Frank YangI don’t know what their official show count at SxSW was, but I think I managed to miss Cut Off Your Hands play no less than ten times in four days. This actually took some effort. And it wasn’t that I didn’t WANT to see them – you may recall I quite liked their debut You And I despite its more derivative qualities – but knowing that they’d be in Toronto just a week later, it was hard to justify missing another band who perhaps didn’t have T.O. in their travel plans to see one that was. And while I still think that was the smart thing to do, after their blistering set at the Horseshoe on Monday night, I can’t but help feeling a twinge of regret that I’ll have to wait who knows how long to see them again.

I’d missed most of the first band in the evening, an instrumental post-rock outfit called Siberia, but was there in plenty of time for the middle act, a local outfit with the somewhat unfortunate name of Boys Who Say No – unfortunate because it’s a bad name and they were quite a good band. I’d describe them as being a little bit folk and a little bit punk, but would never call them folk-punk. They had impressive chops channeled into creating a Maritime-ish good times party vibe that initially made me want to dismiss them – I like my music serious and profound, thank you very much – but by set’s end I was won over.

No such convincing was needed for Cut Off Your Hands. New Zealand’s first most popular post-punk-pop quartet came out firing on all cylinders, frontman Nick Johnston pogoing all over the stage, and didn’t let up for a moment of their compact but exhausting 40-minute set. Whereas the album took pains to include some gentler moments and show off the band’s sensitive side, live they were all about being turned up to 10 and staying at 10 until their tanks ran down to zero. And even though the record crackles with no small amount of energy, I was quite (and pleasantly) surprised by just how utterly gleeful and manic their performance was, particularly since they were able to execute the songs so perfectly and Johnston was able to avoid causing himself serious physical harm. Slower songs were made fast and fast songs made breakneck, but there was no compromising quality for energy, and that’s a hell of a thing to pull off. Excellence.

eye has both an interview with the band and a glowing show review while Chart also enjoyed themselves, just not quite as much.

Photos: Cut Off Your Hands, Boys Who Say No @ The Horseshoe – March 30, 2009
MP3: Cut Off Your Hands – “Turn Cold”
Video: Cut Off Your Hands – “Expectations” (version 1)
Video: Cut Off Your Hands – “Expectations” (version 2)
Video: Cut Off Your Hands – “Expectations” (version 3)
Video: Cut Off Your Hands – “Oh Girl”
Video: Cut Off Your Hands – “You And I”
MySpace: Cut Off Your Hands

Cut Off Your Hands had been touring North America with Ra Ra Riot, but peeled off on their own for a few Canadian dates but will meet back up with them in New York City. Ra Ra Riot are here on Sunday opening up for Death Cab at the Sound Academy – they gave an interview to The National Post.

Scots 1990s, whose latest album Kicks was also helmed by Cut Off Your Hands producer Bernard Butler, have just announced a North American tour which brings them to the Horseshoe on June 3.

MP3: 1990s – “The Box”
Video: 1990s – “Animate”

Some samples from upcoming releases of note, starting with Superchunk! The first new ‘Chunk material in forever will be out on April 7 in the form of the Leaves In The Gutter EP and 20% of it sounds like this.

MP3: Superchunk – “Misfits & Mistakes”

Also out that day is the SCORE! 20 Years of Merge Records: THE COVERS! compilation, from which you can hear the ‘Chunk being covered by Les Savy Fav.

MP3: Les Savy Fav – “Precision Auto”

King Khan & The Shrines will release What Is?! on April 21 and play the Phoenix on May 12.

MP3: King Khan & The Shrines – “Land Of The Freak”

John Vanderslice will release his first album for new label Dead Oceans on May 19 in Romanian Names, and one of the songs sounds like this. The Hartford Courant and Express Night Out talk to the ‘Slice about his new record.

MP3: John Vanderslice – “Fetal Horses”

The Rumble Strips won’t release their second album Welcome To The Walk Alone until June 8 in the UK, but they’re sharing the first single from it, entitled “London”.

MP3: The Rumble Strips – “London”

Exclaim and Muzzle Of Bees have interviews with Hutch Harris of The Thermals. Their new album Now We Can See is out next Tuesday and they play The Horseshoe on May 3. Here’s another track from the record:

MP3: The Thermals – “When We Were Alive”

Blurt and The Dallas Observer talk to Tony Dekker of Great Lake Swimmers. They play the Queen Elizabeth Theatre on April 25.

