Tuesday, April 24th, 2007
With Dean and Britta well-accounted for, it’s time to check in with former Luna guitarist Sean Eden. Though he’s had a solo project – or at least a name for one (Weeds Of Eden) – for a while, we’ve yet to hear anything from him besides his two sublime contributions to Luna’s swan song Rendezvous. There’s a few tracks on his MySpace but it looks as though that, for the moment at least, he’ll be busy killing time in NYC outfit Elk City.
But while it’s Eden’s presence on their new record New Believers that drew me in, it’s not his show – the centre of attention is squarely on singer Renee LoBue. While musically the record pogos from style to style, from New Wave to power pop to torch songs to country, LoBue applies her brassy and powerful pipes with equal aplomb. It works better in some cases than others, but the album is consistently decent and the high points are sky-high. Case in point, leadoff track “Cherries In The Snow” in which LoBue ranges from a soulful purr to a growl before bursting into a buoyant chorus of “Ooh la la la”s and if that wasn’t enough, before it’s over Eden takes a solo that quite literally brought me to tears. In a metaphorical sense.
But while Elk City may as well be a new band to me, they’ve been around for some time albeit without Eden and new bassist Barbara Endes in the fold. Obscure Sound has a piece on the band from their origins as Melting Hopefuls in 1990 through the original lineup of Elk City with guitarist Peter Langland-Hassan up to today’s incarnation and considers whether the changes have been for the better or not.
MP3: Elk City – “Cherries In The Snow”
MP3: Elk City – “Los Cruzados”
Video: Elk City – “Cherries In The Snow” (YouTube)
This week’s Take-Away Show features Andrew Bird wandering the streets of Paris, guitar and violin in hand and whistling while he works. His new album is Armchair Apocrypha and I think I’ve neglected to post anything from it yet, so I’ll take care of that now. It’s quite a good record and makes me think that if there’s a finite amount of musical talent in the world, Andrew Bird is solely responsible for several thousand other people on the planet being tone deaf.
MP3: Andrew Bird – “Heretics”
PopMatters has a long interview with Ted Leo, The Kansas City Star has a short one. Ted and his Pharmacists are at the Mod Club next Wednesday night.
Pitchfork tries to get into the mind of Bjork. Remember when Bjork went batshit on a reporter in the airport in Thailand? That was awesome. Her new album Volta is out May 8 and she’s headlining day one of Virgin Fest here in Toronto on September 8.
Spoon’s Britt Daniel discusses indie rock and scoring with The Asbury Park Press. Their new one Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga is out July 10.
WOXY recently had Yo La Tengo in the house to record a Lounge Act session and they’re currently streaming the whole thing. The Akron Beacon Journal and The Republican talk to bassist James McNew.
Some shows – Ottawa instrumental post-poppers My Dad Vs Yours are at the Drake on May 3, The Nightwatchman, aka Tom Morello of RATM, does the solo thing at the Horseshoe on May 16, Japanese noise-rock gods The Boredoms are at the Phoenix July 2 (tickets $22.50) and Battles, who I think were here just a few weeks ago, return for a show at Lee’s Palace on July 16.
Goldenfiddle has the first official shot of Cate Blanchett as Bob Dylan from the new Todd Haynes film I’m Not There. Those can go along with these unofficial photos of same. The film looks to have a release date of September 21.
24: Way to screw things up, Doyle… JUST LIKE IN DENVER. Man, why do I still watch?
Monday, April 23rd, 2007
After a long day at the office Saturday (yes), it was nice to be able to kick back in the evening with some smooth, light pop sounds courtesy of The Postmarks before heading home to crash hard.
The Miami outfit was in town for a show at the Amp’d Mobile Studio, a new venue/space that I’d been curious about for a while and finally had the opportunity to check out. Without getting into a marketing spiel for them, they’re a mobile phone company whose angle is to provide original music content to subscribers and to that end, they’ve set up a little studio in their office/storefront to host free shows which they record. How effective a business model it is is their concern – to me, it’s free shows in a cozy yet well-appointed room.
