Sunday, April 12th, 2009
MySpaceNatasha Khan of Bat For Lashes could sing the alphabet and make it sound sultry and mysterious. So when she tackled this Cure classic for the Perfect As Cats tribute album last Fall, it was really no surprise that the result was, well, sultry and mysterious where the original was tense and foreboding – whereas Robert Smith sounded like he wanted to scare you away from the forest, Khan seeks to entice.
Bat For Lashes released their second album Two Suns last week to glowing reviews and a Pitchfork “Best New Music” endorsement. Her North American tour consists of a short, five-date east coast jaunt in late April followed by a handful of west coast dates in June. It all starts next Saturday night, April 25, at the Mod Club in Toronto, and there’s simply no way the show won’t be marvelous.
There’s features on Bat For Lashes at The Birmingham Mail and BBC, and Deaf Indie Elephants has a couple MP3s from a BBC Live Lounge session, including a Kings Of Leon cover. The Cure have, I believe, stopped pretending they’re going to retire anytime soon.
MP3: Bat For Lashes – “A Forest”
Video: The Cure – “A Forest”
Saturday, April 11th, 2009
TravisI’ll not be so ungenerous as to say something like, “Travis? They’re still around?”. After all, I got a lot of enjoyment out of their 1999 breakthrough album The Man Who, although those good feelings may have just been dispelled by the realization that that record came out a full decade ago. And though they never quite reached that level of popular success again, I know the Scottish quartet have forged a very respectable career in the interim.
But still, they’d fallen off my radar more than a little and I was a bit surprised when their latest album Ode To J Smith showed up in my mailbox last year, it being the first physical evidence of their continued plugging along I’d been faced with in some time. And I was even more surprised to find that rather than get softer in their old age – they were hardly rock monsters even in their youth – Smith presented a louder and more aggressive Travis than I’d expected. Fran Healy’s yearning voice does still soften the edges of anything it’s laid overtop and the ballad end of things is well-represented, but the record has an energy level that they are to commended on. I don’t know that the songs themselves are that noteworthy – loud or no, they’re still a pop band and there’s nothing that’s as hooky or affecting as their best work (though the anthemic “Song To Self” comes pretty damn close) – but it’s pleasing to see they’re still kicking and with such vitality.
And they’re currently kicking their way across North America on tour for J Smith and that itinerary includes a date at the Sound Academy in Toronto on April 21. And, courtesy of Fontana North, I’ve got a pair of tickets for the show to give away. If you want to go and promise to cheer just as loudly for the new material as you will for “Why Does It Always Rain On Me?”, them email me at contests AT chromewaves.net with “I want to see Travis” in the subject line and your full name and mailing address in the body. These are physical tickets that will need to be delivered. And as such, this contest will close at midnight, April 14 so that the post office has time to do their thing.
There’s interviews with the band at Planet Radiocity, Deseret News and The Salt Lake Tribune.
Video: Travis – “J Smith”
Video: Travis – “Song To Self”
Video: Travis – “Why Does It Always Rain On Me”
MySpace: Travis
Friday, April 10th, 2009
Brooke FitsDamien Jurado is a big guy. At first glance, certainly not the sort of guy you’d expect to deal in songs such as his, full of frailty and heartbreak, but it just goes to show you can’t… I don’t believe I’m going to use this phrase… judge a book by its cover. But with his latest release, last year’s Caught In The Trees, it seems Jurado is adding a new chapter to that book, one with brighter tones and tempos and perhaps a lighter mood. The plot is unchanged from one of dark, aching beauty, but at least the setting has shifted a bit.
Jurado is taking his show on the road this Spring accompanied by Laura Gibson and will be at the Drake Underground in Toronto next Tuesday night, April 14. And courtesy of Against The Grain, I’ve got a pair of passes to give away for the show. To enter, email me at contests AT chromewaves.net with “I want to see Damien Jurado” in the subject line and your full name in the body, and get that to me by midnight Sunday, April 12.
