Sunday, July 24th, 2011
Frightened Rabbit covers The Lemonheads
AV ClubSince kicking off last Summer, The AV Club Undercover series has been a real boon for covers bloggers like myself because, well, they make things so damn easy. Not only do they bring together the artists and the songs and provide high-quality video from which to extract the soundtrack, they get the artist to explain their choice. In this case, you’ve got Frightened Rabbit frontman Scott Hutchison doing The Lemonheads solo style because, as he puts it, “I’ve always liked the song, you know it kind of fits in with the way that I like to write as well – it’s about a guy and a girl, and that works for me”. A-yup.
Frightened Rabbit should be working on the follow-up to last years’ Winter Of Mixed Drinks, but when Death Cab For Cutie invite you along for a Summer tour of North America’s outdoor amphitheatres, you kinda say yes. They’ll be at Toronto’s Molson Amphitheatre this Friday evening, July 29. As for The Lemonheads, the current lineup – who has been together since around 2005 so are pretty legit – have opted to dust off It’s A Shame About Ray for one of those complete album performance tours that are de rigeur these days and are taking it on the road this Fall – they hit Lee’s Palace on October 17.
Fun fact: I heard “Confetti” in a bar last night. Clearly a sign. Of something.
MP3: Frightened Rabbit – “Confetti”
Video: Frightened Rabbit – “Confetti”
Video: The Lemonheads – “Confetti”
Saturday, July 23rd, 2011
Frank YangWho: Phantogram
What: New York state-based electro-trip-gaze-hop-on-pop duo whom despite having a myriad of immediately identifiable stylistic reference points, have managed to craft their own distinct sound, thanks in no small part to some great songs.
Why: The pair continue to tour their debut Eyelid Movies, which came out early last year. This will be at least their fourth or fifth time through Toronto.
When: Thursday, July 28, 2011
Where: 69 Bathurst The Mod Club in Toronto (19+)
Who else: The Glitch Mob are headlining this show and Com Truise rounds out the undercard.
How: Tickets are $20 in advance but courtesy of Embrace, I’ve got two pairs of passes to the show to give away. To enter, email me at contests AT chromewaves.net with “I want to see Phantogram” in the subject line and your full name in the body. Have that in to me before midnight, July 26.
What else: Filter talks to Phantogram about working the Summer festival circuit.
MP3: Phantogram – “When I’m Small”
Video: Phantogram – “When I’m Small”
Video: Phantogram – “Mouthful Of Diamonds”
Friday, July 22nd, 2011
Feist is being a bit of a tease
Mary RozziI forget who I was talking to but it was just in the last couple of weeks and it was about how Feist has done a pretty good job of not having anyone notice it’s been a long time since her last record – almost four years, three months and counting. Sure, the first couple years of that was spent touring and promoting The Reminder as it blew up worldwide, but after that wound down she’s struck a pretty good balance between guest appearances – whether occasionally onstage with Broken Social Scene or on record as a duet partner with Wilco – to make people happy just to see and hear her, and staying out of sight enough that those same people don’t wonder why she’s not hidden away, working on a new record.
Well it turns out she has been, and with her website now taken over by the first of a dozen “vignettes” – short videos soundtracked by what we can probably assume are samples of the new record. And while I’m sure they’d like to keep details tantalizingly obscured, women’s magazine Chatelaine revealed, while nominating Ms Leslie as one of their “women of the year”, that the new record was targeted for an October 2011 release. Presumably they’re not just making that up – after all, it’s Chatelaine. In any case, the timeline indicated by the vignette calendar on Feist’s website – the third clip is dated July 25 – implies that this won’t be a long, drawn-out reveal; you’ll probably be able to pre-order whatever this is before the August long weekend is over.
Video: Feist – “My Moon My Man”
Broken Social Scene guitarist Andrew Whiteman slags his own band’s latest video and videos in general to Spinner and tells The Calgary Herald they didn’t deserve a book to be written about them, while Paste compiles a list of the bands that make up the Broken Social family tree.
FFWD chats with Beatrice Martin of Coeur de pirate, herself way overdue for a new album though at least she allows that when it arrives, it will likely be entitled Blonde.
