REMHQYou can’t really call it a long goodbye – the announcement last month about the dissolution of R.E.M. was about as abrupt as they come, with no farewell tour or even a final show attached – but shortly thereafter they did announce a final release in the form of the Part Lies Part Heart Part Truth Part Garbage 1982-2011 compilation which is set to come out November 15. And amongst its 40-song, career-spanning tracklist are the final three songs that R.E.M. will release, recorded after the Collapse Into Now sessions but before they knew that that album would end up being their last.

And from those three songs has come what is almost certainly R.E.M.’s last single – a gentle tune entitled “We All Go Back To Where We Belong” – but there’s no final video; there’s two. The clips, directed by Michael Stipe and Dominic DeJoseph, are about as simple as you get – single-take black-and-white screen test-style films of poet John Giorno and actress Kirsten Dunst as they listen to the song, presumably for the first time. It’s a nice, understated idea that Interview has a quick analysis of. Black Book also has some fun with the concept, trying to get in Dunst’s head during recording.

Also in the farewells and remembrances category, here’s a piece I’ve written for The Iceberg’s “A Song and A Memory” series about one of the most pivotal songs/albums/bands in my life. R.E.M. has also posted up some thoughts about it. Synchronicity!

Finally, JAM has recounted a chat Mojo had with Mike Mills in which he says to not expect a Michael Stipe solo project soon or ever.

Stream: R.E.M. – “We All Go Back To Where We Belong”
Video: R.E.M. – “We All Go Back To Where We Belong” (John Giorno version)
Video: R.E.M. – “We All Go Back To Where We Belong” (Kirsten Dunst version)

Spin gets Matthew Sweet to look back and reflect on the 20th anniversary of Girlfriend.

Exclaim has put Tom Waits on their cover this month.

The Decemberists appear to be ready to stream the whole of their new EP Long Live The King in piecemeal form before it comes out on November 1. Two more tracks from it have been made available to stream at Stereogum and Rolling Stone.

Stream: The Decemberists – “I 4 U & U 4 Me”
Stream: The Decemberists – “Burying Davy”

Memory Tapes have released a new video from Player Piano; The Daily Princetonian has a quick interview with Dayve Hawk.

Video: Memory Tapes – “Offers”

The National have released a new MP3 for their contribution to If a Lot of Bands Play in the Woods…, a covers/remix album of The Philistines Jr’s 2010 album If A Band Plays In The Woods. The connection between the two being the fact that Philistines Jr counts one Peter Katis among its number, and Katis has produced a crapload of great bands, many of whom also appear on the record. It’s out November 1 and there’s more details at Pitchfork. And yes it’s kind of a treat to hear Matt Berninger sing about cats. The National are at The Air Canada Centre on December 8.

MP3: The National – “Twenty Miles To NH (Part 2)”

Also on that bill are Wye Oak, whose Jenn Wasner offers a songwriting lesson and video performance to The AV Club’s “One Track Mind” feature.

Nola.com, The Dallas Observer, The Phoenix New Times, and Offbeat talk to Mary Timony and Rebecca Cole of Wild Flag.

Pitchfork has a video session with The Antlers, The Daily Tarheel and Daily Free Press have interviews.

GQ talks to Jim James of My Morning Jacket as part of their music issue.

Kandle OsborneWhen I last wrote up Timber Timbre back in March, shortly before the release of their latest Creep On Creepin’ On, I commented on how unlikely it seemed that the Toronto trio’s murky goth-blues should make them stars (relatively speaking), but how that seemed to be exactly what was going to happen. And indeed, it’s been a good 2011 for them, to say the least. The decidedly positive critical response and popular demand kept the band on the road through all of North America and Europe through the Spring and Summer, and with their placement on the Polaris Music Prize shortlist, they’ve announced a Fall tour that will keep them living in a van through the rest of the year, covering locales from Ontario through to the Maritimes with a handful of European dates for good measure.

