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.

Steve GullickSo good times, my laptop died last night after 3.5 years of service due to a failed hard drive. I had planned on replacing it this year anyways, but hoped to squeeze a little more out of it – like a week. Fittingly, it died just as I was looking at the new upgraded Macbook Pros on the Apple site so… yeah. Anyways. Just some stuff from the old world to clear out before the weekend, so…

Beady Eye. Their debut Different Gear, Still Speeding is out over here on March 1 and kind of surprisingly, advance word seems to be that it’s not terrible. Not any kind of groundbreaking, being mostly bog-standard retro-styled Brit rock, but pretty alright for what it is. I haven’t heard it, this is just what I’m hearing. Anyways, I do hope it does okay if just for Andy Bell’s sake, and I get the sense that they’ll be doing a proper North American promotional push and that should include touring, perhaps come Fall. Anyways. The Guardian, BBC, Spinner and Exclaim all have features on the band.

MP3: Beady Eye – “The Roller”

Under The Radar talks to Andy Bell’s former compatriot Mark Gardener on the occasion of Ride’s 20th anniversary and yes, the reunion question comes up and no, there are not plans for it but as the Bieb says – never say never.

Captain’s Dead has rounded up a bunch of Lush’s Black Sessions MP3s for your shoegazing nostalgia purposes. Another band highly unlikely to ever get back together.

Drowned In Sound talks to Yan of British Sea Power. They’re at Lee’s Palace on March 24.

Spinner talks to Norman Blake of Jonny, whose self-titled debut is due out in North America on April 12.

Spinner has an interview with Ellie Goulding, whose debut Lights gets a US release on March 8 and who is at The Phoenix on March 27.

The Mirror reports that Duffy, disappointed in the disappointment surrounding her disappointing second record Endlessly, is considering ending her music career.

Exclaim has made PJ Harvey their cover story for the month.

The Independent and Tour Dates chat with Patrick Wolf, whose new record Lupercalia is out May 23.

The Quietus, Irish Independent and Irish Times interview Guy Garvey of Elbow, whose build a rocket boys! is out March 8 in the UK but not until April 12 in North America.

Glasvegas have released a new video from their second album Euphoric Heartbreak, due out April 4. Guitarist Rab Allan talks to The Scotsman while James Allan offers a track-by-track overview of the record to The Daily Record.

Video: Glasvegas – “Euphoria, Take My Hand”

Also with a new clip are White Lies, taken from Ritual. Dose has an interview with the band.

Video: White Lies – “Strangers”

The Quietus reports that Wild Beasts have given their new record a title of Smother and release date of May 10.

Secret Sessions has a solo acoustic video session and interview with Tim Compton of The High Wire.

PitchforkTV has a Tunnelvision session with Yuck, who also have their self-title up to stream at Soundcloud. They play The Phoenix on May 1 and Gigwise has an interview.

Stream: Yuck / Yuck

Lykke Li talks to Spinner and Billboard and names off her dream band to The Independent. Her new record Wounded Rhymes is out on Tuesday and she plays The Phoenix on May 22.

Shockhound, Consequence Of Sound and Spinner chat with The Radio Dept, who just picked up their second Best New Whatevs in less than a year from Pitchfork. They’re at The Horseshoe on May 29.

Peter Bjorn & John have a new vid from Gimme Some, out March 29. They play Lee’s Palace on May 6.

Video: Peter Bjorn & John – “Second Chance”

The Megaphonic Thrift have rolled out a new vid from Decay Decoy, out March 8.

Video: The Megaphonic Thrift – “Talks Like A Weed King”

Keren Ann’s new record 101 is now streamable in advance of its March 22 release. She plays The Drake Underground on June 28.

Stream: Keren Ann / 101

Magne SandnesOriginality is an important trait, no question about that, but sometimes slavish imitation can be alright too, particularly when it explores a sound or style that’s not already been strip-mined to death and is done well. And so it is that Norway’s Megaphonic Thrift get a pass for their debut album Decay Decoy, released in Norway last Spring and due out in North America on March 8.

When I saw the band at SxSW 2010, their ’90s alt.guitar rock influences, in particular Sonic Youth and Dinosaur Jr, were clearly audible even through the massive wall of sound and feedback. Despite the obviousness of what they did, I appreciated that they were able to effectively channel the melodicism of their forebears as well as their penchant for instrument abuse – often acts are so intent on the latter, they lose sight of the former.

