Friday, September 3rd, 2010
Darnielle and Bruno team up as The Extra Lens
MergeIt was announced last month that following a long, fruitful run on the venerable 4AD label, John Darnielle was herding up his Mountain Goats and moving to the equally venerable Merge Records for the release of the next Mountain Goats record and presumably a number of its successors. But before that run of records begins – presumably next year – there will come Undercard, a new album from the Darnielle project with frequent collaborator and contributor Franklin Bruno under the name The Extra Lens.
Formerly known as The Extra Glenns, the duo have been producing music independent of their respective solo projects since 2000 but had only one album to their name – 2002’s Martial Arts Weekend. And with the name change, I guess that won’t ever change, but I digress. Those coming to The Extra Lens via The Mountain Goats will be pleased to know that Darnielle’s distinctive cadence and aesthetic makes The Extra Lens feels instantly familiar. It’s sparer in arrangement than recent Goats records yet fuller in a sense, with Bruno’s multi-instrumental skills put to good use.
Though the record isn’t out until October 19, it’s already available to stream in its entirety at Merge so if the wait from last year’s The Life Of The World To Come to next year’s whatever it ends up being called is too long for you to manage, make with the clicky. It’s unclear if The Extra Lens will become a touring proposition, but if so, it’s worth pointing out that The Mountain Goats skipped Toronto entirely whilst promoting Life, so being one of some select dates would ba nice way of making that up. Just saying.
MP3: The Extra Lens – “Only Existing Footage”
MP3: The Extra Glenns – “Going To Marrakesh”
Stream: The Extra Lens / Undercard
New York’s Postelles are coming to town as part of a Fall tour in support of their forthcoming self-titled debut which is due out October 12 – look for them at the Mod Club on November 30. In addition to a Daytrotter session released earlier this Summer, the band have also put out a Buddy Holly cover.
MP3: The Postelles – “Everyday”
MP3: The Postelles – “White Night”
Video: The Postelles – “White Night”
Radiohead have made a fan-made live video bootleg of a show in Prague official by providing the audio masters from the performance for the soundtrack. Radiohead: Live In Praha is currently available for free download or can be watched clip-by-clip at YouTube.
Built To Spill have put out a new video from last year’s There Is No Enemy.
Video: Built To Spill – “Hindsight”
Beatroute interviews Ted Leo while Pitchfork talks to Tom Scharpling, who directed Leo’s new video for “Bottled In Cork”.
Beatroute talks briefly to Titus Andronicus’ Patrick Stickles.
The Irish Times runs a profile on The National, interviewing guitarist Aaron Dessner.
The Morning Benders have put out a new video from Big Echo. Support for their November 5 show at The Mod Club have been announced as Twin Sister and Oberhofer.
MP3: Twin Sister – “Dry Hump”
MP3: Oberhofer – “I Could Go”
Video: The Morning Benders – “All Day All Light”
Baeble Music has posted a Guest Apartment session with School Of Seven Bells. They’re at the Mod Club in a couple weeks, on September 15.
The Santa Barbara Independent interviews Tift Merritt.
Interview talks to Wes Miles and Rebecca Zeller of Ra Ra Riot.
Thursday, September 2nd, 2010
Music blog turns eight, pauses, gets on with it
CBCHere we are – another September 2, another blogiversary and another year in the books of doing… whatever this is. I have to tell you, there’s a great temptation on my end to use this occasion to get into some existential angst about where this site has been, where it might go and what on earth I’m going to do when it all inevitably ends (I’ve no idea and that’s terrifying), instead I’m just going to say fuck it, I’ll cross or fall off that bridge when I come to it.
For now, I’ll take some satisfaction in the fact that eight years is a long time in the real world – some of my blogging peers today weren’t even in high school when I started, for goodness sake – and a veritable eternity in internet time and extend my thanks to all of my readers who’ve been along for the ride at any point along this journey. This is nearly as much fun when no one reads it. Besides that… hell, I don’t know. Every year I tell myself I’m going to prepare something special post-wise or even event-wise for the anniversary but instead, it ends up being a case of, “oh shit, what day is it again?”. I actually did manage to put something proper together last year. All you get this year is a cover of this post’s namesake by this blog’s namesake.
MP3: Ride – “Eight Miles High”
And in other news. The Toronto International Film Festival opens up next week and coinciding with it is the grand opening of the festival’s new headquarters, the Bell Lightbox, down at King and John. Which in and of itself isn’t that significant hereabouts (though a functional building is always nicer than a construction site) but to mark the occasion, they’re throwing a block party on September 12 from 11AM to 4PM with all manner of goings-on, including performances from three of the ten Polaris shortlisters – Karkwa, The Sadies and Radio Radio. They’ll be playing from 12:20PM to 2PM and at 3PM, they’re promising another musical act who is one of “Canada’s hottest global superstars”… guesses, anyone?
