Posts Tagged ‘Laura Marling’

Wednesday, April 18th, 2012

God Of Loneliness

Emmy The Great gets even more Virtue-ous

Photo By Gabriel BruceGabriel BruceI’m no fan of the deluxe reissue trend – at least not with respect to an album that came out less than a year ago – as it tends to punish the biggest fans, those who would have bought the original issue and most want whatever bonus materials are applied to the reissue. So while I don’t greet the news that Emmy The Great is doing this with last year’s Virtue – one of my faves of 2011 – I at least appreciate that some of the bonus material will be made available separately.

The fancy edition of Virtue will be out on May 7 and include three unreleased songs from the sessions for the album and a cover of Mazzy Star’s “Fade Into You”. One of those songs – “God Of Loneliness” – will also be released that day as a single with the Mazzy Star cover as a b-side so if you don’t want to repurchase Virtue, there’s that option. Though you know those other two tracks will indeed taunt you with their very existence. To also go along with the occasion, they’ve also commissioned four comic strips to go with it all – the first is up at The Line Of Best Fit – and four remixes that are being made available to download for free. And oh, there’s a video/black comedy mini-movie for the single.

MP3: Emmy The Great – “Exit Night” (Banjo or Freakout remix)
Video: Emmy The Great – “God Of Loneliness”

Already out in the UK but now getting a proper North American release is Dry The River’s own debut Shallow Bed. Spinner has an interview with the band and a stream of the album.

MP3: Dry The River – “New Ceremony”
Stream: Dry The River / Shallow Bed

Clock Opera’s debut album Ways To Forget is now streaming in whole at Hype Machine; it’s out April 23 in the UK and The Line Of Best Fit talks to the band about it.

MP3: Clock Opera – “Once And For All”
Stream: Clock Opera / Ways To Forget

Radio Free Canuckistan has posted the complete transcript of the interview with Nick Lowe that went into the Macleans piece; The Star-Tribune also has an interview. Lowe plays The Phoenix on April 23.

The Guardian, Spinner, and NPR talk to Jason Pierce of Spiritualized, whose Sweet Heart Sweet Light is finally out. They’re at The Phoenix on May 5.

Interview talks to Anthony Gonzalez of M83, who’re in town not once but twice this Summer – May 6 for a headlining show at the Sound Academy and August 4 at Historic Fort York co-headlining the HARD festival with Justice.

Pitchfork reports that jj have commissioned a video to go with their latest release jj n° 4, out on May 8.

Video: jj – “Beautiful Life”

Prefix is streaming the whole of We Are Serenades’ debut Criminal Heaven, out now. They’re at The Garrison on May 14.

MP3: We Are Serenades – “Birds”
MP3: We Are Serenades – “Oceans”
Stream: We Are Serenades / Criminal Heaven

Anglo-Basque electro-rock outfit Crystal Fighters have made a date at Wrongbar on May 26 in support of their debut album Star Of Love, out April 24. Examiner.com has an interview with the band.

Video: Crystal Fighters – “Plage”

Hot Chip are streaming a second single from their new record In Our Heads, It’s out June 12 and they’re at the Sound Academy on July 15.

Stream: Hot Chip – “Night & Day”

Blurt talks to Laura Marling, in town for a show at The Phoenix on June 17.

Le Blogotheque has posted a Take-Away Show with Michael Kiwanuka and The Express has an interview. He plays The Great Hall on June 19.

Graham Coxon has released a new video from A+E.

Video: Graham Coxon – “Ooh, Yeh Yeh”

Le Sigh chats with Veronica Falls.

Stereogum has dug up an interview conducted with The Twilight Sad just before the release of their latest, No One Can Ever Know. Better late than never, yeah?

Rolling Stone and examiner.com get a moment of Noel Gallagher’s time.

If you’re one of the unlucky many who haven’t gotten to see Pulp on their reunion tour, here’s the next best thing – a couple of complete, professionally-shot videos of their sets at Reading Festival last Summer and Coachella this past weekend.

Video: Pulp @ Reading Festival – August 27, 2011
Video: Pulp @ Coachella – April 13, 2012

And while we’re at it, here’s Coachella sets from Radiohead and Wild Beasts. Just like being there, but without the heat stroke.

