Annie PowersFor those inclined to do so, it’s not difficult to criticize the self-titled debut from The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart. It’s true that the New York quartet are unabashed about wearing their influences – all things C86 and Sarah are obviously held in high regard – and in that sense, bring little new to the table. But rather than try to refute these arguments in any debate, I encourage those who’d want to defend the band to pose the following question to any detractors: Why do you hate fun?

Because more than anything, more than the layers of fuzz guitar that envelop the songs like cardigans, more than the sugary boy-girl harmonies, more than the undistilled pop wonder of the songs, The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart are fun. Whimsical, heartfelt, unadulterated fun. This, of course, assumes that you have a warm place in your heart for all things twee and that the idea of The Field Mice borrowing The Jesus & Mary Chain’s gear sounds like your idea of heaven. Other common name-drops include Velocity Girl, My Bloody Valentine, Teenage Fanclub… the list could go on and on, and the thing is – these comparisons are being made by those who hold these acts in the highest regard, and are really the highest form of compliment.

Though I was alive for it, I didn’t live through the original wave of jangle-and-feedback indiepop that arose on both sides of the Atlantic in the late ’80s and early ’90s. I came to it somewhat later, but The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart gives me a sense of how fresh and exciting it must have been at the time. How can you be nostalgic for something you never actually experienced? I don’t know, but I kind of like the feeling. And I love this record.

The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart are playing Lee’s Palace next Thursday, February 12, with The Depreciation Guild, who were praised earlier this week. To say I’m excited about this show is just a smidge of an understatement. Tickets are $10 in advance, and considering the show is now at a venue about 150% larger than its original home at Neutral, there’s plenty to be had. Do yourself a favour and get one.

There’s features on the band at Exclaim, The Village Voice and New York Press.

MP3: The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart – “Everything With You”
MP3: The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart – “Come Saturday”
Video: The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart – “Everything With You”
MySpace: The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart

The Skinny talks to Benjamin Curtis of School Of Seven Bells

Though he just paid us a visit in November, Neil Halstead is coming back to the Drake Hotel on March 21 as part of a North American tour. CBC Radio 3 points out that the show is part of the Drake Hotel’s month-long fifth anniversary celebrations, at least some of which are invite-only. I myself will still be at SxSW when this show goes down but any information or conditions about it that come to light beforehand, I will dutifully inform you all of.

Blurt has an in-depth conversation with M Ward, who releases his new album Hold Time on February 17.

Pitchfork reports that Okkervil River will release “Pop Lie” as a single from The Stand-Ins come April 21.

The Asheville Citizen-Times Q&A’s Patterson Hood of Drive-By Truckers.

The Hold Steady have a new release in the form of a live album/documentary DVD coming April 7. It’s called A Positive Rage and full details are to be had over at Paste.

Bob Mould discusses his forthcoming album The Life & Times, due April 7, with Spinner.

Metromix talks to Beirut’s Zach Condon. They release their new double EP March Of The Zapotec/Holland and having heard it, I understand why the latter half is presented under the “Realpeople” name… it’s out February 17.

John Vanderslice will release his new album Romanian Names on May 19.

Director Wes Anderson reminisces about making his first film, Bottle Rocket, with Filter.

Yuula Benivolski When you’ve become gotten to know a band exclusively through their live performances, it can be difficult to accept them as a recorded entity. Especially so when the band in a live setting possess a sort of elemental energy that you can’t imagine being done justice in a studio environment. This was the case with Toronto’s Bruce Peninsula, who made a serious impression with a series of shows back in 2007 which established the band, ten members deep when at full strength, as a potent new force on the local music scene.

A listen to their first recorded output last Summer – a 7″ of traditional folk recordings – verified that they’d somehow managed to capture their sonic potency, but it took some time with their debut album A Mountain Is A Mouth – out on Tuesday – to confirm that they’d really made a record that fulfilled all the expectations that had accumulated since August of 2007. And they have.

Mountain seems to have been crafted to emulate nothing less than a massive gathering storm. Opener “Inside/Outside” coalesces from a gentle, ghostly breeze into an ominous stomp whose energy remains mostly unrelenting through the whole of side one. Pounding yet surprisingly nimble percussion alongside singer Neil Haverty’s gruff field holler provides the foundation from which the choir’s angelic voices rise. And these aren’t the touchy-feely kind of angels – they’re the flaming sword-wielding kind. But for all the effectiveness of their sound and fury, it’s the eye of the storm – the delicate “Weave Myself A Dress” – that really pulls it all together. Misha Bower’s weary-beyond-her-years vocals are devastatingly vulnerable in contrast to tumult that surrounds them. The song provides a brief but essential respite before the winds again begin to whip.

