Christmas comes early for Okkervil River fans. In the spirit of the season, the band has made a special “mix tape”, consisting of eight cover songs and one Okkervil original recorded whilst on tour over the last couple years, available to download for free off their website.

Featuring songs by John Cale, Jimmy Webb and Serge Gainsbourg, if you don’t know the originals – which I’m not too proud to admit I don’t – Will Sheff has provided detailed liner notes explaining why these songs were worthy of reinterpretation. Yes, liner notes. And CD art. Because after you download MP3s, you burn them to CDs and listen to them on your hi-fi, right? That’s what the kids do these days, right?

Further, as Sheff says in a message board post, the only press he’s doing about the release will be responding to questions sent in via email with the composite final “interview” to be posted online on Friday. No word of lie, this is probably the best holiday surprise I’ll be getting this year.

Download: Okkervil River / Golden Opportunities (.zip)

Billboard talks to Jeff Tweedy about plans to explore every corner of Wilco’s discography during a five-night stand in Chicago next February. Even if you can’t be there – as I can’t – it’s exciting news as it hopefully means that more older material will seep into the band’s repertoire during future tours. But if you CAN be there… you have my envy, a fluorescent shade of green.

So the final show for the Horseshoe’s 60th anniversary has been announced and as implied repeatedly over the past couple weeks, it’s Blue Rodeo next Monday, December 17. Tickets are $30 with all proceeds going to the Parkdale food bank, going on sale at 1PM the day of the show at the ‘Shoe’s front bar with the band will be playing three sets over the course of the night starting at 9PM. I’m planning on queuing up to try and get one – if I succeed, would anyone want the second? There’s a limit of two per person.

Also announced – Steve Earle will be playing Massey Hall on March 4 with the presale starting this morning at 10AM. Everything I’ve read implies that this tour will be Dukes-less and in the same configuration as I saw at the Rehearsal Hall taping last month – namely Steve, Allison Moorer and a DJ. A bit undersized a crew for a venue like Massey Hall, but that’s how Steve’s rolling this time around. Full tour dates here.

Ra Ra Riot is coming to the El Mocambo on January 26 with The Coast and The Virgins. Tickets for that one are $8.50 in advance.

Kim Deal tells NME why a new Pixies album didn’t – and probably won’t ever – happen.

Harp and City Pages talk to Nellie McKay. She’s offering a free seasonal song for download but soliciting donations for the “Nellie McKay Disaster Fund” via her website and The Current has also got a radio session available to download. She’s currently on tour with Aimee Mann, who talked to the Northwest Herald about her own Christmas album from last year and her new record due out in March.

MP3: Nellie McKay – “A Christmas Dirge”

The AV Club interviews Conor Oberst of Bright Eyes.

Check out footage of St Vincent performing “Marry Me” at Hot Freaks! in Austin this past September, courtesy of Le Blogotheque

Video: St Vincent – “Marry Me” (live at Hot Freaks!)

Aaron Dessner of The National talks to Drowned In Sound about the trials and tribulations behind making Boxer.

Dirty On Purpose don’t release their new Like Bees EP until January 15, but they’ve got a new song available to download for free over at RCRDLBL that’s going to be part of a digital-only EP called Dead Volcanos. But let me just say that Like Bees is a real treat, highlighting the wide breadth of the band’s abilities, and bodes very well for the their next album whenever it hits.

The Denver Post chats with Voxtrot’s Ramesh Srivastava.

Both Salon and The Village Voice have things to say about Brit Box. And not especially nice things, either. Which reminds me – congratulations to Pedro on winning my Brit Box contest but thanks to everyone who entered – thems was some good reading.

Wired chats with Charlatans UK frontman Tim Burgess – yup, they’re still around – about their decision to give away their latest single online. A strategy, the piece points out, that was announced hours before Radiohead revealed their In Rainbows strategy.

MP3: The Charlatans UK – “You Cross My Path”

And with regards to Radiohead, NME talks to Colin Greenwood about the lengths the band went to to prevent the record from leaking in advance, The Guardian solicits interview questions from the band’s fans and The New York Times ran an extensive feature on the band this past weekend.

