Nothing but randomness today so starting things off with the first stills from the new Indiana Jones film, via Goldenfiddle, is as good a way to go as any. I can only hope that the scene pictured ends with Harrison pushing Shia LaBeouf into a bottomless pit. Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull is out May 22 of next year.

And keeping on topic with old-timers seeing if there’s gas left in the tank, Billboard is your one-stop shop for shoegazer reunion news. Firstly, they report that My Bloody Valentine’s comeback album will be released in digital download form whenever it arrives with a possibility of a vinyl edition later on, though Wired came along shortly thereafter and debunked that. This much is known for sure – when the new My Bloody Valentine record is released, it will be done so in at least one, possibly multiple, formats of some description. A wet blanket has also been thrown on rumours that the band will appear at Coachella 2007 with their management saying that the UK reunion gigs will be their first live appearances.

Secondly, they get an update from the brothers Reid about progress on the new Jesus & Mary Chain record, possibly out in late Spring or early Summer of 2008.

CMJ, for their part, confirm that there will indeed be a new Verve release before Christmas… just not of new material. The This Is Music: The Singles 92-98 compilation from 2004 will be re-released to cash in on excitement surrounding the band’s reunion though this time it will come with a companion DVD with all the band’s videos collection on one handy shiny platter. The perfect gift for the Verve fan in your life who, paradoxically, doesn’t own any of their material.

And thanks to Bradley’s Almanac for pointing out this slightly old blog entry at The Guardian from House Of Love frontman Guy Chadwick in advance of their Don’t Look Back show in September where they played live the entirety of their first self-titled album.

The AllMusic blog isn’t quite done going over the Brit Box but this time they’ve got laurels instead of darts, thanks to the set’s inclusion of Superstar. Then they have more darts for the set’s omission of the C-86 scene.

The Riverfront Times is rather more productive, offering up two discs worth of bands (and corresponding MP3s) who were left out of the set and rather shouldn’t have been.

And a reminder to everyone that my Brit Box contest still has a few days to run and I’ve just been told that my restricting it to only North Americans is not necessary – in other words, it’s open to anyone and everyone wherever you may roam. So any Brits out there who want what would probably just be called Box over there, feel free to chime in and enter.

Wireless Bollinger talks to Nick Peill about the past and future of Fields. Speaking of whom, if anyone has an MP3 of their cover of MBV’s “When You Sleep” kicking around…

Spin offers up a bite-sized taste of new Clientele, taken from Big Top, a new film made by and starring absolutely no one of note (is Devon Reed someone? Illuminate me). But featuring a a pretty impressive soundtrack.

MP3: The Clientele – “Your Song”

PopMatters talks to PJ Harvey.

Editors return to North America early next year to delight Anglophiles and aggravate critics. Their Toronto date is January 22 at the Kool Haus and support will be Hot Hot Heat and Louis XIV.

Chart reports that progress is being made on Mogwai’s next album. With a working title of The Hawk Is Circling, the band aims to have it ready for a Fall ’08 release.

Aversion talks to Film School.

Illinoise noisemakers (but not Illinoisemakers) Headlights will release their sophomore effort Some Racing, Some Stopping on February 19. Maybe THIS record will see them touring north of the border.

Sigur Ros stickman Orri Pall Dyrason discusses their current releases – the Hvarf/Heim CDs and the Heima film – with Chart.

Paste declares The National’s Boxer their album of the year and backs it up with an extensive feature article though it’s probably not as insightful as this interview between The Exile and Matt Berninger. Sample question – “If a Russian oligarch wanted you to play his tween daughter’s b-day party for $1 million, but you had to lipsynch the whole show and wear sparkly outfits, would you do it?” Stereogum has their reprinted Paste’s full top 100 for 2007 and a peanut gallery’s worth of comments while Paste has also posted their staff picks for the best of the year.

The Times meets St Vincent.

Finally coming to town for a properly-sized venue and presumably full band tour, Josh Ritter will be at the Phoenix on March 4 with Emm Gryner supporting.

I don’t think anyone’s ever asked to see Saturday Looks Good To Me frontman Fred Thomas dance… and yet in the first video from Fill Up The Room, dance he does. Dance dance dance.

Video: Saturday Looks Good To Me – “Money In The Afterlife” (Vimeo)

Aimee Mann discusses the (lack of) concept behind her new album Smilers, due out Spring of next year, with Billboard. The (meaning Billboard) also gets some info on Kathleen Edwards’ new album Asking For Flowers, set for a March 4 release. And also coming in March is the new one from DeVocthKa.

