Carl von ArbinIf you require an introduction to We Are Serenades – which you probably do – then let it be known that they are the collaborative project of Swedes Adam Olenius, whom you may know as frontman of of Shout Out Louds, and Markus Krunegard, who led an outfit called Laakso. If the latter doesn’t mean that much to you, that’s reasonable as I don’t think they made it overseas at all, and really, Shout Out Louds is really the only reference point you really need for We Are Serenades’ (who were called just “Serenades” until earlier this year) debut Criminal Heaven.

Olenius and Krunegard make a point of singing together across most of the tracks, but Olenius’ faintly Robert Smith-y delivery largely defines the vocals and guest vocals from fellow Shout-er Out Loud Bebban Stenborg, most notably on “Daydreaming”, only serve to make proceedings that much more familiar for fans of the outfit. Musically, it’s more of a stylistic hodge-podge with nods to the electro-, orch-, acoustic-, and power- varietals of pop music but the pastiche largely works in favour of the greater whole. As it’s culled from across a few years of writing and recording sessions during the downtime from their main gigs, it was probably a better idea to simply pull together the strongest selections rather than craft a more cohesive statement. Yeah, it may listen more like a compilation than am album but it’s a good listen and will scratch that certain itch until the next Shout Out Louds record comes along.

We Are Serenades are bringing Criminal Heaven to North America for a Spring tour and will be at The Garrison in Toronto on Monday, May 14. Tickets are $10 in advance but courtesy of Embrace, 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 Serenades” in the subject line and your full name in the body and have that in to me before midnight, May 9.

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

Reunions/hiatus-ends are usually trumpeted with press releases/press conferences so that the whole world knows, but I had no idea The Cardigans were back in action until seeing this interview with Nina Persson at The Guardian. It’s just some Scandinavian (and one Russian and two Japanese) festivals where they’ll be performing all of 1998’s Gran Turismo with no promises of further activity when it’s all done, but the idea of The Cardigans as an active concern, even in limited capacity, makes me happy.

The Quietus talks to Ane Brun; her record It All Starts With One is out tomorrow and she’s in town at The Great Hall on May 10.

A second taste of Sigur Rós’ forthcoming Valtari is available as a streamed BBC radio rip; the album is out May 29 and they play Echo Beach on August 1.

Stream: Sigur Rós – “Varúð”

The Guardian and Irish Times are doing their bit to get people excited about the new Richard Hawley record Standing At The Sky’s Edge, with The Guardian augmenting their feature interview with a stream of the album. It’s out May 7.

Stream: Richard Hawley / Standing At The Sky’s Edge

The Line Of Best Fit offers a precis of an interview with Kevin Shields in the pages of the latest Mojo wherein he offers more concrete information on the alleged new My Bloody Valentine album and EP which could be out before the end of the year. The Loveless, Isn’t Anything, and EP’s 1988-1991 remasters are out May 7.

DIY chats with The Cribs about their new record In The Belly Of The Brazen Bull, out May 15.

Maxïmo Park are streaming the new single from their forthcoming The National Health, out June 11.

Stream: Maxïmo Park – “Hips And Lips”

NPR is streaming a World Cafe session with Michael Kiwanuka. He plays The Great Hall on June 19.

The New York Times talks to Dev Hynes about the new, first-person shooter Blood Orange video for “Champagne Coast” from Coastal Grooves.

Video: Blood Orange – “Champagne Coast”

DIY talks to Gerard Love of Lightships.

Magnet Q&As The Twilight Sad as the Scots prepare to take the editorial reins of the magazine’s website this week and fill it with all kinds of doom, gloom, and comic books.

eMusic explores the discography of XTC.

Frank YangSomewhere over the last few weeks Sunday night’s Wedding Present show at The Horseshoe got co-opted as the “closing party” for Canadian Musicfest, an appellation I personally refused to acknowledge. The 21st anniversary show for Seamonsters? Absolutely. The tour in support of their just-released new record Valentina? Certainly. Closing party for a festival that at no point acknowledged the band as part of their programme or acknowledged they were exponentially greater than most everyone else who played? Not so much. But I suppose if you got in for free on account of having a CMW wristband, then you probably weren’t complaining.