They’ll get a chance to sleep in their own beds and do some laundry, though, as the itinerary now includes their first hometown date since the Trinty-St. Paul’s album release show way back in April – and it’s coming at the decidedly fancy digs of the Queen Elizabeth Theatre on November 26. Tickets for that show are $25 in advance and despite it being a seated venue, will be general admission; they’re on sale today at 10AM. And the merch table at this and other shows will have a little something special in the form of vinyl reissues of the first two independently-released Timber Timbre records – Cedar Shakes and Medicinals – dating from when the band was a pseudonym for Taylor Kirk solo.

The band have also released a new, appropriately creepy animated video from Creep On Creepin’ On and over at BlogTO, violinist Mika Posen talks about the Polaris nomination.

MP3: Timber Timbre – “Black Water”
Video: Timber Timbre – “Too Old To Die Young”

Tasseomancy have released another video from their just-released record Ulalalme, which was co-produced by Taylor Kirk. They’re playing The Great Hall on October 20 and will support Austra at The Phoenix on December 1.

Video: Tasseomancy – “Soft Feet”

Also with a new video from a Polaris-shortlisted record is Destroyer, from Kaputt.

Video: Destroyer – “Savage Night At The Opera”

Julie Doiron has a couple of local live dates lined up, as she usually seems to, with a free in-store on September 10 at 3PM to inaugurate the recently-opened Kensington Market location of Sonic Boom. She will also open up for Ohbijou at Trinity-St. Paul’s on September 30.

MP3: Julie Doiron – “When Brakes Get Wet”

If you’re the sort of person who needs an introduction to the works of Sloan, then you’re probably not someone who’s hung around here much – welcome! – but if you do, head over to Noisetrade to grab a pay-what-you-can 17-track sort-of best-of compilation. And yes, you can pay nothing if that’s how you roll.

The Line Of Best Fit gets acquainted with Chad VanGaalen and his unique brand of interview awkwardness. VanGaalen is at The Mod Club on October 28.

Rolling Stone has gotten on the Louise Burns bandwagon, having a quick chat with the singer and offering a new track for download.

MP3: Louise Burns – “Drop Names Not Bombs”

Beirut have discovered one of the perks of staggered digital and physical releases – double the press cycles. There were a flurry of pieces when The Rip Tide came out through online sources back at the start of August, and now that the vinyl and CD are available? Features in The National Post, Vanity Fair, Huffington Post, Irish Times, Paste, Pitchfork and Time. That Zach Condon is a clever boy.

The Line Of Best Fit talks to Jason Lytle about the legacy of Grandaddy on the occasion of the vinyl reissues of The Sophtware Slump and Sumday.

The Fly gets a courtyard video session from The Antlers.

NPR has a KCRW session with My Morning Jacket.

Death Cab For Cutie frontman Ben Gibbard talks drinking and excessive drinking with Spinner.

The Grid and NOW chat with Peter Bjorn & John, who kick off a two-night stand at Lee’s Palace tonight.

Leah NashIt was only five days or so and not especially far, but this past weekend’s extended jaunt to New York City was a lovely break from both my jobs – the blog and the one that pays – so while I readjust to the reality that my lifestyle is NOT meandering about Manhattan, taking pictures and eating strange and delicious meals, I’m just gonna toss up some stuff that’s been accumulating over the last few days and go have a nap.

And I guess we’ll start with Mr Stephen Malkmus, whose Mirror Traffic – his Beck-produced, recorded pre-Pavement reunion but mixed post-reunion record with The Jicks, is out today. There’s plenty of press surrounding its release, but this piece at Salon is particularly interesting to me, anyways, as it’s written by fellow 90s college rock icon Dean Wareham of the dearly, dearly departed Luna and Galaxie 500… though I can’t help noticing that one of the questions not asked was, “so should I get the old band back together?” though I suspect the answer from SM wouldn’t be the one the Luna fan in me would want to hear.

There’s other conversations with Malkmus about the new record – though by less esteemed interviewers – at Billboard, Clash, New York Magazine, Nerve, Exclaim, MTV Hive and Interview. And a new video from the record just premiered over at The New York Times. The album is still up to stream in whole at NPR.

Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks kick off their North American tour in support of Mirror Traffic in just under a month; the second date is in Toronto at The Phoenix on September 21.

MP3: Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks – “Tigers”
MP3: Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks – “Senator”
Video: Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks – “No One Is (As I Are Be)”
Stream: Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks / Mirror Traffic

Spin gets Wild Flag – whose Janet Weiss is not a Jick this time around – to list off some of their favourite things while The Vine talks to keyboardist Rebecca Cole. Their debut self-title will be more than few peoples’ favourite thing when it comes out on September 13. They play Lee’s Palace on October 11.

The Decemberists have premiered a new video from The King Is Dead over at NPR. The Georgia Straight has a chat with bassist Nate Query.

Video: The Decemberists – “Calamity Song”

Also with a new video straight out of the Pacific northwest is The Head & The Heart. You can also stream their set at the Newport Folk Festival from a few weeks back at NPR.

Video: The Head & The Heart – “Cats & Dogs”

Under The Radar and AltSonds have interviews with Blitzen Trapper. Their new one American Goldwing is out September 13 and they play The Opera House on October 30.

Spinner reports – in decidedly first-hand fashion – that The Flaming Lips and Death Cab For Cutie will be collaborating on a new EP sometime in the future.

Erika Anderson of EMA chats with Spinner and talks fashion with Spin.

Low have released a new video from C’Mon.

Video: Low – “Especially Me”

Head over to The Jayhawks’ official Facebook page where the band have been giving away free live MP3s en masse as a lead up to the September 20 release of their new album Mockingbird Time.

The new Bon Iver video practically doubles as a PSA for Tourism Iceland. Colour me convinced – see you in October!

Video: Bon Iver – “Holocene”

St. Louis Magazine has an extensive feature on Wilco, including some acoustic performances of new material from Jeff Tweedy. The Whole Love is out September 27 and they play Massey Hall on September 17 and 18.

NPR has a World Cafe session with My Morning Jacket while You Ain’t No Picasso and Citybeat have band interviews. Paste talks to guitarist Carl Broemel about not only MMJ, but his latest solo record All Birds Say.

Magnet Q&As Of Montreal before making them guest editors of their website for a week. They’re going to be picking glitter out of the office furniture for weeks to come.

NYC Taper is sharing a recording of Sonic Youth’s show at the Williamsburg Waterfront in Brooklyn last week.

They Shoot Music has a video session with The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart.

Details are coming out about the first new Tom Waits studio album in some seven years – Exclaim reports on the track listing of Bad As Me and indicates it will be out October 25. Expectations are also that a stream of the title track, which has appeared and disappeared online in the last little while, will be made officially available sometime today. As for the questions of will Waits tour behind it… well, Tom Waits does what Tom Waits wants to do, but the odds are certainly a lot better with a new album than without.

Jason SummersThis isn’t a review of the double-disc edition of Icky Mettle, released earlier this week and the first of four Archers Of Loaf reissues to come over the next year and a bit – for that, hit up the excellent Pitchfork writeup. I’ve had Icky Mettle for years but it hasn’t become such a part of me that I can offer any sort of explanation as to why it’s such a great record – in fact, I’ve only really come to that realization recently. So go read Matt LeMay’s writeup.

This also isn’t a broader discussion of why Archers were such a great and important band, and why their reunion is so exciting, even for those who are super-jaded about reunions in general. For that, check out this The Village Voice piece that gets The Hold Steady’s Craig Finn, Band Of Horses’ Ben Bridwell and members of Les Savy Fav to articulate their love for and influence of the band.

No, this is just me trying to clear out some links and make it to the weekend while listening to All The Nation’s Airports. So if you’re looking for some Archers content, check out the interviews with the band at The Village Voice and Washington Post and hope that the promises that Eric Bachmann made last month while here with Crooked Fingers to bring Archers through town sometime next March prove to be true.

