Frank YangThe return of Fiona Apple to the public eye may have been the story of the SXSW not nicknamed, “The Boss”. Some six plus on from the release of her last album Extraordinary Machine, it’s not been an absence of, oh, Kevin Shields proportions but the tales of shelved releases and label battles have certainly given her a mythology of similar proportions. I say this from the perspective of someone who’s never counted himself a fan of her work but who’s certainly heard the stories; despite constantly being told – or perhaps because – that I needed to get better acquainted with her work, I’d always resisted. No real reason besides that I didn’t dig debut single “Criminal” back in the day and sometimes I like being contrary. But given the opportunity to witness her festival-opening comeback show, timed to begin building anticipation for her upcoming fourth album The Idler Wheel… due out in June, the temptation to bear witness was too great even though the three-block lineup to get in was a pretty good deterrent.

Rather than position herself as a headliner for the NPR-sponsored lineup, Apple opened the evening and following her three-piece band onto the Stubb’s stage, I remembered that I really had only a vague idea of what she even looked like, and those impressions were over a decade old. The 34-year old Apple still looked similar to what my mind’s eye saw – tiny and slight of frame – but also much older, an impression reinforced by her onstage persona. To put it mildly, Apple did not seem comfortable up there, all awkward and twitchy body language and grimaced facial expressions (though not without some smiles, to be fair). Yet even with that, she emanated a certain magnetic stage presence and curious confidence, like she knew she looked uncomfortable but didn’t care if you noticed.

Her fans certainly didn’t care. Even years after her last record and tour, she clearly still commanded great loyalty from her devotees, so vocal were they about welcoming her back and hearing her sing again. And appearances aside, she did sound quite good; splitting time behind the piano and just singing, her combination of jazz and rock, possessing both smoke and fire, is still a distinctive one and capable of strained vulnerability and bold acrobatics. Other reports mentioned that she premiered some new songs in the set but I didn’t recognize most of the songs – “Criminal” closed things out – but it acknowledge that it may be time I finally gave her records a listen.

A block south of Stubb’s, it was all about the new with a couple of English acts who’d come into the festival with a good amount of buzz behind them. First was Daughter, whom you might rightly assume to be the stage name of frontwoman Elena Tonra but who succeeded by virtue of how the three-piece operated as a band. Their shadowy folk answered the question of what Laura Marling might have sounded like if she’d pursued a less traditional, more rock-friendly path, or opted to work more collaboratively than proceed as a solo artist. They possessed an appealing darkness both musically and lyrically and had impressively intricate and understated arrangements. They’ve still only the His Young Heart EP to their name but the prospect of a full-length is a tantalizing one.

Dry The River were decidedly further along the anticipation curve, having just released their long-awaited debut album in the UK and about to do so in North America (the April 17th release date helpfully shouted out by a fan). There’s so much about what the band does that could go wrong; their anthemic folk rock walks the razor’s edge of being swallowed in bombast or melodrama but they gracefully manage to stay on the right side of the equation. They’re unafraid of being dramatic, of going for the rafter-shaking choruses and led by Peter Liddle’s tremulously powerful vocals, they pull it off – it’s heart-rending rather than head-shaking and when you add in the band’s multi-part harmonies, stellar musicianship and charming banter and you’ve just about a sure thing in the post-Mumford world. I’m sure I’m not the first to make Mumford comparisons and also unsure if the band would count it as praise, but they’re a relevant reference point and I’m sure the band wouldn’t mind sharing in some of that meteoric success. They’re hardly soundalikes, mind you, being both rawer and more sophisticated than that suspender-wearing quartet and either of those factors could work against them but then those choruses… They’re in town on April 27 at The Garrison with Bowerbirds; do yourself a favour and see for yourself.

And that was Wednesday. Just three acts, yes, but I was discouraged from the remainder of my itinerary by jammed venues and barking dogs (the metaphorical kind) and hey – I had a busy day programme and saw two bands the night before. And it was going to be a long week; no need to wear myself out the first night.