If there’s any surprise about Decay Decoy, it’s how clean-sounding it is. Any shoegazing references that their live show might have encouraged must be put away when you hear just how much clarity and separation there is in the recording. Guitars still rage and shriek, but they don’t spill all over everything else and leave the bass, drums and vocals refreshingly unobscured. And with frontman Richard Mykleburst so high in the mix, one thing becomes very clear – this band loves Sonic Youth, specifically early DGC-era Sonic Youth, when they were at their poppiest. His voice is tighter and less drawl-y than Thurston Moore’s and bassist Linn Frokedal’s singing is far more polished than Kim Gordon’s ever was, but the dynamic between the two has more than a few echoes of alt.rock’s first couple – I’m guessing that’s not by accident. Nor did it just happen that “Candy Sin” sounds like a cover of “Silver Rocket” changed just enough to not involve the lawyers…

Understand that none of this is calling the band out or even criticizing them – they’re clearly comfortable broadcasting their influences and the thrill they’re getting out of making music like that which they love is obvious in the enthusiasm with which it’s done. Originality is good, but it really all comes down to the tunes and those, The Megaphonic Thrift have.

Subba-Cultcha has an interview with the band and Filter are sharing a track from the record.

MP3: The Megaphonic Thrift – “Candy Sin”
Video: The Megaphonic Thrift – “Acid Blues”

Rawkblog and QRO have interviews with The Radio Dept. while Oregon Music News at least tries to. The band are indeed returning for a show at The Horseshoe on May 29.

Radiohead have decided that working for the weekend isn’t all it’s cracked up to be and rather than release their new album The King Of Limbs tomorrow, as originally promised, they’ve turned on the download link for those who pre-ordered it as of right now. And they’ve released a new video. So those of you who were hoping to not have their Twitter/Facebook/RSS feeds turn into all Radiohead, all the time until tomorrow… sorry.

Video: Radiohead – “Lotus Flower”

eMusic has an interview with PJ Harvey, while The AV Club offers some suggestions on where to start for newcomers to her wildly varied career.

Ellie Goulding’s March 27 Canadian debut has been moved from The Great Hall to The Phoenix.

NPR talks to Adele, who follows the release of 21 next week with a show at The Kool Haus on May 18.

NME reports that The Horrors will be out with a new record in July of this year.

Sloucher talks to Esben & The Witch, who have a date at Wrongbar on March 11.

Spinner has an interview with Mogwai’s Stuart Braithwaite while Drowned In Sound has a couple pieces from Barry Burns. They have a date at The Phoenix on April 26.

Graham Coxon tells NME that while Blur are indeed playing together and recording stuff, fans shouldn’t expect anything to be released anytime soon.

Shugo Tokumaru’s Port Entropy – released this week and reviewed a few weeks ago – is now streaming in whole at Spinner.

Stream: Shugo Tokumaru / Port Entropy

Spin finds out where An Horse got their name. Their new record Walls is out April 26.

Kevin WestenbergClearly unconvinced that Arcade Fire’s Grammy win Sunday night had sufficiently broken the internet – at least as far as my Twitter and RSS feeds were concerned – Radiohead decided to apply a fatality-class finishing move on Monday morning, announcing that their eighth album was not only done, but would be called The King Of Limbs and be available for digital sale as of this coming Saturday, February 19.

Rather than repeat the pay-what-you-can model that accompanied their last sneak album release In Rainbows in 2007, the band are going the more traditional pay-what-we-say route this time out, offering digital-only pre-orders in MP3 or WAV format which will be fulfilled on Saturday or MP3/WAV plus fancy-pants physical package which they’re calling their “Newspaper Album” and includes the record on two 10″ LPs, a CD and craploads of packaging and artwork and due for delivery around May 9. For those who still dig physical product but don’t need all the bells and whistles, the regular CD and LP editions will be available on March 29.

It was well known that a new Radiohead record was coming this year, but beyond that it was anyone’s guess as to what, when, how, etc. and so in an age where albums are often “over” before they’re even officially out, it’s nice to still be able to experience that sense of surprise and anticipation. And considering the band have only played one show in the past 13 months – the Haiti benefit last January – almost none of the new material has been road-tested, making those first listens come Saturday that much more exciting.

So…. touring?

Video: Radiohead – “Lotus Flower” (live)

Elbow have released the first proper video from build a rocket boys!, and in the process remind me that the record is out in just three weeks on March 7. So very looking forward to hearing this one. So… touring?

