AltsoundsLondon’s Summer Camp are clearly believers in the long game. Since emerging in the Fall of 2009 with their identities shrouded in mystery – they were originally thought to be a Swedish collective – they’ve gradually revealed more and more about themselves while keeping up a steady stream of ’80s-worshipping, in both sound and theme, infectious electro-pop.

Now, almost two years since first causing a fuss, the duo of Jeremy Warmsley and Elizabeth Sankey are ready to release their full-length debut which they’ve christened Welcome To Condale and set for a decidedly un-Summery October 31 release. Financed via Pledgemusic fan support and produced by Pulp’s Steve Mackey, the 12-track long-player only carries over one track from last year’s Young EP and that most likely re-recorded. And that’s probably just as well – as delectable as that release was, they’ve certainly had enough time to write all-new material and goodness we want some new tunes.

Clash has details on the release and you can stream the first single over at long-time band supporter Gorilla Vs Bear; some of the older material is available to hear and watch below. And while it’s probably a bit much to hope for any touring on this side of the Atlantic, it’s worth pointing out that despite their two-piece, heavily programmed configuration not seeming like it’d lend itself to a compelling live show, they were one of the uncontested highlights of SXSW this year.

MP3: Summer Camp – “I Want You”
MP3: Summer Camp – “Ghost Train”
MP3: Summer Camp – “Veronica Sawyer”
Stream: Summer Camp – “Better Off Without You”
Video: Summer Camp – “Ghost Train”
Video: Summer Camp – “Round The Moon”

Also announcing album release details this week was Florence & The Machine. Clearly hoping to find its way under Christmas trees, Ms Welch and company’s second album will be out on November 8, and while it still doesn’t have a title, it does have a video for the first single. Check it out and read an interview with Welch about the new record at Pitchfork.

Video: Florence & The Machine – “What The Water Gave Me”

If you, like me, are thinking about going to see Londonites Male Bonding at The Horseshoe next Friday night – September 2 – but want a head start on hearing their new record Endless Now before it’s officially out on August 30, head over to Punk News as it’s streaming in whole right now, while Spin has a chat and a tune available to download. And if you can’t make the show or it’s not enough, the band are also playing an instore at Kops that evening at 6PM.

MP3: Male Bonding – “Tame The Sun”
Stream: Male Bonding / Endless Now

One of the more hilariously reviled British guitar bands of recent memory – Viva Brother (formerly just Brother) – will put Toronto’s Anglophilia to the test when they bring their debut Famous First Words to the Horseshoe on October 13, tickets $13. There’s interviews at The Belfast Telegraph and BBC.

Video: Viva Brother – “Darling Buds Of May”

You cannot understand how happy I was to hear that Anna Calvi – whose Toronto debut in May I missed due to being in Spain – was coming back for a show at Lee’s Palace on December 8, tickets $15. I was, like, super-happy. Also making me super-happy is this set of videos of Calvi performing on the rooftop at Spin.

MP3: Anna Calvi – “Blackout”

NPR has a World Cafe session with James Blake, who will be at The Phoenix on September 30. And if you’re curious about the Fall Creek Boys Choir project he’s working on with Justin Vernon of Bon Iver, The Quietus has a stream of the first taste of the collaboration.

Stereogum checks in with Ladytron on the status of their new record Gravity The Seducer, due out September 13. They play The Phoenix on October 5.

Lucky talks sartorial style with Emmy The Great.

Via a blog post, Billy Bragg responds to the London riots by declaring it high time that people started making political music again.

The Alternate Side has a video session with Art Brut while The San Francisco Examiner talks comics with Eddie Argos.

Sweden’s Little Dragon will bring their acclaimed third album Ritual Union to town for a show at the somewhat less acclaimed Hoxton venue – nee 69 Bathurst – on October 12. Many are hoping that demand for this show forces it into a larger venue… There’s a session with Little Dragon over at NPR.

MP3: Little Dragon – “Feather”
Video: Little Dragon – “When I Go Out”

Back to the mysterious duo meme for a moment, jj continue to disregard conventions of album cycles, getting paid for their work or song title length by posting a new MP3 on their blog this week for free download.

