J. Michelle Martin-CoyneSo what are you doing June 16? Are you one of those so conditioned by years of Toronto Radiohead shows selling out in a heartbeat that you tripped over yourself getting tickets for their Downsview gig as soon as they went on sale, even though the new venue was over twice the size of the Amphitheatre and general admission? Or are you one of those conscious of the fact that this is a King Of Limbs tour and realistically speaking, they probably won’t be playing the stuff you like most and anyways that’s the day the reunited Archers Of Loaf are finally coming to town and there’s no place you’d rather be that night than The Phoenix? Or were you waiting to hear what NXNE had up their sleeves since that’s when the Yonge-Dundas Square mainstage traditionally hosts the biggest name of the fest playing for free? If you chose option c), then congratulations on wanting to make an informed decision. And I’m sorry to say that Radiohead is now sold out so all your strategizing was for naught.

But you’ve hardly lost out as NXNE finally announced their first batch of acts playing the festival this year, and the Saturday night mainstage headliners will be none other than The Flaming Lips. The Oklahoman psychedelic-rockers, last here in July 2010, will endeavour to transform Yonge-Dundas Square into a garish, technicolor assault on the senses… so pretty much what it is every day, but with a bubble walk. Kidding aside, it will be pretty exciting to see a lot of people who’ve presumably never seen the Lips perform (or even know who they are) witness one of the most ridiculous and entertaining live shows going. Laser hands! And hey – since Yonge-Dundas isn’t far from The Phoenix, you can technically do both The Lips and Archers Of Loaf. I will, anyways.

As for the other confirmed acts, there’s a pretty impressive collection of both buzz bands and veterans coming to Toronto the weekend of June 14 to 17 – certainly more than a few that I’ve either been waiting to see come to town or are quite curious about. And because I’m a big dork, as I’ve done the past couple years, I’ve tried to discern the when and where of as many showcases as possible based on tour routing, previous announcements, what have you. There’s not quite as much info floating around right now as in past years, but if you wanted to get a jump start on trying to resolve inevitable scheduling conflicts, it’s something. Of course, all of this is unconfirmed until the official schedule is unveiled and certainly subject to change – I’ll probably keep updating it until that happens, if just for my own reference – but my sources are credible.

Wednesday, June 13, 2012
Hayes Carll, July Talk @ The Horseshoe
Eternal Summers @ The Drake Underground

Thursday, June 14, 2012
Bad Religion, No Use For A Name, Good Riddance @ Yonge-Dundas Square
White Rabbits, Vacationer, Nash @ The Mod Club
Bran Van 3000, Unknown Mortal Orchestra, Violens, Hooded Fang @ The Horseshoe
The Men, Grass Widow, The Black Belles, Mac DeMarco, Gap Dream @ The Garrison
Young Magic, Purity Ring, Moon King, Exitmusic, The Hundreds in The Hands @ Wrongbar
The Danks, Vinyl Williams @ The Drake Underground
Bleached @ The Silver Dollar
Mean Jeans @ The Shop Under Parts & Labour
The Seedy Seeds @ The Painted Lady
Larry & His Flask, The Schomberg Fair @ Sneaky Dee’s

Friday, June 15, 2012
Matthew Good, Plants & Animals, Eight And A Half @ Yonge-Dundas Square
2:54, Friends, Oberhofer @ Lee’s Palace
The Smoking Popes @ The Great Hall
The Sadies & Andre Williams, Reigning Sound, The Black Belles, The Coppertone @ The Horseshoe
Widowspeak, Yamantaka // Sonic Titan, Art Vs. Science @ The Garrison
The Men, Bass Drum Of Death, DZ Deathrays, The Death Set, Metz @ Wrongbar
Bleached, Parlovr, Hooded Fang, Goose Hut @ The Silver Dollar
Rah Rah @ The Dakota Tavern
Phèdre, Odonis Odonis, Beta Frontiers, Cartoons, Hellaluya, Hussy, Times Neue Roman @ Sneaky Dee’s
Brasstronaut, Útidúr @ TBA