Neil Young. Massey Hall.

Those four words right there should be all you need to know to understand how amazing last night’s show, the first of a three-night stand, was. Touring Chrome Dreams II, Young returned to play the legendary Toronto venue for the first time in almost 37 years for what was certain to be a special night. For me, this was only my second time seeing Neil, the last time some 11 years ago at Molson Park on a bill that was the very definition of eclectic – Neil with Crazy Horse, Oasis, Jewel, Gin Blossoms, Spiritualized and Screaming Trees. And since that was in a field with a throng of 30,000 others, I don’t think I actually SAW Neil though I certainly saw (and felt) him. But however you slice it, this show – with me in the front row of the gallery – was going to be infinitely more intimate.

After an opening set of well-played if rather innocuous country tunes by the missus, Pegi Young, Neil strode onstage to a standing ovation, settled into his chair ringed by acoustic guitars and started up with “From Hank To Hendrix” and from there, went into “Ambulance Blues” – one of my favourite songs from my favourite album (On The Beach) and if you ended the show right there, I’d have been satisfied. But of course, it’s easy to say that when he played acoustically for a good hour, dusting off one classic after another including “Harvest”, “Journey Through The Past” and “Cowgirl In The Sand”. And perhaps touched by the warm hometown reception, he uncharacteristically engaged the audience in a little banter and storytelling.

There was no time for chit chat after the 20-minute intermission, however, as he returned to the stage with a band comprised of long-time collaborators Ben Keith (Stray Gators), Rick Rosas and Ralph Molina (Crazy Horse). Electricity was the word for the second half of the show, both in the sense of the electric guitars that were now setting the tone and the energy in the sold out room. The crowd went nuts when he opened with “The Loner”, and nuts again when he followed it with “Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere”, and nuts yet again when he stopped after a few bars to get some feedback taken care of and started again. And so it went. Personal highlights were hearing “Winterlong” and watching as “No Hidden Path”, from Chrome Dreams II, was transformed into a classic of the Neil Young canon in front of my eyes, Neil and company jamming the hell out of it and simply blowing the roof off the Grand Old Lady of Shuter Street. Simply staggering.

And they still weren’t done. If “No Hidden Path” took the roof off, then the encore of “Cinnamon Girl” and “Like A Hurricane” shook the walls down to the foundations with intense, face-melting guitar fury. Massey Hall’s wonderful acoustics are usually put to use preserving the detail of quieter, more delicate material but when faced with Old Black cranked through that ancient tweed Fender Deluxe, they allowed every squeal, snarl and roar to be heard with amazing clarity. More than a few times over the course of the night I broke into a shit-eating grin as I realized that I was seeing one of my all-time musical heroes in a setting that I’d never in a million years have thought I’d get the chance to and this is a night whose memory I’ll cherish a good long time.

There’s an inclination to think of this tour, coinciding as it does with the slow release of the Archives, as Neil shifting into greatest hits/nostalgia mode. And while yeah, he’s definitely revisiting his past in a way that he’s never done before, anyone who interprets that as him slowing down is sadly, sadly mistaken. There’s still an ungodly amount of fire in the man and if anything, what he’s taking from the past is more fuel for the future. Long may you run, Neil. Long may you run.

The Toronto Sun, The Toronto Star, The Globe & Mail, eye and The Canadian Press have reviews of the show while The Post-Bulletin lists Neil’s top five musical left turns.

Photos: Neil Young, Pegi Young @ Massey Hall – November 26, 2007
MP3: Neil Young – “Ordinary People”
MySpace: Neil Young

A quiet (read: inactive) weekend on the blog by no means implies a quiet weekend for me – quite the opposite, actually. Familial duties, houseguests and brewing cold kept me largely offline but I still ducked out of everything on Saturday night to catch Ottawans The Acorn’s sorta-CD release show for Glory Hope Mountain at the Horseshoe.