And if you got there in time to see the openers, you were probably a little confused. Which is fair. Of the two bands listed as accompanying The Wedding Present on this Spring tour – Washington D.C.’s Jet Age or Tokyo’s Pinky Piglets – it was never clear which was going to be at the Toronto show, which was right at the changeover point of the routing. As it turned out we were getting both but even so, there was some further confusion as Pinky Piglets no longer existed having opted to change their name to the more cryptic Toquiwa and even then, they weren’t the band that took the stage first – that was the drum and bass duo called Zarigani $, who were also Toquiwa’s rhythm section and completely unbilled; I wouldn’t have even known what they were called had it not been for the helpful sign hanging off a keyboard stand. Got all that? No? That’s okay. They played some cartoon version of punk-prog for about 15 minutes – far too short a set to try and bridge the cultural divide and understand it – and then brought out two more members and transformed, Voltron-style, into Toquiwa.

And though no less bizarre to behold, they were at least somewhat easier to get a handle on. The addition of a guitarist and lead singer solidified a kind of punk/rockabilliy aesthetic, though still totally cartoon-like. The quartet looked like they were plucked straight off the playground of the Tokyo chapter of The School Of Rock, though the ease with which singer Asuja pounded back a beer adorably solicited from the audience was a hint that they were a bit older than they looked. In any case, it was energetic, ridiculous, gobs of fun and the band thanked The Wedding Present for taking them out on tour by covering “Kennedy” in their own unique manner.

The Jet Age, on the other hand, were about as opposite a band as you were likely to find, comprised of three guys who appeared to have lived through and learned from the days of ’90s college rock. They were a pretty straight power trio playing pretty straight rock with hints of hardcore in their DNA, each player clearly proficient with their instrument but having a fair bit of trouble sounding like they were actually playing with one another instead of overtop, falling out of time with each other on more than few occasions. Their monitors may have had something to do with it – their timing seemed to improve after some adjustments to their mixes – but that didn’t do anything to address the fact that their songs were, at best, unmemorable.

It sounds a bit perverse, but I actually had to make every effort to avoid seeing The Wedding Present at SXSW. They were playing a number of shows there but only one was a Seamonsters recital – I was actually there right before they went on and fled – so I would have had to catch at least two of them to equal this one and festival burnout notwithstanding, seeing them back in Toronto seemed the most logical thing to do. And kudos to The Wedding Present for being clever enough to keep me coming back; this would be my seventh time seeing David Gedge and company in the past decade or so, most recently in April 2010 doing Bizarro. So you’d think that I could skip one, but not seeing/hearing them play Seamonsters wasn’t even on the table – it’s easily my favourite Wedding Present record, marking the point at which they really evolved beyond being a clever singles band with a distinctive sound to an outfit capable of creating complete albums that were both emotionally and sonically rich.

Which is not to say that just hearing them showcase Valentina wouldn’t have been sufficient draw. Whatever he’s called his project, Gedge has been a remarkably consistent songwriter over the past quarter-century and even with the four-year layoff from El Rey, he’s not lost a step. It doesn’t break new ground – at this point, that’s not something to be expected – but does prove that the failures and foibles of romance will always be fertile ground for someone like Gedge to till and Valentina confirms that his lyrical edge is sharp as ever and musically, well loud guitars really never go out of style.

Unlike the Bizarro show where they had no new record to push and were thus able to preface the main event with a random selection of material drawn from throughout their career, this night’s first act leaned heavily on Valentina but the back catalog sprinkles – particularly “Quick Before It Melts” from the Cinerama years and Take Fountain closer “Perfect Blue” – were unexpected but tasty. That’s an upside of a band with a signature sound – with nothing ever sounding out of place in the set, you never know what they’ll pull out of their hats.

Well with the Seamonsters set, I suppose you knew exactly what they were going to do, and even though this was far from the same band that recorded that record – all the non-Gedge members were long gone and even this 2012 lineup was different from the one here last time, longtime bassist Terry de Castro having retired at the end of 2010 – they still attacked the material with the intensity you might expect from those who originally crafted it. I’d heard many of the songs included in sets before – and they were usually highlights – but played end to end they were able to recreate that crucial dimension of its flow, with all the churn, drone and lurch of the recording. It didn’t reproduce the gut-punch I felt when I heard it the first time, but it recalled it and that’s really all you could ask for. And while the band stuck to their tradition of not playing encores, that they played two more songs after the final note of “Octopussy” died out – not the bonus tracks from the US edition, that’d have been too much to hope – felt just as good.

And so what’s next? It’s still a few years before the 20th anniversary of Watusi; maybe the band will have gotten the right back and the album back in print by then? Be kind of an odd anniversary show otherwise. Or maybe a return to Cinerama! I’d be there. And possibly the only one.

