KnotanWith her 2005 (2006 in North America) debut Until Death Comes, Swedish songstress Frida Hyvonen established herself as a distinctive new voice, capable of veering from stark confessionals to demented whimsy at the drop of a hat. I base this as much on my recollections of her deliciously entertaining March 2007 performance at the Mod Club as I do from whatever impression the album itself made because, well, I no longer seem to have a copy of the album around to refer to.

But I do have the follow-up, Silence Is Wild, and it does reaffirm those impressions. This time out, she chooses to frame her compositions in richer and at points, more theatrical trappings which suit her quite well – better, in my estimation, than the simpler presentation of the debut. The focal point is still her voice – huge yet fragile – and piano, but the grander arrangements lift everything up and offer a broader emotional and musical range that Death simply didn’t have.

Considering my favourite tracks from the album – “Dirty Dancing” and “London” – are also the biggest, I obviously like this change in tact for Hyvonen. The vivid imagery of her lyrics combined with the exuberance of their delivery strike just the right chord in me, and offer a stronger contrast to the smaller, more intimate moments of the album. But even with what some may consider to be a more conventional musical approach, Hyvonen’s innate eccentricity still shines through and sets her apart.

Ms Hyvonen did some solo dates on the east coast in October, so I don’t know if there’s any further North American touring in the cards. But if so I do hope there’s a band involved, even though it’s probably cost-prohibitive. As charming and engaging as she was in the solo context last time, I couldn’t imagine a lot of the new material being done proper justice without all the proper sonic accouterments.

Hyvonen picks her favourite song of the year for Line Of Best fit, gives Aquarium Drunkard a guided tour of her hometown of Flarken and subjects to herself to an interview at RCRDLBL, where you can also download an MP3 of “Birds” from the new album. And check out a live performance of “Dirty Dancing” at PSL.

MP3: Frida Hyvonen – “The Enemy Within”
MySpace: Frida Hyvonen

Clash talks to Lykke Li about her really big 2008. She’s at the Phoenix on February 6.

The video for the first single from A Camp’s forthcoming Colonia is now up. The album is out February 2.

Video: A Camp – “Stronger Than Jesus”

If you were one of those bummed about the cancellation of Noah & The Whale’s North American tour, maybe this Basement Tapes session with the band, recorded their last time through the continent and featuring downloadable live tracks, will ease the pain a bit.

MP3: Noah & The Whale – “5 Years Time” (Basement Tapes session)

The Courier-Mail discusses the art of songwriting with Mountain Goat John Darnielle.

LAist interviews John Dragonetti of The Submarines. They’re at the Drake Underground on February 15 and The Morning Benders have been added as co-headliners on the whole tour.

New York City’s Virgins have a date at the El Mocambo on February 5, tickets $12.50.

MP3: The Virgins – “Rich Girls”
Video: The Virgins – “Rich Girls”

Dose.ca, The Montreal Gazette and The McGill Tribune spend time with Stars, gearing up for a three-night stand at the Queen Elizabeth Theatre December 11 through 13.

Gentleman Reg, who is opening up the middle of those Stars shows (the 12th) as well as playing his own gig at the Drake Underground tonight, will release his new album Jet Black on February 24.

Le Blogotheque takes away a show with Margot & The Nuclear So And So’s.

Prefix talks to Mark Lanegan about working with Isobel Campbell.

JAM interviews Richard Thompson.

MySpaceJust yesterday morning I was listening to The Cardigans’ wonderful and underappreciated Long Gone Before Daylight, and it occurred to me that I hadn’t heard any news about the new record from A Camp, Nina Persson’s solo project, in a while. Cue NME, who yesterday reported that said record – Colonia – will see the light of day on February 2 in the UK and Europe. Not sure if there’s a North American schedule on the books yet, though.

Don’t know if the background music at their website is any indication of the direction of the record, but there’s also a photo gallery of the band in the studio to whet one’s appetite. I had heard that they wouldn’t necessarily be continuing the alt.country vibe that made the now eight-year old (!) A Camp debut so delicious – Mark Linkous isn’t driving things this time – and while that’s sort of a shame, the fact that there’s a new record coming from Persson, Cardies or otherwise, is good news any way you look at it. Core collaborators on the record are Niclas Frisk and Persson’s husband/Shudder To Think guitarist Nathan Larson and there are guest spots from James Iha and Joan Wasser, amongst others. And the album cover looks like this. That’s all I got right now. So until there’s more, here’s a live Neil Young cover I posted a while back and the vids from the first album.

MP3: A Camp – “On The Beach” (live)
Video: A Camp – “I Can Buy You”
Video: A Camp – “Song For The Leftovers”
MySpace: A Camp

State interviews Lykke Li, set for a date at the Phoenix on February 6.

Following up on last year’s Guilt By Association covers compilation featuring the likes of Superchunk, Luna and The Concretes covering songs they deemed to be guilty pleasures, Pitchfork has details on the sequel. Volume two doesn’t have quite the star power of the first and its mandate is shifted slightly to encompass Top 40 pop from the ’80s through today (guilty pleasure or not), and as such you’ve got the likes of Frightened Rabbit, My Brightest Diamond and Matt Pond PA amongst the coverers and Toto, Billy Joel and Katy Perry amongst the coverees. Though the CD isn’t out until February 17 of next year, you can stream it below and it’s already available digitally from the likes of eMusic. A third volume is also already in the works. Check out the My Brightest Diamond contribution to the new comp, as well as the Journey cover by Petra Haden that opened volume one.