I’d like to say that I’m mentioning the fact that I used to be in a band with Laura Barrett in the interests of full journalistic disclosure but in truth, I’m just trying to catch a little bit of cool by associating myself with her. Since picking up the kalimba a few years ago (full story at Exclaim!), Laura has become something of a local hero and not for the more novel reasons one might initially expect but because no matter what her choice of instrument, she’s a terrifically clever and idiosyncratic songwriter and artist along the lines of Nellie McKay or St Vincent, if less precocious than the former and less dramatic than the latter. Occasionally augmented by glockenspiel or synth bass pedals, she and her kalimbas played a short set of material from her 2005 Earth Sciences EP which she mentioned was being dressed up for re-release. This was the first time I’d seen her perform and, like probably everyone who’s seen her play, was totally charmed. Bring on a proper record.

Bruce Peninsula’s set wasn’t too different from the one they put on a few weeks back at Lee’s Palace. But with this purported to be their last gig for a few months while they go a-recording, I detected a little more cutting loose from the eleven Bruce Peninsulans onstage. They may have bellowed a little louder, clapped a little harder, testified a little more vociferously. Whatever it was, had it been in a barn it would have been a barn-burner. Bring on a proper record.

Don’t know if anyone caught my plug for this show on CBC Radio 3 last week but if so, and if on the off chance you opted to catch the show on my recommendation, I want to apologize for two misleading points. One, though Ohbijou’s Casey Mecija was indeed in the house as a member of the Bruce, she didn’t take the stage to sing “Lullabye” with the Acorn as I’d assumed she would. Secondly, front-Acorn Rolf Klausener has indeed shaved the mighty beard he was sporting over the Summer so anyone hoping to marvel at his hirsuteness… sorry.

But if you were in attendance, I refuse to accept either of those as reasons for not enjoying the show – it was just too good. Taking the stage to the dual-drummer pounding of “The Flood, Pt 1”, The Acorn (currently operating as a six-piece) opened up by calling up all the members of the support acts – that’s a dozen strong – to supply the tribal backing vocals and start things off with a glorious bang. I’d heard that they were going to play the entirety of Glory Hope Mountain in order and while that’d have been cool – I don’t think I’ve ever seen a whole album performed live in sequence – they opted to include material from both their Blankets! and Tin Fist EPs and keep the set mostly uptempo. The textures of Glory Hope weren’t recreated verbatim but the spirit was definitely captured with the extra percussion, various stringed instruments and Central American rhythms , not to mention the rich imagery of the songs themselves. Klausener mentioned at one point that this was the best Toronto show they’d played and though I hadn’t seen all of them, based on the handful of times I’d seen the band perform, I’d be inclined to agree. Glory Hope Mountain has been deservedly accruing praise from all corners and as a result, the band has a much brighter spotlight shining on them than they’ve ever had before – it’s good to see that they’ve risen to the occasion.

The Globe & Mail talked to both Klausener and his mother about Glory Hope Mountain this past weekend.

Photos: The Acorn, Bruce Peninsula, Laura Barrett @ The Horseshoe – November 24, 2007
MP3: The Acorn – “The Flood, Pt 1”
MP3: The Acorn – “Crooked Legs”
MP3: Laura Barrett – “Robot Ponies”
MySpace: The Acorn
MySpace: Bruce Peninsula

The venerable (and legendary) Horseshoe Tavern is turning 60 next month and is hosting a slew of great shows to mark the occasion. I’ve already noted a number of them – Richard Hawley on the 5th, six nights of Joel Plaskett from the 10th through the 16th, Rhett Miller on the 19th – but there’s still some special announcements promised. A couple of these were revealed at the end of last week and both are pretty sweet – first, there’s the kick-off celebration on the 4th with a free show from The Lowest Of The Low. If you responded to that with, “who?” rather than “alright!”, then you’re probably under the age of 30 and live in Southern Ontario in the early ’90s. Read this for some background. And secondly, Justin Rutledge’s ‘Shoe show on the 8th now also features the inimitable Howe Gelb on the bill. More surprises are planned for the 17th and 18th and if this is where they’ve set the bar, they’re sure to be great. If you have an inkling of who it might be, let me know! I won’t tell. Promise.

Bradley’s Almanac has posted MP3s from a Kevin Drew/Broken Social Scene show in Boston from this past August. Pitchfork has an interview.

Sloan’s Jay Ferguson talks to JAM! about taking part in this past weekend’s Grey Cup festivities and plans for their next album.

Neil Young tonight! ‘Nuff said.

