Alfredo Arias HorasWhen Amor de Días released their first album Street Of The Love Of Days in Spring of 2011, they weren’t presenting themselves as successors to either The Clientele or Pipas, but given that neither of those outfits have released anything new since Alasdair MacLean and Lupe Núñez-Fernández turned their attentions to it, it’s not unreasonable to expect that the new project provide at least some of the elegant pop fix that fans of either outfit would have demanded from them otherwise.

And with some degree of adjusted expectation – there’s more acoustic guitar than electric and tempos more languid, even compared to The Clientele’s autumnal pace – The House at Sea does just that. Floating above the hazy atmospherics, MacLean’s voice is a familiar, warm blanket and Núñez-Fernández’s timbre doesn’t follow far behind. And while those traits are holdovers from Street, the songwriting and arrangements on House are much more assured than on the debut – a benefit, no doubt, of being both artists’ primary concerns rather than a side-project. It’s unclear if we’ll be seeing new music from either The Clientele or Pipas in the new future – hiatus is such a nebulous word – but until then, Amor de Días will do quite nicely.

KEXP has an advance stream of the album ahead of its release on January 29. They’re also coming for a North American tour in March but, alas, are not stopping in Toronto this time.

MP3: Amor de Días – “Jean’s Waving”
Video: Amor de Días – “Jean’s Waving”
Stream: Amor de Días / The House At Sea

NOW welcomes Palma Violets to town for their Toronto debut at the Horseshoe tonight. They just released the latest video from their debut 180, which drops February 25

Video: Palma Violets – “Step Up For The Cool Cats”

The Line Of Best Fit chats with Veronica Falls, whose are streaming a new track from Waiting For Something To Happen before it comes out February 12. They play The Garrison on March 12.

Stream: Veronica Falls – “Buried Alive”

A Heart Is A Spade has a chat with Foals, who’ve released a new video from Holy Fire, out February 12.

Video: Foals – “My Number”

DIY points to a new clip from The Cribs for an old, previously unreleased song that will appear on their forthcoming best-of compilation Payola, due out February 25.

Video: The Cribs – “Leather Jacket Love Song”

NPR has a World Cafe session with Django Django, in town at The Opera House on March 12.

They’re only one-minute clips, but the two new songs being previewed by The House Of Love at their Facebook are pretty damned promising. The new album She Paints Words In Red is out April 1.

Those waiting for a North American release date for Jessie Ware’s Devotion – hopefully with a vinyl edition – can circle April 2 on their calendars. Those waiting for more North American tour dates… sit tight. Maybe read these features at The New Zealand Herald, The Age, The San Francisco Examiner, San Francisco Chronicle, and The Guardian.

The Telegraph talks to Richard Hawley, who has released a video for the final single from last year’s Standing At The Sky’s Edge – a clip that it has taken far too long to find a non-geoblocked version of, I might add. Anyways.

Video: Richard Hawley – “Don’t Stare At The Sun”

The Alternate Side has posted a video session with Bat For Lashes.

Billboard reports that Elvis Costello and The Roots have completed a collaborative album that will be released later this year. Even without having heard a note, it’s probably safe to say this will be the funkiest record of Costello’s career.

Spinner gets Bernard Sumner’s take on the drama that ended with Peter Hook leaving New Order.

Perhaps detecting that I was finally going to get around to completing my XTC back catalog collection – or perhaps commemorating the 35th anniversary of their debut White Music – The Guardian have dug up a feature interview with the band circa 1978.

Christopher DadeyConsidering that touring North American is an expensive proposition for a British artist, it’s pretty commendable that for her first two albums – her 2007 debut Made Of Bricks and 2010’s My Best Friend Is You – Kate Nash managed to not only come through town twice, but first play a relatively intimate club show for her devoted fanbase before stepping up to a bigger room the second time around (Mod Club then Phoenix, both times).

Considering that she no longer has major label dollars backing her – she bought herself out of her record contract after finishing up with Friend in favour of crowdfunding and self-releasing future efforts – it might not be reasonable to expect the pattern to continue, but apparently it might. Hot on the heels of announcing the March 5 release of her third album Girl Talk, Nash has scheduled a North American tour that brings her to town on March 15 to play her smallest stage yet, The Horseshoe Tavern. Tickets for that show are $18.50, on sale this Friday, and interpreting the cozier room as an indication her fanbase is shrinking is probably a mistake – that Best Friend Mod Club show in April 2010 was jammed, and not by folks who seemed like an uneven sophomore effort would diminish their devotion.

