Phil SharpIt took me a while to warm to England’s Metronomy – perhaps not unusual considering how deliberately chilly their particular vein of electro-pop tends to be. But warm to it I did, or at least to their 2011 Mercury-shortlisted album The English Riviera; just not quite in time to catch them on their last pass through town last October. I was still recovering from Iceland Airwaves and had something like four or five other shows that week – something had to give, and it was Metronomy.

Well, thank goodness for Coldplay and remixes. Yeah, that’s not something I ever thought I’d write, but thanks to being tapped to open up for some of Coldplay’s western North American dates and also the release this week of The English Riviera: Unreleased Remixes in the US, the band has enough cause to cross the Atlantic again. Okay, getting asked to play Coachella and having sold out at least some of the dates on that Fall tour were probably also some incentive. In any case, they’re back in town at The Hoxton on April 2, and I won’t miss them this time around.

Thanks to Embrace, you don’t have to either. I’ve got two pairs of passes to give away for the show and to win them, just email me at contests AT chromewaves.net with “I want to see Metronomy” in the subject line and your full name in the body, and have that in to me before midnight, March 25.

And while you’re waiting to find out if you won, maybe put their just-posted Daytrotter session on repeat while reading this interview with bandleader Joe Mounts in The Independent.

MP3: Metronomy – “The Look”
Video: Metronomy – “Everything Goes My Way”
Video: Metronomy – “The Look”
Video: Metronomy – “The Bay”
Video: Metronomy – “She Wants”

I’ve never prayed for autotune to be utilized on anything, let alone a live record, but there’s a not insignificant part of me that hopes the Florence & The Machine MTV Unplugged album just announced gets a little pitch polishing before it’s released on April 9. If you’ve heard her live – and you can do so on August 4 at The Molson Amphitheatre – then you know what I’m talking about. And oh yeah, there’s another new video out from Ceremonials.

Video: Florence & The Machine – “Never Let Me Go”

The Quietus chats with Elizabeth Morris of Allo Darlin’, whose new album Europe is due out in May. And as disappointed as I was that their Spring tour is just American and not North American, I’m very excited that they’re going to be part of this year’s NYC Popfest and that I’ll be in New York on the day – May 20 – that they’re playing. Huzzah!

Breakthru Radio has got a video session and The San Francisco Examiner an interview with Slow Club.

Veronica Falls compiles and annotates a mixtape for The Fly.

It escaped my notice until now that Elvis Costello – and presumably “The Spectacular Spinning Songbook” – was going to be back in the general geographic region this Spring. If you missed he and The Imposters last Summer, consider a trek up to Casino Rama on April 19; it’s a fantastic show.

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

Billy Bragg talks to Billboard about the forthcoming Mermaid Avenue: The Complete Sessions set coming out on April 21.

DIY, The Irish Times, and Clash have features on Lianne La Havas, whose debut album Is Your Love Big Enough will be out on July 19 in the UK.

The Twilight Sad are featured in a video session at Beatcast.

Mystery Jets are streaming a first taste of their new album Radlands ahead of its release date of April 30.

Stream: Mystery Jets – “Someone Purer”

The Cribs, on the other hand, are onto their second preview track from new record In The Belly Of The Brazen Bull. It’s out on May 8 and they’ll be showing off other new songs from it at Lee’s Palace on April 11.

Stream: The Cribs – “Come On, Be A No One”

London’s Dry The River are featured in pieces at The Fly and Spin and perform in a DIY video session. Shallow Bed gets a North American release on April 17 and they’re at The Garrison on March 27 opening for Bowerbirds.

This is an interesting little release – Swervedriver main man Adam Franklin has released a new 7″ consisting of a Wolf Parade cover on the a-side and his interpretation of a rare Clientele track on the reverse. You can stream both sides at Soundcloud.

Stream: Adam Franklin – “Shine A Light”/”Elm Grove Window”

The Guardian examines the thriving Scottish music scene.

DIY has a video session with Loney Dear.

The Guardian declares Amanda Mair their new artist of the day. Her self-titled debut gets a North American release on June 5.

State talks to The Jezabels, who just won The Australian Music Prize for Prisoner and are in town at The Mod Club on April 18.