Any excuse to post some Lucky Soul… like the band performing “Lips Are Unhappy” live on sub.tv. Oh come to North America, please come to North America.

Video: Lucky Soul – “Lips Are Unhappy” (live on Sub.tv)

Richard Hawley gives Harp a guided tour of Sheffield which ends not in a pub, but a relish factory.

The AV Club lists off 23 songs that could stand to never be covered again.

Arrested Development: The Motion Picture?

All of the local media articles commemorating the 60th anniversary of the Horseshoe Tavern (officially celebrating its birthday yesterday) have run off a list of the unforgettable shows that have earned the Queen West institution its adjective “Legendary” – Golden Smog, Neutral Milk Hotel, The Rolling Stones”, to name a few. And while I’ve seen my share of great shows there over the years – hell, over the past week – the venue’s own birthday party on Thursday night was one for the ages.

Though the performers were kept secret when the invite-only party was announced, it got out pretty quickly that it was going to be Chicagoan country-rock shitkickers The Waco Brothers – an outfit beloved by the Horseshoe owners – and the closest thing the ‘Shoe has to a house band, Toronto’s own Sadies. And, of course, where go The Sadies, special guests are sure to follow.

And follow they did. Their set could well have been released as the follow-up to their In Concert: Volume One live set as they called friends and family onstage to play with them including the Good brothers’ parents, Blue Rodeo’s Greg Keelor, The Skydiggers’ Andy Maize and Josh Finlayson, Waco Brothers (from different mothers) Jon Langford and Tracy Dear – all of whom came as no huge surprise – and one who did: The Tragically Hip’s Gord Downie. I wouldn’t say I’ve been any sort of Hip fan for over a decade but there’s no denying the band – and especially their frontman – hold a special place in Canadiana so you could feel the energy levels in the bar, already well into the red, soar when he bounded onstage.

In hindsight, it probably shouldn’t have been a shock to see him – he had played with the Sadies just last month in a performance for CBC’s Fuse and here they reprised some of that set, opening with “Fire In The Hole” from 1994’s Day For Night and closing with an absolutely searing cover of The Stooges’ “Search And Destroy” (a reasonable-quality video of which you cans see below). Maybe it’s been a while since Downie’s played a stage as small and intimate as this one but he absolutely tore it up. It’s not often that it’s the audience that needs to take a breath after a performance while the band just won’t stop.

Calling The Sadies a tough act to follow is the very definition of understatement, but the Waco Brothers are no slouches in owning a stage. I was only minimally familiar with the Wacos before this night – basically I knew who they were and what they did, on paper anyways – but thankfully there’s not that much to get. If you can appreciate the magic of country and old-school rock’n’roll welded together by sweat and margaritas, you can appreciate the Waco Brothers. With an all-request set list made up of originals and covers, they were the perfect band to play a birthday party for a bar with the musical pedigree that the ‘Shoe has. I had to bail at 1AM but have no doubt they kept their word to keep the music and beer flowing till 2AM.

Happy 60th, Horseshoe.

Glide and The Vancouver Sun have interviews with The Sadies, who will once again be at the Horseshoe for their annual New Years Eve celebrations. And the final show of the Horseshoe’s 60th anniversary celebrations, scheduled for next Monday December 17, is set to be announced today. I’ve already basically told you who it is, but when the official word is out I’ll update accordingly.

Photos: The Waco Brothers, The Sadies @ The Horseshoe – December 6, 2007
MP3: The Sadies – “The Horseshoe”
Video: The Sadies – “The Horseshoe”
Video: Gord Downie with The Sadies – “Search & Destroy” (live at the Horseshoe)
MySpace: The Waco Brothers
MySpace: The Sadies

And after a pretty packed week of ‘Shoe shows, I capped things off with Jose Gonzalez’s in-store at Sonic Boom on Friday evening. I’ve no doubt his show that same night at the Mod Club was good but I found the intimate atmosphere of the in-store, with its wood-paneled rec room vibe and polite and attentive audience, to be the perfect setting for Gonzalez. Cross-legged on the floor is the right way to enjoy his music, which was hypnotically lovely over his short set.

JAM! and The New York Daily News have conversations with Gonzalez about the political and religious undertones of his music.