Video: Radiohead @ Coachella – April 14, 2012
Video: Wild Beasts @ Coachella – April 15, 2012

Friday, March 2nd, 2012

Not Sleeping

The Twilight Sad and Odonis Odonis at Lee’s Palace in Toronto

Photo By Frank YangFrank YangAs I understand it, conventional wisdom is that Leap Day should be taken as an opportunity to try something new. But seeing as how prior to this year I’ve never thought of February 29 as anything more than an extra day of Winter every four years, I don’t feel bad that I spent it seeing a band I’ve seen many times before – Scotland’s The Twilight Sad, in town in support of their third album No One Can Ever Know.

“Trying something new” points should still be award for showing up early for opening act Odonis Odonis, who despite hailing from Toronto I’d not heard before the took the stage. A little research revealed that they were in fact labelmates with The Twilight Sad, being signed to the UK’s esteemed Fat Cat imprint for their debut album Hollandaze; this would normally be a good indicator of quality, but I recall another Toronto outfit signed to Fat Cat – Ten Kens – whom I was totally unimpressed with. And as it turns out, Odonis Odonis is the project of a former Ten Kens member. So. It’s probably just as well that I didn’t know that beforehand because I likely wouldn’t have given them a shot, and as it turned out, I liked them better. Relatively, at least. The trio either took a garage/surf-rock thing and buried it under noise layers or art-rock or took a noisy, art-rock thing and gave it a garagey/surfy friendly vibe – the coin flipped a few times over the course of their set. It was pretty loud and heavy, either way, and by the time it was over, I think the scorecard tipped in favour of tuneful over discordant, but just barely.

As noted in my review, No One Can Ever Know certainly found The Twilight Sad trying something new – synth-rock. An unexpected move given their signature sound to this point had been James Graham’s inconsolable bellow over Andy Macfarlane’s massive guitars, but one that works surprisingly well. So while I had a pretty good idea of what to expect of the band live by this point, I was curious to see how this new dimension would be incorporated into the show.

Taking the stage to a slow, pulsing synth tone that could well have been a fire alarm, they opened with No One‘s “Kill It In The Morning” – about half the set was comprised of new material, the rest split evenly between Fourteen Autumns & Fifteen Winters and Forget The Night Ahead – and made it clear that though they had the same five-piece lineup that opened for Mono last time through, Martin Doherty’s keyboard responsibilities – while certainly more important this time out – were not going to supplant Macfarlane’s six-string duties anytime soon. The synthetic sheen of the new material was given a proper steel wool scrub courtesy of Macfarlane’s Fender Jaguar and Marshall stack and made loud, fuzzy and loud. Did I mention loud?

The combination of their old sound and new was quite a potent one, the resultant chaotic squall with a mechanical pulse coming across as more urgent and menacing than ever before and proving the new direction did not come at the expense of old strengths. At some points, the mix fell out of balance and Graham’s vocals – no wallflower of an instrument – were buried under the tumult but it always managed to right itself before becoming an issue. It was also interesting to see how far Graham has come as a frontman, his lurch-dance moves providing a welcome bit of onstage activity relative to his bandmates.

The show moved with a steady but unrelenting momentum for just over an hour, Graham taking the time to sincerely thank everyone for coming out to see them and promising a return visit soon before finishing with a scorched-earth double-shot of “And She Would Darken The Memory” from Fourteen Autumns and “At The Burnside” from Forget The Night Ahead. There was no encore, but there didn’t need to be; that was the proper finish.

Exclaim also has a review of the show.

Photos: The Twilight Sad, Odonis Odonis @ Lee’s Palace – February 29, 2012
MP3: The Twilight Sad – “Another Bed”
MP3: The Twilight Sad – “Kill It In The Morning”
MP3: The Twilight Sad – “Reflection Of The Television”
MP3: The Twilight Sad – “Cold Days From The Birdhouse”
MP3: The Twilight Sad – “That Summer, At Home I Had Become The Invisible Boy”
MP3: Odonis Odonis – “Ledged Up”
Video: The Twilight Sad – “Another Bed”
Video: The Twilight Sad – “Sick”
Video: The Twilight Sad – “The Room”
Video: The Twilight Sad – “Seven Years Of Letters”
Video: The Twilight Sad – “I Became A Prostitute”
Video: The Twilight Sad – “And She Would Darken The Memory”
Video: Odonis Odonis – “Ledged Up”
Video: Odonis Odonis – “Blood Feast”
Video: Odonis Odonis – “Mr. Smith”

Nick Lowe returns to town with a full band for a show at The Phoenix on April 23, tickets $34 in advance and there will be limited seating available. It’s in support of last year’s The Old Magic, from which Lowe has released his first music video in almost two decades – NPR premiered it alongside a conversation with Lowe about the tune.

