Wednesday, April 7th, 2010
Sarah Harmer returns to set Little Fire
FacebookThere was welcome and unexpected news in the inbox yesterday morning with the announcement that Sarah Harmer was back. It didn’t seem like she’d been away that long, but now that I think about it, the last time I saw her in any context was at Wolfe Island in 2007 with the reunited Weeping Tile, and it’s been almost five years since the release of her last album I’m A Mountain. So June 22, when her latest effort Oh Little Fire arrives, can’t come soon enough.
Harmer has been a musical constant in my life for what seems like ever, right back to 1995’s Weeping Tile debut Eepee – her voice and songwriting are like the ultimate comfort food or like a warm blanket under a clear, starry Canadian night sky though, to my knowledge, I have never lain in a warm blanket under a clear, starry Canadian night. Advance word has it that this record is more aggressive and direct than the bluegrass-y I’m A Mountain, and the first single “Captive”, streaming on her homepage, certainly seems to bear this out – clearly she’s not forgotten how to plug in and (folk-)rock.
Live dates for the Summer are forthcoming, but she’s already been announced as one of the performers at this year’s Osheaga festival in Montreal, which I suppose should have tipped me off that she had something new in the works. There’s an audio interview with Harmer available over at Canadian Living.
MySpace: Sarah Harmer
Another former Polaris shortlister who’s been out of sight a little while but is planning a big 2010 is Kathleen Edwards. Though not away for as long as Harmer, it has been a while – Edwards’ last record Asking For Flowers came out over two years ago. A recent blog post proves she’s not been idle, though – amongst other things, she’s been working with John Roderick of The Long Winters on a project (detailed by Roderick last December in Paste) and is also gearing up to record album number four. To that end, she’s setting up residence at the Drake Underground in Toronto for three weeks to (sort of) road test the new material; she’ll be there for three nights over three weeks – April 20, April 27 and May 4 – and tickets for the intimate shows are $20 and available for sale at Maple Music.
MP3: Kathleen Edwards – “In State”
MP3: Kathleen Edwards – “Back To Me”
Pitchfork talks to Wolf Parade about their third album, now entitled Expo 86 and out June 29. Here and The Coast also talk to the band, who are at the Phoenix tonight, April 7.
Yours Truly has got a terrific video session with Land Of Talk, recorded last Fall on their US tour. They’re at Lee’s Palace on Thursday night.
Filter Q&As Plants & Animals. Their new record La La Land is out April 20 and they play a free show at the Horseshoe that evening.
Caribou’s new record Swim is now streaming in its entiretly at aux.tv, two weeks in advance of its April 20 release date. Caribou play the Phoenix on May 3.
Stream: Caribou / Swim
Head over to Stereogum to download the first MP3 from Stars’ forthcoming The Five Ghosts, due out June 22. They play The Mod Club on May 5, to which I still have passes to give away. And yes, your odds are pretty bad right now (relative to my usual contests), but someone’s gotta win!
Spinner and Chart chat with Weakerthans guitarist Stephen Carroll. They play the Queen Elizabeth Theatre on May 26.
Aquarium Drunkard catches up with Born Ruffians at SxSW. Their new record Say It is out June 1; they play the Horseshoe on May 28.
Crystal Castles are headlining something called the HARD Summer Tour, and will be causing mayhem at the Kool Haus on August 14. Their second album should be out this Summer.
MP3: Crystal Castles – “Untrust Us”
NME gets on board the Diamond Rings bandwagon, offering up an MP3 of his second single for download.
MP3: Diamond Rings – “Wait And See”
FFWD and JAM get to know Think About Life.
Q-Town talks to Mark Hamilton of Woodpigeon.
The Wilderness Of Manitoba have announced some details of their debut full-length album – it’s entitled When You Left the Fire and should be out this Summer.
The New Yorker puts Neil Young and Jonathan Demme together in a room to discuss the Neil Young Trunk Show live film.
The Line Of Best Fit has posted up their ninth “Oh! Canada” downloadable mix.
Tuesday, April 6th, 2010
Review of Titus Andronicus’ The Monitor
Bao NguyenEver since I first saw Fanfarlo during SxSW last year – even before, actually – I’ve been waiting for them to come to Toronto. And though a mid-December date was cancelled due to a stolen passport, it appears all systems are go for their debut this Friday night at Lee’s Palace… so why won’t I be there? Well, blame New Jersey’s Titus Andronicus.
