Saturday, September 10th, 2011
Frank YangWho: No Joy
What: Montreal outfit fronted by dual, guitar-wielding walls of hair who bridge the worlds of garage rock and shoegaze in a pop-friendly middle ground.
Why: Though their debut Ghost Blonde came out last Summer, their ascent has been a slow and steady one, which is to say they’re still touring it and the masses are glad for it.
When: Friday, September 23, 2011
Where: Wrongbar in Toronto (19+)
Who else: This show is part of a co-headline tour with guitar goddess Marnie Stern, so if women demolishing their guitars is your thing, you know where you should be.
How: Tickets for the show are $14 in advance, but courtesy of Embrace, I have two pairs of passes to give away to the show. To enter, email me at contests AT chromewaves.net with “I want No Joy” in the subject line and your full name in the body and have that in to me before midnight, September 18.
MP3: No Joy – “Hawaii”
Video: No Joy – “Maggie Says I Love You”
Video: No Joy – “Hawaii”
Friday, September 9th, 2011
Los Campesinos’ sadness. See it. Hear it.
FacebookRoving gang of musical Welsh nogoodniks Los Campesinos! announced the existence of their fourth album Hello Sadness just last week, but they’ve already followed up that news with both the first downloadable MP3 from the record and video, both for the record’s leadoff track – a song which despite the band’s supposed claims to welcoming despair into their lives, sound pretty damn peppy. Or shouty, at least.
And while you’re getting down to that, they’ve also announced a handful of – well, four – American tour dates to preview the record. Note that doesn’t the crew won’t be crossing the border north of the US this time, but seeing as how they’ve never been averse to visiting Toronto and Canada repeatedly, expect a date when broader touring plans are announced.
MP3: Los Campesinos! – “By Your Hand”
Video: Los Campesinos! – “By Your Hand”
Noah & The Whale – who proved their ability to get super-sad with second album First Days Of Spring – return to town to party like it’s the Last Night On Earth at The Phoenix on November 8, part of a full North American tour; admission is $20 in advance. Interview has a chat with violinist Tom Hobden.
MP3: Noah & The Whale – “The First Days Of Spring”
Video: Noah & The Whale – “Tonight’s The Kind Of Night”
Baeble Music has a Guest Apartment interview and session with Laura Marling. A Creature I Don’t Know is out Tuesday and she plays The Great Hall on September 23.
Beatroute, The Edmonton Journal, OC Weekly and The Calgary Herald have feature pieces on The Joy Formidable.
Even though there’s really no need to reissue an album that was just released in February, Yuck will get a deluxe edition of their self-titled debut on October 11 that includes a 6-track bonus CD – you can stream one of the new offerings at Pitchfork. They play The Horseshoe on September 27.
Stream: Yuck – “Cousin Corona”
The Guardian is streaming Mogwai’s new EP Earth Division, out next Tuesday, as well as notes from Stuart Braithwaite. So go and stream it and read. Go.
Stream: Mogwai / Earth Division
Also streaming and out next week is Acrobat, the second album from Peggy Sue.
MP3: Peggy Sue – “Cut My Teeth”
Stream: Peggy Sue / Acrobats
Music Broke My Bones and The Whiteboard Project have interviews with Slow Club, the latter of which is hilariously conducted via whiteboard. Paradise is out next week.
Grantland sends Chuck Klosterman to interview Noel Gallagher. A pretty great read regardless of your opinions of either character ensues. Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds release their debut album on November 7 and play Massey Hall on November 7 and 8.
Wears The Trousers chat with Esben & The Witch.
DIY has a feature interview with Patrick Wolf and the singer-songwriter fesses up to Clash about his love of waterslides.
Though he’s supposed to be gearing up for the Horrors tour which brings him to Lee’s Palace on September 27, Faris Badwan tells Exclaim that his side-project Cat’s Eyes plans to release two more records in 2012. Which is good news because Cat’s Eyes was great. And Badwan talks Horrors with The Illinois Entertainer.
Beatroute has an interview with Arctic Monkeys.
Artrocker has the new video from Sons & Daughters, taken from their latest Mirror Mirror.
Video: Sons & Daughters – “Rose Red”
Goth godfather Peter Murphy brings his new solo record Ninth to town for a show at Lee’s Palace on November 23, tickets $29.50.
