Joseph YarmushWhen you’re Land Of Talk fan, you’ve got to keep an eye open. While any self-respecting follower of the band – or music-lover, for that matter – owns copies of their buzzsaw debut EP Applause Cheer Boo Hiss and the more nuanced but just as rewarding full-length Some Are Lakes, not everyone even knows about let alone possesses the now sold-out live acoustic L’aventure Acoustique document released between the EP and full-length. And while I, at least, did my best to notify the masses, I wouldn’t be surprised if most haven’t heard their most recent release, the Fun And Laughter EP which came out in the Fall to coincide with their first tour following Liz Powell’s recovery from throat surgery.

And if it’s slipped under your radar on account of not being available in stores, go rectify that right now. At four tracks (and three videos), it’s a bit slight in volume but there’s not a throwaway or weak track in the bunch – if anything, it’s a reaffirmation of everything that makes Land Of Talk great. The front half marries the more polished aspects of Lakes with the fierier approach of Applause and the last couple of tracks invokes their gentler side without sacrificing meatiness or feeling overly pastoral. Really, Fun And Laughter occupies the middle ground between their previous two releases which hasn’t actually been explored yet and if this is a sign of what’s to come on full-length number two, due out in Spring or Summer, then it’s going to be a doozie.

The aforementioned Fall tour covered both coasts of the US but didn’t end up making its way into eastern Canada, an oversight that’s being rectified in April as the band charts a short jaunt with Adam & The Amethysts starting in Powell’s old stomping grounds of Guelph, through Toronto and Kingston and up to Wakefield, Quebec, a little ways outside Ottawa. The Toronto date is April 8 at Lee’s Palace and while tickets are $10, area folk who’ve not gotten their hands on a copy of the EP will actually be rewarded for their procrastination because they’re offering a deal wherein you can get the EP, normally $7, and a ticket to the show for a total of $15 – so that’s essentially admission for $8 with no service charge. There is no earthly reason to not do this.

MP3: Land Of Talk – “May You Never”
Video: Land Of Talk – “It’s Okay”
Video: Land Of Talk – “The Man Who Breaks Things (Dark Shuffle)”
Video: Land Of Talk – “Some Are Lakes”

Okay, one reason not to go to the Land Of Talk show is that it’s the same night Owen Pallett plays the Queen Elizabeth Theatre. Maybe you already have tickets. Maybe you prefer violins to guitars. Maybe you know who’s opening. Either way, Chart and Tiny Mix Tapes have interviews with Pallett and NYC Taper is sharing a recording of his show in New York in January. NYC Taper, incidentally, was recently profiled by The Village Voice. There’s a new remix of a Heartland track up for grabs as well.

MP3: Owen Pallett – “Keep The Dog Quiet” (Simon Bookish remix)

To everyone who’s been enjoying the (relatively) low profile that Broken Social Scene has been keeping for the past four years or so… break’s over. Just in time for their performance at the Toronto Islands on June 19, they’ll release their new, as-yet untitled album on May 4 – which happens to be the same day The New Pornographers drop their latest, Together. Shades of Blur vs Oasis, August 1995? If only. Pitchfork talks to Kevin Drew about the making of the new album and Paste does the same with head Pornographer Carl Newman.

The now-defunct Oh No Forest Fires have left a farewell gift in the form of a second album, entitled Wants To Try Something. And an unsightly stain on the Horseshoe stage, but let’s not talk about that.

ZIP: Oh No Forest Fires / Wants To Try Something

Spinner declares The Balconies a band you oughta know. They’re at the Drake Underground on February 10, as soon as they’re back from their tour of eastern Canada which they’ve been diligently blogging.

Exclaim talks to Woodhands, who’re giving away a new Pitchfork-baiting/hating track. For kicks, I guess.

MP3: Woodhands – “P’iss”

The Hylozoists have released a new video from last year’s L’Ile de Sept Villes.

Video: The Hylozoists – “Bras D’Or Lakes”

Spinner talks to Woodpigeon’s Mark Hamilton. They play the Drake Underground on February 11 and do an in-store at Soundscapes on February 14.

Le Hiboo has a video session of Basia Bulat performing “The Shore” in Paris whilst wearing a jaunty beret. The London Free Press has an interview with Bulat and a short chat with her viola player, Alison Stewart. Basia Bulat plays an in-store at Soundscapes on February 16.

