Frank YangRight, so where was I? Oh yes, Iceland. Yes, still. With the (attempted) road trips portion of the trip over and done with, the Friday morning was spent doing a general wander around Reykjavik, taking advantage of some actual sunshine and only a little rain (documentation of which is over at the ever-expanding Flickr set). The weather again turned foul in the afternoon but by that point, we were on an Airwaves press bus tour that took us first to the studio headquarters of the Bedroom Community label, then to the Árbæjarsafn open air museum where we were introduced to the joys(?) of Brennivin vodka and dried fish. The final stop, which had been kept secret, was Nauthólsvik beach, where we were invited to go for a dip in the frigid sea before relaxing in an artificial geothermal spring. I graciously declined. Then, following a memorable three-hour fancy-pants dinner at Dill, located in the Norræna Húsið, it was back to the clubs.

Or the club, as was the case on this night. As far as I was concerned, NASA was the place to be and the huge queue out front proved that hundreds agreed with me. Happily, the VIP/media line was moving reasonably quickly and I got inside just as the mood of those gathered outside started to turn a bit rioty with shoving, yelling and more shoving. Not that it was any calmer inside the jam-packed club, but at least these people were freaking out for a better reason. Swedish electro-pop duo Niki & The Dove were just wrapping up as I got in, but from what little I saw they had star power in abundance. And hula-hoop dancers. Though they’ve been signed to SubPop in North America for a while now, they’ve only just started to release material – a 12″ single back in the Summer and a digital EP in The Drummer released just yesterday – but in occupying a space somewhere between Lykke Li and Florence & The Machine, albeit more synthetically-textured than either, but frontwoman Malin Dahlström has genuine star power and it’s hard not to imagine that by the time their debut full-length arrives next year, success will be theirs for the taking. The Guardian and Chronicle Live have interviews with the band and The Drummer is available to stream.

Photos: Niki & The Dove @ NASA – October 14, 2011
MP3: Niki & The Dove – “The Fox”
Video: Niki & The Dove – “The Drummer”
Stream: Niki & The Dove / The Drummer

I’m not sure if Merrell Garbus of tUnE-yArDs counts as a bonafide star yet, but considering she’d guested with Yoko Ono the night before and was one of the festival’s big names, as far as Airwaves and more importantly those piled into NASA were concerned, she was close enough. I’d missed her Toronto show a few weeks earlier, but did have her SXSW show as a reference point. Not that there was any comparing the Central Presbyterian Church in March with the atmosphere in NASA this night – the former was silent and respectful, the latter frenzied even by Airwaves standards – but what was common between the two was an incredible performance. Accompanying herself on drums or ukulele, Garbus led her four-piece band through a clattering, pounding, yodeling, and peculiarly soulful celebration of song while her fans danced and tried their best to sing along. I particularly appreciated the expressiveness of Garbus’ warpaint-decorated face because if there was a running theme with the international acts at this festival, it was how the uncertainty or even apprehension about playing to an audience for the first time transformed into elation at how joyously they were received by the locals. You never get tired of seeing the sideways glances between bandmates that communicate, “holy shit”. Not ever.

Photos: tUnE-yArDs @ NASA – October 14, 2011
MP3: tUnE-yArDs – “Powa”
MP3: tUnE-yArDs – “Bizness”
MP3: tUnE-yArDs – “Sunlight”
MP3: tUnE-yArDs – “Hatari”
Video: tUnE-yArDs – “Gangsta”
Video: tUnE-yArDs – “Bizness”
Video: tUnE-yArDs – “Real Live Flesh”

Compared to the two acts that preceded them, London’s Clock Opera – another highlight from SXSW – seemed positively conventional. But by any other standards, their balance of electronic and organic rock, of ’80s-ish romanticism, thoroughly modern synth textures and timeless tension-and-release songcraft, was distinctive and bracing. It’s like dance-rock without any of the disco signifiers that that descriptor usually implies, more anthemic and visceral than slick and sexy and there’s more than a hint of Guy Garvey in vocalist Guy Connelly’s delivery. Searching out their own music at the moment can be an exercise in frustration – they’ve a few singles of original material but have their names on many remixes – but when their debut album comes out in March of next year, I predict it will be huge.