MP3: jj – “You Don’t Know How Much It Would Hurt Me If You Said That You Were In Love With Me”

NPR have posted a KEXP session with Peter Bjorn & John, in town at Lee’s Palace on September 2 and 3. Cleveland.com also has an interview.

France’s Revolver appear set to make a return to Toronto, having scheduled a show at The Horseshoe for October 16.

MP3: Revolver – “Get Around Town”

Jane Birkin will be performing the songs of Serge Gainsbourg at the Queen Elizabeth Theatre on December 7, tickets $34.50 in advance.

Video: Jane Birkin & Serge Gainsbourg – “Je t’aime”

And coincidentally – or maybe not so – their daughter Charlotte Gainsbourg has released a new video for the title track of her forthcoming Terrible Angels EP, out September 6 – details on the release at Pitchfork. A new double-album, Stage Whisper, will follow on November 8.

Video: Charlotte Gainsbourg – “Terrible Angels”

And once more with the Euro duos. Disco-pop outfit Keep Shelly In Athens, who actually hail from the Athens in Greece and not Georgia – usually a no-brainer except when you’re talking indie-centric music – will be embarking on their first North American tour this Fall, including a November 16 date at Wrongbar in Toronto. Tickets are $15 in advance but you can win some by posting when and where you’d like to see them on their Facebook.

MP3: Keep Shelly In Athens – “Running Out On You”
MP3: Keep Shelly In Athens – “Fokionos Negri Street”

The IndependentOne thing that should have been well-established over the run of this blog is that I am an irredeemable Britpop kid, having come of musical age in the mid-’90s with my nose buried in issues of Select and spending too much money I really couldn’t spare on import CDs on their breathless recommendations. Many were pretty terribly, in retrospect, or even worse just wholly unremarkable, but one of my enduring favourites beyond the Oasis/Blur/Pulp triumvirate is Sleeper, whose three albums of scrappy pop have aged quite nicely, unlike some of their peers.

Since splitting just before the collapse of the scene, frontwoman Louise Wener has turned her pen from song lyrics to fiction and written some well-received novels – I’ve read a few, they’re pretty good – but her memoirs, released last year as Different For Girls: A Girl’s Own True-Life Adventures In Pop and re-released last month as the more descriptive Just For One Day: Adventures In Britpop is the tome that fans have been waiting for.

Rather than attempt to document the scene, it follows Wener from her seemingly well-adjusted suburban London adolescence of wanting more than anything to be a pop star to getting swept up in the Britpop wave and managing to actually become a pop star and then walking away when it became clear their time in the spotlight was done. Aside from the breaking up with the guitarist to go out with the drummer thing, it’s not particularly rife with scandal or gossip – Sleeper were never quite on the inside of the Britpop royal court and while there was plenty of drugs and alcohol, they didn’t become casualties of it. I do question the authenticity of all the quotes used in the text – either they’re liberally paraphrased or Wener has an astonishing memory – but nothing libelous is attributed to anyone and they work well with Wener’s writing style, which is brisk and fun with the right amount of self-deprecation. It’s almost too brisk and self-deprecating at points and all over too soon, but perhaps that’s befitting the whirlwind nature of their career – their three albums came out over the minuscule span of three years. But Wener’s perspective is clear-eyed and while she looks back on things fondly, it’s pretty obvious there won’t be a reunion any time soon or ever, and that’s just fine. We’ve got the records, we’ve got the videos and we’ve got the book.

And oh, I’ve got two copies of the book – accidentally bought it under both titles – so Different For Girls is an official lending copy since it’s pretty much impossible to find on this side of the pond. And if anyone has an MP3 of Elvis Costello covering “What Do I Do Now” from the All This Useless Beauty b-sides as a bit of quid pro quo or just a gift, I’d love to get a hold of it…

MP3: Sleeper – “Statuesque”
Video: Sleeper – “She’s A Good Girl”
Video: Sleeper – “Nice Guy Eddie”
Video: Sleeper – “Sale Of The Century”
Video: Sleeper – “What Do I Do Now”
Video: Sleeper – “Vegas”
Video: Sleeper – “Inbetweener”
Video: Sleeper – “Delicious”
Video: Sleeper – “Swallow”

One of my other favourite pieces of Britpop-related literature is the Phonogram comic series. They’re sticking to their guns of not doing any more than any more series beyond Rue Britannia and The Singles Club, but writer Kieron Gillen has released the complete script for the first issue of The Singles Club, the first issue of which is also available online in its entirety to compare and contrast. I don’t recall what the official Phonogram position on Sleeper was… hopefully kinder than to Echobelly.