MP3: Archers Of Loaf – “What Did You Expect”
Video: Archers Of Loaf – “Web In Front”

Also being reissued with bonuses is Superchunk’s 1994 album Foolish, out on September 13. Full details available at Exclaim.

Video: Superchunk – “Driveway To Driveway”

Pitchfork reveals that super-deluxe, super-limited remastered reissues of Olivia Tremor Control’s two albums – Dusk At Cubist Castle and Black Foliage: Animation Music Volume One – are coming on November 15. That’s too late to grace the merch table on their upcoming Fall tour, including the September 16 show at Lee’s Palace, but considering there’s only going to be 1000 of each made, it’s doubtful they’d make it past the first few cities on the itinerary anyways.

Not a reissue, but Old 97s are revisiting their past by giving away MP3s of all the demos for their 1997 album Too Far To Care.

MP3: Old 97’s – “Daybed” (demo)
MP3: Old 97’s – “Timebomb” (demo)

The Chicago Daily Herald talks to John Darnielle of The Mountain Goats.

The Awl has an interview with Amy Klein of Titus Andronicus.

My Morning Jacket drummer Patrick Hallahan discusses the band’s approach to playing live with Billboard. The Indianapolis Star also chats with guitarist Carl Broemel.

Writers On Process and Blurt go under the creative hood with Richard Buckner. Both are two-parters though the back half of the Writers piece is still forthcoming.

Drowned In Sound talks to Ra Ra Riot bassist Mathieu Santos. They play Lee’s Palace on October 6.

Exclaim reports that Ryan Adams – who apparently ended his retirement last year and has already released like fifteen albums – will put out his first proper solo record in some time with Ashes & Fire, due out October 11.

Rachael Yamagata will release a new album in Chesapeake on October 11; grab the first MP3 below.

MP3: Rachael Yamagata – “Starlight”

Spin has premiered the video for EMA’s contribution to their Nirvana tribute album Newermind.

Video: EMA – “Endless Nameless”

Decemberists bassist Nate Query confirms the band’s upcoming hiatus to Billboard but assures them it’s just a break, nothing permanent. The Arizona Republic and Cincinnati Citybeat also get to query Query (oh come on).

Brooklyn rockers Obits have set an October 25 date at The Rivoli in support of their second record Moody Standard & Poor. Tickets are $13 in advance.

MP3: Obits – “Shift Operator”
MP3: Obits – “You Gotta Lose”

San Francisco’s Wooden Shjips will release their latest West on September 15 and follow up with a show at The Horseshoe on November 7.

MP3: Wooden Shjips – “Lazy Bones”

NOW has put Bon Iver frontman Justin Vernon on their cover with accompanying interview, while NPR is streaming their show in DC from earlier this week. Bon Iver play The Sound Academy on Monday night, August 8.

NOW also checks in with Kathleen Edwards, whose next album will be produced by Vernon. And who’s also his girlfriend. Not that that matters.

The Toronto Star and NOW welcome The Doughboys back to active duty – they’ll play a free show at the Bovine Sex Club on Monday night as a warm-up to opening up for Foo Fighters at the Air Canada Centre the next night.

Emily Haines gives The Grid a status report on the next Metric record.

MTV gets Broken Social Scene’s Kevin Drew to respond to comments made by guitarist Andrew Whiteman about the band’s last video for “The Sweetest Kill”.

The Line Of Best Fit has a video session with Dan Mangan, whose next record Oh Fortune is out September 27 and who plays The Queen Elizabeth Theatre on October 28.

The Thrill Is Back got Rural Alberta Advantage into the back of their van at Hillside a few weeks ago and videotaped him playing a couple songs, including one new one.

Metro chats with The Wilderness Of Manitoba.

Windish AgencyI’ve no doubt that Dayve Hawk loathes the term/scene/epithet “chillwave” that was attached to his musical identity of Memory Tapes when he emerged last year, and fairly so – its connotations were rarely positive, or at least applied without some snark, and many of the acts who would been considered his peers were kind of terrible. But if I hadn’t done the cursory, “so what the hell is this all about” investigation, I might not have ever heard his debut Seek Magic and that would have been a shame.

