Catherine LosingFor The Records pointed out a curious concert listing for UK indie-dance act Friendly Fires at the website for Beggars Canada – it puts the St Alban’s trio in town on March 31, but only narrows the venue down to two possibilities – Mod Club or Lee’s Palace. So all I can accurately say is that they’ll be in Toronto at an approximately 500-capacity venue on that date. And wherever they are, odds of a dance party breaking out are pretty much one to one. Personally, I think that Mod would be a much more suitable venue – the ass-shaking, slick and scratchy new wave/disco goodness of their self-titled debut demands spectacle, which Mod’s famously over-the-top lighting system is equipped to provide. Lee’s doesn’t even have a disco ball.

MP3: Friendly Fires – “Jump In The Pool”
MP3: Friendly Fires – “Paris” (Aeroplane Remix)
Video: Friendly Fires – “Skeleton Boy”
Video: Friendly Fires – “Paris”
Video: Friendly Fires – “Jump In The Pool”
Video: Friendly Fires – “On Board”
MySpace: Friendly Fires

Toronto vibraphone mavens The Hylozoists will release their new album L’ile de Sept Villes on February 3 and showcase it at the Mod Club on February 21. Update: They’re also playing a Soundscapes instore on February 10 at 7PM. Here’s some older stuff.

MP3: The Hylozoists – “Smiley Smiley”
MP3: The Hylozoists – “Strait Is the Gate”

Marissa Nadler, whom I believe ended up cancelling her last scheduled date here last Summer, will try and pay us a visit again on April 21 at the El Mocambo. She has a new album due out early this year. Here’s some older stuff.

MP3: Marissa Nadler – “Diamond Heart”
MP3: Marissa Nadler – “Thinking Of You”

Sebastien Grainger & The Mountains are doing an in-store at Sonic Boom on January 29 at 7PM.

MP3: Sebastien Grainger & The Mountains – “American Names”
MP3: Sebastien Grainger & The Mountains – “By Cover Of Night (Fire Fight)”

Putting lie to the notion that bands can only play larger venues as they get bigger, Born Ruffians and Akron/Family have a date at Sneaky Dee’s on March 24. Tickets are $13 and on sale now.

Earlier yesterday Uncut speculated that the release of that Neil Young video for “Fork In The Road” implied not only the impending release of a new album with the same name, which may well be true, but to also mean that the Archives set has been pushed back indefinitely to accommodate. They’ve since been corrected with the same information that one of the official Archive-ists left on a post at Thrasher’s Wheat – “NYA Vol 1 has been completed in BD, DVD, CD and Digital Download editions. The only thing remaining is announcement of a street date”. Which is good news, though it does put lie to the February 24 release date that most had been clinging to. In short, there’s lots of material coming from Neil this year. Only no one knows what and when.

The Seattle Post-Intelligencer interviews Kathleen Edwards, who is at Trinity-St Paul’s on February 13.

MP3: Kathleen Edwards – “Asking For Flowers”

The Quietus talks politics with Death Cab’s Nick Harmer.

Beirut have released a video from their forthcoming EP March Of The Zapotec, out February 17.

Video: Beirut – “La Llorona”

The Village Voice profiles Antony & The Johnsons. The Crying Light is out Tuesday and they play the Queen Elizabeth Theatre on February 17.

Muzzle Of Bees asks five questions of Los Campesinos!

The Decemberists are giving away a track from their forthcoming album The Hazards Of Love, out March 24. All you have to do is sign up to their mailing list. Colin Meloy was also on NPR’s World Cafe yesterday for an interview.

Clash talks to Kathy Foster of The Thermals, who will release Now We Can See on April 7.

The previously-mentioned untitled Bob Mould album also set for an April 7 release now has a title – Life And Times.

Filter talks to Ra Ra Riot, Daytrotter videotapes them playing in a park.

Pitchfork has an MP3 from M Ward’s Hold Time, out February 17. This track features the She to his Him, Zoey Deschanel, on vocals.

