Frank YangEven though Sigur Rós’ show at the Air Canada Centre on Saturday night was announced back in November, I was on the fence about attending, rationalizing that I had seen them twice just last August, and as much as I enjoyed the atmospheric charms of last year’s Valtari, I didn’t know that I needed to see it live again. Then word came that not only would the staging of the show be different this time, thanks to the shift in venue from outdoor festival settings to indoor arenas, but rather than a second tour for Valtari it would be an advance tour for their next record Kveikur – out June 18 – well then, it was a no-brainer. And really, saying you’ve had too enough Sigur Rós is like saying you’ve had enough beauty or enough wonder. It’s nonsense.

As they did at Massey Hall way back in May 2006, the band began their show hidden behind a scrim, performing in front of the well-filled if not sold-out, theatre-configured arena as a set of silhouettes seemingly backlit by the aurora borealis. At the climax of “Ný Batterí”, the scrim fell away and the eleven-piece band, camped out in a forest of musical and lighting gear, was revealed. The elegantly simple incandescent light bulb stands were a holdover from the Valtari tour, but the screens which surrounded the band on four sides to create an artificial intimacy on the big outdoor stages was exchanged for a wide, parabolic screen stretching across the width of the stage, simulating a wide expanse in an enclosed room.

It was on that screen that the band’s always-inspired visuals played out, seemingly tuned to evoke the more visceral nature of the new material, balancing out the air-and-water atmospherics of Valtari with a more fire-and-earth elemental skew. That said, the only representative in the set from the last record – “Varúð” – was the most visually stunning, with the soft glow of the stage bulbs blending with the Will-o’-the-wisp images floating on screen to create a genuine sense of weightlessness – no mean feat in a hockey arena. And while the arena setting was not the best for intimacy – the days of the band playing Massey Hall will be fondly remembered but are clearly over – the sound was immaculate and the scale lent itself nicely towards enhancing the grandeur of Orri Páll Dýrason’s drums.

Other back catalog highlights were “Hoppípolla”, as always, with the crescendo including an invitation from the band to the audience to stand and clap along, and “Festival” which featured Jónsi holding a single high note for so long that, while it almost had to be electronically-assisted, you still wanted to believe was magic. The Kveikur material was well-highlighted, with new songs bookending the main set; “Yfirborð” opened and the appropriately-titled new single “Brennisteinn” (“brimstone” in Icelandic) closed things on an apocalyptic note, with “Hrafntinna” and “Kveikur” lurking amongst the old favourites like wolves in the fold, more than making good on their promise of a more “direct, aggressive” sound – if the sub-genre “orch-industrial” didn’t exist before, it may well now.

One wonders if this stylistic shift was related to the departure of keyboardist Kjartan Sveinsson and the remaining three embracing their new existence as a power trio, or if it was just the logical reaction to making Valtari. Ironically, though the official band was now the smallest its ever been, the touring lineup was operating as more of a grand ensemble than ever before, the horns and strings buoying the proceedings. That said, it wasn’t flawless; there were a few missed cues and off-beats – nothing major and hardly a black mark on the show, but surprising for a band that was always so impeccably tight on stage.

Following the ninety-minute main set, the band returned for a two-song encore and affirmed that, for all the dramatically show-stopping and breathtaking moments in their catalog, “Popplagið” from () remains the best and only way to conclude a show. I think they’ve gone to it every one of the seven times now I’ve seen them perform, and yet this reading may have been the post powerful one yet. Maybe it was because of the staging, the lighting, the headspace, or the simple fact that they’re still letting this decade-old composition evolve and grow. In any case it was still the perfect way to end the night and a not-so-gentle reminder that there’s no such thing as enough beauty or wonder.

NOW and The Globe & Mail talked to bassist Georg Hólm ahead of the show about the band’s new record.