Photos: Jose Gonzalez @ Sonic Boom – December 7, 2007
MP3: Jose Gonzalez – “Teardrop” (live)
MP3: Jose Gonzalez – “Crosses”
Video: Jose Gonzalez – “Teardrop”
Video: Jose Gonzalez – “Down The Line”
Video: Jose Gonzalez – “Killing For Love”
MySpace: Jose Gonzalez

Spinner interfaces with Jens Lekman

CMJ talks a bit to The Acorn’s Rolf Klausener about Glory Hope Mountain, which is set for a US release on March 4 of next year and will apparently feature a bonus track, presumably not tied into the narrative thread of the rest of the record.

The New Pollution features Plants & Animals, in town Friday at the Mod Club opening for Patrick Watson. Their debut full-length Parc Avenue is out March 25 and you can check out an MP3 from said record below.

MP3: Plants & Animals – “Faerie Dance”

Win Butler of The Arcade Fire tells The Australian that getting hit in the head with a shoe can really put a damper on one’s evening.

Stay Thirsty gives Feist some travel tips for Japan.
Losing Today talks to Owen Pallet of Final Fantasy. Final Fantasy, along with Laura Barrett and The Blankket, will be performing at the Gladstone on January 9 as part of a release party for Carl Wilson’s contribution to the 33 1/3 series of books, the much-anticipated tome Celine Dion’s Let’s Talk About Love: A Journey To The End Of Taste. And yes, all the performers will be doing Celine covers. Of course. The book is out this week.

Crawdaddy talks to author Jim Walsh about his book The Replacements: All Over But the Shouting: An Oral History.

The Boston Herald chats with The Fiery Furnaces, in town at Lee’s Palace on Wednesday night.

Jonathan Richman will be in town February 28 for a show at the Phoenix – quite a step up from his usual digs at the Lula Lounge. Update: Never mind – Pollstar was wrong, Jonathan Rice opening for Matt Costa, which is more logical but less interesting.

The new Harold and Kumar film has a new title – Harold & Kumar Escape From Guantanamo Bay – and a new, decidedly non-PG trailer. It’s in theatres April 28.

Trailer: Harold & Kumar Escape From Guantanamo Bay

That I’m a huge fan of Nicole Atkins and her debut album Neptune City is not news to anyone who’s been around the last few months, so when I was offered the opportunity to do an email interview with her, I went against my usual “no interviews” policy (not because I’m against them, but because I usually don’t have the time to a proper job of it) and put together some – I hope – intelligent questions for her about the new record and her year of extensive touring.

Neptune City was released in the US on October 30 but if you’ve been looking for a copy in Canada and having no luck, that’s because it’s technically not out here – until this Tuesday, anyway. And she and The Sea will be back in town for a show this February.

CW: Neptune City is a far more stylistically diverse record than I expected – Bleeding Diamonds seemed to want to emphasize your old school, torchy side. Was it a conscious decision to broaden the sound of the album or just something that happened naturally over the course of writing and recording?

NA: it was something that just happened naturally. i had a bigger studio to work in and the use of an orchestra at my disposal so i were more than excited to take advantage of it. my producer tore and i also blended my band, the sea, together with the studio musicians he used (swedish band, the mopeds). i really think the style of the record reflected our enviroment physically and mentally at that specific time in our lives.

Is the record representative of who Nicole Atkins is and what she sounds like, or are there more sounds and styles you want to explore on future records?

this record sounds exactly what my head sounded like last year. so its definitely a portrait of my life from the last couple years. thats why the sounds morph around a little. neptune city the song was written two years before brooklyn’s on fire, and you can tell because the mood is so different. i listen to so many different types of music so its only natural that in future songs and records many styles will show up.

Your musical career has had you traveling a fair bit with extended stops in North Carolina and New York City, but now you’re back in New Jersey. What’s it mean to you to have your home and history figure so heavily into your debut record?

i think its a bit ironic that a place i’ve been trying to distance myself my whole life ends up being the starter marker for my career and now my current residence that i’ve grown to love. i didnt really choose this, i got chosen.

