aktualne.czI only came to the Manic Street Preachers with their 1994 breakout album Everything Must Go and thus missed the Richey Edwards years, only discovering the music and the legend retrospectively. And while I could submit the Manics v2.0 as having superior pop songs and Nicky Wire as a worthy lyricist with moments of brilliance, if a devout Edwards acolyte were to claim that with their original songwriter’s disappearance, the band had lost a crucial, ineffable creative fire that all the chart-toppers in the world couldn’t compensate for, I don’t think I could argue it.

While the first two Manics albums were decidedly flawed – Generation Terrorists overlong, Gold Against The Soul undercooked and both with production that’s aged badly – the band’s third and Edwards’ last, The Holy Bible, was and remains a masterpiece. Still one of the angriest albums I’ve ever heard, it mated Edwards’ seethingly articulate vitriol with a dry and intense sonic attack for a truly harrowing yet cathartic listening experience and after he disappeared, it’s not surprising the band was unable or unwilling to tread in such territory again – not many would be able to tap into such a vein of inspiration and come out of it whole.

But after fifteen years and five albums of varying quality – things went parabolic post-Go, hitting a nadir with 2004’s anaemic Lifeblood but they rebounded with the 2007’s solid Send Away The Tigers – the band surprised all by turning to notes and lyrics left behind by Edwards for their latest album Journal For Plague Lovers and consciously creating a sequel to The Holy Bible, right down to the sleeve artist and typeface. You’d have to be a special breed of cynical to view this as some calculated stunt – the Manics have said and done some questionable things over the years but their earnestness has rarely been in question – but good intentions don’t necessarily make for good albums. The trio are not the angry young men they were a decade and a half ago – could trying to recapture that spirit really end well?

Amazingly, yes.

Journal manages to take the live-wire energy of the Manics of old and mate it perfectly with the weight of experience of the Manics of today. Edwards’ lyrics, still verbose, literate and tongue-twisting, remain fixed on topics of body, blood and anxiety and it’s a testament to James Dean Bradfield’s abilities that he’s able to deliver them with the both the righteous fury of a young man and the seasoned nuance of an older man, and all while delivering his typically ripping guitarwork. Much was made of the use of Steve Albini as engineer on this record, but his sonic signature isn’t especially present – it may be a touch more abrasive than their last couple records, but is still stadium-sized.

The Manics have managed to take the tension and nihilism of The Holy Bible and temper it with the melodicism of Everything Must Go and the elegiac beauty of This Is My Truth and in the process, perhaps made the most defining album of their career. It’s hard to say how where they’ll go from here – after all, there are presumably no more words left from Edwards to frame – but even if they never reach these heights or degree of focus again and return to making decent if uneven records for the remainder of their career, that they not only attempted a project as fraught with risk as Journal but made it a triumph will stand as a tribute to their fallen bandmate and a testament to their own excellence.

Seeing as how the band viewed Journal as less a conventional album and more a personal project – at one point Nicky Wire didn’t even want to release it – there were initially supposed to be no singles or videos from it. It appears they’ve changed their minds on that as a video for “Jackie Collins Existential Question Time” has surfaced, complete with slightly sanitized lyrics – on the album, it’s not “if a married man begs a Catholic”… I wonder if Richey would have approved? The two downloads that NME put up a few weeks back – one a remix by The Horrors which will appear on a forthcoming remix album and the other a cover by The Manics of The Horrors’ “Vision Blurred” from Primary Colours – are still available, so grab those. A BBC documentary on the band, Shadows and Words, is also available on YouTube in three parts and there’s an interview with Wire at The New Statesman. I’ve heard nothing about a North American release for the record and touring over here is probably never going to happen again – I don’t think they’ve been back since the This Is My Truth tour way back in 1999.

MP3: Manic Street Preachers – “Doors Closing Slowly” (Horrors remix)
MP3: Manic Street Preachers – “Vision Blurred”
Video: Manic Street Preachers – “Jackie Collins Existential Question Time”
MySpace: Manic Street Preachers

I’ve not gotten a formal press release about it yet, but the listing on the venue’s website is official enough for me to be absolutely stoked about the fact that Elbow will be playing their own headlining show at the Phoenix on July 29 before opening up for Coldplay at the Rogers Centre the following night. This is definitely one to file under “wishes fulfilled”. Cannot wait. Tickets are $26.50.

