Thursday, June 7th, 2012
Review of Amanda Mair’s Amanda Mair
Kjell B PerssonIt’s not unfair to say that Labrador Records has something of a “house sound”, and not just for the Swedish accents. With acts like The Radio Dept., Acid House Kings, and Sambassadeur on their roster, they’re a reliable source for warm, fuzzy, indie pop-ish sounds and so when they announce a new signing, it’s usually worth paying some attention – even when on paper the artist doesn’t seem have much in common with the rest of their roster. Or in the case of Amanda Mair, especially when. Not many labels would sign a 15-year old singer-pianist on the strength of her raw talent – there weren’t even any demos – but Labrador did just that in 2010. And having given her a couple years to hone her craft before sending her into the studio with Philip Ekström of The Mary Onettes and the result – her self-titled debut, released in Sweden in February and in North America this week – has proven worth the wait.
It’s hard not to want to use Mair’s youth as a qualifier for offering praise, but the fact is that Amanda Mair would be an accomplished collection of polished pop and piano balladry from an artist of any age. Mair does just fine on the latter with a direct, unadorned presentation – her voice is innately suited to tugging at the heartstrings – but Ekström deserves credit for making the former so sonically dense and interesting without overwhelming her. The choice of a lightly but distinctly ’80s production style is an interesting one, considering those years were a distant memory before Mair was born, but it really does work – for those old enough to remember the era, the sounds are familiar but Mair’s presence is so fresh that it never feels deliberately retro or nostalgic.
Her lyrics may come across a bit vague – one would hope she doesn’t yet have the sort of life experience that would allow her to pen truly pointed, emotional songs – but that gives them a sort of universality that serves her well and the delivery is well-balanced between earnest open-heartedness and knowing wisdom. I suspect every review of this record closes with some sentiment along the lines of how good she already is and how much better she’ll surely get as she gains more experience, but it really is true. And while Mair’s upside is astonishing, don’t assume that Amanda Mair is all about potential – she’s already arrived.
There’s a stream of the album available at MTV, but it’s geoblocked to the US. Americans, have at it. Everyone else, just trust me.
MP3: Amanda Mair – “House”
MP3: Amanda Mair – “Sense”
MP3: Amanda Mair – “Doubt”
Video: Amanda Mair – “House”
Video: Amanda Mair – “Sense”
Stream: Amanda Mair / Amanda Mair (US only)
Anna Ternheim released her new album The Night Visitor this week, and it’s available to stream in whole at Spinner.
MP3: Anna Ternheim – “Walking Aimlessly”
MP3: Anna Ternheim – “The Longer The Waiting (The Sweeter The Kiss)”
Stream: Anna Ternheim / The Night Visitor
NPR is streaming The Tallest Man On Earth’s new album There’s No Leaving Now ahead of its release next Tuesday. Kristian Matsson hits the stage at the Queen Elizabeth Theatre on June 15.
MP3: The Tallest Man On Earth – “1904”
Stream: The Tallest Man On Earth / There’s No Leaving Now
Interview, The Music, and The Herald Sun talk to The Hives, in town at The Sound Academy on June 26.
Rolling Stone talks to Sigur Rós’ Georg Holm about their new album Valtari, from which they’ve released another video from their “Mystery Film Experiment” series. They play Echo Beach on August 1
Video: Sigur Rós – “Varúð”
Denmark’s Efterklang premiered songs from their forthcoming album Piramida in performance with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra at the end of May, and a video of one of them has been released to get people excited for the new set of songs, due out this Fall.
Video: Efterklang – “The Ghost” (live)
The Guardian wonders what’s up with the women who helped define the synthy sound of 2009: La Roux is supposed to have a second album out this year but there’s been nary a peep out of Elly Jackson in ages; Ladyhawke traded a lot of the keys for guitars on her just-released second album Anxiety – there’s interviews with Pip Browne at The New Zealand Herald and The Music; and Little Boots just debuted a new video taken from her second album which, while it clearly exists, has yet to have any specifics revealed.
Video: Little Boots – “Headphones”
NPR is streaming Hot Chip’s latest In Our Heads, due out next Tuesday. The Music talks to singer Alexis Taylor and they play The Sound Academy on July 15.
Stream: Hot Chip / In Our Heads
Pitchfork checks in with The xx, who’ve announced their second album Coexist will be released on September 11. They’ll preview the new material when they play a sold-out show at The Phoenix on July 28.
There’s a complete Clock Opera show from Amsterdam in May available to watch at 3voor12.
The Line Of Best Fit says hello to Mystery Jets, themselves saying hello when they open up for Keane at The Sound Academy on June 19.