Photos: Clock Opera @ NASA – October 14, 2011
MP3: Clock Opera – “Once And For All”
MP3: Clock Opera – “Belongings” (live at Maida Vale)
Video: Clock Opera – “Belongings”
Video: Clock Opera – “Once And For All”
Video: Clock Opera – “White Noise”

So yes, after a decade and a half of rumours and denials, The Stone Roses are getting back together. There’ll be a pair of homecoming gigs in Manchester next June followed by a world tour and maybe even a new record. You’d think that as someone who ranks The Stone Roses as one of the greatest records ever made, I would find this exciting but the fact is that no one, not even the staunchest fans, could ever claim the Roses as a good live band even in their heyday. Over twenty years later, with John Squire and Reni having largely been out of music and Ian Brown’s solo career being uneven at best, it’s hard to imagine that this will be good, let alone great. But even so, if this tour comes anywhere near – and the words “world tour” certainly imply it will – I’ll be there. Anxious, and not entirely in a good way, but there. The Quietus reports on yesterday’s press conference wherein the four original members announced their intentions and The Sabotage Times better articulates why this reunion might not be a good thing.

Video: The Stone Roses – “I Wanna Be Adored”

Jarvis Cocker, someone who knows a thing or two about successful reunions, talks to The Guardian about the state of pop music.

Radiohead’s Ed O’Brien talks to BBC6 about the band’s touring plans for 2012, which may include playing not-so-fan-friendly set lists at indoor venues.

Billy Bragg has compiled all the one-off protest songs he’s released over the past decade as well as a few new songs and has released them as Fight Songs. Something to put on the boombox, perhaps, whilst occupying a place of your choosing. The Sabotage Times and Brooklyn Rail have interviews with the Bard of Barking.

Pop power couple Emmy The Great and Ash’s Tim Wheeler have teamed to release a Christmas album entitled This Is Christmas, the first MP3 from which you can download in exchange for a Facebook like. It will be released on November 21.

A new track from Summer Camp’s debut Welcome To Condale is up to stream at Paste, while Consequence Of Sound has an interview with the duo and Daytrotter a session. The album is out November 8.

Stream: Summer Camp – “Down”

Peggy Sue have released a new video from their new record Acrobats, due out next Tuesday. They play The Garrison on November 13.

Video: Peggy Sue – “All We’ll Keep”

Exclaim and Stereogum talk to M83 about the just-released Hurry Up, We’re Dreaming. They’re at Lee’s Palace on November 18.

radiohead.comThe key to being a brilliant British band circa 1997 was, clearly, to have “head” in your name somewhere. What other explanation could there be for Radiohead and Portishead to each release career highwater albums OK Computer and Portishead within four months of each other? Probably about as good odds of both band choosing to follow said successes up in decidedly unconventional fashion – Radiohead by basically abandoning their sound by going experimentally electronic in time for the new millenium and Portishead by basically abandoning music for a decade.

A decade later, though, both had largely come full circle – Radiohead with their most guitar-based and pop-oriented effort in years with In Rainbows and Portishead putting the finishing touches on the harrowing Third, one of the highlights of the record was the stark “The Rip”. Radiohead took to playing the song in soundchecks while touring In Rainbows and in response to fan demand to hear what such a thing might sound like, they released a video of Thom Yorke and Jonny Greenwood playing it acoustically in someone’s living room. Or hotel room. In any case, the coming together of the two British musical icons broke the internet, just a little.

