The Russian Futurists / Our Thickness (Upper Class) Matthew Adam Hart’s love of synths and working alone often get his Russian Futursists project compared to the Magnetic Fields, but with his third album Our Thickness, a more apt reference point would be The Flaming Lips. The production has the same sort of transistor radio symphony quality as the Lips’ older sound, but the songwriting is less deliberately wacky and bombastic. What it is is relentlessly melodic and poppy and a feast for the ears. There’s so much going on sonically that it can sometimes be a challenge to pick out the vocals over the sleigh bells or drum machines or answering machine samples, but this is a record that’s probably meant to be enjoyed at a leisurely pace, lying on your back with the headphones on.

Sparrow / The Early Years (Absolutely Kosher) Sparrow is the new nom de plume of Vancouverite Jason Zumpano, namesake for the band which till now was best known for spawning The New Pornographers’ Carl Newman. After Zumpano (the band) dissolved in 1996, Zumpano (the dude) laid low till 2003, when he released Sparrow’s first self-titled record. Despite the name, this album was actually recorded after the first album, in the Summer of 2004. Sparrow offers up wonderfully gentle and melodic slices of pop, augmented by strings, horns and harmonies from Young & Sexy’s Lucy Brain. The nine tracks zip by in just over half an hour and if there’s a complaint, it’s that it’s too laid back – the hooks bump you but don’t catch and ultimately you find yourself wishing it had that one killer pop song that raised the level of everything around it. Maybe next time.

Again, only a pair today. Maybe I’ll be able to get back to three once I’m properly unemployed.

np – Bob Dylan / The Bootleg Series, Vol. 7: No Direction Home – The Soundtrack

Psst, want a tip on who the next big indie band is going to be? They’re from Brooklyn and they’re called Clap Your Hands Say Yeah and — what? Really? Oh. Well then.

So yeah, tonight is Clap Your Hands Say Yeah’s big Toronto debut and this show has been sold out for ages and ages. I had a pair of tickets but opted to pass them on to some friends as I really don’t think I’m in the mood to be out super-late at the Shoe tonight. I’ve had a long week, the GF is sick, and I’m just generally wiped. I do admit that the CYHSY album has been growing on me (though I would still pick sliced bread over it) and under other circumstances, would probably quite enjoy the show… Just not tonight. As expected, the local media has been running pieces on this show as the must-see for the week. I did so for Torontoist on Thursday, and there’s also pieces from NOW, eye and Chart. Anyone who’s going tonight – hope it’s a good show and lives up to the hype.

But on the plus side – it looks like I’ll still be able to go to the Sufjan Stevens show next week – I had been afraid that my flight to Europe had been moved up by enough hours that I’d have to leave town Saturday rather than Sunday, but that’s not the case. So that’s something.

Sad to see Pitchfork confirm what I’d suspected but not seen official word on – On! Air! Library! is no more. I guess I only discovered them after they were technically defunct, but their only album remains in moderate rotation for me. Usually when I want to listen to something equal parts compelling and unsettling. Daylight For The Birds, which features two-thirds of O!A!L! and half of the twin sisters who fronted that band looks interesting, though.

Your daily salvo of Largehearted links: The Courier-Journal profiles Portastatic, JamBase interviews Son Volt and The Orlando Sentinel talks to Pernice Brothers.

The Cardigans’ new one Super Extra Gravity looks like it will be getting a North American release at the same time as the rest of the world, for a change. It’s due out October 25 on Koch, just a week after the European release – a nice change from Long Gone Before Daylight, which didn’t come out Stateside for at least half a year after the rest of the world.

Umbrella Music talks to Ottawa’s finest post-rock outfit, As The Poets Affirm, who will be playing the Ear To The Ground Fest on Saturday September 16. If you’re there and looking to pick something from the smorgasborg of performances, I recommend ATPA. And the Shiraz.

Anyone following the crisis in New Orleans has surely read quotes from mayor Ray Nagin in a radio interview yesterday where he expressed his anger and frustration about the slowness in the state and federal governments in getting aid to the people on the ground. You can listen to the interview here (.asf). To actually hear the desperation in his voice as he pleads for assistance is intense. And not to imply that one celebrity life is more important than anyone elses, but Big Star’s Alex Chilton is currently among the missing. He rode out the initial hurricane in his New Orleans home but hasn’t been heard from since Monday. They’re trying to keep tabs over at the Posies forum, but there’s been no word yet. Good thoughts go out to everyone affected by the disaster in New Orleans.

np – Laura Cantrell / Humming By The Flowered Vine

Wow, with all the madness that has been going on lately, I’d totally forgotten that today marks the three-year birthday of this here blog. My goodness. It started as a lark and has now, by default, become my day job. An incredibly poorly paying day job, but fulfilling in many other important respects. But anyway, now we are three. Soon I hope to be sleeping through the night and then we’ll work on the bed-wetting.