The Fly has a courtyard video session with Slow Club, who’re prepping their second album Paradise for a September 12 release.

Clash are offering a taste of the new Peggy Sue album, entitled Acrobats and due out on September 12 in the UK.

MP3: Peggy Sue – “Cut My Teeth”

They made their local debut back in May as support for Tame Impala and tacked an in-store set onto the visit, but Yuck have taken a surprisingly long time to bring their more ’90s than ’90s fuzz-pop to town for a headlining show. That will be rectified as of September 25, when they play The Horseshoe – tickets $13.50 in advance. eMusic has an interview with the London outfit.

MP3: Yuck – “Get Away”
MP3: Yuck – “Georgia”

Laura Marling will follow the September 13 release of her third album A Creature I Don’t Know with what she’s calling the “When The Bell Tolls” tour; it includes a stop at The Great Hall on September 23, tickets $20 in advance on sale Friday. For a two-time Mercury shortlister, she’s had a habit of playing drastically undersized venues here – her 2008 debut was at the tiny Rivoli and her last visit last February at Lee’s Palace, a month before I Speak Because I Can was released, was originally supposed to be at the Drake. All of which is to say that tickets for this show will go quickly. NME has a track-by-track breakdown of her new record, one song of which is available to stream via the YouTubes.

MP3: Laura Marling – “Ghosts”
Stream: Laura Marling – “Sophia”

Stereogum and The Telegraph talk to The Horrors, who’ve released an MP3 from their new album Skying – it gets an August 9 release in North America. The Horrors are at Lee’s Palace on September 27.

MP3: The Horrors – “Moving Further Away”

Welsh singer Anika – protege of Portishead’s Geoff Barrow and Nico soundalike – will be at Wrongbar on October 8 in support of her 2010 self-titled debut, which is available to stream on her website. eMusic has an interview.

MP3: Anika – “Yang Yang”
Stream: Anika / Anika

And given that Barrow will be in town the next two nights at The Sound Academy with Portishead – October 9 and 10 – it’s not unreasonable to assume that he’ll be at Anika’s show. Pitchfork talks Geoff Barrow about the band’s upcoming North American tour.

NPR has a KCRW radio session with Friendly Fires, in town at The Phoenix on October 23.

Noel Gallagher has finally unveiled his debut solo single and listening to it and what Beady Eye have done, it’s really no wonder that Oasis fell apart. Even if the brothers Gallagher didn’t hate each other, their creative directions were pretty clearly on opposite trajectories. Think Liam would have stood for those horns? No, I don’t think so. Noel Gallagher and the High Flying Birds will be out on November 8 stateside.

Video: Noel Gallagher & The High Flying Birds – “The Death Of You And Me”

The Von Pip Musical Express chats with Emma-Lee Moss, aka Emmy The Great.

Gorilla Vs Bear is streaming one of the new songs from Summer Camp’s forthcoming debut album – due out whenever it’s fully funded via Pledge Music.

The first proper recording from The Kate Jackson Group – fronted by the former Long Blondes singer – is available to stream at God Is In The TV and it’s kind of fantastic. I had some concerns about Jackson’s solo output considering that Dorian Cox was the primary songwriter in that band, but if this is an indication of what Jackson can do on her own, those concerns are unfounded. Bring on the album.

The Sydney Morning Herald checks in with Kele Okereke of Bloc Party, who will be coming off hiatus later this Fall.

Fanfarlo frontman Simon Balthazar gives Paste an update on the progress of album number two, due out in the early part of next year.

I was happy enough to hear confirmed details on the new Loney Dear record Hall Music, out October 4, but to know that Emil Svanäaut;ngen and company will be back in town on November 5 for a show at the Drake Underground? That’s even better. Tickets are $13.50 in advance.