Video: Elbow – “Neat Little Rows”

Rolling Stone talks to Liam Gallagher and Andy Bell of Beady Eye. Their debut Different Gear, Still Speeding is out March 1. As for brother Noel, he’s talking a lot but hasn’t started working on his own post-Oasis project.

Manic Street Preachers have released a new video for the title track from their latest Postcards From A Young Man.

Video: Manic Street Preachers – “Postcards From A Young Man”

Interview interviews Dominic Aitchison of Mogwai, The Quietus Stuart Braithwaite and Martin Bulloch also documents a day in the life for The Quietus. Their new record Hardcore Will Never Die, But You Will is out today and they’ve a gig at The Phoenix come April 26.

Music Snobbery interviews Blood Red Shoes.

The AV Club, NPR, Exclaim and Newsweek talk to PJ Harvey, whose war-themed latest Let England Shake may lead to an appointment as “official war song correspondent”.

NPR solicits a Tiny Desk Concert from Adele; Adele obliges. Her new record 21 is out next week and she plays The Kool Haus on May 18.

The Guardian interviews Anna Calvi, who follows the March 1 release of her self-titled debut with a show at Wrongbar on March 11 as part of Canadian Musicfest.

The first MP3 from The Raveonettes’ forthcoming Raven In The Grave, out March 22, is now available to download. They’ll be at The Phoenix on April 2.

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

Clash and The Scotsman talk to Lykke Li, who releases Wounded Rhymes on March 1 and plays The Phoenix on May 22.

So… touring? Here’s some of the stuff that got announced in the last few days. We already knew that J Mascis was headlining The Great Hall on the Friday, March 11, of Canadian Musicfest, but he’ll also be doing an in-store at Sonic Boom that afternoon at 5PM. You may recall he did the same with Dinosaur Jr last January – hopefully this time he won’t be running a half hour late. His new solo record Several Shades Of Why arrives March 15.

MP3: J Mascis – “Not Enough”

To mark the March 1 reissue of their 1998 self-titled debut, Queens Of The Stone Age will hit the road to play it in its entirety, a tour which stops in at the Sound Academy on March 29, tickets $47 and $57 in advance.

I certainly thought that last week’s Lee’s Palace show would be the one and only time Toronto got a visit from the touring-averse Radio Dept., but it looks like those who kept clapping for a second encore will get their wish – their touring itinerary shows them with an overnight layover in Toronto after appearing at Sasquatch and will pass the time with a May 29 date at The Horseshoe – good news for those who snoozed and losed on getting tickets for the Lee’s gig. aux.tv and Ca Va Cool have interviews with the band.

MP3: The Radio Dept. – “Why Won’t You Talk About It?”

Yeasayer released an aural valentine yesterday in the form of a free EP and a North American tour – look for them June 7 at The Phoenix.

MP3: Yeasayer – “Ambling Alp”

YouTubeSeventeen years. Seven. Teen. Now don’t get me wrong, I knew that this performance by Bjork and PJ Harvey was old – I’ve had it as long as I can remember – but I didn’t realize it was that old. I’d thought it came from around the turn of the century and that having the two of them perform together at the Brit Awards was meant to be a summit of two of the premiere artists of the day, but instead it comes from 1994 and was a showcase for two of the music world’s most promising new acts – Bjork was only one record into her solo career with 1993’s Debut and Harvey had just turned PJ Harvey from a trio into a solo act following 1993’s Rid Of Me.

Of course both of them would turn out to have stellar careers and remain vital artists. Anyone who thought that Debut was out in left field had no idea just how far out there Bjork could and would go and Harvey has reinvented herself and her sound with pretty much every record impressing all the while. So it’s probably a good thing that a recording of the two of them performing a Rolling Stones cover together – Harvey handling the slow-building blues seethe while Bjork gets all unhinged overtop – was captured for posterity because I don’t think it’ll ever happen again.

Harvey’s new record Let England Shake is out this week and her live webcast performance of the record takes place tomorrow afternoon at 3PM EST at deezer.com. Bjork hasn’t released a new studio album since 2007’s Volta, every indication is that she’ll have something new out before the year is out. The Rolling Stones are releasing a massive box set entitled The Rolling Stones Singles (1971-2006) on April 11 and may or may not tour for the millionth time this year. This year’s edition of The Brit Awards takes place in London on Tuesday.

Seventeen years. Damnation.

MP3: Bjork & PJ Harvey – “Satisfaction”
Video: Bjork & PJ Harvey – “Satisfaction”
Video: The Rolling Stones – “Satisfaction” (live on The Ed Sullivan Show)