Room 205 has another performance in their video session with Austra online while The Georgia Straight has a feature.
The Globe & Mail, The Georgia Straight and Uptown have interviews with Louise Burns.
Exclaim solicits a rooftop performance from The Darcys, who should be announcing details about the release of their second self-titled album soon. One would hope.
Bay Of Quinte and Napanee Guide interview Patrick Pentland of Sloan, who’re clearly in cottage country right now but will be back in the city playing a free show at Echo Beach on August 5.
The reconstituted Doughboys will warm up for their August 9 date opening up for Foo Fighters at the Air Canada Centre with a free show at the Bovine Sex Club the night before, August 8. I would like to go to this but I fear that my broken collarbone (hey guys I broke my collarbone for the third time) won’t be healed enough to survive the mosh pit that’ll surely ensue, even if it is a middle-aged mosh pit.
Video: The Doughboys – “Fix Me”
Mudhoney have a date at The Horseshoe on September 10, tickets $22.50 in advance.
MP3: Mudhoney – “I’m Now”
MP3: Mudhoney – “Sonic Infusion”
Paste catches up with Portugal. The Man while Mashable finds out about their sled dog-powered new video. They bring their new album In The Mountain, In The Cloud to the Opera House on October 18; tickets are $16.50 in advance.
Video: Portugal. The Man – “Got It All”
Neon Indian will follow up the September 13 release of Era Extraña with a North American tour that hits Lee’s Palace on October 18.
Video: Neon Indian – “Heart: Decay”
Flush with their second Polaris shortlist appearance, maritimers Hey Rosetta! are embarking on a cross-Canada tour and bringing aussies The Jezabels along with them. The Toronto stop is November 24 at The Phoenix, tickets $20 in advance. Hey Rosetta will also be the subject of a Polaris Salon on August 9 at the Drake, wherein a juror will talk to the band about their record, and The Jezabels are prepping their debut Prisoner for a Spring 2012 release.
MP3: Hey Rosetta! – “Yer Spring”
MP3: The Jezabels – “Mace Spray”
NOW, The Village Voice, Boston Phoenix and hour talk to Erika Anderson of EMA, who makes her Toronto debut at The Garrison tomorrow night.
Spin pokes around Stephen Malkmus’ home. Malkmus’ latest Mirror Traffic is out August 23 and he plays The Phoenix on September 21.
Hot on the heels of announcing their new record – Father, Son, Holy Ghost out September 13 – and Fall tour – The Mod Club on September 27 – Girls have put out a first MP3 from said record.
MP3: Girls – “Vomit”
NPR has a World Cafe session with Warpaint while The Japan Times and New Zealand Herald have interviews.
TV On The Radio have released a new video from Nine Types Of Light.
Video: TV On The Radio – “Caffeinated Consciousness”
Peter Silberman of The Antlers goes into some of the influences that went into Burst Apart for Stereogum.
Spin is marking the 20th anniversary of Nirvana’s Nevermind with a tribute album – available for free – featuring the likes of Titus Andronicus, EMA and The Vaselines, amongst others.
Wednesday, July 20th, 2011
2011 Mercury Music Prize shortlist is predictably unpredictable
Jean-Baptiste MondinoThanks to the fact that the United Kingdom exists five hours into the future, I woke up yesterday morning just in time to see the short list for this year’s Mercury Prize – awarded annually to the best album in the UK and Ireland – commandeer my Twitter feed for a short while. The process by which the shortlist and winner is selected isn’t entirely clear to me – it’s not as transparent as Canada’s Polaris Prize – but in a way that mysteriousness makes it more interesting.