MP3: M Ward – “Never Had Nobody Like You”

Drowned In Sound solicits a mixtape from The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart, the buzz around whom is growing at a pace that’s considerably larger than Neutral, the room they’re slated to play here in town on February 12. If you’re curious, an advance ticket may be a good idea. Their self-titled full-length is out February 3.

NPR has an acoustic session with The Hold Steady while Wireless Bollinger has an interview.

Former Grandaddy frontman Jason Lytle will return to active musical duty on May 19 with the release of his first solo record, Yours Truly, the Commuter.

Kyle HuttonOh No Forest Fires are having a good time. That much is obvious, listening to The War On Geometry, the debut mini-album from the Toronto four-piece that follows up an excellent demo EP that has been kicking around for a while. Even though adding those four tracks to the seven on Geometry would have made for a more traditional-length album, their omission – as excellent as those songs were – is a sensible one. Compared to the new recordings, the songs from the EP were equally if not even more immediately and indelibly catchy, but the execution was more well-mannered and polite.

Geometry, on the other hand, is the sound of that band hepped up on pixie sticks, volume and nostalgia for how distortion pedals sounded in the ’90s. It’s bigger, louder and more abrasive-sounding, though the extra grit also helps those hooks stick just that much harder. Bursting with energy and ideas, it knows when a musical tangent is called for and when its best to simply take the shortest distance between two points to get the point across, particularly by means of big, loud power chords. It takes a skeleton of tempo shifts and melodic complexity that could only have been built by people who really know their way around their instruments, and decorates it in party hats, funny sloganed t-shirts and oversized sunglasses. It’s math-rock if math were singalongable and the most exhilarating subject in school.

A lot of bands spend their careers trying to capture the energy of their live shows on record, and while Geometry doesn’t quite catch the full experience – I’ve listened to the album a good deal and haven’t yet had any of my musical equipment in the vicinity spontaneously demolish itself or find myself soaked in beer/sweat/other fluids – it does a good job of conveying just how… trying not to use the word “energy” again… animated the band can be whilst performing. I’ve seen them twice now and both times have been wonderful bouts of anarchy. And when they play the Horseshoe tomorrow night with Hey Rosetta! and Museum Pieces, both visiting from the Maritimes, I expect nothing less. Cover is $8, ONFF are on first at 9.

Chart has an interview with the band.

MP3: Oh No Forest Fires – “It’s Not Fun And Games Until Someone Loses An Eye”

The Tennessean talks to Broken Social Scene’s Brendan Canning. They’re at the Sound Academy on November 27 and 28.

Though hard at work at the next Great Lake Swimmers record, Tony Dekker also crafted the score to Song Sung Blue, a forthcoming documentary about a Neil Diamond tribute act. Hear a couple of the pieces below and for clips from the film, hit up their YouTube channel.

MP3: Tony Dekker – “Old Milwaukee”
MP3: Tony Dekker – “Encore”

Final Fantasy has released another video from his Spectrum, 14th Century EP.

Video: Final Fantasy – “Blue Imelda”

Chad Van Gaalen is offering up a new MP3 from Soft Airplane. The Calgary Herald has an interview.

MP3: Chad VanGaalen – “City Of Electric Light”

Neil Young floats some ideas for saving the automotive industry at The Huffington Post.

The Thermals will return on April 7 with a new label – Kill Rock Stars – and album, in Now We Can See.

mel.opho.be interviews the boys from Wheat about small successes and the link between their music and visual art endeavours. They’ve completed a new album entitled Black Ink and are aiming to release it in Spring 2009. Via Bradley’s Almanac.

The December 9 Noah & The Whale show at the Rivoli has been cancelled, as has the entire North American tour. As they explain in a MySpace blog entry, between their European tour commitments and working on their second record, they just couldn’t make it over. But they promise to return in March of next year, presumably scheduled around an appearance at SxSW.

