Tuesday, March 6th, 2007
Much hubub was made when Jay Farrar revived Son Volt two years ago with a whole new lineup and the ensuing album, Okemah And The Melody Of Riot, sounded like a guitar-rocking statement of defiance from Farrar and crew to those who had written him off as having lost his sense of adventure and being too comfortable in the folksinger mode of his last couple solo records. And while Okemah did rock like he hadn’t in some years and was a solid offering, it was also a bit one-dimensional in sound and production – no doubt a consequence of the band having come together just before heading into the studio and thus missing out on the chemistry that can only be earned through time and touring.
But two years on with the release of The Search
today, it seems that’s no longer an issue. Note that my impressions are based on just a single listen to the album stream below but also a more than passing familiarity with Farrar’s whole career. It sounds like they’ve reined in the rock a bit and the addition of Derry deBorja on keyboards is a solid one, giving the proceedings a more expansive and textured sound that the songs wear very well and overall, it’s a much more dynamic record. Attempting further discourse without spending a lot more time with the album would be pointless, so I’ll simply say that it sounds pretty good to me.
St Louis Today and CTNow.com talk to Farrar about the new record and NPR has a live show from Philadelphia a couple of weeks ago available to stream. The band kicks off a North American tour at the end of this month that includes an April 12 stop at the Mod Club in Toronto with solo Drive-By Trucker Jason Isbell as support. They’re also one of two bands confirmed for Lollapalooza this August, along with Pearl Jam. C’mon, Son Volt AND Pearl Jam? Time to buy those plane tickets to Chicago.
Stream: Son Volt / The Search
MySpace: Son Volt
And speaking of Mr Isbell, I can’t find any recent news on what’s happening with his long-completed solo record, though the fact that he’s touring on his own could be a good sign on that front. Interestingly, his primary MySpace seems like a typical personal page, but this bare-bones one has three songs streaming on it, and nothing else.
And even though Uncle Tupelo called it quits fourteen years ago, Jay Farrar and Jeff Tweedy’s careers continue to exhibit interesting bits of synchronicity – as Son Volt release their new album, Wilco unveiled their new album Sky Blue Sky via an overnight stream on Saturday night. I gave it a couple listens (though not my undivided attention) and it sounds very laid back and pretty. Can’t wait for May 15, but until then, the band has made one of the tracks available to download – the song they debuted in Toronto last July. It was called “There’s A Light” back then, and you can compare it with the final version below.
MP3: Wilco – “What Light” (.zip)
MP3: Wilco – “There’s A Light” (live in Toronto 2006-07-07)
The National have announced a full North American tour in support of Boxer, out May 22. As far as Toronto goes, they’ll be at the Opera House on June 5. I’m tired of complaining about the venue so I’m just going to be really really excited about the show instead.
CokeMachineGlow has an interview with Okkervil River’s Will Sheff wherein they dig up some of his old music journalism for AudioGalaxy and ask him about it. It’s fun watching Sheff’s answers get briefer and more terse as it goes on.
My Old Kentucky Blog has got some new Margot & The Nuclear So And So’s songs that you can expect to hear on their new album, out later this year, or at SxSW next week – perhaps at Hot Freaks where they’ll be playing Club DeVille at 4:30 on Saturday.
Bradley’s Almanac has the audio from last week’s Sparklehorse show in Boston available to download.
Monday, March 5th, 2007
I declared my love and devotion to Dean & Britta and their new record Back Numbers in a post last week so I don’t need to go back into that.
But I will direct you to some more interviews with Dean Wareham and/or Britta Phillips – Exclaim! asks their stock questions of Wareham and get some interesting answers, WERS has a short chat with the duo while Lunapark6 has a long one and Dean tells The Boston Herald that we can expect to hear some Luna songs when they play the Mod Club next Monday night – honestly, with two of their own albums to draw on it never occurred to me that they’d play Luna songs. Without Sean and Lee, that’ll certainly be… different. Update: Okay, so the Herald link doesn’t work because they want you to pay for their articles. But if you google “boston herald dean britta”, you can read the whole thing from the Google link. Why? No one makes Google pay. Link fixed.
And courtesy of Against The Grain, you can be there to hear it all. I’ve got three pairs of passes to give away to said March 12 show… but wait! There’s more! Each winner will also get a copy of Back Numbers for their very own to take home and share with friends and family. How exciting is that? To enter, leave a comment below telling me which Luna songs you would most like to hear Dean and Britta perform live, and no obvious ones like “Bonnie & Clyde”. Been there, done that. And if you can’t attend the show but want to chime in anyway, please do so – just mention that you’re not entering the contest. This contest will close at midnight, March 8. Update 2: Okay, thanks to D&B management, I’ve also got four pairs of passes for their March 10 show at Main Hall in Montreal – same deal, just leave me a comment to enter and also mention if you’re entering for the Montreal show. Thanks.
