MySpaceWhat do you get when you have a pile of random news and links, not a lot of time and definitely not enough caffeine in your system? A post like this.

NME reports that British prog-rock space cadets Muse have announced the release of their fifth studio album, The Resistance, for September 14 with massive world touring to follow. I had thought they might feasible V Fest Toronto headliners, following their shiny red-jumpsuited performance at the first edition in 2006 but they seem to have all their record promotion ducks in a row with the US U2 support dates and the European headlining dates – any visits to Canada will probably come much later.

But there is some V Ontario news – the dates and one of the acts performing have basically been confirmed thanks to Mute Math’s MySpace – they’re listed as performing at V Fest Toronto on August 29 and 30.

The Dodos will release their third album Time To Die on September 15. Expect to hear some of the new material when they open up for Beirut at the Phoenix on July 6 9.

The duo of Sam Coomes and Janet Weiss have reconvened as Quasi have a new, still-untitled record in the can. Look for it to have a name by the time it comes out on October 27.

Wayne Coyne of The Flaming Lips confirms to the BBC that their new record will be a double-disc affair entitled Embryonic and is targeted for a September, though more likely later in the Fall release. He also gives a video interview to Clash. Hey, maybe they can headline V Fest. They still technically owe us a show.

Drowned In Sound has a two-three-part interview with Manic Street Preacher Nicky Wire. NME quotes bandmate James Dean Bradfield as saying that their next album will be a more upbeat affair than their current release, Journal For Plague Lovers.

The New Yorker salutes Sonic Youth, who have released a video from The Eternal. They are at Massey Hall on June 30.

Video: Sonic Youth – “Sacred Trickster”

NPR interviews Elvis Costello, who will be at Massey Hall on August 28.

Bowerbirds are showing off a second MP3 from their new record Upper Air, due out July 7. They will be at Sneaky Dee’s on July 14

MP3: Bowerbirds – “Beneath Your Tree”

Her Acid Tongue album was released last Fall, but Jenny Lewis has only just released a first video from it.

Video: Jenny Lewis – “Black Sand”

Decider interviews The Decemberists, playing a date at the Kool Haus on August 4.

Dinosaur Jr’s J Mascis talks about American Hardcore to The Quietus. Their new record Farm is out next Tuesday.

Magnet has a Q&A with Bob Mould, who is playing guest editor at their website this week. He and his band have a date at the Mod Club on October 5.

Interview interviews An Horse.

Mille-Feuille talks to Anna-Lynne Williams of Trespassers William about her various musical projects.

JAM has an interview with Great Lake Swimmers’ Tony Dekker.

Decider has a talk with Natasha Khan of Bat For Lashes.

Charleston City Paper has an extensive feature on Band Of Horses.

Washington City Paper talks to John Stirratt of Wilco. Wilco (The Album) is out June 30.

The Quietus examines the thespian endeavours of David Bowie.

www.california66revue.com/MySpaceWe always seem to be talking about (relatively) new music hereabouts. Let’s talk about some old. A few acts with legendary names recently announced tours that are coming through town, but as is the case more often than not, the actual product bears some extra scrutiny.

First, you’ve got ’60s British pop giants The Zombies, who have a date at the Mod Club on July 15 – tickets $39.50. Though four of the five original members still survive – guitarist Paul Atkinson died in 2004 – and they’ve reunited for special shows in the UK in recent years, this touring outfit boasts just two original members. Those members are singer Colin Blunstone and pianist Rod Argent, though, so it’s probably reasonable to think that they’ll sound pretty damn good when running through their stone-cold yet still probably underappreciated classic tunes like “She’s Not There”, “Tell Her No”, “Care Of Cell 44” and “Time Of The Season”. I think The Zombies have toured through Ontario in the past, but usually well out of town at casino resorts and such – their playing a show in downtown Toronto could well draw a completely different but hopefully appreciative audience.

Slightly more questionable in the credentials department is the California ’66 Revue, which will be at Lee’s Palace a month later on August 14, tickets $25. That bill is topped by psych-rock forebears The Electric Prunes and also features Sky Saxon, who once fronted garage rockers The Seeds, but it’s the middle act that is simultaneously the most intriguing and most probably disappointing – Love.