Photos: Sigur Rós @ The Air Canada Centre – March 30, 2013
MP3: Sigur Rós – “Gobbledigook”
MP3: Sigur Rós – “Hoppípolla”
MP3: Sigur Rós – “Popplagið”
MP3: Sigur Rós – “Staralfur”
MP3: Sigur Rós – “Svefn-G-Englar”
MP3: Sigur Rós – “Nýja lagið”
Video: Sigur Rós – “Brennisteinn”
Video: Sigur Rós / Leaning Towards Solace
Video: Sigur Rós – “Varúð” (version three)
Video: Sigur Rós – “Valtari”
Video: Sigur Rós – “Varðeldur” (version two)
Video: Sigur Rós – “Fjögur Píanó” (version two)
Video: Sigur Rós – “Dauðalogn” (version two)
Video: Sigur Rós – “Ekki Múkk” (version two)
Video: Sigur Rós / Seraph
Video: Sigur Rós – “Dauðalogn” (version one)
Video: Sigur Rós – “Varðeldur” (version one)
Video: Sigur Rós – “Varúð” (version two)
Video: Sigur Rós – “Ég anda” (version two)
Video: Sigur Rós – “Rembihnútur”
Video: Sigur Rós – “Fjögur Píanó” (version one)
Video: Sigur Rós – “Varúð” (version one)
Video: Sigur Rós – “Ég anda” (version one)
Video: Sigur Rós – “Ekki Múkk” (moving art)
Video: Sigur Rós – “Við Spilum Endalaust “
Video: Sigur Rós – “Inní mér syngur vitleysingur”
Video: Sigur Rós – “Gobbledigook”
Video: Sigur Rós – “Sæglópur”
Video: Sigur Rós – “Hoppípolla”
Video: Sigur Rós – “Glósóli”
Video: Sigur Rós – “(Vaka)”
Video: Sigur Rós – “Viðrar vel til loftárása”
Video: Sigur Rós – “Svefn-G-Englar”

Filter has an interview with Ólafur Arnalds, whose For Now I Am Winter is out in North America tomorrow.

NPR has premiered the latest video from Efterklang’s Piramida, and Oregon Music News has an interview with frontman Casper Clausen. And while I’m glad for Clausen that his health has recovered, that Toronto was the one and only canceled date on their now-concluded North American tour elicits a big sigh over here.

Video: Efterklang – “The Ghost”

Interview talks to Iceage, in town for a couple shows at NXNE on June 15 and 16. That tour will be alongside fellow Danish punks Lower, and Exclaim reports that the side-project of the two bands – Vår – will release their debut album No One Dances Quite Like My Brothers on May 14.

Video: Vår – “In Your Arms”

Pitchfork has an interview with the Dreijer siblings of The Knife. Their new album Shaking The Habitual is out April 9.

Magnet interviews The Mary Onettes in advance of handing them the keys to their website for the week as guest editors.

Finally, Drowned In Sound talks to Johan Angergård about Labrador Records on the occasion of the Swede-pop label’s fifteenth anniversary with additional comments from Philip Ekström of The Mary Onettes and Johan Duncanson of The Radio Dept., the latter of which aren’t especially celebratory.

Roger SargentI find it equally amusing/confounding that veteran artists who return after long hiatuses or breakups are almost always initially met with open arms – my favourite band when I was a teenager is back! – but it’s rarely long before that goodwill starts turning a bit sour. Tour the greatest hits that everyone thinks they want to hear, and it’s all “you’re just cashing in on my nostalgia!” but have the audacity to record new material, and with few exceptions the best they can hope for is a tepid, “it’s not as good as your old stuff” or “it just sounds like you”. Which is hilarious because if it didn’t sound like them, the complaint would be, “it doesn’t sound like you”. Who else should they sound like? And how many revolutions do they owe you? 33-1/3 or 45, but that’s it.