Even though the “how” isn’t clear, a few years of Mercury-spotting has made the “what” pretty easy to peg, at least in a manner of speaking. History shows that about half the list is the cream of the Brit-indie pop/rock crop and the other half is pulled from all manner of other genres, from jazz to pop to hip-hop to what have you and the net result is eleven or twelve – interesting there’s no fixed size to the short list – albums that offer a good amount of grist for the conversational mill. The dozen records competing for the prize are:
Adele / 21 / Video: “Rolling In The Deep”
James Blake / James Blake / MP3: “To Care (Like You)”
Anna Calvi / Anna Calvi / MP3: “Blackout”
Elbow / build a rocket boys! / MP3: “Open Arms”
Everything Everything / Man Alive / Video: “Final Form”
Ghostpoet / Peanut Butter Blues & Melancholy Jam / Video: “Cash And Carry Me Home”
PJ Harvey / Let England Shake / MP3: “Written On The Forehead”
Katy B / On A Mission / Video: “Carry Me Home”
King Creosote & Jon Hopkins / Diamond Mine / Video: “Bubble”
Metronomy / The English Riviera / Video: “The Look”
Gwilym Simcock / Good Days at Schloss Elmau
Tinie Tempah / Disc-Overy / Video: “‘Til I’m Gone”
I can only speak to first-hand experience with about half the list, but it’s not unreasonable to think that the winning album will be amongst that subset. Indeed, many have already narrowed it down to a two-artist race between Adele and PJ Harvey, and if it’s down to those two I’d give the edge to Polly Jean if for no other reason than last year’s XX win was the eminently obvious choice. I don’t necessarily see them doing that again. And while I’d have no problem with either, both of their records being massive achievements by a number of standards, I’d be pretty happy to see Anna Calvi sneak up the middle to take it. I do love her self-titled debut and am sad that her appearance at Osheaga next week will not come with a stop down the 401. Perhaps a Mercury win would encourage her to do another North American tour and give me the opportunity to finally see her live. I also continue to love Elbow’s latest but think the odds of them winning for two albums in a row are pretty slim – they don’t have the underdog card to play anymore.
In any case, the winner will be announced on September 6.
Washington City Paper talks to Wild Beasts, whose Smother seems to be the consensus surprising omission from this year’s short list. They also do a couple video sessions for WNYC and The Fader and will be at The Mod Club on September 29.
Spin talks to Daniel Blumberg and The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel to Max Bloom, both of Yuck.
Emmy The Great talks to Clash about her personal grassroots campaign against News International.
Interview and The Sydney Morning Herald talk to Patrick Wolf about his new record Lupercalia while The Independent finds out how he and Patti Smith became friends.
JAM has a feature on White Lies, in town at The Phoenix on August 3.
NPR has a World Cafe session with Beady Eye.
The Grid is starting rumours that Noel Gallagher will be in town for a show the week his solo debut Noel Gallagher and the High Flying Birds is released in North America, which is to say November 8. Bookie’s not one to just make stuff up, so keep an eye out. Also, in conversation with The List, Gallagher says he takes no joy in Beady Eye’s failure to tear up the charts.
The Guardian talks to Adrian Utley and Geoff Barrow of Portishead, who have two shows at The Sound Academy on October 9 and 10; word is the first night is sold out and the second not too far behind.
Artrocker chats with Tim Burgess of The Charlatans.
eMusic talks reunions and reissues with Brett Anderson and Mat Osman of Suede.
According to The Guardian, the New Order split is about as final and acrimonious as you imagined it to be.
French dance-pop veterans Tahiti 80 are back with a new record in The Past, The Present & The Possible and a tour which brings them to The Horseshoe on September 22, tickets $13.50 in advance.
MP3: Tahiti 80 – “Keys To The City”
M83 has finally revealed specifics on and an MP3 from their next album, which will be a double-set entitled Hurry Up, We’re Dreaming. Pitchfork has details on the record, which will be out on October 18. M83 plays Lee’s Palace on November 18, tickets $20 in advance.
MP3: M83 – “Midnight City”
DIY has a profile of I Break Horses, whose debut Hearts is out August 15.
Spinner talks to Lykke Li.
Adult Swim is giving away a new song from The Tallest Man On Earth. Just because, I guess.
MP3: The Tallest Man On Earth – “Weather Of A Killing Kind”
In a perfect world, this would be an item about a new Jens Lekman album and world tour including a local date. But it’s not a perfect world so instead, it’s an item about a new EP entitled An Argument With Myself, due out September 20, and a US tour that doesn’t cross the border. The Secretly Canadian press release consists of an interview with Jens.