After seeing more than a few glowing reviews of their new album The Monitor, I dug up my copy, popped it in the CD player and proceeded to have my ass kicked for the next 60-plus minutes. The American Civil War themes that run through the record and offer context to the spoken word clips that appear throughout make for good talking points, but what’s really important about The Monitor is that it’s an uncompromising rock record that’s as tuneful and honest as it is intense and aggressive and so booze-soaked, you can almost see the fumes coming out of the speakers. And while on paper, that’s what all rock music should be, in reality it’s quite a rare thing and so when you hear it done right – and The Monitor does it right – it’s an eye-opener.
As far as reference points go, Titus Andronicus beats the music writer to the punch via their own bio, pre-emptively stating, “Blah blah blah Springsteen blah blah blah beer blah blah blah beard blah blah blah Shakespeare yadda yadda yadda Seinfeld blah blah blah Conor Oberst in a vat of acid blah blah blah books”. Clever, but if they were being thorough there’d be a few more “blahs” separating references to The Replacements, Whiskeytown and The Hold Steady and truly, The Monitor finds Titus Andronicus following in their same dense, wordy, angst-ridden, despondent and triumphant footsteps. It sprawls and staggers, it stands up and falls down. And gets back up again.
So what’s this got to do with Fanfarlo and their delightful orchestral pop? Well, Titus Andronicus are going to be at Sneaky Dee’s on Friday night as well, and as much as I enjoy the Londoners and hope they have a great show, I kind of want/need to see Titus Andronicus and, if their live reputation is accurate, get my face torn off. Figuratively speaking.
Titus Andronicus frontman Patrick Stickles tells Spinner how he recruited the likes of Craig Finn and Cassie Ramone (Vivian Girls) to provide the dramatic readings interspersed throughout the album. Pitchfork solicits a guest list from the band and Exclaim, eMusic and The Georgia Straight have interviews.
MP3: Titus Andronicus – “A More Perfect Union”
MP3: Titus Andronicus – “Four Score And Seven” (Part One)
MP3: Titus Andronicus – “Four Score And Seven” (Part Two)
Video: Titus Andronicus – “A More Perfect Union”
MySpace: Titus Andronicus
The Weekender talks to Hold Steady frontman Craig Finn about their new album Heaven Is Whenever, due out May 4.
Philadelphia Daily News, The Patriot Ledger, Victoria Advocate and JAM talk to Patterson Hood of Drive-By Truckers, who are in town this week for two nights at Lee’s Palace – April 6 and 7 – as well as an in-store at Sonic Boom at PM on Wednesday night. NYC Taper has a recording of their recent show in New York available to download.
White Rabbits have released a new video from last year’s It’s Frightening. They’re at Lee’s Palace on April 27.
Video: White Rabbits – “They Done Wrong, We Done Wrong”
Beatroute and Spinner talk to Spoon. The band stopped in at CBC last week to record a session for QTV.
Video: Spoon – “The Mystery Zone” (live on QTV)
The Quietus talks to The National’s Matt Berninger and Aaron Dessner about the making of High Violet, due out in just over a month on May 11. They play Massey Hall on June 8 and 9. And I really have to go pick up my tickets for that.
The Line Of Best Fit and Georgia Straight talk to Retribution Gospel Choir’s Alan Sparhawk.
LCD Soundsystem have scheduled a North American tour in support of their new record This Is Happening, out May 18, and it includes a May 25 date at the Kool Haus. Tickets $35 in advance, on sale Friday.
Stream: LCD Soundsystem – “Drunk Girls”
The Music Slut asks eight questions of Steve Drozdt of The Flaming Lips. They’ve announced a July 7 date in Montreal, so can a Toronto date – their first in almost four years – be far off? I imagine not.
Chart, eye and Metro talk to Superchunk’s Mac McCaughan about their contributions to the film Passenger Side, which premieres at the Royal tomorrow night and will be followed by an acoustic set from half of the ‘Chunk – Mac and Jim.
Interview and Under The Radar interview The Drums, whose debut album is due out June 7.
