Paul O’ValleBefore the passing of Jay Reatard on Wednesday – condolences to his friends, family and fans – the topic du jour in the indie nation was what was up with Joanna Newsom. Everyone’s favourite harpist hadn’t released any new music since 2007’s Joanna Newsom & The Ys Street Band EP, itself a chaser for the epic Ys, and while anyone is entitled to a break after putting something like that together, fans were certainly getting anxious for some new material, or even news of new material.

Which finally came this week, first in the form of a cryptic comic strip at her North American label Drag City and then as a confirmation from her Australian handlers at Spunk Records which has since been removed, but too late – the word was out that Newsom’s third album will be entitled Have One On Me and be released on February 23 in North America.

And that timing makes sense, considering the previously-announced tour dates that will take her around North America in March. And while I had previously suggested that the days off between her Grand Rapids date on the 12th and Montreal’s on the 15th were enough that a Toronto show would be a virtual certainty, that window of opportunity has since gotten smaller with the addition of a second Montreal date on the 14th. Which essentially means that if there is going to be a local date for Ms Newsom, it’s going to have to be on March 13 – which happens to be the final day of Canadian Musicfest. So one theory is that the announcement of the show is being held back to coincide with a festival press release. Another is the show is happening independently of the festival and the announcement is just being delayed for one reason or another. Or it’s possible that she’s skipping us entirely and any Torontonians hoping to get a glimpse of her first visit to the 416 since October 2006 will have to do so from a 401 overpass, assuming she travels by car and not on the back of a flying unicorn.

I’ll obviously keep you posted if anything further emerges about either the album or tour. Until then, enjoy the one available piece of official media available online – a video from her 2004 debut The Milk-Eyed Mender.

Video: Joanna Newsom – “The Sprout & The Bean”

Dirty Projectors are giving away both sides of a new 7″ as free MP3 downloads from their website right now.

Muzzle Of Bees asks five questions of Sharon Van Etten, in town on February 6 at Trinity-St. Paul’s opening up for Great Lake Swimmers.

Black Cab Sessions has a session in a cab with Alela Diane, circa SxSW 2009.

Department For Sound interviews Dean & Britta on the occasion of their playing the WOMAD festival in Australia in March.

The Dumbing Of America talks to Lauren Larson of Ume while declaring them, “your new favourite band”.

Check out the first MP3 from The Morning Benders’ new album Big Echo, due out March 9. They play the Drake Underground on April 14. The Fader has an interview.

MP3: The Morning Benders – “Promises”

Magnet solicits an interview from Centro-Matic’s Will Johnson, who is playing guest editor on their site this week.

ABC News has a video interview with Richard Balayut and Fontaine Toups of Versus, who are back together and working on a new record.

Pitchfork reports that Okkervil River’s next recorded appearance will be as psych-rock legend Roky Erickson’s band on his new record True Love Cast Out All Evil,, out April 20.

Stereogum has the first taste of Miles Kurosky’s solo debut The Desert Of Shallow Effects, out March 9. There’s also some tour dates set, though nothing up this way. Hope that’s rectified soon – as I recall, Beulah’s final show here at Lee’s Palace in October 2003 was epic.

Soundproof talks to Dinosaur Jr drummer Murph as the trio finally makes it to Toronto, with a date at the Phoenix next Thursday night, January 21.

Baeble Music has a full concert video from Thao with The Get Down Stay Down at the First Unitarian Church in Philadelphia.

Luxury Wafers has a video and downloadable session and aux.tv an interview with The Dutchess & The Duke.

Record Store Day (which is April 17 this year write it down) has an interview with Britt Daniel of Spoon. Transference is out on Tuesday and they play the Sound Academy on March 29.

Vivian Girls have set a North American tour this Spring in support of last year’s Everything Goes Wrong. The Toronto date is at Wrongbar on March 10, tickets $14.

Video: Vivian Girls – “When I’m Gone”

Dr. Dog’s new record Shame, Shame is out April 6 and they will kick off their North American tour at Lee’s Palace on April 14.

Black Rebel Motorcycle Club’s April 1 show at the Phoenix has been moved from the Phoenix to the Sound Academy.

Dose reports that the Blur documentary No Distance Left To Run will be getting a one-day engagement across Canada next Thursday, January 21. The Toronto showing will be at 7PM at the Scotiabank Theatre – advance tickets go on sale Friday. Since the reunion is apparently done for the foreseeable future, this is as close to Blur in 2010 as we’re going to get. I’ll have to wait for the DVD, though, since that evening is reserved for another reunion – Dinosaur Jr.