The other revelation of the album is how solid the songwriting is. By choosing to work in such an old sort of blues/gospel/folk aesthetic, the band had to face the conundrum of how to sound authentic and yet still bring something new to the table and it’s saying something that the two traditional songs they’ve included in the set fit seamlessly with the original material. It’d have been easy enough to just rely on the intensity of their delivery to impress, but they’ve still taken the time to create something richly melodic and with real depth. It’s safe to say that A Mountain Is A Mouth is most unlike anything else you’ll hear this year, and for that reason alone it’s worth your attention. And if you need another, I’ll throw in the fact that it’s excellent.

Bruce Peninsula play the Horseshoe tomorrow night in support of The Tom Fun Orchestra, play an in-store at Soundscapes on February 4 to mark the album’s release and do a proper record release show on February 22 at the Polish Combatants Hall. You can miss one, or even two of these shows. But miss all three? Not an option. Exclaim documents the formation and formulation of the band, they talk to NOW about the process of capturing their sound on tape and there’s further interviews over at Echo and The Hamilton Spectator.

MySpace: Bruce Peninsula

Stereogum is offering up an MP3 from the new Great Lake Swimmers record Lost Channels, due out March 31. They play the Queen Elizabeth Theatre on April 25.

The Globe & Mail profiles Laura Barrett, complete with awful, awful headline.

Rolling Stone reports that Metric will release their new album Fantasies on April 14.

Final Fantasy have a new video from his Plays To Please EP.

Video: Final Fantasy – “Horsetail Feathers”

The Seattle Post-Intelligencier talks to Brendan Canning of Broken Social Scene.

Paste and Exclaim have features on AC Newman, playing Lee’s Palace on March 11.

Neko Case sounds off on animal rights to Spinner and verifies that you shouldn’t expect to see her in any PETA ads anytime soon. Her April 18 show at Trinity-St Paul’s is almost sold out and the April 17 date probably won’t be far behind. Hesitate and lose.

Popmatters plays 20 questions with Jason Isbell. He has a date at the Horseshoe on March 4 and is swapping an MP3 from forthcoming album Jason Isbell & The 400 Unit, out February 17, in exchange for your email.

Drowned In Sound finds out what’s next for The Magnolia Electric Co.

The Daily Texan speaks briefly to Jonathan Meiburg of Shearwater, who aim to have a new album out this year.

NOW talks to Gary Louris on the circumstances surrounding Ready For The Flood, his collaboration with former Jayhawks partner Mark Olson. They play the Mod Club February 4 and you can stream the album right now at Spinner.

Stream: Mark Olson and Gary Louris / Ready For the Flood

Drowned In Sound offers up a three-part interview with M Ward. Hold Time is out February 17.

Catherine LosingFor The Records pointed out a curious concert listing for UK indie-dance act Friendly Fires at the website for Beggars Canada – it puts the St Alban’s trio in town on March 31, but only narrows the venue down to two possibilities – Mod Club or Lee’s Palace. So all I can accurately say is that they’ll be in Toronto at an approximately 500-capacity venue on that date. And wherever they are, odds of a dance party breaking out are pretty much one to one. Personally, I think that Mod would be a much more suitable venue – the ass-shaking, slick and scratchy new wave/disco goodness of their self-titled debut demands spectacle, which Mod’s famously over-the-top lighting system is equipped to provide. Lee’s doesn’t even have a disco ball.

MP3: Friendly Fires – “Jump In The Pool”
MP3: Friendly Fires – “Paris” (Aeroplane Remix)
Video: Friendly Fires – “Skeleton Boy”
Video: Friendly Fires – “Paris”
Video: Friendly Fires – “Jump In The Pool”
Video: Friendly Fires – “On Board”
MySpace: Friendly Fires

Toronto vibraphone mavens The Hylozoists will release their new album L’ile de Sept Villes on February 3 and showcase it at the Mod Club on February 21. Update: They’re also playing a Soundscapes instore on February 10 at 7PM. Here’s some older stuff.

MP3: The Hylozoists – “Smiley Smiley”
MP3: The Hylozoists – “Strait Is the Gate”

Marissa Nadler, whom I believe ended up cancelling her last scheduled date here last Summer, will try and pay us a visit again on April 21 at the El Mocambo. She has a new album due out early this year. Here’s some older stuff.

MP3: Marissa Nadler – “Diamond Heart”
MP3: Marissa Nadler – “Thinking Of You”

Sebastien Grainger & The Mountains are doing an in-store at Sonic Boom on January 29 at 7PM.