BlogTO also has a review of the show and The Japan Times talks to Toquiwa about how they ended up touring with The Wedding Present.

Photos: The Wedding Present, The Jet Age, Toquiwa, Zarigani$ @ The Horseshoe – March 25, 2012
MP3: The Wedding Present – “You’re Dead”
MP3: The Wedding Present – “The Thing I Like Best About Him Is His Girl Friend”
Video: The Wedding Present – “You Jane”
Video: The Wedding Present – “You’re Dead”
Video: The Wedding Present – “Don’t Take Me Home Until I’m Drunk”
Video: The Wedding Present – “Ringway To Seatac”
Video: The Wedding Present – “I’m From Further North Than You”
Video: The Wedding Present – “Don’t Touch That Dial”
Video: The Wedding Present – “Interstate 5”
Video: The Wedding Present – “Yeah Yeah Yeah Yeah Yeah”
Video: The Wedding Present – “Chant Of The Ever Circling Skeletal Family”
Video: The Wedding Present – “No Christmas”
Video: The Wedding Present – “Loveslave”
Video: The Wedding Present – “Boing!”
Video: The Wedding Present – “Come Play With Me”
Video: The Wedding Present – “Silver Shorts”
Video: The Wedding Present – “Three”
Video: The Wedding Present – “Go Go Dancer”
Video: The Wedding Present – “Blue Eyes”
Video: The Wedding Present – “Dalliance”
Video: The Wedding Present – “Crawl”
Video: The Wedding Present – “Brassneck”
Video: The Wedding Present – “Why Are You Being So Reasonable Now?”
Video: The Wedding Present – “Nobody’s Twisting Your Arm”
Video: The Jet Age – “I Want You”
Video: The Jet Age – “I’m Starting To Wonder”
Video: Toquiwa – “Tokyo Merry Go Round”

Having taken an extended break following 2009’s disappointing Quicken The Heart, Maximo Park return on June 11 with album number four, The National Health. The title track is available to stream and initial impressions are that the time off has done them a world of good. Hope that’s the case.

Stream: Maximo Park – “The National Health”

DIY talks to The Futureheads about their new a capella record Rant, out this week, from which they’ve just released a video and there’s another “no instruments, please” video performance over at Digital Spy.

Video: The Futureheads – “The Old Dun Cow”

The Herald has a feature interview with Gerard Love, while The Guardian is streaming the whole of Electric Cables, the Teenage Fanclub songwriter’s gorgeous x1000 solo debut as Lightships, out this week.

Stream: Lightships / Electric Cables

The Fly check in with Hot Chip as they prepare for the June 12 release of In Our Heads and subsequent live date at The Sound Academy on July 15.

The Line Of Best Fit gets to know Fanfarlo.

Stereogum talks to Jason Pierce of Spiritualized about their new album Sweet Heart Sweet Light, out April 17. They play The Phoenix on May 5.

NPR talks to Noel Gallagher.

Clash interviews Graham Coxon.

The AV Club offers a Gateway To Geekery for Britpop, suggesting entry points for the works of Suede, Blur, and Pulp amongst others. I can offer a more concise guide: all of them. You’re welcome.

The Tallest Man On Earth has announced a new album entitled There’s No Leaving Now, due out June 12. Exclaim has details as well as some – not all – North American tour dates.

Niki & The Dove have released a new video from their forthcoming debut Instinct, out May 14 in Europe; a North American release date has not yet been confirmed.

Video: Niki & The Dove – “Tomorrow”

The Boston Globe and NOW talk to First Aid Kit while NPR puts them behind a Tiny Desk and makes them play a show. They do the same though from a regular old stage on April 4 at The Great Hall.

Daytrotter has posted a session with The Raveonettes.

MusicOmh chats with Pip Browne of Ladyhawke, whose new album Anxiety is out May 25.

BeboThough it came out back in May, I had intended to hold off on reviewing Maximo Park’s latest Quicken The Heart until next month when they were scheduled to play Lee’s Palace, but seeing as how they’ve just cancelled the whole North American tour – first The Charlatans, now Maximo, it’s been a bad week for Anglophiles over here – that seems a bit pointless. The other reason I was procrastinating on putting thoughts to paper (such as it were) was that I wanted to give it time to grow on me. Because if I’d tossed off a review when I first got a copy of the album back in the Spring, it probably wouldn’t have been too kind.