It will be interesting to see where Girl Talk takes Nash. Best Friend found her torn between the sassy-catchy piano-pop that she excels at, and the riot grrrl-inspired punk that she’s rather less good at but also clearly determined to stick to. Last Fall’s Death Proof EP had far more guitars than piano, but checked the abrasiveness for melody so the optimist might see this as evidence that a happy balance could still be found. A speculative track listing for Girl Talk doesn’t make it seem like her pen has gotten any less pointed, but hopefully there’ll be more singing that shrieking. The first single from the new record, made available to stream last week, is certainly promising.

Stream: Kate Nash – “3AM”
Video: Kate Nash – “Death Proof”
Video: Kate Nash – “Fri-End?”

Canadian Musicfest is usually all filled up with – wait for it – Canadian music, but the ever-expanding list of showcasing artists has got a pretty strong international flavour this year; certainly more than recent years… assuming that there isn’t a spate of last-minute cancellations like last year. There’s a solid Scandinavian bloc of acts that I’ll talk about at a later date, but also a couple of BBC Sound of 2013 finalists coming to town. Scottish electro-pop trio CHVRCHES – who came in fifth in the BBC polling – will headline The Mod Club on March 20, and post-punk stabby-guitar quintet Savages are at Lee’s Palace on March 23. Advance tickets will be available for both, and festival wristbands will also get you in. If they don’t sell out via tickets first. Clash and DIY have introductory features on CHVRCHES.

Video: CHVRCHES – “Lies”
Video: Savages – “I Am Here” (live)

If you were thinking that with The Joy Formidable’s new album Wolf’s Law due out next week that an advance stream should be showing up soon, then you would be correct, and Rolling Stone has it. Mancunian Matters has an interview with frontwoman Ritzy Bryan.

Stream: The Joy Formidable / Wolf’s Law

Pitchfork has got the whole of Esben & The Witch’s second album Wash The Sins Not Only The Face available to stream. It’s out January 22.

MP3: Esben & The Witch – “Deathwaltz”
Stream: Esben & The Witch / Wash The Sins Not Only The Face

Bloc Party have released a new video from last year’s Four. They’re at Fort York on June 8 as part of the Arts & Crafts Field Trip festival.

Video: Bloc Party – “Truth”

Under The Radar points to a stream of a new song from Still Corners, the b-side of their “Fireflies” 7″.

Stream: Still Corners – “Hearts Of Fools”

The Stool Pigeon has an interview with Veronica Falls, whose new album Waiting For Something To Happen is out February 12. They’re also releasing a limited-edition covers EP on or around the same day, and I warn you – of the 300 copies being made, at most only 299 remain. They’re at The Garrison on March 12.

Flavorpill has a video session with Bat For Lashes.

The Line Of Best Fit has all the specifics about the new Suede album Bloodsports, including artwork, tracklisting, and release date – March 18.

Drowned In Sound, news.com.au, and The Liverpool Echo interview Mr. Richard Hawley.

PopMatters has an interview with Tindersticks.

Amor de Días have released the first video from their new album The House at Sea, out January 29.

Video: Amor de Días – “Jean’s Waving”

Johnny Marr has released a new video from his forthcoming solo debut The Messenger, out February 26.

Video: Johnny Marr – “Upstarts”

Rolling Stone has got a stream of the new old New Order record Lost Sirens, comprised of unreleased material from their last studio album Waiting For The Sirens’ Call.

Stream: New Order / Lost Sirens

And if you like your Marr and Sumner together in one convenient package – perhaps with a side of Pet Shop Boys – then Slicing Up Eyeballs is pleased to report that the 1991 debut from Electronic will be getting a double-disc reissue on April 8, enhanced with bonus tracks.

Video: Electronic – “Getting Away With It”

Finally, because there’s no shortage of interesting David Bowie surfacing every day, there’s interviews with producer Tony Visconti and guitarist Earl Slick about the recording sessions for The Next Day at The Guardian and Rolling Stone. Bowie himself may not be interested in talking about the new album, out March 12, but his collaborators certainly are. And additionally, The Quietus challenges the myth that Bowie had turned into a recluse over the past 10 years while The Line Of Best Fit has helpfully compiled clips of Bowie’s best musical moments over the past 20 years – because despite conventional wisdom, there were more than a few.