Saturday, June 16, 2012
The Flaming Lips, Of Montreal, The Soundtrack Of Our Lives, Ceremony, Art Vs. Science, Oberhofer, Parlovr, Hollerado @ Yonge-Dundas Square
Archers Of Loaf, Metz @ The Phoenix
Catl, Young Empires @ The Horseshoe
Killer Mike, Death Grips, Ceremony, Doldrums, Trae Tha Truth @ Wrongbar
Yamantaka // Sonic Titan @ Sneaky Dee’s
Holly McNarland, The Deer Tracks @ The Rivoli
Limblifter, Shellshag, Our Brother The Native, Neon Windbreaker, International Zombies OF Love @ El Mocambo
Kontravoid, Automelodi, Bleached, Prince Innocence, Ell V Gore, Mac DeMarco, Cellphone, Dutch Toko @ The Silver Dollar
Sean Rowe @ The Dakota Tavern
WAZU @ The Painted Lady
Carnival Moon @ Czehoski
DJ Jonathan Toubin @ TBA

Sunday, June 17, 2012
Raekwon & Ghostface Killah @ Yonge-Dundas Square

The full list of announced acts – including those without a venue or exact date that I can pin down – can be grokked over here but definitely catching my eye are Rival Schools and Porcelain Raft (June 14 or 15). Not a bad start at all, lots more to come.

MP3: Archers Of Loaf – “Harnessed In Slums”
MP3: Ceremony – “Hysteria”
MP3: Death Grips – “Spread Eagle Cross The Block”
MP3: The Deer Tracks – “Dark Passenger”
MP3: Mac DeMarco – “Baby’s Wearin’ Blue Jeans”
MP3: Doldrums – “I’m Homesick Sittin’ Up Here In My Satellite”
MP3: Hollerado – “Americanarama”
MP3: The Men – “Ex-Dreams”
MP3: Oberhofer – “Away Frm U”
MP3: Of Montreal – “Coquet Coquette”
MP3: The Soundtrack Of Our Lives – “Karmageddon”
MP3: Widowspeak – “Harsh Realm”
MP3: Andrew Williams – “Dirt”
Video: Bad Religion – “21st Century Digital Boy”
Video: The Black Belles – “What Can I Do”
Video: The Flaming Lips – “Fight Test”
Video: Friends – “Friend Crush”
Video: Ghostface Killah – “2getha Baby”
Video: Matthew Good – “Everything Is Automatic”
Video: Raekwon – “House Of Flying Daggers”
Video: 2:54 – “You’re Early”

And speaking of The Flaming Lips, their Flaming Lips & Heady Fwends album is out this Saturday for Record Store Day – if you can get your hands on one – and Wayne Coyne talks about it to The Huffington Post. They’ve also released a video from it – NSFW, of course. Lips don’t do clothes.

Video: The Flaming Lips and New Fumes – “Girl, You’re So Weird”

Electronic Anthology Project is the brainchild of Built To Spill’s Brett Netson wherein he takes songs from artists who aren’t especially electronic – like, say, Dinosaur Jr – and recreates them in synth-y, new wave style and actually makes it work. Of course it helps when you can get the likes of J Mascis to re-record some vocals for the project… The Electronic Anthology Project of Dinosaur Jr will be released on CD for Record Store Day but you can stream the whole thing right now at Stereogum.

Stream: Electronic Anthology Project – “Tarpit”
Stream: Electronic Anthology Project of Dinosaur Jr

Stereogum checks in with Jana Hunter of Lower Dens to see how things are coming on their next album Nootropics, out May 1.

Beach House are streaming another new song from Bloom, out May 15. It’ll be available on 7″ for Record Store Day this Saturday.

