discogs.comConsidering their legacies as amongst the most artistically creative and commercially successful British rock bands of their respective eras are rather assured, it’s easy to forget that both Blur and The Who started out as pretty bright-eyed, eager-to-please guitar pop bands. Which is not to say that their earlier works were overly simplistic or lacked ambition – it’s arguable that what they accomplished within the constraints of the 3-minute pop song was as impressive as anything did once free to indulge their creative impulses – so hearing young Blur cover young Who is really quite invigorating.

The track comes from a 1993 tribute album called Who Covers Who?, when Blur were rising stars on the back of Modern Life Is Rubbish and The Who were celebrating their thirtieth anniversary not with a reunion but a box set in the excellent Thirty Years Of Maximum R&B. Fast-forward another 19 years, and it’s Blur who are putting out the box set in the career-spanning Blur 21, out next week, coinciding with what may or may not be a final burst of activity culminating in their Olympics-closing show at Hyde Park on August 12.

The Who know a thing or two about trying to wrap up a career, but numerous break-ups and the deaths of Keith Moon and John Entswistle haven’t been able to keep Pete Townshend and Roger Daltry down – their latest return to action comes in the form of a massive North American tour where they’ll recreate 1973 rock opera Quadrophenia live. They’ll bring that to the Air Canada Centre on November 23.

MP3: Blur – “Substitute”
Video: The Who – “Substitute”

FacebookLook guys, some nights you’d rather just toss something together quickly and get back to watching TV rather than hunker down and come up with some original content that hasn’t already been blogged/tumblred/tweeted/Facebooked into irrelevance over the past 12 hours. Last night was one of those nights.

And so I invite you to 150,000th or so person to check out the stream of the first complete and official sample of Coexist, the second album from London’s The xx, out September 11. For those who like the band’s minimalist electro-soul, it’s like manna from heaven; for those who don’t, there’s nothing to hear here. Certainly the band’s formula – which extends to their album art, viewable over at The 405 – will have the legs to get them through the ‘difficult’ second album, and after that? Well that’s their problem, not ours.

In any case, it’s a bit of a taste of what to expect when they hit The Phoenix on July 28 for a sold-out show and for those not lucky enough to get tickets, one can’t help notice that the just-announced Fall tour still has some conspicuous gaps in it… this is not to say that they’ll be announcing another show in a more appropriately-sized venue after The Phoenix show is past, but they totally could.

MP3: The xx – “Angels”

Also dominating one’s RSS feed yesterday was official details on the second album from Mumford & Sons. Rolling Stone has all the specifics as well as notes from bassist Ted Dwane, but the salient points are that it will be called Babel, be out September 25, and probably further annoy a whole lot of people.

The Sun talks to The Vaccines about their forthcoming second album No Hope For The Vaccines Come of Age, out September 3.

DIY tries to pry some info on album number two out of Little Boots, but all she’ll offer is that it will be out this Fall. Clash settles for asking her about her book collection.

NPR has a Tiny Desk Concert with Laura Marling.

Hot Chip have released a new video from In Our Heads.

Video: Hot Chip – “Look At Where We Are”

The B-side of the new Blur single is available to download. The 7″ single on which it appears is out August 6.

MP3: Blur – “The Puritan”

Blur also comes up in this interview with Graham Coxon at Loud & Quiet, but it’s mainly about his latest solo record A+E, whereas this piece with The Guardian, also featuring a conversation with producer Stephen Street, is entirely about Blur and the making of Parklife.

Norman Blake has announced via Twitter that Teenage Fanclub are making a new album this Fall and Joe Pernice has confirmed that the collaboration between he and Blake, premiered at The Dakota last month will indeed be a real thing with recording and touring happening under the name of The New Mendicants.

DIY talks pop with Amelia Fletcher of Tender Trap, whose new album 10 Songs About Girls is due out in September.

DIY also chats with Elizabeth Morris and Bill Botting of Allo Darlin’, the former of whom used to be in Tender Trap. Trivia!

Rolling Stone gets Of Monsters & Men’s thoughts on being remix targets, amongst other topics.

