muteEnglish singer-songwriter Polly Scattergood’s 2009 self-titled debut may have been an indulgent, precious, and overdramatic work that sounded very much like the diary entries of a 22-year old put to music, but it was also impressively assured for the same reason, assuredly declaring “this is who and what I am right now” and doing it by way of sophisticatedly melodic electro-pop and expressive vocal work. Even if it didn’t do it for you, it was hard to deny that it heralded the arrival of a new talent with much potential that merited attention as it grew and matured.

The follow-up will arrive sometime this Summer, but a couple samples have already been released to both remind listeners of what she’s about – four years is an eternity to be away these days – and show how far she’s come. Two tracks aren’t quite enough to judge the latter point, but they’re both solid tunes and as far as getting me to revisit the debut and remember to pay attention to when the album finally comes out? Mission accomplished.

MP3: Polly Scattergood – “Wanderlust”
Stream: Polly Scattergood – “Disco Damaged Kid”

MTV Hive interviews Foals about Holy Fire, out next Tuesday.

7Digital and The 405 chat with Veronica Falls about their new record Waiting For Something To Happen and DIY gets a track-by-track walkthrough of the new album It’s out next Tuesday and they play The Garrison on March 12.

Spinner talks to David Bowie guitarist Earl Slick about new album The Next Day, out March 12.

Scottish synth-pop trio CHVRCHES have announced a March 26 digital release for their first North American EP Recover, and are streaming the lead track from it. They play The Mod Club on March 20 as part of Canadian Musicfest.

Stream: CHVRCHES – “Recover”

The House Of Love have released the first single from She Paints Words In Red by way of video. Getting quiet excited for this record as well as the fact that international shipping on the limited-edition vinyl was four pence.

Video: The House Of Love – “A Baby Got Back On Its Feet”

The Line Of Best Fit debuts the new single from Little Green Cars by way of video session; they play The Drake on March 28.

DIY and The 405 interview Frightened Rabbit, who have put out a new video from the just-released Pedestrian Verse. They play The Phoenix on March 31.

Video: Frightened Rabbit – “Today’s Cross”

The Skinny and MusicOmh interview Ritzy Bryan of The Joy Formidable while Aritzia asks her which five songs she wished she’d written. The Joy Formidable are at The Phoenix on April 12.

Anyone wondering why it’s taken Mumford & Sons so long to bring 2012’s Babel to town can blame their decision to eschew conventional touring in favour of their Gentlemen Of The Road events. Southern Ontario finally gets our turn, though, as they’ve announced a “stopover” for the weekend of August 23 and 24 in Simcoe, Ontario on the shores of Lake Erie, a little under two hours outside of Toronto. There will be two days of music with Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros and Dan Mangan amongst those playing the Friday The Old Crow Medicine Show, Hey Rosetta!, and The Vaccines as well as Mumford themselves on Saturday with more acts to be announced. Two-day passes run $109.

Video: Mumford & Sons – “I Will Wait”
Video: Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros – “Home”

NPR has posted a video session with Bat For Lashes.

Neil Halstead drops in at Daytrotter.

The Phoenix interviews Peter Hook.

Jimmy KingIn the wake of David Bowie’s sudden and unexpected return to public life on Monday night, there’s understandably been a lot of Bowie talk in the past few days. Linking to them all would be futile, but here’s some of the pieces I’ve particularly liked. The Quietus does a great job of summing up why his return matters, why it’s different from all the other reunions and career resurrections that we’ve seen, as well as what we might expect from The Next Day when it drops on March 12.

Both The Guardian and The Quietus analyze the odd and polarizing artwork that will grace the new album – I honestly thought it was a joke when I first saw it – and if you missed my addendum on Tuesday, there’s an interview with the designer of the cover at Virus Fonts. Rolling Stone sums up an interview with producer Tony Visconti about the making of the record, which has been two years in the making, and what the rest of the album feels like – hint: not like the lead single – and over at Ultimate Classic Rock, guitarist Earl Slick talks about his own contributions to the record and the challenges of not saying a damn word about it until now. Update: In a forthcoming NME interview, Visconti re-emphasizes Bowie’s intentions to not perform live for this record. So there’s that. Update 2: Billboard also has an interview with Visconti.