MP3: Peter Murphy – “I Spit Roses”
Though the media cycle on New Order of late has mainly been about irrevocably rent asunder they are with the acrimonious departure of bassist Peter Hook, Spinner reports that it’s a bit of a zero-sum game as original keyboardist Gillian Gilbert is back in the fold for a couple of charity gigs in October. Unsurprisingly, Hooky is unimpressed. Which makes me wish that Ian Curtis was capable of issuing press releases so we could find out what he thinks about what Peter Hook is up to.
Fanfarlo have completed their second album and while it’s still untitled and has no release date, it does have a video for the leadoff track.
Video: Fanfarlo – “Replicate”
The Line Of Best Fit goes on an in-depth expedition into The Radio Dept.’s discography with founders Johan Duncanson and Martin Larson as sherpas. The Radio Dept are at The Mod Club on November 17.
Exclaim has some details of Swedish sister act First Aid Kit’s second album; The Lion’s Roar will be out on January 24 of the new year and you can see them supporting Lykke Li at The Sound Academy on November 15.
Little Dragon have released a new video from Ritual Union; they’re at The Hoxton on October 12.
Video: Little Dragon – “Brush The Heat”
Pitchfork has a new video from Sigur Ros taken from their Inni live film and album, due out November.
Video: Sigur Ros – “Klippa”
If you like Howling Bells and are willing to admit as much via Facebook, you’ll be able to stream their new record The Loudest Engine. It’s out Monday.
Stream: Howling Bells / The Loudest Engine
NME talks to Empire Of The Sun’s Luke Steele about their plans for album number two. But before that, they will play The Sound Academy on Tuesday evening, September 13.
Thursday, September 8th, 2011
Review of Widowspeak’s Widowspeak and giveaway
Sebastian SlayterI’ve read a few things about Pacific Northwest by way of New York trio Widowspeak that reference the darkness of their music; the haunting tones, yearning vocals and occasional forays into guitar squalls. Perfectly fair. And most everything written about them mentions the smoky vocals of Molly Hamilton and its immediate reference points of Hope Sandoval and Cat Power. Also totally valid.
And yet listening to their self-titled debut, despite the truth of those points and the fact that I like amounts of all of these things in my music, what stands out the most to me is how much more they have to offer beyond those talking points. Though her voice has that alluring eyes-half-closed quality, she sounds far more awake and engaged with the song and melodies than Sandoval ever has (save, perhaps, her turn on “Sometimes Always”) and evokes neither the suicide-watch despair of early Chan Marshall nor the soul-diva stylings of her now. And musically, though perfectly capable of evoking sadness, they’re much more familiar with the major keys than some would have you believe. There’s a distinct ’50s doo-wop winsomeness running throughout, the guitars are as likely to throw off a twangy spaghetti western lick as drone menacingly and tunes like “Puritan” and “Fir Coat” are downright bouncy. All of which is to say that the critical praise they’ve garnered based on those aforementioned qualities are wholly deserved – they’ve just got much more to offer than you might expect.
Widowspeak are currently touring with Vivian Girls and will be at Parts & Labour in Toronto on September 16. Tickets for the show are $15.00 in advance but courtesy of Embrace, I’ve got two pairs of passes to give away for the show. To enter, email me at contests AT chromewaves.net with “I want to see Widowspeak” in the subject line and your full name in the body. Contest closes at midnight, September 13.
MP3: Widowspeak – “Harsh Realm”
Stream: Widowspeak – “Nightcrawlers”
The deluge of streams for September 13 releases mentioned earlier this week continues; Girls are offering a sneak preview of their sophomore effort Father, Son, Holy Ghost. Billboard talks to bandleader Christopher Owens, who leads his band into The Mod Club on September 27.
MP3: Girls – “Vomit”
Stream: Girls / Father, Son, Holy Ghost
Over at Rolling Stone, you’ve got a stream of Mountaintops, the latest from Mates Of State, a week before its release. They’ll be at The Phoenix on September 28 and Ology has an interview with band he-half Jason Hammell.
MP3: Mates Of State – “Maracas”
Stream: Mates Of State / Mountaintops
Wild Flag jumped the gun and put up a stream of their self-titled debut last week, but held a little something back for this week – their first video. Wild Flag are at Lee’s Palace on October 12.