Sigur Rós have premiered another new video from Valtari, and good for you if you noticed it’s a song that they’ve already released a video for. No, they don’t care. They play Echo Beach on August 1.

Video: Sigur Rós – “Ég Anda”

She’s still being coy on details like, oh, a release date, but the lead single from El Perro Del Mar’s new record Pale Fire is available to download. The record is due out in the Fall because, well, it kind of has to be.

MP3: El Perro Del Mar – “Innocence Is Sense”

Niki & The Dove have released a new video – not from Instinct, but for a song that appeared on their mixtape back in April. Someone explain to me what a mixtape is? No actually, don’t. Instinct gets a North American release on August 7 and they’re at The Drake Underground on October 2.

Video: Niki & The Dove – “Dance Floor”

Daytrotter has posted a session with We Are Serenades.

So wait, this is what a post that I am throwing together to go watch TV looks like? Dammit people why has no one staged an intervention yet. Clearly I need help.

Steve GullickIt’s a bit strange to get into a band with what turns out to be a stylistic outlier, but that’s apparently what happened with me and Hot Chip. I liked bits of their first three albums but wouldn’t have counted myself a fan until 2010’s One Life Stand brought me into the fold with its more soulful angle on the distinctive Hot Chip sound. It was only relatively different from its predecessors – the Londoner’s template of cerebral, slightly nebbish, yet eminently danceable electro-pop was wholly intact – but with a more emotional dimension than they’d previously explored. Some didn’t like it as much; I liked it more.

So yeah, the “return to form” comments that have accompanied their just-released In Our Heads got my back up a little bit; who said that Hot Chip needed to return to any particular form? Why couldn’t they simply forge ahead in a new direction? And then I spent a little time with Heads and decided that maybe it wasn’t so important where it went on the plot of their creative trajectory – it’s a good record that manages to maintain much of the songwriting growth evidenced in One Life Stand, just folded back into their old sound, and more importantly, I didn’t like them any less for it.

Indeed, it’s hard to get off on the wrong foot with an opener as strong as “Motion Sickness” and while Heads is largely Hot Chip by numbers (I spent a little while clicking through my iTunes to try and find which of their older songs the opening of “Let Me Be Him” is a carbon copy of and while I didn’t find it, I know it’s out there), that still means it’s an upbeat collection of dancefloor-ready tunes with the requisite number of ballads and epics. If there’s a downside to this, it’s that there’s not much on Heads likely to elicit the same sort of strong reactions – positive or negative – that Life did, nor is there much for their next record to react against. Maybe the best thing about Heads – besides giving us “Night & Day” and “Flutes” – is that odds are by the time Hot Chip returns to the studio, they’ll be creatively restless enough again to try something new.

Hot Chip are in town at the Sound Academy next Sunday night, July 15, and courtesy of Collective Concerts, I’ve got a pair of passes to give away for the show. To enter, email me at contests AT chromewaves.net with “I want Hot Chip” in the subject line and your full name in the body and have that in to me before midnight, July 12.

There’s features on the band at Loud & Quiet, Clash, The Star-Tribune, Prefix, The Sydney Morning Herald, and The Japan Times.

Video: Hot Chip – “Night & Day”
Video: Hot Chip – “Flutes”

It’s not another “Country House” or “Coffee & TV”, but the studio performance that Blur have released as a video for their new single is still alright.

Video: Blur – “Under The Westway”

Neil Halstead has gotten in the Wimbledon spirit and released a tennis-themed tune which will be available as a bonus 7″ for those who buy his new solo record Palindrome Hunches at independent retailers when it goes on sale on September 11. It’s available to stream now.

Stream: Neil Halstead – “Tennis For Dennis”

The Line Of Best Fit The Quietus talk to Cate Le Bon, who kicks off her Fall North American tour at The Rivoli on September 18. Her Cyrk II is out August 20.

Wonderland has an interview with Still Corners.

DIY talks to Foals keyboardist Edwin Congreave about their new Tapes mixtape thing.

