Dan MonickFiona Apple did pretty much all anyone could have asked in 2012. Starting with a tense but triumphant comeback show at SXSW, she proceeded to release a stellar new record with The Idler Wheel Is Wiser Than The Driver Of The Screw and Whipping Cords Will Serve You More Than Ropes Will Ever Do last June and toured reasonably extensively behind it, though by late Fall she was cancelling dates to tend to her ailing dog. If that was the end of the promotional cycle for The Idler Wheel and the beginning of another hiatus, then so be it. Her inclusion on the initial lineup for the 2013 edition Primavera Sound in Barcelona was an encouraging sign that she wasn’t done yet, but that didn’t last.

Then last week – more than a year after the first single and video from Idler Wheel was released – a new video emerged for the album’s closing track, directed by auteur and former partner Paul Thomas Anderson, and that was followed up earlier this week with the announcement of a new Fall tour. But not a conventional tour. For starters, Apple will be touring and performing with Los Angeles singer-songwriter Blake Mills, and as per the name of the tour – Anything We Want – the format of it promises to be free-form and unpredictable. One would assume that with the not-cheap ticket prices, they’re acknowledging that Apple’s exponentially-larger fanbase will make up the bulk of the audience and will be played to accordingly, but then again, maybe not. They don’t know, so how can we?

In any case, Toronto is probably lucky that the October 17 date at the Queen Elizabeth Theatre comes a couple weeks into the tour, so folks should have an idea of what to expect by that point. Of course, if they’ve already shelled out their $49.50 or $69.50 for a seat, it’s kind of academic. But still.

Video: Fiona Apple – “Hot Knife”

Portland’s Blitzen Trapper have announced details of the follow-up to 2011’s American Goldwing as well as accompanying tour dates. VII will be out on October 1 on their new home at Vagrant Records, and the accompanying tour hits Lee’s Palace a few days later on October 5, tickets $18.50. You can stream one of the new songs via Rolling Stone.

Stream: Blitzen Trapper – “Ever Loved Once”

Providence’s Deer Tick are also putting out a new record of their brand of Americana this Fall in the form of Negativity, due out September 24, and will also be hitting the road in support, kicking that tour off in Toronto at Lee’s Palace on October 10 – tickets for that are $22. They released a video for one of their new songs a couple weeks ago and are streaming another new tune via Rolling Stone.

Video: Deer Tick – “The Rock”
Stream: Deer Tick – “The Dream’s In The Ditch”

Pennsylvania psych-folkers Dr. Dog are also readying a new album for Fall release, with B-Room coming out October 1 – stream a new song below – and their touring itinerary in support of it runs pretty much the entire Fall, with the November 8 date at The Phoenix being one of the last. Tickets for that will be $22.

Stream: Dr. Dog – “The Truth”

Entertainment Weekly are streaming the whole of Explosions In The Sky’s soundtrack to the Prince Avalanche film ahead of its August 6 release date, just before the film opens on August 9. They play The Air Canada Centre on October 4, opening for Nine Inch Nails.

Stream: Explosions In The Sky w David Wingo / Prince Avalanche original motion picture soundtrack

Though you could be forgiven for assuming that we’d lost Tanya Donelly to the world of motherhood and domesticity – I certainly did – you would in fact be wrong. The former Belly/Breeder/Throwing Muse has been recording new music and will begin releasing it to the world in a series of monthly EP’s that she’s calling the Swan Song Series; the first volume will be available next Tuesday, August 6, via Bandcamp though those in the US with access to Pandora can apparently stream the songs in advance now. Lucky ducks.

The Justin Vernon-powered Volcano Choir have released a new video from their forthcoming Repave, which is out September 3 and brings them to The Phoenix on September 8.

Video: Volcano Choir – “Byegone”

Billboard talks to Neko Case about her forthcoming record The Worse Things Get, the Harder I Fight, The Harder I Fight, The More I Love You, out September 3.

Stereogum chats with Lou Barlow about the return of Sebadoh, while The San Francisco Appeal talks to drummer Bob D’Amico and The San Francisco Bay Guardian to bassist Jason Lowenstein. They’ve released a stream of one of the new tracks and a video of another, both from Defend Yourself which comes out September 17.

Stream: Sebadoh – “I Will”
Video: Sebadoh – “All Kinds”

Pitchfork has some specifics about the new Cults record Static, which will be out October 15.