Trailer: Blur: No Distance Left To Run

Frank YangPeople traditionally go to great lengths to avoid getting a lump of coal for Christmas but there’s something to be said for getting a big pile of rock for the holidays. And it was rock – and lots of it – on offer Saturday night at the Horseshoe for Jingle Bell Rock, an evening presented by promotions company Audio Blood Media and media partners aux.tv and Exclaim. The lineup featured four bands from the Audio Blood roster – Oh No Forest Fires, Make Your Exit, Clothes Make The Man and The Balconies. The opener and closer were personal live favourites so even though I didn’t know the middle acts at all, odds were pretty good that it’d be a great show.

I’d seen The Balconies a couple times since they moved to Toronto from Ottawa and began gigging their asses off, and they’ve yet to deliver anything but a cracking good set. As always, the power pop of their self-titled debut was lean and lethal and the trio had energy and charisma to spare, rewarding those who’d had the foresight to show up early with a terrific set. I was recently asked in a sort-of poll for a UK website what my Canuck tip for 2010 was – I went with The Balconies, calling them “an inevitability” (do I need quotes to quote myself?). This show was a reminder of why. Their next local gig is January 6 at Supermarket.

From there it was into the, “…and you are?” portion of the night. Clothes Make The Man were certainly keeping in the rock theme of the night, perhaps moreso than any of the others. You had to feel for frontman Ryan McLennan’s vocal cords, so throat-shredding and raw was his delivery but even so, was still able to carry a melody and even convey some gentleness when called for. Which, honestly, wasn’t that often – the quartet was here to be loud and heavy and just tuneful enough. Mission accomplished.

Make Your Exit had a decidedly different mandate, playing the role of sensitive, jam-friendly collective for the evening. Their set was all grand arrangements, emotive melodies and layered harmonies – enough to put most of those around me into a collective swoon but leaving me largely umoved. Certainly I was able to appreciate the musical ability on display, objectively, but any grab for the heartstrings missed the target. Hey, win some, lose some.

Oh No Forest Fires were, as the kids say, made of win and provided just the jolt of energy I needed to make it through the remainder of the night. Led by frontman and human superball Rajiv Thavanathan, their gleeful, ADD-addled prog-punk had the band bouncing around the stage as the blew through material from their debut mini-album The War On Geometry which, in the spirit of the season, they were offering for free to anyone who asked for a copy. Also festive was their set’s finale, which saw the Horseshoe stage being swarmed by most/all the other bands and those who put on the show for a madcap Christmas medley of “Silent Night” and “Feliz Navidad” that would have made Jose Feliciano proud… assuming he’s secretly a musical anarchist. A fitting cap to a holiday celebration the way they all ought to be – sweaty and ear-bleeding.

Photos: Oh No Forest Fires, Make Your Exit, Clothes Make The Man, The Balconies @ The Horseshoe – December 12, 2009
MP3: Oh No Forest Fires – “Robin The Boy Wonders”
MP3: Oh No Forest Fires – “It’s Not Fun And Games Until Someone Loses An Eye”
MP3: Make Your Exit – “Through The Winter”
MP3: Clothes Make The Man – “Telescopes”
MP3: The Balconies – “Serious Bedtime”
MP3: The Balconies – “300 Pages”
MP3: The Balconies – “Smells Like Secrets”
Video: Clothes Make The Man – “Privy”
Video: Clothes Make The Man – “Singles Only”
MySpace: Clothes Make The Man

Since this has started out as a sort of holiday post, now’s as good a time as any to round up some of the many, many, many seasonal musical giveaways that seems to be popular right now. Lucky Soul have gathered all the artists on their own Ruffa Lane label to give away a Christmas tune. They’ve themselves done a cover of Mud’s “Lonely This Christmas”, Montt Mardié has discoed up Wham!’s “Last Christmas” while Swedish glammers Napoleon and London folkies Grantura offer original compositions. Lucky Soul’s second album A Coming Of Age is currently on target for a March 2010 release.