Neil Young is streaming Fork In The Road on his MySpace in advance of its release next Tuesday.

Stream: Neil Young / Fork In The Road

Wireless Bollinger, Flagstaff Live and CMT talk to Justin Townes Earle, who plays the Horseshoe on April 22.

Bishop Allen’s Justin Rice talks inspiration with Spinner.

Sam SeagerIt occurred to me that amidst the music media mayhem that is March and my not wanting to look too much like an obsessed stalker-fan (though I suspect the damage on that front was done long ago), I neglected to actually provide at review of Emmy The Great’s long-awaited debut album First Love after it was released way back in February.

But beyond the aforementioned factors, one of the reasons I didn’t feel compelled to write the record up was that it didn’t feel new, and thus didn’t strike that evangelical chord within me. As The Daily Growl, a much longer-time Emmy fan than I, alluded to in his review, we’ve been living with so many of these songs in so many live/demo versions for so long, that the notion that these are the “proper” and “final” versions of these tunes just don’t quite register. The sense of immediate familiarity is contributed to by the fact that the production on the record favours a very straight, live feel – this is not a complaint, they obviously know that the relatively unadorned approach utilizing the components of her live band compliments Emmy’s voice and lyrics best, and it when little bits of studio or instrumental flourish is dropped in – the synth bass in the coda of “Absentee” stands out in particular – it’s that much more striking.

But as it should be, Emmy’s voice and words are the centerpiece of the record – the former clear, understatedly expressive and with remarkable diction and the latter evocative, incisive and witty in a manner more melancholic than humorous. In the wrong hands, these ingredients could come across as overly precious or precocious but with Emmy, the sincerity of it wins out. It feels like a coping mechanism wherein the only way to deal with heartbreak is to describe it in as painstaking detail as possible and if you’re of that sort of personality, it resonates deeply.

About half of the record appeared on my own homemade Emmy mixes through the better part of 2008, and so I can’t say whether the reason the other half of the record hasn’t grabbed me as much as is because it’s not as ingrained into my DNA or if they’re actually just weaker songs. But even if the latter, the overall quality of the record is impressive and any record that boasts songs like “24”, “Easter Parade” and the title track makes for a worthy debut. Do I love the record? Yes, I do. Did it make my jaw drop? No, but that’s because my jaw was already there.

MP3s below are live or non-album versions, but the versions that I’ve played to death over the past year. Same for the “Easter Parade” and “MIA” videos.

MP3: Emmy The Great – “Easter Parade”
MP3: Emmy The Great – “MIA” (live from Black Room Sessions)
MP3: Emmy The Great – “24” (live on Welcome To Our Show, January 2008)
Video: Emmy The Great – “First Love”
Video: Emmy The Great – “We Almost Had A Baby”
Video: Emmy The Great – “Easter Parade”
Video: Emmy The Great – “MIA”
MySpace: Emmy The Great

Maps welcomes Noah & The Whale to their studios for an interview and session. Their new album The First Days Of Spring should be out in June and they play the Mod Club on April 27.

MP3: Noah & The Whale – “Mary” (live at Maps)
MP3: Noah & The Whale – “My Door Is Always Open”

Exclaim has some info on forthcoming releases from Florence & The Machine. The A Lot of Love, A lot of Blood EP, which collects her singles so far on single 12″, is still due out on April 28 and her debut full-length, which has been given the title of Lungs, appears to set for a June or July release. She talks to BBC6 about coming up with the name for the record.

Bat For Lashes’ Natasha Khan tells Gigwise that plans are afoot to make a musical-fantasy feature film (think Labyrinth) based on songs from her first album Fur & Gold, and that all that’s left is “to get the funding”. So yes, look for that to be coming to a theatre near you REAL soon. But first, listen to the live MP3 from the new album below. Then read these interviews at BBC and MTV. Then look for her new record Two Suns in stores next Tuesday. Then look for her to play the Mod Club on April 25 (with Lewis & Clarke as support – again). Then look for monkeys to fly. THEN look for the movie.

MP3: Bat For Lashes – “Glass” (live at Nimes)

Blurt celebrates Swervedriver and also offers a feature on frontman Adam Franklin, whose new solo record Spent Bullets is out today.

Though not a proper Take-Away Show, La Blogotheque has some pretty stunning – and of course stylish – live footage of Mogwai. They’re at the Phoenix on May 4. And note that Take-Away Shows mastermind Vincent Moon has started a blog.