Stream: Beach House – “Lazuli”

Spin interviews Bethany Cosentino of Best Coast, whose new record The Only Place is out on May 15. They play The Phoenix on July 21.

Though Mark Kozelek has a habit of booking and then cancelling shows, he’s planning to be in Toronto at The Great Hall on October 3 to promote the new Sun Kil Moon record Among The Leaves, out May 29. Tickets are $20 in advance and refunds will be available at the point of purchase.

MP3: Sun Kil Moon – “UK Blues”
MP3: Sun Kil Moon – “Carry Me Ohio”
MP3: Sun Kil Moon – “Sunshine In Chicago”

Exclaim reports that the second Guided By Voices album of 2012 – Class Clown Spots a UFO – will be out on June 21 and a third GBV album entitled Bears For Lunch should be out in November. Most prolific reunion ever?

That Nintendo-premiered new video from The Shins is finally available to watch online. They’re at The Molson Amphitheatre on August 4 supporting The Black Keys.

Video: The Shins – “The Rifle’s Spiral”

Craig Finn tells Rolling Stone that The Hold Steady will begin work on a new record this Summer, but he’s not quite done with the solo thing yet – Paste has premiered a new video as part of a fundraising campaign for Big Brother/Big Sisters of America.

Video: Craig Finn – “Respective Coasts”

Spin chats with M. Ward.

Chart talks to Nada Surf frontman Matthew Caws.

Frank YangA little time off can be nice, but as much as I was enjoying the very unusual but welcome two-week break from show leading up to SXSW this week, it was also making me a bit antsy. Thank goodness for the Young Prisms in-store at the new Kensington Market location of Sonic Boom, in advance of their show that evening at The Drake. It would give me a quick, convenient way of scratching the live music itch and also let me pick up some LP sleeves. Everybody wins.

I saw the San Francisco outfit last February opening up for The Radio Dept., and while their dream-pop tended more to the murkier side than I’d like, they were a charming crew and so young that they could have grown plenty in the elapsed time. After all, In Between – the follow-up to their 2011 debut Friends For Now – was already done and coming out in a few weeks; it seemed highly unlikely that they would still be the same band as they were a year ago.

Turns out that was true in the literal sense – they were now a five-piece with the addition of guitarist/vocalist Ashley Thomas to the mix, and while her presence didn’t totally invert their sound, it made a difference. They still sounded very much like My Blood Valentine mixed with morphine – the opiate, not the band – being loud and fuzzy yet not especially aggressive, but the tunefulness that they previously seemed to prefer buried was now being allowed to surface. The second guitar was able to pick out melodies overtop of the churning bed of glider guitar and pounding rhythm section and when Thomas and lead vocalist Steph Hodapp harmonized as they did on new song, “Four Hours (Away)”, well it was clear that Young Prisms had a potent new instrument at their disposal.

Based on a few songs, it’s hard to say too definitively how far Young Prisms have come – the new record isn’t out until March 27 – but it sounds as though they’re mixing some Slowdive romanticism into their MBV sonic stew, and that can only be a good thing. And if these reference points have no meaning or interest to you, then you’d best just move along.

NYCTaper is sharing a recording of the band’s show in New York last week.

Photos: Young Prisms @ Sonic Boom (Kensington) – March 10, 2012
MP3: Young Prisms – “Floating In Blue”
MP3: Young Prisms – “Sugar”
MP3: Young Prisms – “Weekends And Treehouses”
Video: Young Prisms – “Floating In Blue”
Video: Young Prisms – “These Daze”
Video: Young Prisms – “Breathless”
Video: Young Prisms – “Sugar”

Rot Gut, Domestic – the new album from Margot & The Nuclear So & So’s – is out March 20 and a new MP3 is available to download. They play The Garrison on April 5.

MP3: Margot & The Nuclear So And So’s – “Shannon”

NPR is streaming a complete Shins concert in New York last week while JAM and The Line Of Best Fit share interviews with James Mercer; their new record Port Of Morrow is out March 20 and they’re at The Molson Amphitheatre August 4.

eMusic talks to Bowerbirds. They play The Garrison on March 27.