Was your home always a prevalent theme in your songwriting or was it that something that developed only after you’d left?

every place i’ve lived has always ended up being a major theme of my writing. but i can only write about places after i’ve left for a long time. i was in charlotte, nc in 2004 for a spell and i’m only beginning to write about it now.

Los Parasols. The Summer Of Love. Paperhouses. (ed: Nicole’s old band and independent releases, respectively) If a particularly dedicated fan were to track down these records, what would they find? Any chance of making these available someday, somehow?

these were my first forays into songwriting and leading a band. its basically me wanting to be the band big star. pretty basic alt country twang. i’m probably not going to put it out again. it would be like going to art school, and then after graduation becoming a gallery artist and then 10 years later putting the conte crayon drawings you did in Intro to Drawing I class on display. not a good idea. hahah.

You’ve had a pretty eclectic bunch of tour mates over the course of the year – The Long Blondes, The Raveonettes and The Pipettes, to name just the ones that have come through Toronto. On the surface, they don’t seem to be the sort of acts you’d naturally pair up with. How have you found the response from audiences at those shows versus, say, the ones on the Chris Isaak tour? Do you relish the opportunity to try and win over an audience that might not normally listen to your style of music?

we just like touring. and we pack so many styles even into just one song that i feel like we could tour with anyone and it wouldnt be devestating. the crowds from all the bands were really receptive and kind so far. the biggest difference between those bands crowds and chris isaak’s crowd was basically the age difference. also, older people buy more cds which was really awesome.

2007 seemed to lay a lot of the groundwork and spread the word about you, culminating in Neptune City‘s release (though it’s still not officially out in Canada…) – what’s 2008 have in store for Nicole Atkins?

to get released in canada! haha! it should be soon. also, more touring, doing some summer festivals and i’m sure more touring. fyi- toronto is probably our favorite place to play. can’t wait to get back there!

MP3: Nicole Atkins & The Sea – “Party’s Over”
MP3: Nicole Atkins – “Bleeding Diamonds”
MP3: Nicole Atkins – “Carouselle”
Video: Nicole Atkins – “Pissing In A River” (live in Copenhagen)
Video: Nicole Atkins & The Sea – “The Way It Is” (MySpace)
Video: Nicole Atkins – “Neptune City” (YouTube)
MySpace: Nicole Atkins

I’m as guilty as anyone, but it’s unfortunate that most writeups about Richard Hawley make mention of his time with Pulp – though that was barely more than a walk-on – and The Longpigs. Not because those aren’t good to have on one’s resume, though one obviously moreso than the other, but because it says absolutely nothing about the work he’s done as a solo artist and if one’s biased against Britpoppery, may prompt them to overlook a remarkable artist.

With his deep, twanging guitarwork and rich, baritone croon, Hawley hearkens to an era that predates retro and comes across as timeless. Deeply inspired by his hometown of Sheffield, England, Hawley’s music is some of the most unabashedly romantic stuff you’ll ever hear and so Wednesday night, his first-ever show in Toronto as a solo artist – in support of his latest album Lady’s Bridge – and first visit to town in any capacity in twelve years, was one to have circled on your calendar in permanent ink.

Support on this tour was Ferraby Lionheart, who brought a croon of his own, though much higher and breezier than Hawley’s, and a parcel of songs that also drew from the past – namely the ’70s singer-songwriters of his native California. I found his set to be more engaging than his latest record Catch The Brass Ring which was pleasant and laid back to the point of innocuousness. Which isn’t to say that he and his band rocked it out onstage – hardly – but Lionheart has an engaging sort of presence onstage and you couldn’t help but appreciate the band’s meticulous attention to detail when it came to their arrangements.

