Tuesday, June 28th, 2011

You Lived In The City

The Besnard Lakes welcome you to Pine Point

Photo By Jessica Eaton Jessica EatonThough they should be – and probably are – at work on their next album, a follow-up to last year’s The Besnard Lakes Are The Roaring Night, Montreal’s Besnard Lakes have put together a little something something that will not only slake their fans’ appetite for some new outer space-scale rock, but give them an excuse to get out of the studio and back on the road for a spell. On September 20, they’ll release You Lived In the City, a new 12″ EP that contains music the band prepared for the documentary film Welcome To Pine Point, which chronicles the short life of a town in the Northwest Territories.

As for the aforementioned tour, it will kick off in late September on the west coast and wind its way across the continent – largely in Canada but with some forays south of the border – before wrapping mid-October in Ottawa, though you have to think that there’ll be a hometown show to cap it off. Toronto gets our fix on October 13 at Lee’s Palace, tickets $20 in advance. And sweetening the deal, as though it needed sweetening, is the fact that Malajube will be opening up all dates – that’s two bands with four Polaris shortlist appearances between them – five if Malajube’s La caverne gets the nod in a couple weeks. Not bad.

MP3: The Besnard Lakes – “Albatross”
MP3: Malajube – “Synesthésie”
Trailer: Welcome To Pine Point

Scenes From The Subrubs, the Spike Jonze-directed short film assembled to give Arcade Fire a music video and an excuse to re-release The Suburbs, is currently available to stream in its entirety over at mubi.com. The deluxe edition of The Suburbs is out August 2.

Video: Scenes From The Suburbs

Filter talks to Graham Van Pelt of Miracle Fortress. They play The Lower Ossington Theatre on August 12 as part of Summerworks. And speaking of Summerworks, the festival has run a bit afoul of the current federal government and had their funding cut; donations to help make up the shortfall are welcome (and tax deductible).

The Alternate Side has a session and interview with The Dears.

Their August 1 show in support of new album Sound Kapital presumably long sold out, Handsome Furs have added a second date at The Horseshoe for August 2, tickets $15 in advance. Exclaim has an interview.

MP3: Handsome Furs – “Repatriated”

The Corkman chats with Owen Pallett, who has two dates at the Phoenix – August 2 and 4 – opening up for Beirut.

While there hasn’t been much to draw music fans to the Toronto Islands this Summer – no V Fest, no Olympic Island shows, just the Sarah Harmer, Serena Ryder and Skydiggers free show on July 16 – Wavelength has put together a good reason to hop on the ferry for the weekend of August 13 and 14. That’s when the annual ALL CAPS! all-ages festival goes down, this year featuring performances from Julie Doiron, The Wooden Sky, Monogrenade, Steamboat, Muskox, Rich Aucoin, Dog Bus, More or Les, Evening Hymns, Moon King, Jennifer Castle and DD/MM/YYYY. And this is in addition to art installations, BBQs, general fun and frivolity and – get this – overnight camping on the island. Tickets and specifics still to come.

MP3: Julie Doiron – “Consolation Prize”
MP3: The Wooden Sky – “Something Hiding For Us In The Night”
MP3: Monogrenade – “Ce Soir”
MP3: Evening Hymns – “Cedars”
MP3: Rich Aucoin – “10,342 Cuts For The US”
MP3: Jennifer Castle – “Neverride”
MP3: DD/MM/YYYY – “Infinity Skull Cube”

Hooded Fang are not resting on their Polaris long-list laurels for their debut album Album; they’ve got a new album entitled Tosta Mista coming out July 26 – check out a couple new songs below and see them when they play the Lower Ossington Theatre on August 6 for Summerworks.

MP3: Hooded Fang – “ESP”
MP3: Hooded Fang – “Den Of Love”

Sloan have taken their turn in the AV Club’s Undercover studio, covering Gary Numan’s “Cars”. There’s also an interview at BrooklynVegan.

Southern Souls has posted a video session with Chad VanGaalen. Post City also has an interview.

Woodpigeon have put out a video from last year’s Balladeer: To All The Guys I’ve Loved Before and, via their blog, made a new song built off a poem by Marie Cecilia Ryan available to download. And head over to YouTube to see a set of live videos recorded in a disused London schoolhouse.

MP3: Woodpigeon – “The Way To Happiness”
Video: Woodpigeon – “Featherstone”

The Guardian contemplates the appeal of soft rock with Dan Bejar of Destroyer.

There’s a little photography-tilted interview with me over at Live In Limbo.

By : Frank Yang at 8:26 am

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Monday, June 27th, 2011

My Aim Is True

Elvis Costello & The Imposters at The Sony Centre For The Performing Arts in Toronto

Photo By Frank Yang Frank YangIf any artist has earned the right to do whatever the hell he wants, it’s Elvis Costello. And indeed, he’s taken full advantage of this creative liberty over his three-and-a-half decade career; starting as the “angry young man” coming out of the British punk scene and becoming, at various points in his career, a country crooner, jazz singer and pop classicist and all points in between, to say nothing of his forays into acting and television talk show host. And unlike some who’ve transformed their personas to match each artistic endeavour, Costello has always remained Costello – same glasses, maybe a different hat (okay, there was the Mighty Like A Rose beard). As said, the man does what he wants and offers no apologies for it.