Most pleased to hear that Richard Hawley’s latest Standing At The Sky’s Edge will be getting a North American physical release on August 28 – it’ll be available digitally next week – because I was getting close to biting the bullet and paying the $40+ for the import vinyl. Yay procrastination! And yay for a sample track from the album to download. Now let’s just get some touring happening over here…
MP3: Richard Hawley – “Leave Your Body Behind You”
Neil Halstead’s new solo record Palindrome Hunches – originally targeted for an August release – will now be out come September 11, but to make up for the delay a first MP3 has been made available for listening.
MP3: Neil Halstead – “Full Moon Rising”
Jarvis Cocker talks to The Guardian about his work raising awareness for Arctic environmental concerns.
MusicOmh chats with Supergrass frontman gone solo Gaz Coombes.
Muse have announced a September 17 release date for their new record The 2nd Law. The accompanying trailer does not inspire confidence, as it would appear to be a bombastic concept album about peak oil.
Trailer: Muse / The 2nd Law
The AV Club takes the occasion of the recent reissues to examine the career and importance of My Bloody Valentine.
Interview and NME both mark the 40th anniversary of David Bowie’s The Rise And Fall Of Ziggy Stardust; the former with an interview originally published in March 1973 and the latter with an interactive look at the album cover.
Wednesday, June 6th, 2012
Calexico, Grizzly Bear, and The Antlers ready new albums
AntiJust as yesterday offered a flurry of tour announcements, today we’ve got a few pretty high-profile artists offering details on new albums; two from artists who have been away for some time and one from an act that’s barely taken a moment to breathe.
First, you’ve got Tuscon’s Calexico. They’ve kept fans appeased with the Road Atlas compilations of previously tour-only material, but no one’s forgotten it’s been some time since they released 2008’s Carried To Dust – almost four years to the day by the time their new record Algiers is released on September 11, their first for Anti- what with their long-time label Quarterstick having folded in 2009.
The band already have a full slate of Fall tour dates lined up, but they’re mostly all in Europe – fear not, though, the chances they won’t be rolling through so soothe your soul with the sounds of the desert soon enough are slim to none. And in the meantime, there’s a new video that offers the first sample of the new album to savour.
Video: Calexico – “Para”
It’s been three years since we last heard from Brooklyn’s Grizzly Bear and their breakout Veckatimest, and while their break has been well-earned and peppered with solo projects, news that their new album will finally be out on September 18 should please many out there. And while it doesn’t yet have a name, it does have a first track available to stream and a world tour to support it; Toronto can look forward to hearing those harmonies fill Massey Hall on September 26; tickets are $45.89 – fees included – and go on sale Friday at 10AM. Album details and full tour dates can be had at Exclaim.
Stream: Grizzly Bear – “Sleeping Ute”
I don’t think anyone was necessarily expecting to hear from The Antlers anytime soon – they released Burst Apart just over a year ago and even just released a final single from it in the UK at the end of April. But clearly taking a break isn’t for them, as they’ve announced a new release – also their first for Anti- – entitled Undersea due out on July 24. No samples or specifics yet, but there is a website and a trailer. Update: Pitchfork reports that Undersea isn’t a full-length, but a four-song EP.
Trailer: The Antlers / Undersea
The final two installments in the Archers Of Loaf remaster and bonus-laden reissue program – All The Nation’s Airports and White Trash Heroes – will be released simultaneously on August 7; a track from the latter has been made available to download. While it’s great that these editions will finally be out, one hopes that this doesn’t mark the end of the Archers Of Loaf reunion… They’re at The Phoenix on June 16.
MP3: Archers Of Loaf – “Dead Red Eyes”
Bob Mould talks to Clash about the Sugar years, the recorded output of which will be re-released on July 24.
The whole of The Afghan Whigs’ set at Primavera Sound in Barcelona last weekend is available to watch in quite-good audio and video. And if you want to further pretend you were in Spain for the festival, WFMU has audio streams of many of the sets from the first two days; one assumes the third day will be forthcoming.
Video: The Afghan Whigs @ San Miguel Primavera Sound – May 31, 2012
The sixth and final part of The AV Club’s retrospective look at R.E.M. is now up.
Ted Leo writes for Spin about a youth informed by the musical works of Rush.
NPR has a World Cafe session with The Magnetic Fields.
Daytrotter has posted a session with Eisley.
The final installment of Room 205’s video session with Blouse is now up.
Spinner chats with Bethany Cosentino and The Dallas Observer with Bobb Bruno, both of Best Coast. They’re in town at The Phoenix on July 21.