Rob Dickinson talks to Billboard about life as a solo artist. Well, not that solo – apparently the rest of Catherine Wheel played on a few of the more rocking tracks on the album. Early word from some hardcore CW fans is that the album is pretty solid – good news. Pity about those promo photos, though. Fresh Wine For The Horses is out September 13 and he plays the Horseshoe in Toronto October 7. Other east coast tour dates have been popping up in all sorts of strange bills and configurations. Joss Stone? Matt Pond PA? Weird.

Angryrobot does some sleuthwork and finds that Miki Berenyi, formerly of Lush, contributes vocals to a remix of a Flat 7 track by former Cocteau Twin Robin Guthrie (who incidentally produced Lush’s early work). This is noteworthy because while Emma Anderson has continued on in music with Sing Sing, Berenyi basically quit music after the band dissolved in the wake of drummer Chris Acland’s suicide way back in 1997. With a dearth of information about this track beyond what AngryRobot has sussed out, it would be presumptuous to assume that this is anything but a one-off by Miki, but it’s still welcome news.

And tangentially – something called Cocteaufest is happening in Toronto at the Dance Cave on September 8 and promises live cover bands, dancing and raffles. Raffles! Seeing as how this Summer’s Coachella reunion failed to happen, I guess this still gives Cocteau fans something to look forward to.

While Carl Newman insists to Exclaim that The New Pornographers have stayed the course in making their third album Twin Cinema, I find myself liking it even more than the first two albums. There aren’t the huge giddy highs like “Letter From An Occupant” or “The Laws Have Changed”, but I think it’s much more consistent front to back and there’s more musical depth to it. And for my money, “The Bleeding Heart Show” could be the best song they’ve ever recorded.

Guided By Voices the band may be gone, but Guided By Voices the cash-making nostalgia trip remains. A four-hour DVD of their final gig from New Year’s Eve, 2004 in Chicago entitled Guided By Voices: The Electrifying Conclusion will be out November 15 from Plexifilm, who have a cute little trailer up on their website. And if that’s not enough for you, the week before on November 8, they will release a box set, Suitcase II: American Superdream Wow which serves up another four discs of rarities and things that the world probably would have been no poorer for having never heard.

Bit of a disturbing email from In Support Of Living in regards to the Ear To The Ground festival later this month at which they’ll be playing. Apparently there is some politicking going on between the Exhibition Place people and the organizers about jacked up rental fees, and the festival is in jeopardy. We are reminded of the last-minute cancellation of the Toronto Bluesfest at the Exhibition grounds last year for the same reason, so this isn’t an idle threat. Basically, they’re asking anyone who is planning on going to buy an advance ticket ASAP. There’s really no reason to wait. Go to it.

np – Uncle Tupelo / Anodyne

So there’s good news and bad news. The good news is that starting next month, I’ll have considerably more time to devote to this blog, hopefully resulting in better-written and proofread entries on a daily basis, as well as fewer late nights for me, staying up to finish stuff off. The bad news, at least from my point of view, is the why – I’ve been laid off from my job and effective mid-October, will be re-entering the exciting world of freelancing, which until I actually GET some work, is just a euphemism for unemployment.

My job was great, I had a terrific three and a half years there, but it was a numbers game and there just weren’t enough numbers coming in. That’s okay. Once I get my head wrapped around the massive shift in life circumstances, I think it’ll be for the best. I’d be lying if I said there wasn’t already some restlessness on my part, so this is the kick in the pants I needed. And being pushed rather than jumping means I get to suckle at the teat of our nation’s fine social security system for a while. And now when I meet people and they ask what I do, I can say “I blog for a living!” and they’ll be all impressed until they catch me rooting through their garbage for leftover cat food.

But seriously, this will be an interesting adjustment for me, obvs. I’m still coming to terms with the implications of this. There’s anxiety, anticipation, other words that start with ‘a’. Medium- and long-term plans are now all up in the air. I’ll have to curb some of my CD shopping and concert-going and SxSW next year if a big honking question mark (of course, if I haven’t gotten my situation stabilized by next March, then I’ve got bigger problems than getting to Austin). I haven’t had a resume in years. I don’t even know the last time I interviewed for anything. I expect I’ll try and enjoy the freedoms of self-employment for a while. The truth is, I’ve probably been afforded a rare opportunity and just have to work out how best to take advantage of it… but I’m mostly looking forward to sleeping in for a change. But if anyone out there needs a PHP webmonkey/lapsed mechanical engineer/wannabe music and pop culture pundit for anything, drop me a line. For serious. I do windows too, but not well.

…

Okay, to business. Just some bits and pieces for today.

Chart jumps off the news cycle and talks to Mercury Rev about The Secret Migration.

JAM! gets on the Death Cab For Cutie media merry-go-round.

Teenage Fanclub was in the studio at KEXP earlier this month and the session is now online.