Temporary ResidenceNot many record producers manage to achieve the sort of household name status as the artists they work with, but Nigel Godrich has done as well as anyone in the recent memory. Partly because of his work on high-profile records from the likes of Beck, Pavement, and Paul McCartney, but mainly because he’s the unofficial sixth member of Radiohead, having been behind the boards for every one of their records from OK Computer onwards.

He’s been getting out of the studio and onto the stage of late, though. He’s one third of Ultraista, along with Joey Waronker – best known as R.E.M.’s first post-Bill Berry drummer circa Up and Reveal, and singer/artist Laura Bettinson. They released their self-titled debut in October, and while it’s obviously its own thing separate from what Godrich has worked on in the past, his signature is clearly evident in the beats and electronic textures contained therein. A full North American tour itinerary has yet to be revealed, they will definitely be at Lee’s Palace in Toronto on January 26, tickets $15.

Rolling Stone talks to Godrich about the project while The Dumbing Of America chats with Bettinson.

MP3: Ultraista – “Small Talk”
Video: Ultraista – “Bad Insect”
Video: Ultraista – “Gold Dayzz”
Video: Ultraista – “Our Song”
Video: Ultraista – “Static Light”
Video: Ultraista – “Small Talk”

Godrich and Waronker are both also part of Radiohead frontman Thom Yorke’s sideproject Atoms For Peace – along with Flea of Red Hot Chili Peppers and percussionist Mauro Refosco – and they just announced the February 25 release of their debut full-length, Amok. Consequence Of Sound has specifics on the record and Yorke talked to Rolling Stone about how the band evolved out of his 2006 solo record The Eraser. They’ve just given away a b-side as download on their website and released a video for a lead single earlier this year. At least some touring is presumed to be planned for 2013 so everyone waiting for that make-up Toronto Radiohead date? Don’t.

MP3: Atoms For Peace – “What The Eyeballs Did”
Video: Atoms For Peace – “Default”

So what does winning the Mercury Prize get you, in concrete terms? For Alt-J, a venue upgrade from Wrongbar – where they made their local debut in September – to The Phoenix, where they’ll headline on March 27. Tickets are $17.50 and the full North American itinerary can be seen at Exclaim.

MP3: Alt-J – “Tessalate”

Chickfactor has premiered the first sample of the new Amor de Días album The House at Sea, due out January 29.

MP3: Amor de Días – “Jean’s Waving”

The National Student interviews Frightened Rabbit. Their new album Pedestrian Verse us out February 5.

DIY and The Guardian sit down with Jessie Ware to discuss her whirlwind 2012.

Deb Googe of My Bloody Valentine talks to Drowned In Sound about joining Primal Scream this Summer and the return of MBV.

Pitchfork reports that Lost Sirens, that compilation of New Order outtakes circa Waiting For The Sirens’ Call that absolutely no one has been clamouring for, will be released on January 22.

Rolling Stone has another live clip taken from the Blur live set Parklive, and naturally it’s the song that North American audiences would know best. And speaking of North America, Blur have confirmed their first live appearance on the continent in who knows how long for next Spring – but it’s not where you’d expect.

Video: Blur – “Song 2” (live at Hyde Park)

The Line Of Best Fit reports that Suede have slated a live show for London next Spring, expected to coincide with the release of a new album. Which, in a perfect world, would be produced by Bernard Butler who would secretly replace all of Richard Oakes’ guitar parts with his own.

Rolling Stone is streaming another song from Johnny Marr’s solo debut The Messenger, out February 26.

Stream: Johnny Marr – “The Right Thing Right”

Slicing Up Eyeballs reports that The House Of Love – who have only barely been active enough to qualify as not dead since their 2005 reunion album Days Run Away – have in fact finished a new record and will presumably actually be releasing it.

The Quietus talks to all three members of Saint Etienne while Artvinyl talks to the design shop who put together the wonderful album art for their latest, Words & Music By Saint Etienne.

Charles Watson of Slow Club gets political with Under The Radar.

Loud & Quiet and This Is Cornwall have interviews with Patrick Wolf.

FacebookI don’t think that anyone out there would suggest that Kevin Shields is not a man of his word; it’s just his punctuality that people take issue with. After all – those remastered reissues of My Bloody Valentine’s Loveless, Isn’t Anything, and their collected EPs did eventually see the light of day this Spring – it just happened that they were about four years later than they’d originally been promised.