Stereogum has the first MP3 from the new Loney Dear record, entitled Hall Music and out on October 4. There’s also rumours/promises of North American dates in November.
Labrador Records, purveyors of the finest in Swedish pop, have put out a free label sampler entitled Stockholm Belongs To Us which collects tracks from all their active roster. Needless to say, it’s wonderful.
Consequence Of Sound and Pitchfork both have more details on Bjork’s Biophilia project, the album of which will be out September 27 and the app of which was released today – The Guardian takes it for a spin.
And speaking of Bjork, guess who’s going to Iceland Airwaves this October? Lots of people. Me amongst them. It’s unlikely I’ll be able to swing tickets to Bjork’s Reykjavík Concert Hall shows, but hey. Iceland!
Tuesday, July 19th, 2011
Ohbijou invite you to meet their metal
Laurie Kang & Hannah HurThere’s a temptation to wish that the title of Ohbijou’s third album offered a hint to the contents within, that the Toronto six-piece had discovered their inner headbanger and when Metal Meets was released on September 27, it would come in packaging adorned with pentagrams and flames. But not only would this hypothetical record probably not be very good – let’s be honest – it would also mean that the world would be down one almost certainly lovely collection of orchestral pop.
A preview of the new Jace Lasek-produced record was made available a couple of weeks ago and it certainly sounds like they’ve stayed the course laid out by their 2006 debut Swift Feet For Troubling Times and its 2009 follow-up Beacons, anchored by Casey Mecija’s sweet vocals and songwriting but allowing the sonics supporting them to grow and evolve. With its echoing electric guitar riff, “Niagara” would have sounded out of place on Swift Feet but as the first taste of the follow-up to Beacons, it makes perfect sense.
And as their sound gets bigger, so too do the rooms in which they’ll be playing. A set of eastern Canadian dates have been announced and the hometown date on September 30 finds them playing the gorgeous environs of Trinity-St. Paul’s – a milestone, to say the least. Tickets for the show are $20 and go on sale tomorrow at 10AM.
Ohbijou are also releasing a series of video trailers for the new record; at present there are two. Note the lack of three-finger devil salutes.
MP3: Ohbijou – “Niagara”
Light Fires, the electro-pop duo of which Ohbijou drummer James Bunton is half and Gentleman Reg’s Reg Vermue in the guise of Regina Gentlelady is the other have released a video for their debut single, available digitally and on 7″ as of today.
Video: Light Fires – “Ten Feet Tall”
I appear to have missed a couple instalments of the Bruce Peninsula Fire Sale, but that’s okay because they go with the just-released one to form an impressive collection of performances captured by Southern Souls, wherein the band’s members each cover a song by an artist they personally know. It’s also the first look at who is part of Bruce Peninsula this time around, with a number of new faces in the mix. Their second album Open Flames is due out in September and they play the Lower Ossington Theatre on August 11 as part of Summerworks.
Chart talks to Taylor Kirk of Timber Timbre.
The Quietus interviews saxophonist and Polaris shortlister Colin Stetson, who has a show at The Drake Underground on August 26. He’ll also release a 10″ EP entitled Those Who Didn’t Run on October 4.
The Wilderness Of Manitoba have released a new video from When You Left The Fire, done live-style.
Video: The Wilderness Of Manitoba – “Hermit”
Fucked Up guitarist Mike Haliechuk has a chat with The Vancouver Sun while frontman Damian Abraham has words with The Riverfront Times. Fucked Up play the Air Canada Centre
The Georgia Straight talks to Kathryn Calder, whose second solo album should be released sometime this Fall.
Dan Mangan discusses his forthcoming new record Oh Fortune with Spinner. The album is out September 27 and a cross-Canada tour has been announced; he’ll be at the Queen Elizabeth Theatre on October 28.
MP3: Dan Mangan – “Oh Fortune”
tUnE-yArDs brings her much-feted second album WHOKILL back to town for a show at Lee’s Palace on September 24.
MP3: tUnE-yArDs – “Bizness”
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