And if he wants to resurrect a tour concept from a quarter-century ago, “The Spectacular Spinning Songbook” wherein audience members choose the set list by randomly spinning a giant carnival wheel, then he’s going to do it – never mind that the original go-around with the wheel apparently didn’t go so well. Having been all of 11 at the time that went down, I obviously can’t comment on whether or not the criticisms of the tour were valid but considering that Costello’s two 1986 releases – King Of America and Blood & Chocolate – are basically my favourite of his records, so from my point of view circa ’86 he was on top of his game. And anyways, the idea of seeing Elvis for the first time in a decade or so playing songs pulled from throughout his career rather than to promote his last record National Ransom – which is fine and all, don’t get me wrong – sounded like a pretty good one. Which brings us to Thursday night at the rather posh Sony Centre For The Performing Arts.

Eschewing any support act for the evening, Costello and The Imposters – his backing band of the past decade or so which is basically The Attractions, his backing band of the past three decades with the exception of Davy Faragher replacing bassist Bruce Thomas – took the colourfully-decorated, playground-like stage shortly after eight, supported by a go-go dancer and hostess charged with selecting and escorting audience members to spin the wheel, typically attractive and well-dressed young women. Not that they were called on until a ways into the set; Costello and company set the tone themselves opening with a blistering “I Hope You’re Happy Now” (from Blood & Chocolate) and tearing through a set of classics that established that they were here to play. At that point, Costello introduced himself as Napoleon Dynamite – his alias that predates the movie by a good twenty years – and entered sideshow barker mode and the first audience member invited to take the Spinning Songbook for a whirl landed on Punch The Clock‘s “Everyday I Write The Book”, the first Costello song I ever recall hearing. Yeah, I’d say this was a good start to the night.

Offering a blow-by-blow of the more than two-and-a-half hour show would be futile, so I won’t bother; just look at the set list. In a word, the show was amazing. In a few more words, it was a joyous romp through Costello’s extensive songbook and a few others’, with covers and cribs of artists as diverse as The Beatles, Prince and Smokey Robinson peppered through the set. What it wasn’t, however, was a greatest hits set – there were hits a-plenty, yes, but still plenty of selections from Costello’s more recent, less chart-topping records, all of which served a purpose. “I Still Have That Other Girl”, from his Painted From Memory Bacharach collaboration gave him opportunity to roam the audience crooning, “Spooky Girlfriend” – leading off a block of four “girl”-themed songs thanks to a jackpot spin on the wheel – reminded that his 2001 return to form album When I Was Cruel really was a return to form and “Turpentine” off of 2008’s Momofuku allowed Costello to showcase his “little hands of concrete” on some absolutely ripping guitar solos.

Truly, every selection was some degree of highlight but as good as it all was from note one, but as you’d expect from a veteran showman, he still saved the best for last. Closing the main set with an affecting “Shipbuilding” – I guess we were lucky no one spun that one earlier on – Costello took advantage of the break to change out of his suit coat, which was by this point completely soaked through with sweat, to change into something a little more checked and kitschy and play a couple of National Ransom tunes solo and acoustic and then into some gold lame jacket to lead the Imposters back onstage for the second encore. Not done yet, no sir. The wheel was brought back into play and though the results rigged just a bit, no one was going to complain about the Armed Forces/My Aim Is True/This Year’s Model suite of songs that ensued, including the most polite, middle-aged stage invasion you ever did see. “Pump It Up” segued into an unexpected partial cover of “Purple Rain” and following a stirring “Man Out Of Time”, they closed with “I Hope” from National Ransom.

What else can be said? It was a two-hour, forty-minute tour de force performance from one of the greatest pop songwriters of the last thirty years. Ladies and gentlemen, Elvis Costello.

The Toronto Sun, The Globe & Mail, Lithium, The National Post and Torontoist also have reviews of the show.

So far this year, we’ve had visits from Duran Duran, Orchestral Maneuvers In The Dark and now… The Human League? They’re going to be in town as part of a North American tour on September 18 at The Guvernment, ostensibly in support of new album Credo but let’s be honest – you know what you want to hear.

Video: The Human League – “Don’t You Want Me”

The Fader chats with Dev Hynes of Blood Orange; his debut under that name, Coastal Grooves, is out August 8.

NPR has posted a World Cafe session with James Blake. He plays The Phoenix on September 30.

Under The Radar has details on the debut album from London’s Still Corners; Creatures Of An Hour will be out on October 11 and the first MP3 is available to grab now.

MP3: Still Corners – “Cuckoo”

Glasvegas have released a new video from Euphoric Heartbreak.