LA2Day has words with Doves drummer Andy Williams and MPR is streaming a studio session with the band. They’re in town tonight at the Kool Haus.

The Guardian assembles an oral history of Blur from the beginning to the end. An ending which itself ends next month with the band’s reunion gigs in the UK.

Daytrotter has a session with Anni Rossi, with whom Toronto isn’t seeming to have much of a choice but to get acquainted with. She was here in late April opening for Noah & The Whale and will be returning not once but twice this Summer – she’ll be supporting Camera Obscura at Lee’s Palace on June 27 and then Micachu at the El Mocambo on July 14. Westword and SF Station have interviews with Camera Obscura’s Tracyanne Campbell while Clash talks to Micachu’s Mica Levi. Micachu also have a new vid.

Video: Micachu – “Golden Phone”

JAM and The Globe & Mail talk to Elvis Costello about Secret, Profane & Sugarcane, out tomorrow. He’ll play Massey Hall on August 28.

The Line Of Best Fit asks Fanfarlo what they’ve been listening to.

Bat For Lashes have a new video out.

Video: Bat For Lashes – “Pearl’s Dream”

Maximo Park have also released a new clip from Quicken The Heart, which has grown on me since I first got it but is still more forgettable than I’d like. They play Lee’s Palace on September 18.

Video: Maximo Park – “Questing, Not Coasting”

Face Culture has a series of video interviews with Patrick Wolf, Metro a print one and Virgin Music covers online. The Bachelor is out today in the UK and tomorrow in digital form here in North America. The CD is out August 11. He plays the Mod Club on June 17.

Glasswerk interviews White Lies, coming to the Phoenix on September 26.

Aubrey EdwardsI believe it’s traditional that on one’s birthday, one should be fed and watered profusely on someone else’s dime. So that’s exactly what I did last night, for my 34th, and it was all courtesy of NxNE. It wasn’t a party just for me, of course. The festival was having their kick-off press conference wherein they promised to announce “all” the bands playing this year’s to-do, taking place June 17 to 21 around Toronto, a feat which would have been impressive to see since the reading off of hundreds of band names could have been one of the more stultifyingly dull things I’d ever be able to witness.

But as it happens that wasn’t the game plan. Instead, they announced the bigger names who’d be performing the festival, which would have been great… if they weren’t the same names they’d already announced on the website last month. Don’t get me wrong, having the likes of Black Lips, Matt & Kim and No Age and Woodpigeon playing is nothing to shake a stick at, and one name that hadn’t been previously announced and raised an eyebrow was Seattle garage rock legends The Sonics, who will close out the outdoor stage at Yonge-Dundas Square on the Saturday night, June 20. But it’s just that I thought with a big media event they’d have held onto a few surprises to get people excited.

And while it was a bit of an anticlimax in that regard, it doesn’t change the fact that there’s a pretty solid lineup descending on the city come mid-June including a lot of great domestic acts – many of them the usual suspects, sure, but that doesn’t make them less great. And I suppose I got my big pleasant surprise of the festival a couple days ago when I got an email from Austin trio Ume informing me they’d be coming to town for NxNE. Ume, you may or may not recall, were one of the best things I saw at SxSW back in March – a trio led by the guitar heroics of Lauren Larson who balanced pop hooks and sweet female vocals with crazy heavy riffing. I had thought I was going to have to wait until next Spring to see them again, the odds of them touring all the way up here seemed beyond remote but hey, here they come. They’ll be playing Neutral on Thursday the 18th at 10PM – not sure what else is going on that night at that time, the festival schedule is still forthcoming, but I can tell you right now that this will be one of the best bets for that night, if not the whole weekend. They’ve got a couple releases – a 2005 album in Urgent Sea which is decidedly rougher and heavier than their new most excellent Sunshower EP – also check out their SxSW WOXY session. And it’s pronounced “ooo-may”, which you’ll need to know for when people ask you what was the best new thing you saw at NxNE was.

