ithugsback.co.ukThough I only gave it a very passing mention when it came out, I was really quite fond of British quartet It Hugs Back’s 2009 debut Inside Your Guitar; after all, I described their aesthetic of narcoleptic vocals, humming organs, and understated guitar heroics as a charming blend of American Analog Set and Yo La Tengo – how could I not like its fuzzy, mid-fi charms? But I lost track of them between then and now, though not without reason: first, they found their way off of 4AD – that wouldn’t have helped them stay on my radar – and frontman Matthew Sims became touring guitarist with Wire, so that would have been keeping them otherwise busy as well.

They’ve still found the time to regroup and record a second album, however, and Laughing Party kicks off with as much of a declaration of intent as you can imagine by way of a raw and squalling 15-minute guitarfest called “The Big E” that’s built on one repeated king-size riff but with enough undulations to keep it hypnotic rather than monotonous. Though the necessary ingredients were all there on Inside Your Guitar, there was nothing to hint that the band had the vision or ambition to attempt something quite so epic; good on them. Unsurprisingly, nothing that follows it on Laughing Party has the same sort of scope – the nine-and-a-half minute “Times Square” makes an argument but jams at a more meandering pace – but the band don’t fully fall back into the sleepy ways of their debut. Sometimes the tempos slow back down, but even so enough noise and aggression – not to mention some extra sparkle and jangle – seeps into the cracks to make Party a solid step forward.

What they were doing was fine, but the added dynamics and melodicism are hard to argue against as improvements. Tunes like the crashing, hooky single “Half American” or “Happy” are excellent representations of what It Hugs Back 2012 can do that it was hard to imagine the 2009 edition pulling off. Laughing Party isn’t likely to make It Hugs Back household names or even make 4AD regret their decision to let them go, but for those who dig on what they do, it strikes just the right balance of comfortable and adventurous.

The Quietus has a quick interview with Simms, a premiere of the video for “Half American” and a stream of the new record.

MP3: It Hugs Back – “Massachusetts”
MP3: It Hugs Back – “Half American”
Video: It Hugs Back – “Half-American”
Stream: It Hugs Back / Laughing Party

For Folk’s Sake, Contactmusic, and NPR talk to Kristian Mattson, aka The Tallest Man On Earth. He’s at The Queen Elizabeth Theatre on June 15.

Laura Marling offers CBC Music some A’s to their Q’s and also talks to The Washington Examiner and Red Eye. She plays The Phoenix on June 17.

The Guardian has a Bands In Transit video session with Mystery Jets. They’ll be at the Sound Academy on June 19 opening up for Keane.

JAM and Blurt talk with The Hives, who are showing off their new video from Lex Hives and will be at The Sound Academy on June 26.

Video: The Hives – “Go Right Ahead”

Hot Chip talks to Pitchfork about their just-released new album In Our Heads and gives Billboard a track-by-track video annotation of the record. They bring it to the Sound Academy on July 15.

Shortlist talks to Richard Hawley about his latest Standing At The Sky’s Edge, out now in the UK but due a domestic release on August 28.

The Vaccines have released the first video from their second album, No Hope For The Vaccines. It’s out September 3.

Video: The Vaccines – “No Hope”

Jens Lekman gives Pitchfork some insight on his new record I Know What Love Isn’t, out September 4.

Pet Shop Boys have released the first video from their new album Elysium, due out on September 18. Details at Clash.

Video: Pet Shop Boys – “Invisible”

Los Campesinos! wish Paul Heaton of Housemartins/Beautiful South fame a happy 50th birthday by way of a cover of “I Love You (But You’re Boring)” off Welcome To The Beautiful South – I really loved that record in high school – at Pitchfork.

MP3: Los Campesinos! – “I Love You (But You’re Boring)”

NPR has a World Cafe session and GQ an interview with Jason Pierce of Spiritualized.

Graham Coxon offers Music News some vague comments on the state of Blur.

Daytrotter has a session with Veronica Falls.

DIY gets to know Amanda Mair.