MP3: Damien Jurado – “Gillian Was A Horse”
MP3: Damien Jurado – “What Were The Chances”
MP3: Damien Jurado – “White Center”
MP3: Damien Jurado – “Texas To Ohio”
MySpace: Damien Jurado
Friday, April 10th, 2009
Watch "The Water", starring Feist and Cillian Murphy
PitchforkDirected by Kevin Drew and filmed over two days in Toronto this past January, The Water had its genesis as a music video for Feist’s song of the same name but eventually grew into a mostly silent and very wintry 15-minute short film starring some bona fide Hollywood talent in Cillian Murphy.
The film will be available to watch online for one week starting today at PitchforkTV, and for some background on the piece, check out the video interview with Feist and Drew at PitchforkTV and another with Murphy at IFC. Paste also talked to Feist and Drew a bit back in February when word of the project first came to light. And if you’re really jonesing for more info, there’s a feature in this month’s Filter (that’s the physical magazine) that has Drew being interviewed by actor Zach Galifianakis about the project.
Video: The Water
Metric have released another video from Fantasies, Jimmy Shaw and Emily Haines gave an interview and acoustic performance to Rolling Stone and Haines and Shaw gave interviews to Dose and Fazer respectively. Metric play the Mod Club on Tuesday, April 14.
Video: Metric – “Help, I’m Alive”
It’s a double-shot of Neko Case at NPR, with a KUT radio session from earlier this week and last night’s show in Washington DC both available to stream. The DC show includes the opening set from Okkervil River’s Will Sheff and some absolutely classic stage banter – “Vas deferens!” – with Case and Kelly Hogan. And if that’s not enough Neko multimedia, there’s a video interview online between her and ABC News. Case is in town for two nights at Trinity-St Paul’s next Friday and Saturday.
Opening up both of those shows is Crooked Fingers, who are keeping a Tumblr tour blog whilst on the road.
MP3: Crooked Fingers – “Phony Revolutions”
NPR also has a World Cafe session with Alela Diane. Diane is also featured on The Silence Of Love, a covers album from Headless Heroes for which Diane was the voice. That record will be out May 19, some of it sounds like this.
MP3: Headless Heroes – “True Love Will Find You In The End”
Video: Headless Heroes – “The North Wind Blew South”
The star-studded SCORE! 20 Years of Merge Records: THE COVERS! covers compilation is now available to stream.
Stream: various artists / SCORE! 20 Years of Merge Records: THE COVERS!
Cryptacize and Casiotone For The Painfully Alone have a date at The Boat on July 8. Cryptacize’s new album Mythomania is out April 21 while Casiotone just released two records – the retrospective Advance Base Battery Life and all-new Vs Children.
MP3: Cryptacize – “Blue Tears”
MP3: Casiotone For The Painfully Alone – “Optimist vs. The Silent Alarm (When The Saints Go Marching In)”
MP3: Casiotone For The Painfully Alone – “Old Panda Days”
Video: Cryptacize – “Blue Tears”
Headlights are opening for Loney Dear on their Spring tour, including the May 8 date at the Rivoli. Nice! They’re almost done their third album and are aiming for an early Fall release.
MP3: Headlights – “Cherry Tulips” (TJ Lipple Remix)
Soundproof features Malajube.
Entertainment Weekly is hosting a video clip from Wilco’s forthcoming DVD Ashes Of American Flags, which will be out next Saturday as part of Record Store Day but which I will be seeing theatrically in May as part of Hot Docs. Because I’ve realized that the only way I’ll ever watch a music film is if I’m a captive audience in a theatre – DVDs will simply never get played.
Video: Wilco – “Side With The Seeds” (live)
Stay Thirsty talks to Jason Lytle. His new album Yours Truly, The Commuter is out May 19.
Sacramento News & Review and Honolulu Weekly talk to Jenny Lewis.
