It was last March I made a random query about whatever became of January, the UK band that released the excellent I Heard Myself In You in 2001 on Poptones, then seemed to disappear.

As it turned out, they recorded a follow-up in 2002, but the band imploded and the sophomore release, Motion Sickness, remained shelved until last year. Which is a damn shame because it’s as good as the first record, continuing to blend space rock-approved sonics with a healthy dollop of country twang. Both albums are even structured similarly, each featuring a massive-sounding centrepiece (“Falling In” on the debut, “Sandwood” on the second album) that more than quench my thirst for all things epic, surrounded by quieter, textured pieces of shoegazey-folk.

With the dissolution of the band and dearth of any information, I assumed that Motion Sickness would be the final word from January, but in this interview with ARRTRA from a couple months ago, singer-songwriter Simon McClean says that he’s assembled a new band and there will be a third album. Whether he can achieve the same heights with a new group of players remains to be seen, but it’s better than it being the end.

There are a couple of sample mp3s available on the January website, though neither fully captures the band at their best. They didn’t get loud very often on either record, but when they did it was amazing. If you like what you hear, the albums are pretty tough to find but worth the effort.

MP3: January – “Someone”

MP3: January – “Eyes All Mine”

The Boston Globe finally gets around to listening to Aimee Mann, just in time for the release of her new album, The Forgotten Arm, out tomorrow. Via Largehearted Boy.

Under The Radar has made their interview with Torq from Stars about being a Montreal band available exclusively online. The new issue with Super Furry Animals should be out soon, if not already.

I don’t understand. How can the resurrected Family Guy be so good (Gepetto? OH MY GOD) while American Dad be so lame? Yes, I’ve asked this before, but after watching it again last night, I have to ask again.

The Pop Tart is now The Rock Snob. Update your bookmarks.

np – Bob Dylan / Blonde On Blonde

I have to say, I rather like the American artwork for Feist’s Let It Die. It’s Smiths-y, but less homoerotic. Another change in the US edition is the tracklist – they’ve dropped the Francois Hardy composition “L’amour Ne Dure Pas Toujour” for another French cover, Blossom Dearie’s “Tout Doucement”. Juding from the soundclip of the new track on Amazon, they must have wanted to give the album a little bit more of an upbeat feel. From Pop (All Love).

The album came out in the States last Tuesday and she’s doing the touring thing to promote it, opening for British Sea Power on almost all their US dates. However, she will NOT be opening their show at Lee’s Palace on May 17 – due to some misinformation from Interscope, there was no small amount of confusion about this. However brand-new Arts & Crafts labelmates The Most Serene Republic will be.

But local fans, fret not – lady Feist will be back in the Big Smoke on July 1 for a Canada Day show at Harbourfront Centre with Apostle of Hustle, Spooky Reuben and Taima. All evidence points to this being a free show, so that’s one good reason to stay in the city for the long weekend.

Still on the Gallic pop end of things, Chickfactor has made their interview with Keren Ann available online. Keren Ann will be in Toronto June 25 as part of the Toronto Downtown Jazz Festival.

Early bird tickets go on sale today for this year’s Hillside Festival outside of Guelph. Taking place July 22 through 24, the website doesn’t have a list of performers up yet but the print ads tout Arcade Fire, Weakerthans and Stars among the rock-end of the performers. Those early bird tickets will run you $60 and are available until June 15 or until they run out, which is the more likely scenario. After that, they’ll run you $70 advance or $80 at the gate.

Uncut ran this interview with Mercury Rev’s Jonathan Donahue back in January when The Secret Migration was released in the UK – since it’s not out in North America for a couple weeks yet, it seems appropriate to post it now.

Also from Uncut – an audio interview with Wilco.

Happy May! Now could the weather please WARM THE FUCK UP?

np – January / Motion Sickness

Bad luck for everyone scheduled for the first two weeks of the Doves North American tour next month including Coachella – as you’ve certainly heard, they’ve been cancelled because of Jimi Goodwin’s throat problems. Lucky for me Toronto is the second of the dates that will go on as planned. They’ve started rescheduling some of the west coast dates (More Cowbell has some details). Scheduled openers Mercury Rev are trying to schedule their own shows in the cancelled cities but will be back with Doves by the time that tour starts up in a couple weeks.