MP3: Sebastien Grainger & The Mountains – “American Names”
MP3: Sebastien Grainger & The Mountains – “By Cover Of Night (Fire Fight)”

Putting lie to the notion that bands can only play larger venues as they get bigger, Born Ruffians and Akron/Family have a date at Sneaky Dee’s on March 24. Tickets are $13 and on sale now.

Earlier yesterday Uncut speculated that the release of that Neil Young video for “Fork In The Road” implied not only the impending release of a new album with the same name, which may well be true, but to also mean that the Archives set has been pushed back indefinitely to accommodate. They’ve since been corrected with the same information that one of the official Archive-ists left on a post at Thrasher’s Wheat – “NYA Vol 1 has been completed in BD, DVD, CD and Digital Download editions. The only thing remaining is announcement of a street date”. Which is good news, though it does put lie to the February 24 release date that most had been clinging to. In short, there’s lots of material coming from Neil this year. Only no one knows what and when.

The Seattle Post-Intelligencer interviews Kathleen Edwards, who is at Trinity-St Paul’s on February 13.

MP3: Kathleen Edwards – “Asking For Flowers”

The Quietus talks politics with Death Cab’s Nick Harmer.

Beirut have released a video from their forthcoming EP March Of The Zapotec, out February 17.

Video: Beirut – “La Llorona”

The Village Voice profiles Antony & The Johnsons. The Crying Light is out Tuesday and they play the Queen Elizabeth Theatre on February 17.

Muzzle Of Bees asks five questions of Los Campesinos!

The Decemberists are giving away a track from their forthcoming album The Hazards Of Love, out March 24. All you have to do is sign up to their mailing list. Colin Meloy was also on NPR’s World Cafe yesterday for an interview.

Clash talks to Kathy Foster of The Thermals, who will release Now We Can See on April 7.

The previously-mentioned untitled Bob Mould album also set for an April 7 release now has a title – Life And Times.

Filter talks to Ra Ra Riot, Daytrotter videotapes them playing in a park.

Pitchfork has an MP3 from M Ward’s Hold Time, out February 17. This track features the She to his Him, Zoey Deschanel, on vocals.

MP3: M Ward – “Never Had Nobody Like You”

Drowned In Sound solicits a mixtape from The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart, the buzz around whom is growing at a pace that’s considerably larger than Neutral, the room they’re slated to play here in town on February 12. If you’re curious, an advance ticket may be a good idea. Their self-titled full-length is out February 3.

NPR has an acoustic session with The Hold Steady while Wireless Bollinger has an interview.

Former Grandaddy frontman Jason Lytle will return to active musical duty on May 19 with the release of his first solo record, Yours Truly, the Commuter.

Amelia HandscombI realize that the geek-correct reason to have this coming Sunday weekend circled on the calendar is for the return for the final half-season of Battlestar Galactica on Friday night – and don’t get me wrong, I’m as psyched as any socially awkward individual about the final episodes and revelations that will be contained therein – but I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t more excited about the return of Flight Of The Conchords that same evening on Sunday (or really, the following morning when my torrents will have finished downloading). And yeah, I know the first episode has been available online for a couple weeks now, but it’s the principle of the matter (there’s a non-geoblocked stream available at Movieweb, for those of you/us who couldn’t access the initial official stream).

As with most things, I was late to the party and spent an intense week catching up on season one, though the flipside of that is that I’ve only had to wait six months or so for new eps whereas those who caught on immediately have had to do without for a long, arduous 16 months. My condolences, though it’s good to know that a quick dose of Bret and Jemaine to hold one over is just a YouTube search away. Even after multiple viewings, it remains some of the funniest stuff I’ve seen in ages.

And with new episodes come new songs, and with new songs comes a new album, a follow-up to last year’s self-titled effort, the whole of which is streaming at their MySpace. It’s due out on April 14, as soon as the second season wraps though each episode’s new song will be available online immediately after the show airs each week – details on that at Billboard. The AV Club has an extensive interview with Bret and Jemaine about the upcoming season, The National Post has a feature and NPR had the band/show/comedy act on the air yesterday for a talk and Buzzsugar talks to super-stalker/fan Kristen Schaal. But the piece of preliminary press that most caught my attention was this item at Filter (whose Summer 2008 cover story is also worth reading) – not because of what it says, but the photo attached – have a look at Jemaine’s tote bag. Is that a Sloan shout-out or is there another Jay and Chris and Patrick and Andrew out there?

“Baguette!”