The Toronto Star contemplates the many faces of Neil Young while Paste reports that he’s started work on his next album.

The Line Of Best Fit has posted their seventh volume of “Oh! Canada” Can-con mixes to download.

Frank YangSomething of a cold snap hit Toronto yesterday, so I was fortunate to have an invite to what was promised to be a hot and sweaty dance party at the Smiling Buddha bar, soundtracked by Woodhands showcasing their just-released second album Remorsecapade. Granted, it’d have probably been just as warm if I’d just stayed home, but experience has taught me that the odds of dance parties breaking out in my living room tend to be close to nil.

I think there’s a temptation to not take Woodhands entirely seriously – I mean, the image of Dan Werb shrieking himself hoarse whilst rocking out with a keytar will tend to elicit double-takes. But perhaps the visuals are meant to disarm, because you dismiss Woodhands at your peril – the energy and intensity of their aural experience is deadly serious… or at least as serious as synth-rock that intends to grab you by the lapels and scream, “ARE YOU HAVING A GOOD TIME?” in your face can be. It was something I experienced first in September when the duo were a last-minute addition to Toronto stop of the ill-fated Perez Hilton tour, but this setting was much better suited for them as far as atmosphere went.

With drummer Paul Banwatt behind his kit and Werb manning a massive bank of synths and mixers to go with his keytar, Woodhands takes up almost as much room on stage as a conventional rock band and were about as loud. Their set drew from both their debut Heart Attack and the new record, with this being the first time some of the new material had been translated live. Any hiccups were lost on the packed bar, though, whom I think were attempting to dance though it was hard to tell past the wall of photographers up front – myself included – trying in vain to shoot in the near-darkness of the room. There was definitely swaying and bobbing, at least, and a Rockwell nod from Banwatt. The high point of the set came at the finale when guest vocalist Maylee Todd joined them to reprise her vocals on “Dissembler” and “Dancer”, easily my favourite cuts off of Remorsecode and Heart Attack, respectively. Werb and Banwatt are great on their own but the addition of the female element really puts them over the top.

Evil Monito talks to Dan Werb about their past touring experiences. Their future touring experiences will include a free show at MTV Canada on February 2 (hit them up for tickets) and a cross-Canada tour that includes a March 11 show at the Opera House opening up for k-os.

Photos: Woodhands @ The Smiling Buddha – January 28, 2010
MP3: Woodhands – “Pockets”
MP3: Woodhands – “Dancer”
MP3: Woodhands – “I Wasn’t Made For Fighting”
Video: Woodhands – “CP24”
Video: Woodhands – “I Wasn’t Made For Fighting”
MySpace: Woodhands

The Vancouver Sun, The Calgary Herald and The Georgia Straight talk to Joel Plaskett. In addition to those Thrush Hermit reunion shows at Lee’s on March 26 and 27, it appears Plaskett is making a Canadian Musicfest appearance at the Mod Club on March 13 as part of the Sirius Songwriter’s Cafe, so think acoustic-y and talk-y. And Jeff Martin from the Tea Party is there too, so ask your self how much you like Joel Plaskett.

And speaking of Canadian Musicfest, the list of confirmed performers has gotten bigger, more hyperlinked (that’s right, I said “hyperlink”. In 2010. Deal with it) and a very preliminary schedule is up.

Pitchfork solicits a list of his current favourite things from Owen Pallett. He plays the Queen Elizabeth Theatre on April 8.

Spinner has premiered the new video from Zeus’ full-length debut Say Us, due out February 23. They’re playing Lee’s Palace on March 10.

Video: Zeus – “Marching Through Your Head”

Daytrotter has posted up a downloadable session with The Dears.

RCRDLBL is giving away an acoustic Metric track.

A few more-specific-than-previously-known-but-still-vague album release dates… look for a new record from Land Of Talk this Spring, the next effort from The Acorn come May, which is approximately when Born Ruffians’ Say It should be out. The Acorn are at Lee’s Palace on March 12 and Born Ruffians at The Phoenix on March 14.

BBC6, The List and The Times talk to White Rabbits.

Ear Farm has a short interview with Sharon Van Etten, in town twice in the next while – opening up for Great Lake Swimmers at Trinity-St. Paul’s on February 6 and then at the Horseshoe on April 5 with Megafaun.