I’ve heard the “more of the same” argument leveled against recent releases by My Bloody Valentine and David Bowie – both very good records, by my reckoning – and expect to hear it again now that the release of the first Suede album in over a decade – Bloodsports – is out next week. No, it’s not a return to the glam-rock drama and decadence of their first two albums, nor does it have the, “we’re not dead” defiance that made post-Butler Coming Up such a surprise. It doesn’t even meet the bar of “amazing” that Brett Anderson had said would be needed for the sessions to be released. But it is concise, hooky, and energized in a way that neither Head Music or A New Morning were, and most importantly its swagger and romanticism feel authentically Suede in a way no one else has done in many, many years. And that’s all I would have asked for.

NPR has an advance stream of the new record, and Clash has an interview with the band. And tangentially, Louder Than War has an interview with former Suede guitarist-turned-producer Bernard Butler about what he’s up to these days.

MP3: Suede – “Barriers”
Video: Suede – “It Starts And Ends With You”
Stream: Suede / Bloodsports

In other advance streaming news, CBC Music has a Q&A with Billy Bragg as well as a stream of his new record Tooth and Nail, in stores next week. He’s at The Danforth Music Hall on May 4, and is also interviewed by Music Radar. Update: Apparently the CBC stream is geoblocked to Canada; others should try The Quietus and their Soundcloud-powered stream.

Video: Billy Bragg – “No One Knows Anything Anymore”
Stream: Billy Bragg / Tooth and Nail

PopMatters has got an advance stream of the new Stornoway record Tales From Terra Firma; it’s out March 19 and they play The Horseshoe on May 9. There’s also an interview with frontman Oli Steadman at Music Radar.

Video: Stornoway – “Knock Me On The Head”
Stream: Stornoway / Tales From Terra Firma

Rolling Stone is hosting the advance stream for Black Rebel Motorcycle Club’s new album Specter Af The Feast, out officially on March 19, while Elle has a quick chat with drummer Leah Shapiro. They’ll tour the new album through the Kool Haus on May 9.

Stream: Black Rebel Motorcycle Club / Specter At The Feast

Belfast post-rock instrumentalists And So I Watch You From Afar are streaming their new album All Hail Bright Futures, out March 19, over at Noisey.

Stream: And So I Watch You From Afar / All Hail Bright Futures

And finally for advance listens, NOT out next week but already available to stream is the first album in seven years from The House Of Love. She Paints Words In Red will be out April 1.

Stream: The House Of Love / She Paints Words In Red

Beatroute and The Province talk to Efterklang, coming to town for a Canadian Musicfest show at The Mod Club on March 21.

Ólafur Arnalds offers The Quietus a list of his favourite albums. For Now I Am Winter gets a North American release April 2.

The Knife have released a second, characteristically batshit video from their new record Shaking The Habitual, out April 9.

Video: The Knife – “A Tooth For An Eye”

DIY and Clash have features on Iceage, coming to town for NXNE on June 15 and 16.

Empire Of The Sun have finally, improbably, announced the release of their second album – Ice On The Dune will be out in June, and to get you excited there’s the inevitable album trailer.

Trailer: Empire Of The Sun / Ice On The Dune

Frank YangThe nice thing about having written about Swedish duo The Deer Tracks at length over over the past ten months is that rather than bother with any preamble, I can just point you to those past pieces and get right to it. I honestly hadn’t expected them to return to town so soon after NXNE last year, not because they didn’t want to but because of the economic realities of small international acts trying to tour this continent. But with the final instalment of their Archer Trilogy just out and an appearance at SXSW confirmed, they put together a massive tour that brought them back to Toronto for a show at The Silver Dollar on Thursday night.

As with last time, the core duo of David Lehnberg and Elin Lindfors were augmented live by a drummer and keyboardist, and the band as a unit were able to introduce a new dimension of improvisation and urgency to the songs while maintaining the drum-tight arrangements of the electronically-inclined recorded versions. Unlike last Summer, Lehnberg left the guitar at home this time out and played exclusively keys, with Lindfors playing more musical saw along with her melodica, glockenspiel, and percussion duties. And oh yes, they both sang – beautifully, emotively, and with a commitment to the performance and material that you don’t realize is rare until you actually witness it for real.

