Emil SchultWhy yes, it is another deck-clearing, pre-vacation post. Bit of a Euro theme to this one because I am headed over to the Old World tonight, spending the next week and a bit in Berlin and Stockholm – so no, I won’t be anywhere near the autobahn, but I may fly over them en route and anyways as part of my cultural preparation for the trip, I’ve discovered the wonder of Kraftwerk. Anyways, let’s get to it – I still have to pack.

Video: Kraftwerk – “Autobahn” (live)

The Guardian are advance streaming the Belle & Sebastian b-sides compilation The Third Eye Centre ahead of its release next week, and to go along with the listening Under The Radar has a track-by-track commentary from the band.

Stream: Belle & Sebastian / The Third Eye Centre

Spin talks to Alex Kapranos of Franz Ferdinand. Their new record Right Thoughts, Right Words, Right Action is out next week and they’re at The Kool Haus on October 24.

Stereogum sets up a Turntable Interview with Empire Of The Sun. They play The Danforth Music Hall on September 9.

Drowned In Sound talks to Emiliana Torrini about her new record Tookah, due out September 10.

Gorilla Vs Bear is streaming a new track from London Grammar’s debut album If You Wait. It’s out September 10 and their October 4 show at BLK BOX has been moved upstairs to The Great Hall.

Stream: London Grammar – “Interlude”

Frightened Rabbit will release a different, North American version of their Late March, Death March EP on September 10 with a different track listing from the European version which came out back in June; Stereogum has a stream of one of the new songs and Paste an acoustic performance video of the same tune. Frightened Rabbit play The Kool Haus on October 17.

Stream: Frightened Rabbit – “Radio Silence”

Savages have announced their third local show in six months, coming back to town for a date at The Opera House on September 12 – tickets for that are $20.

Video: Savages – “Shut Up”

The Darcys list off five of the albums that influenced their studio time in making their new record Warring for CBC Music. It’s out September 17.

The resuscitated The Dismemberment Plan are streaming another tune from their new record Uncanney Valley, due out October 15.

Stream: The Dismemberment Plan – “Invisible”

Emotive Irish newcomers Kodaline – one of the longlisted bands for the BBC’s Sound of 2013 list way back in January – are staging a North American tour around a CMJ appearance and behind their debut album In A Perfect World; they’ll be at The Garrison on October 20.

Video: Kodaline – “All I Want”

Los Angeles synth-rock trio Sir Sly have made a date at The Horseshoe for October 21.

MP3: Sir Sly – “Ghost”

The Dumbing Of America talks to Mark Van Hoen, one of Neil Halstead’s collaborators in Black Hearted Brother. Their debut Stars Are Our Home is out October 22.

The National Post interviews Raphaelle Standell-Preston of Braids. They play The Great Hall on November 10.

Spin has got the latest video from English psych-rock newcomers Temples as well as confirmation that their debut album won’t be out until 2014, not that that’s stopping them from being here to play The Horseshoe on November 20.

Video: Temples – “Keep It In The Dark”

Under The Radar talks to former Ride frontman Mark Gardener about a new collaborative project he’s working on with former Cocteau Twin guitarist Robin Guthrie. The swirly swirly fruits of that project could see the light of day before the year is out.

Tim Burgess of The Charlatans remembers their late drummer Jon Brookes in a blog post at NME.

Montreal’s Valleys have released a new video from their debut Are You Going To Stand There And Talk Weird All Night?.

Video: Valleys – “Absolutely Everything All The Time”

Toronto’s shoegazing Breeze, whose live show helped kick off this week, have a new video.

Video: Breeze – “Dolls”

Phoenix drop in on NPR to record a World Cafe session, while Pitchfork talks to both Thomas Mars and R. Kelly about their unlikely collaborations.

NPR has a World Cafe session with Shout Out Louds.

Beatroute talks to Icona Pop.

Billboard examines Annie’s impact on Norwegian pop.

Okay, bye for now.