Video: Glasvegas – “Shine Like Stars”

DIY chatted with Yuck whilst at Glastonbury this weekend.

NPR checks in with Ida Maria, whose new album Katla came out very quietly at the start of the month, at least in digital form. The record is streaming on her website right now.

Stream: Ida Maria / Katla

NPR has a profile of Nick Cave, whose rendering of The Zombies’ classic “She’s Not There” with Neko Case, recorded for this season’s True Blood soundtrack, is available to stream over at KCRW.

By : Frank Yang at 8:21 am

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Sunday, June 26th, 2011

"The River"

Crooked Fingers covers Bruce Springsteen

Image via Merge MergeWhy post a Crooked Fingers track when this Summer, all anyone is talking about with regards to one Eric Bachmann is the Archers Of Loaf reunion? Because said reunion isn’t coming to Toronto – at least not this Summer – and Crooked Fingers are.

The band, consisting of Bachmann and who knows who else this time out, were last heard from on last year’s Reservoir Songs 2. As the name implies, it was a sequel to 2002’s Reservoir Songs, both EPs of cover songs as interpreted by Bachmann and band. Some of the selections on the first volume – like the Prince and David Bowie/Queen tunes – were rather left-field but the Springsteen song? Not so much. Bachmann’s rasp is perfectly suited to The Boss’ tale of smalltown desperation, and if anything the sparer, banjo-led arrangement of the Crooked Fingers version makes theirs even more haunting.

Crooked Fingers will be at The Horseshoe on July 3 and no, I don’t think a couple of Archers requests would be out of line. Their new album Breaks In The Armor comes out in October. Bruce Springsteen and The E Street Band suffered a huge loss last week with the passing of saxophonist Clarence Clemons. Their last album was 2009’s Working On A Dream.

MP3 Crooked Fingers – “The River”
Video: Bruce Springsteen – “The River”

By : Frank Yang at 10:03 am

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Saturday, June 25th, 2011

CONTEST – Joel Plaskett / EMERGENCYs, false alarms, shipwrecks, castaways, fragile creatures, special features, demons and demonstrations

Image via New Scotland New ScotlandJoel Plaskett is something akin to a national treasure to those who place great value on things like classically-styled, distinctly Canadian-flavoured pop-rock songwriting and Plaskett has hardly been shy about keeping his creative riches to himself. Over a seventeen-year career, reaching back to the first Thrush Hermit EP and through his work fronting The Emergency and under his own name solo, he’s released at least eight proper albums and more EPs, the most recent of which – Three – was a triple-disc set.

And yet for all of the material that he’s released officially, countless more has remained in the vaults – at least until now. Plaskett has just released EMERGENCYs, false alarms, shipwrecks, castaways, fragile creatures, special features, demons and demonstrations, compilation of demos, outtakes and whatnot culled from his post-Thrush Hermit works – those cupboards were cleared last year – that does a good job of reinforcing just how consistent a talent Plaskett is; though the material contained within spans a decade, it all hangs together very nicely and feels far from a collection of cast-offs.

The compilation is available either digitally or in an LP/CD combo package, with the wax providing a home to a dozen tracks and the compact disc containing all those and another eight, and courtesy of Pigeon Row, I’ve got two of these LP/CD sets to give away. To enter, email me at contests AT chromewaves.net with “I want the Joel Plaskett” in the subject line and your full name and mailing address in the body. Contest is open to residents of Canada and will close at midnight, July 1.

Exclaim talks to Plaskett about looking back and what comes next.

MP3: Joel Plaskett – “When I Go”
Stream: Joel Plaskett / EMERGENCYs, false alarms, shipwrecks, castaways, fragile creatures, special features, demons and demonstrations

By : Frank Yang at 10:08 am

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Saturday, June 25th, 2011

CONTEST – Sianspheric & Ringo Deathstarr @ The Garrison – June 30, 2011

RDS Photo By Frank Yang Frank YangWho: Sianspheric and Ringo Deathstarr
What: One is a long-running (with some breaks) psych/space rock veterans from Hamilton; the other an up-and-coming trio of MBV devotees from Austin
Why: Because you’re tired of being able to hear? Sianspheric are a decade on from their last album The Sound of the Colour of the Sun but their rare live shows are alway worth getting mobilized for. And Ringo Deathstarr, besides rocking a great name, have a solidly-received debut in Colour Trip that amps up the pop aspects of the shoegaze scene without compromising any of the sonic impact.
When: Thursday, June 30, 2011
Where: The Garrison in Toronto (19+)
How: Tickets are $10 in advance but courtesy of Sonic Unyon, I’ve got two pairs of passes to the show to give away and as a bonus, a copy of Colour Trip on CD for each winner. To enter, email me at contests AT chromewaves.net with “I want to see Sianspheric” in the subject line and your full name in the body. Contest closes at midnight, June 27.
What else: The Georgia Straight and Soundspike have Ringo Deathstarr features.