Though it technically passed the chillwave checklist test – homemade dreamy textures made with burbling synths and ’80s electropop echoes – Seek Magic possessed a degree of craftsmanship and songwriting that lifted it well above the also-rans. And the fact that he made it compelling in live performance, as I saw at SXSW 2010, confirmed that while it was probably safe to ignore anything bearing the aforementioned metatag, Memory Tapes deserved to stay on my radar.

The just-released second Memory Tapes record Player Piano takes everything that was good about Seek Magic and reinforces it, offering stronger songs, sharper hooks and less instrumental haze. The guitars still shimmer and echo and Hawke’s voice remains high and pleasantly pinched, but the overall experience is just bigger, in both dynamics and sonic scope – some of Player Piano is M83-scale ambitious. I do find myself wishing there was a little more weight in the low end, be it in the drums or bass, to give it that extra bit of presence but that’s a minor complaint and weighed against Player Piano‘s many merits, a negligible one. File under one of the best dream-pop records you’ll likely hear this year.

Memory Tapes is currently on tour and will be at Wrongbar in Toronto on August 13. Tickets for the show are $12 in advance but courtesy of Embrace, I have two pairs of passes to give away for the show. To enter, email me at contests AT chromewaves.net with “I want Memory Tapes” in the subject line and your full name in the body, and have that in to me before midnight, August 10.

SF Weekly has an interview with Dayve Hawk.

MP3: Memory Tapes – “Wait In The Dark”
MP3: Memory Tapes – “Today Is Our Life”
Video: Memory Tapes – “Yes We Know”

After some time off turned into a hiatus turned into a disbandment, James Mercer and a new passel of bandmates have reconvened as The Shins and while a new record won’t be out until next year, there will be some Fall tour dates to get folks reacquainted and one of them is September 22 at The Phoenix in Toronto. Ticket prices still TBA but they’ll go on sale Friday.

MP3: The Shins – “So Says I”
MP3: The Shins – “Kissing The Lipless”

Everyone’s favourite family-friendly hip-hop collective Odd Future are coming back to town as part of a massive Fall tour that will allow them to get up close and personal with their fans, and possibly kick them in the faces. The Toronto date comes October 16 at the Sound Academy. Interview has a talk with Wolf Gang leader Tyler The Creator and the collective are featured on the cover of this month’s Exclaim

Video: Tyler The Creator – “Yonkers”

The Black Angels will be back in town at Lee’s Palace on October 24 with Dead Meadow; both are continuing to work 2010 releases – the former with Phosphene Dream and the latter with Three Kings.

MP3: The Black Angels – “Telephone”
MP3: Dead Meadow – “Good Moanin'”

New York DFA-affiliated electro-poppers Holy Ghost! will be at 69 Bathurst on November 1 in support of their self-titled debut.

MP3: Holy Ghost! – “Do It Again”
MP3: Holy Ghost! – “I Will Come Back”
MP3: Holy Ghost! – “Wait & See”

Wears The Trousers interviews Merrill Garbus of tUnE-yArDs. She plays Lee’s Palace on September 24.

Spin finds out some of Mates Of State’s favourite things. The indie-pop duo are readying their latest album Mountaintops for a September 13 release and will be at The Phoenix on September 28.

They Shoot Music has a video session with Wye Oak, who will be at The Sound Academy on October 7 opening up for Explosions In The Sky.

My Morning Jacket have released a video from their latest record Circuital.

Video: My Morning Jacket – “Holdin’ On To Black Metal”

Pitchfork has got a nice Yours Truly-shot video of EMA at the recent Pitchfork Festival.

Magnet Q&As Richard Buckner in advance of making him their website guest editor for the week.

The Montreal Gazette, Boston Herald, Detroit Free Press and Tourisme Montreal talk to members of Death Cab For Cutie.