Hawley and his band look exactly as you’d want, considering the music they play. Elegantly besuited and armed with an arsenal of the most beautiful guitars you ever did see, Hawley and co dazzled the packed house like the seasoned pros they are. They deftly recreated the huge, lush orchestrations of Hawley’s four records onstage with more volume and more guitarwork, though curiously Hawley opted to stick to rhythm duties for the first bit of the show. It was only towards the end that he took over lead duties from his touring guitarist and demonstrate what he could do on the six-string, culminating in a staggering reading of “The Ocean” to close the encore. I hadn’t put in my earplugs and didn’t bother at the final song – if I was going to go deaf, the having Hawley’s wailing ES-335 being the last thing I heard certainly wasn’t a bad way to go. And as entertaining as he was musically, Hawley was just as much fun as a frontman with an easy, dry English wit and an flair for the fine art of between-song banter. Truly a splendid night and if there was any complaint, it’s that at not much over an hour it felt far too short.

eye and The Globe & Mail also have glowing reviews of the show, iAfrica and WERS have conversations with the man and Stereogum offers up some video footage of a recent in-store in New York City. And Ferraby Lionheart’s Daytrotter session is now up.

Photos: Richard Hawley, Ferraby Lionheart @ The Horseshoe – December 5, 2007
MP3: Richard Hawley – “The Nights Are Cold” (acoustic)
MP3: Richard Hawley – “I’m On Nights” (acoustic)
MP3: Richard Hawley – “It’s Over Love” (acoustic)
MP3: Richard Hawley – “Precious Sight” (acoustic)
Video: Richard Hawley – “Tonight The Streets Are Ours” (YouTube)
Video: Richard Hawley – “Serious” (YouTube)
Video: Ferraby Lionheart – “A Crack In Time” (YouTube)
Video: Ferraby Lionheart – “Small Planet” (YouTube)
MySpace: Richard Hawley
MySpace: Ferraby Lionheart

UK it-girl in waiting, Kate Nash, seeks to begin her reign over 2008 with an uber-short North American tour kicking off January 7th in Toronto at the Mod Club.

New videos from Radiohead, Emma Pollock and The Pipettes.. Grok below.

Video: Radiohead – “Jigsaw Falling Into Place” (YouTube)
Video: Emma Pollock – “Paper & Glue”
Video: The Pipettes – “It’s Not Love (But It’s Still a Feeling)”

JamBase talks to Josh Ritter, in town at the Phoenix on March 4.

The Moscow Times runs up the phone bill talking to Aaron Dessner of The National. Actually that’s not true. They probably used VOIP.

Drowned In Sound talks to Sufjan Stevens about the art of the Christmas song.

Feist tells Billboard about nearly crashing her car in a blizzard upon hearing she’d been nominated for four Grammy awards. And if you’re one of those with tickets to her upcoming sold-out Toronto show at the Sony Centre, then you already know that the February 18 date has been postponed to May 13.

And Mr Feist, Kevin Drew, is on the cover of this month’s BeatRoute. He/Broken Social Scene are at the Kool Haus tomorrow night.

Basia Bulat will be doing an in-store at Criminal Records on Queen West next Wednesday night, December 12, at 7PM for a session to be recorded for CBC Radio 3. She’ll be opening up a string of dates for Hayden in January but not, it seems, his February 19 date at the Danforth Music Hall in Toronto.

Also nominated for a Grammy, Wilco’s Sky Blue Sky for “Best Rock Album”. Do the Grammy people even LISTEN to the records they nominate? The Associated Press has a lengthy-ish feature on the band.

Coming March 18 – DeVotchKa’s new album A Mad And Faithful Telling. Drowned In Sound has the tracklisting.

AllMusic offers up their guide to “Crush Bands of 2007”.

Before we begin, if you didn’t live in Southern Ontario or Western New York state in the early to mid ’90s, then you’ll need to read this for this post to have any sort of context.

I was excited when I heard about The Lowest Of The Low being tapped to kick off the month-long 60th anniversary celebrations for the Horseshoe Tavern, having rediscovered my passion for the band earlier this year (see above linked post) and certainly liked the idea of seeing them again for the first time in over seven years. And when I received an email on Monday night from new Low member Lawrence Nichols thanking me for the August post and mentioning that this would be the band’s final ever Toronto show – they were disbanding again and for good this time – it certainly gave the evening an extra sense of occasion. And for me, who was more than a little bitter about the fact that they broke up the first time around barely a week before they were to play my university, it was a chance to be there – properly – at the end of it all.

Opening up were Songs From A Room and My Shaky Jane, two local outfits that hearkened to earlier times. The former, despite their Cohen-inspired name, were more a meeting of ’70s proto-metal hard rock and ’80s American post-punk/hardcore while the latter were more straight ahead, classic party rock with an animated live show and rather generic tunes made more for entertaining than inspiring.