They do, however, need to work a bit on their publicity engine as said room was very sparsely filled when the band took the stage. Granted, The Postmarks are hardly a buzz band and it was the first gorgeous Saturday night of the year, but the meager turnout was a little disappointing. In the studio the band is centered around the trio of singer Tim Yehezkely, guitarist Christopher Moll and drummer Jonathan Wilkins but live, their number expands to include a bassist and keyboardist. As a result, the unabashedly 60’s cinematic retro chic of their self-titled debut gets a good deal louder on stage.
It’s an approach that has both its upsides and down. On the plus side, the extra bounce helps propel Yehezkely’s wispy and whispery vocals forward and makes for a more engaging and energetic experience for the audience. On the down side, they can also be overwhelming – it’s a delicate balance that could have been helped out a lot if Wilkins had opted for brushes instead of sticks. But as it was, the drums were loud and the vocals were soft and while that wasn’t ideal, The Postmarks still came across quite well. The string, brass and woodwind flourishes on the record were missed – the synths can only compensate so much – but the band successfully recreated the sunny yet forlorn vibe of their record. As a frontwoman, Yehezkely is as demure and delicate as her vocals suggest, but her wallflower charm works perfectly for this band (and I won’t lie, the gogo dress helped).
The band’s North American tour continues on through May, check them out if you get the chance. Deadjournalist talks to the band about the success of the album and taking it on the road while Stereogum asks them about their day jobs.
Photos: The Postmarks @ The Amp’d Mobile Studio – April 21, 2007
MP3: The Postmarks – “Goodbye”
Video: The Postmarks – “Goodbye” (YouTube)
MySpace: The Postmarks
The Toronto Star talks to Feist about the impending wave of attention that will surround the release of The Reminder next Tuesday. She also discusses the recording of the new album with Reuters.
Filter talks to Dean Wareham about how he got out of his post-Luna funk to create the new Dean & Britta album, Back Numbers.
Emma Pollock discusses life after The Delgados with The Scotsman – she’s embarking on a headlining solo tour across the UK in May and will release her debut solo record Watch The Fireworks in September.
Jarvis Cocker also discusses the solo life with The New York Post.
I have to wonder what kind of bizarro universe IGN lives in where they can declare, presumably with a straight face, that Hurricane #1 can be said to have released one of the Top 25 Britpop Albums and not a complete and utter musical abomination. Which is what they really were. Much of the rest of the list is also bewildering – Lupine Howl? Really?
The New York Times considers what effect all these indie rock comebacks might be having on the reunited bands’ legacies. Via Good Hodgkins Wolf Notes Parsefork Good Hodgkins, aka Sybil of the music blogosphere.
The Globe & Mail gets am update on the status of the Over The Top Fest vs CFL kerfuffle reported on earlier this month. Over The Top – the music festival, not the tailgate party, goes down first weekend of May.
Saturday, April 21st, 2007
Thursday night at the Drake Underground, two bands with “City” in their name and yet neither sounding particularly urban. And there was a third band on the bill but they didn’t fit with the “City” meme so I didn’t stick around. It was also late.
Entire Cities’ name may refer to the band’s roster, which if not large enough to constitute an official city should at least qualify as a village or at the very least, a hamlet. Eight of the ten members credited on their MySpace were in attendance this evening, previewing songs from their upcoming debut album Centralia (out May 1). It was obvious that for their boisterous brand of country-rock to work, a degree of gleeful chaos was as essential as the singing saw, glockenspiel, flute and at one point dual accordians they utilized in addition to standard guitars, bass and drums. You can hear it on their recordings and you could see it in their live show – but the funny thing about chaos is that it’s chaotic and on this occasion, at least, it didn’t seem like the band was able to control it as well as they’d like and it was at the expense of staying in tune and in key. These kinds of nights are inevitable, though, and despite that they gave it their all and had a good time of it, as did the audience. I found them a little too Jon-Rae & The River-ish for me to really get into, but considering that I’m in the tiny minority in the city who’s not into that sound, I think they’ll do fine. Their next gig is on Thursday at Sneaky Dee’s with Rock Plaza Central.
Forest City Lovers was originally the pseudonym for Toronto singer-songwriter Kat Burns but since the release of her debut album The Sun And The Wind last year, it has expanded to include violinist/vocalist/co-conspirator Mika Posen as well as a full-time rhythm section. The effect this has had on the band, at least from comparing the album to their live show, is significant. In performance, it’s like they’ve taken the very best facets of the record – Burns’ cool, crystalline voice and spidery electric guitar playing to match, the slightly baroque and unpredictable song arrangements and most importantly the dark and mysterious mood that lingered around the edges of everything – and spun them out into the defining characteristics of the band. While their set was far too short, it was long enough to be something of a revelation – this is a band that can and almost certainly will create some great music. Can’t wait until they head back into the studio to capture some of this to tape.