Video: Wild Flag – “Romance”
Wilco offered up a stream of The Whole Love, out September 27, for a 24-hour period this past weekend and are prepping for next week’s kick-off of their tour with a fan video project wherein you can help them decorate their stage setup by submitting videos of the town in which they’re playing. And perhaps as a bit of inspiration, they’ve released a video from the new record and if that’s still not getting your juices flowing, dose has those video clips of Jeff Tweedy covering Black Eyed Peas last weekend that have been circulating. In any case, I’ll be interested to see what Toronto sends in for their September 16 and 17 shows at Massey Hall. And if you missed the stream, it’ll be back up on September 19.
Video: Wilco – “Born Alone”
Stephen Malkmus has put out a new video from Mirror Traffic and there’s an interview at The West Australian. He and The Jicks are at The Phoenix on September 21.
Video: Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks – “Tigers”
Wye Oak have a new video from their latest album Civilian. They’re at the Sound Academy on October 7 opening up for Explosions In The Sky, with whom Beatroute has an interview.
Video: Wye Oak – “Holy Holy”
Writers On Process gets into the creative space of Crooked Fingers mastermind Eric Bachmann. Their new record Breaks In The Armor is out October 11 and they play The Drake Underground on November 8.
The AV Club talks Archers Of Loaf reunion with bassist Matt Gentling.
The Baltimore Sun talks to National bassist Scott Devendorff.
Clash, Glide and Beatroute talk to Peter Silberman of The Antlers while The Georgia Straight chats with Darcy Cicci.
Salon and American Songwriter get some phone time with Zach Condon of Beirut.
NPR has a World Cafe session and CityPages an interview with Bon Iver.
Blurt documents two decades of the ups and downs of Superchunk.
The Big Takeover has posted the first part of an interview with Jonathan Donahue of Mercury Rev about their masterpiece Deserter’s Songs.
Wednesday, September 7th, 2011
As good as their word, Tokyo Police Club cover the decade in ten days
FilterTokyo Police Club are not a band you’d expect to announce an ambitious covers project. Not to say that they haven’t reinterpreted someone else’s song before – I’ve not heard it but I’m sure it’s happened – but they haven’t really made doing so “their thing”, so to speak. Well not until now. Last month, they announced their intention to record and release ten covers over ten days, one from each of the last ten years, and document the process via Polaroids and Polaroid.com.
Random on so many levels, and yet now that it’s done and the results a matter of public record, I have to say that I’m quite enjoying the results. The song selections are relatively obvious but not cliched (okay, the Kelly Clarkson maybe) or ironic (okay, the Miley Cyrus) and cover a decent range of genres, and TPC’s sound isn’t so unique that they can’t tackle most pop songs without rendering them unrecognizable. They strike a pretty good balance between remaining faithful to the original and still sounding like Tokyo Police Club – in fact, I’ll go a bit further and say that this set presents a much rangier and versatile TPC than their own albums have.
But if it wasn’t obvious, I’m a soft touch for cover versions so cheers to Tokyo Police Club for making up, taking up and beating the challenge. For their next little project, I suggest they pay tribute to a fellow 905 musical icon and try to rhyme the world in 80 days.
They’ve made all the tracks available to download, but if you don’t want to commit you can also stream it all at Soundcloud. And if you want to follow the actual internet release tour – each song was premiered at a specific website – and read some of the accompanying commentary, head over to any and all of Entertainment Weekly, Alternative Press, Mashable, Spinner, The AV Club (double-shot here) and Filter (another double shot). “Party In The USA” didn’t seem to get a proper premiere, but whatevs.
MP3: Tokyo Police Club – “Southside” (Moby cover)
MP3: Tokyo Police Club – “Sweetness” (Jimmy Eat World cover)
MP3: Tokyo Police Club – “Under Control” (The Strokes cover)
MP3: Tokyo Police Club – “Since U Been Gone” Kelly Clarkson cover)
MP3: Tokyo Police Club – “Little Sister” (Queens Of The Stone Age cover)
MP3: Tokyo Police Club – “Long Distance Call” (Phoenix cover)
MP3: Tokyo Police Club – “All My Friends” (LCD Soundsystem)
MP3: Tokyo Police Club – “Kim And Jessie” (M83 cover)
MP3: Tokyo Police Club – “Strictly Game” (Harlem Shakes cover)
MP3: Tokyo Police Club – “Party In The USA” (Miley Cyrus cover)
Stream: Tokyo Police Club / 10 Days, 10 Covers, 10 Years
Keeping in the Canuck covers theme, check out this video of Evening Hymns trying on a little Tom Petty for size. Their new album of original material Spectral Dusk is due out this Fall – I expect formal details to be announced soon. ‘Cause it’s already Fall.
