overlap in terms of who shows up, the rankings have been wildly divergent.

Magnetic Fields fans will be pleased to know that a collection of Stephin Merritt’s recent theatrical compositions for Chen Shi-Zheng will be collected and released as Showtunes on February 14. He is currently working on a musical adaptation of Neil Gaiman’s Coraline. I just finished Gaiman’s latest Anansi Boys this weekend, and am happy to see that he’s finally come into his own as a novelist. His earlier efforts read very much like comic book scripts in prose form, but with this one and the last one, American Gods, he’s showing a knack for the whole book thing. Anansi Boys was fun and funny and happily did not have a precocious young girl as a protagonist.

The new trailer for V For Vendetta is now up here. Despite some glowing sneak previews like this one at Ain’t It Cool News, The Beat reports that Alan Moore has successfully petitioned to have his name removed from the film’s credits entirely. It now cites only illustrator David Lloyd as creator.

I’m immensely saddened by the passing of The West Wing‘s John Spencer this past Saturday. Rest easy, sir.

np – The Delgados / Universal Audio

Two EPs today. That is all. And that’ll pretty much round out the year.

Isobel Campbell / Ramblin’ Man (V2) Isobel Campbell’s first solo efforts, concurrent with and following her tenure in Belle & Sebastian, were pretty much what everyone expected – ultra twee, whispy folk pop. Pleasant, unsubstantial and generally forgettable. But since then, she seems to have actually developed some musical personality, and interestingly so. Now working with Mark Lanegan of Screaming Trees and Queens Of The Stone Age fame, she’s investigating western styles, playing Nancy Sinatra to Lanegan’s Lee Hazlewood. The title track of this EP, a teaser for their full-length Ballad Of The Broken Seas, due January 30, is a cover of a Hank Williams tune with Lanegan taking lead vocals and Campbell offering whispery backing vocals. Two more originals and a traditional tune round out this single, and overall it’s quite an odd blend of voices and styles, certainly not without its charm but maybe not enough depth to really impress. Campbell’s songwriting still hasn’t quite grown into the sound she’s aspiring to, but it’s getting there. Stream the EP here.

The Walkup / The Walls Have Ears (independent) The bio was not promising. A band hailing from Williamsburg, Brooklyn citing influences like Gang Of Four, The Clash and The Cure? Is it not time for a backlash yet? Please? Thankfully, I’m happy to report that the Walkup’s debut EP did not make me want to smash my stereo or fight Andy Gill. Yeah, there are some stuttery disco-fied drum patterns, Anglo vocal affectations and requisite stabby guitars, but the five tracks here retain a solid melodic sense and a decent hook and are never overwhelmed by their declared influences. It doesn’t manage to sound especially original, but that’s better than sounding stale. It’s not going to set the world on fire, but there most certainly is an audience out there for The Walkup to find. MP3: The Walkup – “Run And Hide” Video: The Walkup – “Apathy” (WMV) The Walkup @ MySpace

np – Archers Of Loaf / Vee Vee

It’s been a good 17 or 18 years since I last read the Narnia books, and while they hold a fond spot in memory, it’s a pretty dim spot. As a child, I didn’t pick up on any of the Christian symbolism or messagery in the books – I only found out about that later – to me, it was just a good old fashioned fantasy yarn. Either way, I’m not in a position at all to compare the film adaptaion, The Chronicles Of Narnia: The Lion The Witch And The Wardrobe, with the books because I barely remember them. I remember the cartoon, though…

My natural reaction was to compare The Lion, The Witch & The Wardrobe to The Lord Of The Rings, but this was really rather unfair – beyond the superficial, they’re really not very similar. Tolkien’s tale was a gritty, realistic and (relatively) mature fantasy epic, while Lewis’ Narnia books are more standalone, metaphorical and geared towards children. Unfortunately, the latter doesn’t translate to film quite as well as the former, so to certain senisibilities, like mine I guess, Narnia seemed antiseptic and bloodless. For example, I had some problem with the fact that Peter managed to get through the entire final battle without so much as getting a drop of blood on his sword doesn’t help make the experience convincing. I don’t necessarily think that having him wear his enemies’ heads around his waist as trophies would have been better, but man. Tidiest war ever. But if you manage to get it in your head that realistic battlefield gore and intricate plot threads don’t really fit with the younger target audience, it’s reasonably enjoyable.

