Clare NashUpdates from the recording sessions for Kate Nash’s follow-up to 2007’s Made Of Bricks were few and far-between, but what did come out – that she was working with Bernard Butler, as famed for his stint as guitarist in Suede as his production work and that boyfriend Ryan Jarman from Brit-rockers The Cribs was hanging around – seemed to imply that her bubbly piano anthems might be taking on a harder edge on the sophomore effort. A theory borne out by the first released MP3 from the album, initially entitled Crayon Full Of Color but since changed to My Best Friend Is You and out on April 20 either way – “I Just Love You More” sounded like a not especially successful attempt at punk rock and certainly not playing to Nash’s strengths – clever wordplay and keen, observational songwriting that’s as humorous as it is pointed.

The first proper single, however, does sound like vintage Kate Nash. “Do Wah Doo”, for which a fun dancing stewardess-themed video has just been released, is very much in line with the best of Bricks, just gussied up with Butler’s signature retro-slick production. In fact it might be a little too similar to those who’d like to see some more growth from album one to two, but if “Do Wah Doo” represents one end of the stylistic spectrum covered on the new record and “I Just Love You More” the other, then My Best Friend Is You should be a fun and interesting listen.

Nash was already announced as one of the artists taking part in this year’s Lilith Fair revival, but this piece in Rolling Stone shows she’s not waiting for Sarah McLachlan’s say-so to bring her new record to North America. Less than a week after the record’s release, Nash is embarking on a small club tour across the continent, starting on April 26 in Toronto at the Mod Club – tickets $22.50. I missed both of Nash’s previous local shows back in 2008, so I’m pretty excited about the opportunity to finally see her live, and in cozy environs no less. And hopefully it will go better than her recent Glasgow show.

The Daily Record and Contact Music have interviews with Nash.

MP3: Kate Nash – “I Just Love You More”
Video: Kate Nash – “Do Wah Doo”

Spin finds out why Victoria Hesketh calls herself Little Boots while NYLON and Metro also have interviews. It seems that it’s not just the Toronto date of her North American tour that’s been scotched – none of her east coast, post-Coachella dates are listed on her website anymore.

Pitchfork has details on the forthcoming album from the all-new. all-different Pipettes – Earth vs. the Pipettes will be out on June 28 in the UK and if the band believes that it’s the planet Earth that is conspiring to have all their members quit… they may be on to something.

Magnet has an interview with former Delgados frontwoman Emma Pollock, who has been playing guest editor on their site all week. Her second solo record The Law Of Large Numbers came out last week.

MP3: Emma Pollock – “Hug The Harbour”

If the questions posed in these following Spinner quickie SxSW preview interviews look familiar… well, they are. Thankfully the answers are different.

Spinner talks to Frightened Rabbit, whose Winter Of Mixed Drinks finally began this week. They are at the Opera House on May 4.

Fanfarlo chats with Spinner and The Daily Texan. They’re in town with a show at Lee’s Palace on April 9, and Clash reports the band are planning to give away a free live EP in conjunction with this (or some other upcoming) tour.

This Spinner interview with The xx strays from the script a little bit. They’re at the Phoenix on April 4 and the Kool Haus on April 20.

Let’s Wrestle grapples with some questions from Spinner. They’re at the Horseshoe on April 18.

NYC Taper is sharing a recording of a recent show from We Were Promised Jetpacks and oh yeah, there’s one of those Spinner interviews too.

The Line Of Best Fit chats with Field Music. They’re at the Horseshoe next Friday night with The Clientele, with whom 77 Square and City Pages have chats.

The Tripwire has a feature piece on The Big Pink. They play The Mod Club on March 24.

JAM and The Montreal Gazette interview Muse.

The High Wire, heartily endorsed late last year, have made the title track of their new album The Sleep Tape available to download. It starts out small, but quickly becomes a pretty compelling argument for this as one of the best dream-pop records of the year. Which, as of this moment, it is.

MP3: The High Wire – “The Sleep Tape”

Exclaim reports that Belle & Sebastian are off hiatus and headed back into the studio to record album number eight. EIGHT. Goodness.

Daytrotter has a session with Ian McCulloch of Echo & The Bunnymen. They are at The Phoenix on April 23.

Rumoured a little while ago but now official – first-wave shoegazers Chapterhouse have slated a North American tour for this Spring and will kick it off on May 1 at the Horseshoe in Toronto.

Video: Chapterhouse – “Pearl”

Billboard wonders what David Bowie is up to – apparently, not much.