NPR interviews Sam Coomes of Quasi, who are in town at the Horseshoe on April 18.
Sounds Good Ink has a feature on Let’s Wrestle, who will be supporting Quasi on the aforementioned date (and tour).
Broward-Palm Beach New Times and Athens Banner-Herald have conversations with Arctic Monkeys bassist Nick O’Malley while News-Observer chats with guitarist Jamie Cook.
Doves’ guitarist Jez Williams talks to The Guardian about using the moon as a delay pedal and that the band have no plans to split, despite being in the career retrospective phase with the upcoming release of The Places Between: The Best Of Doves, due out April 20. Williams also tells BBC6 that he feels for new bands trying to get their careers started in this day and age.
Spinner and The Times chat with The Futureheads – their new record The Chaos is out in North America on June 1.
eGigs talks to Scott Hutchison of Frightened Rabbit, who are at the Opera House on May 4.
The first single from The Pipettes’ new record Earth Vs Pipettes, out June 28, is now available to download. Wouldn’t it be great if one of the choruses in the song went, “Our love was saved by Dr. Leo Spaceman“? Yes? No? Sorry, been watching a lot of 30 Rock.
MP3: The Pipettes – “Our Love Was Saved By Spacemen”
OPB Music has a video session with The Clientele, The Montreal Miror an interview.
Magnet prepares to hand over the editor’s desk to David Gedge of The Wedding Present for a week with a Q&A. They kicked off their Bizarro 20th anniversary tour last week and will be at the Horseshoe on April 14. The Aquarian Weekly also has an interview.
PopMatters interviews Bernard Sumner of Bad Lieutenant.
Clash lists 12 things you didn’t know about Pet Shop Boys.
The Quietus celebrates the 20th anniversary and defends the legacy of Lush.
Monday, April 5th, 2010
Shearwater, Wye Oak and Hospital Ships at Lee’s Palace in Toronto
Frank YangI’ve seen Shearwater’s latest album The Golden Archipelago referred to as the final part in both a trilogy and triptych in the band’s discography, completing the set started with 2006’s Palo Santo and 2008’s Rook. The “trilogy” appellation doesn’t really fit, however, as it implies that there’s some sort of overarching narrative across the records whereas the single unified tapestry implied by calling it triptych seems much more appropriate. Not that these are anything more than semantics – what is important is that The Golden Archipelago more than measures up to the immense heights set by Palo Santo and Rook.
Since putting aside their original mandate as the softer side of Okkervil River and becoming Jonathan Meiburg’s primary creative outlet, the Austin, Texas band have dedicated themselves to capturing the mystery and wonder of nature in the musical medium of prog/folk-rock and in the process, have carved a unique niche for themselves in the indie-rock landscape. The Golden Archipelago finds the band expanding their palette – though they’ve never restricted themselves to conventional instrumentation, the tones and textures at play here are more otherworldly than ever – while actually streamlining their songwriting into more pop-sized packages. No one would likely To be able to capture as much drama and majesty as they do without feeling rushed is an amazing achievement – “Castaways” lasts just three and a quarter minutes, but feels absolutely epic.
Epic is also a proper adjective to apply to Shearwater’s live shows, where they somehow manage to recreate the expansiveness of their recorded works. Since the first time I saw them in 2005 opening up for Mountain Goats, I’d been waiting for them to come back to Toronto in a headlining capacity but they’d been the perpetual undercard, at least until this past Thursday night when finally, it was “Shearwater” in big letters atop the Lee’s Palace marquee. Or at least the chalkboard outside the front door.
Anyone walking into Lee’s at around 9 and seeing Hospital Ships on stage would be forgiven for thinking they’d arrived two hours late and the headliner was already on. At various points in their set, the Lawrence, Kansas outfit included anywhere from three to five members of Shearwater, including frontman Jordan Geiger, also of Minus Story. Geiger apologized at one point for any sloppiness, saying they’d only been together a little while – maybe he was being ironic, considering how long the individuals on stage had been playing together in other projects – but it true that Hospital Ships weren’t exactly drum-tight up there, with some missed notes, cues and whatnot. But what they were was charming – Geiger was equipped with some pretty choice banter about visiting Toronto – and some solid, if not overwhelming tunes from their album Oh, Ramona.