FacebookFrequently when an artist announces a new album a number of years on from when its predecessor came out, the question of, “where’ve you been?” is a natural ones. In the case of Sky Larkin principal Katie Harkin, the answer is simply “everywhere”. Since her band wrapped up touring commitments behind 2010’s Kaleide, she signed on as a touring member of Wild Beasts for their Smother tour (which stopped here in October 2011).

But Harkin has gotten back to her own business, and with a new lineup in place – original bassist Doug Adams amicably departed the band and was replaced and a second guitarist added – they’ve announced a September 16 release of their third album, entitled Motto. A new track from it is available to stream via The Guardian and offers a lighter counterpoint to the more pummelling first taste – now revealed as the album’s title track – which surfaced back in May and more than affirms their recipe of sleekly ragged guitars and sneakily sophisticated melodicism is still a most effective one. I look forward to their return.

Stream: Sky Larkin – “Loom”
Stream: Sky Larkin – “Motto”

Annie has released a new video from her just-out A&R EP; Idolator talks to Richard X – the EP’s producer and “R” namesake – about the record.

Video: Annie – “Back Together”

Clash and NME talk to White Lies about their new album Big TV, out August 21. They play The Opera House on October 1.

Rolling Stone talks to Martin Gore of Depeche Mode about the impending North American tour that brings them to the Molson Amphitheatre on September 1.

Manic Street Preachers have unveiled a new video from their next album Rewind The Film, out September 16.

Video: Manic Street Preachers – “Show Me The Wonder”

The Line Of Best Fit reports that English folkie Johnny Flynn has given his new record Country Mile a September 30 release date. The first song from it is available to preview via lyric video.

Lyric Video: Johnny Flynn – “The Lady Is Risen”

Charli XCX walks aux.tv through her video for “What I Like”. She plays The Hoxton on September 16.

Australia’s The Naked & Famous have announced the September 17 release of their second In Rolling Waves, offering some context for their already-announced date at the Sound Academy on October 14. The first video from the new record is also out.

Video: The Naked & Famous – “Hearts Like Ours”

Under The Radar reports that former Mercury Prize nominees The Invisible have been named as support for Jessie Ware on her North American tour, starting November 6 at The Sound Academy. The pairing makes perfect sense since Invisible frontman Dave Okumu co-wrote and produced much of Ware’s Devotion; their last album was 2012’s Rispah.

MP3: The Invisible – “London Girl”

Page 31 talks to Caroline Hjelt and Windy City Media to Aino Jawo of Icona Pop. Their album This Is… comes out September 24.

The Horrors tell NME that any expectations of a new record in 2013 are unfounded and their next release will come in early 2014.

The Quietus has both an interview with and the first new music from Rose Elinor Dougall in far too long; with luck a second album isn’t too far behind.

Stream: Rose Elinor Dougall – “Strange Warnings”

The High Wire have released a video for their latest single, which quite effectively leverages footage from the film Ashes, starring Ray Winstone. The Guardian has more information about the film.

Video: The High Wire -“LNOE”

The Guardian talks to Daniel Blumburg, formerly of Yuck, about his new project as Hebronix and the debut album Unreal.

Bobby Gillespie of Primal Scream unloads to NME about the state of festivals in 2013.

Baeble Music has a video session with Foals and NME gets Yannis Philippakis’ thoughts on US whistleblower Edward Snowden.

Cut Copy have made a new single, released last month in limited edition at the Pitchfork Music Festival, available to stream for all to hear.

Stream: Cut Copy – “Let Me Show You”

NPR has video from a KCRW session with Savages.

The Quietus catches up with David Lewis Gedge of The Wedding Present.

The Skinny finds out what Emma Pollock has been up to since the 2010 release of The Law Of Large Numbers, namely setting up a studio engineering course for aspiring producers.

Maxime BallesterosI don’t know that Norwegians are especially renowned for their senses of irony, but it’s pretty funny that following the 2009 release of her second album of sassy, sugary, and on occasion, delightfully smack-talking electro-pop Don’t Stop, Anne Lilia Berge Strand – that’s Annie to her public – seemingly did just that. Okay, that’s not entirely fair; after touring behind the album, she was reportedly back in the studio in 2010 working on the follow-up, but the results from those sessions didn’t surface until earlier this year in the form of the “Tube Stops And Lonely Hearts” single, which was certainly welcome but didn’t necessarily come with a promise of more material to follow.