God Help The GirlI’ll not presume to speak for other Belle & Sebastian fans, but when word came out that Stuart Murdoch was putting the Scottish septet on hiatus to work on a film/stage/musical project, I couldn’t help but be concerned. After all, hiatuses, solo projects and retrospective compilations – last year’s BBC Sessions – don’t usually augur well for the future of a band going forwards.

The future of Belle & Sebastian aside, one can’t help but look on the results of Murdoch’s efforts, manifested as God Help The Girl (the band) and God Help The Girl (the album) – there’s also a “God Help The Girl” (the song) – and be impressed. In recruiting three new female voices to help him fulfill his dream of crafting a set of songs sung from a woman’s perspective and framed in a more orchestral, theatrical context, Murdoch has managed to create a record that’s as familiar and accessible to long-time fans as any new Belle & Sebastian record would have been, but also different enough from the day job to justify its completely separate identity. Though a couple of B&S songs appear here in reimagined form, it’s hard to imagine some of these tunes being done justice by the band. That’s no knock on Sarah Martin, but God Help The Girl demands a certain boldness and brassiness that’s simply not her forte.

Though recent Irish emigree Catherine Ireton takes lead vocals on the majority of tracks and does a lovely job, it’s the wide range of voices throughout the record – The Divine Comedy’s Neil Hannon, Smoosh’s Asya and Murdoch himself contribute memorable turns – and the rich, string-laden arrangements, courtesy of B&S’ Mick Cooke, that make God Help The Girl such a success. The best songs soar to the same heights as anything Murdoch has ever done and the lesser moments drift amiably by, perhaps needing the visual narrative elements to which they were intended to work properly. That said, I’m not actually sure I’d want to see a filmic version of the record come to light – there’s something special about a soundtrack to a movie that doesn’t exist and in a less fluffy sense, I worry that without a proper production budget it’d not look as good as it should and thus detract from the overall experience. They did a pretty nice job on the videos so far, though, so perhaps these concerns are unfounded. Either way, even if God Help The Girl doesn’t ever become the multi-platform, multimedia juggernaut that Murdoch envisions, it will remain the unexpectedly attractive second cousin in the Belle & Sebastian family portrait, itself a pretty good-looking clan to begin with.

In this interview with eMusic, Murdoch provides a rough outline of the album’s storyline and says that the film already has a big-time Hollywood producer attached but that work will probably not begin in earnest until the next Belle & Sebastian record is done, with the band coming off hiatus towards the end of this year. Paste has made this month’s cover feature on Stuart Murdoch available online, and Magnet plays over/under with the Belle & Sebastian song catalog.

MP3: God Help The Girl – “Come Monday Night”
MP3: God Help The Girl – “Funny Little Frog”
MP3: God Help The Girl – “Mary’s Market”
Video: God Help The Girl – “Funny Little Frog”
Video: God Help The Girl – “Come Monday Night”
MySpace: God Help The Girl

Asia One talks to Emmy The Great.

MP3: Emmy The Great – “We Almost Had A Baby” (Simon Raymonde mix)

Uncensored has an interview with Polly Scattergood.

State and The List talk to The Horrors, who will be at Lee’s Palace on October 14.

The National Post, hour.ca and The Singing Lamb get some time with Zach Condon of Beirut, while The Singing Lamb also says hello to tourmates The Dodos. Both are in town tonight for a mega-sold out show at the Phoenix.

Never one who could be accused of being a workaholic, Hope Sandoval will release her second album with The Warm Intentions, aka Colm O’Coisig of My Bloody Valentine, on September 1. Entitled Through The Devil Softly, it will be followed by North American touring this Fall and according to Rolling Stone, there’s another Mazzy Star album in the works.

MP3: Hope Sandoval & The Warm Intentions – “Blanchard”

I’m still waiting for Seattle’s Throw Me The Statue to name an album And I’ll Throw You The Whip, but it hasn’t happened yet. Their new one is called Creaturesque and will be released August 4 – look for them at a venue to be announced in Toronto on August 30.

MP3: Throw Me The Statue – “Ancestors”

Sondre Lerche is at the Mod Club on September 16 in support of his new record Heartbeat Radio, out September 8. Details and dates at Billboard.

Placebo have a new record in Battle For The Sun and are touring to support – look for them at the Sound Academy on October 6. The Star has a conversation with Brian Molko about making the new record.

Video: Placebo – “Battle For The Sun”

Echo & The Bunnymen will bring their orchestrally-enhanced live rendering of Ocean Rain to the Queen Elizabeth Theatre on October 20. Tickets on sale Saturday for $65. Yowch.