As consolation for those shut out, you can watch part 2 of that BBC feature on , including live performances of “There Goes The Fear” and “Black & White Town” (here’s part one), and the Live At Eden EP came out on Tuesday. I quite like the live footage from this BBC special, the band seems to have a lot more energy than when I saw them touring for Lost Souls, and there’s not a taped backing track in earshot.

Shitty buzz that Robyn Hitchcock has had to cancel his Canadian tour with The Sadies due to a foot injury. They hope to reschedule. And I just bought tickets!

The Kalamazoo Gazette and Columbus Alive both talk to Dave Gedge about the Wedding Present reunion.

And not to be outdone in the battle of Ohian music coverage, Cleveland.com see’s their Wedding Present interview and raises them a Ryan Adams piece.

Hit the new Matador new update for mp3s from the forthcoming Laura Cantrell and New Pornographers records.

Billboard finds out what Nellie McKay is doing for her Summer vacation, besides preparing her sophomore album for a September release.

The move went about as well as I could have hoped, and in just over three hours yesterday I went from Morlock to Eloi. Still, it was (is) a pain in the ass and the place is a mess. I’ve managed to get it down from general chaos to individual piles of chaos, but I am exhausted from the effort. I am never moving again. I will die here, and when I do, I will insist that I am buried here. On the fifth floor. The people on the fourth can just suffer.

np – Wire / Pink Flag

So I am moving today. It’s a vertical move if not necessarily a forward move – I’m back at the apartment I was in for the first four years that I lived in Toronto, though this time I get the big bedroom. Just me for now but I’ll no doubt have to wrangle up a roommate to help cover costs. It is big, however, and above ground – two things my old pad couldn’t necessarily say. I’ve lived in a basement apartment for 20 months now – it seems like it’s been much longer and not long at all, all at the same time.

It’s been nice living on my own, I’ll be sorry to see that situation end before long, but I could probably stand to be a little more regularly socialized lest I go all Shining. There’s things I’ll miss about this place – being right at the hub of three transit lines, being walking distance to Lee’s Palace and the Annex, all the used CD shops… not to mention the quiet of living on a residential street. The new place is right smack downtown, spitting distance from Yonge, and is considerably louder and busier. I won’t, however, miss the regular flooding, funky air or general absence of sunlight. Nor the spiders. Won’t miss the spiders at all.

So I think I’ve gotten utility hookups and whatnot sorted out that I shouldn’t be offline for more than today, but there’s never guarantees with that sort of thing. Oh, if anyone reading this has me on any snail mailing lists for anything, please email me and I’ll get you my new address. Thanks. Now, back to your regularly scheduled programming.

Chart talks to Longwave about how their new album somehow turned into a concept record. There’s A Fire is out June 28.

Torr points us at the wonderfully weird video for Mercury Rev’s “In A Funny Way”.

Billboard previews the year in Ryan Adams releases, starting with Cold Roses out next week.

Young Mod Soldiers has a brief interview with Carson Ellis, the lady behind The Decemberists’ album artwork.

It occurs to me now that I will regret not labeling my boxes or even paying attention to what went where.

Okay, time to pack up the computer. Final dispatch from the underground! Seeya.

The buzz event of this week has been Arcade Fire’s three-night stand at the Danforth Music Hall. It’s like, “Which night are you going?” has become a perfectly acceptable conversation opener around the water cooler or McDonalds drive-thru. Though last night’s show was the first announced and first to sell out, Tuesday’s show was the first to happen, though it was the last of the three to be announced and obviously attended only by layabouts and lollygaggers who weren’t keen enough to get tickets to last night’s show. Meaning what? I do not know.

Arriving about 10 minutes before doors, the queue which stretched around the block thankfully moved quickly enough for us to get decent seats about 2/3 of the way back. We got settled in just in time to see the first opener – local boy Owen Pallett, aka Final Fantasy. When someone asks many years from now what the most important technological advance in music perfomance was in the first part of the 21st century, the answer will probably be the looper pedal. I’ve seen a number of performers use those doodads masterfully, and Final Fantasy is no exception. Stacking layers of violin on top of one another to create a mini symphony and singing over top, Pallett played a short but mesmerizing set of lovely chamber pop songs, closing off wht guests Jeremy and Regine from the Arcade Fire and Gentleman Reg helping out on a cover of Mariah Carey’s “Fantasy”. Final Fantasy has been quite the buzz around town for a while now but this was my first time taking in the experience, and I get what everyone is going on about.

