Keith KlenowskiWhile 2010 was unquestionably the year of The National with the release of their breakout record High Violet, the band haven’t been entirely quiet this year, continuing to tour and also releasing a couple of new tracks for soundtracks to various things. One of them was for Portal 2, which I’m led to understand is a video game; I’m still working on finishing Super Mario Bros so I’ll have to take your word for it.

But rather than just put the song out there, the band and game producers made a proper single of it and enlisted fans to create and submit videos for the slow-burning, piano-led song and out of the 320 entries, chose two they found to be standouts – one featuring a sad lip-synching sock puppet and another animated in theme with the game – and awarded them first and 1.00000000001th place, with prizes awarded to both. The second place entry and other notable clips are available to view at the Portal 2 website.

MP3: The National – “Exile Vilify”
Video: The National – “Exile Vilify” (1st Place)
Video: The National – “Exile Vilify” (1.00000000001th Place)

Girls have released a video for the first single from their forthcoming album Father, Son, Holy Ghost. It’s out September 13 and they play The Mod Club on the 27th of the month.

Video: Girls – “Vomit”

Warpaint are re-releasing their 2010 debut The Fool in an inevitable deluxe edition come September 19, in the UK at least. The bonus incentives include the entirety of their 2009 EP Exquisite Corpse – which is absolutely worth hearing, even if it features actress Shannyn Sossamon on drums rather than current powerhouse Stella Mozgawa and also a re-recorded version of Billie Holiday, which is available to stream at Wears The Trousers. The Galway Advertiser has a feature piece on the band.

Paste has put tUnE-yArDs on the cover of their latest electronic edition of their magazine. She plays Lee’s Palace on September 24.

The London Evening Standard profiles Annie Clark of St. Vincent. Her latest Strange Mercy is out September 13.

Cowbell has an interview with Stephen Malkmus, whose new album with The Jicks Mirror Traffic is out August 23. They play The Phoenix on September 21.

One-time Guided By Voices member and rock journalist James Greer has posted recollections of the time GBV were being courted by Warner Bros to his blog.

MTV talks to Hold Steady frontman Craig Finn about the decision to make a solo record, as he is for release in early 2012.

Into The Woods has a video session with Okkervil River wherein they perform the B-side to their “Rider” single; the A-side of their new single is now available to download – the 7″ of which comes with another new song as the B-side – stream that one at Pitchfork.

MP3: Okkervil River – “Your Past Life As A Blast”

NPR has a World Cafe session with Jason Isbell while The Corner News and The Emory Wheel.

A new MP3 from Blitzen Trapper’s forthcoming American Goldwing is now available to download. The album is out September 13 and they play The Opera House on October 30.

MP3: Blitzen Trapper – “Love The Way You Walk Away”

Ryan Adams has confirmed an October 11 release date for his new solo record Ashes & Fire; Spin has details on the album and some of the guests who’ll make appearances.

Blurt reports that Calexico are assembling a vinyl box set of their many, many (eight in total) tour-only releases. Entitled Road Atlas, the collection is being targeted for a Fall release.

NOW talks to Dayve Hawk of Memory Tapes, taking the stage at Wrongbar tomorrow night around midnight.

Singer-songwriter Sean Rowe returns to town for a show at The Rivoli on September 9, tickets $11.50 in advance.

MP3: Sean Rowe – “Jonathan”

Spinner talks to Marissa Nadler, who has announced a Fall tour that brings her back to town for a show at the El Mocambo on September 13 with Irish singer-songwriter Vincent James McMorrow. She’s promoting her self-titled album, released earlier this Summer and has just put out a new video.

MP3: Marissa Nadler – “Baby I Will Leave You In The Morning”
Video: Marissa Nadler – “Alabaster Queen”

With their second album Dracula set for a September 20 release, Portland’s Nurses have made a date at The Drake Undergroudn for October 19.

MP3: Nurses – “Fever Dreams”

Jason SummersThis isn’t a review of the double-disc edition of Icky Mettle, released earlier this week and the first of four Archers Of Loaf reissues to come over the next year and a bit – for that, hit up the excellent Pitchfork writeup. I’ve had Icky Mettle for years but it hasn’t become such a part of me that I can offer any sort of explanation as to why it’s such a great record – in fact, I’ve only really come to that realization recently. So go read Matt LeMay’s writeup.

This also isn’t a broader discussion of why Archers were such a great and important band, and why their reunion is so exciting, even for those who are super-jaded about reunions in general. For that, check out this The Village Voice piece that gets The Hold Steady’s Craig Finn, Band Of Horses’ Ben Bridwell and members of Les Savy Fav to articulate their love for and influence of the band.

