Frank YangAnd to think, I almost stayed home to watch The Pacific. What can I say? Some nights I’m just lazy. But thankfully, I managed to haul my ass out of the apartment on Monday night to head down to the Horseshoe for what would turn out to be a pretty special show from Megafaun and Sharon Van Etten.

It was Van Etten who was the main draw for me – her 2009 debut Because I Was In Love is more beguiling with every listen and my first attempt to see her live at SxSW wasn’t satisfactory thanks to an overly chatty crowd and uncooperative guitar amp. Background chatter wasn’t an issue on this night, though, as the crowd at the ‘Shoe was decidedly sparse when Van Etten took the stage armed only with her Gibson ES-135, her songs and her voice.

And oh, what a voice. So powerful and yet so fragile, overtop her fingerpicked guitarwork and wrapped around her sad songs, it pulled everyone in the house – hell, it probably pulled bystanders in off the street – closer and closer, until most were seated on the floor around the stage, enraptured. They’d have had to be under the influence of something to be willing to sit on the Horseshoe floor – have you ever seen that thing under house lights? But kidding aside, Van Etten’s set – her last of this short tour and for the next while as she works on her second album – was a stunner, including both songs from Love and new material, capped off with a finale of “Tornado”, backed up be Megafaun. And as perfectly suited as her material is to solo performance – sadness is a solitary thing, after all – it sounded as good if not better with a band behind it.

Said band also sounded pretty good on their own, as it turned out. I wasn’t especially familiar with Megafaun coming into the night – I think I’d spun their latest album Gather, Form & Fly once or twice – but went in with an open mind and proceeded to have it blown, just a little. As befit their North Carolina roots, the impressively-bearded trio – two brothers and their drummer – crafted folk-rock with a distinctively southern drawl, but beneath that genial, harmony-laden surface there was so much more going on. There was jazz virtuosity in their musicianship, proggish ambitions in the frequently twisty song structures and a jam band’s delight in simply playing. That delight was shared in full by the small but devoted audience, and that gave the show less the feel of a concert than an intimate get-together of friends. Nowhere was this more evident than the encore, which Megafaun seemed almost embarrassed to be taking – climbing down off the stage and playing three more songs amongst their fans. All throughout the night, the band emphasized how much they were enjoying the evening and how exceptionally special this show was. For some acts, this is boilerplate stage banter but it was obvious from the looks on their faces and the hugs exchanged with fans afterwards, that they meant every word and every note. Just marvelous.

The Concordian talks to Megafaun’s Phil Cook and Daytrotter has posted a session with the band. Their North American tour continues through the end of April – do see them if you can. They’re also releasing a new mini-album entitled Heretofore later this Summer – info at Pitchfork.

Photos: Megafaun, Sharon Van Etten @ The Horseshoe – April 5, 2010
MP3: Megafaun – “Volunteers”
MP3: Megafaun – “The Fade”
MP3: Megafaun – “Kaufman’s Ballad”
MP3: Sharon Van Etten – “For You”
MP3: Sharon Van Etten – “Consolation Prize”
MP3: Sharon Van Etten – “Love More”
Video: Megafaun – “Impressions Of The Past”
Video: Sharon Van Etten – “For You”
MySpace: Megafaun
MySpace: Sharon Van Etten

The Boston Globe, Nashville Scene, The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review and Interview sits down with Midlake, who will be a the Mod Club on May 21.

Delusions Of Adequacy talk to Shearwater’s Jonathan Meiburg.

NYC Taper is sharing a recording of Wilco’s epic three-hour set in Montclair, New Jersey from last weekend. The band just announced they will curate their own festival – the Solid Sound Festival – from August 13 to 15 at the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art in North Adams Massachusetts, which if you were wondering is at the border of Mass and New York, about 7 hours from Toronto. The bill will feature Wilco, natch, and most/all of their spin-off acts and other artists to be announced later.

Rawkblog, SF Weekly and CMJ have interviews with Miles Kurosky while The Bay Bridged gets Kurosky back together with some of his Beulah bandmates to play songs from his solo record The Desert Of Shallow Effects, which are available to download.

MP3: Miles Kurosky – “The World Won’t Last The Night” (live at The Bay Bridged)
MP3: Miles Kurosky – “Dead Language Blues” (live at The Bay Bridged)

NOW talks to Liz Powell of Land Of Talk about losing and finding her voice. They’re at Lee’s Palace tonight and their new record is targeted for an August release.