Their set, a cherry-picked condensed version of the whole of The Archer Trilogy yet still feeling remarkably cohesive with a definite arc, clocked in at under an hour – considerably more than we got at their NXNE showcase, but still feeling too short. In some perfect world, there would be the opportunity to see them perform their Trilogy front to back with the sort of production and presentation you know that Lehnberg and Lindfors see in their mind’s eye, but for now I will be thankful they’ve come around as much as they have and hope it happens again.

The Deer Tracks just released a new video from The Archer Trilogy, Pt. 3 for “Divine Light”.

Photos: The Deer Tracks @ The Silver Dollar – February 28, 2013
MP3: The Deer Tracks – “Bucket Of Sunbeams”
MP3: The Deer Tracks – “W”
MP3: The Deer Tracks – “Okta Crash”
MP3: The Deer Tracks – “Dark Passenger”
Video: The Deer Tracks – “Divine Light”
Video: The Deer Tracks – “Lazarus”
Video: The Deer Tracks – “Bucket Of Sunbeams”
Video: The Deer Tracks – “Meant To Be”
Video: The Deer Tracks – “Tiger”
Video: The Deer Tracks – “Fall With Me”
Video: The Deer Tracks – “Fra Ro Raa / Ro Ra Fraa”
Video: The Deer Tracks – “Ram Ram”
Video: The Deer Tracks – “Slow Collision”
Video: The Deer Tracks – “12sxfrya”

The Chicago Tribune talks to Søen Løkke Juul of Indians, performing tonight at The Drake Underground.

PopMatters goes all in on The Mary Onettes, offering an interview with the band and a stream of their new album Hit The Waves ahead of its March 19 release date. The Quietus has a track-by-track walkthrough of the album by the band.

Stream: The Mary Onettes / Hit The Waves

There’s a fair bit of interesting Scandinavian representation at this year’s Canadian Musicfest, but frustratingly a lot of it is in scheduling conflict with other things I want to see. Happily, Queen West music shop Moog Audio is throwing their hat in the festival in-store ring by hosting, in conjunction with Nordic By Nature and Swede + Sour, a triple-bill featuring Iceland’s Sóley, Norway’s Sandra Kolstad, and Sweden’s This Is Head, on the evening of March 21 from 6:30PM to 8:00PM. And then you can zip up to The Mod Club to see Efterklang and complete your Nordic band bingo card. Or maybe that should be “bíngö”. Also, note that the Kolstad video is tastefully but definitely NSFW.

Video: Sóley – “Pretty Face”
Video: Sandra Kolstad – “Run Away (Where Are We?)”
Video: This Is Head – “Version A-B”

And speaking of Efterklang, NPR has a piece on the band and how they turned an abandoned Russian town into their studio for Piramida. As mentioned, they headline The Mod Club on March 21 for Canadian Musicfest.

The Straits Times and Echoes & Dust talk to Ólafur Arnalds about his new record For Now I Am Winter, out in North America on April 2.

The Oxford Times have an interview with Nanna Bryndís Hilmarsd&ocaute;ttir of Of Monsters & Men, who are back in town on May 25 as part of a massive North American tour. The venue and ticket details are still to come, and maybe it’s wishful think, but the way the “TBA” is phrased, I get the sense that their show is part of something bigger. HMM.

MP3: Of Monsters & Men – “Little Talks”

Vice and Drowned In Sound talk to Copenhagen’s Iceage, who will be in town for NXNE this year for at least a couple shows on June 15 and 16.

And while it’s pure speculation at this point, it’s hard not to look at this and then this, consider this and figure that even if she stops to do some antiquing, Björk will have more than enough time in those six days to make her first visit to Toronto since this. Or at least one would hope.

Frank YangIt was an odd thing to realize about a third of the way through The Maccabees’ debut Canadian performance at The Mod Club on Monday night, but it dawned on me that I wasn’t so much a fan of the band than their excellent latest album, last year’s Mercury-shortlisted Given To The Wild. Not that this points to any enmity towards the Brighton-based Brits, but I tend to form longish-term – or at least in-depth – relationships with the bands I like and go and see, but no such bond had been formed with The Maccabees and their almost decade-long history, perhaps because of their until-now reluctance to actively cultivate a North American fanbase.