MP3: Ume – “The Conductor”
MP3: Ume – “Wake”
Video: Ume – “The Conductor”
MySpace: Ume

Harbourfront Centre has also released their World Routes 2009 schedule, and the highlights (some previously announced) would appear to be the Constantines show on Canada Day (though Chad Vangaalen isn’t listed, all indications are he’s still playing as well), Holy Fuck with Winter Gloves for Beats, Breaks & Culture on July 10, and Jenn Grant, Gentleman Reg and Amy Millan as part of Canadian Voices the weekend of July 24 and 25. And as always, these shows are free free free.

Amos The Transparent will be at the Horseshoe on May 22 in addition to their June 18 NxNE show at the Drake Underground. They have a new EP out called My, What Big Teeth You Have… and are encouraging the existence of Amos The Transparent cover bands by putting lyrics and chord sheets for their songs on their website.

And if NxNE proper wasn’t going to keep me busy enough that week, there’s also the big-deal shows on the preceding days. Music Snobbery has an interview with Phoenix, whose Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix is out May 29 and who play the Phoenix on the Monday, June 15.

And then you’ve got Patrick Wolf at the Mod Club a couple days later on Wednesday, June 17. The Sunday Mail talks to Wolf, whose The Bachelor is out June 1 in the UK and August 11 over here. I do believe I’ll be taking some time off from work that week. Yes I do.

As mentioned in last month’s writeup of Neko Case’s sublime Trinity-St Paul’s show, she’s coming back this Summer and details of said performance have been announced. Case will play Massey Hall on July 14 with tickets going for $29.50, $35.50 and $40.50. Presale goes tomorrow morning at 10AM with the password available at www.atgconcerts.com while the public on-sale begins May 15 at noon.

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

And if you’re looking for something damn near the opposite of Neko Case that night, you may want to consider seeing Micachu & The Shapes at the El Mocambo the eve of July 14. I (and the MBV posse) reviewed their debut album Jewellery back in March and as confounding as I found it, I can’t say that I won’t be at this show rather than see Case again. Can’t say that I will, but it’s not a no-brainer. Tickets $12.

MP3: Micachu & The Shapes – “Lips”

At long last, Frightened Rabbit are no longer frightened of Toronto and will play their own headlining show on July 22 at the Horseshoe, tickets $13.50 – book it.

MP3: Frightened Rabbit – “The Modern Leper”
MP3: Frightened Rabbit – “Head Rolls Off”
MP3: Frightened Rabbit – “Old Old Fashioned” (live)

Jack White’s new band – the Alison Mosshart-fronted Dead Weather – will be taking their debut album Horehound, out June 16, on the road and stop in at the Kool Haus on July 22.

Video: The Dead Weather – “Hang You From The Heavens”

The Walkmen have a date at Lee’s Palace on July 24, Cass McCombs supports.

Video: The Walkmen – “In The New Year”

NPR is streaming the whole of John Vanderslice’s new record Romanian Names, which is due out next week. He plays the Horseshoe on July 10.

Stream: John Vanderslice / Romanian Names

Good Radio Dept news for me – they’re playing a second show, albeit a short one, this weekend at NYC Popfest on Friday night at Don Hill’s in Greenwich to go along with their main gig on Saturday night at Bell House. Double the Radio Dept! Good Radio Dept news for everyone – they’re releasing a new EP on June 23 entitled David, hopefully a sign that Clinging To A Scheme will be out soon thereafter. Of course, I thought the same thing for last year’s Freddie & The Trojan Horse EP… but think positive!

Stuart Murdoch talks to Pitchfork about his God Help The Girl project, the album for which will be released on June 23. They are also soliciting subscriptions to the project, which will get you a steady stream of physical and digital goodies sent to your mailbox and inbox over the next few months.

Hooves On Turf recorded a video session with Fanfarlo back during SxSW, which is now online. The band are going to be giving their brilliant Reservoir album a more-proper retail release in the UK soon, but for everyone else, ordering it direct from the band is still the best way to get it, which you really really should.

MP3: Fanfarlo – “Pilot”

Avenue 61 interviews 6 Day Riot, last year’s top find of NxNE. Their new album 6 Day Riot Have A Plan will be out on July 6 in the UK.