And thanks to one of Stereogum’s commenters for pointing out that Dean & Britta’s new video for “Words You Used To Say” is actually an homage to Serge Gainsbourg and Jane Birkin’s video for “Melody”. Check it out below.
MP3: Dean & Britta – “Words You Used To Say”
MP3: Dean & Britta – “Singer Sing”
Video: Dean & Britta – “Words You Used To Say” (YouTube)
Video: Serge Gainsbourg & Jane Birkin – “Melody” (YouTube)
MySpace: Dean & Britta
Monday, March 5th, 2007
With the release of Neon Bible tomorrow, it’s Arcade Fire week whether you like it or not. In an ideal world I’d be able to offer up my thoughts on it but since I haven’t heard it – my preorder is supposed to arrive by tomorrow but I’m not hopeful – they’ll have to wait. But if you’re curious what the general critical consensus is, well that’s why we have Metacritic. Predictably, the overall vibe seems to be “it’s good, but it’s no Funeral“. Also predictably, most critics seem to be using this record as an excuse to write essay-length pieces as it’s the very definition of an “important record” and thereby deserving of many big words. And for those of you in Pitchfork pools (what’s wrong with you people?), they’ve given it an 8.4 (relative to Funeral‘s 9.7) but also thrown in a “Best New Music”, just to mess up your spread.
And it’s not just reviews – I can’t imagine how much time the band has spent doing interviews in the past few weeks, but there’s sure to be a torrent of features released in the next few weeks though I doubt any will be as expansive or high profile as this New York Times Magazine feature from this weekend. PopMatters leads off the week with an interview with the band and Merge hocho Mac McCaughan and there’s also pieces at JAM! about the making of the record and The Toronto Sun about gearing up to play live again. The Ottawa Citizen and Montreal Gazette also talk to the band about Neon Bible.
The band kick off their month-long European tour tonight in Dublin and do North America starting in late April, including two sold-out shows at Massey Hall in Toronto on May 15 and 16. You can download the first single from the album below and hear another streaming on their MySpace.
MP3: Arcade Fire – “Black Mirror”
MySpace: Arcade Fire
I swung by Soundscapes yesterday evening for El Perro Del Mar’s in-store, a brief 5-song set that served to remind how affecting her doo-wop-group-in-mourning sound could be. She’s playing the the Mod Club tonight with The Submarines. And thanks to a commenter who pointed me to Sarah Assbring’s old dreampop band Aquadays – if you can get past the awful quality .RA files (the streams don’t work but the downloads do), it’s an interesting listen when you think about what she’s doing now.
Photos: El Perro Del Mar @ Soundscapes – March 4, 2007
MP3: El Perro Del Mar – “God Knows (You Gotta Give To Get)”
Video: El Perro Del Mar – “God Knows (You Gotta Give To Get)” (YouTube)
MySpace: El Perro Del Mar
MP3Hugger tracks the whereabouts of all former members of Slowdive with audio evidence of their activities. Nicely done.
The Scotsman profiles Scotsmen (and woman) My Latest Novel, in town for three shows this week – Friday night at the Drake Underground, Saturday night at the El Mocambo and then Monday night at the Horseshoe. The last of these is a free show.
Yo La Tengo tells The Age, “we are not a relaxed band”.
The Houston Chronicle talks to The Shins’ James Mercer.
The Broken West tell The Boston Globe that they’re not power pop but they’re not NOT power pop and The Maneater that they’re not a California band but they’re not NOT a California band. The walking contradiction and their west coast power pop will open up The Hot Freaks at SxSW next Saturday at 11AM at The Mohawk and are in Toronto on March 27 with The Long Winters at the El Mocambo.
Check out this edition of Spinner 3×3 assembled from some of the video that’ll be part of Neil Young’s Live At Massey Hall, out next Tuesday. It looks and sounds great and I won’t point out that they’ve left the “Why” off the second song title… oh, I just did.
Sunday, March 4th, 2007
This might be Canadian Music Week, but a glance at the citizenships of the bands scheduled to play makes it look a lot more Scandinavian Music Week – it’s a veritable Nordic invasion with acts from Finland, Denmark, Norway and Sweden, including Frida Hyvonen who will be opening for Danes Under Byen at the Mod Club on Thursday night (Toronto’s Ohbijou are also on the bill to provide the requisite Can-con).