Kjell B PerssonIt’s not unfair to say that Labrador Records has something of a “house sound”, and not just for the Swedish accents. With acts like The Radio Dept., Acid House Kings, and Sambassadeur on their roster, they’re a reliable source for warm, fuzzy, indie pop-ish sounds and so when they announce a new signing, it’s usually worth paying some attention – even when on paper the artist doesn’t seem have much in common with the rest of their roster. Or in the case of Amanda Mair, especially when. Not many labels would sign a 15-year old singer-pianist on the strength of her raw talent – there weren’t even any demos – but Labrador did just that in 2010. And having given her a couple years to hone her craft before sending her into the studio with Philip Ekström of The Mary Onettes and the result – her self-titled debut, released in Sweden in February and in North America this week – has proven worth the wait.

It’s hard not to want to use Mair’s youth as a qualifier for offering praise, but the fact is that Amanda Mair would be an accomplished collection of polished pop and piano balladry from an artist of any age. Mair does just fine on the latter with a direct, unadorned presentation – her voice is innately suited to tugging at the heartstrings – but Ekström deserves credit for making the former so sonically dense and interesting without overwhelming her. The choice of a lightly but distinctly ’80s production style is an interesting one, considering those years were a distant memory before Mair was born, but it really does work – for those old enough to remember the era, the sounds are familiar but Mair’s presence is so fresh that it never feels deliberately retro or nostalgic.

Her lyrics may come across a bit vague – one would hope she doesn’t yet have the sort of life experience that would allow her to pen truly pointed, emotional songs – but that gives them a sort of universality that serves her well and the delivery is well-balanced between earnest open-heartedness and knowing wisdom. I suspect every review of this record closes with some sentiment along the lines of how good she already is and how much better she’ll surely get as she gains more experience, but it really is true. And while Mair’s upside is astonishing, don’t assume that Amanda Mair is all about potential – she’s already arrived.

There’s a stream of the album available at MTV, but it’s geoblocked to the US. Americans, have at it. Everyone else, just trust me.

MP3: Amanda Mair – “House”
MP3: Amanda Mair – “Sense”
MP3: Amanda Mair – “Doubt”
Video: Amanda Mair – “House”
Video: Amanda Mair – “Sense”
Stream: Amanda Mair / Amanda Mair (US only)

Anna Ternheim released her new album The Night Visitor this week, and it’s available to stream in whole at Spinner.

MP3: Anna Ternheim – “Walking Aimlessly”
MP3: Anna Ternheim – “The Longer The Waiting (The Sweeter The Kiss)”
Stream: Anna Ternheim / The Night Visitor

NPR is streaming The Tallest Man On Earth’s new album There’s No Leaving Now ahead of its release next Tuesday. Kristian Matsson hits the stage at the Queen Elizabeth Theatre on June 15.

MP3: The Tallest Man On Earth – “1904”
Stream: The Tallest Man On Earth / There’s No Leaving Now

Interview, The Music, and The Herald Sun talk to The Hives, in town at The Sound Academy on June 26.

Rolling Stone talks to Sigur Rós’ Georg Holm about their new album Valtari, from which they’ve released another video from their “Mystery Film Experiment” series. They play Echo Beach on August 1

Video: Sigur Rós – “Varúð”

Denmark’s Efterklang premiered songs from their forthcoming album Piramida in performance with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra at the end of May, and a video of one of them has been released to get people excited for the new set of songs, due out this Fall.

Video: Efterklang – “The Ghost” (live)

The Guardian wonders what’s up with the women who helped define the synthy sound of 2009: La Roux is supposed to have a second album out this year but there’s been nary a peep out of Elly Jackson in ages; Ladyhawke traded a lot of the keys for guitars on her just-released second album Anxiety – there’s interviews with Pip Browne at The New Zealand Herald and The Music; and Little Boots just debuted a new video taken from her second album which, while it clearly exists, has yet to have any specifics revealed.

Video: Little Boots – “Headphones”

NPR is streaming Hot Chip’s latest In Our Heads, due out next Tuesday. The Music talks to singer Alexis Taylor and they play The Sound Academy on July 15.