Guitar World talks six-strings with Lauren Larson of Ume. There’s also an interview at Houston Press.
Tuesday, June 5th, 2012
Niki & The Dove leads a whole whack of concert announcements
Eliot HazelDays like yesterday are kind of my favourite. Those are the days where the inbox/RSS/Twitter feed is like a non-stop barrage of concert announcements and they’re great because not only do they put interesting things on my calendar to look forward to, but they also make the next day’s blog post an easy one.
Of all the announcements to come down the pipe, the one that I’m most pleased about is that Swedish electro duo Niki & The Dove will be at The Drake Underground on October 2, tickets $15 in advance. I had originally been disappointed that their first proper North American tour supporting Twin Shadow didn’t include his two nights at Lee’s Palace at the end of July, but they tacked on a handful of headlining dates after that tour wrapped including Toronto. I’m a bit surprised about the size of the venue – having seen them at both Iceland Airwaves last Fall and at SXSW this Spring, their stardom seemed assured and considering those dates were coming a good while after the August 7 release of their debut Instinct, I would think that the buzz would demand a decidedly larger room.
All of which is to say that when tickets go on sale this Friday, if you’re at all interested in seeing this band – which you should be – you should get on tickets quick.
MP3: Niki & The Dove – “Tomorrow”
MP3: Niki & The Dove – “Mother Protect”
MP3: Niki & The Dove – “The Drummer”
Also confirmed rolling through the 416 in the last few days, in chronological order:
Peppy Louisiana five-piece Givers, who had one of the songs of the Summer last year with “Up Up Up” hope that their debut In Light has the legs to keep toes tapping through another Summer tour. They’re at The Drake on July 31, tickets $10.50 in advance.
MP3: Givers – “Up Up Up”
Echo Beach is a far, far cry from the intimate environs of The Drake Underground where Perfume Genius played in April, but the sum beauty that the pairing of him and Sigur Rós could bring to the waterfront gives me goosebumps just thinking about it. They open for the Icelanders there on August 1, one of four dates they’re doing with them.
MP3: Perfume Genius – “Hood”
MP3: Perfume Genius – “Dark Parts”
I had thought that Franco-Finnish duo The Dø might be giving us a pass in support of their latest album Both Ways Open Jaws – it came out in November and they hadn’t been through since September 2010, but they’ve just taken their time getting around to it. They’ll be at Lee’s Palace on August 3, tickets $15 in advance.
MP3: The Dø – “Slippery Slope”
With their new, self-titled album out today, Australia’s Temper Trap have made a date at The Phoenix for August 7 since they’ll be over this way for Lollapalooza anyways. Tickets for that are $26.50 in advance. There’s interviews with the band at MySpace and FasterLouder.
Video: The Temper Trap – “Trembling Hands”
San Franciscan country/garage-pop – maybe barn-pop? – outfit Sonny & The Sunsets have put together a Summer tour in support of their new record Longtime Companion, out June 26. They’re at The Silver Dollar on August 11, tickets $11.50.
MP3: Sonny & The Sunsets – “Pretend You Love Me”
MP3: Sonny & The Sunsets – “I See The Void”
Having made his name with The Frames and The Swell Season (and The Commitments, but we don’t talk about that), Glen Hansard is looking to do the same for Glen Hansard. His solo debut Rhythm & Repose is out June 16 and he’s put together a North American tour that brings him to The Music Hall on September 16; tickets range from $25.50 to $35 in advance. There’s chats with Hansard at Spinner and Exclaim.
Video: Glen Hansard – “Philander”
Video: Glen Hansard – “Love Don’t Leave Me Waiting”
Los Angeles art-rock weirdos Ariel Pink’s Haunted Graffiti have yet to formally announce their follow up to 2010’s Before Today, but that they’ve announced a Fall tour that includes a September 19 date at Lee’s Palace – tickets $20 – implies that it’s not far off.
MP3: Ariel Pink’s Haunted Graffiti – “Round And Round”
Chairlift are coming back to town for Something and they’ve graduated from The Horseshoe to The Molson Amphitheatre! Of course, it’s in support of Gotye, whom you may know from that one song and whom you won’t remember in a year, but still. That’s September 20, and I suspect if you sit tight there’ll be a lot of tickets made available super-cheap in the days leading up to the show. PopMatters has a feature on the Brooklyn band.
MP3: Chairlift – “I Belong In Your Arms”
MP3: Chairlift – “Cool As A Fire”
Though they released the Into The Night EP this Spring as a stopgap, The Raveonettes also have a new album in the works and some Fall tour dates to go with it. They’ll be at The Phoenix on October 2, tickets $18.50.