When I was younger and was far more keen on amassing a more comprehensive musical education, I spent a lot of time with albums that had been acknowledged as “classics” but I think one of the only ones that I really, really grew to love beyond the historical context – and that includes from the Beatles and the Stones – was Love’s Forever Changes. It’s such a unique record, towering with ambition and somehow delivering on every promise – glorious both for its singles and as a single, unified artistic statement. With a number of reissues over the last few years, each with different bonus goodies, as well as a live CD/DVD set, one could argue that it’s no longer the criminally overlooked treasure it once was, but it’s also so good a record that you could also argue that it’s simply not possible for it to get the praise it actually deserves. I hold this record in that high esteem.

And so on one level, it’s exciting that Love is coming to town, but also problematic due to the fact that Love frontman and mastermind, Arthur Lee, died three years ago. The current outfit isn’t without some claim to the name – they boast guitarist Johnny Echols and drummer Michael Stuart-Ware, both of whom played on Forever Changes and are otherwise comprised of Baby Lemonade, who were Lee’s backing band in his later years while performing as Love with Arthur Lee but they also actually fired Lee in 2005, citing his unpredictable and unprofessional behaviour, and continued on as The Love Band. It later turned out that this was due, in part at least, to Lee’s battle with leukemia which he would eventually succumb to the following year.

The point of all this being that though they’re called Love, and have members of Love, and may even sound a helluva lot like Love (I don’t know who’s handling vocals), it’s just not Love. But that doesn’t mean it won’t be good, just not Love. And it makes me wistful about the show that Lee and the band had originally scheduled for Lee’s Palace back in 2002 but had to cancel on account of immigration issues – apparently Canada took exception to Lee’s criminal record for firearms offenses. That would have been something.

Video: The Zombies – “Time Of The Season”
Video: Love – “Alone Again Or” (live)
Video: The Electric Prunes – “”You Never Had It Better/I Had Too Much To Dream (Last Night)”
Video: The Seeds – “Can’t Seem To Make You Mine”

Blurt reports that in addition to the upcoming reissues of Big Star’s seminal Number One Record and Radio City albums – as a remastered single CD or individual LPs – on June 16, there’ll be a four-disc box set chock full of unreleased goodies due out September 15. Update: Pitchfork has box set details, including the title – Keep An Eye On The Sky.

Magnet plays over/under with Elvis Costello’s oeuvre, hoping to point out that Declan’s post-2000 output is worth your time. I wonder if that’ll apply to his new one, Secret, Profane & Sugarcane, when it’s released next week. There’s an interview at The Wall Street Journal as well as a feature piece and The Irish Times also has a chat. Costello plays Massey Hall on August 28.

Jambase talks to Bon Iver’s Justin Vernon. No, I don’t know when he’s coming back to town, stop asking me.

Exclaim puts Apostle Of Hustle on their cover, eye just gives them an inside story. They play the Music Gallery tonight and tomorrow night.

State, The Journal-Sentinel and Decider interview various Decemberists. They’re at the Kool Haus on August 3.

Aquarium Drunkard is offering a recent Neko Case session from CBC Radio 3 for download. Neko is at Massey Hall on July 14 with Jason Lytle as support. The Georgia Straight and Paste have interviews with the former Grandaddy frontman.

Pitchfork talks to Jason Molina of Magnolia Electric Co about their new album Josephine, due out July 21. The title track from said record is now available to download.

MP3: The Magnolia Electric Co – “Josephine”

See, Canada.com and The Calgary Sun interview The Dears.

The whole of the star-studded Dark Was The Night benefit concert at Radio City Music Hall earlier this month is now available to stream at NPR.

Kathryn RathkeMuch as I’d like to be able to comment on The Decemberists’ latest album The Hazards Of Love, I can’t. ‘Cause I haven’t heard it. Don’t get me wrong, I quite enjoyed their last record The Crane Wife – it even made my 2006 year-end list – but for whatever reason I haven’t gotten around to the new one. It could be because I fear that this album, with its grand narrative thread and musical theatre origins, may be the one that upsets the delicate balance of pop smarts and prog excess that has kept the Decemberists with “most favoured band” status in my musical firmament. Those of you who have the record – what say you?

But while I dither, I know there’s those of you out there would follow Colin Meloy and his merry musical troupe wherever they might go and this is for you. Courtesy of Sneak Attack Media, I’ve got two super-sweet prize packs to give away, each consisting of a copy of The Hazards Of Love on 180-gram, gatefold double-LP and a poster by Kathryn Rathke, winner of the Imeem poster contest, commemorating their SxSW showcase from last month wherin they performed the album in its entirety. To enter, email me at contests AT chromewaves.net with “I want to experience the Hazards Of Love” in the subject line and your full mailing address in the body. And hooray, this contest is open to residents of North America. It’ll run for a week, closing at midnight, May 6.