Filter gets to know Mumford & Sons.

For Folks Sake and The New York Times talk to Laura Marling, while La Blogotheque is offering a live track for download. Her new album I Speak Because I Can gets a North American release as of this week.

Hurricane Bells – the new project from Longwave frontman Steve Schlitz – will be at the El Mocambo on May 19. Their debut album, Tonight Is The Ghost, is due out next week.

Video: Hurricane Bells – “This Year”
Video: Hurricane Bells – “Monsters”

Nathaniel Rateliff & The Wheel, who impressed whilst opening for Laura Marling back in February, has a date scheduled for the Drake Underground on May 30. His new record In Memory Of Loss is out April 27.

MP3: Nathaniel Rateliff & The Wheel – “Early Spring Till”

Delta Spirit and Ezra Furman & The Harpoons will be at the Mod Club on June 26. Paste has details on Delta Spirit’s new record, History From Below, due out June 8.

MP3: Delta Spirit – “People C’Mon”
MP3: Ezra Furman & The Harpoons – “Take Off Your Sunglasses”

Fresh off their sold-out gig opening for Miike Snow at The Phoenix, Delorean will be back in town at Wrongbar on July 14.

Frank YangI’ve seen Shearwater’s latest album The Golden Archipelago referred to as the final part in both a trilogy and triptych in the band’s discography, completing the set started with 2006’s Palo Santo and 2008’s Rook. The “trilogy” appellation doesn’t really fit, however, as it implies that there’s some sort of overarching narrative across the records whereas the single unified tapestry implied by calling it triptych seems much more appropriate. Not that these are anything more than semantics – what is important is that The Golden Archipelago more than measures up to the immense heights set by Palo Santo and Rook.

Since putting aside their original mandate as the softer side of Okkervil River and becoming Jonathan Meiburg’s primary creative outlet, the Austin, Texas band have dedicated themselves to capturing the mystery and wonder of nature in the musical medium of prog/folk-rock and in the process, have carved a unique niche for themselves in the indie-rock landscape. The Golden Archipelago finds the band expanding their palette – though they’ve never restricted themselves to conventional instrumentation, the tones and textures at play here are more otherworldly than ever – while actually streamlining their songwriting into more pop-sized packages. No one would likely To be able to capture as much drama and majesty as they do without feeling rushed is an amazing achievement – “Castaways” lasts just three and a quarter minutes, but feels absolutely epic.

Epic is also a proper adjective to apply to Shearwater’s live shows, where they somehow manage to recreate the expansiveness of their recorded works. Since the first time I saw them in 2005 opening up for Mountain Goats, I’d been waiting for them to come back to Toronto in a headlining capacity but they’d been the perpetual undercard, at least until this past Thursday night when finally, it was “Shearwater” in big letters atop the Lee’s Palace marquee. Or at least the chalkboard outside the front door.

Anyone walking into Lee’s at around 9 and seeing Hospital Ships on stage would be forgiven for thinking they’d arrived two hours late and the headliner was already on. At various points in their set, the Lawrence, Kansas outfit included anywhere from three to five members of Shearwater, including frontman Jordan Geiger, also of Minus Story. Geiger apologized at one point for any sloppiness, saying they’d only been together a little while – maybe he was being ironic, considering how long the individuals on stage had been playing together in other projects – but it true that Hospital Ships weren’t exactly drum-tight up there, with some missed notes, cues and whatnot. But what they were was charming – Geiger was equipped with some pretty choice banter about visiting Toronto – and some solid, if not overwhelming tunes from their album Oh, Ramona.

Almost as long as I’d been waiting for Shearwater to come to town in a headlining capacity had I been waiting for Baltimore’s Wye Oak to come back to town, having missed their last appearance in May of 2008. I had seen them before though, back at SxSW 2008, a month before their debut If Children came out, and that show – like the album – spoke to me more about their potential than what they had actually accomplished at the time. A potential that was realized in a big way with last year’s follow-up The Knot, and happily that big leap forward has also carried over to their live show. Though it was still just Andy Stark behind the drum kit with keyboard and melodica at his side and Jenn Wasner on vocals and guitar, their confidence in what they were doing was clearly much greater and it made for a much more engaging performance. Stark’s ability to simultaneously manage the drums and keys was something to behold and Wasner put on a pretty impressive display of guitar heroics amidst leading the band’s aching, country-tinged dreampop. World take note – there’s not just one Baltimore-based duo out there right now that’s worthy of your notice.