Video: Echo & The Bunnymen – “The Killing Moon”

Jeremy Jay will be in town on November 8 at a venue to be announced.

MP3: Jeremy Jay – “Beautiful Rebel”

Billy Bragg, still touring on last year’s Mr Love & Justice, will be touring across Canada this Fall, including a date at the Phoenix on November 17.

MP3: Billy Bragg – “I Keep Faith”

Nick Thornton Jones/Warren Du PreezBelieve it or not, Patrick Wolf is really just like the rest of us – he gets lonely, insecure and frustrated with life and at the end of the day, just wants to be loved. It just so happens that he’s also a 6’4″ musical prodigy with a penchant for melodrama, a sartorial sense that ranges from the unusual to the outrageous and whose inner monologue of self-affirmation sounds an awful lot like Tilda Swinton.

His new album The Bachelor – out in the UK and digitally in North America now and getting a physical release here on August 11 – is dizzying sonic mash-up of facet of Wolf’s works, from the gothic electronica of Lycanthropy through Wind In The Wires‘ ghostly folk to The Magic Position‘s giddy techniclour pop, all wrapped around the very basic theme of Wolf wondering if he’ll ever find love. In the hands of some, the collision of all these sounds might be a cacophonous mess, especially when you add in the electro-industrial textures of Alec Empire, but with Wolf it somehow sounds perfectly natural to veer from Celtic folk to 8-bit synth-pop, all of it swathed in strings and Wolf’s dramatic, emotive baritone – the enormity of his creative vision unable to be confined by any single genre. The man thinks in widescreen – no, IMAX – and the breadth of The Bachelor is simply intended to capture it in all its grandiose, over the top glory.

Wolf’s larger than life aesthetic isn’t for everyone, certainly, but for those who allow themselves to be swept up in Wolf’s epic creations, The Bachelor seems a watershed record for the young auteur. There’s never been any question that Wolf has had a very clear idea of what he’s wanted to say and how he wants to say it, but with The Bachelor, there’s the sense that the listener is now hearing what Wolf himself hears – it sounds like the sum of all his previous works, blended into one concise, chaotic statement. Though initially disappointed that the double-album Battle was split into two albums and the second part, the triumphant The Conqueror, pushed back to 2010, I suspect that’s now for the best. The Bachelor is so rich and dense that if the companion record is nearly as good – and I really hope it is – it’d really be too much to absorb. I think I’ve managed to avoid this sort of hyperbole for the year so far, so I’ll give myself a cookie now – The Bachelor will almost certainly be one of my favourite albums of the year. Just watch.

Wolf is currently on tour in North America as part of the Nylon Summer Music Tour alongside The Living Things, The Plastiscines and Jaguar Love and will be at the Mod Club in Toronto on June 17. And, courtesy of REMG, I’ve got two pairs of passes to give away for the show. To enter, email me at contests AT chromewaves.net with “I want to see Patrick Wolf” in the subject line and your full name in the body. The contest will close at midnight, June 14.

There’s features on Wolf at The Skinny, The Quietus, Clash and Decider, videos of a couple of exclusive acoustic performances at Out and a behind-the-scenes feature on the making of the glow-in-the-dark video for “Hard Times” has emerged.

MP3: Patrick Wolf – “Who Will?” (Buffet Libre mix)
Video: Patrick Wolf – “Hard Times”
Video: Patrick Wolf – “Vulture”
MySpace: Patrick Wolf

God Help The Girl has released one more MP3 from the forthcoming album – out June 23 – that should be extra-familiar to Belle & Sebastian fans. It also offers a pretty good reference point for how God Help The Girl differs from Belle & Sebastian, and how it’s alike.

MP3: God Help The Girl – “Funny Little Frog”

Under The Radar interviews former Pipette Rose Elinor Dougall, who is putting the finishing touches on her solo debut, due out later this year.

MP3: Rose Elinor Dougall – “May Holiday”

The Horrors talk to The Independent about being outsiders.

Sonic Youth Week is underway at PitchforkTV – first up is an A>D>D session with the band featuring a couple tracks from The Eternal, out tomorrow. They’re at Massey Hall on June 30.

Minnesota Public Radio has been on a roll with the studio sessions – last week they welcomed Jenny Lewis and also St Vincent, the latter of whom is at the Horseshoe on August 8 and was interviewed by The Chicago Tribune.

Pitchfork has details on a forthcoming Jayhawks anthology Music From The North Country, due out July 7. It’ll be available in standard and deluxe editions, the latter of which includes a disc of rarities and a DVD of the band’s videos.