The Star-Tribune talks to Patterson Hood and Craig Finn, frontmen of tourmates Drive-By Truckers and The Hold Steady. The Seattle Times settles for talking to just Finn.

The Chicago Sun-Times contemplates the fates of the Chicagoan bands set to conquer the alt.rock world way back in 1993.

Frank YangA quick survey of the audience at the Phoenix on Tuesday revealed hoarse voices, sweat-soaked (and beer-soaked clothes) and beaming faces… and that was only after the opener. It was the Toronto stop of the Rock & Roll Means Well tour featuring Drive-By Truckers and The Hold Steady as co-headliners traversing the continent (though this was the only Canadian date), one extended guitar solo at a time.

There had been some debate – some instigated by me – as to which of the two acts should have been deemed the headliner. Sure, the alternating nights solution they went with was the most fair and logical, but considering that both had devout fan bases who could probably have filled the venue on their own there was sure to be some disagreement about who should have the honour of closing things out, to say nothing of the longer set and encore. From my POV, while I love both bands I’d probably call myself a bigger Hold Steady fan but having seen them both many times (though neither in almost two years), I would have been pretty happy either way.

As it happens, the coin flip guaranteed Toronto a Truckers wrap-up and so The Hold Steady, an act whose live shows are well-known as being as much a party as those their songs are about, were up first. Now though there were just the two bands on the bill, the dynamic of the show felt much like a festival where in order to maintain some sort of balance, sets have to be adjusted and truncated from their usual form. And in this case, the Hold Steady were working with a rigid set time they had to make the most of. To that end, they came out guitars blazing and rarely let up for the next hour fifteen. And while that sounds like it might be a good idea, in actuality it didn’t allow them the sort of pacing that would have served them best.

The non-stop guitar riffing and maniacal stage antics from frontman Craig Finn were exhilarating and engaging, but also exhausting to experience without a break. Not helping was a mix that tended to bury Finn’s vocals and as good as they are, without his wonderful mile-a-minute words, The Hold Steady are really just an exceptional bar band. Sound issues did improve as their set went on, though, thankfully. I hadn’t seen them since October 2006, the last of three times seeing them in just three months, and I was hoping that Finn had come up with some fresh between-song banter since then. Alas, the need to cram as much material into the allotted time as possible – 18 songs in total drawing heavily from this year’s Stay Positive – didn’t leave much time for chit-chat or even to take a breath, though the broad grin on Finn’s face was plenty of evidence that it wasn’t all business, not at all. Don’t interpret the above points as implying that I didn’t enjoy their set – I love their songs, their sing-along songs, and when surrounded by scores of fans doing exactly that, it’s hard not to love it – but as terrific as the show and tour sounded on paper, it became obvious that it wouldn’t be without some compromises. After all, the very term “co-headline” is a bit of an oxymoron, is it not?

The set change took the better part of an hour, in which time the audience make-up also turned over. Hold Steady fans were replaced with Trucker fans, who all seemed much more hardcore about their heroes (those of us who were both just stayed put) – it was a decidedly different vibe. While the Hold Steady have a definite “it band” cachet right now, the Truckers have built their fanbase with years and years of hard work and touring. Not to imply that The Hold Steady haven’t, but the Trucker fans were obviously in it for life. And I’m pleased to note that while things got suitably rowdy for both sets (moreso for the Truckers), it wasn’t nearly as obnoxious as I’d feared heading in. Except that little dude with the tattoo.