It’s funny that not too long ago, I was toying with the idea of building another website for the sole purpose of listing local shows with as much useful, accurate information as possible. Clearly I didn’t get around to it, and it’s just as well because in addition to JustShows.com, which popped up a few months back and gets kudos for being clean, timely and accurate, we now have Show Gopher, which distinguishes itself with a handy grid layout and streaming audio for as many of the artists as possible. Which just goes to show – if you want something done, just procrastinate long enough and someone else will do it for you.

The GuardianWith her tenure in Ash, as sidewoman to the likes of KT Tunstall and Bat For Lashes and a solo career that’s yielded three good albums, Charlotte Hatherley has pretty well established herself as a purveyor of sharp, smart power-pop and more than a bit of a guitar heroine. But apparently she’s been hiding another side of herself that worships at the altar of ’80s-vintage electro-pop and that side has now surfaced under the guise of Sylver Tongue.

So far there’s just the one single to represent her first work since 2009’s New Worlds, but it comes with an accompanying video that demonstrates in no uncertain terms what the aesthetic of the project is, which is to say happily neon and glammy. The track itself is far from a club floor banger, its dreamy pace probably better suited for slow dances at proms and if you traded some synths for guits, it wouldn’t have been out of place on her second album The Deep Blue. In any case, it’s good to know that Hatherley remains a solid songwriter, whatever the genre or identity.

Album information is still forthcoming, but the “New band of the day” feature at The Guardian implies they’ve heard more from her and they like it. Which bodes well.

MP3: Sylver Tongue – “Hook You Up”
Video: Sylver Tongue – “Hook You Up”

The Independent and The Fly have interviews with Beth Jeans Houghton.

Pitchfork has got the… interesting cover art from the new Spiritualized record Sweet Heart Sweet Light, due out April 17, and a stream of the first single. They’re at The Phoenix on May 5.

Stream: Spiritualized – “Hey Jane”

SXSW chats with We Were Promised Jetpacks, who will be at Lee’s Palace on April 15.

Mystery Jets have given their fourth album a title of Radlands and a release date of April 30; some details on the release and a trailer for the album can be found at Exclaim.

Charles Watson of Slow Club talks to The Vinyl District.

The Fly chats with the Brewis brothers of Field Music.

NPR has a World Cafe session with Los Campesinos!.

DIY interviews Fanfarlo, whose Rooms Filled With Light comes out on Tuesday, February 28. They play The Mod Club on March 25.

The April 17 Kaiser Chiefs show at The Phoenix has been moved to The Opera House due to “scheduling conflicts”, so don’t read the downgrade in venue as indicative of their popularity. No, seriously.

English DJ-type guy Star Slinger is back for a show at Lee’s Palace on May 14 as part of a Spring tour.

MP3: Star Slinger – “Mornin'”
MP3: Star Slinger – “Minted”

James Blake talks to Spinner about where he wants to head, musically-speaking, next.

Under The Radar has got videos of Blur’s comeback performance at The Brits earlier this week, and The Quietus examines the merits of some of their lesser-known, non-album tracks. Oh, and they’re now headlining the Way Out West festival in Gothenburg, Sweden in August – anyone want to go?

Holy Moly has a sit-down with Niki & The Dove. Their debut Instinct is out May 14.

The Line Of Best Fit has posted a video session with The Mary Onettes.

Denmark’s Alcoholic Faith Mission, whom I believe impressed a lot of people when they were here for NXNE last year, are coming back for a date at The Drake on May 2, tickets $13.50 in advance. They’re giving away their last album Daylight From Above until February 29 over here and their new one Ask Me This comes out March 27.

MP3: Alcoholic Faith Mission – “Running With Insanity”

Paste has an interview with Icelandic composer Ólufar Arnalds about his two new releases: Living Room Songs, which collects tracks that were recorded and released one a day last October and Another Happy Day, which is a soundtrack to the film of the same name and out next week. One of the Living Room Songs tracks also has a video, even though clips of the actual recording sessions for each song are also out there. Arnalds was one of the highlights at Iceland Airwaves last year, and has been soundtracking a lot of my time lately. Recommended if you like pretty things.