Le Blogotheque has posted a Take-Away Show with Perfume Genius; he plays The Drake Underground on April 8.

Billboard and Rolling Stone talk to M. Ward about his new record A Wasteland Companion, due out April 10.

J Tillman has released a new video from Fear Fun, his debut under the Father John Misty marque. It’s out May 1 and he is at The Horseshoe on May 14.

Video: Father John Misty – “Nancy From Now On”

Ramona Falls, aka the side-project of Menomena’s Brent Knopf, will release their second album Prophet on May 1 and follow it with a show at The Drake Underground on June 8.

MP3: Ramona Falls – “Spore”

Hey, remember Garbage? They certainly hope so. They’ve got a new album called Not Your Kind Of People coming out May 15 and will be embarking on a short tour that ends at The Phoenix in Toronto on May 28.

Video: Garbage – “Vow”

Class Clown Spots A UFO – the second album of the reunited Guided By Voices era is coming in June and the first sample is available to stream. It’s gorgeous. Details on the release and Bob Pollards new solo record – of course there’s another new Bob record – are available at Pitchfork.

Stream: Guided By Voices – “Keep It In Motion”

Pitchfork reports that Bob Mould has signed to Merge records for his next solo record, due out this Fall.

Greg Dulli talks to Rolling Stone about rediscovering The Afghan Whigs – just in time for their reunion this year.

Interview has an interview and NPR a World Cafe session with Sharon Van Etten.

Billboard and Spinner talk to Jay Farrar about the New Multitudes Woody Guthrie project; the project also stopped in at Daytrotter for a session.

Patterson Hood reflects on the making of Drive-By Truckers’ 2001 masterpiece Southern Rock Opera to Boulder Weekly.

D.L. AndersonIt’s unlikely bird videos will ever achieve the same degree of online adoration as, say, cat videos, but when said clips come courtesy of artists who push the boundaries of what can be called folk music the way that North Carolina’s Bowerbirds and Chicago’s Andrew Bird do, a little more attention should be paid. Both artists released their new albums this week – The Clearing and Break It Yourself, respectively – and both have marked the occasion with the release of a new video.

Both are also streaming the new records in whole – not new news, but always good to be reminded of – and are doing quite a bit of press to promote their records. Bowerbirds are featured in The Quietus, The 405, Consequence Of Sound, Interview, Paste, and NPR while Mr. Bird has chats with each of Interview, PopMatters, The Stool Pigeon, The Guardian, Spinner, and The AV Club.

Where they differ is in their migratory patterns – Bowerbirds have long had a March 27 date at The Garrison in Toronto booked as part of their Spring tour, whereas Andrew Bird’s tour dates come as close as Detroit, but no closer – at least for now. I don’t think he’s been here since Spring 2009 so it’s reasonable to say he owes us a visit.

MP3: Bowerbirds – “Tuck The Darkness In”
MP3: Bowerbirds – “In The Yard”
Stream: Andrew Bird – “Eyeoneye”
Stream: Andrew Bird – “The Crown Salesman”
Video: Bowerbirds – “Tuck The Darkness In”
Video: Andrew Bird – “Eyeoneye”
Stream: Bowerbirds / The Clearing
Stream: Andrew Bird / Break It Yourself

Shearwater is named for a kind of bird, so they’re up next. Rolling Stone talks to frontman Jonathan Meiburg about their new record Animal Joy.

Mother Jones chats with Sharon Van Etten, who just premiered a new video from Tramp at The Los Angeles Times.

Video: Sharon Van Etten – “Leonard”

Perhaps hoping to get people talking about something besides their collaboration with a corporation as ethically vile as Urban Outfitters, Best Coast have announced the May 15 release of their second album The Only Place and accompanying tour which hits The Phoenix on July 21, tickets $18.50. Details on the record and full tour dates over at Tiny Mix Tapes.