If your interest is piqued, they’re playing the NOW Lounge this afternoon as part of Shameless magazine’s launch party for their latest issue. Things get underway at 1PM, admission $5.
Photos: Forest City Lovers, Entire Cities @ The Drake Underground – April 19, 2007
MP3: Forest City Lovers – “Oh Humility” (live at CJLO)
MP3: Forest City Lovers – “Doorsteps” (live at CJLO)
MP3: Entire Cities – “Waiting (2000 Years)”
MP3: Entire Cities – “Coffee”
MySpace: Forest City Lovers
Wilco are currently in the land down under, if the deluge of Australian press this week and this interview with The Australian wasn’t any indication, and they’re looking to share the experience with you. Their show in Sydney tonight was webcast at around 7AM EDT this morning, meaning that I was able to tune in about an hour and a bit into the performance – sounds great. I assume they’ll be streaming an archived version of it before long, and if not surely some resourceful person had the foresight to record the thing and will be all over the internets before long. No, you don’t get the warm, fuzzy feeling of knowing you’re listening to “Hummingbird” at the same time as thousands of people in Australia, but life’s just not fair sometimes. Update: The “Kingpin” monologue is great. Jeff is in fine form.
Conor Oberst of Bright Eyes tells Harp that he’s a very funny guy. Really. He is. To prove it, when Bright Eyes is in town on May 22, instead of playing songs from Cassadaga, he’ll be erecting a fake brick wall across the back of the Massey Hall stage and telling jokes.
And Oberst’s “Monsters Of Folk” compadre M Ward will be on that same stage opening for Norah Jones on May 11. Ward talks to Go Triad about growing up a 4AD fan.
Friday, April 20th, 2007
Fans of Champaign, Illinois’ Headlights should be aware of a new EP that the band have rather quietly released – Keep Your Friends And Loves Close Keep The City You Call Home Closer is a collection of songs recorded at radio and internet sessions over the last little while and is available only on tour and online at Polyvinyl. A couple of the songs are taken from their Daytrotter session from January of this year, one of which you can hear below (The Des Moines Register also talks to Daytrotter’s Sean Moeller). There’s also some WOXY-born tracks and you can hear the session here as well as win copies of the EP.
They’re wrapping up a tour over the next couple days and sadly, this Pollstar listing of a Toronto show in May is untrue. The band is making plans to visit our fair city, however, in late Summer or early Fall so keep an eye out. So in the meantime, read this interview at with the band at Washington Square News and check out their first-ever video for “TV” – equal parts cute (the band is adorable), dangerous (that bike is not made for three!) and strange (what’s going on at the end there?).
MP3: Headlights – “This One”
Video: Headlights – “TV” (YouTube)
MySpace: Headlights
Some reasons to look forward to August – according to The Austin Chronicle, Okkervil River will release their as-yet-untitled new album on August 7 while The New Pornographers’ Challenger has been given a release date of August 21.
Some bits on bands coming through town in the next while:
eye talks to The Postmarks, playing a free show at the Amp’d Mobile Studio on Saturday.
You may have noticed I had a Howling Bells date in my calendar for next Saturday at a venue TBA – that was based on the fact that they were doing a post-Killers tour jaunt up the eastern seaboard and I was told that they wanted to book a Toronto show on that date. But with a week to go, it looks like that’s not going to happen and that the 27th in NYC will be the end of it. Maybe next time they’re on the continent/hemisphere.
Ted Leo talks to The Idaho Statesman, The Salt Lake Tribune and The Denver Post from the road. Leo’s at the Mod Club May 2.
Tickets for Fields’ show at the Amp’d Studio are now available – I’m glad these are early-ish shows because it’ll give me a chance to head up to the El Mocambo after and catch the just-announced Last Town Chorus show that same evening. Not entirely sure I will – that week is shaping up to be a bear – but it’s good to have the option. Fields’ Everything Last Winter is out May 8.