Stream: Hot Chip / In Our Heads

Pitchfork checks in with The xx, who’ve announced their second album Coexist will be released on September 11. They’ll preview the new material when they play a sold-out show at The Phoenix on July 28.

There’s a complete Clock Opera show from Amsterdam in May available to watch at 3voor12.

The Line Of Best Fit says hello to Mystery Jets, themselves saying hello when they open up for Keane at The Sound Academy on June 19.

Most pleased to hear that Richard Hawley’s latest Standing At The Sky’s Edge will be getting a North American physical release on August 28 – it’ll be available digitally next week – because I was getting close to biting the bullet and paying the $40+ for the import vinyl. Yay procrastination! And yay for a sample track from the album to download. Now let’s just get some touring happening over here…

MP3: Richard Hawley – “Leave Your Body Behind You”

Neil Halstead’s new solo record Palindrome Hunches – originally targeted for an August release – will now be out come September 11, but to make up for the delay a first MP3 has been made available for listening.

MP3: Neil Halstead – “Full Moon Rising”

Jarvis Cocker talks to The Guardian about his work raising awareness for Arctic environmental concerns.

MusicOmh chats with Supergrass frontman gone solo Gaz Coombes.

Muse have announced a September 17 release date for their new record The 2nd Law. The accompanying trailer does not inspire confidence, as it would appear to be a bombastic concept album about peak oil.

Trailer: Muse / The 2nd Law

The AV Club takes the occasion of the recent reissues to examine the career and importance of My Bloody Valentine.

Interview and NME both mark the 40th anniversary of David Bowie’s The Rise And Fall Of Ziggy Stardust; the former with an interview originally published in March 1973 and the latter with an interactive look at the album cover.

Travis SchneiderSweden’s premiere garage rock band and really, one of the few from anywhere who’ve outlived that so-called movement of the early part of this century with their fanbase intact – we’re talking about The Hives, in case that was unclear – are back with their fifth album and first in five years next Tuesday with Lex Hives. And while some bands might be taken to task for sticking to tried and true formulas at this point in their career, that’s pretty much exactly what folks want from The Hives – more loud and tuneful, stylish yet snotty old-school rock’n’roll – and that’s what Lex Hives delivers. All is right with the world.

The album is now up to stream in its entirety ahead of its release – plus bonus tracks at RCRDLBL and Rolling Stone – and there’s plenty of features on the band to leaf through (figuratively speaking) while you read. Frontman Howlin’ Pelle Almqvist talked to MusicOhm, DIY, and The Guardian, Guitar World catches up with guitarist Vigilante Carlstroem, The New Yorker sends an 11-year old to interview them on their behalf and Paste has video annotations of the entire album from the band.

Their North American tour kicks off later this month and they’re at The Sound Academy in Toronto on June 26.

Video: The Hives – “Go Right Ahead”
Stream: The Hives – “Insane”
Stream: The Hives – “High School Shuffle”
Stream: The Hives / Lex Hives

Also here from Sweden on June 5 is the self-titled debut from Amanda Mair; she’s just released a new video from the record.

Video: Amanda Mair – “House”

M83 have finally released a second video from their breakout Hurry Up, We’re Dreaming and it stars the creepy psychic kids from the first one. Hooray! They’re back in town on August 4 at Historic Fort York.

Video: M83 – “Reunion”

Bloc Party have announced via Kele Okereke’s blog that their fourth album is complete and will be out August 20 under the title Four. Hopefully this little play on words works out better musically than The Verve’s Forth did a few years ago. Hear the first new Bloc Party music in ages via the album trailer, which I guess I should accept is now officially a thing.

Trailer: Bloc Party / Four

NME talks to Gareth Paisey of Los Campesinos! about the non-album track they decided to give away as a free download this week.

MP3: Los Campesinos! – “Tiptoe Through The True Bits”

The first MP3 from Micachu & The Shapes’ forthcoming second album Never is available to download. The album is out July 24.

MP3: Micachu & The Shapes – “OK”

Spin finds out what’s on Laura Marling’s mind lately. Death, apparently. She’s at The Phoenix on June 17.

English singer-songwriter Benjamin Francis Leftwich is at The Rivoli on December 6, tickets $15 in advance.