This was not to say that they didn’t already have one. Though the show wasn’t sold out, the years of pent-up demand ensured that there was a strong showing of those who did have long-term relationships with the band. And while the set did feature an abundance of Wild material, fan service was very much in effect with their first two records Colour It In and Wall Of Arms very well-represented, with the mission statement being less about being a recital of Wild‘s carefully-crafted arc than just putting on a powerful show.

Observations on this new (to me) material from their catalog was that the elegant, atmospheric anthemicism of Wild seemed a bit of a left turn for the band, as the older material felt more straight-ahead with their roots in the Bloc Party-led post-punk scene of some years back clearly evident. It may have been less sophisticated, but it definitely helped make for an energized show with the band’s three-guitar attack helpfully turned up in the mix, though often to the point of obscuring vocalist Orlando Weeks’ powerfully delicate tenor.

Another new dimension to the band that I hadn’t picked up on from the record was that they were quite a charismatic rock band, particularly the shaggy hair and leather jacket-clad, guitar hero-posing White brothers. I don’t know why I had thought they’d be more conservative, art-rock aesthetes but I did and they certainly weren’t. They were unabashedly pleased to finally be playing in this country and the Toronto faction of their fanclub – or Facebook likers, I guess – were most pleased to have them. That said, I would have expected the show to go longer than the hour and change that it did but couldn’t complain about “Grew Up At Midnight” as a main set finale – almost as grandiose live as on record, even with Weeks taking a mulligan on it after botching the opening, nor about the “Heave”/”Pelican” double-header to wrap the encore. A solid show and plenty of incentive to have properly done my homework on the band by the time they return.

Exclaim also has a review of the show, and CBC Music and The National Post both have interviews with the band, though CBC goes one further offering a stream of Given To The Wild for the rest of week.

Photos: The Maccabees @ The Mod Club – February 11, 2013
MP3: The Maccabees – “Go”
Video: The Maccabees – “Ayla”
Video: The Maccabees – “Went Away”
Video: The Maccabees – “Feel To Follow”
Video: The Maccabees – “Feel To Follow” (alternate)
Video: The Maccabees – “Pelican”
Video: The Maccabees – “Empty Vessels”
Video: The Maccabees – “Can You Give It”
Video: The Maccabees – “Love You Better”
Video: The Maccabees – “No Kind Words”
Video: The Maccabees – “Toothpaste Kisses”
Video: The Maccabees – “Precious Time”
Video: The Maccabees – “About Your Dress”
Video: The Maccabees – “First Love”
Video: The Maccabees – “Latchmere”
Video: The Maccabees – “X-Ray”
Stream: The Maccabees / Given To The Wild

MTV Hive chats with Veronica Falls, in town at The Garrison on March 12.

Esben & The Witch have released a new video from their second album Wash The Sins Not Only The Face. They play The Drake Underground on March 25.

Video: Esben & The Witch – “When The Head Splits”

British Sea Power have posted a stream of the title track of their next album Machineries Of Joy, due out April 1.

Stream: British Sea Power – “Machineries Of Joy”

Cool Hunting interviews the directors of Foals’ video for “My Number”, off their just-released Holy Fire; they’ve gone super lo-tech – CCTV-style – for a new rehearsal space clip they’ve shared and are interviewed by BBC. Foals are at The Kool Haus on May 11.

Video: Foals – “Milk & Black Spiders” (CCTV)

Vogue gets Natasha Khan of Bat For Lashes to strap on the Telecaster for an on-video, in-studio reading of “Marilyn”.

Flagpole talks to David Gedge of The Wedding Present about taking their 1991/92 Hit Parade collection on tour.

Keyboardist Gillian Gilbert and graphic designer Peter Saville reminisce about the making of New Order’s “Blue Monday” to The Guardian.