That promise finally came earlier this month with the announcement of a new EP – The A’NR EP, named for Strand and her producer Richard X and slated for release as of yesterday – and a steady stream of stream premieres, such that you could reasonably wonder why not just stream the whole thing in one place? As it turns out you can just below.

The Fader, The Line Of Best Fit, and DIY have interviews with Strand where she explains her absence and her return, but doesn’t tip her hat as to when a proper third album will be out. So with that in mind, you can also get your Annie fix via a recent single from Norwegian electronic artist Ralph Myerz, to which she contributed lead vocals.

Video: Annie – “Tube Stops And Lonely Hearts”
Video: Ralph Myerz featuring Annie – “Take A Look At The World”
Stream: Annie / The A&R EP

Pitchfork has the details about the new Icona Pop record they’d like you to think is their debut but really isn’t, really – according to the tracklist at DIY, This Is… – out September 24 – overlaps with their Swedish debut by only their already-released singles but is otherwise all-new. They’re streaming one of those new songs and have released a video for another, and are featured in an interview in Instinct. And while they were supposed to play Garrison Commons as part of The Grove Fest this coming Saturday, one can’t help but notice they’re no longer listed on the website. You do the math (hint: it’s subtraction).

Stream: Icona Pop – “All Night”
Video: Icona Pop – “Girlfriend”

Experimental Icelandic composer Jóhann Jóhannsson will be at The Music Gallery on September 8, bolstered by the ACME String Quartet; tickets are $20 in advance.

MP3: Jóhann Jóhannson – “Odi Et Amo”

The Line Of Best Fit has premiered the official video to accompany the new I Break Horses single released a few weeks ago and which precedes their second album, due out in October-ish.

Video: I Break Horses – “Denial”

Noisey talks to Elias Ronnenfelt and Loke Rahbek of Vår.

Under The Radar interviews the gentlemen of Junip.

Channel 4 is streaming the meeting of Björk and Sir David Attenborough.

Video: When Björk Met Attenborough

Raggi Thórhallsson of Of Monsters & Men answers some questions from MusicOmh and Gigwise (in two parts).

Lucia GracaWhile no one would argue that Björk has always done exactly what she wanted from an artistic point of view, the broader audience that met her first three solo releases and made her one of the unlikeliest stars of the Alternative Nation in the ’90s – as well as probably the most famous Icelander in the world – has waned somewhat in the 21st century. But regardless of the muted response to 2011’s Biophilia, she still counts her fans by the thousands and they were out in force at Echo Beach on Tuesday night for her first local show in almost six years, since headlining the first night of V Fest 2007.

That show – also on the water, albeit across the harbour from this one on Olympic Island – was a confetti-and-laser-and-brass-powered extravaganza fitting the tone of her previous album Volta, but given the relatively inward-looking tone of Biophilia – the first tours in support of it were performed in intimate theatres in the round – it’s not surprising that the stage setup was rather more austere. Or so it seemed, at first. As far as players went, Björk was traveling with only a percussionist and keyboardist/programmer, but the fourteen members of female Icelandic choir Graduale Nobili would prove to be more than the equal to a conventional band.

It’s hard to take the spotlight off of Björk, especially in an electric blue sparkly dress and huge orange Biophilia wig, but Graduale Nobili were the perfect backdrop/accompaniment for her, both aurally and visually as the stage setup was more akin to a theatre space than a concert stage and they were called on to perform as dancers as well as singers. Their parts meticulously and brilliantly arranged, they were by turns mysteriously foreboding or giddily celebratory and offered their matriarchal leader support or cover as the show demanded, their presence energized the show and especially gave extra life to the Biophilia material, with the presentation of “Crystalline” in particular coming across as revelatory compared to the recorded version.