The Bird & The Bee have announced they’ll release the self-explanatory Guiltless Pleasures Volume 1: A Tribute To Daryl Hall And John Oates on March 23, which I personally find quite exciting because having grown up in the ’80s I have a distinctly unironic appreciation for the works of Hall & Oates, and having seen The Bird & The Bee do “I Can’t Go For That (No Can Do)” at SxSW last year, I know they’ll do a fantastic job with them. Yep.

MySpaceOpening up with the sound of bird noises might be a bit of an over-sell, but forgiveness comes easily when the multi-layered harmonies of Toronto’s The Wilderness Of Manitoba arrive and usher in their debut EP, Hymns Of Love And Spirits. Sharing members with Provincial Parks and Key Witness, The Wilderness of Manitoba come with a very clear and direct mandate – to craft gentle, intricate folk songs of the sort that no one seems to make anymore. Of course, that’s a mandate that many have taken on in recent years and so, ironically, there’s a good number of artists presently making those sorts of songs.

The Wilderness Of Manitoba still manage to stand tall amongst their peers, however, and stand out. Obviously drawing inspiration from both the English and American folk revivals of the 1960s, they place an emphasis on choral vocals that give the mini-album a certain dreamy quality that splits the difference between spiritual and ghostly. The musical arrangements are similarly kept ethereal, all gentle acoustic guitar, spare percussion with an occasional guest appearance from a banjo, cello or keys and carried aloft on a plush cloud of reverb. It’s a record that drifts by prettily, seemingly untethered from earthly concerns yet tangible enough to still carry a very real emotional heft. It haunts, like a fond but faded memory.

The Wilderness Of Manitoba are playing The Garrison tomorrow night with Olenka & The Autumn Lovers and Slow Down Molasses. BlogTO interviewed the band at the end of the Summer while The Line Of Best Fit had a more recent conversation.

MP3: The Wilderness Of Manitoba – “Bluebirds”

Timber Timbre has made his self-titled debut available as a free download through the end of Saturday, October 31. He plays a free show at the North York Central Library on November 7. It’s all about the free.

MP3: Timber Timbre – “Demon Host”
Video: Timber Timbre – “Demon Host”
Video: Timber Timbre – “We’ll Find Out”
ZIP: Timber Timbre / Timber Timbre

Examiner.com talks to Liz Powell of Land Of Talk.

Blurt reports that Midlake will finally release their new record The Courage of Others on February 2.

Fazer has got an interview with Logan Kroeber of The Dodos.

Tiny Mix Tapes talks to Thao. Aaah, that’s some good alliteration right there. Thao plays the El Mocambo on November 1.

The Quietus asks Alison Mosshart what’s up with each of her bands, The Kills and The Dead Weather – new records from both in 2010. There you go.

PitchforkTV has added a video interview segment with Yo La Tengo to go with their Don’t Look Down session performances. The Skinny, San Diego News Network, The San Francisco Examiner and Vail Daily also have interviews.

Magnet picks their five most overrated and underrated Galaxie 500 songs. Is it really possible for a band that’s chronically underrated to have overrated songs?

Sweden’s Shout Out Louds have completed their new album and named it Work – look for it February 23 of next year.

Mid to late December is usually a real dead zone for tours coming through town, so what are the odds that two shows I’d want to see would arrive on the same night? Apparently pretty good. There’s no way I’m not going to be seeing Fanfarlo at the El Mocambo that night, but am sad that it means missing seeing Blue Roses – aka English singer-songwriter Laura Groves who released a lovely self-titled debut back in the Spring – at the Drake Underground, opening up for Marcus Foster, whom I don’t know at all. There’s no reason I can think of not to be at Fanfarlo, but if you can come up with one it better be because you’re at this show instead.

MP3: Blue Roses – “Doubtful Comforts”
MP3: Blue Roses – “I Am Leaving”

It’s not new album news, per se, but NME’s reporting that Lightspeed Champion will have a new single out entitled “Marlene” on January 25 is certainly a good omen that record number two is coming.

Exclaim talks to The xx. They’re at the Phoenix on December 2.

Sebastian MlynarskiLet it never be said I’m beholden to the traditional press cycle when it comes to reviews. At least not when it comes to Brooklyn’s Bishop Allen. I only got around to writing up their second album, The Broken String last December, almost a year and a half after it was released, and here I am now just getting to their latest Grr… though in this case, the delay is a mere seven months. Almost eight. At least I got the review of their show here in January up within days.