MP3: Loney Dear – “My Heart”

Lykke Li is coming back to town this Fall are part of a North American tour and she’ll be accompanied by fellow Swedes, sister act First Aid Kit. They’ll be at The Sound Academy on November 15, tickets $30 for general admission and $40 for VIP balcony. DIY talks to First Aid Kit about how work is coming on their second album.

MP3: Lykke Li – “Youth Knows No Pain”
MP3: First Aid Kit – “I Met Up With The King”

The Quietus and Billboard have feature interviews with Bjork while Billboard also chats with Michel Gondry, who directed her just-released new video. A track from her new album Biophilia is available to download; it’s out on September 27.

MP3: Bjork – “Cosmogony”
Video: Bjork – “Crystalline”

Adam FaradayTo be clear, Portishead simply like to take their time. The eleven-year gap between their self-titled sophomore effort and 2008’s Third? They weren’t broken up, just writing. And considering how scary good/just plain scary said record was, transcending the trip-hop genre they pioneered almost a decade and a half earlier, you couldn’t say it wasn’t time well spent. Similarly, just because they’ve only played one North American show this century – 2008’s Coachella – after returning to the stage in 2005 following a seven-year absence didn’t mean they don’t like us over here; they were just figuring out what to pack.

Baggage issues seem to have been all sorted out, however, as the band have announced their first North American tour in who knows how long – 14 years at minimum – with Thought Forms supporting and it includes not one but two Toronto dates, October 9 and 10 at The Sound Academy. Ticket presales are already live with ducats running $61.50 plus 10% service fees, charged in US dollars. Remember when that was a bad thing? At current exchange rates, that’ll bring your price of admission to like $20 and change. Approximately.

Portishead, people. Yes they spawned a million soundalike bands but go back and listen to those records – they’re still as unique and creepy as they ever were.

Video: Portishead – “Chase The Tear”
Video: Portishead – “Magic Doors”
Video: Portishead – “The Rip”
Video: Portishead – “Machine Gun”
Video: Portishead – “Glory Box”
Video: Portishead – “All Mine”
Video: Portishead – “Humming”

The other great British “head” band – Radiohead – remain oddly shy about hitting the road in any extended capacity but they’re still perfectly keen to play. The long-promised King Of Limbs recital for television programme From The Basement went down this weekend and the whole thing is available to stream at YouTube, at least for the moment – the BBC seems to have some objection to people posting their programming on the internets and are taking action, so hop to it.

DIY reports that Mogwai will release a new EP entitled Earth Division on September 13.

Arctic Monkeys have rolled out a new video from Suck It And See, though you do not have to suck anything to watch it. Unless you want to. Your call.

Video: Arctic Monkeys – “The Hellcat Spangled Shalalala”

BBC and Clash interview The Horrors. Their latest Skying is out August 9 in North America and they play The Mod Club on September 27.

The Fly checks in with Mystery Jets, hard at work in the studio on their next album, targeted for an early 2012 release.

London’s Male Bonding will be at The Horseshoe on September 2 in support of album number two, Endless Now, due out August 30. Tickets $10.50 in advance.

MP3: Male Bonding – “Bones”
MP3: Male Bonding – “Franklin”

Scots We Were Promised Jetpacks have announced an October 3 release of their second album In The Pit Of The Stomach, and you can hear the first track from it on their website. There’s also a passel of US live dates but nothing north of the border.

Band of Skulls are taking some time off from working on album number two to play some North American dates, including September 28 at The Garrison.

MP3: Band Of Skulls – “Blood”

What did you expect from The Vaccines? Maybe a new video from What Did You Expect From The Vaccines?? Well there you go. They’re at The Phoenix on September 27.

Video: The Vaccines – “Norgaard”

The Quietus has an interview and NPR a World Cafe session with Anna Calvi.

Throwback London pop quartet Veronica Falls, who charmed at SXSW, are giving away a track from their debut album due out October 17.

MP3: Veronica Falls – “Come On Over”

NME chats with Elizabeth Sankey of Summer Camp, who continue to raise funds for their debut album via Pledge Music.

NPR has a World Cafe session with Lykke Li, who has also released a new “live on the moon” video wherein she makes like she is performing live on the moon.

Video: Lykke Li – “Sadness Is A Blessing” (live on The Moon)

Spin talks to Bjork about her Biophilia project, the album part of which will be out September 27.