MP3: Ólufar Arnalds – “Near Light”
Video: Ólufar Arnalds – “Near Light”
Stream: Ólufar Arnalds / Another Happy Day original soundtrack and Living Room Songs

BeatLondon’s Summer Camp likes them some make-believe, that much is clear. Their first appearance on the musical radar was in the guise of a Swedish septet with a taste for vintage photographs who’d met at a Summer retreat – hence their name. It didn’t take too long for them to be outed as the English duo of Jeremy Warmsley and Elizabeth Sankey, which may have disappointed fans of elaborate back stories but should have done nothing to dampen the enthusiasm of those who like enthusiastic boy-girl indie-pop.

Not that they were going to be content to trade just on their musical merits. Their 2010 debut EP Young was peppered with ’80s references both within and without, from the song titles (“Veronica Sawyer”, “Jake Ryan”) to intro samples (a John Cusack quote from Say Anything opens up “Ghost Train”) and their retro-fixations – despite the fact that neither was old enough to appreciably remember the eighties – went from aesthetic to full-blown concept on their full-length debut Welcome To Condale.

In an attempt to live the American adolescence sold to them via a steady diet of John Hughes movies and the like, the duo created a fictional California town called Condale with which to set the album. In addition, album pre-release activities included crafting a zine which gave insights to the teen angst and drama that filled the halls of the local high school and acted as a vehicle for their songs’ meticulously-crafted backstory. All of which deserves and “A” for effort, but is ultimately unnecessary.

The songs on Condale are immediate, effervescent and come in a sugary package to mask the slightly bitter sentiments contained therein – they require no dressing up, no framing, no period-correct movie dialogue samples acting as prefaces but don’t really add much in the way of meaning or context. It’s worth noting that Summer Camp’s performance at SXSW was one of my favourites of the festival and showed the duo had no shortage of charisma or chemistry to compensate for, being far more engaging as a two-piece with backing tracks than many full bands. Similarly, Condale crackles with energy thanks to Sankey’s brassy vocals – ably supported by Warmsley, who occasionally tags in to take lead – and a punchy brand of gritty, lo-fi guitar-driven synth-pop that’s honestly way more ’90s than ’80s.

I appreciate and certainly do not begrudge Summer Camp’s desire to have as much fun with their band/album/concept as possible, to provide an angle or a hook with which to get people talking. I just feel it’s necessary to point out that they didn’t need to; great songs should always be enough.

Bands In Transit and DIY both have video sessions with Summer Camp.

MP3: Summer Camp – “I Want You”
MP3: Summer Camp – “Ghost Train”
Video: Summer Camp – “Down”
Video: Summer Camp – “Better Off Without You”
Video: Summer Camp – “Ghost Train”

Londonist talks to Emmy The Great about her This Is Christmas album with Tim Wheeler while The Whiteboard Project gets both of them to take part in a whiteboard-powered interview and iol has regular-style chat.

Los Campesinos! interviews are the order of the day at The Quietus and The Line Of Best Fit, the latter of which is split into two parts.

Insound has a video session with Veronica Falls.

Rolling Stone has premiered a new video from The Vaccines for the b-side from their new “Wetsuit” 7″ single, out in limited edition – as in 50 pieces – on December 12. The Daily Record talks to frontman Justin Young about the throat surgery that sidelined the band this Fall but which now in the past – the band are back to performing live this Winter, hopefully set to make up the cancelled North American dates before too long.

Video: The Vaccines – “Tiger Blood”

NME reports that Mystery Jets will release their fourth album – the cryptically titled LP4 – in April of next year.

Pitchfork has posted a Take-Away Show with Stornoway recorded at the Parisian edition of the Pitchfork Music Festival last month.

Stereogum gets a status update on Field Music’s new record Plumb, due out February 14, while The Chronicle chats briefly with Peter Brewis.

NPR has a World Cafe session with Nick Lowe.

Peter Hook tells NME he’s a bit sorry about how badly (and publicly) New Order broke up.

Press Play And Record is a new blog that’s essential for those who remember the compilation cassettes that used to come attached to the front of NME – because that’s what it’s all about. Digitized NME compilation cassettes. Yes.

Oh, and if you were looking for ticket information for the Fucked Up David Comes To Life benefit show at the Great Hall on December 20, look no further – $20 plus tax (so $22.60 total) on sale right here, right now. I assume the tickets for the Sloan show the following night will be the same price and be online shortly.