MP3: Best Coast – “Boyfriend”

The Decemberists are spreading the love around, streaming both discs of their forthcoming live set We All Raise Our Voices at two different sites – Rolling Stone and Paste.

Stream: The Decemberists / We All Raise Our Voices to the Air (Live Songs 04.11-08.11) disc one
Stream: The Decemberists / We All Raise Our Voices to the Air (Live Songs 04.11-08.11) disc two

They haven’t fessed up to the accuracy of reports that their new album would be called Bloom and released on May 15, but the fact that a new Beach House song showed up to stream on their website the other night certainly makes it seem to be the case. The track is called “Myth” and it sounds like Beach House. Update: Okay, the above new album info is officially official.

Stream: Beach House – “Myth”

NOW welcomes EMA back to town; she’s at The Garrison on March 13. The Chicago Sun-Times, Montreal Mirror, and Playback:STL also have interviews.

Death & Taxes, Clash, and DIY have interviews with Sleigh Bells, making up a cancelled date at The Phoenix on March 26 and supporting Red Hot Chili Peppers at The Air Canada Centre on April 27 and 28.

For a guy with a reputation for being a tough interview, Stephin Merritt sure is entertaining a lot of inquiries. The Magnetic Fields mastermind chats Love At The Bottom Of The Sea with PopMatters, Rolling Stone, Clash, Beatroute, Salon, and Vulture. They will play The Sound Academy on March 30.

They Shoot Music has a video session and Magnet and Beatroute interviews with Nada Surf. They play The Opera House on April 4.

co.create looks at the marketing campaign being organized to help make Minneapolis’ Howler your new favourite band. They may or may not include this video session and interview at The Alternate Side or this interview about their already in-process second album at Paste, and if they work, you may find yourself seeing them at The Drake Underground on April 5.

Also courtesy of The Alternate Side is a session and interview with Perfume Genius, and also worth reading is an interview with Mike Hadreas at Slutever. Perfume Genius is at The Drake on April 8.

If you ever need a reminder of how gorgeous Low can be, this performance recorded in a Duluth church for a new television programme called Audio-Files should do the trick. They’re here on April 19 at Massey Hall opening for Death Cab For Cutie.

Video: Low – “Point Of Disgust” (live for Audio-Files)

Interview gets to know Hospitality, in town at The Garrison on May 5.

The Fly talks to James Mercer of The Shins, whose Port Of Morrow arrives March 20. They are at The Molson Amphitheatre on August 4.

Clash talks to Jay Farrar about the Woody Guthrie tribute project New Multitudes, of which he’s a part.

Jeff Tweedy and Nels Cline discuss the guitar (read: gear) side of Wilco’s The Whole Love with Guitar World.

Also talking the gear: St. Vincent’s Annie Clark with Guitar Player.

Pitch, The Daily Nebraskan, and SXSW interview Lauren Larsen of Ume.

Daytrotter has posted a session with Telekinesis.

NYC Taper has shared a recording of one of Craig Finn’s recent performances in New York while Allentown Morning Call shares an interview.

The Quietus talks reunion with Greg Dulli of The Afghan Whigs.

Dirty Laundry hangs out in a laundromat with Eric Bachmann of Crooked Fingers and Archers Of Loaf.

Loud & Quiet talks to Robert Pollard of Guided By Voices.

PopDose talks to Bill Janovitz about the 20th anniversary of Buffalo Tom’s excellent Let Me Come Over.

Frank YangA better writer might be able to come up with some angle that relates the sudden one-day cold snap that hit Toronto on Saturday and the long-awaited, much-anticipated local debut by Mr Charles Bradley at Lee’s Palace, but sadly, all I can come up with is something like how it was cold outside but hot inside and that’s pretty weaksauce, so I’ll just move on.