With regards to the lag times, for The Broken String the defense was that, well, I didn’t really know the band but had hung onto the CD for just that long because I had a hunch I’d like it. Why I didn’t just spin the thing sooner and find out is an excellent question. I have a team of experts researching that right now. But for Grr…, it was simply a matter of waiting for the record to win me over the way its predecessor did. And waiting. And waiting. See, what I appreciated about The Broken String was the collegiate cleverness, tempered with open-hearted earnestness and mated with terrific singalong melodies.

And while you can still sing along with Grr…, the band seems to have regressed to a simpler state as far as songwriting goes. This doesn’t seem to be an accident, but a deliberate stylistic shift – the lyrical density and detailed storytelling has given way to more impressionistic wordplay and sometimes nonsensical rhymes. The production is much drier and leaner, often emphasizing just Justin Rice’s voice and Christian Rudder’s guitar, and even the album title and art is primary school basic and playful. And maybe that’s the point of this record, to step back from The Broken String, strip things down to and get back to basics for a spell. If so, job well done. Grr… is a study in simplicity, doing more with less and seeing just how far you can go powered just by melody. It was personally a bit frustrating to have a band I’d just gotten into shelve from those characteristics that drew me to them in the first place, but Grr… is still a pop treat by more objective standards.

The band is currently on tour and will be at the El Mocambo in Toronto on Friday night, October 30. Tickets are $15 in advance but courtesy of REMG, I’ve got two pairs of passes to give away for the show. To enter, email me at contests AT chromewaves.net with “I want to go Grrr” in the subject line and your full name in the body. Contest closes at midnight, October 28.

MP3: Bishop Allen – “Dimmer”
MP3: Bishop Allen – “The Ancient Commonsense Of Things”
Video: Bishop Allen – “Shanghaied”
Video: Bishop Allen – “Dimmer”
MySpace: Bishop Allen

Pitchfork and Offbeat have interviews with Wayne Coyne of The Flaming Lips.

PopMatters and The AV Club chat with Thao Nguyen, namesake of Thao with The Get Down Stay Down. They’re at the El Mocambo this Sunday, November 1, and passes and CDs are still up for grabs.

Daytrotter has got a massive session with The Magnolia Electric Co available to download.

Stereogum points out that a the CBC’s QTV has been compiling a series of video guitar lessons from musical guests passing through their studios, including The National and Vampire Weekend. Did I just stop writing to dust of the guitar and learn to play, “Fake Empire”? Maybe I did. Maybe I did. Also discovered I lost my capo. No “Slow Show” for me.

Neither of these are officially confirmed, but February 9 may see a new record from Shearwater entitled The Golden Archipelago appear in stores. Jonathan Meiburg provided some details on the record this Summer to Michael Hoinski and chimed in on the band’s message boards to discuss some of the possible forms the album would be appearing in – namely different tracklistings and running orders for the CD and LP editions, with the LP coming out as a longer entity than the CD.

PitchforkTV coaxes Yo La Tengo onto a rooftop to play some songs. Or else.

The California Literary Review has an extensive feature on Nicole Atkins, currently on the road with her band The Black Sea road-testing material for album number two, set to be recorded this Winter and released next year.

NPR has a World Cafe session with New York’s Freelance Whales, who will be touring with Fanfarlo this Fall including their December 9 date at the El Mocambo so if you’re planning on being at that show – which you obviously should – make their acquaintance now. Stereogum also declared them a band to watch back in September.

Check out the third new video appearing on the Land Of Talk EP Fun & Laughter, out today. It’s stunning.

Video: Land Of Talk – “It’s Okay”

Basia Bulat will lead up to the January 26 release of her new record Heart Of My Own with her biggest and fanciest Toronto show yet, playing Trinity-St. Paul’s on January 16. Tickets are $20 in advance, on sale Thursday.

MP3: Basia Bulat – “Gold Rush”

The Line Of Best Fit has details on the next Los Campesinos record Romance Is Boring, due out January 26.

Interview has a short chat with The xx. They’re at the Phoenix on December 2.

Elbow’s Guy Garvey gives Drowned In Sound a track-by-track blow-by-blow of the deluxe edition reissue of their debut Asleep In The Back, due out on November 10.