Portishead are currently on tour in North America – ostensibly in support of Third but really just because they haven’t been in forever; they have two nights at The Sound Academy in Toronto starting tonight. Spinner and The National Post have feature interviews with the band. Radiohead released The King Of Limbs earlier this year and follow it up with the TKOL RMX 1234567 remix album this Tuesday. NPR grabbed a chat with Thom Yorke and Ed O’Brien while they took up residence in New York over the last couple weeks, playing theatre shows, late night television shows and not playing Wall Street protests. And oh, it was Thom Yorke’s birthday on Friday. Happy birthday, Thom!

MP3: Radiohead – “The Rip”
Video: Radiohead – “The Rip” (live, acoustic)
Video: Portishead – “The Rip”

Frank YangSo as mentioned yesterday, I’ve been on a little vacation in New York City the last few days. And while it was originally intended to be a music-free trip, when one of your favourite artists schedules a rare North American show that almost coincides exactly with your visit and at a venue three blocks from where you’re staying, well you adjust your plans. Which is why I was in Manhattan a day earlier than intended – to see Emmy The Great at The Studio at Webster Hall.

Support for the night was quite obviously added for scheduling compatibility rather than artistic, Joywave being a five-piece from Rochester, New York trading in boilerplate indie rock circa 2011 – dance-friendly rock with bits of funk and soul added in for good measure. Not bad, but not especially distinctive either. They do lose points, however for loudly talking by the bar through the headliner’s set. A lot of points. Okay, all points.

This actually wasn’t the first time I’d trekked down to the Big Apple to catch Emmy The Great – I did the same back during CMJ 2008 but those shows were more a bonus as I’d really hopped on a plane to see her fellow Brits Lucky Soul. Still, it was quite a contrast in performances between then and now. Then, her debut First Love was still a few months away so the performances were quick, stripped-down commando-style CMJ day shows that felt akin to busking. This time, she was following the release – at least in the UK – of her second album Virtue and had recruited locals Space Camp to play with her for these two US shows (the first was the night before in Philadelphia).

If Virtue represented an artist shaking the ‘folk’ tag in favour of ‘pop’, then this show saw her trying ‘rock’ on for size. Okay, that may be overstating a bit but with the thicker-sounding arrangements and Emma-Lee Moss wielding a shiny silver Gretsch for stretches of the set, it was certainly something different. There were a few point where the heavier and louder approach overwhelmed the material – whether it was the mix, the arrangements or the execution I can’t really say – but an ideal balance was struck around mid-set when Moss picked up the acoustic.

The 50-minute main set leaned heavily on Virtue, with only the two singles from First Love in the mix. Moss acknowledged that she technically had no records released in North America at the moment, but did mention that Virtue would be out in January, presumably in physical form and hopefully alongside some proper touring to promote. But as a treat to the hundred or so in attendance who’d most likely been following her career via singles and demos as long as I had, she went old-school and solo in the encore by honouring a request for “Edward Is Deadward” and a performance of “MIA” which she prefaced by criticizing the titular artist for her London riots tweets (Moss, by comparison, used her Twitter account to coordinate clean-up efforts). And as a big finish, she brought the band back out and invited Devonte Hynes of Blood Orange to join her on guitar and vocals for a cover of Weezer’s “Island In The Sun”. Considering it was through Hynes’ first Lightspeed Champion record that I first discovered Emmy The Great – she did backing vocals on it – the combo was especially sweet. And though I’d originally intended this trip to be a vacation both from my day job and the blog job… one night of working turned out to be pretty OK.

The Paris Review and Popingcherry have interviews with Emmy The Great. Joywave are giving away a free mixtape download.

Photos: Emmy The Great, Joywave @ The Studio at Webster Hall, New York – August 18, 2011
MP3: Emmy The Great – “A Woman, A Woman, A Century Of Sleep”
MP3: Emmy The Great – “We Almost Had A Baby” (Simon Raymonde mix)
Video: Emmy The Great – “Iris”
Video: Emmy The Great – “First Love”
Video: Emmy The Great – “We Almost Had A Baby”
Video: Emmy The Great – “Easter Parade”
Video: Emmy The Great – “MIA”
Video: Joywave – “Virus.exe”

FasterLouder talks to Dev Hynes about the first Blood Orange record Coastal Grooves, due out August 30.