For my part, despite being one of the many who probably hasn’t given any of Bowie’s late-era works the consideration at least some of it surely deserves, I’m quite excited about the new record. I really like the new song, and I especially like the fact that this is an album that exists not because Bowie felt he was obliged to make one – most everyone had accepted that he was retired and no longer owed anyone anything; he had successfully transitioned into myth – but because after an unprecedentedly long layoff, once again has something to say musically. I look forward to hearing what that is.

And in the meantime, check out these 34 portraits of Bowie by famous cartoonists over at Buzzfeed, have another look at the piece in The Daily Mail from last year that seemed to confirm his domestic bliss and try to read the, “yeah sure it looks like I’m just out to do some shopping but I’m really making a new record that you have no idea about” in his smile. Oh, and here’s that new single/video again.

Video: David Bowie – “Where Are We Now?”

The Bowie news, of course, blew the news of Suede’s own new single right off the front pages of certain music news sites, but to remind us that also was a thing, the band have released a rehearsal space video for the song. Their new album Bloodsports is out in March, though hopefully not on the 12th lest they want to be overshadowed by Bowie yet again.

Video: Suede – “Barricade” (Rehearsal Room video)

Pitchfork has debuted the new video from Esben & The Witch’s second album Wash The Sins Not Only The Face, out in a couple weeks on January 22.

Video: Esben & The Witch – “Despair”

DIY has got a stream of the new single from British buzz band Palma Violets, in town at The Horseshoe on January 24 and dropping their debut 180 on February 25.

Stream: Palma Violets – “Step Up For The Cool Cats”

The Guardian has a wide-ranging interview with Johnny Marr, covering everything from The Smiths to his solo debut The Messenger due out February 26. Another new track from the album is streaming at KROQ.

Stream: Johnny Marr – “Upstarts”

The Walking Dead is back on TV come February 10 but those who like their Zombies a little less shambling and a little more classic baroque pop will want to catch the Colin Blunstone and Rod Argent-led 2013 lineup at The Sound Academy on March 3.

Video: The Zombies – “She’s Not There”

NME reports thatKate Nash will release her third album Girl Talk on March 4; stream the first single below.

Stream: Kate Nash – “3AM”

Le Blogotheque has a Takeaway Show session with Django Django. They play The Opera House on March 12.

The 405 has details on If You Leave, the debut album from Daughter which will be out on March 18 in Europe and the UK but not until April 30 in North America.

The Alt-J show on March 27 originally set for The Phoenix has been moved to The Sound Academy and is now all-ages. The extra 2000 or so tickets go on sale today and are still $17.50. NPR has a video session as well as a Tiny Desk Concert with the band and Clash gets them to reflect on their rather successful 2012. Under The Radar also has an interview.

MP3: Alt-J – “Tessalate”

The 405 has a quick update on the new Primal Scream album, which if their producer’s Facebook is to be believed, will be called More Light and be out in May.

Rolling Stone talks to Neil Halstead about the just-released new video from his latest Palindrome Hunches.

Video: Neil Halstead – “Digging Shelters”

Charli XCX has released a new gunplay-happy video that’s drawing some ire from those who are a bit sensitive on the topic of guns right now. Which is understandable to a degree, but I hope they’re saving some of their vitriol for the people/organizations actually responsible for the excess of real-life gun violence rather than a British pop singer latching onto a ubiquitous aspect of western pop culture.

Video: Charli XCX – “You (Ha Ha Ha)”

DIY talks to Summer Camp about how things are coming with album number two while The Line Of Best Fit learns about the documentary the band are also making about late ’90s/early ’00s teen movies entitled Beyond Clueless.

