FacebookThey’d announced some time ago that these were coming, but to actually see the dates and have something on the calendar to circle is still pretty exciting. I am referring, of course, to The Wedding Present’s just-announced North American tour wherein they will not only preview material from their forthcoming eighth album – title and release date still to come – but mark the twentieth anniversary of their third full-length Seamonsters by performing it live, in its entirety.

They did this on their last visit in April 2010, celebrating Bizarro turning 20 with a recital, but this show is extra-special because Seamonsters is, quite simply, the band’s best record. It took the romantic casualty archetype that populated David Gedge’s earlier compositions and rather than make him hapless again, it took the jilt and turned it into anger. At the same time, producer Steve Albini – who’d worked with the band on some EPs – was brought in to give the record a correspondingly dry, rough and muscular sonic signature; whereas the band’s signature churning guitars had previously been more effective as bludgeons, now they carried blades and weren’t afraid to use them. The result was the band’s most aurally and emotionally dynamic album and it’s going to be amazing to see and hear live.

Of course, it won’t be the same lineup performing it as who recorded it – Gedge has long been the only constant in The Wedding Present and his bandmates all many years his junior, but it will be odd to not see Terry de Castro on bass for the first time. She left the band in August of last year, ending a 12-year run as Gedge’s bassist and backing vocalist, dating back to his tenure as Cinerama. The new girl is one Pepe le Moko. I am guessing that’s not her real name but it’d be awesome if it was.

The Toronto date goes March 25 at The Horseshoe. Tickets are $18.50 in advance and as it comes at the tail end of Canadian Music Week, a limited number of wristbands will be admitted.

Video: The Wedding Present – “Dalliance”
Video: The Wedding Present – “Crawl”

Los Campesinos! will kick off 2012 with a North American tour in support of Hello Sadness that includes a two-night stand at Lee’s Palace, January 21 and 22. Tickets for each show are $20 in advance. DIY has an interview with the band.

MP3: Los Campesinos! – “By Your Hand”
Video: Los Campesinos! – “By Your Hand”

Hey, remember The Darkness? They had a huge hit in 2003, kind of broke up amidst drugs and booze abuse, had some unremarkable side projects and then reunited earlier this year? Yeah, that Darkness. Well they’re crossing the pond next year and will kick off their tour at The Phoenix on February 1, tickets $29. I’m not sure why I posted this bit of news – maybe just to have an excuse to listen to that song. You know the one.

Video: The Darkness – “I Believe In A Thing Called Love”

Bombay Bicycle Club have slated an enormous North American tour in support of their third album A Different Kind Of Fix; the Toronto date is March 1 at the Mod Club and tickets are $18.50 in advance.

Video: Bombay Bicycle Club – “Shuffle”

And because the karmic balance of concert announcements must be maintained, take note that Still Corners have had to cancel their upcoming North American tour in support of The War On Drugs, including the December 9 show at The Horseshoe. Similarly, those looking forward to a (relatively) intimate club show from Kasabian on March 29 may be disappointed to know that it’s been moved to the twice-as-large Kool Haus. Those who missed out on tickets when they sold out in hours, however, will be pleased. See? Karma.

Loud & Quiet interview Veronica Falls, in town at The Garrison on February 14. They’ve also put together a mixtape for your listening pleasure over at Clash.

Summer Camp has a sit-down with Loud & Quiet.

Clash checks in with Scott Hutchison of Frightened Rabbit, hard at work on album number four.

Loud & Quiet talk to Mogwai, a band who knows a thing or two about both loud and quiet.

LA Weekly solicits some choice quotes from Liam Gallagher of Beady Eye.

And while most people are still busy listifying 2011, BBC has their eyes squarely on the future with the long list of their annual Sound Of 2012 poll. Guaranteed that at least some of the artists listed, you will be hearing about in the near future. If just in the context of not winning the BBC Sound Of 2012 poll.