Shearwater’s arrival onstage was heralded by a total dimming of the stage lights, an aesthetic choice that would sadly (for photographers, anyways) remain in effect through the whole show except for the one number where Meiburg asked, “how dark can we make it in here?”. But all the necessary luminosity for the night would be provided by their music, which would cover most of The Golden Archipelago and a handful of tracks from each of Rook and Palo Santo, all of which fit so well with each other that perhaps it should be mandated that all three are listened to in their entirety and in sequence. While Meiburg stayed in the (figurative) spotlight on either guitar or keys and of course his soaring voice, the band around him morphed with each song, adding and subtracting players and changing instruments as necessary. As always, Thor Harris proved himself the band’s secret weapon, not only handling the complex percussion that both anchors and buoys Shearwater’s sounds, but stepping out front on clarinet and teaming with bassist Kim Burke on the dueling glockenspiels of “Hidden Lakes”. Being the first time I’d seen them in a non-support, non-festival setting, it was the longest Shearwater set I’d seen – an hour-long main set plus two-song encore – and the extra time and lack of curfew really did allow the band the necessary space to properly stretch out and spread its wings. Simply grand.

Exclaim has a review of the show, while On Milwaukee and The National Post have conversations with Jonathan Meiburg.

Photos: Shearwater, Wye Oak, Hospital Ships @ Lee’s Palace – April 1, 2010
MP3: Shearwater – “Black Eyes”
MP3: Shearwater – “Castaways”
MP3: Shearwater – “Rooks”
MP3: Shearwater – “The Snow Leopard”
MP3: Shearwater – “Red Sea, Black Sea”
MP3: Shearwater – “Seventy-Four, Seventy-Five”
MP3: Shearwater – “I Can’t Wait”
MP3: Shearwater – “Room For Mistakes”
MP3: Shearwater – “An Accident”
MP3: Wye Oak – “Take It In”
MP3: Wye Oak – “Warning”
MP3: Hospital Ships – “Bitter Radio Single”
MySpace: Shearwater
MySpace: Wye Oak

Beatroute interviews Beach House, who will be at the Toronto Island Concert on June 19.

Also on the islands that day are Band Of Horses, who’ve shared the first look/listen of their new album Infinite Arms, out May 18.

Video: Band Of Horses – “Compliments”

Wilco will be streaming their live shows in Boston and Concord tomorrow and Wednesday night, respectively, at their Roadcase.

Superchunk’s Mac McCaughan talks to Metro about their first new record in almost a decade, due out later this year. Mac and Jim Wilbur will be in town on Wednesday to play a special acoustic set at The Royal following the screening of the film Passenger Side, which features their music (amongst others) and stars the guy with the unreasonably large jaw from Party Down. NOW talks to director Matt Bissonnette about the film.

PitchforkTV has a Tunnel Vision live video of Memory Tapes from the same show I was at. I only spent a little bit of the video trying to see if I could spot myself – the rest was remembering how marvelously well Memory Tapes works and sounds live. You might not expect it, but ’tis true.

The Irish Independent talks to Damon Krukowski about the legacy of Galaxie 500.

Spinner, The San Francisco Chronicle, Financial Times, Georgia Straight and Yorkshire Evening Post interview Jonsi, whose Go is out tomorrow and who plays the Sound Academy on April 30 and May 1.

Having now (presumably) recovered from the equipment theft that forced the cancellation of last week’s show at the Drake, Toro Y Moi has set a new date at Wrongbar for April 17.

MP3: Toro Y Moi – “Blessa”

UK punk forbears Buzzcocks have scheduled a North American tour to coincide with the re-release of their first three albums, Another Music In Another Kitchen, Love Bites and Different Kind Of Tension, wherein they’ll be playing the first two in their entirety in addition to other classic tracks. Spin has the full tour itinerary, which includes a May 19 date at the Opera House in Toronto.

Video: Buzzcocks – “What Do I Get”

London’s Turin Brakes will be at the Mod Club on May 20 in support of their new record Outbursts, out in North American on April 20.

Video: Turin Brakes – “Sea Change”

And while we’ve yet to see an official NXNE press release, some of the bigger names who’ll be at the festival have started leaking out – LA punk legends X and Seattle grunge forebears Mudhoney are doing a free show at Yonge-Dundas Square on June 17 and Man… Or Astroman and Mudhoney are playing the Horseshoe on June 18. Not a bad start.