Almost as long as I’d been waiting for Shearwater to come to town in a headlining capacity had I been waiting for Baltimore’s Wye Oak to come back to town, having missed their last appearance in May of 2008. I had seen them before though, back at SxSW 2008, a month before their debut If Children came out, and that show – like the album – spoke to me more about their potential than what they had actually accomplished at the time. A potential that was realized in a big way with last year’s follow-up The Knot, and happily that big leap forward has also carried over to their live show. Though it was still just Andy Stark behind the drum kit with keyboard and melodica at his side and Jenn Wasner on vocals and guitar, their confidence in what they were doing was clearly much greater and it made for a much more engaging performance. Stark’s ability to simultaneously manage the drums and keys was something to behold and Wasner put on a pretty impressive display of guitar heroics amidst leading the band’s aching, country-tinged dreampop. World take note – there’s not just one Baltimore-based duo out there right now that’s worthy of your notice.
Shearwater’s arrival onstage was heralded by a total dimming of the stage lights, an aesthetic choice that would sadly (for photographers, anyways) remain in effect through the whole show except for the one number where Meiburg asked, “how dark can we make it in here?”. But all the necessary luminosity for the night would be provided by their music, which would cover most of The Golden Archipelago and a handful of tracks from each of Rook and Palo Santo, all of which fit so well with each other that perhaps it should be mandated that all three are listened to in their entirety and in sequence. While Meiburg stayed in the (figurative) spotlight on either guitar or keys and of course his soaring voice, the band around him morphed with each song, adding and subtracting players and changing instruments as necessary. As always, Thor Harris proved himself the band’s secret weapon, not only handling the complex percussion that both anchors and buoys Shearwater’s sounds, but stepping out front on clarinet and teaming with bassist Kim Burke on the dueling glockenspiels of “Hidden Lakes”. Being the first time I’d seen them in a non-support, non-festival setting, it was the longest Shearwater set I’d seen – an hour-long main set plus two-song encore – and the extra time and lack of curfew really did allow the band the necessary space to properly stretch out and spread its wings. Simply grand.
Exclaim has a review of the show, while On Milwaukee and The National Post have conversations with Jonathan Meiburg.
Photos: Shearwater, Wye Oak, Hospital Ships @ Lee’s Palace – April 1, 2010
MP3: Shearwater – “Black Eyes”
MP3: Shearwater – “Castaways”
MP3: Shearwater – “Rooks”
MP3: Shearwater – “The Snow Leopard”
MP3: Shearwater – “Red Sea, Black Sea”
MP3: Shearwater – “Seventy-Four, Seventy-Five”
MP3: Shearwater – “I Can’t Wait”
MP3: Shearwater – “Room For Mistakes”
MP3: Shearwater – “An Accident”
MP3: Wye Oak – “Take It In”
MP3: Wye Oak – “Warning”
MP3: Hospital Ships – “Bitter Radio Single”
MySpace: Shearwater
MySpace: Wye Oak
Beatroute interviews Beach House, who will be at the Toronto Island Concert on June 19.
Also on the islands that day are Band Of Horses, who’ve shared the first look/listen of their new album Infinite Arms, out May 18.
Video: Band Of Horses – “Compliments”
Wilco will be streaming their live shows in Boston and Concord tomorrow and Wednesday night, respectively, at their Roadcase.
Superchunk’s Mac McCaughan talks to Metro about their first new record in almost a decade, due out later this year. Mac and Jim Wilbur will be in town on Wednesday to play a special acoustic set at The Royal following the screening of the film Passenger Side, which features their music (amongst others) and stars the guy with the unreasonably large jaw from Party Down. NOW talks to director Matt Bissonnette about the film.
PitchforkTV has a Tunnel Vision live video of Memory Tapes from the same show I was at. I only spent a little bit of the video trying to see if I could spot myself – the rest was remembering how marvelously well Memory Tapes works and sounds live. You might not expect it, but ’tis true.
The Irish Independent talks to Damon Krukowski about the legacy of Galaxie 500.
Spinner, The San Francisco Chronicle, Financial Times, Georgia Straight and Yorkshire Evening Post interview Jonsi, whose Go is out tomorrow and who plays the Sound Academy on April 30 and May 1.
