Lightning round! The good folks at Merge just got in touch and said that they had a few pairs of passes to see Caribou at the Opera House tomorrow night – November 10 – and asked if I could help get rid of them for them. I said yes. This is where you come in.

If you want to go see Mr Snaith along with Born Ruffians tomorrow evening, shoot me an email at contests AT chromewaves.net with “I want to see Caribou” in the subject line and your full name in the body. FIRST THREE RESPONDENTS WIN… starting NOW. BETTING ENDS. Cognrats to Cailey, Andrew and Jessica. Instructions forthcoming.

NOW and eye both preview the show this week.

MP3: Caribou – “Melody Day”
Video: Caribou – “Melody Day” (YouTube)
MySpace: Caribou

So I caught a preview screening of Juno Wednesday night, the new film from Jason Reitman (Thank You For Smoking) and starring rising Canadian stars Ellen Page (X-Men 3) and Michael Cera (Superbad). A big hit at the Toronto International Film Festival back in September, it’s a totally charming little comedy about a teen who gets pregnant and opts to give the baby up for adoption to an uber-yuppie couple played by Jason Bateman and Jennifer Garner (and no, before you ask, Bateman and Cera don’t have any scenes together but the phrase “pop-pop” is used, so that’s something).

While hilarity doesn’t really ensue, slapstick this ain’t, the film is quite hilarious thanks to Page’s performance as the terrifically sharp and sassy title character – people are already talking Oscar nod. Though second-billed in a remarkably strong cast, Cera doesn’t really get a lot to do besides… well, be Michael Cera. Someone cast this kid in an action flick or something. The language and dialogue in the film is absolutely golden, with plenty of intelligence, quirkiness and quotability but deftly avoiding sounding too precious or unnatural. The same goes for the direction, which has touches of Wes Anderson-ish surrealness but, again, Reitman doesn’t allow those flights of fancy to overpower things and the film’s feet stay firmly planted in reality or as much reality as Hollywood allows. While the story is a little thin at points and particularly towards the final acts – I wish I was able to get from confusion to clarity that easily when I was 16 – the warmth and overall likability of the whole thing more than compensates. One of the most straight-up enjoyable films I’ve seen in ages.

It gets a limited release on December 14 but there’s advance screenings all over Canada and the US before then, which you can see for free by RSVP-ing here. There had originally been a couple more Toronto screenings listed but they no longer appear to be on the list. Alas. I totally would have gone again (and maybe gotten another Dancing Elk Condors t-shirt).

Trailer: Juno

Wireless Bollinger talks to Kevin Drew about the solo life and the future of the Broken Social Scene brand. Drew and the Scene are at the Kool Haus on December 8.

The Arizona Wildcat and Inside Bay Area get all mooney over Stars. They’re at the Phoenix November 26 through 29.

John Vanderslice explains the inspiration behind the title of his new album Emerald City to Harp.

Asobi Seksu talks to Drowned In Sound about their creative process.

Wayne Coyne of The Flaming Lips talks to The Star-Telegram on the occasion of the 10th anniversary of their magnum opus, Zaireeka.

So you thought that the 2007 concert calendar was all done? Not quite. The Fiery Furnaces have decided that week-long road trip in December sounds like a good idea and will be stopping in at the Phoenix on December 12. The new album is Widow City and Event Guide and The Washington Square News talk to Matt Friedberger about the record.

More interesting to me is what will almost certainly be the final show of the year on December 29 at the Drake Underground featuring the self-proclaimed “loudest band in New York”, A Place To Bury Strangers. I’ve heard more about them (Best New Music-ed, make their own guitar pedals, were shut down by the NYPD) than from them but the stuff on their MySpace sounds kind of like the Automatic-era Jesus & Mary Chain mashed up with the less pop side of New Order, maybe some Depeche Mode thrown in for flavour (“needs more dour”). I don’t doubt that they have intent to injure when it comes to volume so if you’re planning on checking this one out, ask Santa for earplugs.