And while you’re waiting to find out if you’ve won, you can go shopping for more swag at the Decemberists online store, sign up for their newsletter. Also read this Paste interview with Decemberists visual artist Carson Ellis.

The Decemberists are touring through the Summer and that includes an August 3 date at the Kool Haus here in Toronto.

MySpace: The Decemberists

Annabel MerhanMs Annie Clark – St Vincent – will release her second album Actor in a couple weeks on May 5, and while I’m a bit reluctant to invoke the “Disney-esque” adjective that so many other early reviews have, I must admit that it really is appropriate.

The way that Clark’s trilling voice delivers melodies that skip and soars overtop richly-appointed arrangements, you could imagine these songs soundtracking any animated Disney film (or all of them, since they’re pretty much identical). Of course, you’d have to work in a few scenes of fast-cut ultra-violence to accommodate the moments when her buzzsaw-toned, guitar-shredding interludes makes their appearances, but hey – that’s what the kids are into these days.

The combination of conventionally pretty and so-wonderfully-abrasive-they’re-pretty textures seem like they could get gimmicky, but Clark does it so naturally and guilelessly that you can’t imagine she’s doing it just to be contrary or to muck things up for the sake of muckery. This is actually how she hears things unfolding in her head, and we’re just fortunate to be able to share in the experience along with her. I quite liked St Vincent’s debut Marry Me, but with the way the follow-up is more focused without giving up the adventurousness or eccentricity that defined the debut, I think I’m already well on the way to liking record number two even more than the first.

Billboard talks to Clark about the creative process for Actor, while For Folk’s Sake had a phone interview with her earlier this week wherein they covered topics including the record’s striking cover photo, favourite current bands and her adventures on Twitter. St Vincent has live dates scattered throughout the Summer, but nothing that brings her up this way yet. Perhaps we’ll be able to welcome her to Toronto come Fall.

MP3: St Vincent – “The Strangers”
Video: St Vincent – “Actor Out Of Work”
Stream: St Vincent / Actor

Drowned In Sound and The Winnipeg Free Press have interviews with Yeah Yeah Yeahs.

Fazer talks to Emily Haines and Jimmy Shaw of Metric.

Alison Mosshart talks to Billboard about balancing her main gig as frontwoman for The Kills with her new project with Jack White, The Dead Weather. Mosshart was taken to hospital during a gig in Denver earlier this week but she’s alright and The Kills will still be at the Phoenix on May 7.

And the band touring with them, The Horrors, have just released a new video from their new record Primary Colours. Couldn’t have let it out a couple days ago to line up with my review of the record, eh? Metro has an interview with the band’s frontman, Faris Badwan.

Video: The Horrors – “Who Can Say”

Tracyanne Campbell of Camera Obscura lists off her favourite things for Pitchfork. See? Just because she so rarely smiles doesn’t mean she doesn’t like stuff. Camera Obscura are at Lee’s Palace on June 27.

NOW and The Boston Globe talk to Chairlift, in town tomorrow night for a show at the Phoenix.

Billboard discusses Romanian Names, out May 19, with John Vanderslice.

Blurt talks to Mark Olson.

NOW and The Minneapolis Star-Tribune profile M Ward, who has a show at the Phoenix on Monday night.

Robyn Hitchcock offers Paste his thoughts on The Decemberists. They’re at the Kool Haus on August 3.

Baeble Music has a video interview with Great Lake Swimmers, who have a show at the Queen Elizabeth Theatre tomorrow night.

Alejandro Escovedo returns to Toronto on June 16 for a show at Trinity-St Paul’s with Joseph Arthur.

Annie MusselmanPrior to last year, M Ward’s career path was one of fairly slow and steady growth. His earlier works cultivated a mysterious, almost baroque tone and largely showcased his instrumental virtuosity and occasionally his world-worn rasp. Subsequent works found him acting as a sort of musical time capsule, an archivist for music of bygone eras of Americana country and folk whose increasingly confident singing and songwriting allowed him to not only pay tribute to, but contribute to that canon.

She & Him, his 2008 collaboration with singer-actress Zooey Deschanel, was probably intended as a diversion but perhaps predictably blew up into the highest-profile project Ward has been involved in, their debut album Volume One garnering no small amount of praise – much (but not all) of it deserved. The musicality was pure Ward, but Deschanel’s bright vocals and direct, simple songwriting gave it a sunnier disposition than you’d usually associate with him.