The start of the month brought word of a new Hot Chip album called In Our Heads, out June 12. Now we’ve got the first sample via a video and a North American tour that includes a Toronto stop at The Sound Academy on July 15.

Video: Hot Chip – “Flutes”

Also with a new video are the dears from Slow Club, straight out of Paradise.

Video: Slow Club – “The Dog”

Lianne La Havas continues to preview her debut album Is Your Love Big Enough with another new video ahead of its July 19 release.

Video: Lianne La Havas – “Lost & Found”

DIY talks to David Gedge of The Wedding Present, whose new album Valentina is out tomorrow and who play The Horseshoe on March 25.

Pitchfork points at a live Spiritualized performance video from the BBC which previews material from Sweet Heart Sweet Light, out April 17.

Former Supergrass frontman Gaz Coombes talks to DIY about his forthcoming solo debut Here Come The Bombs, out May 21. A first free download can be had over at his Facebook.

Stream: Gaz Coombes – “Sub-Divider”

Spinner and Buzzine talk to Of Monsters & Men as they ready the April 3 release of My Head Is An Animal and subsequent tour which brings them to The Phoenix on April 16.

Frank YangIt hasn’t escaped my notice that my live show schedule so far in 2012 has been pretty lean, and what there has been has been more on the sedate side. Which is fine – I dig the low key stuff and getting home well before midnight – but sometimes you get a fever for something bigger, louder and more rawk… and on those occasions, such as Tuesday night, the perfect prescription is The Kills.

The Amer-English duo were on the road for a second North American jaunt in support of last year’s Blood Pressures, but also to mark their tenth anniversary as a live act; the pair first took to the stage a decade prior to this show less a week. I can’t comment on how they were as performers way back when – the only time I’d seen them live was in 2008 in support of Midnight Boom – but considering the difference between that show and this one, I can only imagine that they’ve come a long, long way since that first gig.

I’m sure it was a longevity that first openers on the night, Brookyln’s Hunters, were aspiring to – goodness knows they’d clearly been taking other notes from the headliners, particularly in making good use of co-ed on-stage chemistry to put on an entertaining show. Derek Watson and Isabel Almeida were either trading off vocals and physically playing off each other over tunes that were garage-punk with a hint of bubblegum, and more adolescently hormonal than sophisticatedly seedy. Their stage presence more than compensated for some musical formulaicness and it was evident that their short set was enough to win them some fans, as Watson went for a set-closing crowd surf – not many openers can be assured of not being dropped.

Nashville sibling act JEFF The Brotherhood had been at it almost as long as The Kills, churning out six albums of psych-inflected garage rock over the past ten years and touring a hell of a lot over that time; it’s therefore not surprising that they already had a fanbase welcoming them back and cheering them on. The Orrall brothers specialize in and excel at a heavy but nimble brand of rock that’s more tuneful than you might think, a balance of sludgy stoner and spirited – if greasy – bar stylings. And they brought Alison Mosshart out to sing on their last song, so they also had that going for them.

At The Kills’ 2008 show, I was impressed how well Jamie Hince and Mosshart were able to put on a riveting show without needing to recruit a live band to back them up, so I was rather surprised to see their stage setup included a row of floor toms along the back – I presumed they weren’t just decorative and someone was actually going to play them. Two someones, as it turned out – a pair of drummers whose duties would include rhythm, clapping and choreography. A surprising break in the Kills aesthetic, but a beneficial one – you wouldn’t say they NEEDED the extra impact of those drums, either sonically or visually, but it didn’t hurt.

You could recruit a children’s choir and a symphony orchestra to back The Kills, though, and ultimately it’d just be about Hince and Mosshart – he of the untouchable guitar swagger and she of the feral intensity to match the giant leopard-print backdrop that hung above the stage, and both lubricating the stuttering mechanical rhythms that underpinned their sleazy electro-blues with sweat, blood, and whatever other fluids you might presume. Understand that I’d never suggest that that last show had been restrained in any way, but it seemed that the duo seemed even more confident and assured this time out – as if whereas before they were satisfied to be propelled by their raw charisma and chemistry, now they were steering it.