Frank YangIf there’s any lessons a band can take from Ash, first and foremost would be a) to never mind fashion and stick to what you do well, and b) to get started young. The benefits of both of these points were on display Saturday night when the Northern Irish trio rolled into Lee’s Palace for their first Toronto show in seven years. To the former, they had a massive and impressive repertoire of high-energy, ultra-melodic punk/metal-laced pop to draw from and to the former, well if you’re so fortunate to be celebrating your twentieth anniversary as a band then you would probably want to be has as young and spry as the 35-year old Tim Wheeler, even with the flecks of grey in his beard.

While I can think of some acts I’d have rather seen open for Ash – former guitarist Charlotte Hatherley, say, or Wheeler’s girlfriend Emmy The Great – Halifax’s Kestrels were more than fine as well. As I wrote in July, their debut A Ghost History has more than enough ’90s-vintage college rock/shoegaze DNA in it to be a good fit, and there was even a formal connection what with Wheeler making a guest guitar appearance on the record. As is not unusual for bands of their ilk, their live show was exceedingly loud, and many of the pop-friendly nuances on the record were smothered with distortion and volume. The rhythm section, with its thick, fuzzy bass chords and nimble, 16th-note drumming, was an effective balance of heavy and agile and Chad Peck’s guitar leads were less melodic lines than bursts of noise run through a wah pedal. They probably could have done themselves a favour by turning down just a bit, but their enthusiasm was warranted – it was their last show of the year after touring heavily in support of their album and as Peck noted, Ash was his favourite band since forever so getting to open for them – and then take over Wheeler’s guitar roadie duties later – made for a pretty unique experience. If ever there was a night to leave it all on stage, it was this. And they did. Loudly.

Though chronologically, Ash fit right into the first wave of Britpop, I never really thought of them as such – and not just because Northern Ireland isn’t technically part of Britain, so the genre was a misnomer anyways. No, it was more their youthful energy and punkier inclinations didn’t really fit with the sort of Anglo sophistication that I wanted from the likes of Blur or Pulp, and so while I appreciated the singles I heard over the years, I didn’t start making up the lost time until recently. Definitely in time to thoroughly enjoy their show, though. Obviously feeling no inclination to be difficult, the set was wall-to-wall hits – both actual and should have beens – drawn from throughout their career but focusing largely on their 1996 debut 1977 with appropriate consideration given to 2001’s Free All Angels and 2004’s Meltdown, and ranging from the relatively gentle “Shining Light” to the positively raging “Clones”. And while not sold out, the show was well-attended with no small number of Irish fans and not singing along with anthems such as “Goldfinger” or “Girl From Mars” was simply not an option. They also drew heavily from their recent ambitious A-Z singles series – the triple vinyl North American release ostensibly the reason for the tour – and tracks like “Arcadia” and “Binary” proving that even after twenty years, their simple formula of riff and melody – and recently, the occasional electronic flourish – still pays tremendous dividends.

As you would expect a band with as many years and miles under their belts as Ash, they were unbelievably polished and powerful, bassist Mark Hamilton not missing a not while striking body-contorting rock poses through the whole night and Wheeler, when not singing, was bounding around the stage and confirming that the road case oddly placed front and centre stage was indeed for jumping on and rocking out. And after nineteen songs and 90 minutes, it was also the place for the trio to stand up and take a well-earned bow.

Oh, one more lesson bands can take from Ash? Flying Vs rawk.

Exclaim also has a review of the show and A Music Blog, Yea has an interview with Tim Wheeler.