Frank YangIt’s not especially unusual for bands active in the ’90s to be doing the reunion thing these days – it’s more unusual when a band who had any kind of following 15 to 20 years ago to NOT at least feel out the market for a comeback – but an extra degree of excitement is warranted when you’re talking about the Elephant 6 collective. Now granted, when you’re talking about a scene as broad and loose as E6 was/is, it can be argued that it never went away and sure, Of Montreal and Elf Power and myriad side-projects and less high-profile acts with ties to the scene continue on – albeit without the curly “E6” logo on their releases – but most of the first wave of bands who emerged from that generation of Athens, Georgia bands faded into myth before the end of the last century with really, only Robert Schneider’s Apples In Stereo continuing to plug along.

And while most of the attention in 2011 has surrounded the return of Neutral Milk Hotel’s Jeff Mangum from the wilderness to the stage, by rights there should be a comparable amount of buzz around The Olivia Tremor Control’s return to touring. The melding of experimental found soundscapes and indelible pop classicism of their two albums Dusk At Cubist Castle and Black Foliage are basically a clinic on creating a unique and vivid world out of just sound and how to bend one’s mind with melodic hooks. It’s unequivocally great stuff and on Friday night, it came to Toronto for the first time in who knows how long (six months if you count the OTC-heavy Elephant 6 Holiday Surprise tour that came through in March, but for argument’s sake let’s not).

Opening up was Elephant 6 stalwart Julian Koster, who since the disbandment of Neutral Milk Hotel has been operating as The Music Tapes. I’d never seen him before, but reports of his highly-developed sense of whimsy were widespread and happily accurate. His stage setup involved as much thrift store trinkets and gewgaws as musical instruments, and between he and his two bandmates, there were a lot of instruments with Koster focusing on the singing saw and bowed banjo. Songs were offered in about equal quantity as stories and skits and sometimes the two were one and the same, as with their marching band expedition into the audience. It was all wholly entertaining – you didn’t notice the hour go by – and it was nice to realize that for all the stuff going on around the songs, the band were talented musicians and arrangers. And as for the stories about the carnival performers pulling cities out of their mouths or the great uncle who turned his shadow into an elephant – I don’t expect that there was any truth to them but oh I wish there was.

Much of The Music Tapes stage clutter was cleared out before The Olivia Tremor Control took over, but it seemed that every piece of set dressing that was removed was replaced by a musician. Though it’s Bill Doss and Will Cullen Hart who are the key figures in that band, they numbered eight and sometimes nine, including two-thirds of The Music Tapes and Scott Spillane of The Gerbils (which also made for half of Neutral Milk Hotel, but the E6 family tree is really more of a wreath and not worth dwelling on).

As implied earlier, listening to Olivia Tremor Control records is an immersive and occasionally disorienting experience, though generally in a good way. I can now say with first-hand knowledge that the live show does a pretty good job of reproducing this. It probably would have been relatively easy to extract the proper songs from their recordings and perform them as such without complaint from their fans, but it wouldn’t really be Olivia Tremor Control without that anarchy, would it? Accordingly, their 100-minute set was like a primordial soup of sound created by a pawnshop orchestra – guitars, keys, samples, clarinets, saw, percussion – from which they would pull out both beauty and chaos – sometimes at the same time – with only occasional breaks for tuning, drinks or chatter. It wasn’t always tight or pretty but if they wobbled a bit on the straightaways, they took the corners like a pro and nailed every key hook and those Doss-Hart harmonies – when not occasionally lost in the mix – sounded glorious.

It’s funny, as happy as I was to see and hear OTC live, they weren’t one of the bands that I’d always held out hope would get back together and take it on the road. I attribute that to the fact that their records were such fully-formed worlds unto themselves that the idea that these songs might exist in the real world, outside of the context of those albums, was like trying to imagine cartoon characters as flesh and blood. Yet here they were, sounding great and playing with a sort of chemistry that made the fact that they hadn’t performed regularly as a unit in so many years hard to believe. That the band is working on new material – NPR premiered the first new OTC song in over a decade a little while back – is good news for all, and maybe we’ll start seeing that E6 logo on some records again.

Exclaim also has a review of the show.