The Los Angeles Times and Reuters talk to James Mercer of The Shins.

doves.netConsistency is no great fault, particularly when the standard that one rarely fails to meet is as high as it is for Britain’s Doves. For nearly a decade, since their 2000 debut Lost Souls, the trio has turned out an album of classic-sounding, widescreen, melancholic space-rock every few years, each of which manages to expand and build on that which came before to some degree, but never coming up with the watershed record, the game-changer, the quantum leap forward. Some might argue that Lost Souls was that record, one so fully-realized right out of the gate that we should be thankful they’ve managed to maintain that level of quality and to an extent, that’s true. Not one of their albums have been a misstep, each rich with equal parts yearning emotion, musical textures and fist-pumping anthemicism, but even so there’s a risk in feeling too familiar.

Their latest, Kingdom Of Rust, perhaps even despite their best efforts, feels just that familiar. To their credit, they do go out of their way to incorporate new influences into their sound – the motorik rhythms of “Jetstream”, the country-western gallop of the title track, the scorching psych-rock of “House Of Mirrors” – but by the time they’re done with it, they’ve been so effectively absorbed by the band’s own personality that the finished pieces still feel Mancunian grey and simply Doves-ish. On the plus side, being Doves-ish means there’s at least a couple of spectacular moments – in this case, the soaring “Winter Hill” is the album standout – and not really any glaring weak spots. But I can’t help feeling I’ve heard this all before.

There’d been some speculation before the record’s release that given the breakout year their compatriots in Elbow had in 2008, that this might be the year that another band of never-too-fashionable northerners got their due. I still hold out hope that that’ll happen someday, but I don’t think Kingdom Of Rust is the record to do it. It’s a good record and a fine addition to the Doves discography, successful at adding further depth an detail to the musical world that Doves have already created, but doesn’t extend its boundaries. It’s pretty much exactly the record that long-time fans were probably expecting, and sometimes what you’re expecting isn’t what you actually want.

PopMatters has an interview with Doves and NME TV has a chat with the band on video. Q gets the band to offer thoughts on each of their albums – Lost Souls, The Last Broadcast, Some Cities and Kingdom Of Rust. Doves are at the Kool Haus in Toronto on June 1.

Video: Doves – “Kingdom Of Rust”
MySpace: Doves

Bat For Lashes’ Natasha Khan counts down her five favourite albums to Spinner. She’s at the Mod Club on Saturday night for a sold-out show.

Shoegaze week continues at Drowned In Sound as they interview Neil Halstead of Slowdive and Mojave 3. They also salute Slowdive’s oeuvre.

Blurt also gets in on the shoegaze action, reporting that Chapterhouse’s 1991 debut Whirlpool is getting reissued next week with a few bonus tracks.

NME is offering a track from The Early Years for download, the band’s contribution to a compilation by UK shoegaze label Sonic Cathedral.

MP3: The Early Years – “Like A Suicide”

JAM Q&As Bloc Party’s Kele Okereke.

You can currently stream The Cure’s recent secret MySpace show in Los Angeles in its entirety over at their MySpace.

Franz Ferdinand will release a dub version of their latest album Tonight entitled Blood on June 1 – details at Billboard. They’re at the Kool Haus on May 4.

State has an interview with Carey Lander and The Village Voice with Tracyanne Campbell of Camera Obscura, latest recipient of the Pitchfork “Best New Music” honour for My Maudlin Career. They’re at Lee’s Palace on June 27.

NOW profiles Adele, who is playing Massey Hall on April 29.

Paste gets to know Micachu & The Shapes.

Artrocker goes behind the scenes of Sky Larkin’s latest video for “Antibodies”. Their debut The Golden Spike was supposed to be out domestically in North America by now, but apparently “technical difficulties” are holding that up some. No idea what the problem is – the CDs they had in the UK turned out fine. They just need to ship a few boxes of those over here posthaste.

MPR welcomes Robyn Hitchcock to their studios for a session.

I remember when people were all excited about M83 FINALLY came to town for the first time… Now they’re back for their fourth show in a year. Kinda less special. Look for them at the Phoenix on July 17.

NxNE has revealed a few more of the names set to play the festival this June 18 through 20.