No, this is just me trying to clear out some links and make it to the weekend while listening to All The Nation’s Airports. So if you’re looking for some Archers content, check out the interviews with the band at The Village Voice and Washington Post and hope that the promises that Eric Bachmann made last month while here with Crooked Fingers to bring Archers through town sometime next March prove to be true.

MP3: Archers Of Loaf – “What Did You Expect”
Video: Archers Of Loaf – “Web In Front”

Also being reissued with bonuses is Superchunk’s 1994 album Foolish, out on September 13. Full details available at Exclaim.

Video: Superchunk – “Driveway To Driveway”

Pitchfork reveals that super-deluxe, super-limited remastered reissues of Olivia Tremor Control’s two albums – Dusk At Cubist Castle and Black Foliage: Animation Music Volume One – are coming on November 15. That’s too late to grace the merch table on their upcoming Fall tour, including the September 16 show at Lee’s Palace, but considering there’s only going to be 1000 of each made, it’s doubtful they’d make it past the first few cities on the itinerary anyways.

Not a reissue, but Old 97s are revisiting their past by giving away MP3s of all the demos for their 1997 album Too Far To Care.

MP3: Old 97’s – “Daybed” (demo)
MP3: Old 97’s – “Timebomb” (demo)

The Chicago Daily Herald talks to John Darnielle of The Mountain Goats.

The Awl has an interview with Amy Klein of Titus Andronicus.

My Morning Jacket drummer Patrick Hallahan discusses the band’s approach to playing live with Billboard. The Indianapolis Star also chats with guitarist Carl Broemel.

Writers On Process and Blurt go under the creative hood with Richard Buckner. Both are two-parters though the back half of the Writers piece is still forthcoming.

Drowned In Sound talks to Ra Ra Riot bassist Mathieu Santos. They play Lee’s Palace on October 6.

Exclaim reports that Ryan Adams – who apparently ended his retirement last year and has already released like fifteen albums – will put out his first proper solo record in some time with Ashes & Fire, due out October 11.

Rachael Yamagata will release a new album in Chesapeake on October 11; grab the first MP3 below.

MP3: Rachael Yamagata – “Starlight”

Spin has premiered the video for EMA’s contribution to their Nirvana tribute album Newermind.

Video: EMA – “Endless Nameless”

Decemberists bassist Nate Query confirms the band’s upcoming hiatus to Billboard but assures them it’s just a break, nothing permanent. The Arizona Republic and Cincinnati Citybeat also get to query Query (oh come on).

Brooklyn rockers Obits have set an October 25 date at The Rivoli in support of their second record Moody Standard & Poor. Tickets are $13 in advance.

MP3: Obits – “Shift Operator”
MP3: Obits – “You Gotta Lose”

San Francisco’s Wooden Shjips will release their latest West on September 15 and follow up with a show at The Horseshoe on November 7.

MP3: Wooden Shjips – “Lazy Bones”

NOW has put Bon Iver frontman Justin Vernon on their cover with accompanying interview, while NPR is streaming their show in DC from earlier this week. Bon Iver play The Sound Academy on Monday night, August 8.

NOW also checks in with Kathleen Edwards, whose next album will be produced by Vernon. And who’s also his girlfriend. Not that that matters.

The Toronto Star and NOW welcome The Doughboys back to active duty – they’ll play a free show at the Bovine Sex Club on Monday night as a warm-up to opening up for Foo Fighters at the Air Canada Centre the next night.

Emily Haines gives The Grid a status report on the next Metric record.

MTV gets Broken Social Scene’s Kevin Drew to respond to comments made by guitarist Andrew Whiteman about the band’s last video for “The Sweetest Kill”.

The Line Of Best Fit has a video session with Dan Mangan, whose next record Oh Fortune is out September 27 and who plays The Queen Elizabeth Theatre on October 28.

The Thrill Is Back got Rural Alberta Advantage into the back of their van at Hillside a few weeks ago and videotaped him playing a couple songs, including one new one.

Metro chats with The Wilderness Of Manitoba.

Frank YangIt’s far too easy to be cynical about Glasvegas. Emerging from the UK as they did last year on a massive wave of hype with a sound that was unabashedly retro and a matching ’50s-greaser gang image, the Glasgow-based quartet were quick targets for those who wanted to dismiss them as contrived and calculated, not that that stopped them from topping the charts and becoming massive at home.

For my part, I went from intrigued on first listen to mildly suspicious after spending time with their self-titled debut and then somewhat won over following their daylight SxSW set. At the time, I figured that seeing them in neutral environs such as a SxSW day show, stripped of their light show and adoring fans, would provide a truer indication if they were for real or not. And yes they sold me, but it wasn’t until Friday night’s show at the Mod Club – their long-awaited Toronto debut – that I realized what I was missing out on by skipping the formal sales pitch.