The Subways, whom I’m affectionate towards despite their not being especially inventive, are back after a layoff on September 19 with their third album Money And Celebrity – there’s currently an MP3 and video to preview the new material.

MP3: The Subways – “It’s A Party”
Video: The Subways – “We Don’t Need Money To Have A Good Time”

Still Corners have released a new video from their debut Creatures Of An Hour, due out October 11. They play The Drake Underground on October 25.

Video: Still Corners – “Cuckoo”

State talks to Mogwai guitarist Stuart Braithwaite; their new EP Earth Division is out September 12.

Though some webrips were circulating immediately after its initial broadcast, Radiohead have made their From The Basement video session, wherein they performed the whole of The King Of Limbs live from producer Nigel Godrich’s basement. Their remix album TKOL RMX is out October 11.

Video: Radiohead / From The Basement

Clash asks Brett Anderson what he’d do on his last day on earth and unfortunately he gets the answer wrong, failing to say “get Bernard Butler on the horn to play one final PROPER Suede show in Chromewaves’ living room”.

Blurt chats with Lykke Li, in town at The Sound Academy on November 15.

Sebastian DehesdinI’m sure it’s a generational thing, but back in my day when someone said “shoegazing”, it meant guitars. Fender guitars, if we’re being particular – Jazzmasters, Jaguars, Mustangs and their offset-bodied ilk, run through as many fuzzing, phasing and flanging pedals as people could string together and turned up loud. That was how you built a wall of noise. At least that’s how you did it in the ’90s. These days, it seems that while the guit-based approach hasn’t fallen out of favour, the more ambitious and original dreampop sounds and textures are being built with more overtly electronic and synthetic materials.

An equal facility with keyboards and laptops as well as guitars has certainly helped Frenchman Anthony Gonzalez make M83 one of the leading contemporary lights of the genre, though he’d best be prepared to soon share the spotlight with Swede Maria Lindén, who plies her craft under the guise I Break Horses. Together with collaborator Fredrik Balck, their debut album Hearts is a beautiful and bewitching collection of songs born of keyboards, bred of guitars and bathed in reverb.

Hearts is possessed of a distinctly Scandinavian combination of mechanical precision and organic warmth, but rather than play against each other, those two sides blend together effortlessly and almost magically, It’s not magic, however – it’s Lindén’s vocals; airy enough to permeate everything yet carrying plenty of emotional heft and yearning, it’s the the sonic mortar that binds it all together. Sometimes the exact words are hard to discern but their meaning is never less than clear: Their name is I Break Horses but their mandate is breaking Hearts.

The album is out August 23 in the UK; two singles have been released with accompanying videos. The Iceberg inquires as to how they got their name and tangentially but interesting, Imprint has a conversation with Vaughan Oliver, who designed the Hearts album art as well as most of the 4AD catalog in its heyday. You’ve seen his work. You have.

MP3: I Break Horses – “Winter Beats”
MP3: I Break Horses – “Hearts”
Video: I Break Horses – “Winter Beats”
Video: I Break Horses – “Hearts”

Niki & The Dove are another Swedish two-piece, albeit one that treads more dancey/electronic terrain than their countrymen. So far their only output is The Fox EP, released earlier this Summer, but a full-length is due out on Sub Pop later this year and a new song was made available to stream the other day. I find them intriguing and look forward to seeing them at Iceland Airwaves.

MP3: Niki & The Dove – “The Fox”
Stream: Niki & The Dove – “Last Night”

Speaking of M83, Exclaim has the artwork for their new album Hurry Up, We’re Dreaming, due out October 18. They play Lee’s Palace on November 18.

Irish singer-songwriter Lisa Hannigan has set a September 20 release date for her new record Passenger and will follow that up with an October 15 show at The Mod Club. Paste has full North American dates and a stream of a new song; grab a track from her Mercury-nominated 2009 effort Sea Sew below.