Photos: Ash, Kestrels @ Lee’s Palace – November 17, 2012
MP3: Ash – “Return Of White Rabbit”
MP3: Ash – “Burn Baby Burn”
Video: Ash – “Carnal Love”
Video: Ash – “Binary”
Video: Ash – “Kamakura”
Video: Ash – “The Creeps”
Video: Ash – “War With Me”
Video: Ash – “Neon”
Video: Ash – “Ichiban”
Video: Ash – “Space Shot”
Video: Ash – “Pripyat”
Video: Ash – “Tracers”
Video: Ash – “Arcadia”
Video: Ash – “Joy Kicks Darkness”
Video: Ash – “True Love 1980”
Video: Ash – “Return Of White “
Video: Ash – “End Of The World”
Video: Ash – “Polaris”
Video: Ash – “You Can’t Have It All”
Video: Ash – “I Started A Fire”
Video: Ash – “Renegade Cavalcade”
Video: Ash – “Starcrossed”
Video: Ash – “Orpheus”
Video: Ash – “Clones”
Video: Ash – “There’s A Star”
Video: Ash – “Candy”
Video: Ash – “Sometimes”
Video: Ash – “Burn Baby Burn”
Video: Ash – “Shining Light”
Video: Ash – “Warmer Than Fire”
Video: Ash – “Wildsurf”
Video: Ash – “A Life Less Ordinary”
Video: Ash – “Oh Yeah”
Video: Ash – “Goldfinger”
Video: Ash – “Angel Interceptor”
Video: Ash – “Girl From Mars” (US)
Video: Ash – “Girl From Mars” (UK)
Video: Ash – “Kung Fu”
Video: Ash – “Uncle Pat”
Video: Kestrels – “The Past Rests”
Video: Kestrels – “There All The Time Without You”

Here’s one to file under “happy coincidences”. Just yesterday morning, I was listening to The Joy Formidable and thinking that it had been too long since I saw them live, having skipped their show in April and also planning to give next Sunday night’s support slot for The Gaslight Anthem a pass. And then, lo and behold, they announce a last-minute headline gig at The Mod Club for next Monday, November 26. It’s a free show as part of CFNY’s holiday concert series, so head to theedge.ca for details on how to win tickets. Expect to hear material from their new album Wolf’s Law, out January 22.

MP3: The Joy Formidable – “Wolf’s Law”

Kate Nash has announced her Death Proof EP will indeed be out this Fall as promised – as of right now, in fact. DIY has details on the release, which will be out on November 19, and Consequence Of Sound has some specifics on Nash’s third studio album, entitled Girl Talk and targeted for a March 2013 release. Spin talks to her about her new video for the title track of the new EP.

Video: Kate Nash – “Death Proof”

Florence & The Machine have squeezed another video out of Ceremonials and premiered it over at Nowness.

Video: Florence & The Machine – “Lover To Lover”

Played the new Veronica Falls track to death already? Head over to They Shoot Music where the band play a live version for a video session in addition to an old song. The new album Waiting For Something To Happen is out February 12.

4AD has details on the second album from Stornoway, to be entitled Tales From Terra Firma and due out on March 11.

Pitchfork has a Takeaway Show with Jessie Ware, filmed last month in Paris.

Blurt talks to Beth Orton.

The first track from Foals’ new album Holy Fire, out February 12, is now available to download.

MP3: Foals – “Inhaler”

Esben & The Witch are also giving away the first teaser of their second album Wash The Sins Not Only The Face, out January 21.

MP3: Esben & The Witch – “Deathwaltz”

For Folks Sake and The Stool Pigeon talk to Neil Halstead.

The Guardian asks the question so many have wondered – how did Mumford & Sons get so damn big?

Wales Online reports that Manic Street Preachers have gotten to work on a new album, though it won’t be out until 2014 at least.

Blur have released a clip from their not-farewell Hyde Park concert, documented on the forthcoming CD/DVD Parklive set. It’s out December 3.

Video: Blur – “Under The Westway” (live at Hyde Park)

Wired reports that Beautiful Noise, the documentary film on the shoegazing movement featuring interviews with many principals of the scene that has seemingly been in production forever, is finally finished and turning to Kickstarter to fund its distribution. $25 gets you a copy of the DVD… and you know you want it.

Trailer: Beautiful Noise

FacebookEveryone has heard the old saw about bands having “a lifetime to write the first album, a year to write the second”. Similarly, most people can think of an instance or two of “sophomore slump” being more than just a clever bit of alliteration. London’s Veronica Falls seem set on not letting the former be any kind of obstacle and sidestepping the latter entirely. Their self-titled debut came out just over a year ago, but they’ve just announced the follow-up.