V Magazine gathers together Grimes, Charli XCX, and Sky Ferreira for a photoshoot and some career advice from Genesis P-Orridge, Geri Halliwell, and Elton John respectively. Grimes is at Fort York this coming Friday, July 13, and Chari XCX there on August 4.

Ladyhawke’s press circuit in support of Anxiety has hit Australia, as evidenced by feature pieces in FasterLouder, The Maitland Mercury, The Age, The Sydney Morning Herald, Loud & Quiet, and The Canberra Times.

Tame Impala has revealed details of their new record, to be entitled Lonerism and out in October. Hit up Pitchfork for details and to download the first sample MP3 in exchange for an email address.

The GuardianSo yes, been away a little while – San Francisco was lovely, thanks for asking, I’ve just started putting up photos on Flickr – and yes, there’s a bit of a backlog of stuff to get through. But there’s also a dollop of jet lag to get over, so I’ll just ease back into this if it’s all the same to you.

We may as well start with the only thing that I actually listened to from all the RSS/Twitter/email items immediately: yesterday’s livestreamed Blur mini-concert from atop a London rooftop – the exact location of which was not revealed – wherein they debuted both sides of a new single to coincide with its digital release with the physical release by way of limited edition 7″ on August 6. That date, of course, coincides with their August 12 gig at Hyde Park which is meant to close out the Olympic Games but which many are speculating will also close out their career.

The band have been vague about their plans for the future beyond this single, the Blur 21 box set due out July 31, and the brace of small warm-up and big festival gigs that will lead up to the Hyde Park show; some quotes seem to unequivocally point to the band’s end, other explicitly contradict that finality (not that there’s any sort of symbolism in playing a London rooftop concert, no not at all). It leads one to think that they’re not so much being cagey about it as they genuinely have no idea what’s next, if anything.

And I actually kind of like that. The new tunes are solid, so there’s clearly some gas left in the tank, and if they choose to roll out a new single every now and again without all the weight of expectation, then it’s like a gift. And if that turns into an album and/or North American tour, well that’s cool as well.

The webcast of yesterday’s concert can be seen at The Guardian and rather nifty takes on the usually blah lyric video concept for each of the songs allow some decent streaming of the studio versions of the songs.

Lyric Video: Blur – “Under The Westway”
Lyric Video: Blur – “The Puritan”

Spiritualized have released a second video from Sweet Heart Sweet Light, and Blurt gets some insight on the clip from director Vincent Haycock.

Video: Spiritualized – “Little Girl”

Over at Gigwise, Nicky Wire of MSP expounds on why the Stone Roses is the greatest thing ever.

Pet Shop Boys are streaming a new song from their forthcoming album Elysium, coming September 17.

Lyric Video: Pet Shop Boys – “Winner”

Consequence Of Sound tracks down Emma Anderson of Lush to talk about their final album Lovelife and the nuts and bolts of why there hasn’t been a Lush reunion, though it’s interesting to learn how far along one has gotten.

Florence & The Machine have released another video from Ceremonials; pretty much every album should have been put out as a single by the time they play The Molson Amphitheatre on August 2.

Video: Florence & The Machine – “Breaking Down”

Summer Camp are streaming another track from their Always EP over at The Guardian, and don’t worry about what you might have heard about them going hip-hop on it – neither Jeremy nor Elizabeth tries to bust a verse, they’ve enlisted Odd Future associate Pyramid Vritra to do it for them. The EP is out next week, and apropos of nothing, Jeremy Warmsley lists off his fantasy band lineup for The Independent.

Stream: Summer Camp – “City”

Spin documents Charli XCX’s first foray to America, back in the Spring during SXSW. She’s back this Summer as part of the HARD festival at Fort York on August 4, and also talks to MTV Hive about her in-progress debut album, due out later this year. And oh, new vid.

Video: Charli XCX – “You’re The One”

The Line Of Best Fit welcomes Dry The River for a video session.

Los Campesinos! frontman Gareth Paisey follows up his musical salute to Housemartins/Beautiful South frontman Paul Heaton with an interview at Drowned In Sound about his new opera Presents The 8th, in which Paisey has a part.