The first time I’d ever heard of The Libertines was in the context of a news item that talked about one Pete Doherty being arrested for burglarizing the apartment of his former bandmate, one Carl Barat. This is not what we call a good first impression. And from that point forward, all I’ve known of Doherty and his compatriots is the media circus that has been his life over the past however many years regarding his various drug addictions, supermodel girlfriends and what have you. It’s been enough to make me dislike him intensely without having ever heard a lick of his music.

But people whose opinions I generally trust have long insisted that there was a reason that Doherty and The Libertines were held in such high regard, that there was more to him than just the tabloid fodder. After all, it’s not overstatement to say that they, along with Coldplay, have had the greatest influence over the current state of British indie rock (whether this is good thing or not is up to you). So with the release of their best-of compilation Time For Heroes and more specifically, its arrival in my mailbox, I decided it was time to see what the fuss was all about with as much of an open mind as I could muster.

And I didn’t need to go too far into the compact collection to get it. Taking tracks from both Up The Bracket and The Libertines as well as a smattering of b-sides and miscellany, Time For Heroes makes the case for The Libertines as a potent, anthemic working class rock band in the grand tradition of The Clash though less concerned with revolution as chasing birds and getting one’s drink on (and later on their own internal drama). Some of the material presented is forgettable but the singles – “Up The Bracket”, “Time For Heroes” and “Can’t Stand Me Now” in particular – are, from the first listen, for the ages. Scrappy and snotty in all the right places and only occasionally too much so, it’s the sound that could and seemingly did launch a thousand lout-rock bands that the world could probably do without.

But it’s also the sound of a band that wasn’t built to last. Even without knowing all the specifics of the inter-band turmoil (which I only just looked up on Wikipedia), you can hear the tensions and inevitable burnout looming in the music. Before hearing their records, I would have preferred to believe that the appeal of the band lay in the drama surrounding them – it certainly made ignoring them easier – but now I see that wasn’t the case. If I were of a certain time and place in my life and looking for a soundtrack, I could see being swept up in it all and having them be the only band that mattered. None of this makes the sideshow of Doherty’s non-musical antics any less reprehensible, but now that I know how much talent he’s squandering in doing what he does, it does make it that much more tragic.

MP3: The Libertines – “Time For Heroes”
MP3: The Libertines – “Never Never”
MP3: The Libertines – “Can’t Stand Me Now”
Video: The Libertines – “What Became Of The Likely Lads” (YouTube)
Video: The Libertines – “Time For Heroes” (YouTube)
Video: The Libertines – “Can’t Stand Me Now” (YouTube)
Video: The Libertines – “Up The Bracket” (YouTube)
Video: The Libertines – “Don’t Look Back Into The Sun” (YouTube)
Video: The Libertines – “I Get Along” (YouTube)

Unrescuable Schizo offers up a nice long interview with Nicole Atkins.

NOW and JAM talk to Amy Millan in advance of Stars’ sold-out four-night stand at the Phoenix next week.

Lavender Diamond will be at Lee’s Palace on December 17.

Spin has posted an excerpt of their cover story interview with both Arcade Fire’s Win Butler and Bruce Springsteen. They also solicit Boss love from The Hold Steady’s Craig Finn and The National’s Matt Berninger. Springsteen is (almost) coming to town with a show at Hamilton’s Copps coliseum on March 3 of next year.

The Washington Post blogs the A to Z of The Hold Steady while NPR is streaming theirs and Art Brut’s Washington DC shows from earlier this week.

Shout Out Louds talk to Filter.

The Last Town Chorus is in Australia. How do I know? Both The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age have interviews with Megan Hickey.

I’ve got family visiting this weekend so it could be another weekend without posting… yeah I’m totally turning into a slacker. But in the meantime, peruse The Guardian‘s list of 1000 albums to hear before you die and make sure to allot yourself enough time to listen to them all before kicking ye olde bucket.

I’m a bit surprised at how much discussion the release of Rhino’s Brit Box box set has been stirring up. When it was originally announced, I gave the track list a quick once over, decided that everything I’d likely be interested in hearing from it I mostly already had and was far more interested in the packaging – an old-school English phone box festooned with band stickers and complete with flickering light.

But a number of outlets have used the occasion of the set’s release to do more than just review the collection, but to revisit the era that it aspires to document – namely, the British “indie” scene from 1984 through 1999. AllMusic.com’s blog, in particular, has gone a bit batshit using the set as a jumping-off point for a number of posts – examining the track list, citing notable omissions, remembering American shoegazers, celebrating the glory of Luke Haines, rounding up fancy box set packaging and Bez. That’s a lot of mileage out of a single box.