MP3: My Brightest Diamond – “Tainted Love”
MP3: Petra Haden – “Don’t Stop Believin'”
Stream: Guilt By Association 2
MySpace: Guilt By Association

Clash Q&As Frightened Rabbit frontman Scott Hutchison and Pitchfork reveals that the band has contributed a track to a compilation that accompanies Australian zine The Lifted Brow. And since said zine is far from cheap ($40!), don’t feel bad about downloading said track, also from the ‘Fork.

MP3: Frightened Rabbit – “Last Tango In Brooklyn”

Chart discusses Intimacy and mythology with Bloc Party’s Kele Okereke.

Drowned In Sound has posted part two of their interview with Okkervil River frontman Will Sheff.

Beach House have rolled out a new video. Just in time for Winter.

Video: Beach House – “Used To Be”

Prefix interviews The Rosebuds.

Blurt offers a short feature on Wolf Parade.

Creative Loafing talks to Brendan Canning of Broken Social Scene. They’re playing two nights at the Sound Academy on November 27 and 28.

Also now doing a two-fer at the former Docks is the Jingle Bell Rock tour featuring Metric, Tokyo Police Club, The Dears and Sebastien Grainger & The Mountains. There’s now a December 12 show to go along with the originally announced December 13 date.

Caribou has revealed what he did with his $20,000 in Polaris Prize winnings – part went to finance the next album and the rest went to charity. Next year, I think the money needs to go to someone seriously decadent. Artistic merit be damned, that money should be spent on hookers and blow.

Matthew Sweet talks pottery with Blurt.

grammatics.co.ukDrowned In Sound continues to peek ahead to the new year with a list of ten acts that their writers think the world will be all agog about in 2009. I can personally endorse Mumford & Sons, whom I saw in October, and Sky Larkin, whom I’ve not seen but like what I’ve heard. Presumably there’s an album in the works for the former and The Golden Spike, the debut from the latter, is due out in February.

I also quite like what I’m hearing from fresh-faced, Leeds-based moppets Grammatics, though I’ll want to hear more before committing to any kind of endorsement. After all, the last time I was won over by a first listen to a band fronted by a skinny dude with a high voice from that part of the world, I ended up with a JJ72 album in my collection. My first impressions can’t always be trusted. But full-time cellist? You have my attention. Their three singles released thus far do tickle my fancy, when their debut album comes out in the first part of next year, I’ll be checking it out and hoping that I don’t regret too much not going to see them for free when I was in London back in May. You can get an MP3 of latest single “New Franchise” for frees on their website by signing up for their mailing list.

Video: Grammatics – “The Vague Archive”
Video: Grammatics – “D.I.L.E.M.M.A.”
Video: Grammatics – “New Franchise”
MySpace: Grammatics

I also checked out DiS-approved Catherine A.D. over the weekend, and while the first song streaming on her MySpace, “Carry Your Heart”, has promise, the debut EP The Bedroom Sessions is a snooze.

Not on their list but obviously high on mine is Emmy The Great, whose debut First Love finally has a release date. It’ll be out on February 2, and I thank For Folk’s Sake for the best news I had all Friday.

Varsity profiles Noah & The Whale, paying us a visit at the Rivoli on December 9. For Folk’s Sake (them again!) report that the band will be releasing a Christmas mini-album on December 22.

Laura Marling talks to Scotland On Sunday.

The Times invites British Sea Power to put both Rock Band and Guitar Hero through their paces.

Lykke Li is charting out another North American tour and will be returning to Toronto again for a show at the Phoenix on February 6. Javno and SF Weekly have interviews.

Washington Square News and The Charlotte Observer interview M83 mastermind Anthony Gonzalez. He and his band are at the Opera House on Thursday night, and are running a video contest for next single “We Own The Sky” – details at Pitchfork.

Tourmates for M83 this go-around are School Of Seven Bells, whose Ben Curtis talks to Exclaim about his new band and his old band. There’s a new remix of a song from Alpinisms by Cocteau Twin Robin Guthrie available for grabsies.

MP3: School Of Seven Bells – “My Cabal” (Robin Guthrie mix)

Anna-Lynne Williams of Trespassers William talks to Roots & Resonance about her songwriting process and juggling different projects. There’ll be a new Trespassers William EP due out sometime in the new year. The band released a video from their last album Having a little while back.

Video: Trespassers William – “Weakening”

NPR has a Tiny Desk Concert with Shearwater.

PitchforkTV is currently streaming the whole of Silver Jew, the documentary about Silver Jews frontman David Berman.

I don’t know if this is new or old or just not previously widely circulated, but there’s a video for The Decemberists’ 2004 epic-single “The Tain” up for viewing at PitchforkTV – all 18 minutes of it. This video is the same length as an episode of The Office with the commercials cut out. Spin has a video interview with Colin Meloy as well as a stream of one of the b-sides from their ongoing Always The Bridesmaid single series. Their new album Hazards Of Love is due out in April.

Video: The Decemberists – “The Tain”