This was the first time I’d seen the Truckers play post-Isbell, and wasn’t sure how much I’d enjoy it as he’d been my favourite Truckers writer over the last couple records. Their latest, Brighter Than Creation’s Dark, didn’t stick with me as much as the others and I suspect that his absence was part of that. So with his and his songs’ absence, the set was a decidedly different one from the last time I saw them – also October 2006. Drawing only from the songbooks of Patterson Hood and Mike Cooley (plus two from Shona Tucker), it reached much further back into their back catalog to Pizza Deliverance and Gangstabilly – two records I don’t really know – and thus made for a more unfamiliar show than I’d anticipated. And while The Hold Steady’s set started out turned up to 10 and stayed there, the Truckers kicked off with an huge and ominous “Where The Devil Don’t Stay” but mostly took advantage of their longer set length to slow things down and stretch them out, giving their songs and the characters that dwelled within some space to breathe, building up over the course of the set to a massive climax of “Ronnie And Neil” (happy birthday Neil, btw) and “Hell No I Ain’t Happy”. Oh the guitars, oh the solos.

Reports from previous dates on the tour had the bands collaborating, regardless of who was closing, so it wasn’t any surprise when Craig Finn joined the Truckers for their encore. I can’t say that he particularly fit in, though, with his bounding around the stage whilst clapping and mugging during “Marry Me” more than a little out of place, like a little kid high on pixie sticks running around while the grown-ups took care of business. He settled down and contributed guitar and vocals on the last two numbers, “Let There Be Rock” and a barnburning cover of Jim Carroll’s “People Who Died”, not that the Truckers necessarily needed the assistance – they know how to close out a show.

Interestingly, while neither band put on the best show that I’ve seen either of them give, the combination of the two – as logical a pairing as it was incongruous – made it feel like a real occasion. The sum of the parts being greater than the whole and all that. And the whole question about “who should headline” was, at least in my mind, obvious. Whereas The Hold Steady embody the spirit of giddy youth and the mistakes and mishaps that come with it, the Drive-By Truckers are about life and experience and being worn down by it all, yet still standing up. The running order of the night made perfect sense like this, and after the Truckers’ set I couldn’t imagine anyone having to follow them, or even wanting anyone to. They have a weight, a presence, a gravitas that demands respect. I’m genuinely curious to those who’ve seen the Hold Steady-closed shows, what was it like? Do they manage to make it seem like a no-brainer that THEY close things out? Gotta admit, it’s a nice problem to have.

Free! and CITYNews talk to Patterson Hood, while The Toronto Star and The Philadelphia Inquirer have interviews with Craig Finn and Boise Weekly with Tad Kubler. Chart has a glowing review of The Hold Steady’s set on Tuesday but wasn’t able to stick around for the Truckers’ set. Sucker.

Photos: Drive-By Truckers, The Hold Steady @ The Phoenix – November 11, 2008
MP3: Drive-By Truckers – “Zip City”
MP3: The Hold Steady – “Chips Ahoy!”
MP3: The Hold Steady – “Your Little Hoodrat Friend”
MP3: The Hold Steady – “The Swish”
Video: Drive-By Truckers – “Never Gonna Change”
Video: The Hold Steady – “Chips Ahoy!”
Video: The Hold Steady – “Your Little Hoodrat Friend”
Video: The Hold Steady – “The Swish”
MySpace: Drive-By Truckers
MySpace: The Hold Steady

Bill CarterI had any number of reasons to be feeling good after seeing Calexico on their last visit through town in July. There was the fact that I’d just seen a terrific live band in a venue half the size from what they normally play, or also the fact that without a particular album to promote they’d opted for a set list that ranged all across their career. But what was most exciting was the fact that the new material that got showcased sounded terrific, and proved that the band had gotten the ill-suited songwriter-pop out of their system and had returned to the sun-bleached Tejano-rock that they do so well. Their next album would be cause for anticipation, not trepidation.

And that album, Carried To Dust, doesn’t disappoint. From the opening notes of “Victor Jara’s Hands”, there’s an unmistakable atmosphere and earthiness that was absent from Ruin and is a fundamental part of Calexico’s sound – the titular Dust, perhaps. Similarities can be drawn to their previous highwater mark, Feast Of Wire, but even in recalling their past Calexico still plough forward. They capture the musical ranginess and restlessness of that record but cast it in a ghostlier, more slow-motion context. They also maintain the focus on song structure and vocals that came out of Garden Ruin, in fact Dust features a wide range of guest vocalists to compliment Joey Burns and all of whom manage to enhance the proceedings, never detract. Once again making the sort of music that only Calexico can make, they may have rebounded from the worst record of their career with what could well be their best.

