Keith KlenowskiWhile 2010 was unquestionably the year of The National with the release of their breakout record High Violet, the band haven’t been entirely quiet this year, continuing to tour and also releasing a couple of new tracks for soundtracks to various things. One of them was for Portal 2, which I’m led to understand is a video game; I’m still working on finishing Super Mario Bros so I’ll have to take your word for it.

But rather than just put the song out there, the band and game producers made a proper single of it and enlisted fans to create and submit videos for the slow-burning, piano-led song and out of the 320 entries, chose two they found to be standouts – one featuring a sad lip-synching sock puppet and another animated in theme with the game – and awarded them first and 1.00000000001th place, with prizes awarded to both. The second place entry and other notable clips are available to view at the Portal 2 website.

MP3: The National – “Exile Vilify”
Video: The National – “Exile Vilify” (1st Place)
Video: The National – “Exile Vilify” (1.00000000001th Place)

Girls have released a video for the first single from their forthcoming album Father, Son, Holy Ghost. It’s out September 13 and they play The Mod Club on the 27th of the month.

Video: Girls – “Vomit”

Warpaint are re-releasing their 2010 debut The Fool in an inevitable deluxe edition come September 19, in the UK at least. The bonus incentives include the entirety of their 2009 EP Exquisite Corpse – which is absolutely worth hearing, even if it features actress Shannyn Sossamon on drums rather than current powerhouse Stella Mozgawa and also a re-recorded version of Billie Holiday, which is available to stream at Wears The Trousers. The Galway Advertiser has a feature piece on the band.

Paste has put tUnE-yArDs on the cover of their latest electronic edition of their magazine. She plays Lee’s Palace on September 24.

The London Evening Standard profiles Annie Clark of St. Vincent. Her latest Strange Mercy is out September 13.

Cowbell has an interview with Stephen Malkmus, whose new album with The Jicks Mirror Traffic is out August 23. They play The Phoenix on September 21.

One-time Guided By Voices member and rock journalist James Greer has posted recollections of the time GBV were being courted by Warner Bros to his blog.

MTV talks to Hold Steady frontman Craig Finn about the decision to make a solo record, as he is for release in early 2012.

Into The Woods has a video session with Okkervil River wherein they perform the B-side to their “Rider” single; the A-side of their new single is now available to download – the 7″ of which comes with another new song as the B-side – stream that one at Pitchfork.

MP3: Okkervil River – “Your Past Life As A Blast”

NPR has a World Cafe session with Jason Isbell while The Corner News and The Emory Wheel.

A new MP3 from Blitzen Trapper’s forthcoming American Goldwing is now available to download. The album is out September 13 and they play The Opera House on October 30.

MP3: Blitzen Trapper – “Love The Way You Walk Away”

Ryan Adams has confirmed an October 11 release date for his new solo record Ashes & Fire; Spin has details on the album and some of the guests who’ll make appearances.

Blurt reports that Calexico are assembling a vinyl box set of their many, many (eight in total) tour-only releases. Entitled Road Atlas, the collection is being targeted for a Fall release.

NOW talks to Dayve Hawk of Memory Tapes, taking the stage at Wrongbar tomorrow night around midnight.

Singer-songwriter Sean Rowe returns to town for a show at The Rivoli on September 9, tickets $11.50 in advance.

MP3: Sean Rowe – “Jonathan”

Spinner talks to Marissa Nadler, who has announced a Fall tour that brings her back to town for a show at the El Mocambo on September 13 with Irish singer-songwriter Vincent James McMorrow. She’s promoting her self-titled album, released earlier this Summer and has just put out a new video.

MP3: Marissa Nadler – “Baby I Will Leave You In The Morning”
Video: Marissa Nadler – “Alabaster Queen”

With their second album Dracula set for a September 20 release, Portland’s Nurses have made a date at The Drake Undergroudn for October 19.

MP3: Nurses – “Fever Dreams”

Frank YangI suspect my personal history with My Morning Jacket reads like many others’; discovered them circa At Dawn, was rocked by It Still Moves, had my mind blown by Z and was confounded by Evil Urges. I haven’t spent enough time with their latest Circuital yet to know how that chapter will play out, but while I bemoan the absence of even a token all-out rocker, it does feel as advertised – a return to their roots, even if they’ve brought many of the creative and musical souvenirs picked up along the trip so far with them.