MP3: A Place To Bury Strangers – “To Fix The Gash In Your Head”

And finally, The Dreseden Dolls are at the Phoenix on January 4.

First impressions can be deceiving. Seeing Amos The Transparent perform at Pop Montreal last month, I took them for one of the big, ramshackle rock orchestras that usually hail from Toronto, not Ottawa, and specialize in outbursts of musical joyfulness. This impression was helped along by frontman Jonathan Chandler’s geniality – his friendly greetings to every concertgoer in attendance should have seemed totally hokey, but instead came across charming and sincere.

So it was a bit surprising to find that the band is technically just a trio (at least according to the liner notes) and only expands to the baker’s half-dozen for live shows and their album, Everything I’ve Forgotten To Forget, isn’t really joyful at all though that’s probably for the best from my point of view. Happiness gets tired, sadness gets much better mileage and Amos The Transparent has a full tank. Everything is a collision of folk song intimacy and classic rock anthemicism, fused together by a deep melodic and melancholic streak and delivered by Chandler’s with equal parts rage and resignation. It stops short of despair, however, as the presence of sweet backing vocals from Ana Miura and Star Amy Millan give proceedings a he-said, she-said dynamic that offers some sense of flickering optimism – as bad as things may be, at least they’re still talking.

Everything is a dense record both sonically and lyrically and with the number of times it builds from a gently strummed rumination to a thundering crescendo, a bit exhausting by the time you’re done but well worth the trip. Also worth the effort is catching them live, as you can do this weekend as Amos is in town tonight at the Horseshoe with Two Hours Traffic and tomorrow night for a show at Tiger Bar.

MP3: Amos The Transparent – “After All That Its Come To This”
MySpace: Amos The Transparent

Minnesota Public Radio recently had Stars in their studio for a session, which you can download for your very own. They’re at the Phoenix from November 26th through the 29th.

At the Phoenix last night and also tonight, opening for The Weakerthans, is Jenn Grant, with whom BlogTO has a conversation. The Journal has an interview with Stephen Carroll of the headliners.

PopMatters, NOW and The Recorder pose questions to Ben Bridwell of Band Of Horses. They’re at the Phoenix tomorrow night.

Drowned In Sound talks to Will Sheff of Okkervil River, who just kicked off their European tour which runs through early December.

Wireless Bollinger talks to Calexico about playing house band of sorts on the I’m Not There soundtrack and how things are shaping up on their next album, due out in 2008.

Spinner catches up with Margot & The Nuclear So And Sos, newly signed to a shiny major label deal and set to release their sophomore album Animals in 2008 on Epic.

NME reports that Radiohead’s In Rainbows will get a physical, non-gift boxed release in Europe and the UK on December 31 via XL, which lends credence to rumours that the North American release will be on New Year’s Day via ATO. Assuming you can find an open store.

Not normally one for doing the “breaking news” thing, but this piece at The Daily Swarm warrants it if anything does.

They report that in an interview set to air this Monday on VBS’ Soft Focus (I don’t know what either of those things is), Kevin Shields of My Bloody Valentine says that not only has the band already gotten back together for recording sessions over the course of the Summer, but that the fruits of it may see the light before the end of the year. Also the band’s official website is under the tender ministrations of bassist Deb Goodge and will hopefully offer more than a link to their MySpace.

No mention is made of their alleged appearance at Coachella 2008 but when Shields says, “People will go, ‘Yeah, it sounds like My Bloody Valentine'”… well, that’s the sound of me getting just a little excited. Anyway, go read the piece and wait for the interview on Monday. And then we’ll discuss.