But with all due respect to the support, we were there for the Low. After a warm introduction from CFNY’s Dave Bookman, host of the Nu Music Nites at the Horseshoe for the past fourteen years and Jeff Cohen, owner of the Horseshoe, the Low took the stage to rapturous applause and thus began the long goodbye. And though I’m sure many were expecting or hoping for a pure nostalgia night, the Low were not going to oblige – I’m sure that a large reason behind their dissolution was to avoid becoming an oldies act and they were going out on their own terms. Not even half of the main set came from Shakespeare… My Butt or Hallucigenia, but drew more from 2004’s Sordid Fiction and presumably both Ron Hawkins and Stephen Stanley’s solo material (Hawkins just released a new solo record, Chemical Sound). The balanced the old and new out via the two encores, but it was obvious that the band held their reunion material in as high regard as their older stuff and while it obviously didn’t resonate as much with me as the songs I played to death in my salad days – I certainly wouldn’t have minded one more rendezvous under the Carlaw Bridge or a final plea to get Henry a new pair of Docs – I could totally respect that.

And though it had been many years since I saw them last, I was amazed at how ageless they appeared. If you were to compare the three original members onstage with the photos of them circa Shakespeare, you would not believe that fourteen years had passed. And they were still as entertaining and sharp onstage as I remembered, cracking wise between songs, ad-libbing lyrics and only occasionally getting sentimental about the farewell. I don’t really remember if they were a terrifically tight band back in the day as I probably wasn’t paying that much attention to such things but what they lacked in precision – I suspect they were pretty well lubricated by the time they went on – they more than made up in pure energy.

Though their official final gig is this coming Saturday in Buffalo, this was the real goodbye, the grand finale. Buffalo is just epilogue. Playing in the bar that’d been like a second home for them for so long to the hometown fans who’d took them to the top (relatively speaking) in the early ’90s, mourned them when they went away and welcomed them back with open arms at the dawn of this century. Toronto infused every note, every word of their songs and this was Toronto saying thanks and goodbye. And it ended the way it should have – in celebration, not sadness. Maybe there were some tears in the crowd when the last notes of “Eternal Fatalist” rang out and the band took their bows, but there were far more smiles. It’s tempting to think of the Low as a band that could have and should have done greater things if they hadn’t imploded, but forget the “what ifs”, they DID do great things, write great songs and finished up on their own terms, even if Hawkins’ Telecaster wanted to give up the ghost a couple songs early.

So to Ron, Stephen, David, Lawrence, Dylan and also John – wherever you were – thanks, and goodbye.

Stephen Stanley posted a post-show note on the Low’s forum and while I’m not surprised in the least, I’m still a little disappointed that there appears to have been no media covering the show whatsoever.

Photos: The Lowest Of The Low, My Shaky Jane, Songs From A Room @ The Horseshoe – December 4, 2007
MP3: The Lowest Of The Low – “Bleed A Little While Tonight”
MP3: The Lowest Of The Low – “Subversives”
MP3: The Lowest Of The Low – “Gamble”
MP3: The Lowest Of The Low – “The Dogs Of February”
MP3: The Lowest Of The Low – “The Unbearable Lightness Of Jean” (live)
MP3: My Shaky Jane – “The Books That She Carries”
MP3: My Shaky Jane – “Dark And Bright”
MP3: My Shaky Jane – “Youth”
MP3: Songs From A Room – “A Schooner Is A Sailboat”
MP3: Songs From A Room – “Left Versus Right”
Video: The Lowest Of The Low – “The Last Recidivist” (YouTube)
MySpace: The Lowest Of The Low
MySpace: My Shaky Jane

And not to overlook the other part of the event Tuesday night, namely the kick off of the Horseshoe Tavern’s 60th anniversary party, NOW has rightfully devoted the cover and most of the music section of this week’s issue to the history of the venerable club (links to individual stories down the right side), The Toronto Star solicits some venue stories from the owners past and present, The Globe & Mail chats with their barkeep and JAM! also pays tribute.