But as improved as the newer material sounded live, it was still the older songs that proved the show-stoppers, and not just because they were the most familiar. “One Day” – the only nod to Debut despite marking its 20th anniversary this month – was stripped down to a gorgeous and haunting vocal and steel hand drum, and if Graduale Nobili had been brought along only to provide the call-and-response chorus to “Pagan Poetry”, it’d have been worth the price of the airfare. If there’s a moment everyone will remember, however, it’d be “Army Of Me” wherein a pair of Tesla coils in a cage descended from the stage ceiling, their electrical arcs synched to the synths while over a dozen girls danced like mad on the stage. Simply amazing. And ranked right alongside as show highlights would be “Hyperballad” transforming midway into a strobe-powered rave up cover of LFO’s “Freak” (so I’m told, I wouldn’t know an LFO song if I heard one) and the massive walls of flame and sparks that backlit set closer “Náttúra”. After that breathtaking peak, the banging one-song, Trayvon Martin-dedicated encore of “Declare Independence” seemed almost unnecessary – the preceding highs were not to be topped – but considering how rarely Björk finds her way here and how spectacular her shows are, if you’re doing anything less than savouring every minute of it, you’re quite simply doing it wrong.

The Toronto Star, Exclaim, BlogTO, The National Post, The Huffington Post, and NOW also have reviews of the show. Noisey reflects on Björk’s 20-year solo career in terms of both music and visual style.

MP3: Björk – “Verandi”
MP3: Björk – “It’s In Our Hands”
MP3: Björk – “Cosmogony”
Video: Björk – “Hollow”
Video: Björk – “Mutual Core”
Video: Björk – “Moon”
Video: Björk – “Crystalline”
Video: Björk – “Innocence”
Video: Björk – “Declare Independence”
Video: Björk – “Wanderlust”
Video: Björk – “Dull Flame Of Desire”
Video: Björk – “Earth Intruders”
Video: Björk – “Where Is The Line”
Video: Björk – “Triumph Of A Heart”
Video: Björk – “Who Is It”
Video: Björk – “Oceania”
Video: Björk – “Hidden Place”
Video: Björk – “Cocoon”
Video: Björk – “Pagan Poetry”
Video: Björk – “Joga”
Video: Björk – “Bachelorette”
Video: Björk – “Hunter”
Video: Björk – “Alarm Call”
Video: Björk – “All Is Full Of Love”
Video: Björk – “Isobel”
Video: Björk – “Possibly Maybe”
Video: Björk – “I Miss You”
Video: Björk – “Army Of Me”
Video: Björk – “Hyperballad”
Video: Björk – “It’s Oh So Quiet”
Video: Björk – “Human Behaviour”
Video: Björk – “Venus As A Boy”
Video: Björk – “Big Time Sensuality”
Video: Björk – “Violently Happy”
Video: Björk – “Play Dead”

The Village Voice has an interview with Icelandic composer Ólafur Arnalds and Altsounds asks him what kind of gear he’s brought along for his current US tour.

Exclaim reports that Icelandic pop singer Emiliana Torrini has set a September 9 release for her new record Tookah, and the first single from it is available to stream now.

Stream: Emiliana Torrini – “Speed Of Dark”

Norwegian singer/producer/pop star Annie tells Noisey that the break that followed 2009’s Don’t Stop is over and to prove it, a song from her new release The A&R EP, out August 5, is available to stream.

Stream: Annie – “Hold On”

Indians have rolled out a new video from their/his debut Somewhere Else.

Video: Indians – “Magic Kids”

The Independent talks to Jose González of Junip.

Chona KasingerNext week is a pretty big week for new album releases, particularly if you’re favourably inclined towards records coming out of the UK, which means that this week is a pretty big week for advance album streams.

And while it’s not the one that everyone will tell you you should be paying attention to, Still Corners’ second record Strange Pleasures is one you shouldn’t overlook – particularly if you assumed you knew what they were all about from their 2011 debut Creatures Of An Hour. Clearly they felt they’d mined the Broadcast-y throwback atmospheric pop thing as far as they could, because they’ve stripped the band down to just principals Tessa Murray and Greg Hughes and gone in for a more ’80s-flavoured, synth-heavy sound. But despite the pretty thorough stylistic reboot, they’ve kept and built on their core strengths – the songwriting and Murray’s elegant coo of a voice – to create a record that’s wholly different yet just as winning. No mean feat.