Not that a final judgement on their latest effort was necessary to decide to catch their long-awaited return to Toronto – the Kentucky quintet were a fearsome live act since the first time I saw them way back in 2003 and in the years since they’ve graduated to major festival headliner status, become more creatively fearless and simply become one of the most interesting rock bands going, all without forgetting about the simple joy of bearing down and riffing the fuck out. My excuse for missing their last visit in June 2008 was seeing them a few months earlier at a Beautiful Noise taping, but all that really meant was that it was almost six years on from the last time I saw them play a proper Toronto show. Far too long.

Still, they were the ones apologizing a little ways into Monday night’s show at the Kool Haus, with frontman Jim James saying they’d wanted to come back sooner but simply hadn’t been able to. Maybe that’s why they made the rare move of dispensing with an opening act and treating us to an extended-length set, even by their standards. The show kicked off with “Victory Dance”, the lead song from Circuital, and James stalking the stage and waving his arms about like some carnival barker/madman and pretty much didn’t stop for the next two and a half hours. There’s a temptation to regard My Morning Jacket as a jam band – and for certain, they’re not averse to stretching their songs out to epic length – but that’s too reductive; the degree of physicality and theatricality that they put into their shows is as crucial to the experience as the many notes that they play. My Morning Jacket aren’t just there to play, they’re there to perform.

The epic-length show did an admirable job of representing not only the breadth of their catalog but all the stylistic facets of My Morning Jacket; no mean feat for a band that straddles so many genres and puts its own unique spin on each and every one. Barnburners like “Gideon” and “Anytime” showcased them at their hair-whipping, guitar-soloing finest while slowing down without going small on “Golden”, “Phone Went West” and “Movin’ Away”, the last of which incited not a few incidences of slow-dancing in the audience; be it slow jams or psychotic reactions, everyone was along for every step of the ride. Watching the show crest, ebb and crest again, I was struck by how even though some of their albums might be regarded as less than successful creative forays (Evil Urges I’m looking in your direction), when regarded in the context of entire the My Morning Jacket songbook, they make much more sense. The initial expeditions into uncharted terrain might be bumpy, but once that territory is charted they’ve that much more raw material to work with. You won’t find many bands capable of balancing such a clear musical identity with artistic restlessness.

These are all thoughts that crossed my mind over the course of the show, frequently punctuated with variants of, “holy shit these guys just keep going”. There was the equivalent of two of three sets from other bands in there, but when they loaded up for the monolithic “Run Thru”, you got the sense that they were moving into the final act and indeed, following a sprawling “Touch Me I’m Going To Scream”, it was up to “Mahgeetah” to close out the set in grand and extended fashion. The set, but not the show. The encore ran an extra thirty-plus minutes and if you wanted a six-song sampler of what makes My Morning Jacket so wonderfully weird and wonderful, those selections would have done the job. From the haunting “Wordless Chorus” through the psych-soul of “Holdin’ On To Black Metal”, into the ridicu-funk of “Highly Suspicious” and finally appropriately culminating with “One Big Holiday”, it was a long, strange, exhausting and amazing trip.

The National Post and BlogTO were also in attendance. eMusic has an interview with the band, NPR a World Cafe session and Spin is streaming a Muppets cover by the band. Yes they are.

Photos: My Morning Jacket @ The Kool Haus – July 11, 2011
MP3: My Morning Jacket – “You Wanna Freak Out”
MP3: My Morning Jacket – “Circuital”
MP3: My Morning Jacket – “Butch Cassidy” (live at Terminal 5)
MP3: My Morning Jacket – “The Way That He Sings” (live at Terminal 5)
MP3: My Morning Jacket – “One Big Holiday” (live at Terminal 5)
MP3: My Morning Jacket – “It Beats 4 U” (live at Terminal 5)
MP3: My Morning Jacket – “Smokin’ From Shootin'” (live at Terminal 5)
MP3: My Morning Jacket – “Off The Record”
MP3: My Morning Jacket – “One Big Holiday”
MP3: My Morning Jacket – “The Dark”
MP3: My Morning Jacket – “Heartbreakin’ Man”
Video: My Morning Jacket – “Off The Record”

Pitchfork and The Vinyl District get Marissa Nadler to name off some of her favourite things. She plays Supermarket on July 19.

No Depression and The Huffington Post chat with Ari Picker, leader of Lost In The Trees. They play The Drake Underground on July 25.

Having just announced the September 13 release date for their new record Father, Son, Holy Ghost, Girls have put together a North American tour that stops in at the Mod Club on September 27, tickets $16.50 in advance.

MP3: Girls – “Laura”

Mates Of State have made the first MP3 from their new record Mountaintops available to download and cherish. The record is out September 13 and they’re at The Phoenix on September 28.