Video: Nick Lowe – “Sensitive Man”

Finally apparently getting over her fear of playing venues appropriately sized to her fanbase, Laura Marling has announced a June 17 visit to The Phoenix, the final date of a Summer tour. Tickets will be $25 in advance.

Video: Laura Marling – “All My Rage”

Daytrotter has posted a session with Noah & The Whale.

Interview and The Quietus interviews Beth Jeans Houghton, whose Yours Truly, Cellophane Nose is up to stream in whole at Spinner; I wrote this record up a month ago – but the North American release was just this week. But to make up for the delay, there’s a new video!

MP3: Beth Jeans Houghton – “Dodecahedron”
Video: Beth Jeans Houghton & The Hooves Of Destiny – “Atlas”
Stream: Beth Jeans Houghton & The Hooves Of Destiny / Yours Truly, Cellophane Nose

Arctic Monkeys have released a new video for a non-album track. They’re at the Air Canada Centre opening for The Black Keys on March 14.

Video: Arctic Monkeys – “R U Mine?”

The lead single from The Wedding Present’s new album Valentina is now available to download. The record is out March 20 – North Americans can preorder the LP version over here – and they play The Horseshoe on March 25.

MP3: The Wedding Present – “You’re Dead”

The most appealing part of the new Belle & Sebastian-curated Late Night Tales compilation coming on March 26 – the band’s cover of The Primitives’ “Crash” – is now available to stream.

Stream: Belle & Sebastian – “Crash”

Also out March 26 is In Time To Voices, the new record from Blood Red Shoes; Artrocker talks to drummer Steve Ansell about the new album.

Allo Darlin’ have released a new video from their forthcoming album Europe, which will be out on April 17.

Video: Allo Darlin’ – “Capricornia”

In conversation with producer Stephen Street, Louder Than War learns that the Blur back catalog is in the process of being remastered for reissue in the near future. And the video from Graham Coxon’s new solo record A+E for which he was soliciting dance audition clips is now live; the album is out April 26.

Video: Graham Coxon – “What’ll It Take”

Pitchfork reports that Hot Chip have completed work on their new album and will release it under the title of In Our Heads on June 12.

Summer Camp has released a new video from their debut album Welcome To Condale.

Video: Summer Camp – “Losing My Mind”

Le Blogotheque has posted a Take-Away Show with Anna Calvi, while Time Out talks to her about her forays into the fashion world and The Music Network inquires about her music.

The Quietus talks to Stuart Staples and David Boulter of Tindersticks about their new record The Something Rain.

DIY talks dating with Charles and Rebecca of Slow Club.

aux.tv gets Los Campesinos! to provide a running commentary of their video for “By Your Hand”.

The Quietus checks in with British Sea Power, presumably working away at their next album.

The Line Of Best Fit salues Black Cab Sessions on the occasion of their 100th episode, and we (I) salute The Line Of Best Fit on the occasion of their fifth anniversary. The Guardian also marks the occasion by picking their five favourite performances.

Thursday, February 16th, 2012

All Eyes On You

Veronica Falls, Brilliant Colors and Hands & Teeth at The Garrison in Toronto

Photo By Frank YangFrank YangJust so we’re clear, I am not stalking Veronica Falls. It’s pure coincidence that I’ve seen the London-based band three times in the past year in three different countries – America, Canada, and Iceland – on two different continents. Really. Okay, it’s not as though I was running into them on the street while they were playing – their self-titled debut was one of my favourites of last year (and barely missed my year-end list) so when the opportunity to see them live has presented itself, I’ve taken it. And when a fourth chance came around as it did on Tuesday night at The Garrison, I also took that.

It also gave me the opportunity to see what local outfit Hands & Teeth were about, what with them garnering a fair bit of attention hereabouts for their just released their debut full-length Hunting Season. That the five-piece were talented and had no shortage of ideas was unquestionable but like many young bands with a surplus of talent and ideas, it felt like they hadn’t quite figured out how to manage it all. Their sound was a solid balance of pop and prog but came across as busy as it was catchy. Having four capable lead vocalists made for some exquisite harmonies but also made their overall personality hard to pin down. Similarly, the instrument swapping seemed showy and unnecessary; rather than trying so hard to demonstrate that they’re good, they’d be better off simply being good. Because despite all this, they clearly were.