The Georgia Straight and The Santa Barbara Independent talk to with Jens Lekman.

Two-thirds of the new A Camp covers EP, out tomorrow, is available to hear right now. Stream their Grace Jones cover at Spin and their Pink Floyd cover at Spinner. There’s interviews with the band at 2 Advocate, The Denver Post and The Montreal Mirror.

If you couldn’t be at The Radio Dept’s show in New York last month – and judging from the number of curses sent my way, there were a few of you – here’s the next best thing. Not one, but two live recordings of their set at the Bell House in Brooklyn, one from Bradley’s Almanac and another by a fan but made available at the band’s website.

Via Audio and Ha Ha Tonka will be at the Horseshoe on June 23 for a free show as part of Nu Music Nite.

MP3: Via Audio – “Developing Active People”
MP3: Via Audio – “Presents”
MP3: Ha Ha Tonka – “St. Nick On The Fourth In A Fervor”

Deleted Scenes will be at Sneaky Dee’s on July 5 as part of Wavelength.

MP3: Deleted Scenes – “Turn To Sand”
MP3: Deleted Scenes – “Fake IDs”

Ra Ra Riot have a date at Lee’s Palace on September 11, tickets $13.50.

MP3: Ra Ra Riot – “Dying Is Fine”
MP3: Ra Ra Riot – “Each Year” (EP version)

The mighty Bob Mould will bring his Life & Times to the Mod Club on October 5, tickets $22.50.

MP3: Bob Mould – “City Lights (Days Go By)”

Frank YangEven though there’s rarely a shortage of things to do in Toronto on any given night, it’s rare that I’ve ever faced a real dilemma about where I should or want to be – that was exactly the case this past Monday night when two tours hit town from opposite directions on the 401 and left me facing a difficult choice. A Camp at the Mod Club or Doves at the Kool Haus? Beautiful Swedish woman or pasty English guys? Lush pop or space rock? You could have flipped a coin and I’d probably have been content with the result, but in the end, even though I’d seen then numerous times before, I opted for the Mancunians – I was just in that Brit-rock kind of mood, I guess.

Doves have had a pretty terrific track record when it comes to selecting opening acts, so I’ll extend them a pass on this occasion (their second – they inflicted Starsailor on use back in 2002) with regards to Wild Light. I’d actually seen them at SxSW 2008, and deliberately so – something in the samples I’d heard must have caught my interest but when I actually saw them play, I couldn’t for the life of me figure out what it was. Over a year later and with the band signed to a major label and their debut album Adult Nights under their belts, this performance did nothing to remind me. The New Hampshire outfit remains a talented crew, with three solid vocalist and instrumental chops to go around but lack any sort of personality, cranking out inoffensive, MOR-approved college rock. I tried to get it, I really did, but it just wasn’t happening. Next.

Consistency has been the hallmark of Doves’ recorded output since they first emerged with 2000’s Lost Souls – a trait that continued with this year’s solid but not revelatory album Kingdom Of Rust. Their live show, however, seemed to take a quantum leap forwards with their last visit four years ago – whereas their first visits featured a low-key band overly-reliant on backing tracks and projected visuals, their last visit featured an outfit decidedly more energetic and charismatic and that more extroverted delivery made all the difference in the quality of the live show.

This time out, taking the stage to the motorik intro of “Jetstream”, they were even looser but that wasn’t entirely a benefit – I don’t know if drummer Andy Williams had decided to play without a click for the first time or was just generally antsy about something, but for the first few songs the tempos were all over the place, the speeding up particularly noticeable in “Snowden”, which came across more lurching than regal. He eventually settled down, however, and Doves turned in another impressive performance, bassist Jimi Goodwin an especially gregarious frontman and guitarist Jez Williams a constant whirlwind of activity.

The set leaned heavily on new material early on but the band eventually worked their way through their back catalog to the classic material and hit all the right notes, including the first reading of “The Cedar Room” on the tour so far. I was particularly impressed with how much they’d gotten away from using pre-recorded backing tracks, adding a keyboardist to help fill things out but largely finally content to allow the live renditions of their meticulously-crafted studio versions be their own loose-limbed creatures, the songs sounding much more organic and dynamic as a result.

Somewhat surprisingly, the Kool Haus was not sold out – the crowd was a healthy size and obviously stoked for the show, but in general everyone’s personal space was being respected. Having been around for nearly a decade, it could simply be that their fanbase has finally hit a steady state, but it’s a good-sized one that many acts would kill to have. But as long as Doves keep turning out records as solid as they have been – and there’s no reason to think they won’t, consistency remember – and their live show keeps improving, these fans won’t be going anywhere.