Fazer interviews Cut Off Your Hands.
Thursday, April 9th, 2009
Montt Mardié delivers best-of and new album
MySpaceWay back in my first post of the year, I gushed a bit about Sweden’s Montt Mardie and his first UK release, the Introducing ….. The Best Of compilation of his first two Swedish albums Drama and Pretender/Clocks. It was – and still is – a wonderful collection of lush and giddy throwback pop to any and every era of pop you can imagine. I wasn’t sure at the time if the album was actually out, and as it turned out it wasn’t – and still isn’t. It’s now set for a May 4 release in the UK but in the interim, Mardie hasn’t been idle.
He released his third proper studio album, entitled Skaizerkite, this week in Sweden. There’s both an MP3 and video for the first single but beyond that, being somewhat less than fluent in Swedish, information on this release is a bit hard to come by. I did manage to discern, however, that it’d cost me around $28 on import to get a copy of the album sent to me. Um, ouch. I’d forgotten the joys of buying imports. I think I will hold off just a bit on that one and hope that a less expensive option arises – after all, I’m still getting lots of mileage out of Introducing, even after so many months.
Here’s the aforementioned new track in audio and video form, and a crash course in his older material.
MP3: Montt Mardié – “Dancing Shoes”
MP3: Montt Mardié – “1969”
MP3: Montt Mardié – “Metropolis”
MP3: Montt Mardié – “New York”
MP3: Montt Mardié – “High School Drama”
MP3: Montt Mardié – “Come On Eileen”
Video: Montt Mardié – “Dancing Shoes”
Video: Montt Mardié – “High School Drama”
Video: Montt Mardié – “Metropolis”
Myspace: Montt Mardié
Daytrotter has a session with Loney Dear, who will be at the Rivoli on May 8.
Spinner interfaces with Peter Bjorn & John. They have two local dates coming up – a headlining show at the Phoenix on April 25 and a support slot with Depeche Mode at the Molson Amphitheatre on July 24.
Clash interviews Fanfarlo, who being a British band fronted by a Swede, provide the perfect segue from the Swedish portion of the post to the British. I make my own fun. Shut up.
It’s just a short note but this update at The Clientele’s website stating that they’re almost completed their new album brightened my day – after all, it was posted in February so surely it’s done by now? Their last two records – 2007’s God Save The Clientele and 2005’s Strange Geometry – almost perfectly encapsulates the feeling of wandering aimlessly around London, which is to say my happy place. Can’t wait to get another dose of that.
MP3: The Clientele – “Bookshop Casanova”
Camera Obscura’s Carey Lander answers The Daily Growl seven questions about songs. My Maudlin Career is out April 21 and they play Lee’s Palace on June 27.
Still no release date for Charlotte Hatherley’s Cinnabar City – nothing more specific than September 2009, anyways – but there’s not one but two tastes already available. Dig it. And see her play someone else’s songs when she tours as part of Bat For Lashes this Spring. The Sunday Mail has an interview with Hatherley about her busy life.
MP3: Charlotte Hatherley – “Colours”
MP3: Charlotte Hatherley – “White”
Minnesota Public Radio welcomes Glasvegas to their studios for a session. Fazer has an interview.
Filter talks to PJ Harvey and John Parish about their album A Woman A Man Walked By.
Billy Bragg talks to Music Ally about matters such as royalties and digital artists rights.
Delayed so long that I assumed it wasn’t happening, the third and final volume of Club AC30’s Never Lose That Feeling shoegaze tribute albums is now out. It’s rather lighter on big names – which is to say there really aren’t any – but I enjoyed the first two volumes enough to want the full set. Thanks to A Good Day For Airplay for the tip-off.
Teen Vogue‘s Spring Music Preview features short interviews and photo shoots with the likes of Florence & The Machine and Ladyhawke. And for your information, I do not read Teen Vogue on a regular basis. I graduated to Vogue years ago.
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