But I suppose the biggest reveal yesterday was the fact that Virgin Festival is indeed coming back to Ontario for a fourth year (and also to Calgary and BC, apparently)- but you’ll note I said Ontario and not Toronto. I already knew that this year’s edition wasn’t happening at the Toronto Islands, but I’d assumed that meant Downsview Park. Nope. Try Burl’s Creek between Barrie and Orillia, an hour north of the city. That’s right – August 29 and 30 way up in cottage country – first reported at Consequence Of Sound and confirmed by myself through folks who know. I suppose this is actually keeping in the V Fest tradition, after all the UK editions in Chelmsford and Staffordshire are hardly in the hearts of any burgeoning metropolises, but then the British have an established tradition of traveling to and camping out at outdoor festivals. Over here? Not so much. So whereas my attendance at the first three were gimmes – festival a 10 minute bike ride from home? sure! – this one is far from it. I’m not a camper by any definition so there’s a whole issue of lodging to be dealt with on top of the transportation – I have not-so-fond memories of sitting for hours in traffic on the 400 up to Molson Park way back in the day – and that’s not even mentioning the prospects of being devoured by insects and/or bears. I’m going to reserve final judgment until I see the actual lineup – which should be soon – but it’s going to have to be pretty damned impressive.

George WrightWith most of his recent releases being of the archival sort – two box sets in the last two years in the form of I Wanna Go Backwards and Luminous Groove and with more to come – you might be forgiven for thinking that Robyn Hitchcock had his hands full reflecting on an enormous and impressive career. You would also, of course, be wrong. Even while supervising the extensive retrospective project, Hitchcock found the time to regroup with the Venus 3 – the 3/5 of R.E.M., Peter Buck, Bill Rieflin and Scott McCaughey, with whom he recorded 2006’s wonderful Ole Tarantula – and recorded yet another new album, the just-released Goodnight Oslo.

Unlike the bright and sprightly Tarantula, Oslo feels darker in mood and more expansive in tone, favouring more meditative, droning song structures and incorporating the likes of strings, horns and backing singers into the brew. But more importantly, like its predecessor, Oslo is full of classic-sounding, jangly pop songs turned on their heads by Hitchcock’s clever and curious wordplay and distinctive delivery. Having been at it for thirty-odd years, the man has a signature. And more importantly, he’s still working at an impressively high level. While he may have spent the last little while looking backwards, there’s no question he’s still moving ever-forwards.

Hitchcock and his crew are touring North America and will be at the Mod Club in Toronto this Thursday night, April 16. I saw them there in 2006 and even for someone only casually familiar with Hitchcock’s oeuvre, it was a tremendously enjoyable show. This should be no different. Courtesy of Against The Grain, I’ve got two pairs of passes to give away for this show. To enter, email me at contests AT chromewaves.net with “I wanna go backwards” in the subject line and your full name in the body, and get that in to me by midnight tomorrow evening – April 14.

There’s interviews with Hitchcock at Wired, JamBase, Philadelphia Daily News and Nashville Scene. And while there’s no album MP3 from Goodnight Oslo available, Hitchcock’s live shows are freely available at archive.org and that includes shows from the current tour, like this one from Carrboro, North Carolina where he naturally played some of the new material.

MP3: Robyn Hitchcock & The Venus 3 – “What You Is” (live)
MP3: Robyn Hitchcock & The Venus 3 – “Goodnight Oslo” (live)
MySpace: Robyn Hitchcock

Thanks go to Anika In London for pointing the way to this video session with Emmy The Great at Channel M. There’s also an interview with Emmy at The Is Nottingham.

And digging through those Channel M archives unearthed this session with Fanfarlo. Have I mentioned how great their Reservoir album is? I have? Good. Because it is.

Gomez have a date at the Phoenix on May 29 in support of their new album A New Tide.

Beatroute, The Georgia Straight and Decider have interviews with Friendly Fires.

Incendiary and The Skinny interview Micachu & The Shapes.

St Vincent has a new video from her new album Actor, due out on May 5.

Video: St Vincent – “Actor Out Of Work”

At long last, Los Angeles-based music mag Under The Radar has a proper website with actual content. Like this interview with Bob Mould. Under The Radar remains one of the best (and last) indie-centric music magazines out there in the physical world, I look forward to seeing the same high level of quality from them online.

Olly HearseyThe announcement that London trio Micachu & The Shapes had been signed to Rough Trade came with a short video for the song “Lips”, and curious as to who this latest labelmate to faves like British Sea Power and Basia Bulat was, I gave it a spin. And after viewing the 90-second clip, the only response I could come up with was, “uh, what?”. It depicted a scruffy-looking trio with an androgynous-looking frontperson creating a racket that seemed willfully primitive, and yet you couldn’t deny how meticulously and precisely it was all assembled – a method to the madness indeed. My initial reaction was that I never wanted to hear this again. My second reaction was to hit the repeat button.