Adam FaradayTo be clear, Portishead simply like to take their time. The eleven-year gap between their self-titled sophomore effort and 2008’s Third? They weren’t broken up, just writing. And considering how scary good/just plain scary said record was, transcending the trip-hop genre they pioneered almost a decade and a half earlier, you couldn’t say it wasn’t time well spent. Similarly, just because they’ve only played one North American show this century – 2008’s Coachella – after returning to the stage in 2005 following a seven-year absence didn’t mean they don’t like us over here; they were just figuring out what to pack.

Baggage issues seem to have been all sorted out, however, as the band have announced their first North American tour in who knows how long – 14 years at minimum – with Thought Forms supporting and it includes not one but two Toronto dates, October 9 and 10 at The Sound Academy. Ticket presales are already live with ducats running $61.50 plus 10% service fees, charged in US dollars. Remember when that was a bad thing? At current exchange rates, that’ll bring your price of admission to like $20 and change. Approximately.

Portishead, people. Yes they spawned a million soundalike bands but go back and listen to those records – they’re still as unique and creepy as they ever were.

Video: Portishead – “Chase The Tear”
Video: Portishead – “Magic Doors”
Video: Portishead – “The Rip”
Video: Portishead – “Machine Gun”
Video: Portishead – “Glory Box”
Video: Portishead – “All Mine”
Video: Portishead – “Humming”

The other great British “head” band – Radiohead – remain oddly shy about hitting the road in any extended capacity but they’re still perfectly keen to play. The long-promised King Of Limbs recital for television programme From The Basement went down this weekend and the whole thing is available to stream at YouTube, at least for the moment – the BBC seems to have some objection to people posting their programming on the internets and are taking action, so hop to it.

DIY reports that Mogwai will release a new EP entitled Earth Division on September 13.

Arctic Monkeys have rolled out a new video from Suck It And See, though you do not have to suck anything to watch it. Unless you want to. Your call.

Video: Arctic Monkeys – “The Hellcat Spangled Shalalala”

BBC and Clash interview The Horrors. Their latest Skying is out August 9 in North America and they play The Mod Club on September 27.

The Fly checks in with Mystery Jets, hard at work in the studio on their next album, targeted for an early 2012 release.

London’s Male Bonding will be at The Horseshoe on September 2 in support of album number two, Endless Now, due out August 30. Tickets $10.50 in advance.

MP3: Male Bonding – “Bones”
MP3: Male Bonding – “Franklin”

Scots We Were Promised Jetpacks have announced an October 3 release of their second album In The Pit Of The Stomach, and you can hear the first track from it on their website. There’s also a passel of US live dates but nothing north of the border.

Band of Skulls are taking some time off from working on album number two to play some North American dates, including September 28 at The Garrison.

MP3: Band Of Skulls – “Blood”

What did you expect from The Vaccines? Maybe a new video from What Did You Expect From The Vaccines?? Well there you go. They’re at The Phoenix on September 27.

Video: The Vaccines – “Norgaard”

The Quietus has an interview and NPR a World Cafe session with Anna Calvi.

Throwback London pop quartet Veronica Falls, who charmed at SXSW, are giving away a track from their debut album due out October 17.

MP3: Veronica Falls – “Come On Over”

NME chats with Elizabeth Sankey of Summer Camp, who continue to raise funds for their debut album via Pledge Music.

NPR has a World Cafe session with Lykke Li, who has also released a new “live on the moon” video wherein she makes like she is performing live on the moon.

Video: Lykke Li – “Sadness Is A Blessing” (live on The Moon)

Spin talks to Bjork about her Biophilia project, the album part of which will be out September 27.

Japanese heavy rockers Boris will bring Japanese-fronted dream poppers Asobi Seksu with them to Lee’s Palace on October 23, part of a North American tour in support of their two simultaneous releases earlier this year, Heavy Rocks and Attention Please.

MP3: Boris – “Farewell”
MP3: Asobi Seksu – “Trails”
Video: Boris – “Hope/Riot Sugar”

FacebookBritish dubstep/soul-pop producing/singing/songwriting wunderkind James Blake has been getting a lot of press of late – in particular as first runner-up in the BBC Sound Of 2011 poll and a glowing Pitchfork “Best New Music” review for his self-titled debut, out in the UK since February but not here until March 22 – so it’s not unreasonable to think there’d be a lot of interest in live dates, even over in North America.