Frank YangAs of Monday night, it had been four and a half years since I saw Spoon live and just over four years since I’d been to The Sound Academy (nee The Docks) for a show. One of these streaks I was anxious to break; the other I was not. To be fair, I only missed one of their Toronto shows – a 2008 appearance at the Kool Haus in support of Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga – but apparently that was the one where they officially crossed over to “rock star” status. That last time at The Phoenix in November 2005, it felt like a show for Spoon fans – this time, at a room three times the size but just as full, it felt more like the show was simply the place to be that night. That’s not intended with any snarkiness, just an observation.

This tour saw the band bringing two others on tour with them – one who surely benefited from being shown off in front of such-sized audiences and another that probably could have packed a respectably-sized room all on their own. The former of these were The Strange Boys, who hailed from Austin, Texas and proudly carried on that city’s tradition of psychedelic-garage rock. Granted, they weren’t overly trippy, preferring focused pop structures over sprawling jams and weren’t above injecting some twang into their sound, but their roots and skill at said stylings were clear. A little more energy or stage presence wouldn’t have been unwelcome, but still a solid start to the evening from a band making their first visit to Canada.

Deerhunter, on the other hand, were probably responsible for drawing no small percentage of the audience, if not just for themselves then for tilting the decision of whether to see Spoon in one the city’s least-favoured venues into the “yea” column. Though their psychedelic/shoegazing/pop affinities would make them seem the sort of thing I’d really be into, I had not listened to Deerhunter much before and certainly hadn’t seen them live. And now I wish I had, because their set was pretty superb – musically, they were far more direct (read: less wall of noise) than I’d expected, but with enough bludgeoning volume and droning excursions to keep it sufficiently trippy and the show itself was livened up with Bradford Cox’s space cadet stage banter, an unexpected stage invasion from one of The Black Lips (or perhaps expected considering that before they began the song, Cox dedicated it to his fellow Atlantans) and another guest appearance from Spoon’s Britt Daniel, who took over on guitar from Cox while the gangly bandleader engaged in some on-stage shenanigans I couldn’t actually see from my angle – see the eye review for specifics. As far as their recorded works go, I’ve only really spent time with Microcastle – further recommendations are welcome.

I don’t, however, need any help getting acquainted with the collected works of Spoon, having followed them attentively since 2001’s Girls Can Tell, and if there’s a downside to their consistently excellent output over this decade – hell, century – it’s that it can cause one to take them for granted a bit. Some have criticized this year’s Transference as being less focused than its pop-friendly predecessor Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga, I – for reasons I can’t quite articulate – prefer it. Both sides of the argument would have been perfectly happy with Monday night’s set list, then, as it opened with Transference’s sublime closer “Nobody Gets Me But You” and drew heavily from both records – seven tracks from each – while also hitting most of the essential notes from all the other Merge releases, even going as far back as 1997’s Soft Effects for the unexpected, “I Could See The Dude”.

In total, they ran through an impressive 25 songs over an hour and forty minutes, aptly showcasing the band’s unique sound and dynamic. Britt Daniel – he of the scratchy voice and stabby six-string – is front and centre, dancing around the stage in his herky-jerky manner as if pulled uncontrollably by his guitar but the contributions of his bandmates can’t be overstated, even if they seem perfectly happy to stay in the background. Eric Harvey’s keys provided the melodic underpinnings that allow Daniel’s guitar lines to wander while he impossibly tight and just funky enough rhythm section of Jim Eno and Rob Pope were omnipresent on this night – possibly because the Sound Academy’s acoustics leaned way towards the bassy. And don’t get me started on the sightlines – it’s a sad situation when you find yourself pining for the environs of the Kool Haus.

In my comments from that Phoenix show in 2005, I noted that ‘I will have to amend my one-line synopsis on Spoon live from “they put on a good show” to “they usually put on a good show, but sometimes they put on a GREAT show”. If Monday was a proper indication of how far they’ve progressed as a live act in the past half-decade, then their work on stage is almost on par with in the studio and I’ll have to update my notes to read, “they put on a great show” – no qualifiers.