Pitchfork is doing the advance stream thing for Iceage’s new album You’re Nothing, out next Tuesday.

MP3: Iceage – “Coalition”
Stream: Iceage / You’re Nothing

Efterklang have released a new video from last year’s Piramida. Look for them at The Mod Club on March 21.

Video: Efterklang – “The Living Layer”

Indians film a Takeaway Show for Le Blogotheque. They play The Drake on March 4.

Phoenix have come clean on some details of their next album, Bankrupt!. It’s out April 22 and Rolling Stone has the artwork and track listing.

And it hardly answers all the questions raised a couple week back, but the Toronto Urban Roots Fest now has a website and more information for the curious. Like how the already-announced She & Him and Camera Obscura bill of July 4 is only the first of four days – two evenings and two full days – taking place largely at Fort York’s Garrison Commons, though with some club-level overflow. New acts will be announced every week for the new couple months, but if you’re doing some digging then checking out who’s playing Montreal’s Jazz Festival and Ottawa’s Bluesfest are probably good starting points. Think about it.

Time OutHappy New Year, everyone; hope 2013 has been good to you so far and if not, geez. It’s only been 36 hours or so. What the hell.

We’ll kick off the new year with some old faces under a new name; The New Mendicants. So new they don’t even have a website or Facebook page, but if you need some background maybe look up Pernice Brothers, Teenage Fanclub, and The Sadies, and cross-reference with my writeup of last June’s wonderful Joe Pernice/Norman Blake show at the Dakota Tavern. Because what began that night as a possibly one-off pop summit has become a proper international supergroup with the addition of current Sadies and former Pernice Brothers drummer Mike Belitsky to the fold, providing some genuine Toronto content to American Pernice and Scot Blake, both immigrants to the southern Ontario region.

This year will see the first formal activity from the band, starting with a brace of Australian tour dates later this month featuring just Blake and Pernice and the release of their first EP. It’s a six-songer featuring three new songs, one of each of Pernice and Blake’s compositions from their other bands, and an INXS cover – stream it below – and while it’s a limited edition intended for sale down under, it’s available to preorder for North American fans for an approximate February 1 release.

A full-length with the working title of The Book Of Norman is also in the works, and while there’s no extensive touring in the cards, it’s hard to imagine that they won’t play at least an (adopted) hometown show whenever that happens. And presumably the new Pernice Brothers album will come out eventually and we’re about due a new Fanclub record, but until those become somewhat less than myth, we have this to look forward to.

Stream: The New Mendicants – “This Time”

And in a nice little bit of synchronicity, NYC Taper just posted a recording of Norman Blake’s set opening up the final Yo La Tengo Hannukah show at Maxwell’s in Hoboken last month.

DIY gets to know Palma Violets, one of the presumed “next big things” of 2013. Their debut 180 is out February 25 and they play The Horseshoe on January 24.

Stereogum interviews Johnny Marr; his solo debut The Messenger is out February 26.

PopMatters profiles Django Django, back in town at the Opera House on March 12.

A Music Blog, Yea? chats with Rose Elinor Dougall, whose second album has been a while in coming but should be out this year.

Black Book talks to Dev Hynes of Blood Orange about everything he got up to in 2012 and what might be yet to come.

Pop Justice talks to Jessie Ware about what’s transpired since her debut was released back in June.

Efterklang have released a new video from Piramida. They’re at The Mod Club on March 21 as part of Canadian MusicFest.

Video: Efterklang – “Sedna”

Pitchfork rounds up what’s known about a new release from Rilo Kiley, almost certainly an already-promised b-sides and rarities collection.

Beach House have a new video from Bloom, the timing of which is kind of obvious.

Video: Beach House – “New Year”

Murray Lightburn talks to Spinner about what The Dears have planned for 2013, recording a new record being one of those things.

Put That Shit On The List interviews Alaska B of Yamantaka//Sonic Titan. They play The Garrison on January 18.