Obviously 30-second clips isn’t the best way to be introduced to a new band – even if they do cut right to the chorus – but perusing this list of XFM’s 32 Best British Debuts of 2007 was a pretty interesting exercise. Mostly in that with a few exceptions – mostly the acts I was already somewhat familiar with, and that right there might explain why – nothing jumped out and caught my interest. I’m investigating a few further – Air Traffic’s MySpace got a hit, I dug the Jack Penate CD out of a pile and I was reminded that I’ve always meant to revisit that Maps record – but by and large most of the samples seemed unremarkable. Again – I’ve not passed final judgment on any of the listees, goodness knows that lots of my now-favourites started out with less than spectacular first impressions.

And so it’s a bit ironic that my pick for the best British debut of the year is a record that had me hooked within the first 30 seconds and is nowhere to be found on XFM’s list – Lucky Soul’s The Great Unwanted. I gushed about the record more than a little back in April and while it’s perfectly reasonable to think that in the intervening seven months, some of the initial sugar buzz and infatuation would have worn off but instead I’m using this rather tenuous tangent to report that I still love this record as much as I did this Spring, maybe more, and stand by everything I wrote then. And while they haven’t garnered the XFM love, they seem to have had enough success at home and abroad to tour internationally – jaunts around Europe and to Japan dot their upcoming itinerary – but nothing over this way yet. Hopefully the operative word being “yet”. The Von Pip Musical Express caught an interview with keyboardist Malcolm Young at the end of the Summer, they took part in Erasing Clouds’ “100 Musicians Answer the Same 10 Questions” series, Click Music has an interview with singer Ali Howard and guitarist Andrew Laidlaw circa this past May.

MP3: Lucky Soul – “The Great Unwanted”
Video: Lucky Soul – “Lips Are Unhappy” (YouTube)
Video: Lucky Soul – “My Brittle Heart” (YouTube)
Video: Lucky Soul – “Add Your Light To Mine, Baby” (YouTube)
Stream: Lucky Soul / The Great Unwanted
MySpace: Lucky Soul

And thanks to Torr for a) directing me to the XFM list and b) having the wisdom to include Lucky Soul on his companion list. Anyone else want to step up and advocate for any of the bands on XFM’s list or offer their own suggestions for impressive UK debuts this year? I know that my own tastes aren’t really in synch with what’s popular over there right now, but I’m always open to recommendations. And I should mention that the Jack Penate disc went right back into the pile when I was done with it. Eh.

Another British band that put out a pretty damned good debut full-length this year was Fields – Everything Last Winter‘s strengths have outpaced its shortcomings since I initially wrote it up, also back in April. PopMatters has an interview with the band wherein they discuss the band’s origins and debate the merits of othe bands with “Field” in their names. And I’d just like to say that their describing keyboardist/vocalist Thorunn Antonia as an “Icelandic sexpot” skeeves me out juuuust a bit. Is that really appropriate? I don’t think it is.

And some more UK bits in descending order of newness…

The Times introduces their readers to Patrick Wolf. And to give you an idea of the tenor of the piece, it ran in their Style section and the sidebar is titled, “Interesting boys to keep your eye on”. The Sydney Morning Herald also has a piece, more appropriately filed under “music”.

BeatRoute talks to Maximo Park frontman Paul Smith.

Doves give NME and Billboard status updates on the recording of album number four, due out in 2008.

Emma Pollock discusses life as a solo artist with The Independent and PhillyBurbs.com.

Pitchfork, Rolling Stone and The Los Angeles Times have interviews with PJ Harvey about her new record White Chalk while Yahoo has video of a full live show she recorded for them. If you can, increase the video quality as much as you can – the sound really improves as well.

And finally Alan McGee, via his blog at The Guardian, argues that Ride deserve more respect than they get, though the photo they chose to run alongside the piece rather undermines his case. The comments get lively as well. And if we can’t get a proper reunion, how about at least a Don’t Look Back concert for Nowhere or Going Blank Again? I’d damn well get on a plane to anywhere for one of those.

See how I went from “recommend me something new” to “god I miss the past” over the course of the post?