Frank YangRocking out, of course, would have been wholly inappropriate. The New Year may have finally chosen to visit Toronto after years of passing us by, but to make any sort of production of it would have been completely out of character. Instead, the slow and steady languidness on which they’ve built their career (or careers, if you count Bedhead) demanded that the Texan quintet show up, do their quietly mesmerizing thing and depart. Which they did, while still blowing at least a few of the 50 or so minds gathered to welcome them.

I’d gotten a preview of what the live show might be like when the two principals – Matt and Bubba Kadane – played Sneaky Dee’s as a duo back in July but as anticipated, the addition of the third (and at one point fourth) guitar and rock-solid rhythm section featuring drummer extraordinaire Chris Brokaw put things into another dimension from that stripped-down performance. I covered some of what makes The New Year special in my review of their new eponymous album but to see the intricate guitar-chestrations executed live was fascinating – between the five of them, it was like watching musical engineers at work, systematically and methodically building something cool and crystalline and beautiful.

Neither Kadane seemingly interested in stepping up to the front of the stage unless they had to sing, so at more than a few points the entire band was pulled back to near the back of the stage, far more intent on the job at hand than working the crowd. Material was drawn from all three of their records though with the absence of a piano in the lineup, arrangements were rejigged to be even more guitar-intensive but such is the magic of their recipe that even with all that going on, nothing got overly busy or muddled – each part rung out clear as a bell and as delicately or intensely as necessary. With a set that lasted just an hour including encore, it seemed rather short considering how long I – and at least a few others I sure – had waited for the show, but that’s a small complaint. Satisfying in every other regard.

It was unclear who support was for this show – all listings I’d seen said Angela Desveaux, but a few instead said a fellow named Ryan Driver. As it happens, it was both. Driver was up first and didn’t seem at all perturbed to be playing to less than a dozen people. Seated in a chair and deftly fingerpicking his acoustic guitar, he offering up a short set of fairly standard but still well-executed coffeehouse folk. Desveaux, on the other hand, brought a full-sized band featuring not just three guitars but a pedal steel as well, all tasked with recreating the rich country pop of her latest record The Mighty Ship. I’ve always found Desveaux to be a solid, if not over spectacular, live performer – her strength is very much her voice and songwriting – so the extra musical muscle went a long way to making things engaging throughout. Throw in a couple of covers from Paul Simon and Richard & Linda Thompson and you had a set that was comfy like a warm sweater.

New City Chicago talks to Matt Kadane, Here chats with Angela Desveaux.

Photos: The New Year, Angela Desveaux, Ryan Driver @ Lee’s Palace – October 15, 2008
MP3: The New Year – “The Company I Can Get”
MP3: The New Year – “X Off Days”
MP3: The New Year – “The End’s Not Near”
MP3: The New Year – “Sinking Ship”
MP3: Angela Desveaux – “Sure Enough”
MP3: Angela Desveaux – “Heartbeat”
Video: The New Year – “The End’s Not Near”
Video: Angela Desveaux – “Wandering Eyes”
Video: The New Year – “Disease”
MySpace: The New Year
MySpace: Angela Desveaux

Boston Music Spotlight spotlights Frightened Rabbit, playing Lee’s Palace on Tuesday.

The Ithaca Journal interviews Billy Bragg.

Travis – remember them? – are back with a new album in Ode To J Smith, out now. And it sounds a little like this.

MP3: Travis – “J. Smith”

Murray Lightburn details the fall and rise of The Dears to The Globe & Mail.

Time Out Chicago gets some time with TV On The Radio’s Tunde Adebimpe.

The Denver Post chats with John Darnielle of The Mountain Goats. Their new EP Satanic Messiah is available digitally, either via a pay what you can model or at a suggested price tag of the devil of $6.66.

Colin Meloy gives Paste some insight into the next Decemberists record Hazards Of Love, currently targeted for an April release.

Will Sheff of Okkervil River gives SPIN an explanation of the song that closes out The Stand Ins, “Bruce Wayne Campbell Interviewed on the Roof of the Chelsea Hotel, 1979”.

Two Hours Traffic are coming back for their four millionth Toronto show this year for an all-ages gig at the Whippersnapper Gallery on November 28 as part of their “Sure Can Start” tour. Hey, that’s the same name as one of their songs. What a coincidence!

MP3: Two Hours Traffic – “Sure Can Start”

The Falls Church News Press and Minneapolis Star-Tribune talk to Broken Social Scene’s Brendan Canning. They’ve got two dates at the Sound Academy on November 27 and 28.

Autumn De WildeSo obviously I’m on record as having thought that Rilo Kiley’s last record (and according to some, their last record) Under The Black Light was a massive disappointment. It sounded like both principals were disinterested and just phoning it in, and made me think that maybe frontwoman Jenny Lewis’ solo career – at that point consisting only of the rather lovely and understated country-soul gem Rabbit Fur Coat – was going to be the actual way forward.