Japanese heavy rockers Boris will bring Japanese-fronted dream poppers Asobi Seksu with them to Lee’s Palace on October 23, part of a North American tour in support of their two simultaneous releases earlier this year, Heavy Rocks and Attention Please.

MP3: Boris – “Farewell”
MP3: Asobi Seksu – “Trails”
Video: Boris – “Hope/Riot Sugar”

Frank YangIf it were possible to discuss Beady Eye and their debut album Different Gear, Still Speeding based strictly on their musical merits and not their backstory, then it would be a fairly short conversation: alright-enough Brit-rock, hardly re-inventing the wheel. But taking into account that the band comprises 4/5 of the final lineup of Oasis, less chief songwriter Noel Gallagher, extra scrutiny is unavoidable. Which is unfortunate since despite the band’s – well, Liam Gallagher’s – insistence that they’re going to be the biggest band in the world, they don’t aspire to much more than solid, meat-and-potatoes rock’n’roll. And in that, especially considering the younger Gallagher’s rather unspectacular songwriting efforts in Oasis, Different Gear is surprisingly decent, with a good dose of swagger and energy and thankfully fewer than expected cringe-worthy lyrics. After all, Liam has never pretended there was a poet underneath the gruff exterior; Noel was the sensitive one.

While Beady Eye have hardly set the world ablaze with their debut, they found it worthwhile to bring it across the Atlantic for their first North American tour starting this past weekend in Chicago and landing in Toronto’s Sound Academy on Monday night. It would be the first time Liam would take a stage here since Oasis’ final assault-interrupted performance at V Fest 2008, and clearly the faithful had been waiting – the giant Union Jack flag waving from the balcony and random chants of “Liam!” a few of the signs that the band were on friendly turf. And really, it’s a rare sort of crowd who sings along en masse to The Jam’s “That’s Entertainment” over the PA, isn’t it? When the lights dimmed a few minutes later than the scheduled start time – it wouldn’t have done to not let the final bars of The Stone Roses’ “I Am The Resurrection” not ring out, after all – the cheers went up and out strode Liam Gallagher in appropriately ridiculous Union Jack topcoat and his more conservatively dressed compatriots and we were away.

Opening with “Four Letter Word”, Gallagher in his familiar nose-on-the-mic, arms-behind-his-back post and picking lyrics off a teleprompter, the first thing you noticed was that they were loud. More specifically, Gallagher was loud – heinously so. It was as if his monitor mix was being fed into the house by accident, so much louder were his vocals than the band that it was like hearing someone singing at the top of their lungs to music playing on their earphones. Thankfully within a few songs it was sorted somewhat – or fleeing to the back of the venue made the difference – and the remainder of the set was entertaining in a steady head-nodding sense. Each song from Different Gear as well as a couple of non-album tracks and one new composition was aired out, each with its own staging and adhering closely to their studio versions. And while it obviously wasn’t the context I’d ideally like to have seen, it was good to see Andy Bell back on guitar and taking a few solos in person.

Without that much material on hand and a sworn oath to not delve into the Oasis songbook, it wasn’t surprising that the main set was over in less than an hour, closing with “Champagne Supernova”-like psychedelic slow jam “The Morning Son” before returning for a two-song encore that brought the show to a respectable length. Throughout, Gallagher conducted himself with an interesting combination of confidence and humility, as though he still believed that he was fronting the best band in the world but understood that he had to prove it; this solid showing was a good start. Will Beady Eye, as their song declares, “stand the test of time like The Beatles and The Stones”? Not likely, to be honest, but at least they’ve bought themselves some of that time to get there.

Metro, The Grid and Shortlist have typically entertaining interviews with Gallagher and his bandmates. Chart, examiner.com and JAM also have reviews of the show.

Photos: Beady Eye @ The Sound Academy – June 20, 2011
MP3: Beady Eye – “The Roller”
Video: Beady Eye – “Millionaire”
Video: Beady Eye – “Four Letter Word”
Video: Beady Eye – “Bring The Light”

Loads of new videos making their way across the pond over the last few days. Let’s sum up.

Amor de Dias has a new clip from Street Of The Love Of Days. Alasdair MacLean and Lupe Núñez-Fernández are also playing guest editor this week at Magnet starting with a Q&A and submitted a guest list of inspirations to Critical Mob.