Here was an album that I’d been quite looking forward to from a band that had a pretty decent track record – though I was one of the few who preferred the follow-up Our Earthly Pleasures over their debut A Certain Trigger, both were undeniably solid records and even the b-sides compilation Missing Songs was better than many bands’ proper albums. So why did Quicken seem to drift by without leaving much impression at all? Best I can come up with is this.

Maximo Park made their name with wonderfully hyperactive and angular post-punk tunes served up with a healthy dose of melodicism and literate, heartfelt lyricism. Though the sharp edges were smoothed out a bit for the second record, they could still cut and the hooks and anthemic delivery more than compensated. On Quicken, however, the balance tilts too heavily towards articulating singer-songwriter Paul Smith’s emotional issues and the finished product just sags under the weight. Rather than lean and nimble as they are at their best, the songs feel like they’re distended to accommodate the words and while there’s still some solid melodies and hooks, they’re just not big enough this time out. Extended listens over the Summer have softened my opinion of the record as there’s certainly decent songs on offer, but the absence of an irresistible single or two to prop the whole thing up is keenly felt.

Even so, there wasn’t any doubt that they’d put on a good show – their last visit in 2007 was killer – so the fact that they’ve nixed this jaunt is a bummer, regardless of how good the last record is. Here’s hoping they’re good to their word and make it up in 2010.

MP3: Maximo Park – “Wraithlike”
MP3: Maximo Park – “Let’s Get Clinical”
Video: Maximo Park – “Questing, Not Coasting”
MySpace: Maximo Park

Speaking of cancellations, here’s one that apparently was and then wasn’t. For The Records pointed out that a September visit from Micachu had appeared briefly on their MySpace and then disappeared – and some digging revealed this piece at the Phoenix New Times which seemed to confirm that a tour had been planned and then canned. But apparently not the whole thing – Micachu & The Shapes will indeed be in town on September 29 for a show at the El Mocambo, where they totally impressed back in July. Tickets are $13 in advance.

MP3: Micachu – “Lips”

The Times talks to members of The xx about the possibility of the school that they and numerous other current UK artists attended closing its doors while Tourdates.co.uk asks them about their taste in covers. The xx will release their debut XX on October 20 and play the Phoenix on December 2.

That gig is in support of Friendly Fires, who are the subject of interviews with The Advertiser and The Guardian.

Charlie Fink of Noah & The Whale tells The Guardian about the heartbreak that informs the whole of their new album First Days Of Spring, out domestically on October 6. He also contributes a piece about creating the film component of the record and there’s another interview at I Like Music. Fall North American tour dates are forthcoming – in the meantime, check out the first video and grab the title track courtesy of The Times.

MP3: Noah & The Whale – “The First Days Of Spring” (.zip)
Video: Noah & The Whale – “Blue Skies”

Bat For Lashes will be releasing a deluxe edition of Two Suns that comes with a documentary DVD and eight bonus tracks. Well, I suppose if you’re going to milk the fan for every penny they’re worth, you may as well offer some value. The new package is out September 7 in the UK with North American and worldwide release dates forthcoming – assuming the DVD will have various video formats and regions, fans are recommended to wait for their own domestic release before buying. The Georgia Straight has an interview with Natasha Khan.

JAM, Canada.com Billboard talk to Arctic Monkeys about their new album Humbug, out today. They’re at the Kool Haus on September 29.

Elvis Costello may be in town this Friday night at stately Massey Hall, but Exclaim reports that an upcoming series of live bootleg reissues – I guess they’ve finally given up on re-re-re-re-releasing his studio albums – will kick off with Elvis’ oft-bootlegged 1978 appearance at T.O.’s El Mocambo. Live at the El Mocambo was previously released as part of the 2-1/2 Years box set but will finally see a wide release on its own as of September 29. What do you think the odds of Declan snarling, “these guys got the right idea they’re standing UP” on Friday are? Yeah, not great. And oh yeah, happy 55th birthday Dec.

MP3: Elvis Costello & The Attractions – “Radio Radio” (live at the El Mocambo)

The National Post talks to Alex Kapranos of Franz Ferdinand, who will be playing day one of V Fest this Saturday at the Molson Amphitheatre.

And playing day two will be Mew, whose new album No More Stories is out today and who are featured in a Daytrotter.

