Frank YangSufjan Stevens doesn’t make it easy. In the five years since his breakthrough Illinois album, he’s managed to be quite prolific without actually crafting a proper follow-up, instead releasing collections of outtakes, rerecording old records, compiling Christmas gifts and staging multimedia odes on expressways. The only sign he was working on something weightier was a surprise club tour last year that allowed he and his band to jam out new material alongside old favourites, but some of those songs seemed so clearly in the sketch phase that it was impossible to guess when it might see the light of day in finished form.

As it turned out, it wasn’t that much longer at all, relatively speaking. In early August, a massive theatre-scale tour was announced – certainly implying that there’d be some new material to tour behind – and a couple weeks later the 60-minute, EP in semantics only All Delighted People was released digitally and a week after that, it was announced that his next album, The Age Of Adz, would be out in October to coincide with the start of the tour. Between the two releases, Stevens answered the burning question of whether Stevens would be exploring his folk, pop, electronic, orchestral or theatrical fancies this time out with a resounding “yes”. Dense, epic and random, Adz finds Stevens trying to articulate that most fundamental theme of pop music – love – and finding it as incomprehensible and inexpressible a task as trying to illustrate the origins of the universe with silly string, but not for lack of trying. To that end, he pulls together pretty much every trick and tool in his formidable musical repertoire together and constructing a Frankenstein’s monster of song that shouldn’t work – at all – but still somehow moves with an unreal grace.

This, however, didn’t become clear until Wednesday night at Massey Hall in Toronto. The second date of the tour came just one day after the record’s release and even with the extra bit of lead time allowed to the music press, being asked to try and absorb and comprehend well over two hours of new and unprecedented Sufjan Stevens material in such a short amount of time was nigh-impossible. I can’t imagine how it would have been for everyone else in attendance, many of whom had bought their tickets before they even knew that Adz existed let alone the fact that it would be almost exclusively what they’d be hearing. A leap of faith, to be sure, but then if there’s something that Stevens and his followers know about, it’s faith.

DM Stith continued the Sufjan trend of having labelmates and bandmates open up his shows – certainly it makes touring logistics easier. Stith, however, didn’t give himself much of a chance to make a strong impression with just a four-song set. You were able to discern that he traded in looped, rickety folk that built off his rich, raspy voice – it may not have been novel in concept, but was still impressive when executed well.

The spareness of Stith’s set would be a thing of distant memory by the stroke of 9, as Stevens and his band took the stage. Though his songs are often simple things at their core, just as affecting in a solo setting, Stevens has always preferred to have the live experience err on the side of excess and this time out was no exception – he was surrounded by 10 additional musicians including a pair of backup singers/dancer/rhythmic gymnasts, two drummers, two keyboardists and a horn section in addition to guitar and bass. With that sort of setup, you don’t go small and setting the tone for the evening was the ten-minute opus “All Delighted People”, a highlight of even in rough form at the Lee’s Palace show a year earlier and now a fully-formed piece of musical theatre.

Under massive, cosmically-themed projections inspired by the artwork of American artist Royal Robertson, the next two hours would be a feast of overstimulation for the eyes and ears, elaborately and tightly choreographed yet still retaining a homespun charm, with the musicians swapping instruments while trying to navigate the on-stage clutter. Live, the songs from People and Adz felt much more in synch with each other, more obviously interrelated and with the common thematic thread tying them together making a much greater impression than the disparate sounds and styles that sometimes pushed them apart. If Stevens’ intention was to create a sense of journeying into mystery, with all the excitement, anxiety, disorientation and determination that might go along with that, and in the process make the mind-bendingness of his new record make sense, he succeeded in no uncertain terms.

Nowhere was that clearer than the centerpiece of the show – and of Age Of Adz – the beyond-grandiose song suite dubbed “Impossible Soul”. Shifting through various styles and documenting, in a sense, the various facets of love, it ran a full 26 minutes including, spastic atonal guitar solos, autotuned vocal passages and a hipster dance party crescendo (with Stevens busting some moves – one girl in the front row tried to join in but was told to sit back down by security) before closing with a heart-breaking acoustic denouement that left you breathless, bewildered and agape. It’s a lot to take on record but live, it was overwhelming in the very best sense and encapsulated the contrast of confidence and self-consciousness, the earnestness dusted with irony that Stevens does so well. And truly, it could have ended there – though the audience had just sat through over 100 minutes of mostly unfamiliar songs, many of which were officially only about 24 hours old, they had done so without a second of complaint, content simply to be taken wherever Stevens would lead them. But perhaps by way of thanks, Stevens was able to shift his headspace sufficiently to offer some selections from Illinois – “Chicago” to close the main set and then, for the solo encore, “Concerning The UFO Sighting Near Highland, Illinois” on piano and chillingly gorgeous “John Wayne Gacy, Jr” that had Stevens’ angelic voice echoing through every corner of Massey Hall and sent the sold out house out into the streets in a sweet, heady daze.

Do I need to mention how lucky I feel to have been able to see two amazing shows in the same amazing venue over the course of…. what, 27 hours? Amazing. Music, you are wonderful.

eye, Exclaim, The Toronto Star, Panic Manual and The Globe & Mail also have reviews of the show and eye, The Irish Times, Drowned In Sound, The Chicago Tribune and The Quietus all have interviews with Sufjan.