MP3: Mates Of State – “Maracas”

The Drums have given their second record a title of Portamento and a release date of September 12 in the UK; stream the first single at Soundcloud.

Evan Dando and whomever he’s calling The Lemonheads right now will give the people what they want and tour It’s A Shame About Ray in its entirety this Fall. Presumably they will pad out the set with material from other records, given that their most popular album clocks in at like 33 minutes including, I believe, their cover of “Mrs Robinson”. I personally think they should flesh out the set with live-action recreations of the videos, but that’s just me. Blurt has details on the tour and full dates, including the October 17 stop at Lee’s Palace in Toronto.

Video: The Lemonheads – “It’s A Shame ABout Ray”

My Brightest Diamond will release a new album in All Things Will Unwind on October 18. Pitchfork has details on the record and a first MP3.

MP3: My Brightest Diamond – “Reaching Through To The Other Side”

Exclaim reports that Craig Finn is working on both a solo record and a new Hold Steady record.

New Superchunk vid from Majesty Shredding!

Video: Superchunk – “Learned To Surf”

Crawdaddy chats with Nicole Atkins.

NYC Taper is sharing a recording of a recent show from Savoir Adore.

The Kills shows The Guardian how they wrote the song “Baby Says”.

Eric Bachmann is the man of the hour – Spin gets him, in the capacity of Archers Of Loaf frontman, to list off some new music he’s listening to; Icky Mettle gets a deluxe reissue on August 2. It was also announced that the new Crooked Fingers record Breaks In The Armor would be put out on October 11 by Merge (who’re also doing the Archers reissues) and a video trailer released to go with it. And finally, The AV Club gets Crooked Fingers to cover Gershwin’s “Summertime” for their AV Undercover series on a Chicago rooftop.

Pixies drummer David Lovering confesses to Rolling Stone that now that the band have performed Dolittle for everyone on the face of the earth, they may have to write some new material.

Spin is streaming both discs of R.E.M.’s remastered and reissued edition of Lifes Rich Pageant – possibly probably still my favourite of their records – while Rolling Stone reports the band has already begun working on the follow up to this year’s Collapse Into Now.

Stream: R.E.M. / Lifes Rich Pageant Deluxe Edition

Spinner talks to Bob Mould about his memoirs while Spin solicits a playlist.

Agency GroupA decade ago, before there were really such things blogs but the MP3 existed, there was Epitonic. Easily the best site online for researching, discovering and hearing new and independent acts, it was a treasure trove of great things to hear right up until it was shut down in 2004. By that point there were many other avenues for sampling music via downloadable files – you’re on one right now – but the breadth and organization of Epitonic was missed.

So it’s more than great to see that they’ve returned with the same mandate and they’ve come bearing gifts – including a new track from everyone’s favourite prodigal band, The Wrens. They were last heard from, as far as records go, at about the same time Epitonic went dark so hopefully the site’s return will apply some pressure to them to get the new record – in process for years and years – finished and out. I thought that they were close when they started issuing recording dispatches in early ’09 and even played some shows at SxSW that year, but there’s still been nothing released. Their booking agency says they’re available for Spring and Summer 2011 headlining dates, though, so maybe…? Come on guys, 10 more songs and you can go back to hiding for another decade.

Either way, at least Epitonic is back.

MP3: The Wrens – “As I’ve Known”

The Battles show announced last week in support of new record Gloss Drop will be happening at The Mod Club on April 29, and not The Horseshoe as originally reported. Tickets are $15.

The Felice Brothers will be at Lee’s Palace on May 12, just a couple days after their latest album Celebration, Florida is released, tickets $17.50.

Sharon Jones & The Dap Kings are back in town on May 12 for a show at the Sound Academy. The Pensicola News Journal has an interview with Jones.

Video: Sharon Jones & The Dap Kings – “I Learned The Hard Way”

Jason Isbell & The 400 Unit have set a May 22 date at The Horseshoe Tavern in support of their new record Here We Rest, out April 12. Maria Taylor will support.

MP3: Jason Isbell & The 400 Unit – “Codeine”
MP3: Maria Taylor – “Song Beneath The Song”

Explosions In The Sky have released the first MP3 from their new record Take Care, Take Care, Take Care, due out April 26.

MP3: Explosions In The Sky – “Trembling Hands”

Austinist and Austin 360 chat with Will Sheff of Okkervil River about their new record I Am Very Far, due out May 10. There’s also a video session and interview at Rolling Stone and the first official MP3 from said record is now available. They play The Phoenix on June 10.

