Friday, November 2nd, 2012
Review of Jessie Ware’s Devotion
Kate MorossIn all honesty, I intended to write up Jessie Ware’s debut Devotion today whether or not it took the Mercury Prize last night or not – it went, as expected, to the heavily-favoured and bewilderingly dull Alt-J – I don’t need the validation of a shadowy cabal of British music industry types to tell me what the best British (or Irish) album of the past year is. Not to say that I’m bestowing that title on Devotion myself, but with each successive listen, it certainly makes a stronger case for itself.
Initially, the temptation is to classify her as a soul singer and indeed, her voice is a rich, emotive instrument with the perfect balance of breathy, brassy, and husky and if Ware had opted to follow a more traditional or throwback path, accolades would still surely be coming her way. But instead, the production on Devotion – courtesy of Dave Okumu of The Invisible – bounces from electronic, sample-happy beats (fitting, since she first attracted attention via her guest vocals on a SBTRKT song) to slick conventional band arrangements to inventive intersections of the two, generally refusing to hew to any specific musical dogma and emerging all the better for it.
And yet for all the musical ear candy permeating Devotion, it’s Ware’s songs and vocals that make it a remarkable record. It yearns and aches where it should without ever getting overwrought. Where lesser songwriters would turn to vocal tricks to grab the listener’s attention, Ware offers up gorgeous melodies, emotive lyrics, and rock-solid hooks. It’s a record that immediately announces itself as noteworthy, yet thanks to its smouldering pace, takes its time to reveal itself and grows stronger and more impressive each time out. It may not have won the Mercury, but Devotion is a stunning, can’t-lose debut.
Devotion has yet to receive a North American release, but that’s coming in 2013. She’s signed a deal with Cherrytree that will first yield a sampler EP in 110% by December to be followed by a brief US tour in the new year. Presumably more extensive touring will follow the proper release of the record, or at least it better.
The Telegraph and Grazia have interviews with Ware.
Video: Jessie Ware – “Night Light”
Video: Jessie Ware – “Wildest Moments”
Video: Jessie Ware – “110%”
Video: Jessie Ware – “Running”
Kate Nash loves her some Hallowe’en. Not only did she release a spooky-themed video for a song that will appear on an upcoming EP – you can also download it from her website in exchange for an e-mail – she also teamed up with Emmy The Great for a Buffy-themed Hallowe’en party wherein they recreated the musical episode, “Once More With Feeling”, on stage, though trainspotters may point out that Emmy is dressed as Willow and Willow didn’t really participate in the musical episode because Alyson Hannigan can’t sing worth a lick… But I digress. You can watch videos from the show at Bleeding Cool. And I won’t lie – I would buy a recording of this show.
Video: Kate Nash – “Fri-End?”
Polly Scattergood is putting the finishing touches on her promising and intermittently inspired 2009 self-titled debut and has made a track from it available to stream. The album, still untitled, is due out next Spring.
Stream: Polly Scattergood – “Disco Damaged Kid”
Charli XCX is streaming a new song taken from her new Super Ultra mixtape that’s scheduled to become available next Wednesday.
Stream: Charli XCX featuring Brooke Candy – “Cloud Aura”
NPR and Stereogum have interviews with Beth Orton.
Exclaim interviews Natasha Khan of Bat For Lashes.
Billboard talks to Pete Wiggs and Bob Stanley of Saint Etienne about undertaking their first North American tour in a decade without a label behind them. The San Francisco Examiner, meanwhile, talks to Sarah Cracknell.
The Line Of Best Fit report that Brighton’s Esben & The Witch will release their second album – Wash The Sins Not Only The Face – on January 21. A first taste is available to stream now.
Stream: Esben & The Witch – “Deathwaltz”
Allo Darlin’ have compiled a bunch of covers – all wonderful, like the Darren Hayman/The French track below – on a limited edition 10″ they’ve called Covers. It’s out November 28.
Stream: Allo Darlin’ – “Wu Tang Clan”
Japan Times talks to Guy Connelly of Clock Opera.
Jason Pierce of Spiritualized chats with Drowned In Sound and The Yorkshire Evening Post.
The Quietus and The Independent talk to Nicky Wire about the 20th anniversary of Manic Street Preachers’ debut Generation Terrorists, the mandatory deluxe edition of which is out on Monday.
Exclaim has collected some information on Johnny Marr’s first proper solo record – apparently we’re not counting when he fronted the disappointingly bland Healers – which will be called The Messenger and be due out in or around February.
Thursday, November 1st, 2012
Anna PalmaWho: Yeasayer
What: Brooklyn psych-pop outfit who rolled out their third album Fragrant World back in August.