A little surprisingly, support for this tour came from across the Atlantic in the form of English power trio Little Barrie, who were familiar to me as I’d written them up way back in 2005 and generally dismissed them but in a “not my thing” way rather than “this is terrible”. And while I don’t necessarily get the sense their sound has changed much over the years, seeing them play it became clear that what fails to impress on record can really wow in a live setting. Offering a pleasantly modern take on punk-infused blues-rock with a good, heavy groove and the right amount of guitar heroics delivered with what I think the kids call, “swag”, their set was loud, energetic and an ideal warm-up. If you’re seeking the future of rock, you’d be well-advised to look elsewhere; just fixing for a good time? Stick around. Their third album King Of The Waves hits February 25.

Even though he only released his debut album No Time For Dreaming last year and has been on most peoples’ radars for only about that long, Charles Bradley’s live shows are already something of legend, and what kind of legend doesn’t deserve a little build up? And so it was that before taking the stage, his 7-piece band The Extraordinaires got up and got down for a couple of instrumental tunes that showed off the band’s ability to groove – exceptional, if you wondering – and work the crowd up just a little more. Goodness knows the full house didn’t have to be asked to give a warm welcome to “The Screaming Eagle of Soul”, but we were and we did as he strode onstage resplendent in a shiny red satin jacket.

Bradley is a fascinating performer. On the one hand, he had a deep bag of crowd-pleasing stage moves to draw on including some loverman disco dancing and impressive mic stand tricks. But on the other, his songs are filled with pain and hurt informed by a long, hard life that was only now giving him his due and all of that was etched onto every line of his face, every grimace, every bead of sweat and in every impassioned rasp of his voice. Dressing up emotional rawness in showy raiments created a strange balance of sorrow, spirituality and sex all infused with deep, old soul. And so of course the only rational response was to dance.

Amidst the selections from Dreaming, they included a couple covers which were highlights of the set – a sublime reading of Clarence Carter’s soul standard “Slip Away” and a deliciously funked up version of Neil Young’s “Heart Of Gold”. After an hour-long set, Bradley returned with his third costume change of the night and a stirring encore of “Why Is It So Hard?”, during which Bradley went into preacher mode and earnestly proclaimed his love for the audience, which was returned back to him five hundred-fold. As the band played him off into the audience for hugs and handshakes, that should have been the perfect finale but after a few minutes, Bradley returned to the stage looking deeply and genuinely grieved and offering some words having just been informed of the death of Whitney Houston earlier that evening. It was a sad postscript on a great night and a reminder that in this life, there will always be heartaches and pain.

The Globe & Mail, NOW, 77 Square, Isthmus, The Boston Globe, and hour.ca all have feature pieces on Charles Bradley. The Globe & Mail and NOW also have reviews of Saturday night’s show.

Photos: Charles Bradley & His Extraordinaires, Little Barrie @ Lee’s Palace – February 11, 2012
MP3: Charles Bradley – “Heartaches & Pain”
MP3: Charles Bradley – “The World (Is Going Up In Flames)”
MP3: Charles Bradley – “Now That I’m Gone”
Video: Charles Bradley – “Heartaches And Pain”
Video: Charles Bradley – “The World (Is Going Up In Flames)”
Video: Little Barrie – “How Come”
Video: Little Barrie – “Surf Hell”
Video: Little Barrie – “Pay To Join”
Video: Little Barrie – “Love You”
Video: Little Barrie – “Long Hair”
Video: Little Barrie – “Free Salute”

NPR goes Craig Finn-crazy, posting both a Tiny Desk Concert where he plays two non-album songs and a World Cafe session. The Riverfront Times also has an interview and The Quietus solicits a list of his favourite albums.

Nada Mucho talks to Mitch Mitchell of Guided By Voices; note that though this was just posted last week, it apparently took place back in January right before the band cancelled their European festival dates, raising rumours that the band had again disbanded which were declared false. All of which is to say the drama at the end of the interview? Ignore it.