MP3: The Raveonettes – “Into The Night”
Punk rock veterans Social Distortion have announced a Fall tour that brings them to the Sound Academy on October 20.
Video: Social Distortion – “Machine Gun Blues”
With their Americana album of traditional folk songs grunged the hell up out today, Neil Young & Crazy Horse decided it’s as good a time as any to announce their Fall tour in support of it. They’ll be at The Air Canada Centre on November 19 with Los Lobos as support, tickets on sale June 15. Pricing still not announced but odds are it won’t be cheap; it never is and yet it’s always worth it. Rolling Stone talks to Neil to find out why it’s Crazy Horse and not Buffalo Springfield.
Video: Neil Young & Crazy Horse – “God Save The Queen”
Monday, June 4th, 2012
Bry Webb and Del Bel at 918 Bathurst in Toronto
Frank YangI’m sure that the timing was just coincidence, but if Friday night’s Wavelength show at the Buddhist temple at 918 Bathurst featuring Bry Webb and Del Bel was meant as a last-minute bit of lobbying for my Polaris Prize ballot – long-list voting had opened that day – then I salute them. Well played. Though I’ve had a year to mull it over, there was very little actually locked down on my list of the top five Canadian “albums of the highest artistic integrity, without regard to musical genre, professional affiliation, or sales history”, and both Webb’s Provider and Del Bel’s Oneric were very much in the running.
I’d seen Del Bel at another Wavelength in January and Webb’s record release show in February, and while the live show is not supposed to have any bearing on the nomination process, this wasn’t going to hurt with keeping them front of mind. But this show was intended to mark Del Bel’s return from a couple weeks of Canadian touring and celebrate the release of their new single – a collaboration with Webb – and not to squeeze their way onto any Polaris ballots at the 11th hour. I think.
Del Bel’s set was structurally quite similar to the one in January – Webb’s guesting on the new single “No Cure For Loneliness” was obviously different – but better from the band’s point of view for having been road-tested the past weeks and better from mine for having had many more months to spend with Oneric. Some combination of the two points – probably more the latter – made it much easier to extract and appreciate the songs from their atmospheric cinematic-noir style, and as far as the performance went, the shifts in mood felt more natural and dextrous than before and while singer Lisa Conway still preferred to stand behind her bandmates while she sang, she had less of a wallflower air about her this time out, coming across more mysterious than just shy. Touring: it does a band good.
I don’t think Bry Webb has taken his band out on the road for any extended jaunts since Provider came out, but with over a decade of fronting Constantines before they went on hiatus to his name, he hardly needs the practice of getting in front of an audience. If there was an immediate difference between this night’s show and the one at the Music Gallery in the Winter, it was that Webb had found his guitar strap and was playing standing up although it still wouldn’t mean forays into the audience – electrical noise on stage kept him fairly rooted to one spot to avoid interference. It also featured a few new songs to augment the Provider material but the enlistment of Del Bel’s horns and drummer for a good portion of the set really gave things an extra kick to augment the more solemn, low-key tone of the material. And while Webb’s solo material exists a good distance from what the Constantines were about, there was a taste of the old band’s fire when Webb stepped up for a righteous lead break on “Low Life” which he dedicated to former bandmate Will Kidman. On the other hand, it was impossible to imagine the Cons covering Seals & Croft’s “Summer Breeze” as Webb and seven-ninths of Del Bel (two of whom, it should be noted, are also full-time Providers) did to end their main set.
There’s little question that Oneric and Provider are two of the finest releases to come out of Toronto/southern Ontario in the past year; this evening was strong proof of that. But would that be enough to get them on the Polaris long-list, short-lists, or my ballot for either? To the first two, I’ve no idea and to the last, well we’ll just have to wait and see.
NOW had both a preview piece on Del Bel for the show and a review of the show; Singing Lamb and BlogTO were also in attendance.
Photos: Bry Webb, Del Bel @ 918 Bathurst – June 1, 2012
MP3: Bry Webb – “Rivers Of Gold”
MP3: Del Bel with Bry Webb – “No Cure For Loneliness”
Stream: Del Bel / Oneric
NPR is streaming a short film that Neil Young has made to coincide with the release of his new album with Crazy Horse Americana, out this week.
The June 12 release date of Synthetica not far off, Metric is ramping up the media cycle with a complete stream of the new record, a cover story in this month’s Exclaim, and a fans-only show on the day of release at The Opera House; details on how to win tickets will be available by hanging out on the band’s various social media sites.
Stream: Metric / Synthetica
Spinner and The Winnipeg Free Press talk to Japandroids about not breaking up. They’re at Lee’s Palace on June 23.