No one should have had to be told that San Francisco’s Brilliant Colors were Veronica Falls’ labelmates on Slumberland; the quartet rather embodied the label’s aesthetic of scrappy, lo-fi American ’80s indie pop with a dash of New Zealand/Flying Nun thrown in for good measure. They had to fight through an inordinate number of sound issues for such a simple, straight-ahead band (two guitars, bass, drums, one vocal) but eventually got sorted enough to get through their set, which had decent energy if not a lot of charisma and included a cover of The Who’s “So Sad About Us” as well as material from their latest Again & Again. As familiar-sounding as their material was, it wasn’t the most memorable but if you had that vintage of indie pop in your veins, there was no way it wouldn’t resonate at least a little.

It was nice to considerably more people out to see Veronica Falls this time out than that gathered in the basement at Parts & Labour last October – even with it being Valentine’s Day – and the band were dressed for the occasion with guitarist/vocalists Roxanne Clifford and James Hoare and drummer Patrick Doyle all done up in matching red-and-white striped shirts; bassist Marion Herbain might have had the same on under her sweater, I couldn’t tell. Not that any of that really mattered, it was just a fun detail. What did matter was that they came to play, powering through their set of darkly-hued, C86-vintage pop with punk rock efficiency – the dozen-song set, which included a few new tunes, plus one-song encore of undetermined cover was over in just 35 minutes.

As with past performances, Doyle again reaffirmed his position as the band’s secret weapon keeping super-tight time with his stripped-down, mostly cymbal-less kit, all while contributing backing vocals but unlike past performances, Clifford and Hoare weren’t as tight as they typically were. It was actually a bit funny to hear their vocals completely out of sync for the opening verse of “Wedding Day”, though they got it together once Doyle came in with the beat – we’ll blame that on persistent stage sound issues. So while technically less than perfect, the band still seemed to have a good time – Clifford was dancier onstage than I’d seen her – and no one was complaining; we’ll still call it a pretty good Valentine’s Day.

Vice and The Montreal Mirror have interviews with Veronica Falls.

Photos: Veronica Falls, Brilliant Colors, Hands & Teeth @ The Garrison – February 14, 2012
MP3: Veronica Falls – “Come On Over”
MP3: Veronica Falls – “Found Love In A Graveyard”
MP3: Brilliant Colors – “How Much Younger”
MP3: Brilliant Colors – “Value Lines”
Video: Veronica Falls – “Bad Feeling”
Video: Veronica Falls – “Come On Over”
Video: Veronica Falls – “Beachy Head”
Video: Veronica Falls – “Found Love In A Graveyard”
Video: Brilliant Colors – “‘Round Your Way”
Video: Brilliant Colors – “How Much Younger”
Video: Brilliant Colors – “Hey Dan”
Video: Brilliant Colors – “Highly Evolved”
Video: Brilliant Colors – “English Cities”
Stream: Hands & Teeth / Hunting Season

Blood Orange has put out a new video from Coastal Grooves.

Video: Blood Orange – “Forget It”

Also with a new video is Laura Marling, this one the closing song from last year’s A Creature I Don’t Know.

Video: Laura Marling – “All My Rage”

I don’t know what Mulberry is, but they deserve props for getting Summer Camp and Big Deal to record videos of them covering Fleetwood Mac and The Jesus & Mary Chain, respectively, for some Valentine’s Day campaign.

Video: Summer Camp – “Everywhere”
Video: Big Deal – “Sometimes Always”

Artrocker reports that The Futureheads’ next album will be completely a capella, entitled Rant and out April 2. It will consist of instrument-less reworkings of some of their songs and covers of others; I’m particularly keen to hear their cover of Richard Thompson’s “Beeswing”. But for now, we will have to settle for this stream of their new version of “Robot”.

Stream: The Futureheads – “Robot” (a capella)

The Cribs – now Johnny Marr-less again – have completed their fifth album and will release In The Belly Of The Brazen Bull on May 8. A download of the first single is up for grabs courtesy of Spin and they’ll be at Lee’s Palace on April 11 as part of a North American tour, tickets $17.50 in advance.

MP3: The Cribs – “Chi-Town”

Norwegian electro disco virtuoso Lindstrøm has made a date at Wrongbar for May 26, tickets $15 in advance.

MP3: Lindstrøm – “De Javu”

The Line Of Best Fit reports that Swedish songstress Frida Hyvönen has a new album entitled To The Soul coming out on April 18 and the first single is available to stream.