Photos: The Olivia Tremor Control, The Music Tapes @ Lee’s Palace – September 16, 2011
MP3: The Olivia Tremor Control – “Hideaway” (live in Athens, GA – April 15, 2005)
MP3: The Olivia Tremor Control – “NYC-25” (live in Athens, GA – April 15, 2005)
MP3: The Olivia Tremor Contro – “Jumping Fences” (live in Athens, GA – April 15, 2005)
MP3: The Music Tapes – “Majesty”
Video: The Music Tapes – “Majesty”
Video: The Music Tapes – “For The Planet Pluto”
Video: The Music Tapes – “The Minister Of Longitude”

A couple of unreleased Neutral Milk Hotel songs which will be appearing on that box set that is being released on November 22 is available to stream.

Stream: Neutral Milk Hotel – “Little Birds (Unfinished version 2)”

Magnet talks Obscurities with Stephin Merritt.

Sigur Ros have finalized details on the release of their live Inni film/album; it’ll be out on November 8 and be available in either double-CD or triple-LP formats, the former coming with the option of DVD or Blu-Ray and the latter only with DVD, or digitally-only if that’s your thing. There’s also a super-fancy limited edition box set which you can read about at Exclaim. One of the live tracks is available to download and Toronto screenings of the film begin October 28 at the TIFF Lightbox.

MP3: Sigur Ros – “Festival” (live)

The Line Of Best Fit chats with Barry Burns of Mogwai.

Emmy The Great has released a second video from her second album Virtue.

Video: Emmy The Great – “Paper Forest (In The Afterglow Of Rapture)”

Also with a new video are Arctic Monkeys, for the title track of Suck It And See.

Video: Arctic Monkeys – “Suck It And See”

And Manic Street Preachers have a clip for the single off their forthcoming best-of collection National Treasures, out October 31 – it’s a The The cover.

Video: Manic Street Preachers – “This Is The Day”

The Von Pip Musical Express reviews Ladytron’s latest Gravity The Seducer and talks to vocalist/keyboardist Helen Marnie about it while The San Francisco Chronicle talks to Reuben Wu. They’re at The Phoenix on November 5.

Arcade 44 talks to Greg Hughes of Still Corners. Creatures Of An Hour is out October 11 and they play The Drake Underground on October 25.

Clash lists off ten things you didn’t know about Damon Albarn.

FacebookRoving gang of musical Welsh nogoodniks Los Campesinos! announced the existence of their fourth album Hello Sadness just last week, but they’ve already followed up that news with both the first downloadable MP3 from the record and video, both for the record’s leadoff track – a song which despite the band’s supposed claims to welcoming despair into their lives, sound pretty damn peppy. Or shouty, at least.

And while you’re getting down to that, they’ve also announced a handful of – well, four – American tour dates to preview the record. Note that doesn’t the crew won’t be crossing the border north of the US this time, but seeing as how they’ve never been averse to visiting Toronto and Canada repeatedly, expect a date when broader touring plans are announced.

MP3: Los Campesinos! – “By Your Hand”
Video: Los Campesinos! – “By Your Hand”

Noah & The Whale – who proved their ability to get super-sad with second album First Days Of Spring – return to town to party like it’s the Last Night On Earth at The Phoenix on November 8, part of a full North American tour; admission is $20 in advance. Interview has a chat with violinist Tom Hobden.

MP3: Noah & The Whale – “The First Days Of Spring”
Video: Noah & The Whale – “Tonight’s The Kind Of Night”

Baeble Music has a Guest Apartment interview and session with Laura Marling. A Creature I Don’t Know is out Tuesday and she plays The Great Hall on September 23.

Beatroute, The Edmonton Journal, OC Weekly and The Calgary Herald have feature pieces on The Joy Formidable.

Even though there’s really no need to reissue an album that was just released in February, Yuck will get a deluxe edition of their self-titled debut on October 11 that includes a 6-track bonus CD – you can stream one of the new offerings at Pitchfork. They play The Horseshoe on September 27.