As much as I want to put stock in this typically sensationalistic NME piece on a possible Pulp reunion for Glastonbury next year, I’m far more inclined to side with Idolator’s take on it. Jarvis is much too canny to let something as huge as that slip in that manner. And on second thought, I hope it’s false because I don’t want to have to really face the question of just how far (distance, expense, camping in mud) would I be willing to go to see Pulp live. I suspect the answer is not as far as would be necessary.

Lucy HamblinRidiculous webhosting issues persist, so this one will be kept reasonably brief – who knows how long this window of opportunity of my site being up will remain. I’ve actually been told that the issues that’ve plagued the site for the past week or so have been resolved and am hoping that’s the case, but if’n you find that things are unbearably slow or down altogether, swing by my Twitter for all sorts of colourful cursing. Update: Right, issues are not resolved. Fuckity fuck.

While downloadable/streamable/watchable online sessions are becoming much more commonplace, MySpace Transmissions is setting themselves apart by not only making theirs available to download, but by providing the audio in wonderfully high-resolution 320kbps, a bitrate that the audiophile community refers to as “suh-weeeet”. Similarly, the streaming video is also happily smooth and clean. MySpace isn’t good for a whole lot these days, at least from a personal social networking sense, but if they can keep cranking out content like these, they’re welcome to stick around.

The latest session to go up comes from New York’s White Rabbits, whose It’s Frightening continues to worm its way into heavier rotation around these parts – just in time for their upcoming Fall tour which stops in at the Horseshoe in a few weeks on October 24 for a bill that also includes Suckers and The Balconies. Pure rock, guaranteed. The Aquarian has an interview with the band.

MP3: White Rabbits – “Percussion Gun” (live on MySpace Transmissions)
MP3: White Rabbits – “Rudie Fails” (live on MySpace Transmissions)

Spinner and The Skinny talk to John Darnielle about The Mountain Goats’ new, Biblically-inspired record The Life Of The World To Come. The Mountain Goats were also on The Colbert Report the other night – Canadians can watch the ep at The Comedy Network, Americans at Colbert Nation. Everyone else, can’t help ya.

John Vanderslice performs a Tiny Desk Concert for NPR.

BlogCritics talks to Mikael Jorgenson of Wilco, who’re in town for two nights at Massey Hall next week, October 14 and 15. And to the rest of Canada, rejoice – the band have announced a cross-Canada tour for next February which will not include Toronto but will include Hamilton and London for those in Toronto not averse to a road trip.

Jason Molina and Will Johnson, masterminds behind Magnolia Electric Co. and Centro-Matic respectively, have teamed up for a roots-rock dream team creatively named Molina and Johnson and will release their equally imaginatively-named debut album Molina and Johnson on November 3.

MP3: Molina and Johnson – “Twenty Cycles To The Ground”

And speaking of imaginatively-titled side-project albums, The Retribution Gospel Choir, which features Alan Sparhawk from Low, will release their second album 2 on January 26 via SubPop. Details at Pitchfork.

Pitchfork says that former Beulah frontman Miles Kurosky’s long-awaited solo record will be out in March 2010. I’ve been waiting for this record for so long I’ve forgotten why I’ve been waiting for it. But I’m still keen to hear what he’s been up to in the past, what, 15 years?

Devendra Banhart will release his new album and major label debut What Will Be on October 27 and follow that up with a North American tour which brings him to Toronto’s Queen Elizabeth Theatre on November 27.

Spinner has premiered one of the new videos that appears on Land Of Talk’s forthcoming Fun And Laughter EP, out October 27.

Video: Land Of Talk – “Troubled”

Two Hours Traffic will be playing an in-store at Soundscapes on October 16 at 5PM in advance of their show at Lee’s Palace that night. That night’s opener, Spiral Beach, is also in-storing it at Sonic Boom that night – their set starts at 7PM. Add in the Dan Mangan in-store at Criminal Records that night at 6PM, and you’ve got, well, a lot of free music for someone who’s swift on their bike or lucky with the TTC. And note that Soundscapes is having a 10th anniversary 10% off most everything sale this Saturday, October 10 (10/10, get it?).

Sloan will be playing a special benefit show at the Dakota Tavern (read: tiny) on October 19 with all proceeds going to War Child Canada – it may already be sold out by the time you read this, but tickets are/were available at Maple Music.

Spinner talks to Nick Cave about writing his new novel The Death Of Bunny Munro.