Beatroute interviews Win Butler of Arcade Fire.
Shout Out Out Out Out have a date at Wrongbar on November 4. Their last album was 2009’s Reintegration Time.
Video: Shout Out Out Out Out – “Coming Home”
A bunch of new videos released today that up the Can-con quotient of the internet. First there’s a clip for “Quarry Hymns” from Land Of Talk’s new album Cloak & Cipher. Exclaim has posted some more of their interview with Liz Powell than appeared in this month’s cover story. Land Of Talk play Lee’s Palace on September 16.
Video: Land Of Talk – “Quarry Hymns”
The Acorn has a wonderful new stop-action clip from No Ghost. They’re releasing a remix album entitled Make The Least Of The Day on September 14 – details at Exclaim.
Video: The Acorn – “Restoration”
Black Mountain have released a second vid from Wilderness Heart, which will be out September 14. Beatroute has an interview with the band, who will be at the Phoenix on October 31.
Video: Black Mountain – “The Hair Song”
PitchforkTV has a Tunnelvision feature on Diamond Rings, whose debut Special Affections will be out on October 26.
Tokyo Police Club’s David Monks talks to Beatroute. They’re at the Ricoh Coliseum on October 22 in support of Phoenix.
Wednesday, September 1st, 2010
Fang Island tour, tour again, tour some more
Sargent HouseFans of Fang Island residing in Toronto can be forgiven for finding the Brooklyn combo’s Fall touring itinerary a confusing bit of tease. Following some European dates at the tail end of Summer, they’re heading out west with Matt & Kim for September, and then with Coheed & Cambria through the midwest and across Canada in October, inching ever closer to the 416 but stopping juuuuust short, wrapping things in Kitchener on October 29 (Coheed & Cambria having brought their comic book metal act to town back in May).
Surely it wouldn’t have been too much difficulty to just hang around just one more day and bring the arena-sized guitar-tap-happy anthems of their self-titled debut to Toronto, considering they last time they were here was in July opening for The Flaming Lips and there were – generously – maybe 100 people on hand to see them. But as it turns out, we aren’t being neglected but just put off a little bit. The road warriors will be back at it in November and riffing furiously at audiences in the eastern half of North America alongside Delicate Steve and that will include a November 16 date at the El Mocambo; tickets $11.50 in advance.
MP3: Fang Island – “Daisy”
MP3: Fang Island – “Life Coach”
Video: Fang Island – “Careful Crossers”
Video: Fang Island – “Life Coach”
Video: Fang Island – “Daisy”
Hailing from the back woods of rural Michigan, Breathe Owl Breathe will be at Wrongbar on September 22 in advance of the September 28 release of their new record Magic Central. Kind of an odd venue for their pretty and pretty quiet folk-pop, but it is what it is.
MP3: Breathe Owl Breathe – “Own Stunts”
Video: Breathe Owl Breathe – “Own Stunts”
Alejandro Escovedo, just here opening up for Blue Rodeo, will return for his own show at the Opera House on September 29 – tickets $25 in advance
Chart talks to Peelander-Z, whose two-night stand in Toronto begins tonight at The Velvet Underground and wraps tomorrow at The Silver Dollar.
JAM and The Boston Phoenix talk to Kele, who brings his solo debut to the Mod Club on Friday night, September 3.
To mark the late Summer tour that brings them to the El Mocambo on Saturday night, September 3, Telekinesis have released a new EP called Parallel Seismic Conspiracies that is available digitally anywhere people have internets but in physical form only at their shows. And they’ve made a video for one of the songs.
Video: Telekinesis – “Dirty Thing”
Also doing the tour-exclusive release thing are Caribou, who have turned a recording of their incarnation as the Caribou Vibration Ensemble at last year’s All Tomorrow’s Parties in upstate New York into a live album. It will be released as a double-vinyl with accompanying DVD – presumably also of the ATP show and not the Toronto performance a few days earlier – and be sold only at shows. Like the one September 17 at the Phoenix. You can download a few of the tracks at the Free Music Archive but really, you’ll want the whole thing.
MP3: Caribou Vibration Ensemble – “Skunks”
Drowned In Sound meets Avi Buffalo. They’re at The Horseshoe on October 18.
The Fly solicits an acoustic session from The Vaselines. Their new record Sex With An X is out September 14 and they’ll play songs from it at The Horseshoe on October 30.
Spin find out where the name Grinderman came from, when “Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds” seemed perfectly accurate. Their Grinderman 2 is out September 14 and they’re at The Phoenix on November 11.