MP3: Okkervil River – “Wake And Be Fine”

Fender Guitars has a chat with proud users of their products Ume.

The AV Club talks to Lucinda Williams.

NOW‘s CMW cover story is Janelle Monáe, who headlines The Indies at The Royal York on Saturday night.

The Huffington Post talks to Mike Mills of R.E.M.. Another new video from Collapse Into Now has gone up and as a bonus, an official live studio performance clip is up at Fluxblog.

Video: R.E.M. – “Alligator Aviator Autopilot Antimatter”
Video: R.E.M. – “Every Day Is Yours To Win” (live)

NPR is streaming a World Cafe session with Of Montreal. They’re at The Phoenix on May 3.

The Vinyl District, Rocky Mountain Collegian and NPR talk to Wye Oak about Civilian. They are at The El Mocambo on April 9 and their show in DC tonight will be streamed live on NPR.

Pitchfork reports that The Antlers have set a May 10 release date for their new record, which will bear the title Burst Apart.

The New York Times have a feature piece on The Strokes. Angles is out March 22.

The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart are streaming the whole of their new record Belong on their website, well ahead of its March 29 release.

Stream: The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart / Belong

The National have released a new video from last year’s High Violet, starring Flight Of The Conchords’ Kristen Schall and Mad Men‘s John Slattery. Black Book also has a video session with the band.

Video: The National – “Conversation 16”

Faster Louder meets The Hold Steady.

NPR is streaming a KEXP radio session with The Jayhawks, Denver Westword talks to Mark Olson and Jambands to Gary Louris.

Blurt has a feature piece on DeVotchKa, who are in town at The Mod Club on March 30.

Sara KieslingIt might not have seemed like four years, what with Alan Sparhawk’s Retribution Gospel Choir putting out not one but 2 records in the interim, but it really has been that long since Low released their last album. The wait for a new record finally comes to an end on April 12, though, when their uncharacteristically breezily-titled ninth album C’Mon is released.

Whereas once you sort of knew exactly what to expect from a Low record – beautifully slow, slowly beautiful – they threw expectations out the window in 2005 with the unqualified rock squalls of The Great Destroyer and then followed that with the exceedingly dark and skeletal Drums & Guns. So what will C’Mon bring? Hard to say, but Dave Fridmann, who lent his unmistakeable sonic signature to those last two records is out as producer and Matt Beckley, whose resume skews decidedly top 40 has a co-producer on the record, so there’s that. The first MP3 from the record certainly sounds gentler and more organic than the last couple records, reminiscent of the warm tones of Trust, but obviously this is just one song of ten – the other nine could well be auto-tuned dance floor jams.

In conjunction with the new record, Low have slated a Spring tour that brings them to Toronto for a May 2 show at the Mod Club – their first visit since opening for Wilco at Massey Hall in June 2007 and their first headlining show since January 2006. Stereogum has an interview with Mimi Parker about the new record and how she spent the downtime, and props go to Bradley’s Almanac, who took the photo that’s being used as the cover art.

MP3: Low – “Try To Sleep”

Young Prisms, who are opening up for The Radio Dept.’s sold-out show at Lee’s Palace on the evening of February 7 will warm up with an in-store at Sonic Boom at 4PM that afternoon. And if these two appearances are insufficient or inconvenient, they’re back on April 21 at Parts & Labour supporting The Fresh & Onlys.

MP3: Young Prisms – “Sugar”

Phosphorescent, who had to cancel their show at The Horseshoe last July on account of all their gear being stolen (it was later miraculously recovered) will finally make it to town on April 10 for a show at Lee’s Palace. Their latest is last year’s Here’s To Taking It Easy.

MP3: Phosphorescent – “It’s Hard To Be Humble (When You’re From Alabama)”
MP3: Phosphorescent – “The Mermaid Parade”

Parisian pop from Jamaica may sound like a geographic impossibility but it’s a real thing. Jamaica (the band) will release their debut No Problem in North America on April 12 and follow it with a North American tour that includes a stop at Toronto’s Drake Underground on April 19.

Video: Jamaica – “I Think I Like U 2”
Video: Jamaica – “Short And Entertaining”

And whilst on the topic of French pop, Yelle is giving away an MP3 of the title track from her new record Safari Disco Club, which will be released March 29. Her massive North American tour brings her to The Opera House on May 4.

MP3: Yelle – “Safari Disco Club”

The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette and Pittsburgh Tribune talks to Ira Kaplan and James McNew of Yo La Tengo about the wheel of fortune controlling the destiny (and set lists) of the shows on their current tour – The AV Club examines the possibilities the wheel offers. Beatroute has a regular old interview with Kaplan.