And speaking of V Fest this weekend, the schedule is up and everyone who was anxious about possibly losing their seats in running between stages can relax – pretty much everyone is playing the main stage. Set lengths have surely been truncated a bit relative to what they’d have been with a proper two-stage setup at Burl’s Creek, but they’re still pretty reasonable. And I have to say I’m pleased to see that both Nine Inch Nails and Pet Shop Boys are playing back to back because if there are two fanbases that need to be mashed together, its theirs. And if anyone is wondering, the forecast currently calls for 10 to 15 mm of rain on Saturday and 5 mm on Sunday, though the Saturday forecast dropped from 40mm in the last 15 minutes so it’s probably not too reliable. However if it proves true, everyone moaning about the move to the Amphitheatre may find themselves thankful for the canopy. Those on the lawns will still find themselves wet.

Finally, The Dumbing Of America has posted a little interview conducted with yours truly a couple weeks back. It’s gripping stuff, really.

Kevin WestenbergThis has already been covered ad nauseum everywhere – I saw it mentioned in some washroom graffiti yesterday – but I think my music blogging license gets revoked or something if I don’t report on it and anyways, it’s quick and easy and allows me to spend the evening watching television.

Everyone was abuzz last week when a song that sounded too much like Radiohead to not be Radiohead began circulating online without any official comment from the band’s camp. Naturally, everyone went batshit – they’d already released a new tune last week and recent interviews implied that they were tired of the conventional album release model and had some fresh ideas on how they’d release future recordings, so the idea that this was just the tip of a Radiohead-sized iceberg wasn’t an unreasonable assumption. Adding fuel to the fire was the discovery of an URL in some ASCII artwork that accompanied the leaked track that pointed to www.wallofice.com, which in turn pointed to w.a.s.t.e., Radiohead’s official webstore. By end of day Friday, the consensus was that the band would be releasing a new EP or album entitled Wall Of Ice on Monday, all sneaky-like, and all the ills of the world would be cured. Pitchfork has a summary of all this if you seek more detail.

Anyways, Monday rolled around yesterday as it often does following Sundays and lo and behold, there was indeed a new Radiohead release available for free on their website. One song – “These Are My Twisted Words” – which was the exact one that had been circulating since Friday and which started all the brouhaha. It’s a good one, for sure, and alongside Harry Patch gives a tantalizing taste of where Radiohead are, creatively, but hardly the grand event many had been hoping for. And what about www.wallofice.com? Well assuming that that is, in fact, a Radiohead-sanctioned site, it now scolds everyone for rumour-mongering and generally being the internet. So, it seems by completely ignoring all this hubub until now, I may the one and only online outlet to remain in Thom Yorke’s good graces. Nyah!

Anyways, assuming that the ‘Head are done messing with peoples’ heads is probably unwise. When they take their time off, they’re almost deathly silent, but when they get up to stuff, they get up to a lot.

ZIP: Radiohead – “These Are My Twisted Words”

Moving on.

Maximo Park frontman checks in from Germany with another tour diary dispatch for Spinner. Think their September 18 date at Lee’s Palace will merit an entry of its own? No, probably not.

Channel News Asia has an interview with Emmy The Great, who has been keeping Summer festival diaries for The Guardian and Clash.

The Horrors have released a new video from Primary Colours. They’re at Lee’s Palace on October 14 and am hoping to score some decent tickets for the just-announced second Wilco show at Massey Hall on the 15th so I can see these guys the first night. Won’t be around for the presale tomorrow though – anyone want to grab me a ticket? I’m good for it, honest.

Video: The Horrors – “Mirror’s Image”

Also with a new video is Fanfarlo, who bring their delightful Reservoir album to North America on October 6. Paste declared them one of their “Best of what’s next for 2009” and they’re not wrong.

Video: Fanfarlo – “The Walls Are Coming Down”

Arctic Monkeys insist to BBC that their new album Humbug, out August 25, is not more “mature”. They are at the Kool Haus on September 29.

The Dumbing Of America has an interview with Charlotte Hatherley, whose New Worlds will be out in the UK on October 19.

The Times has a profile on Patrick Wolf.

NME reports that Placebo have canceled their entire upcoming North American tour in support of Battle For The Sun, including the October 6 date at the Sound Academy in Toronto, while frontman Brian Molko recovers from a virus contracted in Asia. Sidestepping joke about hoping Molko gets real drugs and not fake ones…. now.