Exclaim has the advance stream of the record. They’re in town on June 12 supporting CHVRCHES at The Hoxton and hopefully will also make a NXNE appearance or two.

MP3: Still Corners – “Fireflies”
MP3: Still Corners – “Berlin Lovers”
Stream: Still Corners / Strange Pleasures

The British album coming out next week that everyone will be expecting you to pay attention to is Silence Yourself, the debut album from Savages. And contrary to most peoples’ experiences, I’ve found myself more impressed with the record than I was by their live show because it still captures much of that tense and abrasive live energy, but also affirms that they’ve got songs – not something I definitively took away from the performance. The band are streaming their album on their own site – kudos on maintaining their independent, DIY attitude – and are the subject of feature pieces at Pitchfork and The Skinny.

Stream: Savages / Silence Yourself

Little Boots’ second album Nocturnes finally comes out on May 7, and Pitchfork has got the stream, while Teezfm and The San Francisco Examiner have interviews and Noisey gets Victoria Hesketh to revisit some of her many looks over the years.

MP3: Little Boots – “Motorway”
MP3: Little Boots – “Every Night I Say A Prayer”
Stream: Little Boots / Nocturnes

London guitar-pop It Hugs Back have turned to The Big Takeover for the advance stream of their third album Recommended Record, out next week.

Stream: It Hugs Back / Recommended Record

The Line Of Best Fit and The Quietus talk to Bobby Gillespie of Primal Scream, whose new album More Light is out May 6 in the UK but not until June 18 in North America.

Charlie Fink of Noah & The Whale chats with DIY about their new record Heart Of Nowhere, coming out next week.

Interview talks to Elena Tonra of Daughter, coming to town for a show at The Great Hall on May 7.

Stornoway have released a new video from Tales From Terra Firma, just in time for their show at The Horseshoe on May 9.

Video: Stornoway – “The Bigger Picture”

Not only are Marina & The Diamonds and Charli XCX tourmates, they’re also now recording buddies. Marina Diamandis and Charlotte Aitchison have collaborated on a new song which they’re giving away to the masses; odds of them performing it together when they hit Echo Beach on May 23? Probably pretty good. Elsewhere, The Province has an interview with Diamandis.

MP3: Charli XCX and Marina & The Diamonds – “Just Desserts”

Beady Eye are streaming another new, wholly un-Oasis-like song from their second album BE, due out June 10. Liam Gallagher talks a bit to NME about the new record.

Stream: Beady Eye – “Second Bite Of The Apple”

Billboard reports that following an impressive scavenger hunt of sorts, Scottish electronic act Boards Of Canada have confirmed a June 11 release of their new record Tomorrow’s Harvest.

Empire Of The Sun have released the first, typically over the top video from their new record Ice On The Dune, coming out June 17.

Video: Empire Of The Sun – “Alive”

Sigur Rós have released a lyric video for the second preview of their new album Kveikur, out June 18. Sing along with Jonsi!

Lyric Video: Sigur Ros – “Ísjaki”

The Toronto Sun interview the Frenchmen of Phoenix, while The Talkhouse gets Bob Mould to review their new record Bankrupt!. He likes it, though apparently not enough to have stayed part of The Grove Fest lineup, which Phoenix headlines on August 3 at Garrison Commons.

Norwegian electro-pop princess Annie has a new video for a new song which probably comes from a new album, which we’ll eventually find out more about.

Video: Annie – “Tube Stops And Lonely Hearts”

BrooklynVegan is hosting a The Tallest Man On Earth video session for Moog Sound Labs.

Folks who want to see the new Kate Nash from Girl Talk can hit up DIY if they’re in the UK or MTVU if they’re in the US. Everyone else can thank this guy on YouTube for upping a non-geoblocked version.

Video: Kate Nash – “OMYGOD!”

Taken By Trees have put out a new video from last year’s Other Worlds.

Video: Taken By Trees – “Only You”

The National Post interviews Johnny Marr.

Spin has compiled an oral history of PJ Harvey’s landmark Rid Of Me, now all of 20 years old.