NYC Taper is sharing a recording of The Hold Steady’s show in Brooklyn last week.

Pitchfork has a Q&A with The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart as well as a stream of the title track of their new record Belong, due out March 29, while Spinner solicits frontman Kip Berman’s Super Bowl predictions.

Spin talks to The Submarines about their new record Love Notes/Letter Bombs, out April 5. They play The Horseshoe on April 22.

Crawdaddy talks songwriting with Sam Beam of Iron & Wine.

And finally, I – along with what seems like every other website in the country – has made the long list of CBC Radio 3’s survey of “Best Canadian Music Website, which is nice because it’s been a while since I’ve lost any awards. If you’re feeling like exercising your franchise and helping me lose by a smaller margin than usual, please head over there and vote because if you don’t, then the terrorists have won.

FacebookOf all of the remarkable things that Feist has done in the past few years, one of the most impressive is managing to go from a state of almost complete ubiquity circa The Reminder to one of relative obscurity. Over the last two years, there’ve been the occasional guest appearance on others’ records and even rarer live appearances with Broken Social Scene, but by and large she’s done a fine job of keeping a low profile – presumably working on a new record but no one really knows.

That profile has risen again of late with the upcoming release of Look At What The Light Did Now, a documentary film culled from footage taken during The Reminder tour. Coming out on DVD on December 7 with an accompanying CD of recordings taken from and around the film, it received a hometown screening last night at the Royal Ontario Museum… which probably seemed like a good idea but proved to be an almost disastrous one thanks to the horrible acoustics in the main atrium. But if there was an upside to it, it was that you were forced to pay almost unnatural attention to the film to extract anything comprehensible from the echo- and reverb-drenched audio.

With regards to the film itself, some have questioned if there’s really a need for a Feist documentary when her career isn’t a decade old, and if Light was a biography of any sort, it’d be a valid question. But rather than focus on Leslie Feist the person, it spends most of its running time examining the art around The Reminder – not only the songs and the album itself, but everything surrounding it. The portion focusing on Clea Minaker’s shadow puppet/projections were particularly fascinating; I already regretted not seeing any of The Reminder shows – I last saw Feist perform way back in the Summer of 2005 – and now regret it even more now that I see what I missed.

Other segments recounted the recording of The Reminder in France, the filming of videos for “1, 2, 3, 4”, “I Feel It All” and “Mushaboom”, the last of which is not Reminder period-correct but offered some terrific anecdotes from director Patrick Daughters, and the assemblage of the artwork for The Reminder. Though there were some segments focusing on her early days and ascendancy to stardom, they were kept to a minimum, as were the behind the scenes tour footage that’re typically the bread and butter of musician docs (though the scenes of Feist and her band and crew playing ball hockey was pretty great). Instead, the topic of who she is and how she got where she is was left to be implied by her work, how she approaches her work and how and why she works with others. In focusing on the what and how rather than the who, Look At What The Light Did Now manages to be an engaging and entertaining document of one of Canada’s biggest and brightest musical stars while barely acknowledging that fact.

And in the Q&A with Feist following the screening, the inevitable question of “when is the next record coming” was raised and all that she’d offer in return was that she’d be recording over the Winter – based on that, I wouldn’t expect a new album before next Fall.

Video: Feist & Little Wings – “Look At What The Light Did Now”
Trailer: Look At What The Light Did Now

Kevin Drew of Broken Social Scene talks about the KC Accidental days with Spinner. Broken plays the Sound Academy on December 9 and 10.

Planets profiles Dan Mangan.

The Guardian talks to Dan Snaith of Caribou.

Away from the city for far too long – she played here four times in eight months circa Neptune City – Nicole Atkins returns to Toronto for a show at the Horseshoe on February 26 with support coming from Cotton Jones; tickets $15 in advance. Her new record Mondo Amore arrives January 25.

MP3: Nicole Atkins – “Vultures”
MP3: Cotton Jones – “Gotta Cheer Up”

Keren Ann 101, the new record from, Keren Ann will be out February 21 – the rather divine first single “My Name Is Trouble” is currently streaming at her website.

John Vanderslice has set a Janury 25 release date for his next record, which will bear the title of White Wilderness, a record recorded over three days with the assistance of the Bay Area Magik*Magik Orchestra.

The Depreciation Guild have released a new video from their latest Spirit Youth.

Video: The Depreciation Guild – “Blue Lily”

Prefix and The Toledo Blade chat with Craig Finn of The Hold Steady.