The International Herald Tribune profiles Feist, whose The Reminder is out May 1 and who plays Massey Hall on May 25 and 26.
Filter tells the story of The Rosebuds, who are at the Horseshoe on May 28 with Land Of Talk. It’s like a mini Hot Freaks day two revival! They’ve also got a World Cafe session on NPR available to stream.
The lineup for this year’s NxNE, taking place June 7, 8 and 9, isn’t going to be announced until May 8 but some info is already trickling out. For The Records has gathered up some of the names being bandied about and I can tell you that the lineup at Lee’s Palace on the Saturday will include Los Angeles dream-poppers Great Northern and Chicago’s medallion champions Urge Overkill. I had a copy of Saturation on cassette back in high school. This song was on it.
MP3: Urge Overkill – “Sister Havana”
And you’d best not get too worn out by NxNE because on June 11, Lee’s plays host to a rather odd but still sure to be excellent pairing – The Long Blondes and Nicole Atkins & The Sea. The former are a sassy, co-ed British buzz band whose debut Someone To Drive You Home gets a domestic release June 8 while the latter is a New Jersey native steeped in country and soul who impressed the heck out of me at SxSW. Be there. Tickets are $15, on sale April 25.
Wilco’s Nels Cline pays tribute to the late Kurt Vonnegut in The Age. Wilco’s Sky Blue Sky is out May 15 and they’re at Massey Hall on June 30.
The Telegraph talks to Cat Power, in town with the Dirty Delta Blues Band on July 10 at the Phoenix. Tickets $28.50, on sale Wednesday.
Monsters Are Waiting are opening up for Maximo Park at the Mod Club on July 14! Yay! Our Earthly Pleasures is out May 8.
Brooklynvegan interviews Bjork, whom I hadn’t listened to in a couple years until this weekend when I was reminded of just how weird and wonderful her music is – consider me very excited both for her new record Volta (out May 8 and streaming a track at her MySpace) and to see her at the first day of Virgin Fest on September 8. And as for the day two headliners, Smashing Pumpkins, apparently the interview process went well and the vacancies have been filled because rumour has it that someone named Ginger Reyes will be playing the part of D’arcy Wretzky/Melissa Auf Der Mar and Jeff Schroeder will be trying to make people forget about James Iha. We’ll have to see how this goes.
And finally, the lineup for this year’s Ottawa Bluesfest has been announced and holy smoke. If this took place over the course of a weekend instead of over 11 days, it’d be hands down the destination of the Summer. But even spread out over a week and a half, it’s an embarrassment of riches. Bob Dylan, Sarah Harmer, The White Stripes, George Clinton, Blue Rodeo, Kanye West, Cat Power, Built To Spill and Metric only some of the bigger names on the lineup. It’s crazy. JAM! talks to one of the organizers about getting the lineup together.
Thursday, April 19th, 2007
Thanks to Bradley’s Almanac for pointing out this rare update on goings-ons in the House Of Love. They’ll be reissuing their seminal self-titled debut – Creation, not Fontana – on September 3 despite the fact that the entirety of the record was put back into print as part of 1986:1988 – The Creation Recordings back in 2001. That compilation also includes all the material mentioned in the second reissue in the news item, which raises the question… why? Obviously to tie in with their performance of the whole debut album as part of the ATP/Don’t Look Back series on September 13 in London, but they’ve already gone to this well before. Most everyone who’d want this stuff has got it, don’t they?
Of course, those that control the band’s catalog have never shied away from re-releasing the same material in different forms in order to drive the fans mad. Consider the 2000 release of The John Peel Sessions 1988-1989 which, as the title implies, collected the band’s Peel sessions from the Terry Bickers era into a release that could well be my favourite HoL release of all. And then last year saw the inexplicable release of the double-disc The Complete John Peel Sessions which, again as the title implied, were the band’s complete Peel sessions – including the first disc of the 2000 collection in its entirety. Like a sucker, I still bought it and the second disc makes it worthwhile – the band’s later material is generally dismissed as sub-par, but in these versions they’re at least played with an unexpected degree of ferocity. But the point is, I now have a copy of that first Peel sessions disc that I don’t need… anyone want?