Which put her second solo effort, Acid Tongue, under that much more scrutiny. Was the weak and indifferent songwriting on Black Light an aberration or had the wellspring of inspiration that had served so well up to that point actually dried up? Well, it’s definitely a better record than Blacklight, but coming from me that’s not necessarily saying much. It thankfully eschews the genre-hopping of that last Rilo Kiley record and returns again to the rootsier trappings that suits Lewis’ voice best, though not in as quiet a manner as Rabbit Fur Coat. Acid Tongue is a bolder, brassier record with its share of rollicking moments, but what it gains in energy over the first solo record, it loses in vulnerability.

As her success has grown, it seems Lewis’ willingness to expose herself in her songwriting has diminished or what does make it through is thoroughly encrypted. And that’s fine, emotionally naked, heart on sleeve songwriting isn’t for everyone but Lewis has indulged before and the results have been stirring. So instead of a confessional, she’s enlisted a slew of guest stars – Elvis Costello, M Ward and Zooey Deschanel among them – and hosted a party instead. A party where the theme is loose but impeccably played, ’70s-style country-rock. And parties are great, everyone likes parties, but I’ve always been the sort who preferred the quiet 3AM conversations that follow when things have died down.

The AV Club, The Guardian, The List, Blurt, The Independent and The Skinny talk to Lewis about her new record.

MP3: Jenny Lewis – “Acid Tongue”
MySpace: Jenny Lewis

Feist talks to The Winnipeg Sun about visiting the Arctic. She visits Massey Hall on November 1 and the Air Canada Centre on November 3.

Paste talks to Lucinda Williams.

The Denver Post and Colorado Daily Q&A Stephin Merritt of The Magnetic Fields.

Chart talks to Matthew Sweet.

The McGill Tribune interviews Travis Nelson of Okkervil River.

Gotham Acme talks to Joey Burns of Calexico. They’re at the Phoenix on November 18 and with original support act Bowerbirds having cancelled on account of exhaustion, the opener will now be Cuff The Duke.

In response to my “nothing to write about” comment yesterday, Radio Free Canuckistan gently reminded me that The Awkward Stage, who released the wholly underappreciated Slimming Mirrors, Flattering Lights earlier this year, are at the Horseshoe tonight as part of a west coast-acular bill with Said The Whale, Vancougar and Sylvie. Pulse Niagara has an interview with Awkward frontman Shane Nelken, The Toronto Star features Sylvie.

MP3: The Awkward Stage – “Anime Eyes”
MP3: Vancougar – “Obvious”
MP3: Sylvie – “Please Make It Home”

Photo by Frank Yang

Some people spend Thanksgiving with their families. I spend mine with rock’n’roll bands. Two years ago at Pop Montreal, last year at The Phoneix with The National and this year again at the Phoneix with Okkervil River and Crooked Fingers. It’s okay – my parents have a habit of being out of the country on Thanksgiving so it’s not like I’m a total no-account son. Just mostly. Anyways.

It’s not like I was the only one – the Phoenix was pretty much full of people skipping out on turkey day to welcome what was pretty much one of the best touring bills you’d be likely to see. And while I was, as always, excited to see Okkervil River, this would be the fourth time in less than a year that I’d be seeing them – Crooked Fingers, on the other hand, had been ages. Eric Bachmann had come through as a solo artist (with band) two years ago and as a solo act under the Crooked Fingers name (opening for The Delgados back in 2004 but the last time Crooked Fingers came to Toronto as a proper band was March 2005 and while I went to that show I wasn’t a fan at the time and… you know what? Never mind. It’d been a while.

One consequence of Bachmann’s constantly shifting musical identities is that you’ll rarely get the same band from one tour to the next. This time out, Crooked Fingers was the four-piece who recorded their new record Forfeit/Fortune but in addition to the new material, they were tasked with covering songs from throughout Bachmann’s varied career and results were a bit mixed. For starters, they had to fight through a mix that just didn’t sound quite right – the balance between Bachmann’s powerful rasp and the softer vocals of bassist Miranda Brown and violinist Elin Palmer never managed to find the sweet spot – and while airing out Archers Of Loaf classic “Web In Front” brought many cheers, the arrangement didn’t have the necessary muscle to do it justice. On the plus side, the new songs sounded mostly excellent stripped of the album’s heavier production and the older Crooked Fingers repertoire sounded terrific, no qualifiers. Though they could have played more from Dignity & Shame.

Okkervil also came in with their own share of lineup shuffling – while keyboardist Justin Sherburn had been Jonathan Meiburg’s official replacement since March, guitarist Charles Bissell, who’d stepped in for new father Brian Cassidy at the same time had done his tour of duty and returned to the Wrens and his replacement was Austinite Lauren Gurgiolo, tasked with handling guitar, mandolin and steel duties. But such fluidity is in the nature of every river, even the Okkervil. Yes, I went there. Let’s move on.