So when NME came out yesterday and quoted Shields as saying that the new My Bloody Valentine album – the proper follow-up to 1991’s Loveless, which they’ve ostensibly been working on off and on (but mostly off) for the past 20 years – will be out before the end of the calendar year, with a companion EP due out in 2013, it’s hard to figure out if that churning feeling in the stomach is due to excitement, skepticism, or burrito. But wait – he offers details, including the band’s intention to play Tokyo’s Ajinomoto Stadium next Spring, and the fact that it will be released independently via the MBV website. Which, if we dig a little, is what was told to Billboard… in 2007. Well he’s consistent, if nothing else.

More information as it becomes available – if he’s going to be good to his word, there’s not a lot of time left to get this sucker out – but in the meantime, perhaps reflect on the last time MBV were in town, or glance over at that new Godspeed You! Black Emperor record and remind yourself that anything is possible.

Video: My Bloody Valentine – “Soon”

Much more certain is the second album from Amor de Dìas, the project from The Clientele’s Alisdair Maclean and Pipas’ Lupe Núñez-Fernández. They’ll release The House at Sea, the follow up to 2011’s Street Of The Love Of Days, on January 29. Details on the release can be had at Exclaim. And as nice as this will be, it’s with sadness that I note the press materials are now referring to The Clientele in the past tense.

Also locked in for the new year is the new record from Frightened Rabbit. Their first full-length for Atlantic Records will be called Pedestrian Verse and be released on February 5. Details and some words on the record from frontman Scott Hutchison are over at DIY.

English electronic duo Bondax clearly don’t think that December is too late to slate a North American tour; they’ll be at The Drake Underground on December 8.

MP3: Bondax – “All Inside”

When English glam-metal revivalists The Darkness rolled through town back in February, they were still six months off from releasing their comeback record Hot Cakes. Now that it’s out, they’re coming back – look for them again at The Phoenix on January 21, tickets $35, though we all know you’re only going to hear “Street Spirit” and “I Believe In A Thing Called Love”. Who’s kidding who.

Video: The Darkness – “Nothing’s Going To Stop Us”

Charli XCX has made good on her promise to release a new mixtape – Super Ultra Mixtape is available to either stream or download.

Stream: Charli XCX / Super Ultra Mixtape

NPR welcomes Bloc Party for a World Cafe session.

The Quietus and This Is Essex talk to Darren Hayman about his new witch trial-themed album The Violence. The whole thing is available to stream, and a video was recently released.

Video: Darren Hayman & The Long Parliament – “Impossible Times”
Stream: Darren Hayman & The Long Parliament / The Violence

Stacey HatfieldAs performing names go, Daughter certainly exists pretty far on the “not very” end of the Google-ability scale, but they’re worth the effort. Originally a pseudonym for London’s Elena Tonra, its scope eventually expanded to include guitarist Igor Haefeli and now, with drummer Remi Aguilella in the fold, represents the trio and is a proper band – one whose dark, quietly dramatic, atmospheric folk turned out to be one of the highlights of this year’s SXSW.

Considering that hot on the heels of their festival appearances came the word that they’d signed on with 4AD worldwide – but on the less legendary but still impressive Glassnote in North America – I expected there’d be much more news and music from them before long. And indeed, their earliest but still fully-realized recordings were released via a couple of EPs – The Wild Youth and His Young Heart – were released in late March, but since then it’s been radio silence.

A silence that is now happily breaking. Though it’s not a debut album – that’ll have to wait until next year as it’s currently in the process of being created – they will release a 7″ single on October 1, the A-side of which has been made available to stream and does an excellent job of taking me right back to that evening in March when I got so very excited by this outfit. And more importantly, it’s enough pretence for the band to embark on a short North American tour which includes an October 22 date at The Drake Underground, tickets $13.50. This will be very good.

Their His Young Heart EP is available to stream in whole below, and three-quarters of The Wild Youth can be heard at the band’s Soundcloud. Oh, for me the correct Daughter comes up in spots two through five in Google, so maybe it’s not such an unworkable name after all.

MP3: Daughter – “Love”
Stream: Daughter – “Smother”
Stream: Daughter / His Young Heart

Bloc Party have made their new record Four ahead of its formal release next Tuesday, August 21. Life And Times and Montreal Gazette have feature interviews with the band and The Guardian solicits six songs of specific purpose from Kele Okereke. Bloc Party play The Danforth Music Hall on September 10 and 11.