The Boston Globe talks to Richard Thompson about his new box set Walking On A Wire: 1968-2009, which is out today. You can stream a sample of songs from the collection at Spinner.

Stream: Richard Thompson / Walking On A Wire (selections)

If you ever wondered exactly what you were getting when you paid for “remastered” reissues, check out this absurdly detailed report on what was done for the upcoming Beatles remasters, coming out September 9. I’m no big advocate of buying the same records over and over again, but if you’re a Beatles fan, these may well be worth the dosh.

Tom BeardIf I had more time or inclination, I might try to dig up some biographical info on Robbie Furze and Milo Cordell, the duo who make up the London-based outfit that goes by The Big Pink. But seeing as how they pretty much came out of nowhere from where I stand, I won’t try to pretend I know any more about them than you could glean from reading this piece on them from The Guardian from last November. And instead of talking about who they are, I’ll focus on what they do – which is make a fuzzy, clattering racket that sounds like various shoegazey portions of my CD collection got to copulating when I wasn’t looking.

Their debut A Brief History Of Love is due out on 4AD on September 22 and is currently streaming on the band’s website through the start of next week. It’s louder, funkier and more anthemically inclined than your typical dreampop-inspired sounds, decidedly fond of the square wave, unafraid of digital textures and respectful of the drone. It doesn’t necessarily bring anything new to the table but it does take some familiar sounds and moves from the last 20 years or so of British space-rock, dusts them off and gives them a good shine before pushing them out onto the dance floor. I approve.

The duo, hopefully bolstered with a live band rather than a laptop, will be touring relentlessly through Europe, the UK and then North America this Fall and that will include a November 29 date at Lee’s Palace. Check them out, but leave the fruit baskets at home.

MP3: The Big Pink – “Dominos”
MP3: The Big Pink – “Velvet”
Video: The Big Pink – “Velvet”
Video: The Big Pink – “Too Young To Love”
MySpace: The Big Pink

Consequence Of Sound has details on the forthcoming reissue of Spiritualized’s seminal Ladies And Gentlemen We Are Floating In Space, which will include new artwork (blasphemy!) to go with two bonus discs of outtakes and general bonus material.

Video: Spiritualized – “Electricity”
Video: Spiritualized – “Come Together”

Interview talks to Guy Garvey of Elbow. Locals may have noticed that the Letterman appearance they canceled last week’s Toronto show for never actually aired – according to this Facebook note, the show ran long and the performance had to be cut from the broadcast. Figures. But they’ve been invited back for another go in September so hopefully they’ll take advantage of being back on this continent and also reschedule that Phoenix show. Fingers crossed.

What We See Is What You Get is a site that has taken the Takeaway Show aesthetic of impromptu live performances to the streets of Toronto, and are slowly building a nice collection of videos including this one with Frightened Rabbit.

Maximo Park checks in from Japan with a tour diary dispatch for Spinner. They’ll be at Lee’s Palace on September 18.

The Quietus trades emails with The Twilight Sad’s. Their new album Forget The Night Ahead is out out September 22 and they’ll be at the El Mocambo on October 10.

They’re accompanied on that tour with We Were Promised Jetpacks – The Wickerman Festival have an interview with the band.

Exclaim reveals that Echo & The Bunnymen have finally set a release date for their new album The Fountain – look for it October 12, but don’t look for them to play it when they’re at the Queen Elizabeth Theatre on October 20 – that evening is dedicated to Ocean Rain.

Billboard reports that Jarvis Cocker is writing songs for the Russell Brand-powered “sequel” to Forgetting Sarah Marshall, Get Him To The Greek.

Stereogum gets a progress report on album four from The Futureheads.

Kate Nash reveals to NME that Bernard Butler will be producing her second album. I like the sounds of that, yes I do.

NME also has an update from Glasvegas on their plans for recording album number two.

Bloc Party tells NME they have no definite plans for a new album or really anything at all once the current round of touring is over.

Already out in the UK, Noah & The Whale’s sophomore effort The First Days Of Spring will get a North American release on October 6 with touring on this side of the Atlantic to follow later that month.

NPR is streaming a session with Robyn Hitchcock.

Chart talks to Anthony Gonzalez of M83.

Both NOW, eye and The Montreal Mirror welcome St Vincent to Canada. St Vincent plays the Horseshoe on Saturday night.

Interview chats briefly with Lykke Li, in town at the Sound Academy on Sunday evening.

Yeah Yeah Yeahs review and photos coming Monday. There’s a lot to go through!