Every time I’ve seen Okkveril River live – and I think this was time six or seven – they’ve put on an even better show and considering their last couple visits set the bar pretty high, that’s an accomplishment. This time out, they had the advantage of touring behind their most out and out rocking record in The Stand-Ins, sequel to last year’s The Stage Names. Kicking off with “Plus Ones”, Okkervil barreled through an over ninety-minute set that focused on their last two opuses, Stage Names/Stand Ins and Black Sheep Boy, only reaching back to their debut Don’t Fall In Love With Everyone You See for the rousing encore-closing double shot of “Okkervil River Song” and “Westfall”, the latter featuring a boisterous audience sing-along. And while I’d hoped to hear the lyrically-updated version of “The President’s Dead” that’s been making appearances this tour, it wasn’t to be this night. Did they not know we also have an election tomorrow?

The band’s steady evolution from a folk to rock band has done wonders for their live set – originally, they had to deliver the slower end of their repertoire with a solid dose of slop and anarchy to generate the energy necessary for a riveting live set. And while it was an exhilarating experience, it wasn’t always pretty. Now, with the relentless touring having tightened them up immeasurably, Okkervil are an amazing live act to behold and there was no need to make excuses for missing notes or being off-key, because it didn’t happen. Though if you were looking for a little of the old chaos, it was there when Will Sheff pulled the mic off the stand and knocked it down, directly on the head of a girl in the front row (she was fine). Accidental assaults notwithstanding, Sheff was a magnetic frontman, starting off besuited and bespectacled and steadily shedding his wardrobe as he became more and more sweat-soaked from bounding around stage and working the crowd, the patron saint of English majors who secretly wish they were rock stars.

The Toronto Star has an interview with Sheff covering topics such as the fertile Austin music scene and Canadian Thanksgiving traditions. Chart talks to Eric Bachmann about Forfeit/Fortune.

Photos: Okkervil River, Crooked Fingers @ The Phoenix – October 12, 2008
MP3: Okkervil River – “Lost Coastlines”
MP3: Okkervil River – “Our Life Is Not A Movie Or Maybe”
MP3: Okkervil River – “The President’s Dead”
MP3: Okkervil River – “No Key, No Plan”
MP3: Okkervil River – “Black”
MP3: Crooked Fingers – “Phony Revolutions”
MP3: Crooked Fingers – “Call To Love”
MP3: Crooked Fingers – “Big Darkness”
MP3: Crooked Fingers – “Devil’s Train”
MP3: Crooked Fingers – “New Drink For The Old Drunk”
Video: Okkervil River – “Lost Coastlines”
Video: Okkervil River – “Our Life Is Not A Movie Or Maybe”
Video: Okkervil River – “Girl In Port”
Video: Okkervil River – “For Real”
Video: Crooked Fingers – “Let’s Not Pretend (To Be New Men)”
MySpace: Okkervil River
MySpace: Crooked Fingers

Photo via Tell All Your Friends

A while back – a long while – I got an email from a reader asking if I could perhaps help him identify a video he’d seen somewhere by an English band and which featured a single take of the singer riding a bicycle around London’s streets (or street – most of it’s a single circle). Not the most original idea for a vid, but apparently memorable enough to warrant hunting down. I’d never seen the clip, however, and was no help but he eventually tracked it down and let me know that the song was “Motorcycle” by a band called The Rumble Strips. Naturally my curiosity was piqued and I checked out the video myself and, indeed, it’s a fun little vid and a memorable song with jaunty horns, simple yet clever lyrics and a big-voiced singer who seemed to appreciate the proper balance between showiness and restraint.

Which eventually brought me to their debut album, Girls & Weather, released last year in the UK but only getting a North American release this Fall. Everything that made “Motorcycle” a good time is here in the proper doses, with a charming blend of working-class soul, ska and ’50s-era retro pop that in the wrong hands could wear out its welcome quickly, but in this case retains its appeal over extended listens – and this is from someone with very limited patience for horns in his pop music.

Credit for this goes to the band’s ability to tap into their innate flair for the dramatic judiciously while maintaining a boisterious sense of fun delivery throughout. Frontman Charlie Waller, in particular, has an engaging on-record charisma to go with his powerful pipes and demonstrates an equal lyrical facility for pathos and humour, with more depth to his words than you might initially guess. Girls & Weather is a rare record that succeeds no matter how closely you want to listen.

The Rumble Strips are currently undertaking their first North American tour and will roll into the the El Mocambo on October 29 with San Francisco’s Birdmonster. In addition to the tracks below, the band has a few more MP3s available to download over here. Waller talked to Clash about having UK uber-producer Mark Ronson helming their next album, targeted for a March 2009 release.