Stream: Frida Hyvönen – “Terribly Dark”

NYC Taper has one of the shows from Björk’s New York residency available to download. A-yup.

Monday, January 16th, 2012

Without Why

A (re)introduction to Rose Elinor Dougall

Photo via last.fmlast.fmI’ve been meaning to write up Without Why, the debut album from Rose Elinor Dougall, for well over a year now but for whatever reason never actually got around to it. And while normally almost year and a half on from its release is too long to give a record props, the fact that Ms Dougall is back on the radar with a new stopgap release while she wraps up work on her second album is good enough reason for me to revisit it.

If her name isn’t immediately familiar then perhaps her former stage name of Rosay, by which she went when she was one-third of the original lineup of The Pipettes, will ring a bell. The polka-dotted retro-pop trio was all the rage in 2007 but their actual musical merit couldn’t escape the shadow of the novelty and by 2008, things had essentially run their course and both Dougall and Rebecca Stephens, aka RiotBecki, had left the band to pursue their own projects. During her run with The Pipettes, Dougall was clearly the strongest singer of the three and the odds-on favourite to do something interesting on her own; a potential that she seemed set to fulfill based on some early singles and an impressive set at SXSW 2010 wherein she made clear that trading in her polka dot dress for a leather jacket went deeper than just a wardrobe change.

Not that Without Why is a rock record; it’s certainly moreso than the Pipettes ever were but it’s really a pop record that comes without any preset notions of what it should be, though it tends to orbit an uptempo, lightly baroque, and richly conceived and executed aesthetic. You can feel the freedom that Dougall enjoys from having full control over her sound and songwriting – she has sole credits on all but one track – and if there’s any shortcoming to be found, it’s that she takes too much advantage of it. There are points where a less showy vocal approach or lush arrangement might have worked better, but it’s never to the detriment of the song and really, it’s hard to fault someone on their first time out for having too many ideas.

Independently released, I was far from the only one to miss out on giving Without Why its due – hopefully album number two both gets and merits more attention. Dougall has just offered up an EP of unreleased material for free download entitled The Distractions, named for her backing band, but as The Quietus reports these represent more the tail end of the Without Why sessions than the start of the next album’s. But still, new music is new music and free new music is even better – plus it gave me the opportunity to (finally) get this post out of my brain.

Dougall released another free EP of demos a while back, which you can grab over here.

MP3: Rose Elinor Dougall – “The Night”
MP3: Rose Elinor Dougall – “Come Away With Me”
MP3: Rose Elinor Dougall – “Fallen Over”
Video: Rose Elinor Dougall – “Hanging Around”
Video: Rose Elinor Dougall – “I Have Always Known”
Video: Rose Elinor Dougall – “The Night”
Video: Rose Elinor Dougall – “Carry On”
Video: Rose Elinor Dougall – “Find Me Out”
Video: Rose Elinor Dougall – “Start/Stop/Synchro”
ZIP: Rose Elinor Dougall / The Distractions

It took Rebecca “RiotBecki” Stephens a little longer to get her post-Pipettes project together, but Projectionists appear ready to make their mark on 2012 – there’s interviews with them at CityLife and The Von Pip Musical Express and one of their songs available to stream below.

Stream: Projectionists – “Falling Into You”

Daytrotter has posted a session with Laura Marling.

Anna Calvi will be releasing a French version of her cover of “Jezebel” b-sided with her take on TV On The Radio’s “Wolf Like Me” on a limited edition 7″ on February 20. Stream it below.

Stream: Anna Calvi – “Jezebel” (French version)

Writers On Process gets into the nuts and bolts of writing for We Were Promised Jetpacks with Adam Thompson.

Blurt reports that the new Wedding Present album, which will be showcased along with 1992’s Seamonsters on their upcoming Spring tour, has the title of Valentina and will be out in March. They’re at The Horseshoe on March 25.

Rolling Stone has premiered one of the tunes from the new Field Music album Plumb, due out February 21, while The Guardian gets the band to play the tune previously released in a video session.

MP3: Field Music – “A New Town”

BBC and Australia’s Summer Festival Guide chat with The Vaccines.

Consequence Of Sound and Billboard have interviews with The Big Pink while songs from their new record Future This are performed live for 4AD Sessions. It’s out tomorrow.

First Aid Kit’s new record The Lion’s Roar is now available to stream at NPR in advance of its release on January 24. They’re at The Great Hall on April 4.