Video: Evening Hymns – “Learning To Fly”
Southern Souls has branched out from just videos to include editorial content, like this interview with Neil Haverty of Bruce Peninsula. The topic at hand being, of course, their second album Open Flames, which is due out October 4. They play a release show at Lee’s Palace on October 27.
Though their second album Tosta Mista has been out since late July, Hooded Fang are only now getting around to organizing an official release party. It’ll be a Wavelength Presents joint and happen September 24 at the Academy of Lions Crossfit Gym – how rock’n’roll is that – on Dundas West near Dovercourt, tickets $10 in advance.
MP3: Hooded Fang – “ESP”
MP3: Hooded Fang – “Den Of Love”
The Stool Pigeon and Beatroute talk to the Lightman twins of Tasseomancy. They have a release show for Ulalame at The Great Hall on October 20 and open up for Austra at The Phoenix on December 1.
Miracle Fortress has assembled some “what I did on my Summer vacation”-style films for the first video from Was I The Wave?.
Video: Miracle Fortress – “Miscalculations”
The Line Of Best Fit is streaming Memoryhouse’s revisited debut EP The Years, out next week. Now that their local dates opening up for Peter Bjorn & John are done, I expect confirmation that they’re doing the same for The Radio Dept at The Mod Club on November 17. If not, then perhaps a hometown release show of their own is in the works? The Milford Daily Times has an interview with Evan Abeele of the band.
Stream: Memoryhouse / The Years
Toronto country-rock stalwarts Cuff The Duke have commandeered The Horseshoe for the weekend of November 25 and 26 to celebrate the release of their new record Morning Comes, out October 4.
MP3: Cuff The Duke – “Standing On The Edge”
Video: Cuff The Duke – “Standing On The Edge” (Paper Bag sessions)
Beatroute interviews The Besnard Lakes, who will be at Lee’s Palace on October 13.
If you were wondering, “hey – why does Los Angeles get a special intimate preview of Metals and not, oh, Feist’s hometown?” then relax… or get more agitated. Exclaim reports that the Glenn Gould Studio at the CBC’s headquarters will host a very special concert on October 8 – just four days after the album’s release – wherein the singer will be joined by such guests as Jeff Tweedy, Ed Droste, Bry Webb, Joel Gibb and Doug Paisley. Tickets for the show are only available via a CBC Radio 2 contest but is open to all residents of Canada and will include airfare and accommodations if you hail from outside the Toronto area. If you are local, well maybe they’ll splurge for a cab. One-way.
Tuesday, September 6th, 2011
Male Bonding, Love Inks, Neon Windbreaker and Huddle at The Horseshoe in Toronto
Frank YangA number of things I hadn’t done in a while: gone to a show; gone to a show at The Horseshoe; gone to a show whose bill was filled with bands I’d never seen before. Friday night, I kicked off Labour Day weekend by addressing all three of these things by seeing London’s Male Bonding, Austin’s Love Inks and locals Neon Windbreaker and Huddle. At the ‘Shoe. In case that wasn’t clear. This isn’t to say I had no backstory with the bands. I was in a band with one of Huddle’s guitarists for some years, years ago, and have a couple of friends in the Neon Windbreaker camp – the fact that I’d yet to see either of them play before, despite ample opportunity, kind of speaks volumes about how good a friend I am. But I digress.
I’d been sent a few tracks from Huddle’s Fault Lines EP some time ago and been impressed by how sophisticated it sounded for a band that hadn’t been around for very long, though it was comprised of some experienced players. Since they recorded that sampler, they’ve finished a very accomplished full-length in All These Fires – a debut that’s insidiously catchy at times – and were looking to bring some of that studio savvy onto the stage. And indeed, one of the first things I noticed was the sophistication and attention to detail in their arrangements – little flourishes in the percussion and keyboards that you might not consciously notice but definitely feel in the bigger picture. The electro-pop sheen that’s up front on the recordings was pleasantly roughed up a bit live and the band have got things covered in the polish and pop hooks departments; if there’s a shortcoming it’s in the overall presence – though plenty friendly, they didn’t offer a whole lot of personality up there. This isn’t to suggest that a contrived image would be a step up, but with the songs and musicianship well covered, that would be something to look at next.