Trailer: Cults / Static

Rolling Stone has premiered the second video for the first new Pixies song in ages, because if any band has mastered the art of miking it, it’s Pixies. Trivia: that’s not actually Kim Deal on the recording, it’s her replacement Kim Shattuck.

Video: Pixies – “Bagboy” (version 2)

Huffington Post has premiered a stream of the first new TV On The Radio music since 2011’s Nine Types Of Light. No info on the new album, but this is a start.

Stream: TV On The Radio – “Mercy”

Chicago Grid has a feature story on Wilco (the business).

Beatroute and The Edmonton Journal chat with M Ward.

The Creator’s Project have posted their mini-documentary on The Postal Service’s 10th anniversary tour.

Consequence Of Sound talks to Superchunk and Mountain Goats drummer Jon Wurster about his recent commitment to sobriety.

Airship Daily and The Huffington Post have interviews with Stephin Merritt about his work with Future Bible Heroes.

NPR has a video session with Yo La Tengo.

Marcelo KrasilcicThe Magnetic Fields are back. But wait, you might argue, they never really went away. Sure, three albums in the past decade doesn’t really match the rate of output that Stephin Merritt was maintaining in the ’90s – particularly when you take into account his other projects – but it ain’t nothing. And yet it’s accurate on many levels that The Magnetic Fields are back: they’re back on Merge, the label that released their greatest records including the risky and magnificent 69 Love Songs, after a decade on Nonesuch; they’re back to their signature mix of synths and acoustic instruments after largely abandoning keys and the like on those last few albums in favour of strictly electric and acoustic arrangements; and they’re back with a new record that makes both these points salient on March 6 with Love At The Bottom Of The Sea. Their last few records got mixed reviews, but with the number of resets that seem to accompany this one, it’s hard not to be a little optimistic.

And the band will also be back on the road immediately following the album’s release with an extensive itinerary that brings them to Toronto’s Sound Academy on March 30. It’s an interesting choice of venue considering their last couple visits have been at the acoustically sterling Queen Elizabeth Theatre in February 2010 and Trinity-St. Paul’s in July 2004, and the last thing that the everyone’s favourite lakeside shoebox can be accused of is being a sympathetic venue. But hey, maybe they’re going for the big rock show this time and they need somewhere they can set off pyrotechnics. In any case, tickets are $30 for floors and $37.50 for balconies, and while the fan pre-sale is on now, the Live Nation mobile app presale is Friday at 10 and the regular on-sale is Saturday.

There’s no preview track from the album available yet, but here’s a seasonal one from the last record and a classic one from 69 Love Songs.

MP3: The Magnetic Fields – “Everything Is One Big Christmas”
MP3: The Magnetic Fields – “The Book Of Love”

In other, “guess who’s coming to town” news, earnest folk-poppers The Head & The Heart will be in town on March 13 at The Opera House, tickets $18.50 in advance. Their last visit was back in February and considering how much their star has risen since then, I’m surprised it will have taken them over a year to make it back here. In any case, here’s a World Cafe session at NPR to hold you over until then.

MP3: The Head & The Heart – “Down In The Valley”
MP3: The Head & The Heart – “Lost In My Mind”

Also making a return engagement is EMA, last sighted hereabouts in July. No venue upgrade this time out – she’s at The Garrison again on March 13 – but considering that Past Life Martyred Saints will be showing up on at least a few year-end lists, expect this show to have a little less elbow room than that one. Tickets are $13.50 in advance and Rolling Stone has an interview.

MP3: EMA – “Milkman”
MP3: EMA – “The Grey Ship”

Texas family act Eisley will be in town to help kick of Canadian Musicfest, playing The Drake Underground on the Wednesday night, March 21. They’ll be touring both this year’s The Valley as well as a new EP entitled Deep Space, due out on February 14. Examiner.com has some info on the EP and their tour itinerary.

MP3: Eisley – “Smarter”
Video: Eisley – “The Valley”

Howler may hail from Minnesota, but their rough and retro garage rock is making them all kinds of fans in the UK. Their debut America Give Up is out January 17 and they’ve got a date at The Drake on April 5.

Video: Howler – “Back Of Your Neck”

Oh hey Cults are coming back. Look for them at The Phoenix on April 25, tickets $20 in advance.

MP3: Cults – “Most Wanted”
MP3: Cults – “Go Outside”

Bear In Heaven’s new album I Love You, It’s Cool isn’t out until April 3 but the band already has the whole thing up for stream on their website – it’s just slowed down by 400,000%. Pitchfork has the what and why, as well as tour dates which include a May 5 date at The Garrison, tickets $11.50 in advance. Here’s a track from 2007’s Red Bloom Of The Boom, played at regular speed.