And Jewellery, the trio’s debut – out today in UK out April 7 in North America – follows much the same pattern, simultaneously repelling and addicting with a dozen tracks of no-fi, hip-hop, anti-pop seemingly built from found sounds, circuit-bent electronics, willfully abused junk shop instruments and the hollered vocals of Mica Levi. It sounds dementedly otherworldly at first, but with repeated listens it becomes clear that it’s very much of this world – just gleefully turned inside-out and upside-down but never straying too too far into abstractionism. It’s like it knows it can only be anti-pop if there’s still some pop in there, so for every obtuse sound collage like “Ship”, there’s an only slightly bizarro melodic gem like “Golden Phone”. And while it’s nice to be able to metaphorically come up for air with tunes like that, I’m as surprised as anyone that I’m actually eager to dive back down into the depths of musical confoundment. Don’t take this as a Damascene moment that finds me abandoning good, old-fashioned pop for a life in the musical outer fringes, but I think my horizons just got a little bit wider. Just a bit.

MBV Music is currently streaming the whole of the album for today only and it’s officially unofficial Micachu day there – keep checking in for thoughts and commentary on the record from the other contributors. Drowned In Sound has an interview with Levi conducted by Emmy The Great, I Like Music offers an annoyingly paginated feature and The Telegraph profiles the band and confirms that Levi really does know exactly what she’s doing, whether it sounds like it or not.

MP3: Micachu & The Shapes – “Lips”
Video: Micachu & The Shapes – “Lips”
Stream: Micachu & The Shapes / Jewellery

The Sun has a feature on Polly Scattergood, whose debut self-titled album is out in the UK today. The bad news is that the North American release date is still a couple months off – May 19 – but the good news is that it’s even getting a North American release, which hopefully implies some touring/promo on this side of the pond. I got a promo of the album last week and my initial enthusiasm has proven not to be misplaced in the least.

Scotland On Sunday sits down with Charlie Fink of Noah & The Whale about their new album The First Days Of Spring, set for release sometime around the last days of Spring, in June. They play the Mod Club on April 27 and support for that tour has been announced as Ferraby Lionheart and Anni Rossi.

MP3: Anni Rossi – “Ecology”
MP3: Anni Rossi – “Wheelpusher”

St Vincent has released the first MP3 from her new album Actor, out May 5.

MP3: St Vincent – “The Strangers”

And St Vincent’s will be teaming up with The National on a cover of Crooked Fingers’ “Sleep All Summer” for SCORE! 20 Years of Merge Records: The Covers, a cryptically-named compilation celebrating Merge Records’ 20th anniversary by means of cover songs. Details at Pitchfork. And while there’s no shortage of mouth-watering contributions on the album, this particular one jumped out at me because Dignity & Shame is by far my favourite Crooked Fingers record (and I love them all quite a bit) and Annie Clark and Matt Berninger are about as perfectly cast to step into Lara Meyerratken and Eric Bachmann’s shoes on this song as anyone on the planet. You can hear the original on the Crooked Fingers MySpace. The National are at the Kool Haus May 21, Crooked Fingers at Trinity-St Paul’s April 17 and 18.

PitchforkTV and NPR are offering video and audio, respectively, from Antony & The Johnsons’ recent concert in Washington DC. The Advocate has an interview.

Yes, they were here just last week but Asobi Seksu will be back on April 19 at the Mod Club as support for French composer Yann Tiersen, perhaps best known for his work scoring Amelie. Is it a pairing that makes any sense? I have no idea. But there it is. Tickets are $20 in advance.

Also in the “back so soon?” category, The Von Bondies – here in February at the Horseshoe – are back on May 29 for a gig at Lee’s Palace. Tickets for that will be $13.50.

MP3: The Von Bondies – “This Is Our Perfect Crime”
MP3: The Von Bondies – “Pale Bride”

Brooklyn’s Kevin Devine has a date at the El Mocambo on June 3. Tickets $11.

MP3: Kevin Devine & The Goddamn Band – “Brother’s Blood”

And finally, U2 will be at the Rogers Centre on September 16.