Unsurprisingly, the set leaned heaviest on Midnight Boom and Blood Pressures but those who wanted a more career-spanning show got a few bones in set opener “No Wow” – the only representative of their second album – and the two encore closers being pulled from their debut Keep On Your Mean Side. There were also a pair of covers – Patsy Cline’s “Crazy” and The Velvet Underground’s “Pale Blue Eyes” – to rep their forthcoming “The Last Goodbye” 12″, due out at the end of the month.

The Kills aren’t a band I necessarily turn to a lot in my regular listening patterns, but if you need a kick in the ass, a grab in the groin or just a reminder of why you love rock’n’roll, seeing them live is just the thing to do it.

The National Post, Music Vice, and PostCity have reviews of the show and amNY a short interview with Mosshart.

Photos: The Kills, JEFF The Brotherhood, Hunters @ The Kool Haus – February 7, 2012
MP3: The Kills – “DNA”
MP3: The Kills – “Future Starts Slow”
MP3: The Kills – “URA Fever”
MP3: The Kills – “Cheap & Cheerful”
MP3: The Kills – “Black Rooster”
MP3: The Kills – “Cat Claw”
Video: The Kills – “Last Goodbye”
Video: The Kills – “Baby Says”
Video: The Kills – “Future Starts Slow”
Video: The Kills – “Black Balloon”
Video: The Kills – “Tape Song”
Video: The Kills – “The Last Day Of Magic”
Video: The Kills – “Cheap & Cheerful”
Video: The Kills – “U.R.A. Fever”
Video: The Kills – “No Wow”
Video: The Kills – “Love Is A Deserter”
Video: The Kills – “The Good Ones”
Video: The Kills – “Wait”
Video: The Kills – “Fried My Little Brains”
Video: JEFF The Brotherhood – “Whatever I Want”
Video: JEFF The Brotherhood – “Hey Friend”
Video: JEFF The Brotherhood – “Mind Rides”
Video: JEFF The Brotherhood – “You Got The Look”
Video: JEFF The Brotherhood – “Bone Jam”
Video: JEFF The Brotherhood – “The Tropics”
Video: Hunters – “Acid Head”
Stream: Hunters / Hands On Fire

Those of you looking forward to the visit of another co-ed rock machine duo – I speak of Sleigh Bells – will have to wait a little longer. Pitchfork reports that rather than play The Phoenix on the evening of February 18, as they were supposed to, the pair will now be doing their pop-metal thing on Saturday Night Live instead. The Toronto show has been rescheduled for March 27, though their April 27 and 28 dates supporting Red Hot Chili Peppers at the Air Canada Centre are unchanged. Reign Of Terror – the new album – is out February 21 and there’s interviews with the band at The Palm Beach Post, The Orlando Sentinel, and Pensacola News Journal – yeah, I’d say the band are in Florida right now.

Peggy Sue, whose attempt to bring their second album Acrobats to town last November was stymied by some immigration issues with their tourmates, will try again as they’ve been added as support for First Aid Kit at The Great Hall on April 4.

MP3: Peggy Sue – “Cut My Teeth”

Though their debut My Head Is An Animal still won’t be out until April 3, Of Monsters & Men are clearly already one of Iceland’s biggest exports as demand for their April 16 show has moved it from The Mod Club to The Phoenix.

Sweden’s Niki & The Dove have a new video for a song which appeared on their 2011 12″ single and will presumably show up on their debut album whenever it arrives later this year.

Video: Niki & The Dove – “The Fox”

The Line Of Best Fit has posted a video session with Loney Dear.

Keeping today’s he-she/trans-Atlantic duo meme going, Big Deal have released a new video from their debut album Lights Out.