Why: When this show was originally announced back in May, it was to take place in the much larger Sound Academy and on the exact day of the record’s release. Then for reasons unknown, the show was both postponed and relocated to the date and place noted above. But at least now fans have had time to live with the record a bit, yeah?
When: Friday, November 9, 2012
Where: The Danforth Music Hall in Toronto
Who else: Ahmed Gallab – who also plays in Yeasayer and has also played with Of Montreal, Born Ruffians, and Caribou – opens up as Sinkane.
How: Tickets for the show are $22.50 in advance but courtesy of Killbeat, 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 Yeasayer” in the subject line and your full name in the body, and have that in to me before midnight, November 6.
What else: Stereogum, Consequence Of Sound, and Rolling Stone all talked to the band about the new record.
MP3: Yeasayer – “Henrietta”
MP3: Yeasayer – “Longevity”
MP3: Yeasayer – “Fingers Never Bleed”
Video: Yeasayer – “Reagan’s Skeleton”
Video: Yeasayer – “Longevity”
Wednesday, October 31st, 2012
Evening Hymns stream last Toronto show, slate next Toronto show
FacebookThe last time that Evening Hymns graced a Toronto stage, it was back in August as part of the Summerworks festival and came a few days before the official release of their gorgeously heavy second album Spectral Dusk. After that show, which featured a band and lightshow specially assembled for that performance, Jonas Bonnetta and Sylvie Smith – the Evening Hymns principals – jetted across the ocean to tour the record across Europe with friends and album collaborators The Wooden Sky, only returning a couple weeks ago only to set out on a coast-to-coast, cross-Canada tour last week which will keep them working the Trans-Canada Highway until the end of November.
And then they’ll come home.
The band have just announced a tour-ending, hometown performance for December 15 at the Church Of The Redeemer in Toronto, a room that doesn’t frequently host live music but sounds marvelous when it does. It’s hard to think of a more appropriate locale to bookend what has surely been a physically and emotionally draining Autumn for Bonnetta. And to coincide with the Canadian tour and show announcement, CBC Music has made a recording of that August show at The Great Hall available to stream. And yep, it’s as beautiful as I remember it.
MP3: Evening Hymns – “Arrows”
Video: Evening Hymns – “Family Tree”
Also just announced and perhaps of interest – Gentleman Reg will release his third Leisure Life EP of the Fall digitally on November 6, with the collected physical edition coming not long after on November 20 and a hometown release show taking place at The Gladstone on December 2. Details at Exclaim, and all three are available to stream
Stream: Gentleman Reg / Leisure Life Part One
Stream: Gentleman Reg / Leisure Life Part Two
Stream: Gentleman Reg / Leisure Life Part Three
Cold Specks has been added as support for Conor Oberst at Massey Hall on December 8. Remaining tickets range from $39.50 to $69.50.
Video: Cold Specks – “Winter Solstice”
Since they’ll be all rehearsed up for their European tour in November as part of Constellation Records’ 15th anniversary, Do Make Say Think have slated a hometown show for The Opera House on December 7, tickets $15 in advance.
MP3: Do Make Say Think – “The Landlord Is Dead”
Beatroute talks quickly to Plants & Animals, in town at The Great Hall on November 15.
Interview, The Ottawa Citizen, The Grid, and Durham Region talk to John O’Regan of Diamond Rings, bringing his Free Dimensional tour through Toronto to The Mod Club on November 29.
The Broken Speaker talks to The Wooden Sky, playing a tour-ending, homecoming show of their own at The Phoenix on December 1.
Drowned In Sound chats with Japandroids, hitting The Phoenix on December 12.
The Balconies have squeezed a new video out of their now-three-year-old-and-counting self-titled debut. Why yes, that is a passive-aggressive nudge for a new record, how good of you to notice. At least the video is seasonally-themed.
Video: The Balconies – “Do It In The Dark”
The Line Of Best Fit interviews Snowblink.
Spin and The Calgary Herald profile METZ.
The AV Club has a Blogotheque-produced video session with A.C. Newman, guest-starring one Neko Case. They sound great together – they should make a record or something.
NOW talked to The Wilderness Of Manitoba before last week’s record release show at Trinity-St. Paul’s.
Beatroute and Queen’s Journal chat with The Rural Alberta Advantage.
Tuesday, October 30th, 2012
The Walkmen and Father John Misty aim to find out exactly how often is too often
Arno FrugierUsually when a band says, “we’ll see you soon” as they walk off the stage, it’s a mostly-empty platitude that means “we’ll see you when we’ve got a new record to push”, or “we’ll see you when our next single becomes a huge hit and allows us to come back and play a much bigger room”. For New York rock stalwarts The Walkmen and Los Angeles psych-folk bard Father John Misty, though, at least lately, it’s been an ironclad promise.