Sigur Rós have released another video from Valtari, though this one contains 100% less celebrity penis than the last one.

Video: Sigur Rós – “Rembihnútur”

Filter and Relix get to know Of Monsters & Men.

Southern Souls shares a session recorded with Revolver, recorded when they were in town for NXNE last month.

Frank YangIt seems a bit perverse to use the phrase, “comfort food” with respect to veteran Scottish post-rock giants Mogwai, but there’s real truth in it. There’s no question that they’ve grown as musicians and songwriters over their seven studio albums, but its been a gradual, evolutionary pace that’s not done much to shock or shake loose (m)any of their fans along the way. Their touring regimen has also been similarly predictable, with typically two North American tours per album and each of those shows being rather understated from a visual point of view but offering a sonic experience akin to a really loud, usually abrasive and occasionally beautiful hug by a sledgehammer.

It’s always a satisfying show, make no mistake, but it can get to the point that you don’t necessarily fret about missing one because a) they’d be back soon enough and b) it’s probably not too different from the last one you saw. Those days of taking the band for granted, however, may be coming to an end. When announcing this latest leg of touring for 2011’s Hardcore Will Never Die, But You Will, the band mused that this would be “the last extensive touring we do for some time”; perhaps there was a bit of salesmanship in that but one could also believe that the band were indeed wearying of life on the road and weren’t planning to spend as much of theirs on it. So even though I had been perfectly fine missing their last visit in Spring of 2011, I would definitely find the time to make it out to this one at The Phoenix last Monday.

I’m sure that scheduled opener Balam Acab had every intention of making it as well, but he was kept out of the country for the second time in a month – he missed out opening for Active Child in May – and locals Odonis Odonis were tapped to fill in. I’d seen them back in February opening up for The Twilight Sad and while I decided I didn’t dislike them, I wasn’t especially chuffed to see them again so soon; this probably explained why I was so surprised by how much I enjoyed them this time out. Certainly the addition of a second guitarist was a big change for the band, but it didn’t explain how much tighter and more melodic they sounded this time out. No one will confiscating their aggressive, post-punk credentials anytime soon, mind, but they were inarguably much more listenable. I’d read a capsule review of their NXNE showcase a few days earlier mentioning that they were much improved since this same time last year; I’ll go one better and say they’re much improved from four months ago.

Mogwai took the stage casually and opened with, “Yes! I Am A Long Way From Home” off their debut Young Team – no big deal, done it a thousand times – but to a far more enthusiastic respons than I’d have expected. And it’s about now that I realized how young the crowd looked. Typically for a band that’s been around a decade and a half, the audience will look as though they’ve aged along with them but at least from my vantage point, it was a really student-looking demographic who may very well have been at their first Mogwai show. I calculated that this was my sixth and spontaneously aged about a million years. With their enthusiasm, unfortunately, came some obnoxiousness and the one mook calling out for “X-Mas Steps” throughout the show went from amusing to annoying in about the amount of time it took for him to call out, “Christmas Steps!” the second time. He was clearly getting on Stuart Braithwaite’s tit as well – always dangerous – as the de facto frontman stepped to the edge of the stage at one point to try and stare him down and then later called him out saying that they could should whatever they wanted between songs, but not during. And they weren’t going to play “X-Mas Steps” so just quit it already.

Audience observations and interactions aside, it was certainly one of the more monolithic Mogwai sets I’ve seen, getting fists pumping and pants flapping through much of the set. “Rano Pano” and “Mexican Grand Prix” offered some nimbleness and acceleration to the proceedings, but most of the set list favoured the band’s more lumbering and apocalyptic selections. And while I may seem like I’m all “oh Mogwai again”, that doesn’t mean it’s not still exciting – the main set-closing pair of “Like Herod” and “Glasgow Megasnake” were still as powerful as if i was seeing them for the first time. It’s important to note that even though their albums have have transitioned from visceral to cinematic over time, their live shows still manage to capture both facets magnificently. If Mogwai are indeed dialing down their touring commitments, understand that it’s not because they’ve lost a step on stage. No way.