Video: Amor de Dias – “Wild Winter Trees”

The latest single from Anna Calvi also comes with a video.

Video: Anna Calvi – “Desire”

The previously mailing-list-sign-up-only video for the new Slow Club single is now available for all to see. It comes from their second album Paradise, which is out September 12 – NME has details.

Video: Slow Club – “Two Cousins”

Friendly Fires have confirmed their Fall North American tour which includes the make-up for the cancelled Toronto show, now taking place October 23 at The Phoenix. The Georgia Straight and Black Book have interviews with the band and oh yeah, there’s a new video from Pala.

Video: Friendly Fires – “Hawaiian Air”

Yuck have a new, kind of disturbing clip from their self-titled debut. RTE has an interview with the band.

Video: Yuck – “Shook Down”

The new clip from Noah & The Whale’s Last Night On Earth is appropriately slick and cinematic. And nice dance moves, Charlie. Creative Loafing has an interview.

Video: Noah & The Whale – “Life Is Life”

The Joy Formidable’s Big Roar has yielded a new video, which proves their affection for ’90s alt.rock extends to video aesthetic.

Video: The Joy Formidable – “A Heavy Abacus”

It’s not a proper promo clip, but people will still want to see this live video of Radiohead performing a new, non-album track. It’s taken from their upcoming From The Basement webcast, which I believe will be aired on July 1.

Video: Radiohead – “Staircase” (live)

Some news from components of Blur; Clash checks in with Graham Coxon on the state of his next record while The Guardian has a feature on the many projects of Damon Albarn, including an opera about John Dee and a tease about possible North American Blur dates next year – hello Coachella?

Summer Camp have turned to Pledge Music to garner financing for their debut album, and have put together some very neat and entertaining rewards for various pledge levels. The real reward, of course, will be a record of wonderful pop music like the track “Nobody Knows You”, which they’re trading for your email address, but if you want to walk away with Jeremy Warmsley’s bass guitar, well that can happen too. Clash talks to Elizabeth Sankey about the new album and fundraising efforts.

Clash quizzes Emmy The Great about this, that and the other thing.

Laura Marling has announced the September 13 release of her third album A Creature I Don’t Know. She talks to Spin a bit about what to expect and The Line Of Best Fit has more specifics. The record is already available to pre-order.

Bella Union has announced details on the debut album from Newcastle’s Lanterns On The Lake, who rather beguiled at SXSW. Gracious Tide, Take Me Home will be out on September 19 in the UK – the first MP3 from it is available to have and the hold now.

MP3: Lanterns On The Lake – “You’re Almost There”

The Quietus talks to The Horrors and gets a track-by-track breakdown of their new record Skying, due out July 12. They play Lee’s Palace on September 27.

Spinner, HitFix and The Mirror talk to Guy Garvey of Elbow, finally coming back to town for a show at the Sound Academy on September 28.

Pitchfork filmed a short James Blake film at Primavera last month; Blake is at The Phoenix on September 30.

The Daily Record asks Glasvegas frontman James Allan where he’s living nowadays while Rab Allan talks to Metro.

Spin is streaming a second preview track from the new Ladytron album Gravity The Seducer, due out September 13.

Billboard, BBC and The Quietus talk to Patrick Wolf about his new record Lupercalia while The Fly has an acoustic courtyard session with the artist.

Interview interviews Kate Bush.

Shawn BrackbillOn the surface, Blood Pressures – the new record from The Kills – resembles its predecessor, Midnight Boom, quite a bit; particularly in how it doesn’t really resemble their first two records Keep On Your Mean Side and No Wow very much. This is, of course, a very relative statement – everything that Alison Mosshart and Jamie Hince have put out has been been very distinctly them, defined by their two-piece art/garage-rock aesthetic and their sexually-charged/ambiguous/tense dynamic.