Video: Big Deal – “Talk”

Veronica Falls have made a new song available to stream – they were already playing new material on the road last year, you can bet we’ll hear some new tunes at The Garrison on February 14. NOW has an interview with the band in preview of that show.

Stream: Veronica Falls – “My Heart Beats”

Clash, Sloucher, and The Scotsman interview The Twilight Sad. They’re at Lee’s Palace on February 29.

Tindersticks have made a track from their new record The Something Rain, due out February 21.

MP3: Tindersticks – “Frozen”

DIY interviews Field Music, whose new album Plumb arrives next week.

Best news of the day? Richard Hawley has announced details of his new album. Standing At The Sky’s Edge will be out on May 7 and according to the press release at DIY, it will be more stripped-down affair than recent efforts, built on, “two guitars, bass, drums and rocket noises”.

Slate The Disco talks to Kate Jackson.

Harley WeirNo question, the first thing that needs to be addressed is their name. Even in an era with no shortage of terrible band names, Trailer Trash Tracys is an exceptionally terrible band name; the London quartet would probably be the first to admit it. But if there’s an upside to it, it’s that it offers no clues to what their debut album Ester might hold, so you’ve no choice to experience it with an open mind, if perhaps also lowered expectations.

Not that pressing “play” is quite enough – instrumental opener “Rolling – Kiss The Universe” is an abstracted mash-up of textures and tones that may intrigue or annoy, depending on your mood. But stick it out to the deep, twanging guitar line that announces “You Wish You Were Red” and Ester pays off in spades. The band owes obvious debts to Morricone and Badalamenti soundtracks, both in sound and mood, but attempting to pigeonhole them as Brits acting as cinematic tourists doesn’t account for the angelic croon of Susanne Aztoria, the unabashedly synthetic rhythms that bubble up throughout, the general lo-fi gauziness that permeates the proceedings or the unexpected bursts of guitar tapping that remind you that guitar tapping exists.

The sheer number of ideas and influences that go into Ester makes it seem like it should be a random mess, succeeding only occasionally and despite itself, but somehow it all manages to cohere in a way that’s unsettling yet alluring. It’s dream-pop that doesn’t sound much like that which typically gets called dream-pop, perhaps because rather than attempting to evoke what people think the subconscious sounds like, all soft-focus and slow-motion, Trailer Trash Tracys make music that sounds like it actually does – abstract and unpredictable while coming across as completely logical and natural within its own frame of reference. Well, that’s how my subconscious sounds, at least.

Addict Music has an interview with the band, while Spin has an interview as well as a stream of the album, which was released last month in the UK but is out in North America as of February 7.

MP3: Trailer Trash Tracys – “Candy Girl”
MP3: Trailer Trash Tracys – “Candy Girl” (demo)
MP3: Trailer Trash Tracys – “Dies In 55”
Video: Trailer Trash Tracys – “Englehart’s Arizona”
Video: Trailer Trash Tracys – “You Wish You Were Red”
Stream: Trailer Trash Tracys / Ester

The Twilight Sad’s James Graham talks haggis with Food Republic. No One Can Ever Know is out February 7 and they play Lee’s Palace on February 29.

Amanda Mair has released a first video from her self-titled debut, due out February 15.

Video: Amanda Mair – “Sense”

The Daily Record gets to know Niki & The Dove.

Of Monsters & Men have put their international, major-label record deal monies to good use, releasing a first video from My Head Is An Animal. The album is out April 3 and they’re at The Mod Club on April 12.

Video: Of Monsters & Men – “Little Talks”

NOW welcomes The Asteroids Galaxy Tour to Toronto, where they’re playing The Hoxton on Monday night.

The Dø have decided to cover Janelle Monáe. It sounds like this. They also did a session for The Line Of Best Fit, as well as an interview back in November when Both Ways Open Jaws came out.