Next up was Montreal’s Wolf Parade, who had the dubious distinction of being the most conventional-sounding act on the bill. With Arcade Fire’s Tim Kingsbury pinch-hitting on bass and guitar for the shorthanded band, I actually started off being rather annoyed by them but was surprised to find myself won over with each subsequent song. Reminiscent of The Walkmen or Franz Ferdinand, their dancey, jagged sound is very much in the now but quite catchy and energetic. They only played an abbreviated set but probably won over a good portion of the crowd.

Their last time through town, Arcade Fire nearly demolished Lee’s Palace and left a sea of dazed converts in their wake. This time, they faced the somewhat unenviable task of trying to match, let alone top that performance and in a word, they didn’t. It’s probably unfair to judge one gig against another, but coming just seven months apart, it’s unavoidable (hell, anyone going to all three nights this week would certainly be doing the same). This shouldn’t be construed as some sort of complaint, though – I mean how many times can you expect a band to change your life? Anyway, I’ll try to put that aside and just discuss last night’s show on its own merits. All I’m saying is that like it or not, the conscious or unconscious comparisons will be going on in your skull. Or mine, at least.

Beyond the whole “you can’t experience something for the first time again” syndrome, there were quantifiable reasons I felt this way. For the first part of the show, the performance seemed to lack the visceral impact that makes their live shows so exciting. Maybe it was the larger room but the sound – particularly the drums – didn’t have the same body-blow impact as at Lee’s (whoops). It was a much more polite mix. It also seemed the band wasn’t quite connecting with the audience for that essential energy feedback loop. I mean, it was good and all but I wasn’t feeling that certain je ne sais quoi as they powered through much of Funeral, some material from the demo EP and the excellent new tune “Intervention”.

But then something happaned about 2/3 of the way through the set, with “Neighbourhood #3 (Power Out)” leading straight into “Rebellion (Lies)”. The band, playing as a 9- or 10-piece, depending, found that next gear, took into the stratosphere and didn’t come back down for the rest of the night. The remainder of the show was nothing less than sublime, including the encore of “Wake Up” where Win brought a good portion of the audience onstage to sing, stand around and otherwise feel cooler than those of use still on the floor. Onstage with Lord only knows how many fans surrounding him, Win looked like a preacher with his flock at some southern Baptist revival. He then climbed into the audience, nearly fell over top of me and ran off through the crowd to points unknown. While the encore and the show on the whole was a little short (the Tuesday night show got two or three encores, reports vary), it would have been tough to top that finale and I don’t think anyone left disappointed.

It’s funny that everyone stayed nicely in their seats until Wolf Parade’s set – someone must have noticed Win Butler standing up at the front because everyone then flooded up to the front of the stage. I joined in (baaa) and got close enough to take some decent pictures with only a nominal number of crowd heads in the shots. There’s not a whole helluva lot you can do compositionally from the distance I was at, and I had to wait for the lighting to turn favourable, but I got a better set together than I’d expected. No complaints.

So with three sold-out nights at a 1250-capacity venue, I have to wonder where the Arcade Fire will go from here. Larger venues would seem necessary unless they’re willing to continue doing three- to five-night stands in the city, but there’s really no concert halls larger than the Danforth that would come with either a significant increase in ticket price, significant decrease in vibe (imagine them in the Kool Haus, yuck!) and much complaining from the indie faithful in either case. It’s a tough spot to be in, that’s for sure, and I hope someone else is more imaginative than me in thinking of a solution.

Billboard reports that Bob Mould has enlisted Fugazi drummer Brendan Canty and former Sugar bassist and accomplice Dave Barbe for his touring band this Fall in support of Body Of Song, out July 26. I’m quite happy to see Bob has returned to more conventional guitar-based compositions – I would never begrudge an artist for trying new avenues of expression, but Loudbomb? No thanks. Clever anagram, though. Update: Thanks to Frank in Atlanta for clarifying that while Barbe does play on Body Of Song, he is NOT touring with Bob. Note to self – read the damn articles next time.

UK glam psych rockers The Coral are at the Mod Club June 7 and Martha Wainwright is there a couple days later on June 9.

NOW chronicles the fall of 20Hz and rise of Stille Post. Probably of interest to Torontonians only.

np – Bob Dylan / Nashville Skyline