Stream: First Aid Kit / The Lion’s Roar

Wednesday, January 4th, 2012

11th Hour

Clock Opera offers Ways To Forget

Photo via FacebookFacebookTo promise that something is coming in “early 2012” may be sufficient detail when that date is still a ways off on the horizon, but at a certain point it will eventually actually be early 2012 – as it is now – and when that time arrives you’d best have a little more to offer. That first part of that scenario was most of 2011 for London’s Clock Opera, who despite sounding more than ready for prime time when I first saw them last SXSW and reconfirmed at Iceland Airwaves have been rather shy about offering any details about their debut album besides that it’d be out “in early 2012”.

Well refreshingly quietly, details of their debut album came to light at the very end of last year by way of an iTunes preorder link, and really all you need to know is that it’s called Ways To Forget and will be out – in the UK at least – on April 9. Going for a soft launch with that info may prove to be wise as I expect things will get exceptionally fast-paced for this quartet as word of their electro-anthemic rock – think a younger Elbow armed with sequencers – and attendant excellent live shows gets out.

And the first shot in that metaphorical attack came yesterday with the release of a second video for the song “Once And For All”, which already had a perfectly good clip for the original single release but seeing as how it was re-recorded for the album, a new, heartstring-tugging vid was clearly in order. And so here it is, along with what I would consider to be sufficient argument that Ways To Forget will be one of the highlight releases of, well, early 2012.

MP3: Clock Opera – “Once And For All”
MP3: Clock Opera – “Belongings” (live at Maida Vale)
Video: Clock Opera – “Once And For All” (2012)
Video: Clock Opera – “Lesson No. 7”
Video: Clock Opera – “Belongings”
Video: Clock Opera – “Once And For All”
Video: Clock Opera – “White Noise”

The Ting Tings – whom I am convinced are part of a larger sociological experiment to discern exactly what the shelf life of formerly buzzy but ultimately vapid pop bands is – hope that enough people still remember who they are to buy their second album Sounds From Nowheresville, out February 27 in the UK and shortly thereafter in North America, and to go see them when they play The Phoenix on April 6. To say nothing of paying $26 to do so. Spin has a conversation with the duo about the new record.

Video: The Ting Tings – “Hang It Up”

I can’t say I was too interested in the previously-announced return of Cults to town – happening April 25 at The Phoenix, but the fact that Spectrals – aka London-based retro-pop revivalist Louis Jones – would be opening makes me a bit more keen. His debut Bad Penny came out last Fall.

MP3: Spectrals – “7th Date”
MP3: Spectrals – “Peppermint”
Video: Spectrals – “Bad Penny”

The Arctic Monkeys talk evolution with The Sydney Morning Herald. They open up for The Black Keys at The Air Canada Centre on March 14.

The Alternate Side has a session to watch with We Were Promised Jetpacks.

Gold Flake Paint talks to James Graham about the third Twilight Sad album No One Can Ever Know. It’s out February 21 and they band are at Lee’s Palace on February 29.

Loud & Quiet plays go-between in facilitating a Q&A between Veronica Falls and Johnny Marr. Veronica Falls are at The Garrison on February 14.

Is This Music chats with David Gedge of The Wedding Present. They bring Seamonsters to The Horseshoe on March 25.

Spinner talks to Rosa Rex of Peggy Sue; DIY also had a year-end chat with the band.

Laura Marling has put together a poetry- and art-powered minisite for “The Beast”, which one assumes is the next single from A Creature I Don’t Know.

Clash and The Guardian have pieces on hotly-tipped singer-songwriter Beth Jeans Houghton, whose debut album backed by The Hooves Of Destiny – Yours Truly, Cellophane Nose – is out February 28. A video from said record came out last month.

Video: Beth Jeans Houghton & The Hooves Of Destiny – “Sweet Tooth Bird”

For Folk’s Sake and American Songwriter meet First Aid Kit, whose new record The Lion’s Roar – out January 24 – brings them to The Great Hall on April 4.

DIY and BBC profile Swedish duo Niki & The Dove, whose debut album is due out sometime this Spring.

The Line Of Best Fit – who agreed with me that I Break Horses’ debut Hearts was their favourite of 2011 – goes through the album track-by-track with Maria Linden. They’re opening up for M83 at The Sound Academy on May 6; DIY talks to Anthony Gonzalez of that outfit.

Q gets former label honcho Alan McGee to offer a buyer’s guide to the Creation Records catalog.