Stream: Bloc Party / Four

Billboard has an interview with The Heavy and a stream of their new record The Glorious Dead, due out next week. They play Lee’s Palace on September 23.

Stream: The Heavy / The Glorious Dead

NME and BBC chat with Two Door Cinema Club frontman Alex Trimble. Their new record Beacon – from which they’ve just released a video – is out September 4 and they play The Sound Academy on October 5.

Video: Two Door Cinema Club – “Sleep Alone”

The Fader, Tone Deaf, FasterLouder, Exclaim, and Spin all have features on The xx as the September 11 release of Coexist draws nearer. A second track from the album has been made available to hear via stream.

Stream: The xx – “Chained”

Rolling Stone talks to Mumford & Sons bassist Ted Dwane about their new record Babel, out September 25 and from which they’ve made the first track available to stream.

Stream: Mumford & Sons – “I Will Wait”

Beth Orton has made a new track from her next record Sugaring Season available to stream at Rolling Stone; NPR also has a Tiny Desk Concert from the singer-songwriter. She plays The Mod Club on September 30 and the album is out on October 2.

Stream: Beth Orton – “Magpie”

The Vaccines are hoping to make the wait for the October 2 North American release of Come Of Age a little more bearable by giving away a free EP of covers and whatnot entitled Please Do Not Disturb in exchange for your email address. The Daily Record has a conversation with singer Justin Young.

The Fly has a feature on Ellie Goulding, who has made the first single from Halcyon available to stream at Billboard. The album is out October 9, and though the released clip is technically just a “lyric video”, its audience-sourced Instagram visuals are more entertaining than many peoples’ official videos.

Lyric Video: Ellie Goulding – “Anything Could Happen”

Scotland folk-pop outfit Admiral Fallow will be at The Drake on October 13 in support of their second album Tree Bursts In Snow. Tickets are $13.50 and Filter has their full North American tour itinerary.

Video: Admiral Fallow – “Guest Of The Government”

In indie-pop news, Allo Darlin’ are streaming the b-side of “Northern Lights”, their next single from Europe, while Tender Trap are doing the same for the first single from their next album Ten Songs About Girls, out September 10. And Darren Hayman continues to be prolific in his post-Hefner years, releasing an instrumental album in Lido as a tribute to Britain’s open-air swimming pools and on November 5, will release The Violence, an album about the witch trials of during the 17th century English civil war. Yeah, another one. Exclaim has some details.

Stream: Allo Darlin’ – “Golden Age”
Stream: Tender Trap – “Step One”
Stream: Darren Hayman & The Long Parliament – “We Are Not Evil”

Their possibly last-ever show in the books, Blur have announced plans to release the live set from Hyde Park as a double-live album entitled Parklive in November; Consequence Of Sound has specifics and there’s pre-final show interviews with Graham Coxon at Shortlist and Damon Albarn at The Sun.

Exclaim collects some information on the next M.I.A. album, which will be called Matangi and should be out in December.

This Music Is Love talks to Alisdair Mclean of The Clientele and Amor de Días, whose second album is due out in or around January of 2013.

The Line Of Best Fit has an interview with London’s Spector, whose debut Enjoy It While It Lasts was released in the UK this week and is pretty great in that tailored-trousered, arched-eyebrow, steal-your-girlfriend, throwback Britpop sort of way. I’ve heard nothing about a North American release, but at one point they were supposed to open up some of Florence & The Machine’s Summer dates over here – including Toronto – and while that didn’t end up happening, at least it shows they’ve an eye on us.

Video: Spector – “Chevy Thunder”
Video: Spector – “Never Fade Away”
Video: Spector – “Grey Shirt & Tie”
Video: Spector – “What You Wanted”

Daytrotter has posted a session with Wild Beasts.

2:54 have released a new video from their self-titled debut.

Video: 2:54 – “Sugar”

Summer Camp have made a video for the lead track of their recent Always EP.

Video: Summer Camp – “Life”

The Fader interviews Mica Levi of Micachu & The Shapes.

Clash finds out how Primal Scream has been doing since Mani left the band to rejoin The Stone Roses.

The Space has a lovely video session with Lanterns On The Lake recorded in a disused shipyard.