Tuesday, August 31st, 2010
Ra Ra Riot at The Mod Club in Toronto
Frank YangSyracuse’s Ra Ra Riot have found success largely by maintaining a delicate stylistic balancing act; one that relies on the sextet’s energy and musical dexterity to offset their more ostentatious proclivities. In particular, the tendency to allow the strengths that made them distinct – the vocal acrobatics of Wes Miles and string section of Alexandra Lawn and Rebecca Zeller – to run away with things. At their best, they were a dizzyingly nimble orchestral rock ensemble; at their worst, overly indulgent and precious. Their 2008 debut The Rhumb Line deftly walked this line and on the whole, came out on the winning side.
The just-released follow-up The Orchard doesn’t get to make the same claim. As sophomore efforts demand, the band’s sound has grown from the debut but it’s done so in the direction of giving Miles more room to stretch out, vocally, and the result is a general sense of oversinging. Similarly, it sounds as though the faders on the strings have been pushed up sufficiently that rather than dance in and out of the mix equally with the other instruments, they seem to be overtop of things more often than not. Neither are major, game-changing shifts but as stated, it was a fragile state of equilibrium and one easily upset. It’s by no means a catastrophe, though – still intact is their collective musical chemistry and sense of melody and songcraft and underneath the slightly overcooked presentation are still some instantly catchy tunes. The Orchard‘s best moments are the uptempo ones that sound like they could have come straight off The Rhumb Line, which I prefer to interpret not as that they’ve already peaked creatively but instead have a strong foundation from which to grow in the right direction come record number three.
They’ve still got it just right on the stage, however, as Monday night’s free show at the Mod Club attested. Offered as a gift to fans who didn’t want to see them turn in a brief opening set at the Molson Amphitheatre on Saturday night, they delivered a full and proper show that served to remind that they’re an exceptional live act. Delivered with unrelenting energy and a punchiness that’s not really captured on record, nary a member of the band stopped moving for the better part of an hour, seemingly enthralled and compelled to dance by their music. That probably sounds more flowery than its intended, but it when the band is completely caught up in the sounds they’re making, it really sets the tone for the show and there was plenty of bopping up and down in the audience as well. The set list wisely stuck to the most up tempo songs in their repertoire and really showcased the talents of bassist Mathieu Santos, guitarist Milo Bonacci and drummer Gabriel Duquette. Though Miles, Lawn and Zeller understandably get the most attention, its those three who really lay down the rhythmic and melodic backbone of the band. But it’s the six of them operating as a single musical entity that impresses most with Ra Ra Riot and no reservations about their recorded work can diminish that.
There’s a decent recording of the show up at Hater High and according to the band, we can expect another local date some time in December. Seattle Weekly interviews guitarist Milo Bonacci.
Photos: Ra Ra Riot @ The Mod Club – August 30, 2010
MP3: Ra Ra Riot – “Boy”
MP3: Ra Ra Riot – “Dying Is Fine”
MP3: Ra Ra Riot – “Each Year” (EP version)
Video: Ra Ra Riot – “Boy”
Video: Ra Ra Riot – “Can You Tell?”
Video: Ra Ra Riot – “Ghost Under Rocks”
Video: Ra Ra Riot – “Dying Is Fine”
MySpace: Ra Ra Riot
Magnet interviews Versus in anticipation of the band taking over the editorial reins of the website this week.
Arcade Fire continue to be disinterested in making conventional music videos, and the world is a better place for it. The clip ostensibly for “We Used To Wait” can be found at The Wilderness Downtown and uses a fascinating mash-up of HTML 5 and Google Earth to take you back to the neighbourhood you grew up in. My own personal experience was surprisingly powerful, but even if yours isn’t as much so, it’s still pretty cool. There’s some background about the technologies at play over at Chrome Experiments. Oh yeah, you’ll need the Google Chrome browser for it to work properly. It’s a good browser. Worth the download.
Video: Arcade Fire – “We Used To Wait”
Interpol are also getting into the neat video racket with a POV multi-camera session over at PitchforkTV. Their self-titled album is out next week.
Also out next week is The Thermals’ new record Personal Life, which is currently streaming in whole at NPR. They’re at Lee’s Palace October 9.
Stream: The Thermals / Personal Life
Film School’s new album Fission is available to stream over at Spinner, as is Jenny & Johnny’s debut I’m Having Fun Now; both are out this week. Film School are at the El Mocambo on October 4 and Jenny & Johnny open up for Band Of Horses at the Kool Haus on October 21.
Stream: Film School / Fission
Stream: Jenny & Johnny / I’m Having Fun Now
Stereogum has premiered the new video from The Drums’ self-titled debut, which is either out now if like vinyl or on September 14 if you like CD. They’re at the Mod Club on October 21.
Video: The Drums – “Down By The Water”
Cleveland Scene talks to Doug Martsch of Built To Spill.
Monday, August 30th, 2010
Review of Kathryn Calder’s Are You My Mother?