The Riverfront Times uses the set as an excuse to get in touch with some of the artists who’ve since fallen off the radar of popular music and gets quotes from Lush’s Miki Berenyi (mostly covering the same ground as here) as well as a word from Mark Gardener of Ride about the likelihood of a reunion in that camp (that is sound of me not holding my breath). The Village Voice takes a less rose-coloured look at the era in question and PopMatters weighs in with a fairly massive disc-by-disc review, complete with video clip aids.

For my part, I already did this from my own personal point of view a couple years ago on the occasion of the 10th anniversary of the Oasis/Blur fued and there’s not really much need to cover that terrain again. But I will say that as time munches on, I find myself looking a bit more fondly upon some of the bands I’d disowned from that era. I guess I’m no longer worried about being judged if someone finds a Sleeper or Echobelly record in my collection. Hey, they had some good tunes. Wonder if there are compilations out there? Still not missing my Shed Seven records, though.

While the box set divvies its contents into four parts – the forebears, the shoegazers, the Britpoppers and the end days – I see three distinctions. The stuff that I discovered after the fact, the stuff I lived through and the stuff that drove me away from the UK (musically speaking) for some years. Just scanning the track listing again brings back all sorts of memories. As pretty much every review has stated, the song selection seems pretty random – some obvious singles, some questionable non-singles, some conspicuous absences, some perplexing inclusions – but if you consider that in its scattershotedness it actually offers a pretty good sample of the content over fifteen years of NME and Select, there may be more of a plan behind it than it may appear at first. Or maybe it is just a dog’s breakfast. Only the Rhino knows. But one thing is for certain – this set should be a boon for aspiring Britpop DJs. Pop all four discs into a carousel, hit shuffle and go hit on some drunk frosh.

And hey, maybe that aspiring Britpop DJ can be you! Courtesy of Rhino and vLES, I’ve got a Brit Box to give away to one lucky Anglophile. To enter, peruse the track listing and tell me in the comments who is missing from the set and should be represented in lieu of, say, Gay Dad. No one’s going to go to bat for Gay Dad. Feel free to nominate a song as well. Acts whose don’t naturally fit in with the Britpop/Brit-indie theme are exempt and I will be the sole arbiter of who falls under that particular brolly. Also try to steer it to overlooked acts rather than those whose absence is so obvious that it’s got to be a case of not being able to secure the rights to a song – hello Radiohead, Polly Jean Harvey. Be sure to include an accurate, if spam-proofed email when leaving the comment as well. Contest open to residents of North America only, please, everyone everywhere and it will close at midnight November 30.

vLES has been trumpeting a week of Brit Box-related content including interviews with Brett Anderson and streaming concerts but I’ll be damned if I can find any actual content on their site. Maybe you’ll have better luck. I should also note that the artwork that accompanies this post comes from the comic series Phonogram, which I’ve enthused about before and which is quite relevant to this discussion as it deals with Britpop retro-fetishism though I suspect protagonist David Kohl wouldn’t approve of Kula Shaker being given props in any way, shape or form.

Finally, a smattering of videos from some of the bands I’ve been reminded that I like as well as my nomination for most notable omission from the collection – The House Of Love. They deserve the recognition and I vote to kick out both Gay Dad AND Hurricane #1 to make room.

Stream: The Brit Box Disc 1
MP3: The House Of Love – “Shine On”
Video: The Sundays – “Here’s Where The Story Ends” (YouTube)
Video: Chapterhouse – “Pearl” (YouTube)
Video: The Boo Radleys – “Lazarus” (YouTube)
Video: Echobelly – “Insomniac” (YouTube)
Video: Sleeper – “Sale Of The Century” (YouTube)

Bradley’s Almanac is offering up audio of Spiritualized’s show in Boston this past Monday, the final North American date of their Acoustic Mainlines tour.

British Sea Power released their Krankenhaus? EP in physical form this week, though it’s been available digitally since October. In addition to the five tracks, there’s two videos on the CD version of the release, one of which you can watch below via Pitchfork. The band’s next full length, Do You Like Rock Music? is out February 12.

MP3: British Sea Power – “Atom”
Video: British Sea Power – “Water Tower”

LiveDaily talks to Emma Pollock.

NME reports that Billy Bragg is set to release his first album of new material in six years. Mr Love & Justice will be out on March 3 in the UK.