Having now (presumably) recovered from the equipment theft that forced the cancellation of last week’s show at the Drake, Toro Y Moi has set a new date at Wrongbar for April 17.
MP3: Toro Y Moi – “Blessa”
UK punk forbears Buzzcocks have scheduled a North American tour to coincide with the re-release of their first three albums, Another Music In Another Kitchen, Love Bites and Different Kind Of Tension, wherein they’ll be playing the first two in their entirety in addition to other classic tracks. Spin has the full tour itinerary, which includes a May 19 date at the Opera House in Toronto.
Video: Buzzcocks – “What Do I Get”
London’s Turin Brakes will be at the Mod Club on May 20 in support of their new record Outbursts, out in North American on April 20.
Video: Turin Brakes – “Sea Change”
And while we’ve yet to see an official NXNE press release, some of the bigger names who’ll be at the festival have started leaking out – LA punk legends X and Seattle grunge forebears Mudhoney are doing a free show at Yonge-Dundas Square on June 17 and Man… Or Astroman and Mudhoney are playing the Horseshoe on June 18. Not a bad start.
Sunday, April 4th, 2010
Final Fantasy covers Joanna Newsom
WikipediaFlashback: 2006. Tiny Toronto label Escape Goat Records releases Young Canadian Mothers, a 10″ 7″ EP for local violin wunderkind Owen Pallett, who had released his debut album Has A Good Home under the Final Fantasy moniker the year before. It includes a cover of a song The Milk-Eyed Mender, the debut from California harpist Joanna Newsom, which had come out two year prior to decidedly polarizing response. The song in question – “Peach, Plum, Pear” – was a perfect pairing of two decidedly idiosyncratic artists who seemed destined to ply their craft on the fringes of the pop music world.
Fast forward to 2010 and the two former outsiders are now very much on the inside. In addition to being a highly in-demand string arranger for high profile acts like Arcade Fire, Pet Shop Boys and The Last Shadow Puppets, Pallett – now operating under his own name – won the inaugural Polaris Music Prize in 2006 and threatens to be the first repeat winner with this year’s Heartland. Newsom’s epic Ys was similarly one of the most acclaimed albums of 2006 and her new triple-album Have One On Me is, if possible, even more acclaimed. And Pallett’s recording of “Peach, Plum, Pear”? Still perfect.
Pallett plays the Queen Elizabeth Theatre this Thursday evening, April 8. Having just wrapped a North American tour, Newsom may be hitting the road again this Fall.
MP3: Final Fantasy – “Peach, Plum, Pear”
Video: Joanna Newsom – “Peach, Plum, Pear” (live)
Saturday, April 3rd, 2010
Shawn BrackbillOnce up a time, Sub Pop was synonymous with big, loud, sloppy rock music, making their name by releasing records from the likes of Mudhoney, Soundgarden and Nirvana. Then at some point in the past decade or so, they reinvented themselves as the home to soundtrack-friendly indie-pop, a la The Postal Service and The Shins, and sensitive singer-songwriter types like Fleet Foxes and Iron & Wine.
Anyone worrying that the label’s A&R department has gotten too soft, however, need look no further than Allentown, Pennsylvania’s Pissed Jeans, who’ve released their last two albums – 2007’s Hope For Men and 2009’s King Of Jeans – on the venerable Seattle-based indie. If their name didn’t tip you off, Pissed Jeans are kind of the farthest thing from bearded Americana – certainly more hardcore than grunge, but loud, abrasive and honestly kind of unpleasant. Which I suspect is the point.
They’re hitting the road next week and will be bringing their bodily fluids to the Horseshoe on April 12; tickets are $12 in advance but courtesy of Union Events, I have two pairs of passes to give away to the show – to enter, email me at contests AT chromewaves.net with “I want Pissed Jeans” (don’t worry, I won’t tell anyone) and your full name in the body. Contest closes at midnight, April 8.
MP3: Pissed Jeans – “Dream Smotherer”
MP3: Pissed Jeans – “False Jesii (Part 2”)
MP3: Pissed Jeans – “People Person”
MP3: Pissed Jeans – “I’ve Still Got You (Ice Cream)”
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