Westword, NOW, CBC, The Quietus, The Toronto Star, The Chronicle Herald,NPR, The Toronto Sun and The San Francisco Chronicle have feature pieces on Spoon. Spin has excerpted this month’s feature piece that puts Britt Daniel in conversation with Ray Davies and New York Magazine talks to him about the art of the set list. Chart, The Globe & Mail and Exclaim have reviews of the show. The Fly profiles The Strange Boys.

Photos: Spoon, Deerhunter, The Strange Boys @ The Sound Academy – March 29, 2010
MP3: Spoon – “The Underdog”
MP3: Spoon – “I Turn My Camera On”
MP3: Spoon – “The Way We Get By”
MP3: Spoon – “This Book Is A Movie”
MP3: Spoon – “Mountain To Sound”
MP3: Spoon – “Chips & Dip”
MP3: Spoon – “Idiot Driver”
MP3: Deerhunter – “Wash Off”
MP3: Deerhunter – “Rainwater Cassette Exchange”
Video: Spoon – “Written In Reverse”
Video: Spoon – “The Underdog”
Video: Spoon – “Don’t You Evah”
Video: Spoon – “The Two Sides Of Monsieur Valentine”
Video: Spoon – “I Turn My Camera On”
Video: Spoon – “Sister Jack”
Video: Spoon – “Jonathan Fisk”
Video: Spoon – “Small Stakes”
Video: Spoon – “Everything Hits At Once”
Video: Deerhunter – “Agoraphobia”
Video: Deerhunter – “Strange Lights”
Video: The Strange Boys – “Be Brave”
Video: The Strange Boys – “Woe Is You And Me”

The Line Of Best Fit and Montreal Gazette have interviews with Jonathan Meiburg of Shearwater; The Gazette has also posted the full transcript of their interview. Shearwater play Lee’s Palace tomorrow night, April 1.

Also on the bill for that show are Wye Oak, who played a Tiny Desk Concert for NPR.

Daytrotter is featuring a session with Richard Buckner.

Paste reports that Tift Merritt will release a new record entitled See You On The Moon on June 1. The Fayetteville Observer has an interview with Merritt.

Pitchfork has details on Blitzen Trapper’s new album Destroyer Of The Void, due out June 8.

MP3: Blitzen Trapper – “Heaven & Earth”

Jeff Tweedy of Wilco is interviewed by The Miami Herald, Palm Beach Pulse and The Weekender while Le Blogotheque has a Take-Away Show with the band.

The Fly talks to The National frontman Matt Berninger about their new album High Violet, out May 11. They play Massey Hall on June 8 and 9.

LAist and The Dallas Observer chat with Ted Leo, who’s released a new video from The Brutalist Bricks. A Toronto show has also finally been announced – Ted and the Pharmacists will be at Lee’s Palace on June 26, tickets $15.

Video: Ted Leo & The Pharmacists – “The Mighty Sparrow”

Spinner, Prefix and Blurt have features on the Drive-By Truckers, who bring their new album The Big To-Do to Lee’s Palace for two nights next week, April 6 and 7.

Their respective members have moved on to new projects for the time being, but that hasn’t stopped Monsters Of Folk from releasing a new video from their self-titled album.

Video: Monsters Of Folk – “Dear God”

Crawdaddy profiles John Vanderslice.

NPR is streaming the entirety of Joanna Newsom’s concert in Washington DC last week.

Under The Radar talks to School Of Seven Bells’ Alejandra Deheza about their new album Disconnect From Desire. She says it will be out this Spring; it now being Spring, I am less confident than her about this point – it will be out this year, though.

Phantogram have released a new video from Eyelid Movies. If you’ve been having trouble finding in stores in Canada, there’s a reason – apparently it’s not out here until April 6, their deal with Barsuk not counting north of the 49th? Don’t know, but it’s worth seeking out wherever you have to go to do it. Playtonic Dialogues has an interview.

Video: Phantogram – “Mouthful Of Diamonds”

Portland atmospheric electronicist Eluvium will be at the Drake on May 22 in support of his new album Similes; tickets $12 in advance.

MP3: Eluvium – “The Motion Makes Me Last”

tUnE-yArDs brings her much-feted (but not really understood by me) debut BiRd-BrAiNs to the Horseshoe on June 13 – tickets $12 in advance. I tried, really I did.

MP3: tUnE-yArDs – “Sunlight”
Video: tUnE-yArDs – “Real Live Flesh”

Blurt, Pitchfork and Paul Westerberg – via The New York Times – eulogize Alex Chilton of Big Star.