Willamette Weekly and San Francisco Bay Guardian chat briefly with Dan Bejar of Destroyer, whose previously Record Store Day-only vinyl edition of Destroyer’s Rubies is now available for anyone/everyone to own and spin.
Grimes has made another MP3 from her breakout album Visions available to download; she’s at Historic Fort York as part of the Full Flex Express on July 13.
MP3: Grimes – “Circumambient”
And speaking of shows at Fort York, I’ve made some jokes about how Toronto seems to be commemorating the bicentennial of the War Of 1812 with nothing but raves, but there’s now something a little more musically patriotic and family-friendly happening to mark the anniversary. On July 14, The Garrison Commons at Fort York will host a free show featuring performances from Sarah Harmer, Shad, The Rural Alberta Advantage, and Alex Cuba. Specifics are still forthcoming so keeping up with the Facebook page probably isn’t a bad idea.
MP3: Shad – “Rose Garden”
MP3: The Rural Alberta Advantage – “Stamp”
Video: Sarah Harmer – “Almost”
Video: Alex Cuba – “Cabello”
Macleans talks to Don Pyle about the Shadowy Men On A Shadowy Planet reunion, which hits Lee’s Palace on July 14.
Exclaim and The Grid have feature pieces on Cold Specks and Exclaim also ups the ante with a video session. Cold Specks are at The Great Hall on August 8.
Daytrotter has a session and NOW and interview with Great Lake Swimmers, who will be at The Molson Amphitheatre on August 18 opening up for Blue Rodeo.
Leonard Cohen has added a second Toronto show at the Air Canada Centre for December 5, to go along with the December 4 one that is just about sold out now. Tickets range from $72.50 to $250 plus fees. And while you mull that over, check out Clash‘s liste of ten things you didn’t know about Lenny.
Their show at The Music Hall sold out and in the books, Patrick Watson has announced another Toronto date for December 6 at Massey Hall with The Barr Brothers supporting; tickets are $24.50 to $35.00 plus fees, on sale now. NPR also has a Tiny Desk Concert, PostCity and interview, and a second MP3 from Adventures In Your Own Backyard has been made available to download.
MP3: Patrick Watson – “Words In The Fire”
BlogTO has the full lineup of this year’s Open Roof Festival, which pairs bands and movies for a night under the stars at the Amsterdam Brewery all Summer. You’ve got bands like Army Girls, Bruce Peninsula, and The Magic and films like Moonrise Kingdom, Charles Bradley: Soul of America, and Indie Game: The Movie – a bad time can’t be had (okay it can but it shouldn’t). Tickets for each night are $15.
Young Galaxy are releasing a new 7″ single tomorrow and the B-side is available to download courtesy of Stereogum. And if you liked what they accomplished on Shapeshifter working with producer Dan Lissvik electronically across the ocean, imagine what they could do working directly with him in the studio. If you’d like the see that happen, the band would like you to help out.
MP3: Young Galaxy – “Youth Is Wasted On The Young”
77 Square, Pioneer Press, City Pages, Isthmus, and Columbus Alive talk to Feist.
Sunday, June 3rd, 2012
Maxïmo Park covers The Go-Betweens
AmazonIt’s always amused me the amount of hand-wringing there seems to occur here in North America over the use of the word “independent” – or “indie”, as the kids say – as a musical adjective and/or genre while over in the UK, its been accepted as a legitimate descriptor for decades, even to the point of there existing compilation albums dedicated to celebrating its endurance. That was ostensibly the mandate of Independents Day: ID08, released in 2008 and featuring one disc of covers with current independent artists covering their forbears and a second featuring recommendations of up and coming acts by those same artists. Kind of a multi-generational group hug thing,
One of the participating artists was Newcastle’s Maxïmo Park, who chose to pay homage to one of Australia’s greatest pop bands in The Go-Betweens. They don’t mix it up too much, only goosing the tempo and tension to more Maxïmo-friendly levels and transferring Amanda Brown’s violin solo to synths, but the original is such a great tune that to try and tweak it too much would only result in a poorer version – I suspect the band knew this. Or they were just being lazy.
After a few years’ break, Maxïmo Park return with their fourth album The National Health next week. The Go-Betweens ceased being a band with the untimely death of singer-guitarist Grant McLennan just over six years ago. Co-founder Robert Forster continues on as a solo artist; his last solo record The Evangelist was released in 2008.
And if you were curious, the band that Maxïmo Park recommended on the second disc of the comp was Cougar.
MP3: Maxïmo Park – “Was There Anything I Could Do?”
Video: The Go-Betweens – “Was There Anything I Could Do?”
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