MP3: Lisa Hannigan – “Lille”

The Horseshoe isn’t where you’ll normally find DJ/electronic-oriented acts but that’s what UK act Star Slinger will be serving up on November 2; it’s part of a North American tour in support of his debut album Volume 1.

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

I’m not sure what’s more surprising – that The Kooks are still around or that they’re apparently still big enough to play The Sound Academy. Both of these things are clearly true, as they are doing just that on November 23 with tickets being $25 for general admission and $35 for a VIP balcony view. It’s part of a North American tour in support of their new record Junk Of The Heart, out September 13.

Video: The Kooks – “You Don’t Love Me”

Though not out until August 16, Blood Orange’s pretty frickin’ excellent debut album Coastal Grooves is now streaming in whole over at Hype Machine. And making sure that the Dev Hynes love is spread evenly across the internet, there’s a Devonte-assembled mixtape up for grabs at Yours Truly, over at Fader, a New Villager cover and at Dazed, an interview.

MP3: Blood Orange – “Lighthouse”
Stream: Blood Orange / Coastal Grooves

And speaking of New Villager, the New York art collective have made a September 26 date at The Drake Underground in support of their self-titled debut, out August 16.

Video: NewVillager – “ShotBigHorixon”
Video: NewVillager – “Lighthouse”

The Line Of Best Fit reports that all those Radiohead King Of Limbs remixes that have been kicking around over the Summer will be collected into an official double-disc set under the title of TKOL RMX and out on September 19. They’ve got a few of said remixes available to preview over here. Update: Billboard has the release date as October 11.

Rolling Stone confirms that Noel Gallagher is no less quotable now that he’s out of Oasis; his solo debut Noel Gallagher and the High Flying Birds is out November 8.

The Joy Formidable tell NME they’ve got plenty of material ready to go for album number two, they just need to find the time to stop promoting album number one to go and record it. Look for the follow-up to The Big Roar next year. And speaking of The Big Roar, it appears that it will be getting a domestic vinyl pressing for August 30; previously, the only way to get it on LP was by the limited edition pre-order back in the Winter. So there’s that.

NPR interviews Noah & The Whale and also solicits a Tiny Desk Concert from the band.

And finally, Pitchfork has a good roundup of just how badly affected a lot of independent record labels will be by the destruction of the Sony/PIAS distribution warehouse in London during Monday night’s rioting. Short version – buy their records, buy their MP3s, help them get back on their feet and keep releasing great music.

gillianwelch.comThat Gillian Welch is a deft hand with folk and Americana stylings is a bit of an understatement; she and partner David Rawlings are about as good as it gets when it comes to songs evoking the starkness and beauty of the best of their musical roots. And, as it turns out, they’re pretty good at Britrock as well.

For an act with as traditional a sound as theirs, Welch and Rawlings have always had unusually strong ties to the realm of indie rock but when they began adding a version of one of Radiohead’s most unguardedly romantic songs to their repertoire in the mid-aughts, it was still something of a surprise – and a very pleasant one as their version is gorgeous and delicate and I’m the last person who’d want to hear less Jonny Greenwood guitar from back when he was actually into playing guitar, Welch and Rawlings’ acoustic breaks are pretty dang nice. A live version of their version was recorded in Minneapolis in September 2004 and released as a single.

Welch released her first new record in eight years with The Harrow & The Harvest at the end of June; she plays The Phoenix on July 25. There’s features on Welch at The Georgia Straight, Metromix, The Corriere Tandem and USA Today. Radiohead released The King Of Limbs back and March and have spent the months since then releasing live broadcasts, remixes and performing secret one-off shows. Not so much with the touring.

MP3: Gillian Welch – “Black Star”
Video: Gillian Welch – “Black Star” (live at Bonnaroo 2007)
Video: Radiohead – “Black Star” (live)