The National Post also has a review of the show and Clash reports that the band will release a new remix album based on Hardcore entitled A Wretched Virile Lore; this will be their first remix collection since 1998’s Kicking a Dead Pig.

Photos: Mogwai, Odonis Odonis @ The Phoenix – June 18, 2012
MP3: Mogwai – “San Pedro”
MP3: Mogwai – “Rano Pano”
MP3: Mogwai – “The Sun Smells Too Loud”
MP3: Mogwai – “Yes! I Am A Long Way From Home”
MP3: Mogwai – “Tracy”
MP3: Mogwai – “Dial: Revenge”
MP3: Mogwai – “Hunted By A Freak”
MP3: Mogwai – “7:25”
MP3: Odonis Odonis – “Ledged Up”
Video: Mogwai – “San Pedro”
Video: Mogwai – “Mexican Grand Prix”
Video: Mogwai – “How To Be A Werewolf”
Video: Mogwai – “I’m Jim Morrison, I’m Dead”
Video: Mogwai – “Batcat”
Video: Mogwai – “Travel Is Dangerous”
Video: Mogwai – “Friend Of The Night”
Video: Mogwai – “Hunted By A Freak”
Video: Mogwai – “Dial: Revenge”
Video: Odonis Odonis – “Ledged Up”
Video: Odonis Odonis – “Blood Feast”
Video: Odonis Odonis – “Mr. Smith”

Spin, The Japan Times, Paste, and eMusic have features on Hot Chip, in town at The Sound Academy on July 15.

Daytrotter has posted up a session with The Cribs and The San Francisco Examiner a (very) quick chat.

Blur have finally fessed up as to what the cryptic clues pointing to something happening on July 2 are all about. Via a video message viewable at DIY, Alex James explains that the band will perform two new songs – “Under The Westway” and “The Puritan” – live on Twitter from a rooftop in London. I don’t know what “live on Twitter” means – maybe Damon will sing 140 characters at a time – but a world premiere like this sounds like a great way to summon the fail whale.

Exclaim has details on the new Two Door Cinema Club record, entitled Beacon and due out on September 4. And yes, there’s an album trailer.

Trailer: Two Door Cinema Club / Beacon

DIY has a feature piece on Wild Beasts.

Simian Mobile Disco have long had a DJ date scheduled for The Hoxton on July 12, but they’ve just announced they’ll be back at that same room on December 14 with instruments in tow for a proper live show in support of their new album Unpatterns.

MP3: Simian Mobile Disco – “Seraphim”

Beth Jeans Houghton stops in at Daytrotter for a session.

To build up some anticipation for their new album No Hope For The Vaccines due out September 3, The Vaccines are giving a download of a new live EP recorded in Brighton entitled Live In Brighton.

MTV talks to Mika Levi of Micachu & The Shapes; their new album Never is due out July 24.

Prefix gets to know some of Laura Marling’s influences. The San Francisco Examiner also has an interview and Seattle Weekly gets a tour of her iPod.

Spin explains why music is better off if Lily Allen does indeed make a third album, as she’s gone back to the studio to begin.

Only just behind last week’s Afghan Whigs announcement as far as concert announcements I’m excited as hell about is confirmation of I Break Horses’ headlining Fall tour, and that’s only because I saw them last month supporting M83. They’ll be at The Drake Underground on September 19, tickets $13 in advance.

MP3: I Break Horses – “Winter Beats”

It’s hard not to feel a little bad for a label whose highest-profile act keeps giving away all their music as free downloads and refuses to/is incapable of touring. But Sincerely Yours seem perfectly happy to keep enabling jj, who’ve just made their High Summer EP available for free.

ZIP: jj / High Summer

The Line Of Best Fit has a video session with Anna Ternheim.

The National Post, Toronto Star, and FasterLouder interview The Hives, hitting up the Sound Academy tomorrow night.

Clash interviews Sigur Rós, in town at Echo Beach on August 1.

Pitchfork has some details on the new Mono album, to be called For My Parents and out September 4.

Trailer: Mono / For My Parents