Stream: Yuck – “Cousin Corona”

The Guardian is streaming Mogwai’s new EP Earth Division, out next Tuesday, as well as notes from Stuart Braithwaite. So go and stream it and read. Go.

Stream: Mogwai / Earth Division

Also streaming and out next week is Acrobat, the second album from Peggy Sue.

MP3: Peggy Sue – “Cut My Teeth”
Stream: Peggy Sue / Acrobats

Music Broke My Bones and The Whiteboard Project have interviews with Slow Club, the latter of which is hilariously conducted via whiteboard. Paradise is out next week.

Grantland sends Chuck Klosterman to interview Noel Gallagher. A pretty great read regardless of your opinions of either character ensues. Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds release their debut album on November 7 and play Massey Hall on November 7 and 8.

Wears The Trousers chat with Esben & The Witch.

DIY has a feature interview with Patrick Wolf and the singer-songwriter fesses up to Clash about his love of waterslides.

Though he’s supposed to be gearing up for the Horrors tour which brings him to Lee’s Palace on September 27, Faris Badwan tells Exclaim that his side-project Cat’s Eyes plans to release two more records in 2012. Which is good news because Cat’s Eyes was great. And Badwan talks Horrors with The Illinois Entertainer.

Beatroute has an interview with Arctic Monkeys.

Artrocker has the new video from Sons & Daughters, taken from their latest Mirror Mirror.

Video: Sons & Daughters – “Rose Red”

Goth godfather Peter Murphy brings his new solo record Ninth to town for a show at Lee’s Palace on November 23, tickets $29.50.

MP3: Peter Murphy – “I Spit Roses”

Though the media cycle on New Order of late has mainly been about irrevocably rent asunder they are with the acrimonious departure of bassist Peter Hook, Spinner reports that it’s a bit of a zero-sum game as original keyboardist Gillian Gilbert is back in the fold for a couple of charity gigs in October. Unsurprisingly, Hooky is unimpressed. Which makes me wish that Ian Curtis was capable of issuing press releases so we could find out what he thinks about what Peter Hook is up to.

Fanfarlo have completed their second album and while it’s still untitled and has no release date, it does have a video for the leadoff track.

Video: Fanfarlo – “Replicate”

The Line Of Best Fit goes on an in-depth expedition into The Radio Dept.’s discography with founders Johan Duncanson and Martin Larson as sherpas. The Radio Dept are at The Mod Club on November 17.

Exclaim has some details of Swedish sister act First Aid Kit’s second album; The Lion’s Roar will be out on January 24 of the new year and you can see them supporting Lykke Li at The Sound Academy on November 15.

Little Dragon have released a new video from Ritual Union; they’re at The Hoxton on October 12.

Video: Little Dragon – “Brush The Heat”

Pitchfork has a new video from Sigur Ros taken from their Inni live film and album, due out November.

Video: Sigur Ros – “Klippa”

If you like Howling Bells and are willing to admit as much via Facebook, you’ll be able to stream their new record The Loudest Engine. It’s out Monday.

Stream: Howling Bells / The Loudest Engine

NME talks to Empire Of The Sun’s Luke Steele about their plans for album number two. But before that, they will play The Sound Academy on Tuesday evening, September 13.

Frank YangSo as mentioned yesterday, I’ve been on a little vacation in New York City the last few days. And while it was originally intended to be a music-free trip, when one of your favourite artists schedules a rare North American show that almost coincides exactly with your visit and at a venue three blocks from where you’re staying, well you adjust your plans. Which is why I was in Manhattan a day earlier than intended – to see Emmy The Great at The Studio at Webster Hall.

Support for the night was quite obviously added for scheduling compatibility rather than artistic, Joywave being a five-piece from Rochester, New York trading in boilerplate indie rock circa 2011 – dance-friendly rock with bits of funk and soul added in for good measure. Not bad, but not especially distinctive either. They do lose points, however for loudly talking by the bar through the headliner’s set. A lot of points. Okay, all points.