While The Creation Years collection was quite thorough (thus making the upcoming reissues rather redundant), the follow-up The Fontana Years is rather less meticulous. In attempting to distill four albums and their respective b-sides down to a two-disc collection, key tracks from the Fontana House Of Love album (which is pretty much essential start to finish) are omitted and it also fails to bring together all the era’s rarities making it frustratingly unnecessary.
And even though their archives are being raided again and again and the band had been defunct for 11 years or so, they’re still apparently an ongoing proposition. Besides the retrospective concert, they’ve been working on a follow-up record to 2005’s comeback album Days Run Away which while decent, was a bit of a disappointment to those who expected the chemistry between Bickers and Chadwick to still be explosive, even after fifteen years apart. Like myself. But those were unrealistic expectations and if they can keep putting out records with songs as good as “Kit Carter”, “Gotta Be That Way” or the title track on them, I’ll take it in a heartbeat.
But looking once again to the past, watching the band’s old videos does provide some evidence as to why the band were never bigger. Guy Chadwick is not a handsome man. But the songs, oh the songs.
MP3: The House Of Love – “Shine On”
Video: The House Of Love – “Christine” (YouTube)
Video: The House Of Love – “Destroy The Heart” (YouTube)
Video: The House Of Love – “Never” (YouTube)
Video: The House Of Love – “I Don’t Know Why I Love You” – version 1 (YouTube)
Video: The House Of Love – “I Don’t Know Why I Love You” – version 2 (YouTube)
Video: The House Of Love – “Shine On” (YouTube)
Video: The House Of Love – “Beatles & The Stones” (YouTube)
MySpace: The House Of Love (unofficial)
Another legendary British act celebrating their past this year are The Wedding Present. To commemorate the 20th anniversary of their debut album George Best, they’re embarking on a UK-wide tour that will take the band back to the same towns they visited on the initial tour for that record in 1987. They’ve also got a box set coming out – The Complete Peel Sessions 1986-2004 – which will, as the name suggests, collect all the sessions they recorded for the legendary BBC host, and considering they were one of his favourite bands, there’s a lot. A dozen sessions spread out over six CDs, to be exact. The collection will also include interviews and various extras spanning the Wedding Present’s career. Released at the end of March in the UK, it’s supposed to be out April 24 in North America though through Sanctuary. The Guardian reminisces about the Wedding Present’s Ukranian folk music phase, which is represented by 13 tracks on the box set.
Also in the reissuing mood is Radiohead, who will be releasing their 2004 Australasia-only EP Com Lag (2+2=5)’ in North America on May 8. It contains a mix of non-album, remix and live tracks circa Hail To The Thief and while I sometimes wonder if Radiohead will ever put out a record that can make me interested in them again, I suspect that this won’t be it. And from the super-short clip of a new song they’ve posted at Dead Air Space (click on “HODIAU DIREKTION”), the new one won’t be it either (via NME).
Elvis Costello makes excuses to Billboard for allowing his back catalog to be reissued for a ridiculous third time in fifteen years. His point about making them digitally available so that fans can buy the tracks they don’t have individually is a good one, but overall it’s still stinky. Stinky, Elvis. Stinky.
Jarvis Cocker talks to Harp about his fondness for middle-aged women while ArtistDirect asks him about the making of Jarvis and MySpace. The Tripwire, meanwhile, presents presents a BBC feature on the making of Pulp’s “Common People”.
Idolator is offering up the first single from the new Manic Street Preachers’ new album Send Away The Tigers
, out May 7 in the UK. I’d sort of written off the Manics after 2001’s scattershot and lacklustre Know Your Enemy but 2004’s Lifeblood was surprisingly decent and if this song is any indication, they could still have some gas left in the tank left. But the idea that Nina Persson’s love (she sings on the song and appears in the video) wouldn’t be enough for anyone is patently ludicrous. Musicrooms examines the album track-by-track and finds it to be pretty good.
Video: Manic Street Preachers – “Your Love Alone Is Not Enough” (YouTube)
Spinner has a 3×3 feature with Maximo Park, whose Our Earthly Pleasures is out domestically on May 8. They’re at the Mod Club on July 11 – very excited for that show.
Aversion has an interview with Scotland’s Twilight Sad, who’ve been picking up some glowing reviews from Pitchfork and Stylus since coming through town a couple weeks ago. Kind of unfortunate for the band that the buzz didn’t start until they were halfway through their North American tour but better late than never.
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