Glasvegas are not ashamed to aspire to stadium-scale grandeur, with massive Spector-via-JAMC sonics and anthemic choruses designed to rouse the cheap seats and while the Mod Club is hardly Wembley Stadium, packed as it was with fans hollering along with every song, it wasn’t far off. From the opening notes of “Geraldine” through end end of their just under an hour-long set, it was clear that Glasvegas weren’t there to convince anyone they were a great band – they were there to celebrate that as fact with those who already knew it. Looking not a little bit Strummer and clad in a leather jacket (later swapped for a tank top and donated tartan scarf), frontman James Allan displayed dollops of rock star charisma, basking in the adoration of the audience but returning every bit of it right back to the crowd.

It was the sort of rapport that made me ashamed to have ever questioned the sincerity of the band. That doesn’t necessarily excuse some of the overly-direct earnestness of the songwriting, but it does mitigate it. Seeing and hearing Allan bellow the words with unquestionable emotion, no matter how clumsy, then back off while the enraptured audience take over while more than matching his passion… yes, on paper it’s kind of cliche but in person? It’s still pretty stirring. The band will probably always have more than it’s share of critics and naysayers, but I know where I stand now – over there with the other folks singing, “here we fucking go”.

The Toronto Sun has a glowing review of the show and reports that the band will be back this Fall, eye has another review. Music Snobbery has an interview with the band. And congrats go to Jarita, Ashlee and Mark who won the signed Glasvegas albums.

Photos: Glasvegas @ The Mod Club – April 3, 2009
Video: Glasvegas – “Please Come Back Home”
Video: Glasvegas – “Daddy’s Gone”
Video: Glasvegas – “Geraldine”
MySpace: Glasvegas

NME has a video interview and The Line Of Best Fit and The Herald text ones with Doves. Kingdom Of Rust is out tomorrow, they play the Kool Haus on June 1.

Tourdates UK talks to Emmy The Great.

Maximo Park have released the first video from their forthcoming album Quicken The Heart, out May 12.

Video: Maximo Park – “The Kids Are Sick Again”

And also with a new video are The Joy Formidable for their latest single “Whirring”, off the excellent A Balloon Called Moaning.

Video: The Joy Formidable – “Whirring”

Drowned In Sound chats with Ryan Adams on the occasion of his retirement from the world of music. He interviews Marianne Faithfull for Black Book while The Guardian profiles Adams and other rockers turned authors including Nick Cave and Billy Bragg.

The Hold Steady are offering up an MP3 from their new live album A Positive Rage, out tomorrow.

MP3: The Hold Steady – “Chips Ahoy” (live)

I saw almost 50 shows at SxSW this year, but one of the ones I missed – and regret – was The Uglysuit, who only played like three shows. Could they not have taken one of the Vivian Girls’ two dozen shows? They’ve released a new MP3 from their fine 2008 self-titled debut, reviewed here.

MP3: The Uglysuit – “…And We Became Sunshine”

Paste and The Skinny catch up with The Thermals. Their new one Now We Can See is out tomorrow and currently streaming at their MySpace. They’re at the Horseshoe on May 3.

Stream: The Thermals – “Now We Can See”

Blurt, BBC1, The New York Times and Filter have profiles on The Yeah Yeah Yeahs.

Askmen talks to Metric’s Emily Haines. Their new album Fantasies is out tomorrow, they play an in-store at HMV on Yonge St on Thursday and a show at the Mod Club next Tuesday.

I Heart Music is sharing MP3s of the CBC Fuse session with The Sadies and The Tragically Hip’s Gord Downie from a couple years ago. I saw them team up at the Horseshoe in December 2007 and it was intense. The Sadies’ new album backing John Doe, Country Club, is out April 14 and they play the Horseshoe together on April 30. The Tragically Hip’s new one We Are The Same is out this week and they have a six-night stand at Massey Hall the week of May 11.

WOXY has posted MP3s from a slew of Lounge Act sessions recorded during SxSW, including sets from The Pains Of Being Pure Of Heart, Ume and The Wooden Birds. They also welcomed The Rural Alberta Advantage in for a session last week.

PitchforkTV is streaming the new Arcade Fire documentary Miroir Noir, which is now available in DVD form.

Soundproof has a guest column from Alan McGee wondering why people would actually want The Stone Roses to reunite.

The National Post has an interview with yours truly about blogs and stuff and includes what I hope is one of the worst pictures of me in existence. If anyone tells me that’s actually a good photo, I will despair.