And judging from his latest record, it’s rubbed off on him. Hold Time finds a jauntier Matt Ward than on past works, still laid back and in no real rush to get anywhere besides the back porch but with a bit more spring in the step nonetheless. Though things still get evocatively sad and nostalgic where necessary – the duet with Lucinda Williams on “Oh Lonesome Me” and the title track, for example – there’s a sense of fun that runs through much of the album and makes it feel extra fresh – Ward has mastered and assimilated classic pop idioms into his fearsome musical repertoire, and the world is a better place for it. Those who long for his fearsome solo guitar pieces or transformative cover songs may find things a bit too straight for their liking, but for the rest of us who know you can throw Transfiguration Of Vincent on anytime, it’s another great effort from an artist who manages to constantly move forward by staying rooted in the past.

Ward is currently on the road and will be at the Phoenix in Toronto on Monday, April 27 and courtesy of Against The Grain, I’ve got a couple pairs of passes to give away for the show. To enter, email me at contests AT chromewaves.net with “I want to hold time” in the subject line and your full name in the body. Contest closes at midnight, April 23.

The Fort Wayne Journal-Gazette and CNN have interviews with Ward.

MP3: M Ward – “Never Had Nobody Like You”
MP3: M Ward – “Rave On”
Video: M Ward – “Hold Time”
Video: M Ward – “Rave On”
MySpace: M Ward

The Independent lists off 20 things you probably didn’t know about Bob Dylan. His new album Together Through Life is out next week and there’s now a video for one of the songs.

Video: Bob Dylan – “Beyond Here Lies Nothin'”

Filter profiles Andrew Bird.

Paste hangs out with The Decemberists. They’re at the Kool Haus on August 3.

Aquarium Drunkard talks to Jason Lytle about his new record Yours Truly, The Commuter. The record is out May 19 and Spinner has the title track to download.

MP3: Jason Lytle – “Yours Truly, The Commuter”

Originally supposed to be out yesterday, Ohbijou’s sophomore album Beacons appears to have a new release date set for June 2.

MP3: Ohbijou – “Black Ice”

Ohbijou’s Casey Mecija has also begun organizing a new music series in town entitled “Heavy Vessel”, which is intended to feature local bands playing in a sandbox in a schoolyard, but inclimate weather forced the inaugural edition to be held indoors instead. Chart has a review of the first show and some video footage has also surfaced – Sucking A Lemon with a clip featuring a scaled-down Bruce Peninsula and Colin Medley capturing a performance by The Acorn’s Rolf Klausener.

JAM talks to Gentleman Reg. He’s at the Mod Club June 1 opening for A Camp.

To mark the start of their upcoming tour, which begins April 30 at the Mod Club in Toronto, The Dears will be releasing a new b-side or unreleased track to download every week, the first of which can be grabbed below. Also check out an interview with Natalia Yanchak at Singing Lamb.

MP3: The Dears – “Halfmast”

Prefix interviews Metric.

Decider talks to Ida Maria.

The Washington Post, Duke Chronicle and Decider talk to Thao Ngyuen of Thao with The Get Down Stay Down. I’ve failed to see them every time they’ve come to Toronto and also missed every one of their shows at SxSW, but they’re playing The Bowery Ballroom in New York the evening I get there next month. I think I should make the effort to out and see them. They’ve made a puppet-powered video for a Lovin’ spoonful cover they recorded for a split 7″ for Record Store Day.

Video: Thao with The Get Down Stay Down – “Did You Ever Have To Make Up Your Mind”

Having just released their self-titled debut, The Mt St Helen’s Vietnam Band have a date at the Horseshoe on June 2. Decider has an interview with the band.

MP3: The Mt St Helen’s Vietnam Band – “Cheer For Fate”
MP3: The Mt St Helen’s Vietnam Band – “Anchors Dropped”
Video: The Mt St Helen’s Vietnam Band – “Cheer For Fate”

City Pages and Black Book Q&A Chairlift, who just reissued their 2008 album Does You Inspire You in remastered form and with a couple of bonus tracks, one of which you can hear over at Stereogum. Chairlift are in town this Saturday, April 25, at the Phoenix opening up for Peter Bjorn & John, with whom JAM and Metromix have interviews and MPR a session.