This actually wasn’t the first time I’d trekked down to the Big Apple to catch Emmy The Great – I did the same back during CMJ 2008 but those shows were more a bonus as I’d really hopped on a plane to see her fellow Brits Lucky Soul. Still, it was quite a contrast in performances between then and now. Then, her debut First Love was still a few months away so the performances were quick, stripped-down commando-style CMJ day shows that felt akin to busking. This time, she was following the release – at least in the UK – of her second album Virtue and had recruited locals Space Camp to play with her for these two US shows (the first was the night before in Philadelphia).

If Virtue represented an artist shaking the ‘folk’ tag in favour of ‘pop’, then this show saw her trying ‘rock’ on for size. Okay, that may be overstating a bit but with the thicker-sounding arrangements and Emma-Lee Moss wielding a shiny silver Gretsch for stretches of the set, it was certainly something different. There were a few point where the heavier and louder approach overwhelmed the material – whether it was the mix, the arrangements or the execution I can’t really say – but an ideal balance was struck around mid-set when Moss picked up the acoustic.

The 50-minute main set leaned heavily on Virtue, with only the two singles from First Love in the mix. Moss acknowledged that she technically had no records released in North America at the moment, but did mention that Virtue would be out in January, presumably in physical form and hopefully alongside some proper touring to promote. But as a treat to the hundred or so in attendance who’d most likely been following her career via singles and demos as long as I had, she went old-school and solo in the encore by honouring a request for “Edward Is Deadward” and a performance of “MIA” which she prefaced by criticizing the titular artist for her London riots tweets (Moss, by comparison, used her Twitter account to coordinate clean-up efforts). And as a big finish, she brought the band back out and invited Devonte Hynes of Blood Orange to join her on guitar and vocals for a cover of Weezer’s “Island In The Sun”. Considering it was through Hynes’ first Lightspeed Champion record that I first discovered Emmy The Great – she did backing vocals on it – the combo was especially sweet. And though I’d originally intended this trip to be a vacation both from my day job and the blog job… one night of working turned out to be pretty OK.

The Paris Review and Popingcherry have interviews with Emmy The Great. Joywave are giving away a free mixtape download.

Photos: Emmy The Great, Joywave @ The Studio at Webster Hall, New York – August 18, 2011
MP3: Emmy The Great – “A Woman, A Woman, A Century Of Sleep”
MP3: Emmy The Great – “We Almost Had A Baby” (Simon Raymonde mix)
Video: Emmy The Great – “Iris”
Video: Emmy The Great – “First Love”
Video: Emmy The Great – “We Almost Had A Baby”
Video: Emmy The Great – “Easter Parade”
Video: Emmy The Great – “MIA”
Video: Joywave – “Virus.exe”

FasterLouder talks to Dev Hynes about the first Blood Orange record Coastal Grooves, due out August 30.

The Subways, whom I’m affectionate towards despite their not being especially inventive, are back after a layoff on September 19 with their third album Money And Celebrity – there’s currently an MP3 and video to preview the new material.

MP3: The Subways – “It’s A Party”
Video: The Subways – “We Don’t Need Money To Have A Good Time”

Still Corners have released a new video from their debut Creatures Of An Hour, due out October 11. They play The Drake Underground on October 25.

Video: Still Corners – “Cuckoo”

State talks to Mogwai guitarist Stuart Braithwaite; their new EP Earth Division is out September 12.

Though some webrips were circulating immediately after its initial broadcast, Radiohead have made their From The Basement video session, wherein they performed the whole of The King Of Limbs live from producer Nigel Godrich’s basement. Their remix album TKOL RMX is out October 11.

Video: Radiohead / From The Basement

Clash asks Brett Anderson what he’d do on his last day on earth and unfortunately he gets the answer wrong, failing to say “get Bernard Butler on the horn to play one final PROPER Suede show in Chromewaves’ living room”.

Blurt chats with Lykke Li, in town at The Sound Academy on November 15.