Video: Mogwai – “Mogwai Fear Satan” (live)

Spinner loves Leonard Cohen, premiering a new video taken from his Live In London double-CD set, out today, as well as streaming the whole of that.

Video: Leonard Cohen – “Hallelujah” (live)
Stream: Leonard Cohen / Live In London

Also out today and streaming is Lost Channels, the new one from Great Lake Swimmers. Paste, The Georgia Straight and The Gauntlet have interviews with Tony Dekker, who will be at the Queen Elizabeth Theatre on April 25.

Stream: Ghost Lake Swimmers / Lost Channels

And one last goodie from Spinner – an Interface Session with Neko Case. She’s at Trinity-St Paul’s on April 17 and 18.

The IndependentThough not a performer, Neil Young’s presence was keenly felt down at SxSW last week. The man himself was in town showing off his LincVolt electric car which is serving as inspiration for his forthcoming album Fork In The Road, due April 7, and for which he continues to crank out many high-quality promo videos. I’m a little bit concerned that the songs are starting to grow on me just a bit.

Director Jonathan Demme was also on hand to talk about Neil Young Truck Show, his forthcoming Neil documentary and second following 2006’s Heart Of Gold. Rolling Stone has details on the deliberately rough and DIY-aesthetic film, which should be finished post-production for a 2009 unveiling.

But the most exciting piece of news revealed last week was the announcement by Neil’s manager Elliott Roberts of an official release date for Archives Volume 1 – June 2. I know many release dates have come and gone over the years but this seems for real. The massive collection will be available as an 8-CD set for $99, a 10-DVD set for $199 and a 10-BluRay set for $299 (suggested prices in US dollars). Needless to say, the more you spend, the more you get. Billboard has details.

Video: Neil Young – “Cough Up The Bucks”
Video: Neil Young – “Light A Candle”
Video: Neil Young – “Johnny Magic” (Magic Sun)
Video: Neil Young – “Johnny Magic” (LincVolt)
Video: Neil Young – “Fork In The Road”
Trailer: Neil Young / Archives Volume 1

Wilco’s Jeff Tweedy talks to GQ about their new album, due out in June, and the Ashes Of American Flags DVD being released April 18. Creative Loafing has an interview with the director of the doc, Brendan Canty.

Spinner has an MP3 from Bob Mould’s new record Life And Times, out April 17.

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

Dinosaur Jr have completed work on their new album Farm and will release it on June 23. Pitchfork has more on that.

Ira Kaplan comes clean to The Hartford Advocate about the mysterious relationship between Condo Fucks and Yo La Tengo. Fuckbook is out now and streamable in its entirety.

Stream: Condo Fucks / Fuckbook

Also out now and doing the stream thing is The Decemberists’ latest The Hazards Of Love. Magnet Q&As Colin Meloy about the new record.

Stream: The Decemberists / The Hazards of Love

Pitchfork has an interview with Neko Case, who herself has a new video. She’s at Trinity-St Paul’s on April 17 and 18.

Video: Neko Case – “People Got A Lotta Nerve”

The National Post has an interview with Leonard Cohen, whose Live In London double-album is out next week but which you can stream right now at NPR. He plays Copps Coliseum in Hamilton on May 19.

Stream: Leonard Cohen / Live In London

Magnet plays over-under with R.E.M., selecting their five most over- and underrated songs.

Great Lake Swimmers have released a new video from their forthcoming album Lost Channels, out next Tuesday. They play the Queen Elizabeth Theatre on April 25. Vue has an interview with Tony Dekker.

Video: Great Lake Swimmers – “Pulling On A Line”

Chart and NOW have features on Julie Doiron, who’s playing the Horseshoe tonight in support of her new album I Can Wonder What You Did With Your Day.

And to follow up yesterday’s post, tickets for the first NYC Radio Dept show are on sale and I have one. Travel that weekend has been made easier by the fact that I won’t be attending Primavera Sound the following week – got offered media but NOT a photo pass and I don’t think I could go all that way (and pay all that money) and not be able to shoot. My head would quite literally explode. But hey, word is Jarv will be coming to North America to promote the new record so, worst case, I fly somewhere closer (and less exotic, yes) to see him assuming he doesn’t shaft T.O. again. That’s Toronto. Not Terrell Owens. Though he’s in Buffalo now, so at least that’d be more geographically convenient.