MP3: Lucky Soul – “Lonely This Christmas”
MP3: Montt Mardié featuring Le Sport & Mr Suitcase – “Last Christmas”
MP3: Napoleon featuring Ali Howard – “Midnight Train to Arhus”
MP3: Grantura – “Holly”

Dean & Britta are giving away both sides of their 2008 Christmas single, a cover of Roger Miller’s “Old Toy Trains” and “(S)He’s Coming Home” by The Wailers. And as an early Christmas gift to longtime fans, The Line Of Best Fit reports that all three Galaxie 500 albums will be reissued on March 22 of next year by Domino Records in deluxe CD format, each album featuring a bonus disc previously released by Rykodisc on its own, and on heavy 180-gram vinyl. More immediately gratifying these interviews with Dean Wareham and Britta Phillips at Ladygunn.

Anni Rossi is offering a special gift to those who sign up to her mailing list; Future Sounds reports said gift is an EP of Christmas tunes, one of which is “Silver Bells”.

MP3: Anni Rossi – “Silver Bells”

Jason Lytle is celebrating the holidays by giving away a free EP at his Bandcamp site.

Ear Farm has curated a terrific album of holiday tunes featuring artists such as Asobi Seksu, Sharon Van Etten and Julie Doiron, and is selling it for a paltry $5 with all proceeds going to benefit the Association to Benefit Children.

Looking past Christmas – as in the day after – the Drake Hotel has released the lineup for their annual “What’s In The Box?” Boxing Week concert series. As always, cover is $5 and some of the performers helping make sure those of us still working through the last week of December are bleary-eyed and unproductive are The D’Urbervilles, By Divine Right, Pick A Piper and many more.

Also hosting a series of shows that week with a food drive angle is The Garrison – specifics are still forthcoming but a list of some of the bands participating has gone up over at Stille Post.

Toronto label Out Of This Spark will make the end of the holidays and return to the humdrum of the working week a little more bearable on January 22 when they hold their third anniversary bash at the Garrison. The bill will feature The D’Urbervilles, Forest City Lovers, Evening Hymns and Jenny Omnichord – a lot like this year’s lineup.

Looking a little further ahead, New York synth-pop duo Phantogram will be at the Drake on February 20, tickets $10. Their debut full-length Eyelid Movies will be out on February 9 of next year.

MP3: Phantogram – “When I’m Small”

The Morning Benders will return to the Drake Underground, where they played in February, on April 14 as part of a North American tour in support of their new album Big Echo, out March 9. Tickets for the show are $11.50.

MP3: The Morning Benders – “Waiting For A War”

Yeasayer, who are directing all their website traffic to the one specially set up for their new single “Ambling Alp”, will be at Lee’s Palace on May 1 in support of their new album Odd Blood, out February 9. Tickets $18. There’s an interview with singer Chris Keating at BBC Radio 1.

MP3: Yeasayer – “Ambling Alp”
Video: Yeasayer – “Ambling Alp”

Frank YangAnyone who needs a case study in the effectiveness of avenues like commercials and soundtracks to boost a band’s fortunes need look no further than The Submarines. On their last visit to Toronto in May 2008, despite having an excellent debut in Declare A New State under their belt and another fine record in Honeysuckle Weeks just released, they drew a crowd of about 50 people to their show at the Drake Undeground (or so I was told – I wasn’t one of the 50). Seven months, one appearance on a hit soundtrack and one iPhone commercial later, they were back at the Drake and playing to a packed house.

But despite their being the main draw for most of those in attendance, the Submarines were technically on a co-headline tour with Berkeley, California’s Morning Benders and co-headline etiquette dictated that they alternate closing things out and on this night, The Submarines drew the undercard and were up first. Principals Blake Hazard and John Dragonetti seemed a bit of an odd pairing, she adorable and effervescent, he downcast and reserved, but there was no denying they made beautiful music together.

Though reliant on a laptop to map out their rich and shimmery pop as well as fill in the sonic spaces, The Submarines kept things feeling loose and organic thanks to the extra oomph contributed by drummer J Stare. Taking lead vocals on most songs, Hazard switched between glockenspiel, tambourine and guitar while Dragonetti stuck with the six-string, stepping up to the mic when needed. Their set was split fairly evenly between both records and punctuated by Hazard’s hilarious between-song ramblings, mostly centered around her delight with all things Canadian – props were given to our statutory holidays, our traffic signs and our squirrels. Though encore-less, they still played for a solid and eminently enjoyable hour wrapping, of course, with that song from that commercial and that other song from that soundtrack. Hey, they know what the people were there for.

The Morning Benders might have been justified in fearing their full house would empty out before they took the stage, but while a fair number of people did leave a healthy number remained and a good percentage of those seemed genuinely stoked to see them. For my part, I was mildly curious – what I’d heard of them and their latest album Talking Through Tin Cans sounded like decent but not outstanding jangle-pop, and I wanted to see if they brought anything else to the table. And while they did display a facility for getting noisier and more rhythmic than I’d expected, it was still largely better-than-average jangle pop, delivered entertainingly and engagingly. And there’s nothing wrong with that.