Robin SilasThrowback-style pop is nothing new – sounding old is really kind of the point – but there’s something special in the way English quartet Veronica Falls goes about it. It’s like they’ve got a foot in 1970’s New York, with no small amount of Velvet Underground goodness in the mix as well as echoes of their followers and the other in swinging 1960’s London with the irresistible catchiness of the British invasion. Taken together and you’ve got a brew that’s buoyant, yet somehow sinister and wholly memorable.

Their set was one of my highlights of SXSW this year, so I’m excited that they’re going to be undertaking a Fall tour in support of their self-titled debut which is out September 20 in North America. Somewhat less excited that said dates are in support of The Drums, whom I’m mostly indifferent to, but I’ll still likely be at their show at The Mod Club on October 1.

BrooklynVegan has some details about the record and full tour dates and a new song from the album was just made available to stream this week, to go along with a couple preview MP3s which have already been circulating.

Stream: Veronica Falls – “Bad Feeling”
MP3: Veronica Falls – “Come On Over”
MP3: Veronica Falls – “Found Love In A Graveyard”
Video: Veronica Falls – “Come On Over”
Video: Veronica Falls – “Beachy Head”
Video: Veronica Falls – “Found Love In A Graveyard”

Also notable in the support department – English folk singer Alessi’s Ark will be opening up for English folk singer Laura Marling at The Great Hall on September 23. Her new record Time Travel is out September 27 in the US but available to stream at her Facebook now.

MP3: Alessi’s Ark – “The Robot”
Stream: Alessi’s Ark / Time Travel

Stereogum talks influences with Yuck. Some is exactly what you’d expect, some not. Yuck play The Horseshoe on September 25.

DIY and Contact Music talk with Still Corners about their full-length debut Creatures Of An Hour, due out October 11. They play The Drake Underground on October 25.

Clash talks to Dev Hynes of Blood Orange. His Coastal Grooves arrives August 30.

The Guardian interviews Faris Badwan and Rachel Zeffira of Cat’s Eyes about music and home decor.

The Quietus, Tourdates UK and DIY get re-acquainted with the no-longer-on-hiatus-at-least-for-the-moment Electrelane. They also recently recorded a Black Cab Session.

Producer Paul Epworth reports that the new Florence & The Machine record is finished – details and quotes at NME.

Spin has a video of Frightened Rabbit frontman Scott Hutchison performing a cover of current tourmates Death Cab For Cutie.

Spinner discusses the art of war with PJ Harvey.

Drowned In Sound and Sunshine Coast Daily check in with Mogwai.

Brett Anderson tells XFM that Suede will indeed be going back into the studio to record new material, but will only be releasing it if it’s worthwhile. All that after he’s done promoting his new solo record Black Rainbows, out September 26. He’s just released a video from said record.

Video: Brett Anderson – “Brittle Heart”

Proving that post-Oasis bickering and name-calling need not be a strictly family affair, Beady Eye guitarist Andy Bell offered up some choice thoughts about former boss Noel Gallagher and his version of how their former band ended to Japan Times.

Consequence Of Sound reports that the Inni video teaser that Sigur Ros posted to their website last week is a live film recorded by director Vincent Morriset at a series of London shows in 2009 that will make its debut at the Venice Film Festival at the end of the month. So no, not a new album but maybe there’ll be an accompanying soundtrack…? Update: The Audio Perv reports the soundtrack will be a double-disc set plus film DVD out in November. Sweet.

Trailer: Sigur Ros: Inni

Currently celebrating their fifteenth anniversary, Pitchfork talks to Bjork about her last decade and a half. Her new album Biophilia is out September 27. Update: Pitchfork also has the album art for Biophilia. It’s very Bjork.

Australia’s Howling Bells will be back with their third album The Loudest Engine on September 12; they’ve released a video for the first single.

Video: Howling Bells – “Into The Sky”

Empire Of The Sun’s Luke Steele confirms to NME that creative partner Nick Littlemore is back in the fold and together they’re working on a new album. Empire Of The Sun play Toronto’s Echo Beach on September 13.

The Naked & Famous have released another new video from Passive Me, Aggressive You; they play The Phoenix on October 6.

Video: The Naked & Famous – “The Sun”