Josh EustisHaving quite successfully reaped the benefits of the “give it all away for free” ethos with their debut album In Her Gentle Jaws, given away as a free download from their website starting in late 2007 before making available for sale on CD and vinyl late last year, Brooklyn synth-rockers The Depreciation Guild have announced plans to release their sophomore effort Spirit Youth on May 18, presumably in “yeah you have to pay for that” physical form from the get go.

If it’s anything like In Her Gentle Jaws, though, it’ll be worth the price of admission – the debut was a splendid bit of dreampop whose Nintendo/Famicom-powered 8-bit aesthetic was so much more than a gimmick. It’s not clear if “Dream About Me”, the single released last Fall, will appear on the album but assuming it’s a reasonable barometer of where the band are now, they seem to be favouring a more organic, guitar-based approach – perhaps not surprising since a goodly amount of time and touring has elapsed since the debut was recorded. The blissful pop sensibilities remain, however, even if the wonderful Mario-gaze textures are dialed down, so I remain keen to hear the new record, regardless of what toys or technology went into its creation.

In advance of the record’s release, The Depreciation Guild are hitting the road supporting Serena-Maneesh, including their April 2 date at The Great Hall in Toronto. Spinner has an interview with the band.

MP3: The Depreciation Guild – “Dream About Me”
Video: The Depreciation Guild – “Dream About Me”

Hey Interpol fans – how badly do you want to see them live again? Enough to shell out to see them open up for U2 on their Summer tour, including the July 3 Toronto date at the Rogers Centre? Really? Wow.

And people must really be missing themselves some Strokes – demand for the April 2 Julian Casablancas show has been such that it has been moved from the Phoenix to the Kool Haus.

The Hold Steady have announced that they’ll release their fifth studio album entitled Heaven Is Whenever on May 4. Recorded without recently-departed Franz Nicolay, it promises to be more guitar-heavy than their last few albums. Check out the official press release for some quotes from Craig Finn and Tad Kubler about what to expect from the new record.

Stuff New Zealand talks to kiwi emigre Dean Wareham.

Exclaim checks in with Ted Leo, who will release The Brutalist Bricks come March 9.

Sonic Scoop interviews producer Phil Palazzolo about how work is progressing on Nicole Atkins’ new album.

Nada Surf have released the first MP3 from their forthcoming covers album, if i had a hi-fi, which will go on regular sale June 8, after being available during their on Spring tour which begins March 25 and hits Lee’s Palace on March 29.

MP3: Nada Surf – “Electrocution”

The Line Of Best Fit interviews Holly Miranda.

NPR is currently streaming the whole of Joanna Newsom’s new triple album Have One On Me – all two hours of it. I picked up the triple vinyl yesterday, but don’t know if/how I’ll absorb it in time for the March 13 show at The Phoenix. Hell, I don’t think I’ve fully processed her first two records. And if you were wondering, Vetiver guitarist Kevin Barker will be opening that show up.

Stream: Joanna Newsom / Have One On Me

NPR has a World Cafe session with Fruit Bats, slated to play the Horseshoe on March 24. A Daytrotter session with the band just went up a couple days ago as well.

RCRDLBL has got an MP3 from Black Rebel Motorcycle Club’s forthcoming Beat The Devil’s Tattoo, out March 9, available to download. Colorado Springs Independent also has a quick interview. They’ve got two local shows coming up – April 1 and April 11, both at The Phoenix.

There’s also a track available from The Brian Jonestown Massacre’s new album Who Killed Sgt. Pepper?, for which they’ll be appearing at the Phoenix on June 2.

MP3: The Brian Jonestown Massacre – “Let’s Go Fucking Mental”

Girls are giving away a b-side to their new single “Morning Light”, a cover of Skeeter Davis’ “End Of The World”. They’re at The Phoenix on April 9.

MP3: Girls – “End Of The World”

Wayne Coyne talks to Spin about the origins of The Flaming Lips’ name. As Summer tour dates in support of Embryonic trickle out without anything up here in the 416, I wonder if they think Toronto has forgotten they’ve yet to make good on their promise to make up their aborted V Fest 2006 appearance. Because, y’know, we haven’t.

eMusic talks to Jonathan Meiburg of Shearwater, who recorded an Interface session for Spinner. They are in town for a show at Lee’s Palace on April 1. Update: The Interface session seems to be an old one, circa Rook… but still great.