I talked about Hyvonen’s prickly piano pop back in January and now, courtesy of Sonic Unyon, the good people who put Secretly Canadian releases on store shelves in Canada, I’ve got prize packs consisting of a copy of her record Until Death Comes on CD and a poster to give away to three lucky winners. Isn’t that exciting? I think it’s exciting.
To enter, email me at contests AT chromewaves.net with “I want the Frida Hyvonen stuff” in the subject and your full name and mailing address in the body. Sorry, this contest is only open to residents of Canada, the veracity of which I will be able to deduce from your mailing address. Contest closes at midnight, March 7.
And tickets are still available for the Under Byen show at Mod on Thursday, just $12 (or CMW wristbands). I can pretty much guarantee it’ll be great.
MP3: Frida Hyvonen – “You Never Got Me Right”
Video: Frida Hyvonen – “I Drive My Friend” (MOV)
Video: Frida Hyvonen – “The Modern” (MOV)
MySpace: Frida Hyvonen
Sunday, March 4th, 2007
It’s a special Canadian Music Week edition this week! Woot!
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The Besnard Lakes / The Besnard Lakes Are The Dark Horse (Jagjaguwar/Outside)
If you put this record on without me knowing what it was and told me it was the new Low, I may very well have believed you. Of course, you also would have had to convince me that they were taking all sorts of psychedelics, being produced by Brian Wilson, inviting J Mascis to guest on lead guitar and going through a serious 70s rock phase but otherwise yeah – totally believable. But no, while the Besnard Lakes are also fronted by a married couple, they hail from Montreal, not Minnesota, and boast a lineup at least twice as large. The Besnard Lakes Are The Dark Horse is a sonically dense work, often seeming to fold in on itself as it walks the line between nimble and lumbering, joyous and terrifying, but always engrossing and while maybe a little exhausting, still worth the trip.
The Besnard Lakes are at Lee’s Palace on March 9 and then all over SxSW, including the Filter party at the Cedar St Courtyard on March 15 at 3:15 and then their official showcase at the Mohawk at 8:30PM. There’s also more but I don’t remember right now.
MP3: The Besnard Lakes – “And You Lied To Me”
MySpace: The Besnard Lakes
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Santa Dog / Kittyhawk (Quince)
Bristol, UK’s Santa Dog take me back – not because we have any history, but because they remind me so much of the classic days of Britpop. Not the raging Oasis-vs-Blur laddism that most people remember, but the female-fronted guitar acts that had their moment in the spotlight in the mid-90s. Think Sleeper and Echobelly and the latter in particular. Santa Dog singer/guitarist Rowena Dugdale’s exuberant vocals are reminiscent of a chirpier Sonya Aurora Madan, especially in the way her accent wraps itself around every sound and syllable though this may be delightful only for non-Brits, I don’t know. The band definitely know their way around a pop hook and while there’s no knockout single that could be their “In-Betweener” or “King Of The Kerb”, I would say it’s just a matter of time before they get theirs and do great things.
Kittyhawk is out in late April on Japanese label Quince and via import here, there and everywhere. Santa Dog play the Boat on March 8 as part of the Pitter Patter Festival, at Clinton’s on March 10 as part of CMW and then head down the QEW for another Pitter Patter event at Absinthe in Hamilton on March 11.
MP3: Santa Dog – “Rosa”
MP3: Santa Dog – “Chemical”
MySpace: Santa Dog |
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Funky Nashville / Hitch A Ride (215)
Though I try not to judge a book by it’s cover, it’s hard not to assume the worst when presented with a name like “Funky Nashville”. But for this Danish trio, it’s a wholly unironic if somewhat inaccurate descriptor. They’re far more southwestern in flavour than country and while (thankfully) not very funky in the James Brown sense, they do dwell in a deep, twangy groove that only feels a little bit stiff at times. Lyrically, they sound like, well, three Danes trying to write country music but their musical acumen and slick production compensate for any cliches or shortcomings in that department. Someone put these guys on a soundtrack.
They appear to have the whole of their album available to download off their website so if you like what you hear, go get more. They’ll also be carpet bombing CMW with shows at the Rivoli on March 8, an instore at Sam The Record Man on March 9 at 4:30PM, an afternoon appearance at The Hideout on March 10 (I’ve no idea where that is) and another showcase that night at the Silver Dollar. Then the following week in Austin they play SxSW with a showcase at Uncle Flirty’s Loft at 9PM.
MP3: Funky Nashville – “Hitch A Ride”
MP3: Funky Nashville – “Mexican Stars”
Video: Funky Nashville – “Hitch A Ride” (YouTube)
MySpace: Funky Nashville |
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