Okay I’m going to shut up now.

Frank YangPlease understand, as much as I like them, I have no desire to make write-ups on Bruce Peninsula a weekly feature. However, their in-store performance at Soundscapes on Wednesday night to mark the release of A Mountain Is A Mouth merited a little more than cursory, “hey Bruce Peninsula played an in-store it was great let’s see what else is going on”.

Typically, in-stores involve a minimal setup – say acoustic guitar and mic into a PA – and a handful of songs, hopefully just enough to entice folks to buy a CD or attend a concert. And Bruce Peninsula did indeed invite the packed store to buy their album – cannily, the band set up across the width of the entire store and thus prevented anyone from being able to buy a CD from any other local independent artist – or a ticket to their February 22 show at the Polish Combatants Hall, but as far as the performance went there were no half-measures. The full band was in attendance – 10 members strong, though some different faces from when I saw them last – and they came equipped with electric guitars and drums (though just individual drums rather than full kits), intent on delivering almost a complete and proper show and demonstrating for those who hadn’t seen them before, the full power of the Bruce Peninsula live experience.

Their set ran almost 40 minutes, culminating in a stunning double-take of “Weave Myself A Dress” – double because it was being filmed for the Camera Music series on aux.tv – and to thank the audience for sitting through the same song twice (though really, we should have been thanking them) the band moved the drums into the middle of the audience for a rousing, pounding finale of “Crabapples”. A headshakingly good performance – isn’t it great/scary when bands you already expect the world from still manage to raise the bar? And I promise this’ll be the last BP-led post until their February 22 show. Unless it’s not.

Hour.ca and Metro have brief interviews with members of the band.

Photos: Bruce Peninsula @ Soundscapes – February 4, 2009
MP3: Bruce Peninsula – “Crabapples”
MySpace: Bruce Peninsula

Also at aux.tv’s Camera Music – an episode with Ohbijou, who will release Beacons in April and play the Opera House on April 13.

And to finish off the live video component of the post, head over to Baeble Music to see footage from Constantines’ show in Brooklyn last December. They’re at the Phoenix on March 31 and April 1.

The Toronto Star, National Post and Exclaim talk to Jenn Grant, who just released her sophomore album Echoes this week and will play the Mod Club on next Thursday, February 12.

Glasswerk and Edinburgh News introduce The Coast to the UK, where the band are kicking off a tour this weekend. They’ll be back in town for a homecoming show at the Horseshoe on February 28 alongside The Diableros and Oh No Forest Fires.

PopMatters chats with AC Newman, booked in at Lee’s Palace for March 11.

Austin Town Hall talks to Brendan Canning and Charles Spearin of Broken Social Scene, while The Georgia Straight talks to Spearin about his solo work with The Happiness Project, who have two dates at the Music Gallery on March 11 and 12.

The Vancouver Sun profiles Angela Desveaux, whose CMW showcase will find her at the Gladstone on Thursday, March 12.

Wireless Bollinger interviews Tony Dekker of Great Lake Swimmers. Lost Channels is out March 31 and they play the Queen Elizabeth Theatre on April 25.

Mark Hamilton of Woodpigeon makes a playlist for taking the train around Europe for The Calgary Herald and are the subject of a feature at The Georgia Straight.

Paste has details on the John Doe/Sadies collaboration Country Club, due out April 14.

Collider has a video interview with Brandon Routh (aka evil ex-boyfriend #3 Todd Ingram) wherein he says that the film adaptation of Scott Pilgrim, set to begin filming here in Toronto next month, will be a combination of live-action and animation. The penultimate volume of the series – Scott Pilgrim Vs The Universe – came out yesterday and I expect the final book will be timed to come out at the same time as the film next year, whenever that’ll be. I think one of the (many) reasons I love the series is that it creates a mythological Toronto which for me, at least, has never existed in any medium. And the mythology around cities is one of the reasons I love places like New York and London so much. The fact that our developing mythology includes killer robots and subspace expressways is just so much the better. And anyone who wants to set up field trips to stalk the production crews around the city, get in touch. No, I’m not kidding.

Jeaneen LundThe old inbox was overflowing with local concert announcements yesterday – certainly makes cobbling together a post easy. In chronological order…

Sebastien Grainger & The Mountains, who just played an instore at Sonic Boom last week, are heading out on a European tour through most of this month but will be having a little homecoming party at the Horseshoe on March 6. Tickets $10.50. Grainger has a little chat with Spoonfed.