Video: Benjamin Francis Leftwich – “Pictures”

If for some reason you’ve never heard David Bowie’s seminal The Rise & Fall Of Ziggy Stardust, you can rectify that right now as NME is streaming the 40th anniversary remastered edition in its entirety, not that you’d likely be able to appreciate the remastering via a Soundcloud stream. But you can appreciate a classic album, so hop to it anyways.

Stream: David Bowie / The Rise & Fall Of Ziggy Stardust

The release date of Ladyhawke’s second album Anxiety has been something of a moving target, but it finally came out in North America this week and is available to stream over at Spinner. The Independent, The Herald Sun, and Vulture have interviews with Pip Browne and Nylon has an acoustic version of the single “Sunday Drive” available to download. I could point out those keyboards aren’t really acoustic, but I won’t.

MP3: Ladyhawke – “Sunday Drive” (acoustic)
Stream: Ladyhawke / Anxiety

Lilja BirgisdottirAdvance album streams are pretty par for the course these days, but if anyone can make it a special occasion, it’s Sigur Rós. And they’re certainly trying to. Though their new record and first in four years Valtari isn’t out until May 29, the band will be offering an advance stream of the record on May 17 – that’s today, people – but for only one hour.

Dubbed “Valtari Hour”, it will roll across the globe at 7PM local time for every time zone – those Samoans get everything first – until everyone has had a chance to hear the record. Terrestrial radio stations will be playing the album and select record stores hosting listening parties, but the band’s own website is the place to go to hear it online. Until our turn comes around – at this writing, they’re currently in India – you can follow along with things via the #ValtariHour tag on Twitter.

I can’t imagine the event-ness of this will preclude an on-demand advance stream as per usual starting on or around next Tuesday, but it’s neat regardless. Hear Valtari live – and other smash hits – when Sigur Rós play Echo Beach on August 1.

Video: Sigur Ros – “Ekki Mukk”

Spinner and Gigwise converse with Of Monsters & Men.

Virgin Music and Holly Rubenstein interview Niki & The Dove, who also give Gigwise a track-by-track commentary on their debut Instinct. IT gets a physical release on August 7 in North America.

Sweden’s The Deer Tracks have released a new video from their The Archer Trilogy, Part 2 mini-album. Their tour itinerary puts them at The Rivoli on June 16, but the NXNE schedule – yes, that finally went live yesterday – makes no mention of them though there’s still openings in the Riv lineup for that evening that they could fit. In any case, hope it happens because I’m really quite enjoying their stuff.

Video: The Deer Tracks – “Tiger”

Rolling Stone has premiered a new MP3 from The Tallest Man On Earth’s forthcoming There’s No Leaving Now, out June 12. He plays a sold-out Queen Elizabeth Theatre on June 16.

MP3: The Tallest Man On Earth – “1904”

The Line Of Best Fit, Spinner, and Drowned In Sound meet The Hives, that DIS piece happening in two parts. Their Lex Hives is out June 5 and they’re at The Sound Academy on June 26.

The Line Of Best Fit points out that Norway’s Team Me have made their new single from To The Treetops available for free download.

MP3: Team Me – “Weathervanes & Chemicals”

Rolling Stone talks to Hot Chip about their new album In Our Heads. It’s out June 12 and they’re at The Sound Academy on July 15.

I Like Music solicits a guest editorial (read: list of things) from Emmy The Great.

Summer Camp will release a new EP entitled Always on July 10 and are streaming the first single from it right now.

Stream: Summer Camp – “Life”

The Guardian is streaming Gaz Coombes’ solo debut Here Come The Bombs ahead of its release in the UK next Monday, May 21. The Fly also has a video session.

Stream: Gaz Coombes / Here Come The Bombs

Q talks to Victoria Hesketh of Little Boots about her second album, still untitled but definitely out before the year is out.

Florence & The Machine has released a new video, taken not from Ceremonials but from the soundtrack for Snow White & The Huntsman; there’s also an interview at Rolling Stone. Florence is at The Molson Amphitheatre on August 2.