MP3: Flight Of The Conchords – “Business Time”
MP3: Flight Of The Conchords – “Ladies Of The World”
Video: Flight Of The Conchords – “Ladies Of The World”
Video: Flight Of The Conchords – “Hiphopopotamus vs. Rhymenoceros” (episode excerpt)
Video: Flight Of The Conchords – “Inner City Pressure” (episode excerpt)
Video: Flight Of The Conchords – “Bowie” (episode excerpt)
MySpace: Flight Of The Conchords

Metro profiles Land Of Talk, playing tomorrow night at the Horseshoe.

Chart has details on Gentleman Reg’s new album Jet Black, which will finally be available on February 24. He will mark the day with an in-store that evening at Soundscapes at 6PM and play a proper set on March 12 at the Horseshoe as part of Canadian Musicfest.

Reuters talks to M Ward about new album Hold Time – not out till February 17 but currently streaming at NPR.

Stream: M Ward / Hold Time

There’s a lovely new video for the title track of Emmy The Great’s debut First Love, out February 2.

Video: Emmy The Great – “First Love”

Rolling Stone Q&As Steve Earle.

There’s a first MP3 available from Elvis Perkins In Dearland’s forthcoming self-titled album, out March 10.

MP3: Elvis Perkins In Dearland – “Shampoo”

Even though there’s no information on a new album – everyone’s talking about the old (release date is still February 24!) – there’s a video of sorts for a new song from Neil Young. Shake it, Shakey!

Video: Neil Young – “Fork In The Road”

Get a taste of Neko Case’s new album Middle Cyclones, out March 3. And if you have a blog or iLike profile, check out Anti-blog for info on how going all viral with the track will help out Best Friends Animal Society. Everybody wins. Besides obviously being a good cause, the timing is extra-special because today marks my two-year anniversary as a cat owner, an occasion which he celebrated the other night by demonstrating his uncanny ability to run and puke at the same time. Yay, kitty.

MP3: Neko Case – “People Got A Lotta Nerve”

Davida Nemeroff Seminal new music showcase Wavelength – across whose stage pretty much every Toronto indie band of note from the last decade or so has passed – celebrates its ninth anniversary next month and as they’ve done pretty much every year that I can remember, they’re marking the occasion with a full weekend of shows at venues all across the city.

The full lineup was announced over the holidays, and the evenings of February 12 through the 15th will look something like this: On the 12th it’s spooky folk at the Music Gallery with Timber Timbre (also playing this Saturday night at the Tranzac and doing an in-store at Soundscapes on January 15 at 7 to mark the release of their self-titled debut on Tuesday), Ghost Bees and Dorit Chrysler followed by an after-party/nightcap at the Cameron House with The Diableros and Loitering Heroes.

Friday’s venue is Wrongbar, and the bill is headlined by the much-acclaimed Slim Twig and also features Bonjay, Child Bite and The Magic. That’s not a lineup that’ll get me out to Parkdale but Saturday night’s soiree is definitely circled on the calendar, and not just because the Polish Combatants Hall is but a short walk from home. No, it’s because the lineup for that night features a number of acts that I’ve heard good things about and am looking forward to checking out. In particular I’m interested in $100, pictured here and recently featured both The Toronto Star and BlogTO – their debut full-length Forest Of Tears reveals a raw and unvarnished country band stuck in the city who do things slow and know a thing or ten about pain. Also playing that evening are Brides, Hooded Fang, The Luyas and The Element Choir.

And finally, things close out at Wavelength’s usual time and channel – Sunday night at Sneaky Dee’s. Theatrical party-pack Foxfire Forest have the honour of closing things out, accompanied by I Am Robot And Proud and a couple of out-of-town guests – Baltimore’s Thank You and San Franciscans Mi Ami.

As with all Wavelength shows, these are pay what you can events though a cover of $10 for these shows is suggested.

MP3: $100 – “No Great Leap”
MP3: $100 – “Forest Of Tears”
MP3: $100 – “Nothing’s Alright”
MP3: The Luyas – “Cats In A Bag”
MP3: The Luyas – “Tantamount”
MP3: The Diableros – “Heavy Hands” (demo)

Liz Powell tells Chart that she’s now officially a member of Broken Social Scene, meaning she now gets the decoder ring and newsletter subscription. Her other gig – Land Of Talk – will be at the Horseshoe on January 15.

NPR profiles Bon Iver, whose Blood Bank EP is out January 20.

Clash profiles Andrew Bird, releasing Noble Beast on January 20 and playing the Queen Elizabeth Theater on April 3.

There’s a video for the title track from M Ward’s forthcoming Hold Time, out February 17.

Video: M Ward – “Hold Time”

Calexico are giving away a free MP3 over at Threadless.

PitchforkTV has a two-part video interview with Okkervil River.

Elvis Perkins In Dearland will release their second album – a self-titled affair – March 10. A handful of new songs are streaming at their website.