Waiting For Something To Happen will be out on February 12 of next year and the first teaser track from it has been made available to stream, and as expected/hoped it’s another slice of deliciously retro, garage-punk-jangle-pop that might sound a bit sunnier with more major key wistfulness than you would have found on the debut, but it’s only one song of thirteen – there’s surely at least some of their trademark darkness still lurking in the corners. Exclaim has the full tracklisting, album art, and other bits and bobs announced about the record.

Stream: Veronica Falls – “Teenage”

A Music Blog, Yea runs some questions by guitarist Paul Rains of Allo Darlin’.

The Joy Formidable have released a new video from their own sophomore effort, Wolf’s Law. It’s out January 23 and they’re at The Sound Academy on November 25 supporting The Gaslight Anthem.

Video: The Joy Formidable – “The Ladder Is Ours”

Natasha Khan of Bat For Lashes talks about her experience in the music industry with Exclaim. A new track from The Haunted Man has also been made available to download.

MP3: Bat For Lashes – “Oh Yeah”

MXDWN and Los Angeles Magazine talk to Laura Marling.

NPR welcomes Neil Halstead for a World Cafe session.

Johnny Marr has released a video for the title track from his solo debut The Messenger, due out February 26. Hear that, son? That’s the jangle.

Video: Johnny Marr – “The Messenger”

DIY has some updates on the next album from Primal Scream, targeted for release in Summer of next year.

Atlanta Music Guide has a short interview with Ash; they’re at Lee’s Palace this Saturday night, November 17.

The Fly interviews Trailer Trash Tracys.

One of the tracks from Charli XCX’s new Super Ultra Mixtape has been made available for download, if you prefer things in sub-three minute chunks.

MP3: Charli XCX – “Glow”

Rolling Stone talks to Richard Thompson about his new album Electricity – due out February 5 – and also have a stream of one of the new songs on it.

Stream: Richard Thompson – “Good Things Happen To Bad People”

Blurt reports that Dutch indie-rock veterans Bettie Serveert have targeted a February release for their new album Oh, Mayhem! and released a first video from it. Here’s hoping they take this opportunity to make up that 2010 Toronto show canceled at the eleventh hour due to visa issues.

Video: Bettie Serveert – “Had2Byou”

Sambassadeur have made the flipside of their forthcoming single “Memories”/”Hours Away” available to stream, helping to tide you over until the single is out November 20 and the new album is out sometime next year.

Stream: Sambassadeur – “Hours Away”

Under The Radar talks to Carl and Adam of Shout Out Louds about how work is progressing on their fourth album. They hope to release it near the end of February 2013.

Much Sigur Rós to report; they’ve premiered another video from the Valtari Mystery Film Experient over at Nowness, this one set to four of the songs from Valtari. Maybe it will be one of those screened at The Bloor on December 8. Further, the band have announced another North American tour for next Spring. The band made a total triumph of their last visit to Echo Beach in August, but instead of returning to their former home of Massey Hall for indoor digs, they’ll be setting up at the Air Canada Centre on March 30, albeit in the more-intimate theatre configuration. And lest you worry that arenas in any configuration are acoustic nightmares, know that The National made the same setup sound amazing last December and the magical elves that work sound for Sigur Rós did wonders with Echo Beach’s PA, so I have full confidence that this will sound incredible. Ticket details still forthcoming but public on-sale is this Saturday, so they’ll be available soon. And on top of all that, they will release a new EP to go with the tour on March 22. Hoo-rah.

MP3: Sigur Rós – “Hoppípolla”
Video: Sigur Rós – “Valtari”

Björk has also rolled out a new video from last year’s Biophilia.

Video: Björk – “Mutual Core”

Tame Impala have released a new video from Lonerism; The Chicago Tribune also has an interview.