And way over at the opposite end of spectrum with a surplus of personality dwells Neon Windbreaker. Originally conceived as a hardcore concept/novelty act, it’s grown – perhaps despite themselves – into a real(ish) band with actual songs and musical proficiency. Well, somewhat – everyone can clearly play even if it’s not called for in this outfit – it’s unclear if frontman Eric Warner can actually sing but he’s got the screaming thing down pretty well – and when they let the anarchic aesthetic drop and allow something genuinely tuneful to come through, it’s surprising and confusing. Again, this may be the point. In any case, they were entertaining and didn’t overstay their welcome, though I suspect their cover of Harvey Danger’s “Flagpole Sitta” was a bit sloppier than even they intended. Or not.
The stage presence yo-yo went back to its other extreme for the third act of the night, Texan trio Love Inks, and one can only presume their opening cover of David Essex’s “Rock On” was ironic as rocking on was rather the last thing they had in mind. Their sound as captured on debut album ESP is built on live bass and guitar over skeletal, sequenced beats and since Kevin Dehan and Adam Linnell prefer to tend to their duties while standing off the the stage sides, safely ensconced in shadow, the figurative and literal spotlight fell on singer/drum machine triggerer Sherry LaBlanc. Thankfully, her vocal approach is not icy and detached, as so many who ply simliar terrain are, but wide-eyed and emotive and imbuing their songs with some genuine feeling. That said, they were still very low-key in presentation and considering most were there for their decidedly punked-up tourmates, it was just as well their set ran a very efficient half-hour.
On any given day, I might say that Male Bonding are too lo-fi for my tastes, but with the increased sonic clarity and bigger pop hooks on their just-released second album Endless Now over their debut Nothing Hurts, they were very much what I was in the mood for this evening. But though they may have tidied things up in the studio a bit this time out, live they tilted very much back towards the punk side of their equation while retaining just the right amount of airiness in their harmonies and hooks. With the addition of a second guitarist, things were decidedly weightier and louder for both new material and old – the set was split about evenly between both – and propelled by the relentless drumming of Robin Christian. He wasn’t hugely fancy or varied back there, but was unquestionably huge as he laid down a monstrous groove for his bandmates to work in and the four-piece powered through a set of meaty, punk-pop with the unquestionable highlight being the irresistible “Bones”, which must have been exhausting for both the band on stage and dancers in the audience. How they managed to keep playing after that marathon is beyond me, but they did and closed out with a rare (according to them) encore. Then I imagine they went backstage and collapsed.
Exclaim also has a writeup of the show and The Liverpool Echo has an interview with Love Inks.
Photos: Male Bonding, Love Inks, Neon Windbreaker, Huddle @ The Horseshoe – September 2, 2011
MP3: Male Bonding – “Tame The Sun”
MP3: Male Bonding – “Bones”
MP3: Male Bonding – “Franklin”
MP3: Male Bonding – “Year’s Not Long”
MP3: Love Inks – “Blackeye”
MP3: Neon Windbreaker – “Furniture”
MP3: Huddle – “Islands”
Video: Male Bonding – “All Things This Way”
Video: Male Bonding – “Pirate Key”
Video: Male Bonding – “Weird Feelings”
Video: Male Bonding – “Year’s Not Long”
Video: Love Inks – “Blackeye”
Video: Love Inks – “Leather Glove”
With next week being one of the big new release days of the Fall, there’s plenty of much-anticipated records available to preview by way of streams. First, there’s St. Vincent’s latest Strange Mercy, which is up over at NPR. Pitchfork also has a feature interview.
Stream: St. Vincent / Strange Mercy
The New York Times has paired their feature piece on Laura Marling with a stream of her latest A Creature I Don’t Know. She is at The Great Hall on September 23.
Stream: Laura Marling / A Creature I Don’t Know
If you were at all intrigued by my writeup of Slow Club’s new record Paradise from last week, it’s up for listening over at NME.
Stream: Slow Club / Paradise
The second single from Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds is now available to stream at NME. It’s on the strength of this and the rest of the self-titled debut, out November 8, that Gallagher will be playing two shows at Massey Hall on November 7 and 8.
Stream: Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds – “AKA… What A Life!”
Not technically an album stream and certainly not a new release, but video of Bettie Serveert’s recital of their debut Palomine at the Into The Great Wide Open festival in The Netherlands this past weekend is available to watch online. Oh ’90s.
Baeble Music is streaming a video interview and session with Ellie Goulding.
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