Frank YangI don’t think many would argue the fact that Ryan Adams’ skull must be a fascinating and somewhat frightening place to be – probably less an efficient expressway than a random series of backwoods laneways, dead ends and cul de sacs. His entire career has been marked with odd public behaviour, countless career left turns, bizarre online personas and an incomparable creative prolificness punctuated with with moments of brilliance. Or put more succinctly, the man is batshit but it works for him.

And apparently he’s tired of it. He announced earlier this year that he was retiring from music after the end of this current tour, which wraps this Friday in Atlanta, and will instead be turning his attention to his burgeoning career as an author and new wife Mandy Moore. It’d be foolish to assume that this shift in professions will be permanent – a man who put out three albums in a year is not someone who can just hang it up – but it looks as though we might have a little less DRA to gawk at for the next while.

This Sonic Youth cover was a regular part of he and the Cardinals’ repertoire in the mid-00s, an interesting detour in a set heavy with Grateful Dead-ish numbers. This particular recording dates to a July 2005 show in Melbourne, Australia. Sonic Youth’s next album The Eternal is due out on June 9.

MP3: Ryan Adam – “Expressway To Yr Skull”
Video: Sonic Youth – “Expressway To Yr Skull” (live @ Bonnaroo 2006)

WrensFor most bands, a gap of five and half years and counting since your last record would be cause for concern amongst the fanbase, but for The Wrens it seems right on schedule. The Meadowlands came out way back in September 2003 and that was a full seven years since their previous effort Secaucus, though that was as much the fault of their evil label as anyone else. None of this, of course, makes it any easier for fans eager to hear something new from the band.

But things are finally afoot, perhaps spurred by the good-natured fun that Magnet was having at their expense. They’ve begun recording album number four and have marked the occasion by releasing a new song entitled “Pulled Fences”, recorded live at Abbey Road studios in England and available digitally. Of course, the fact that they’ve only just BEGUN recording means that we likely won’t see any new material this year (it’s sad to be writing off the year in January) but at least it’s finally happening.

And if you needed some reminding of why hearing from Wrens again is cause for celebration, dig into their audio/visual vault.

MP3: The Wrens – “Everyone Choose Sides”
MP3: The Wrens – “This Machine”
MP3: The Wrens – “Built In Girls”
MP3: The Wrens – “Grey Complexion”

Loney Dear previews the release of Dear John on January 27 with a Bandstand Busking performance.

MP3: Loney Dear – “Airport Surroundings”

And maybe while they were playing, this Black Cab carrying a warbling Ryan Adams drove by. Hey, could have happened.

CNN discusses Sweden, Cardigans and A Camp with Nina Persson. Colonia, the new A Camp record, is out February 2 in Europe and April 28 in North America.

Scotland On Sunday, The Independent and New York Magazine have features on Antony & The Johnsons, whose new album The Crying Light isn’t out until next week, but is available to stream now at Spinner. They play the Queen Elizabeth Theatre on February 17.

Stream: Antony & The Johnsons / The Crying Light

Franz Ferdinand recently released the new video from their new album Tonight: Franz Ferdinand, out January 27. They also released an EPK video about the record.

Video: Franz Ferdinand – “Ulysses”

The Boston Globe discusses the touring life with Frightened Rabbit.

The Quietus reports that Bat For Lashes’ sophomore effort Two Suns will be released on April 6.

Jason Lytle, ex of Grandaddy, recently recorded an acoustic session for Maps.

MP3: Jason Lytle – “Birds Encouraged Him” (live on Maps)

Blurt has the complete tracklisting for the star-laden, covers-heavy War Child: Heroes compilation due out on February 24.

The old inbox was simply overflowing with concert and tour announcements yesterday… in chronological order – A Brooklyn double-bill of High Places and Soft Circle will be at the Horseshoe on February 9, tickets $10.

Mekon and Waco Brother Jon Langford has a date at the Horseshoe on February 27. Ticket details forthcoming.

Lisa Hannigan, formerly a singer with Damien Rice but now gone solo with the release of Sea Sew on February 3, will be hitting the road this Winter and be at the Mod Club on March 1, tickets $15. The Times ran a feature on her last month.

Bloc Party have added a second show at the Kool Haus, this one on March 13, to go along with the previously-announced and presumably almost sold-out March 14 date. Tickets $35.

Also on the 13th and also a Canadian Musicfest show, Handsome Furs are at the Horseshoe. Exclaim reports that their new album Face Control has been pushed back from its originally-announced February 3 release date to March 10. The duo talked to Black Book about the new record back in December.

Clem Snide, presumed dead but apparently not, will release Hungry Bird on February 24 and follow that up with a tour that stops in at the El Mocambo on March 21. Tickets for that are $10.50.

Great Lake Swimmers will follow up the March 31 release of Lost Channels on March 31 with a show at the Queen Elizabeth Theatre on April 25, tickets $20.