Calexico are returning to Toronto on November 18 for a show at the Phoenix, and courtesy of Against The Grain, I’ve got two pairs of passes to give away for the show. If you want them, email me at contests AT chromewaves.net with “I want to be carried to dust” in the subject line and your full name in the body and get that in to me by midnight, November 13.

Blurt and The Dallas Observer have feature pieces on Calexico and FabChannel is streaming a gorgeous video of a recent show in Amsterdam.

MP3: Calexico – “Two Silver Trees”
Video: Calexico – “Two Silver Trees”
MySpace: Calexico

Mojo features the band that opened up for Calexico that night at the Mod Club, Calgary’s Woodpigeon, and also offers a track from their Songbook album which was just-released in the UK but isn’t available at all in Canada. Go figure.

MP3: Woodpigeon – “Home As A Romanticized Concept Where Everyone Loves You Always And Forever”

Another Canadian band that’s been opening some US dates for Calexico is The Acorn. Their November 27 show at Lee’s Palace with Ohbijou – already guaranteed to be a fantastic evening – just got that much more fantastic with the addition of The Rural Alberta Advantage to the bill. Best lineup ever? Quite possibly.

Sam Roberts will be playing an in-store at Sonic Boom on November 15 at 3PM in advance of his show at the Music Hall, the last of a four-night stand.

This Is Fake DIY has a video interview with Ra Ra Riot.

Pitchfork reports that Okkervil River frontman Will Sheff and one-time Okkervil River guitarist and full-time Wren Charles Bissell will cover each other on a long-awaited, oft-delayed 7″ release with Sheff doing the Wrens’ “Ex-Girl Collection” and Bissell doing Okkervil’s “It Ends With A Fall”. It’ll be in limited release (shows, mail order, etc) on December 9 and in wide release sometime in January.

Nicole Atkins discusses her recent covers EP with The Washington Times.

Filter has posted online their recent cover feature on Conor Oberst.

Gotham Acme talks politics and music with Patterson Hood of Drive-By Truckers. The New York Daily News sticks to the music. The Truckers are at the Phoenix on Tuesday night with The Hold Steady – congrats to Kim and Luke who won the passes to the show.

Wayne Coyne of The Flaming Lips discusses Christmas On Mars with The Times. The DVD and soundtrack are out on Tuesday.

The Indianapolis Star profiles Blitzen Trapper, who’re at the Phoenix opening up for Iron & Wine next Thursday.

MySpaceThe arc of Neil Halstead’s long and storied musical career taken him many places. He was both an architect of sonic cathedrals at the dawn of Slowdive’s career and a pioneer of electronic ambiance at its end, then with Mojave 3 he played the roles of country-rock and power-pop songsmith with equal facility. With his first solo album Sleeping On Roads in 2002, he took the soft-spoken folk balladeer that’s lain at the heart of his songwriting throughout it all and brought it to the fore, a place he revisits once again with the long-awaited and long-delayed follow-up, Oh! Mighty Engine.

And even though six years have elapsed between records, Halstead picks up largely where he left off. The spectre of a failed relationship that hung overhead during the making of Roads isn’t present here, which perhaps explains why the new record is brighter in tone than its predecessor. Even so, Engine is still spare and homespun, built in rich melody on a sturdy framework built of voice and acoustic guitar with gentle percussion, piano and electric or steel guitar accouterments where appropriate. It’s a format that suits Halstead well, as for all the soundscapes that he’s surrounded himself with over the years, he’s always been at his best when conveying a quiet, thoughtful intimacy. And for showcasing his strengths as a singer-songwriter, Engine is Halstead at his best.