The CGI was decent, if not entirely convincing at points, and Tilda Swinton’s genuinely creepy Jayis notwithstanding, none of the evil creatures was especially threatening. Her secret police wolves still looked cuddly. And maybe it was a consequence of the pacing (leisurely at first, then breakneck as they got to the war), but the country of Narnia seemed very compact – like the size of Prince Edward Island or something. So very cozy. And even as a kid, I couldn’t wrap my head around the logistics of the time lapse thing between Narnia and the real world. So no matter how long they spend in Narnia, as soon as they cross back to Earth, not a moment has passed? And their bodies revert back? Wow, that must suck. How much did you like puberty the first time? Want to do it again? Yikes.

Unlike some reviewers, I didn’t feel hit over the head with the Christian-ness of the story. In fact, I barely noticed it. Yeah, there’s an obvious Christ allegory with Aslan’s death and rebirth, but I saw it more from the point of view of it being a standard fantasy device rather a religious one (hello Gandalf and Obi-Wan?). If anything, I thought that the film shyed away from any really overt religious themes, and therein lies my main beef with the adaptation – it felt hollow. I can’t put it any better than that – as I mentioned before, maybe this is just a consequence of trying to adapt an allegory to film, but I felt that it should have had more substance. Or maybe I just need to re-read the books again, it has been a while…

Bradley’s Almanac incites great jeaously in me for having been able to attend one of the Explosions In The Sky gigs in New York City last week… but at least he recorded it. He has MP3s of their performance at the Bowery Ballroom on Monday night, including what appears to be a new song.

The Montreal Mirror quizzes Stars’ Evan Cranley about the latent Christianity of their music, which he didn’t realize existed. Via For The Records.

Pitchfork sadly reports that Jens Lekman will be retiring from music for the forseeable future. Well, they didn’t exactly break the story since Jens posted as much on his website over a month ago, but it’s news to me. In his journal entries, he sounds tired and frustrated about a number of different things but they all seem to add up to him going on hiatus and shelving his follow-up to When I Said I Wanted To Be Your Dog. Sad news, but hopefully the time away will allow him to recharge and return in the near future.

Also – Nellie McKay tells Pitchfork about (again) staring down her record label about the length of her new album, Pretty Little Head, due January 3. Why that’s not even three weeks away!

A couple shows – The Juan Maclean are at the Horseshoe on February 6 and The Books are at Lee’s Palace on May 2.

Had my first iPod scare yesterday – after chugging along just fine since I got it, it decided to a) stop playing music and then b) stop responding entirely. The final crash came as I was trying to see if the video functions still worked. Appropriately, all my screen would display for the three hours that I was out was Stephen Colbert kind of shrugging at me (I had an episode of The Colbert Report uploaded). After reading Catherine’s horror story about iPods giving up the ghost, I was expecting the worst but thankfully, a reset of the doo-dad was all it took to get it working again. It would have been a glum Christmas otherwise, let me tell you.

np – Portastatic / Bright Ideas

Brooklynvegan reports that Longwave have been given the heave-ho by RCA. It’s been a rough year for the band, their solid new album There’s A Fire kind of slipped under everyone’s radar and they had tour after tour pulled out from under them as the bands they were supporting cancelled for whatever reason. That, combined with the fact that they never quite turned into the second coming of The Strokes that I’m sure RCA was hoping for pretty much spelled the end of that relationship.

Happily, the band appears to be soldiering on – a note on their MySpace page wryly states that they’ll be maintaining the page themselves from now on (as opposed, I imagine, to a lowly RCA lackey), and there’s even a newly recorded, untitled song for your listening pleasure. However, I don’t know what’s up with the copious use of the “blink” tag. Jeff – if you’re reading this – c’mon. You know better than that.

There is Stereolab news, but I can’t quite decipher it. There’s a new album out on March 7 and I don’t think it has a title yet, though there is a tracklist. What I have determined definitively is that they are touring North America and there’s a date at the Phoenix in Toronto for March 14. Almost for sure.