MP3: Bear In Heaven – “Bag Of Bags”

NOW and hour.ca talk to St. Vincent’s Annie Clark in advance of tonight’s show at The Phoenix.

The Shins have announced details of their long-awaited new record. Port Of Morrow will be out in March – Pitchfork has some specifics.

Daytrotter has posted a session with Wilco, recorded at the band’s Chicago loft.

NPR has Beirut’s final show of the year from last night available to stream, or will shortly. Check back.

Steve Earle offers his thoughts on the Occupy Wall Street movement to Knoxville.com.

Spin talks to Sleigh Bells about their forthcoming Reign Of Terror, which begins February 14.

The Atlantic talks to the director of Okkervil River’s video for “Your Past Life As A Blast”.

The AV Club gets Bob Mould to go One-Track Mind interview/performance sessions with Sugar’s “Hoover Dam”.

Another new Guided By Voices track is available to stream; it’s a super-short b-side from “Donut For A Snowman” written by Tobin Sprout. Let’s Go Eat The Factory is out January 1.

Stream: Guided By Voices – “One Two Three Four”

Bill Janovitz, he of Buffalo Tom and many covers, has posted something special: a Tom Waits cover which is credited as, “featuring Tanya Donelly but in fact features he on lead vox throughout. Usually Bill gives his covers away, but this one is being made available via The Right Track for a minimum donation of $0.99 to TargetCancer. Do it, the cause is good, the track is beautiful and we don’t get to hear Tanya’s voice nearly enough these days. And speaking of Buffalo Tom, The Boston Globe and The Phoenix talk to them about marking their 25th anniversary as a band.

Frank YangIt struck me about mid-way through Basia Bulat’s concert at Trinity-St. Paul’s on Saturday night that though it was an album release show for her eagerly-anticipated new album in Heart Of My Own, the album wasn’t going to be released for another couple of weeks yet – January 26, to be exact – and as such, many/most of the just under 800 people in the sell-out crowd had never heard the new songs. An obvious point, certainly, but one that I had overlooked since I’d been secretly nursing a copy of the record since early last Fall and so the new songs were almost as familiar to my ears as those from her 2007 debut, Oh, My Darling.

And that’s why it was even more remarkable that, contrary to typical concert etiquette which dictates that you sit politely through the new material while waiting for the familiar gems, people were responding to the Heart material almost as enthusiastically as they did the selections from Darling. I’m sure this was as much pent-up enthusiasm for Bulat’s return to her hometown stages, what with her having only played one show in the past year and a half, but also a testament to the quality and immediacy of the new material – it’s worth noting that the folks I was with, at least, were quite genuinely excited about several of the new songs, and continued talking about them after the show was done.

Of course, the delivery of the songs surely had something to do with the impression they made. Trinity-St. Paul’s may well be second only to Massey Hall as far as perfect musical venues in Toronto go, and you couldn’t have asked for a better setting to get re-acquainted with Bulat. She certainly couldn’t, mentioning several times through the night how excited she was to be performing in the space. Fronting a 6-piece band that had a couple of new faces since the last time I saw them, Bulat’s set featured much of the big, harmony-laden orchestral folk-pop that I’d missed the past year and a half, but also a few surprises.

Early on, she took to a grand piano set off to the side of the stage and almost completely out of sight, played “Run” from the new record and “Snakes And Ladders” from Darling, neither of which I’d ever heard on piano. I didn’t even know she could play piano. Similarly, “If Only You”, a jaunty, horn-inflected full-band number on the record, was performed solo with no loss of energy. The performance wasn’t without its stumbles; apparently an autoharp broke on the second song of the evening, a song had to be stopped and re-started because Bulat’s guitar was capo-ed into the wrong key and there were a couple of missed cues. But these minor missteps were handled with such grace and humour that it really became a case of the imperfections that helped make an evening perfect.

As far as show-stoppers went, there were two – the solemn, hammered harp-led “The Shore” was as much a highlight live as on the album, and at the end of the encore which again found Bulat alone onstage, clapping and stomping her feet as she sang the folk standard “Death Come Creeping” unamplified into the church for a stirring finale. I usually find that standing ovations are given out a little too freely at seated shows – they seem almost mandatory – but this one was justly and wholly deserved.