It’s video time with Eric Bachmann, in the form of a new one from Crooked Fingers taken from last year’s Breaks In The Armor and also a pile of vintage Archers Of Loaf clips, freshly digitized from VHS by Merge at YouTube. Vee Vee gets reissued next Tuesday.

Video: Crooked Fingers – “Our New Favourite”
Video: Archers Of Loaf – “Harnessed In Slums”
Video: Archers Of Loaf – “Underachievers March & Fight Song”

The new Lambchop record Mr. M is now available to stream at NPR ahead of its official release next Tuesday. The Guardian and Nashville Ledger have interviews with head ‘Chop Kurt Wagner.

MP3: Lambchop – “Gone Tomorrow”
MP3: Lambchop – “If Not I’ll Just Die”
Stream: Lambchop / Mr. M

The Guardian chats with Stephin Merritt of The Magnetic Fields, whose new album Love At The Bottom Of The Sea is out March 6. They play The Sound Academy on March 30.

The Telegraph sits down with Wild Flag’s Carrie Brownstein.

Paste talks to Kevin Barnes of Of Montreal.

FacebookMatt Ward has had a pretty good last few years thanks to his willingness to not be Matt Ward, or more specifically M. Ward. Yes, putting his solo endeavours largely on the backburner since 2009’s Hold Time has allowed him to put out two She & Him albums with Zooey Deschanel and one Monsters Of Folk record with Jim James and Conor Oberst, and certainly garner more popular success than he ever has on his own.

But apparently the time has come for Ward to stand on his own again, as it has been announced that his eighth solo record A Wasteland Companion will be released on April 10. “Solo” being a relative term, of course, as Exclaim points out there’s no shortage of high-profile guests (Deschanel, Sonic Youth’s Steve Shelley, Bright Eyes/Monsters Of Folk’s Mike Mogis) who’ll make appearances on the record. And as no one needs to point out, it’ll almost certainly be a timeless bit of rustic and rollicking Americana drawn straight from a golden age of music that probably never really existed but we’re perfectly willing to let Ward pretend did anyways.

That the record was coming wasn’t exactly a surprise as Spring tour dates had already been announced, but it’s nice to have some details. We’re still waiting on a local date and a first sample of the new record, so for now just listen to something off of Hold Time.

MP3: M. Ward – “Rave On”

The Alternate Side has posted a video session and interview with Chairlift, whose new record Something is out today. They’re at The Horseshoe on March 28.

As the January 31 release date of their self-titled debut draws nigh, Hospitality are building excitement by way of a Daytrotter session recorded last Fall at CMJ and a new video premiered at Stereogum. They play The Horseshoe on February 29 supporting Tennis.

Video: Hospitatality – “Friends Of Friends”

A Heart Is A Spade asks some quick questions of School Of Seven Bells. Ghostory is out February 28 and they’re at The Hoxton on May 2.

A track from Andrew Bird’s forthcoming Break It Yourself has been made available to stream. It’s out March 6.

Stream: Andrew Bird – “Eyeoneye”

The Young Prisms show at The Drake on March 10 announced last week now has some context – the outfit’s second album In Between will be out on March 27, and the leadoff track from it sounds like this. Tickets for the show are $10.

MP3: Young Prisms – “Floating In Blue”

MusicOmh has an interview with Howler while Paste declares them the best of what’s next; see if the title is deserved when they play The Drake Underground on April 5.

Low have been announced as opening up that Death Cab orchestral show at Massey Hall on April 19. Huh.

MP3: Low – “Especially Me”

The Fleet Foxes/Joanna Newsom episode of Austin City Limits is now available to watch in whole, or head over here for some sample clips.

Rolling Stone talks to John Darnielle about some of the new songs that The Mountain Goats will be road-testing on their current tour, which should eventually make their way onto a new record that may be called Transcendental Youth.

Clash checks in with Guided By Voices guitarist Mitch Mitchell.