Epilogue has an interview with Doves while fansite Doves Music Blog reports that the band will be releasing an instrumental-only version of Kingdom Of Rust on June 16 in digital form. Guess reviewers aren’t the only ones who think their music is cinematic.

Photos: Doves, Wild Light @ The Kool Haus – June 1, 2009
MP3: Wild Light – “Red House”
Video: Doves – “Kingdom Of Rust”
Video: Doves – “Snowden”
Video: Doves – “Sky Starts Falling”
Video: Doves – “Pounding”
Video: Doves – “Black & White Town”
Video: Doves – “There Goes The Fear”
Video: Doves – “Caught By The River”
Video: Doves – “The Cedar Room”
Video: Doves – “Sea Song”
Video: Doves – “Here It Comes”
Video: Doves – “The Man Who Told Everything”
Video: Doves – “Catch The Sun”
Video: Wild Light – “California On My Mind”
MySpace: Doves

Elbow’s Guy Garvey discusses the band’s plans for following up their Mercury-winning The Seldom Seen Kid and plans for strategic worldwide domination with Billboard. Look for album number five in late 2010 and for them to play the Phoenix on July 29.

NME reports that Editors will release their new album In This Light And On This Evening this coming September.

Also coming soon is the new album from Arctic Monkeys – the record is still untitled but will be out on August 25, details at Pitchfork.

The 405 interviews Frightened Rabbit. They’re at the Horseshoe July 22.

Little Boots, with whom The Times has an interview, is streaming the whole of her debut Hands in advance of its release this coming Tuesday. Exclaim reports that the North American release will be one of the first on the just-resurrected Elektra imprint – no word on whether the label intends to live up to their “neglectra” nickname during their second go-around.

Stream: Little Boots / Hands

Also streaming is Elvis Costello’s new album Secret, Profane & Sugarcane. He’s at Massey Hall on August 28.

Stream: Elvis Costello / Secret, Profane & Sugarcane

Considering the band is formally on hiatus, I’ve been writing a fair bit about Belle & Sebastian lately. Most of that involves Stuart Murdoch’s God Help The Girl project, the album for which is being released June 23. Murdoch has contributed a blog post to The Guardian wherein he explains the impetus for the project and also features the first part of a making-of video series. The Guardian also conducted an interview with Murdoch last month. They’ve also made a b-side MP3 with Murdoch on lead vocals available to download.

MP3: God Help The Girl – “Mary’s Market”

As for Belle & Sebastian’s other singer, Stevie Jackson, there’s a solo record that he has “been rather sporadically putting one together, the odd day here and there” but folks here in Toronto may get a sneak preview of some of the material next Thursday, June 11, as Jackson will be playing an informal jam session at the Imperial Pub. Details of what to expect are vague, but Jackson will be there along with a gaggle of local musicians – Final Fantasy amongst them – and music will ensue. It’s set to start around 10:30 but it’ll probably start later and if you want to be amongst the few in the really-not-large room, you’ll be there much earlier.

Frank YangIt’s almost laughable how Belle & Sebastian spent the first part of its career shrouded in mystery and eschewing live performance because as anyone who’s ever seen the Scots onstage can attest, they are no wallflowers. Both Stuart Murdoch and Stevie Jackson are fine frontmen, charismatic in their own ways and perfect foils for one another and they’re a very tight and polished musical group, prone to spontaneous covers that, for how off the cuff they seem to be, generally come off much better than they should.

I recall their 2003 Toronto show at Massey Hall where during a break between songs, an audience member called out a request for the Jackson 5’s “I Want You Back” and rather than shrug it off, they actually started to jam it out and before you knew it, they were covering it and doing it pretty dam well. I can imagine that’s how this Elvis Costello cover came about, considering how initially hesitant they are going into it but then pulling it off with goofy gusto.

With B&S on indefinite hiatus, Stuart Murdoch will be releasing the album from his God Help The Girl project on June 23 and while B&S fans will no doubt find much to enjoy in it, it doesn’t quite manage to fill that Belle & Sebastian-shaped hole in this indie kid’s soul. Elvis Costello, on the other hand, never really goes away even when he says he’s going away. He releases his second album in as many years this week with Secret, Profane & Sugarcane and will play Massey Hall on August 28. I will bet that if someone calls out a request for, “I Want You Back”, Declan will ignore it.

I miss Belle & Sebastian.

MP3: Belle & Sebastian – “Oliver’s Army”
Video: Elvis Costello & The Attractions – “Oliver’s Army”