Video: Tame Impala – “Feels Like We Only Go Backwards”

Memphis IndustriesIt’s been interesting tracking the musical evolution of El Perro Del Mar, the musical project of Sweden’s Sarah Assbring. Her 2006 self-titled debut cast her as the mournful ghost of a ’50s doo-wop girl while the 2008 follow-up From The Valley To The Stars invited fuller arrangements into the mix – even getting jaunty at points – while keeping the sentiments beautifully downcast. 2009’s Love Is Not Pop was took great strides towards feeling more modern, mostly via studio-slick musical arrangements, and while surprisingly short compared to Valley – seven tracks versus its predecessor’s 16 – assuming that that the three dancey remixes appended as bonus tracks to the US edition were just filler would have been a mistake; they were more of a signpost.

In the three years between that release and her fourth album Pale Fire, Assbring seems to have completed the transition from old-school chanteuse to dance diva and also invested in a lot of keyboards in the process. Pale Fire is an unabashedly synthetic record, built on beats and loops and existing in a haze, sounding largely like a remix album of a more conventional work. Assbring’s retro stylings have been wholly subsumed by the dedication to the groove, but her signature sadness is still detectable – it seems the dancefloor isn’t necessarily any less lonely a place than one’s bedroom.

Assbring doesn’t have the sort of voice one would typically associate with dance music – it’s not an especially powerful or sensual instrument – but it’s that dissonance that helps Pale Fire stand out from the current crop of electro-pop, and when when Pale Fire reverts to a more traditional sonic form, as on “I Was A Boy”, the other would-be peers just fall away. Given the number of guises that Assbring has donned over the course of her career, it’d be presumptuous to think that Assbring will dwell in Pale Fire‘s aesthetic for too long, but it does feel like the end of the transformation that she’s been undertaking since Valley; maybe she’ll keep it on for a little while.

Pale Fire is out next week but now streaming in whole over at Hype Machine. A Heart Is A Spade has an interview with Assbring.

MP3: El Perro Del Mar – “Hold Off The Dawn”
Video: El Perro Del Mar – “Walk On By”
Video: El Perro Del Mar – “Innocence Is Sense”
Stream: El Perro Del Mar / Pale Fire

Interview talks to Joachim Läckberg of Sambassadeur, who may be releasing a new single in “Memories” in a few weeks but aren’t looking to put out their next album until late next year. Teases.

The Line Of Best Fit note that Icona Pop’s self-titled debut will be released in their native Sweden as soon as next week, November 14. A worldwide release will follow next year. They open up for Marina & The Diamonds at The Kool Haus on December 1.

Those who’ve been following along with Sigur Rós’ Valtari Mystery Film Experient and wish they could see the works on a bigger screen may be interested to know that a goodly number of the films – at least 17 – are being compiled and taken on the road for some worldwide screenings over the course of a weekend in December. Toronto gets ours on December 8 at The Bloor.

And if that’s not enough Scandi-music film action for you, 4AD has released some details on The Ghost Of Piramida, a film that documents Efterklang’s visit to the abandoned Russian town of Piramida, from which their latest album drew inspiration and its name.

Foals have confirmed the February 12 release of their next record Holy Fire with the release of the first video from the record.

Video: Foals – “Inhaler”

Pitchfork has more specifics on the solo debut from Johnny Marr; The Messenger will be out on February 26 of next year.

Justin Young of The Vaccines offers an interview to Drowned In Sound. They play The Phoenix on February 4.

The 405 meets Field Music.

NPR has a World Cafe session with Beth Orton.

Mumford & Sons enlisted Stringer Bell – that’s actor Idris Elba, for non-Wire watchers – to star in the new video from Babel.

Video: Mumford & Sons – “Lover Of The Night”

The Quietus talks to Neil Halstead about all things Slowdive, Mojave 3, and Neil Halstead. Denver Westword also has an interview.

Drowned In Sound makes a case for the importance of Manic Street Preachers’ debut Generation Terrorists, turning 20 and out in deluxe reissue form now.

The National Post and eMusic talk to Bernard Sumner and Gillian Gilbert of New Order, respectively.

The Irish Times, Burton Mail, Gigwise, and The Edinburgh Evening News talk to David Gedge of The Wedding Present.

Clash and Exclaim have features on Tame Impala, in town at The Phoenix on November 12.