The Walkmen were here twice already this year – once in March at The Phoenix as part of their 10th anniversary celebrations, and again in August at the Molson Amphitheatre supporting both Florence & The Machine and their latest album Heaven – and Father John Misty has one-upped them, making his local debut at The Horseshoe in May, opening up for Youth Lagoon at The Opera House in July, and then returning again to headline Lee’s Palace just this past weekend, all in support of his debut Fear Fun. Which is great news for their fans if a bit hard on their fans’ pocketbooks.
But if you reside in that section of their fanbase Venn diagrams that intersect, the fact that they’re teaming up for a Winter tour should be an exciting one. It will bring them to The Danforth Music Hall on January 16 with ticket prices ranging from $33.50 to $45.50, which isn’t the cheapest, but when you consider the two-for-one value proposition, it’s a pretty good deal.
Le Blogotheque has a couple videos from The Walkmen’s 10th anniversary show in New York this Summer. Bullett, The Chicago Tribune, and The Phoenix have interviews with Josh Tillman of Father John Misty, who is continuing on his current tour.
MP3: The Walkmen – “Love Is Luck”
MP3: The Walkmen – “Line By Line”
MP3: Father John Misty – “Nancy From Now On”
MP3: Father John Misty – “Hollywood Forever Cemetery Sings”
Grantland goes behind the scenes of the first video from Titus Andronicus’ Local Business. That record brings them to Lee’s Palace on November 27 and provides context for this interview at The Guardian
Video: Titus Andronicus – “In A Big City”
NPR has a World Cafe session with Band Of Horses, hitting Massey Hall on December 5.
Pitchfork has details on the solo debut from Christopher Owens, former frontman for Girls. Lysandre will be out on January 14 and a couple songs from it are available to stream.
Stream: Christopher Owens – “Lysandre’s Theme / Here We Go”
The first preview track from Local Natives’ new record Hummingbird, due out January 29, is now available to download. They’re at The Opera House on March 28.
MP3: Local Natives – “Breakers”
Though busy for the last while as being part of Thao & Mirah, Thao Nguyen has gotten back together with The Get Down Stay Down – though grammar geeks will find it interesting they’re now credited as “and” instead of “with” – and will release a new album in We The Common on February 5. Stream the first track below.
Stream: Thao & The Get Down Stay Down – “Holy Roller”
Under The Radar points out that Telekinesis has, for shits and giggles, made a new Hallowe’en-themed song available to download.
MP3: Telekinesis – “Clock Strikes Midnight”
Loud & Quiet and The Huffington Post talk to John Darnielle of The Mountain Goats.
Paul Banks talks to Exclaim and Northern Transmissions about and offers Drowned In Sound a track-by-track guide to Banks.
The Shins’ contribution to the now-available Starbucks holiday comp Holidays Rule – a Paul McCartney cover – is now available to stream in whole thanks to Stereogum, and if that’s not enough Shins for you, the whole of their Austin City Limits episode is available to watch. And if that’s still not enough, well I can’t help you.
Stream: The Shins – “Wonderful Christmas Time”
aux.tv talks to Lou Barlow about keeping the balance between Dinosaur Jr, Sebadoh, and all that other stuff he does.
Mojo interviews Bob Mould.
Sunday, October 28th, 2012
R.E.M. cover Roky Erickson
AmazonI was going to make this the first Sunday in almost a decade I didn’t post a cover, but then I remembered that this selection from Where The Pyramid Meets Eye – the 1990 tribute album to Roky Erickson – existed and even though I used it three years ago, I don’t care. Hallowe’en-themed songs are tougher to find than you might think.
And in those three years, a lot has changed. R.E.M., who at that time were coming off their celebrated return to rock form Accelerate and prepping their Live At The Olympia. Now, they no longer exist having retired after one final album together in last year’s Collapse Into Now. Now, Peter Buck has just released his deliberately low-key debut self-titled solo record and Michael Stipe is judging an art exhibition of animated .gifs. Because… yeah.
Erickson, for his part, has continued to re-establish the psych-rock legacy he started with the 13th Floor Elevators, releasing the Okkervil River collaboration True Love Cast Out All Evil in 2010 and touring semi-regularly. In fact, he was coming to town the week I posted this last time, and is going to be at Lee’s Palace again this coming Saturday, November 3. How about that?
MP3: R.E.M. – “I Walked With A Zombie”
Stream: Roky Erickson – “I Walked With A Zombie”
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