Stream: The Dø – “Tightrope”

Nic ShonfeldFrom the outset, The Twilight Sad weren’t shy about proudly pronouncing their influences. The publicity photos for their 2007 debut Fourteen Autumns & Fifteen Winters may as well have featured the band staring intently at their footwear, so obviously indebted were the Glaswegians to the walls of guitar construction techniques laid down by their shoegazing forebears. But what set them apart was the songwriting blueprints they applied those lessons to, choosing to build giant monuments to miserablism from giant slabs of distortion, mortared together by James Graham’s thickly-accented bellow. Where they were coming from was familiar but what they did with it was unexpected, fresh and intense.

Their 2009 follow-up Forget The Night Ahead used the same tools but took their writing in more conventional directions with a greater emphasis on dynamics and feeling more traditionally pop, at least relatively speaking. It represented important artistic growth for a band whom one could have reasonably feared had but one impressive trick in their bag, but wasn’t likely to dramatically broaden their fanbase.

While their third album No One Can Ever Know may likewise not represent a broadening of who The Twilight Sad may appeal to, it’s definitely a wholesale retargeting. Guitars remain in the mix, but rather than the crucial load-bearing roles they’d played in the past, they’re now consigned to decoration and detail. Structural duties are now handled by cold, gleaming synths drawn from the electronic and industrial eras of the late ’70s and ’80s. Whereas their earlier works were studies in emotional catharsis, No One feels rather more sinister in its avoidance of feeling. This isn’t to say that Graham’s vocals are any less expressive, it’s just that the way they’re mated with driving rhythms and icy textures, they feel more like threat than release. It’s an unexpected turn from the Scots, but a rewarding one – and that’s coming from someone who loved their guitar-centric approach.

No One Can Ever Know is out next Tuesday, February 7, and is currently available to stream in whole at , while DIY has a track-by-track annotation of the album by James Graham and The List a short interview. They’re at Lee’s Palace on February 29.

MP3: The Twilight Sad – “Another Bed”
MP3: The Twilight Sad – “Kill It In The Morning”
Video: The Twilight Sad – “Another Bed”
Video: The Twilight Sad – “Sick”
Stream: The Twilight Sad / No One Can Ever Know

Mogwai have been rather snakebit as far as North American touring goes in the past few years, seemingly having to cancel as many shows/legs as they manage to play, but they’re looking to make up for it all with a Summer tour that includes a June 18 date at The Phoenix, tickets $29.50. And if you’re thinking of taking them for granted and catching them the next time around – as I have their last couple visits – note that the press release says, “it will likely be the last extensive touring we do for some time” so sit at home and watch reruns of How I Met Your Mother at your peril.

MP3: Mogwai – “San Pedro”
MP3: Mogwai – “Rano Pano”

Spin reports that Spiritualized’s forthcoming Sweet Heart Sweet Light has been pushed back a couple weeks from its intended March 18 release date. While a new release date hasn’t been confirmed, it’ll almost certainly be before May because that’s when the band begins an enormous North American tour that hits Toronto early on, with a show at The Phoenix on May 5. Tickets for that are $27 in advance.

Video: Spiritualized – “Do It All Over Again”

Spin has a stream of the first taste of the forthcoming Wedding Present album Valentina, due out March 20. They’re at The Horseshoe on March 25.

Stream: The Wedding Present – “You’re Dead”

The Vaccines update NME on their plans for recording album number two.

NPR tried to contain the greatness of Anna Calvi behind a Tiny Desk.

The Stool Pigeon and The Evening Chronicle interview Beth Jeans Houghton, whose debut Yours Truly, Cellophane Nose will be released on February 28.

Oh hey M.I.A. has a new single to stream, a precursor to her fourth album which is targeted for release this Summer. And she’ll be performing at the Super Bowl this weekend with Madonna? Oh, OK.

Stream: M.I.A. – “Bad Girls”

Another week, another episode of Austin City Limits to stream – this one featuring Florence & The Machine and Lykke Li.

Paste chats with the sisters of First Aid Kit, in town at The Great Hall on April 4.

Acid House Kings have opted to give away a track from their 2002 EP Say Yes If You Love Me, just because.