Video: Florence & The Machine – “Breath Of Life”

Squarepusher, better known as electronic artist Tom Jenkinson or the act that got namechecked a thousand times when Radiohead released Kid A, will be at The Music Hall on November 2 in support of his new album Ufabulum; tickets are $27.50 in advance. Exclaim has an interview with Jenkinson and the full North American itinerary and Spin also has a chat.

Video: Squarepusher – “Dark Steering”

Spin and The National talk to Pip Browne of Ladyhawke about her new record Anxiety, out May 25.

Beats Per MinuteMost tours follow some sort of logical routing anchored around major markets, festivals, what have you. Reunion tours are usually even moreso, what with their main motivation – or at least one of them – being to maximize revenue rather than build audiences (unless of course you’re the Pixies, in which case your motivation is to play ever single market ever). So it’s been equally frustrating and exciting to try and figure out what The Jesus & Mary Chain would do next. After calling it a day following 1998’s Munki, they reconvened in 2007 to play Coachella and followed that up with a number of one-off and festival dates in the US, Europe, Australia, South America through 2008 – though never anything that could be construed as a proper tour – and then went silent again. Given the Reid brothers’ famously combative nature, it wasn’t unreasonable to think they’d broken up again but there was always just enough activity from the JAMC camp – word of new recordings, an interview with one of the Reids, a massive reissue series – to keep them in the “active” file.

Then as of this Spring, they were back at it. A date at SXSW was accompanied by a handful of Texas dates, but visa problems forced a couple to be canceled and a New Orleans show was rescheduled for September. And then they were playing a festival in Beijing in May. Then a run in California and Nevada in June, and another festival in North Carolina in September. It’s like their booking agent was throwing darts at a map of the world or the band was collecting frequent flier miles. And yesterday morning, another set of dates came up on their website that placed them riding the 401 this Summer, with an August 2 date in Buffalo, August 3 at The Phoenix in Toronto and an August 4 date at Osheaga in Montreal as well as more North American dates through September. Now the dates were pulled shortly thereafter (though saved on their message board) but seemed legit enough to believe that their official-ness is just a matter of timing; Osheaga confirmed their appearance this morning. I expect the Toronto PR – and ticket info – shortly.

In any case, reports from the SXSW show were that they sounded good and still appeared to hate each other; I can at least testify to the former from where I was listening out on the street. And things I did not know about the reunited JAMC – Ride’s Loz Colbert was their drummer in 2007 and 2008 (though he’s gone now) and Lush’s Phil King is their bassist. How about that?

Video: The Jesus & Mary Chain – “I Hate Rock & Roll”
Video: The Jesus & Mary Chain – “Come On”
Video: The Jesus & Mary Chain – “Head On”

Speaking of vague reunions, it figures that as soon as I build a post around the conceit that Blur are done, Damon Albarn goes off and gives an interview to Metro in which he basically says, “but maybe not”. THANKS DAMON.

Riot Of Perfume talks to Electrelane, who’ve been off hiatus since last year but not doing a lot with it until some gigs in Australia this Spring.

Spin gets a look in the M83 man-cave. They’re at The Sound Academy on May 6 and Fort York on August 4.

The Cribs discuss their new record In The Belly Of The Brazen Bull with NME; it’s out May 15.

The 405 has a video session with Amanda Mair, whose self-titled debut gets a North American release on June 5.

Spinner talks to Michael Kiwanuka, in town at The Great Hall on June 19.

Yeah they’ve been away a while – I think their last visit was like four years ago – but The Hives have a new record in Lex Hives, out June 5, and a new North American tour that brings them to The Sound Academy on June 26, tickets $28.50. And as Spin documents, they also have some new sombreros.

Video: The Hives – “Hate To Say I Told You So”

Having both sold out shows here in February in support of their new albums – Sharon Van Etten at Lee’s Palace for Tramp and Tennis at The Horseshoe for Young & Old – the two acts will see if they can’t do the same at The Phoenix on July 31, tickets $18.50.

MP3: Sharon Van Etten – “Serpents”
MP3: Tennis – “Civic Halo”

Dry The River are the subject of interviews with eMusic and Spin.

Daytrotter has posted a session with Big Deal.