So on the bright side, tour dates have been announced in addition to his appearance at SxSW next week and they do include a Toronto date, but while the US dates are all in rooms ranging in capacity from 250 to 500 or so, despite this being one of the more Anglophilic markets on the continent, he’s playing pretty much the smallest room we’ve got – that’s The Rivoli, on May 14.

Tickets are $20 in advance, on sale Friday and done paperless/check your credit card at the door-style. Considering the room holds around 200 people, less yesterday’s fan pre-sale, less media and guest lists, there could be just a handful of tickets available for sale… I suspect that he’ll be back at a larger room around the time of his Pitchfork Festival appearance come mid-July, but that’s pure speculation on my part. All of which is to say that if you want to see him in close quarters, you’ll want to be on the Ticketmaster tomorrow.

The Fader has posted online their cover feature on Blake.

MP3: James Blake – “To Care (Like You)”
Video: James Blake – “The Wilhelm Scream”
Video: James Blake – “Limit To Your Love”

The Raveonettes claimed their acoustic in-store at Sonic Boom back in August 2008 was the first time they’d performed in such a setting; apparently they liked it, because they’re doing it again on April 2 at 6PM before their show at The Phoenix that evening. Expect to hear tunes from their new one Raven In The Grave, out March 22, done unplugged-style. They talk to Spinner about the new record.

MP3: The Raveonettes – “Forget That You’re Young”

Johnny Flynn – here solo back in November – returns with his band The Sussex Wit for a show at The Horseshoe on May 26, tickets $13.50.

MP3: Johnny Flynn – “Kentucky Pill”

In a bill that will make folks of a certain generation possibly/probably lose their shit, Brendan Perry, formerly of Dead Can Dance, and Robin Guthrie, ex of Cocteau Twins, have put together a North American tour together that will stop in at the Opera House on June 4, tickets $27.50. Perry released a solo album in Ark last year while Guthrie has a number of projects ongoing but whose latest solo record was 20009’s Carousel.

Video: Cocteau Twins – “Heaven Or Las Vegas”
Video: Dead Can Dance – “The Carnival Is Over”

Pitchfork asks Andy Bell of Ride for the musical touchstones of his lifetime.

Entertainment Weekly talks to Liam Gallagher of Beady Eye, in town at the Sound Academy on June 20.

Exclaim reports that Spiritualized will release a new studio album this Fall, to be released in North America on label of the moment Fat Possum.

Spin talks briefly to Guy Garvey of Elbow and have a stream of a live reading of one of the new songs from build a rocket boys!. There’s also band features at RTE Ten, Joe.ie, BBC and The Chronicle.

Spinner talks to The Joy Formidable, whose debut The Big Roar is out next week. And just as they did for “Austere”, which also appeared on their A Balloon Called Moaning EP, they’ve made a new video for the album version of “Whirring”. They play The Horseshoe on April 3.

Video: The Joy Formidable – “Whirring” (new)

NOW and New York Press meet Esben & The Witch, who are playing Wrongbar tomorrow night.

Let’s Wrestle has announced the release of their second album, entitled Nursing Home and due out May 17. Check out the first MP3.

MP3: Let’s Wrestle – “Dear John”

Also out on May 17 is Street Of The Love Of Days, the debut from Amor de Dias – a name that might not be too familiar, but as the new project from The Clientele frontman Alasdair Maclean and Pipas’ Lupe Núñez-Fernández, is worth getting to know. Exclaim has some info on the project, which has been ongoing for a while – as evidenced by this track premiered by Pitchfork last Summer in addition to the album track just released.

MP3: Amor de Dias – “Bunhill Fields”
MP3: Amor de Dias – “New Wine”

Arctic Monkeys have released details on their next album – the classily-named Suck It And See is out June 6; more info at The Fly. They have a date at The Kool Haus on May 21.

PJ Harvey has released a new video from her latest Let England Shake.

Video: PJ Harvey – “The Glorious Land”

Also with a new video are Mystery Jets, this one for the title track of last year’s Serotonin.

Video: Mystery Jets – “Serotonin”

Keeping the new clip parade going are Yuck with the lead track from their self-titled debut. They are at The Phoenix on May 1.

Video: Yuck – “Get Away”

And finally, a new vid from The Go! Team, from Rolling Blackouts – they play The Opera House on April 10.

Video: The Go! Team – “Apollo Throwdown”

The Quietus explains why “C86” is so important as a musical genre/era/adjective.