Joey Burns of Calexico gives Billboard and Pitchfork a sneak preview of their new full-length Garden Ruin, out April 11. He promises “moodiness and ambience”, but also “some more electric, rockin’ numbers”. Assuming that they played some of this material when I saw them live last week, I will indeed testify that Mr Burns is not lying.

James Mercer of The Shins tells Chart that their third album, tenatively entitled Sleeping Lessons, could be out in July or August of next year.

The Mountain Goats wish everyone a merry Christmas with a gift of two unreleased tracks, circa We Shall All Be Healed.

Spoon’s Britt Daniel will be rocking the mic on an upcoming episode of Veronica Mars with a karaoke version of Elvis Costello’s “Veronica”.

Cat Power has a new website to promote her upcoming album, The Greatest, out January 24. And if you want more Cat Power things to click on, try the ad over there on the right. Give my sponsors a thrill.

Prefix presents the initial list of acts confirmed to play SxSW. God, has no one ever heard of line breaks? Donewaiting also has the 2006 edition of their SxSW blog up and running.

Pitchfork stirs the pot with their list of the worst releases of 2005. I have no comment except to say I’m with them 200% on the slagging of M83’s “Car Chase Terror!” – that track alone keeps Before The Dawn Heals Us from getting more than a cursory listen every now and again. Sure I could just skip the track, but the knowledge that it’s even in my CD player makes me uncomfortable. So so so bad. They’ve also gotten a variety of artists to submit their own year-end lists, just like Filter, who continue to update their lists.

np – Longwave / There’s A Fire

I swear, I’d totally intended to go see The Mendoza Line at the Rivoli last night along with Picastro and Great Lake Swimmers, but some personal stuff came up and I was unable to make it out after all. Alas. Sometimes real life seeps into blog life and things get all higgeldy piggeldy. And it’s a shame, because I’ve really been enjoying their latest highly regarded album, Full Of Fire And Full Of Light. Shannon McArdle’s voice is stronger than ever while Tim Bracy’s vocals are less Dylan-nasal and have more character of their own, and the songwriting is super-sharp and the music a terrific blend of country twang and pop hooks. I really am sorry to not be reporting back on the show but as consolation, I offer up this interview with the band courtesy of Aversion and these MP3s… which I’ve posted before, yes.

MP3: The Mendoza Line – “Catch A Collapsing Star”
MP3: The Mendoza Line – “Mysterious In Black”

They have a few Canadian dates left so if you get a chance, go see them. Hopefully (for me), they’ll be back sooner rather than later. Also check out Shannon and Timothy’s side project, Slow Dazzle.

Archive.org has My Morning Jacket’s Toronto show from this past October available for your downloading and listening pleasure. Last week, MMJ had to cancel their upcoming European tour while Jim James recovers from pneumonia. Best wishes to James for a quick recovery.

Torq Campbell of Stars gives eye a very quick preview of what to expect from their six sold-out shows at Lee’s Palace this weekend. That’s right, SIX.

Magnet catches up with Mark Gardener, who gives his seal of approval to their shoegazing feature story a few years ago.

Rolling Stone finds out why Rhett Miller is The Believer, his second solo album due February 28.

So here is some news – I leave it to you to decide if it’s good or bad. For The Records reports that The New Pornographers will be back on the road in early ’06 in support of Belle & Sebastian. This is indubitably good news. However, this info synchs up with some hush-hush info that I recently received that, if true, will leave the indie kids howling for the booking police. Me, I’ll be looking for comfortable shoes and calling a cab. Do with that info what you will.

Check it out – another award nomination for yours truly. This one is for LiveDaily’s “Best Music Weblog” category, with some other very worthy nominees. I don’t know what to say about their other categories, though… Update: Well it looks like the contest/voting is only open to Americans. That’s my chances fucked right up, then. Update 2: Okay, it looks like anyone can enter, but only Americans can win…

More lists – The AV Club’s music writers take a swing at the best of 2005 and Stylus picks their best movies of 2005. And for a good one-stop year-end list resource, check out Fimoculous.

np – David Bowie / Low