As solid and enjoyable as Halstead’s solo output is, it’s not a substitute for the chemistry and magic that is Mojave 3. So it’s good to know that even with drummer Ian McCutcheon busy with his solo project The Loose Salute and Rachel Goswell continuing to recover from the ear-related illness that kept her from playing a larger role on Puzzles Like You, in this interview with AgitReader Halstead says that he hopes to begin work on a new Mojave 3 record before the year is out.

Halstead is currently on tour across North America – finally Jack Johnson-free – and will be at the Drake Underground on Saturday night, November 8, for an early show (9:30 start). Anyone who saw him play at the Rivoli back in 2002 in support of Roads surely remembers how utterly magical that performance was and if this show even comes close to measuring up to that one, it’s going to be a special one indeed. Courtesy of Against The Grain, I’ve got two pairs of passes to give away to the show – to enter, email me at contests AT chromewaves.net with “I want to see Neil Halstead” in the subject line and your full name in the body. Contest closes at midnight, November 6.

Apparently as part of this tour, Halstead has an agenda to visit NPR as many times as possible. Currently there’s two sessions available to stream – one at the World Cafe and one at KEXP.

MP3: Neil Halstead – “Paint A Face”
Video: Neil Halstead – “Paint A Face”
Video: Neil Halstead – “Queen Bee”

Drowned In Sound reconsiders the musical oeuvre of Swervedriver, still isn’t overly impressed. The three albums in question will be re-released in North America on January 6.

Pitchfork has details on the debut album from head Swervie Adam Franklin’s current project, Magnetic Morning. A.M. will be out January 27.

Simon Jones of The Verve talks to Chart about why guitarist Simon Tong wasn’t invited to the reunion party.

Another Tong – Matt, of Bloc Party, gives an interview to Virgin Music. Bandmate Kele Okereke talks to Metro and The Edmonton Journal.

I wouldn’t normally bother noting anything that Norman Cook of Fatboy Slim gets up to, but when the second single from his new project The Brighton Port Authority features Emmy The Great front and centre, you have my attention. You can stream it at their MySpace or better yet, watch the video. Via Stereogum.

Video: The Brighton Port Authority featuring Emmy The Great – “Seattle”
MySpace: The Brighton Port Authority

EDP24 interviews Matt Urby of Noah & The Whale and Erockstar has a video interview with the band. They’re at the El Mocambo on December 9.

Scottish quartet Glasvegas, first considered in these pages last December, will begin their attempt to conquer North America the way they have the UK with the release of their self-titled debut on January 6. I picked up a copy on import a little while back, thoughts forthcoming. They’ll also be doing some touring over here in the new year, but no Toronto date as yet. They’ve also recorded a Christmas EP, which they talk to The Daily Record about.

Anyone see Wilco on The Colbert Report last week? I didn’t. Thankfully it’s viewable online in Canada on CTV and in the US at Comedy Central. Or you can just watch the clip of the new song they played.

Video: Wilco – “Wilco, The Song” (live on The Colbert Report)

Fleet Foxes are the subject of features at Rolling Stone and Filter.

Gotham Acme talks to Grizzly Bear’s Ed Droste about the US election… which is today. How about that.

Speaking of election day, Patterson Hood of the Drive-By Truckers has made available for free a new song written just after Bush II was re-elected. Hood has never been one to shy away from political statements, wearing his opinions on his sleeve… or his guitar.

JAM finds out why The Hold Steady always seem so dang happy. The Hold Steady and the Drive-By Truckers are at the Phoenix next Tuesday night.

Couple shows announced for the new year… on the same day. First you’ve got Annuals at the El Mocambo on January 24, tickets $10.

MP3: Annuals – “Confessor”
Video: Annuals – “Confessor”

And down Spadina at the Horseshoe, you’ve got buzzy band du jour, Passion Pit – tickets for that one are also $10.

MP3: Passion Pit – “Sleeyphead”
Video: Passion Pit – “Sleeyphead”