Black Book lists off 25 random things about The Submarines.

Photos: The Morning Benders, The Submarines @ The Drake Underground – February 15, 2009
MP3: The Morning Benders – “Waiting For A War”
MP3: The Morning Benders – “1940”
MP3: The Submarines – “You, Me And The Bourgeoisie”
MP3: The Submarines – “Waiting For A War”
Video: The Morning Benders – “Waiting For A War”
Video: The Morning Benders – “Damnit Anna”
Video: The Morning Benders – “Boarded Doors”
Video: The Submarines – “You, Me And The Bourgeoisie”
MySpace: The Morning Benders
MySpace: The Submarines

In conversation with BBC, Bernard Butler pretty much dashes any hopes for a Suede reunion. Unconfirmed rumours have Richard Oakes hanging around the BBC offices offering his thoughts on a Suede reunion to an uninterested custodial staff.

This Is Fake DIY and Click Music interview Emmy The Great.

Prefix has an interview with Los Campesinos, in town at the Opera House on April 1.

Jason Isbell talks to Nashville City Paper about the touring life, which brings he and his 400 Unit to the Horseshoe on March 4. Their new album Jason Isbell & The 400 Unit came out this week.

MP3: Jason Isbell & The 400 Unit – “Seven Mile Island”

Clash converses with Frida Hyvonen.

Dig For Fire hangs out with Shearwater, video camera in hand.

The Quietus discusses London architecture with Bob Stanley of Saint Etienne.

Pitchfork reports that Superchunk will release their first new material in forever with the Leaves in the Gutter EP, out April 7. It’s unknown if this is a precursor to more new material or just a one-off, but new ‘Chunk is good ‘Chunk. Sloth love ‘Chunk.

Pitchfork talks to Patrick Wolf about his new album(s) formerly known as Battle. The first volume, The Bachelor, appears set for a June 1 release.

Alankomaat and Rolling Stone interview Bishop Allen, whose new record Grr… is out March 10.

CBC Radio 3, The Vancouver Courier and Corriere Tandem all talk to AC Newman. He plays Lee’s Palace on March 11.

The New York Times and Mother Jones have features on Neko Case, whose Middle Cyclone is out March 3. Both her shows at Trinity-St. Paul on April 17 and 18 are sold out.

Question – has anyone ever been to Primavera Sound in Barcelona? Because looking at the lineup so far, and looking at the prices for travel and lodging, I am seriously considering spending the last week of May on the Mediterranean coast… And you may recall that not long ago I exhorted Jarvis Cocker to play somewhere that I could plan a vacation around – well he’s kept his end of the bargain. It’s up to me now. So yes, any thoughts on the Primavera Festival or Barcelona in general are appreciated.

GiganticLet it never be said that NoCal’s Morning Benders are afraid of doing a cover version or two. Though they’d just released their second album Talking Through Tin Cans in May of last year, they still found the time to put together an album’s worth of covers a couple months later, which they released for free download as The Bedroom Covers (still available to grab!).

One of the selections on the compilation was “Lovefool”, the song which both acted as a worldwide breakout hit for Sweden’s Cardigans back in 1997 and lightly damned the band as a one-hit wonder to those who couldn’t perceive the deliciously dark undercurrent that ran through both that song and really, their entire oeuvre. And watching the two videos the band made for the song, I have to wonder if that would have happened had they released the rather sexy and very European version over here rather than the cutesy one with Nina Persson batting her ridiculously blue eyes? Persson will release her second album with A Camp, Colonia, in Europe this Monday and in North America on April 28.

And to mark the Morning Benders’ upcoming tour with The Submarines, which hits the Drake Hotel on February 15, the two acts have released a digital single of each band covering the other. The Morning Benders will also be releasing a new EP in Grain Of Salt on February 24 to coincide with the finale of the tour. OC Weekly has an interview with the band.

MP3: The Morning Benders – “Lovefool”
MP3: The Morning Benders – “1940”
MP3: The Submarines – “Waiting For A War”
Video: The Morning Benders – “Lovefool” (live)
Video: The Cardigans – “Lovefool” (European version)
Video: The Cardigans – “Lovefool” (North American version)
Video: The Submarines – “1940” (live)
MySpace: The Morning Benders