John Vanderslice leads the Pixel Revolt at the Horseshoe October 10, tickets $10.

The Torontoist week-in-shows.

Interviewing Brian Wilson must be a simultaneously exciting and frightening prospect for any music writer. On one hand, he’s a musical legend and genius, one of the most influential of the last fifty years. On the other… he’s a little touched in the head, y’know? That doesn’t stop The Onion AV Club though, God bless their little onion-y souls. And lucky for them, Brian seemed to be having one of his good days.

Okay, time to go use my dental plan for the very last time.

So the official schedule for the 2005 Toronto International Film Festival is up. As I mentioned yesterday, I’m only in town for the first couple days of the fest, thus limiting my options but there’s still stuff I’d really like to see. Number one is Terry Gilliam’s (that guy again!) Tideland, the film he shot while The Brothers Grimm was in studio limbo. This’ll be the world premiere, but the Elgin is one big honking theatre so hopefully I’ll score a couple tickets. Also on my wish list is Linda Linda Linda, a Japanese comedy about a groups of schoolgirls trying to assemble a rock band for a talent show. It’s iffy at this point whether or not I’ll be in town for this screening, though. Fingers crossed.

If I were around any longer, I’d definitely be trying to catch The Piano Tuners Of Earthquakes, Michael Winterbottom’s Tristram Shandy, John Turturro’s Romance & Cigarettes or Stephen Frears’ Mrs Henderson Presents. As it is, I’ll just have to file them away in the grey matter as stuff to see/rent later on down the road. Last year I bit off a little more than I could chew – six films in eight days (as well as squeezing two concerts in there). Festival films always take out a far larger chunk of your time than the actual running time – there’s the lineup an hour or more before show time as well as Q&A’s before and after the film. Usually you were looking at a three to three-point-five hour commitment per film. Even if it’s just watching movies, that takes a helluva lot out of a fella. I had also intended to maybe try and take in a gala opening this year. Not to be… maybe next year.

Also premiering at TIFF – though for just a single screening – is Martin Scorcese’s Bob Dylan documentary, No Direction Home. Since it’ll be available on DVD just three days later, it’s a wee bit anticlimactic and doesn’t really qualify as a festival must-see. The New York Times declared that neither the doc nor the soundtrack add anything new to the Dylan mythos, though I imagine that the music and images would make them compelling viewing/listening regardless (via Coolfer). Meanwhile Whas11 takes a shot at debunking the myth that the audience booed Dylan at Newport in 1965 for going electric. Their theory is that the audience was booing a MC Peter Yarrow for announcing that Dylan would only play a short set. Interesting take – now let’s see them spin the “Judas!” comment.

Coolfer fears the continuing establishment of digital music as the new normal could spell the end of the album. This would truly make me sad. Hell, I’m buying vinyl now – I’m bemoaning the end of the A/B sides. Personally, I don’t see this happening anytime soon. There is a place for the single, which is where many of the digital business models do their thing, but the album as an artistic statement, as a whole greater than the sum of its parts, will continue on – at least until all the musicians who were similarly brought up on the album – are dead and/or senile.

Lucinda Williams tells Billboard there might be another live album in the pipe to follow-up this year’s Live @ The Fillmore. Her next studio album has a tenative title of Knowing and should be out early next year.

Okkervil River will release a companion mini-album to this year’s Black Sheep Boy entitled Black Sheep Boy Appendix. The album will be out November 22, too late to pick up a copy at their November 7 show in Toronto, but it sounds like it’s a must-have regardless. By the by, Minus Story are also on that bill. Via The Catbirdseat.

Feist does two nights at the Danforth Music Hall, October 17 and 18. Tickets $25, on sale this Saturday. As much as I enjoy Ms Feist, I can give these ones a pass with nary a regret. Too much money, too much else going on.

Another Merge travelling sideshow rolls into town on October 23 when The Clientele and Annie Hayden are at Lee’s Palace.

Torontoist conducts a Tall Poppy Interview (I’ve no idea what that means) with Chuck Klosterman, who’s at the Horseshoe tonight to do a reading/signing for Killing Yourself To Live from 6pm to 8pm. Admission is free. Klosterman has a new essay up at Spin, by the way.

Fox is all about the stunt casting – The Chicago Sun-Times is reporting that everyone’s fourth-favourite hobbit will be getting a role in the next season of 24. Season five, which premieres January 8 and 9 of next year, will take place 18 months after the end of season four, and feature a happily married Jack Bauer whose idyllic, terrorist-free life is interrupted when Sean Astin arrives on his doorstep and gives him just one day to throw the ring of power into a volcano. Meanwhile, according to Reuters, Charlize Theron will be joining the cast of Arrested Development for at least five episodes next season (which starts September 19) as Michael’s love interest. Umm, hobbits vs hotties? Arrested Development wins.

np – Catherine Wheel / Adam & Eve