But with Midnight Boom, they opened up the range of sounds with which they’d work, amped up the pop elements of their sound and generally tidied things up enough to make for their most accessible work yet; certainly it was the record that got me on board. Blood Pressures continues on in the same direction, but the balance of songs versus sonics seems to have swung decidedly in favour of the former. The groove-first, lyrics-second process that accounted for some of Boom‘s sleazy playground rhyme-like numbers has taken a back seat to more conventionally composed and structured songs, perhaps something Mosshart has brought back from her time in The Dead Weather. And though many are still built on unabashedly mechanical and grimy-sounding backing tracks, even those are sounding more organic and tidier than before.

None of this meant in judgement, just as observation. That The Kills would be getting more polished and sophisticated, even if just in relative terms, should come as no surprise – even from their first release it was inevitable, less a question of “if” than “when” and “how”. But with regards to judgement, as solid as Blood Pressures is – tunes like “Nail In My Coffin” and “Baby Says” are as solid additions to The Kills canon as anything they’ve done – but as a whole it doesn’t have the sense of reckless, unhinged fun that made its predecessor such a treat. It’s wholly on target as a satisfying Kills record but confirms that Midnight Boom was the bullseye.

Spinner and Clash talk to The Kills about their new record while Yours Truly solicits an acoustic video session… geoblocked. What the hell, people. They’re at The Sound Academy on May 1 and courtesy of Domino Records, I’ve got a prize pack consisting of a pair of passes to the show and a copy of Blood Pressures on LP to give away. To enter, email me at contests AT chromewaves.net with “I want to Kills” in the subject line and your full name and mailing address in the body. Contest closes at midnight, April 25.

MP3: The Kills – “DNA”
Video: The Kills – “Satellite

The Guardian talks to Faris Badwan about his Cat’s Eyes project and their self-titled debut which is due out next week.

Video: Cat’s Eyes – “Face In The Crowd”
Video: Cat’s Eyes – “Cat’s Eyes”

The Boston Globe and Under The Radar talk to The Raveonettes.

Arctic Monkeys have a new video from the forthcoming Suck It And See. The album is out June 6 and they’re at The Kool Haus on May 21.

Video: Arctic Monkeys – “Don’t Sit Down ‘Cause I’ve Moved Your Chair”

Glasvegas guitarist Rab Allan talks to Billboard and RTE about new album Euphoric Heartbreak, out now in Canada but not until May 17 in the US. They play Lee’s Palace on May 29.

The Vinyl District interviews Eddie Argos of Art Brut about their new record Brilliant! Tragic!, out May 23. They’ve also released a video from said album and play The Mod Club on June 17.

Video: Art Brut – “Lost Weekend”

Oh look, a new Beady Eye video. They’re at The Sound Academy on June 20.

Video: Beady Eye – “Millionaire”

Filter continues Suede week by talking to some of the band’s producers and getting some discography commentary from Brett Anderson and Mat Osman as well as a two–part interview with the founding members. BBC America also talks to Brett Anderson.

Yours Truly has a video session from and The Arty Semite, Georgia Straight, The OC Weekly and San Diego City Beat have interviews with Yuck. They’re at The Phoenix on May 1.

Esben & The Witch have a new video from Violet Cries.

Video: Esben & The Witch – “Chorea”

Been wondering what happened to guitarist Nick McCabe and bassist Simon Jones since The Verve broke up for the millionth time? The Quietus has your answer – The Black Ships.

Ed O’Brien disappoints a legion of Radiohead-spotters by telling BBC that there will not be another album coming from the King Of Limbs sessions. There will, however, be a North American release for the “Supercollider”/”The Butcher” 12″ that they put out for Record Store Day in the UK – Exclaim reports that it’ll be out on June 14 and you can stream both sides right now at some dude’s Soundcloud.

Spin talks to PJ Harvey, who has another video to show off.

Video: PJ Harvey – “On Battleship Hill”

Drowned In Sound talks to Kate Nash about her record label and music education for girls endeavours.

Emmy The Great introduces and performs a new song inspired by the Royal Wedding for The Guardian. The song doesn’t appear on Virtue, due out June 13, but you can download one that does at RCRDLBL while Drowned In Sound has the artwork and tracklisting up. Emmy’s website has also relaunched and yes, I did check the cost of flights to New York on seeing she’s playing Pianos on May 5 (too much).

MusicOmh chats with Jeremy Warmsley and Elizabeth Sankey of Summer Camp.

Artrocker talks to Alan McGee, founder of Creation Records.