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

Julie Doiron is set to release a new album on March 24 in I Can Wonder What You Did With Your Day and will follow that up a trio of dates up the 401 including a March 26 date at the Horseshoe. Tickets $10.

MP3: Julie Doiron – “Consolation Prize”

Their new album Beacons is complete, but there’s still no firm release date for the sophomore effort from Ohbijou… but considering they’ve just announced a CD release show for said record on April 18 at the Opera House, it’s probably safe to say that it’ll be out around then. Tickets for that fete will be $13.

I will admit to being mildly astonished not by the fact that Travis are coming back to North America this Spring in support of last year’s Ode To J Smith, but that they’re playing – at least here on April 21 – venues the size of the Sound Academy. 3000 people to see Travis in 2009? And at $34.50 a ticket? Really? Huh. The Daily Yomiuri has an interview with the band about the making of the album.

Video: Travis – “J Smith”
Video: Travis – “Song To Self”

The Appleseed Cast have a new album in Sagarmatha coming out February 17 and they’ve got a date at the Horseshoe for April 21, tickets $10. Songs from the record can be heard at Stereogum and RCRDLBL.

Despite being rather fond of most of the “sassy English female singer-songwriters” which followed in her wake, Lily Allen has never done much for me. Might her new record It’s Not Me, It’s You, out next week, change my mind? The album is currently streaming in its entirety over at her MySpace – let’s find out. She’s also playing a show at the Phoenix on April 22, tickets $27.50, and Spin has posted online an excerpt of this month’s cover story on the singer. Update: Full North American tour dates at The Music Slut.

Video: Lily Allen – “The Fear”
Stream: Lily Allen / It’s Not Me, It’s You

I need no such persuasion to get excited for the return of Bat For Lashes (pictured). Her second album Two Suns, which will feature unlikely guests Scott Walker and Yeasayer, is coming out on April 6 and following a set of European dates will come some North American ones. In addition to a previously announced New York and Philadelphia dates, she will be in Toronto on April 25 for a show at the Mod Club, tickets $15. Their last show here in September 2007 was amazing, no reason to believe this one will be anything less. Rolling Stone talks to Natasha Khan about the split personality conceit behind her new record while MTV has a video interview. And check out this live performance of a new song on BBC2:

Video: Bat For Lashes – “Moon And Moon” (live on BBC2)

And last but not least for the show announcements, Franz Ferdinand are coming back on May 4 and playing a venue considerably larger than their cozy little Lee’s Palace gig last December, but if you don’t think they’ll sell out the Kool Haus in a heartbeat, you’re dreaming. Tickets for that one are $30 and go on sale February 7 at 10AM. Pitchfork has an interview with the band conducted here during their last visit.

In a rather drastic change of venue, the Pains Of Being Pure At Heart/Depreciation Guild show originally slated to happen at Neutral next Thursday has been moved to Lee’s Palace. Which pleases me because the lights at Neutral are, to put it mildly, abhorrent. All tickets will be honoured and there will probably be a lot more available now.

And some bits related to already-announced shows that are upcoming… Exclaim has a feature on Antony Hegarty of Antony & The Johnsons and Radio Free Canuckistan has posted up the complete transcript of the interview that went into the piece. They play the Queen Elizabeth Theatre on February 17.

Soundproof features The Rural Alberta Advantage, who will play Wavelength at Sneaky Dee’s on February 22 and then do a CMW showcase at the Gladstone in the wee hours (1AM) of March 12. The band made their NYC debut last week and accounts are that it went really well. They play New York again this Friday and Saturday nights.

Jason Isbell & The 400 Unit is out February 17, and Muzzle Of Bees has five questions with Mr Isbell. They play the Horseshoe on March 4.

The Montreal Mirror profiles Basia Bulat, who will play Lee’s Palace on March 14 as part of CMW, and will be getting to work on album number two later this Spring. Hour.ca also has a little chat about her decision to record a Sam Cooke cover for a 7″ single.

Aquarium Drunkard gets Tony Dekker of Great Lake Swimmers to offer a brief guide to his favourite places in Toronto. There’s also a trio of intimate performance videos from Dekker over at Aux.tv. Their new album Lost Channels is out March 31 and they play the Queen Elizabeth Theatre on April 25.