MP3: The Rumble Strips – “Time”
MP3: The Rumble Strips – “Motorcycle”
Video: The Rumble Strips – “Girls And Boys In Love”
Video: The Rumble Strips – “Alarm Clock”
Video: The Rumble Strips – “Motorcycle”
Video: The Rumble Strips – “Oh Creole”
Video: The Rumble Strips – “Time”
MySpace: The Rumble Strips

According to this pre-order writeup from Rough Trade for the first single from Emmy The Great’s First Love, the album is now set for a January 2009 release. Obviously some months later than I’d like but at least it’s sorta firm.

Liam Gallagher talks to Spinner about the vibe in the studio whilst making Oasis’ Dig Out Your Soul and bitches about England. NME reports that Liam Gallagher would like to beat up the guy who beat up his brother. Tangentially, The Mirror has compiled a list of the best Noel Gallagher quotes from over the years, and yes there’ve been some doozies.

The Quietus talks to Jim Reid of The Jesus & Mary Chain. And part two.

Peter Hook, formerly of New Order, discusses the process of going through the band’s back catalog for the forthcoming series of reissues – due November 11 – with Spinner.

The first three Swervedriver records will be remastered and re-released with bonus tracks on November 3 in the UK and January 6 in the US. Magnetic Morning, Adam Franklin’s project with Interpol drummer Sam Fogarino, will release its debut album A.M. on October 21 and you can hear a sample over at Stereogum and read an interview with Fogarino at Plug In Music. They play the Horseshoe on October 23.

Pitchfork is streaming the first single from the as-yet untitled third album from Asobi Seksu, due sometime in the new year. They’re at the Horseshoe on October 20.

The Duke Spirit, whose tour with System Of A Down offshoot Scars On Broadway has apparently been cancelled, have found another tourmate in Eagles Of Death Metal – they’ll open up their November 13 show at the Mod Club.

NOW talks to Will Sheff of Okkervil River, who’re at the Phoenix on Sunday night.

The AV Club plays Random Rule with Kurt Wagner of Lambchop. NPR also has a video “Tiny Desk Concert” with the man.

Rolling Stone has a video session and interview with Gemma Hayes.

Even though the release date for Of Montreal’s new album Skeletal Lamping has been pushed back from this past Tuesday to October 21, Spinner is still streaming the thing in its entirety. There’s also a track to download. Rolling Stone has a profile of the band, who are at the Queen Elizabeth Theatre on October 28. NPR are streaming last night’s performance in Washington DC.

MP3: Of Montreal – “Id Engager”
Stream: Of Montreal / Skeletal Lamping

QRO interviews The Jealous Girlfriends.

Jay Reatard has got an in-store scheduled at Sonic Boom on October 16 at 7PM. He’s at Sneaky Dee’s that night.

New Pornographer Carl Newman chats with The Sydney Morning Herald.

Liz Powell talks to Spinner and Blurt about being the newest part of Broken Social Scene and oh yeah, her other band too. The Star-Tribune has an interview with Brendan Canning. Broken Social and Land Of Talk are at the Sound Academy on November 27 and 28.

Photo by Steve Gullick

So next Sunday night, when most are sitting down to carve up a turkey or tofurkey or turducken and giving thanks for the last long weekend for more than two months, others – presumably those without families who love them – will be gathering at the Phoenix to welcome Austin’s Okkervil River to town.

And they’ll be giving thanks that the Okkervil M.O. of releasing an album (last year’s sublime The Stage Names), touring to support (last September’s barn-burner at Lee’s Palace), then releasing a second album from those sessions (last month’s The Stand-Ins) and again touring to support (the aforementioned Phoenix show). And odds are, as soon as they’re off the road this time out, they’ll be right back in the studio. Lather, rinse, repeat.

The album that’ll likely be focused on this time out – The Stand-Ins – is a worthy companion to The Stage Names. It’s consistent in theme, focusing on the relationships between performer and audience and the price of fame, but with a more rollicking delivery that gives it a more sprightly and sloppy feel than its more meticulous a-side. It’s impossible to imagine that anyone would enjoy the first record but find the second one in some way lacking, so while it might be a little less a coherent whole or as immediately memorable as last year’s release, it’s still a very worthy work that proves the band to be at the very top of their game. The more music they release whilst in this zone, the better.

And courtesy of Against The Grain, I’ve got two pairs of passes to give away to next Sunday’s show with Crooked Fingers as support. To enter, email me at contests AT chromewaves.net with “I give thanks for Okkervil River” in the subject line and your full name in the body. Contest closes at midnight, October 9.

MP3: Okkervil River – “Lost Coastlines”
Video: Okkervil River – “Lost Coastlines”
MySpace: Okkervil River