Opening up for the night was Montreal’s The Luyas, whom I’d seen last February and seemed at the time to be a work in progress, trying to find a balance between pop and experimentalism. Well it seems they’ve spent the last year entrenching themselves in that place between styles and their set was an interesting, and sometimes odd, demonstration of trying to make it work. On the plus side, the band – now expanded to a five-piece with violin and keys augmenting the french horn, guitar and drums – sounded quite polished, in an orchestral/post-rock sort of way. On the downside, the musical sophistication made the wavery, childlike vocals of frontwoman Jessie Stein seem much rougher than they were probably intended. Net result? Ambivalence, but not nearly enough to keep the night as a whole from being pure gold.

Narratives and BlogTO also have reviews of the show and Metro and Chart interviews. Also just announced was Bulat’s next show – a free in-store at Soundscapes on February 16 at 7PM. It goes without saying that you should be there and and be there early.

Photos: Basia Bulat, The Luyas @ Trinity-St. Paul’s – January 16, 2010
MP3: Basia Bulat – “Go On”
MP3: Basia Bulat – “Gold Rush”
MP3: Basia Bulat – “In The Night”
MP3: Basia Bulat – “Snakes & Ladders”
Video: Basia Bulat – “In The Night”
MySpace: Basia Bulat

The National Post, Dose, Kelowna.com and The Indie Files have interviews with Mark Hamilton of Woodpigeon. They have a show at the Drake Underground on February 11 and an in-store at Soundscapes on February 14 at 5PM.

The Guardian, Spinner, Clash and Chart have features on Owen Pallett, who offers a track-by-track walkthrough of Heartland to Drowned In Sound. He has a show at the Queen Elizabeth Theatre on April 8 with a pretty excellent guest if rumours are to be believed.

What We See Is What You Get has an on-location video session with The Wilderness Of Manitoba, who are at the Garrison this Thursday evening.

Chart has details on a forthcoming covers compilation that brings together artists like Stars, Dean & Britta and Tanya Donelly to reinterpret songs that are, well, quiet. Kind of a dubious theme but if it offers the opportunity to hear Neil Halstead do Kate Bush’s “Cloudbusting”, I’ll take it. Sing Me To Sleep is due out May 18.

And speaking of Neil Halstead, he quietly released a new video from 2008’s Oh! Mighty Engine late last year.

Video: Neil Halstead – “Witless Or Wise”

Also with a new video is Laura Marling, whose I Speak Because I Can is out March 22 and who plays Lee’s Palace on February 9. For Folk’s Sake has a bit of information on album number two and reveals that album number three is also planned for release this year, targeted for September 2010.

Video: Laura Marling – “Devil’s Spoke”

I mentioned last week how it seemed that Tuesday posts should be set aside for just concert announcements – well there wasn’t nearly the volume of news this week as last, but what there was was quality.

Like the fact that before their sold-out show at the Phoenix on Thursday night, Dinosaur Jr would be playing an in-store at Sonic Boom at 6:30PM. Did I say “.”? I meant, “!!!!!!!”. Dinosaur Jr. In-store. Sonic Boom. January 21. 6:30. Yes. Queen’s Journal has a chat with drummer Murph.

And to follow up last Thursday’s post, Ms Joanna Newsom will indeed be driving through the city, but also pulling off the highway and stopping in for a show at the Phoenix on March 13. Tickets are $22.50 and go on sale Thursday, and though it doesn’t appear to be a Canadian Musicfest-affiliated show, it’s also not in conflict as it’s an early gig – doors at 6, show at 6:30. Her new album Have One On Me is out February 23. Clash has an interview with Newsom about the new record.

And it’s a good thing that Newsom’s show isn’t overlapping the CMF stuff because The Brother Kite announced last week that they’d be playing the festival on Saturday, and I didn’t want to have to choose one or the other. Their new album Isolation is done and awaiting release – Popdose had them in for a living room interview and session last year. Even in such a casual setting, it’s absurd how good they sound.

I’d also mentioned that the April 1Black Rebel Motorcycle Club show had been moved from The Phoenix to the Sound Academy – well it’s now moved back to the Phoenix. To handle the additional demand, a second show has been added a week and a half later on April 11, also at The Phoenix. Their new record Beat The Devil’s Tattoo is out March 29.

The Brian Jonestown Massacre have set a February 23 release date for their new record Who Killed Sgt. Pepper? and will be at The Phoenix on June 2 to support.