Caleb ByersIt’s been a half-decade since Kathryn Calder joined The New Pornographers in 2005, and in that time she’s gone from handling the impossible task of pinch-hitting on tours for Neko Case to appearing on their last three albums and becoming an as integral part of the band – her parts may not have the force of personality as Case’s, but her more delicate approach offers an important contrast and gives Carl Newman another invaluable tool in assembling his power pop symphonies. But prior to joining the Pornographers, Calder had her own creative outlet in Immaculate Machine and while she retains a membership card for the Victoria-based band, she’s largely ceded that outfit to guitarist Brooke Gallupe. Which basically meant that a solo album was pretty much an inevitability, but that doesn’t make Are You My Mother? any less of a surprise.
My experience with Calder as a songwriter goes back as far as the first couple Immaculate Machine records and while they were decent enough pop records, they weren’t particularly exceptional within the realm of Canadian indie. The years of apprenticing to Carl Newman have clearly paid off, however, as Mother is a remarkably fully-realized solo debut, and while it features plentiful contributions from various Pornographers and other Vancouver-based musicians, Calder is clearly in the driver’s seat throughout. One might be forgiven for assuming that given her role as singer and keyboardist in the Pornographers, Calder solo might turn out a record of singer-songwriter-oriented girl-and-piano material. And while at its quieter moment Mother does strip things down to just that, numbers like album opener “Slip Away” and the barreling “Castor And Pollux” are as grandiose pop as anything the New Pornographers might create and just as instantly memorable. Mother is rangy and engaging, built around Calder’s crystalline, pitch-perfect yet expressive voice and perhaps more importantly, her impressive songwriting chops.
The New Pornographers are frequently called a “super-group”, implying that each of their members are as equally accomplished on their own as they are in the band – with Are You My Mother?, Kathryn Calder steps up and makes that even more true.
MP3: Kathryn Calder – “Arrow”
MP3: Kathryn Calder – “Slip Away”
Video: Kathryn Calder – “Slip Away”
MySpace: Kathryn Calder
If you missed North Carolina’s Lost In The Trees when they played a free show here back in June (which I previewed but did not manage to attend), they’re back on September 27 at the Drake Underground in support of Mercury shortlisted Irish act Villagers. They’ve also got a new Daytrotter session up for grabs.
MP3: Lost In The Trees – “Fireplace”
MP3: Lost In The Trees – “All Alone In An Empty House”
Winter Gloves will mark the September 7 release of their second album All Red with an acoustic in-store performance at Kops Records that same night at 5:30PM.
MP3: Winter Gloves – “Plastic Slides”
Toronto power-pop aficionados The Golden Dogs will follow up their September 17 show at the Drake Underground with a September 23 in-store performance at Soundscapes at 7PM. Their new record Coat Of Arms came out last month.
MP3: The Golden Dogs – “Permanent Record”
The Great Hall will certainly be the scene of mayhem on October 12 when the tour teaming Lightning Bolt and Dan Deacon hits Toronto. Those wanting to be out of the line of fire can take refuge on the stage because neither performer will be setting up there.
MP3: Lightning Bolt – “Colossus”
MP3: Dan Deacon – “Get Older”
LA duo No Age will be releasing their second album Everything In Between on September 28 and have announced an extensive Fall tour to support – the Toronto date comes November 18 at the Polish Combatants Hall.
MP3: No Age – “Glitter”
The Toronto Star talks to Peelander Yellow of Peelander-Z, in town to make things silly at the Velvet Underground on September 1 and The Silver Dollar on September 2.
Spinner talks to Lissie about the attention her penchant for covers has gotten her and her debut album Catching A Tiger; The Independent also has a feature. She’s at the El Mocambo on October 19.
Spinner talks to Interpol drummer Sam Fogarino and Black Book solicits a list of the band’s favourite NYC hang outs. The band’s self-titled effort will be out September 7 and they’ve just released a second video from it.
Video: Interpol – “Barricade”
Ted Leo talks to Billboard about the making of the off-off-off-off-Broadway video for “Bottled In Cork”.
NPR is streaming a World Cafe session with LCD Soundsystem.
The Guardian salutes 4AD on the occasion of the legendary label’s 30th anniversary.
And a note to folks in Toronto that if you’re looking for something to do of the cinematic variety this week, you could do much worse than to check out No Heart Feelings at the Royal, where it’s screening through Thursday of this week. It’s a romantic comedy (but not really a rom-com) set in an eminently familiar Toronto from three local first-time directors and though imperfect – it suffers from the atmosphere-and-dialogue-in-lieu-of-plot vagueness that’s all too common in independent film – it’s still a winner thanks to its charm and authenticity (though I don’t do as much in and around the city nearly as much as their characters do, I have no problem believing that people actually DO these things and that I’m really just a shut-in). Don’t take my word for it, check out positive reviews in The Globe & Mail, The Toronto Star and The National Post.
Trailer: No Heart Feelings
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