Blurt talks to Midlake leader Tim Smith. They’re at the Mod Club on May 21.

AZCentral talks about the album format, Spoon, the vinyl resurgence and Record Store Day (April 17 write it down) in no particular order. Or in that specific order.

The Daily Herald profiles Justin Townes Earle, in town at the Horseshoe on March 1. The giveaway for passes to the show ends tonight!

Frank YangFor solo artists, it’s easy. Either play alone and keep things stripped down and simple (or, as is becoming more fashionable, looped) or gather up a band. Duos, however, are more and more inclined to try and make a go of it without hired help, particularly duos who’re already heavily reliant on technology for their studio efforts – after all, you don’t have to feed a laptop. And if the cost of that convenience is some energy and spontenaity in the live setting, then so be it.

So despite being quite taken with Eyelid Movies, the debut album from the great state of New York’s Phantogram, I went into their Toronto debut at the Drake Underground on Saturday night with modest expectations. But even if I’d gone in demanding to witness great things, I’d have still left feeling the same way – pretty damned impressed.

Sarah Barthel and Josh Carter don’t travel with much – she with a number of synths and laptop, he with a guitar and extensive but not excessive pedalboard – but armed with a brace of great songs and a genuine joy of playing them for people, it was all they’d need. Just as their idea of dream pop isn’t about hazy somnambulance, there was no de rigeur synth-pop iciness in their delivery – Barthel delivered her lines with emotion and whipped her head around to the rhythm when not, while Carter, whose vocals sounded even better live than on record, took advantage of the mobility afforded him by the guitar and wandered around the stage, adding some extra physicality to their performance. This, combined with the well-chosen projections that bathed the band during their set, made for a show that was more dynamic and engaging than some of their stylistic peers could achieve. They were having their own little dance party on stage and the rest of us were just lucky to be invited.

Phantogram will be back on March 12 for a show at Supermarket as part of Canadian Musicfest.

Photos: Phantogram @ The Drake Underground – February 20, 2010
MP3: Phantogram – “When I’m Small”

NPR has a World Cafe session with Beach House. They’re at the Opera House on March 30.

The New York Times has a feature piece on Holly Miranda, and confirms that The Jealous Girlfriends are pretty much done. There’s also an interview at Miami New Times with Miranda, whose solo debut The Magician’s Private Library is out this week. Her former bandmates continue on in New Numbers.

Joanna Newsom is the subject of an extensive feature in The Times, just in time for the release of her new triple-album Have One On Me this week. I will have hopefully made it through the opus at least once before her March 13 show at the Phoenix.

The Guardian declares Spoon “the best band of the last 10 years”. Spoon modestly agrees. They are at the Sound Academy on March 29.

Clash has an interview and NPR a radio session with Midlake. They play The Mod Club on May 21.

The Wooden Birds are giving away a free EP of studio recordings at Insound.

ZIP: The Wooden Birds / Montague Street EP

Spinner talks to Jonathan Meiburg of Shearwater, who’ve just released a new video – and live solo performance clip – from their new album The Golden Archipelago, out on Tuesday. They play Lee’s Palace on April 1.

Video: Shearwater – “Hidden Lake”
Video: Shearwater – “Hidden Lake” (solo)

The March 9 release date for Miles Kurosky’s solo debut The Desert Of Shallow Effects is drawing closer – check out the first video from the new record.

Video: Miles Kurosky – “Dog In The Burning Building”

Also out this week is American Gong, the new record from Quasi – it’s available to stream in its entirety. They’re at The Horseshoe on April 18.

Stream: Quasi / American Gong

Aux.tv has compiled a list of the best contemporary shoegaze bands right now.

Torontoist reports that plans are afoot for Downsview Park to host Imagine on July 10 and 11, a two-day festival from the people who brought you Woodstock (but not the knockoff sequels) intended to resurrect the ideals of hippie peace and love through a big-ass concert at a former military base. No acts have been announced but they’ve already promised tributes to The Beatles, Pink Floyd and Led Zeppelin so that should give you some notion as to what direction they’re looking in. But if they manage to a) actually stage this thing and b) have it be the biggest concert in 40 years as they say, it’ll be impossible to ignore and the law of averages states they’ll have at least SOME interesting performers. Even if they’re only invited to join the inevitable mass, on-stage “Give Peace A Chance” singalong.