MP3: Acid House Kings – “Save It For The Weekend”

Iceland’s Of Monsters & Men are celebrating the April 3 international release of their debut My Head Is An Animal with a North American tour that includes an April 12 date at The Mod Club, tickets $16 in advance.

MP3: Of Monsters & Men – “Little Talks”

FacebookOn paper, London’s Big Deal doesn’t really bring a lot to the table. Two guitars – one acoustic, one electric – and two voices – one American male, one English female – and that’s about it. There’s not much in the way of virtuosity in the former and neither Kacey Underwood or Alice Costelloe’s vocals would stop anyone in their tracks either alone or in harmony. To hear it described, you’d be forgiven for expecting it to lean towards being rather conventional and/or pedestrian.

And yet their debut album Lights Out carries with it enough ineffable magic to demand you take notice, despite being rather determinedly low key. Some of that could be attributed to the duo’s backstory, assuming you know it (late-twenties Underwood taught the teenage Costelloe to play Sonic Youth and Dinosaur Jr on guitar and they ended up forming a band) and the questions about whether their relationship is strictly friends and bandmates or something more (a Guardian interview from last Summer rather firmly dismisses that speculation), but even without any of that colouring things, Lights Out is much more than the sum of its parts.

Both singers possess a certain intrinsic yearning and weariness to their voices that’s particularly effective for the lyrics that hint at (or even overtly reference if metaphorically) a bare, emotional intimacy. Combine that with the warm, wooly sonic blanket that’s created by Underwood’s lightly fuzzy electric guitar and Costelloe’s strummed acoustic – capable of switching to delicately interwoven guitar lines or rocking distorted leads for for punctuation – and out of these basic ingredients come a dozen tracks that don’t range too far apart but instead do their work by drawing you right in. Their band name might be a bit tongue-in-cheek but don’t underestimate for a minute how much Big Deal have to offer.

Lights Out is out on Tuesday. The Guardian declared them “New Band Of The Day” a couple of weeks ago.

MP3: Big Deal – “Chair”
Stream: Big Deal – “Homework”
Video: Big Deal – “Distant Neighbourhood”
Video: Big Deal – “Chair”
Video: Big Deal – “Homework”

NPR has a session and interview with Elbow recorded at WFUV, while Noise11 talks to bassist Pete Turner about their anthem for the 2012 London Olympics.

Loud & Quiet acts as an intermediary for Ghostpoet to interview The Big Pink.

Check out a session video by Beth Jeans Houghton, whose Yours Truly, Cellophane Nose comes out February 28.

Video: Beth Jeans Houghton & The Hooves of Destiny – “Sweet Tooth Bird” (Lightship Session)

The Yorkshire Evening Post and The Courier-Mail talk to Noel Gallagher.

NOW ran an interview with Los Campesinos! ahead of this weekend’s two-night stand at Lee’s Palace.

Music News interviews James Graham of The Twilight Sad. No One Can Ever Know is out February 7 and they’re at Lee’s Palace February 29.

The Alternate Side has posted a video session and interview with Loney Dear.

DIY and NPR mark this week’s release of The Lion’s Roar by running interviews with First Aid Kit. They play The Great Hall on April 4.

Swedish electro-pop outfit Miike Snow have made a May 1 date at The Sound Academy in support of their forthcoming album Happy To You, out March 27. The first single is available to stream over at Spin.

Stream: Miike Snow – “Paddling Out”

Interview gets to know Iceland’s next great pop hope, Of Monsters & Men.

Filter marks their ten-year anniversary by reaching back into their archives for a 2002 vintage interview with Bjork.

And while on the topic of things Icelandic, check out this mini-documentary film on Iceland Airwaves. I actually think I watched a version of this on the plane on the way back from last year’s festival, but they’ve since spliced in footage from 2011. And I may even see myself at 7:00… In any case, watch it and then make plans to go. You know you want to.

Video: Iceland Airwaves – a Rockumentary