Photos: Sufjan Stevens, DM Stith @ Massey Hall – October 13, 2010
MP3: Sufjan Stevens – “Too Much”
MP3: Sufjan Stevens – “I Walked”
MP3: Sufjan Stevens – “Movement VI—Isorhythmic Night Dance With Interchanges”
MP3: Sufjan Stevens – “The Henney Buggy Band”
MP3: Sufjan Stevens – “The Man Of Metropolis Steals Our Hearts”
MP3: Sufjan Stevens – “Casimir Pulaski Day”
MP3: Sufjan Stevens – “Sister”
MP3: Sufjan Stevens – “Holland”
MP3: Sufjan Stevens – “Year Of The Dog”
MP3: Sufjan Stevens – “Year Of The Tiger”
MP3: Sufjan Stevens – “Demetrius”
MP3: Sufjan Stevens – “A Winner Needs A Wand”
MP3: DM Stith – “I Heart Wig”
MP3: DM Stith – “Pigs”
MP3: DM Stith – “BMB” (alternate version)
MP3: DM Stith – “Pity Dance”
MP3: DM Stith – “Just Once”
MP3: DM Stith – “Thanksgiving Moon” (demo)
MP3: DM Stith – “BMB” (demo)
Video: DM Stith – “Pity Dance”
Video: DM Stith – “BMB”
Video: DM Stith – “Isaac’s Song”
MySpace: Sufjan Stevens
MySpace: DM Stith

MusicOmh interviews Antony Hegarty of Antony & The Johnsons.

The Vine interviews Alan Sparhawk of Low, whose new record – tentatively called C’mon – is due out next year.

NOW talks to Lissie, who is now in no condition to talk to anyone. Under doctor’s orders, she has had to postone at least a week’s worth of dates – including next Tuesday’s show at the El Mocambo. Make-up dates for the new year will be announced shortly. This makes four shows that have been cancelled on me in the last month – not quite an epidemic but still some kind of record.

NYC Taper is sharing a recording of a recent Sharon Van Etten show in New York. She’ll be at Lee’s Palace on November 5 opening up for Junip.

Interview interviews Warpaint; their debut album The Fool is out October 26.

Le Blogotheque has a Soirées De Poche session with The Morning Benders, while The San Jose Mercury News and examiner.com have interviews.

Daytrotter has posted a session with Foals.

Drowned In Sound has a three-song acoustic video session with The Twilight Sad.

The Line Of Best Fit has an interview with Lisa Milberg of The Concretes. Their new record WYWH is out November 8.

Steve GullickThough English – they hail from Brighton, England – most reference points for the duo of Laura-May Carter and Steven Ansell, aka Blood Red Shoes, hail from this side of the Atlantic. With she on guitar and he on drums, they’re a touch too polished to really call punk but are much indebted to the grunge movement of the ’90s and all that followed and some of what preceded it. Which is to say they deliver a loud, punchy attack that’s light on frills, heavy on distortion and informed by angst but with enough pop hooks and charisma to be worthy of attention.

Ansell handles the majority of vocals from behind the kit but Carter’s backing vox and occasional leads offer some welcome compliment and contrast to his decidedly aggressive approach to the mic. This is not to suggest that Carter’s contributions are any more gentle than Ansell’s – she’s behind all the furious guitar riffage on their records, and there’s a lot of it. Though there’s just the two of them, they make a righteously large and full sound.

Their 2008 debut Box Of Secrets showcased their tried and true approach effectively, but their follow-up Fire Like This doesn’t sacrifice the intensity but adds just enough sophistication and nuance to their sound to keep them interesting over extended listens. It’s this foot that they’re putting forward when album number two, released in the Spring in the UK, becomes their North American debut on October 5 (following an appearance on the Scott Pilgrim vs The World soundtrack), which will be followed by a two-week North American tour, including an October 27 date at the Horseshoe in Toronto.

Glasswerk documents the “smash your shit” ethos that went into the making of their new video for “Heartsink”.

MP3: Blood Red Shoes – “Light It Up”
Video: Blood Red Shoes – “Heartsink”
Video: Blood Red Shoes – “Don’t Ask”
Video: Blood Red Shoes – “Colours Fade”
Video: Blood Red Shoes – “This Is Not For You”
Video: Blood Red Shoes – “Say Something, Say Anything”
Video: Blood Red Shoes – “I Wish I Was Someone Better”
Video: Blood Red Shoes – “It’s Getting Boring By The Sea”
MySpace: Blood Red Shoes

BBC6 gets a status update on their new album from Elbow. Its current working title is Lippy Kids – somehow I don’t expect that one to stick.

Digital Spy reports that Patrick Wolf’s next record will no longer be called The Conqueror nor be a thematic sequel to last year’s The Bachelor. Nor is it on pace to be complete in time for release this year, as originally intended.

The Twilight Sad have released a video for the title track from their new EP The Wrong Car, due out on September 28. It’s long, angsty and puppet-powered.

Video: The Twilight Sad – “The Wrong Car”

The Line Of Best Fit and Clash talk to Barry Burns of Mogwai, whose live audio/video experience Burning/Special Moves is out tomorrow.

Kele gets critical of his output with Bloc Party in conversation with Spinner. He will be at the Mod Club – solo-style – on September 3.

Manic Street Preachers are building anticipation for their new record by giving away a non-album track to download. Postcards From A Young Man is out September 28.

MP3: Manic Street Preachers – “I’m Leaving You For Solitude”

Shut Your Fucking Face And Listen talks to frontman Wesley Patrick Gonzalez of Let’s Wrestle. Wrestling does not ensue, at least not on the record.

Isobel Campbell talks about her working relationship with Mark Lanegan to The Guardian and to The Herald about making their new album together, Hawk. It’s out this week and streaming in its entirety at Facebook. They’re at Lee’s Palace on October 20.

Stream: Isobel Campbell & Mark Lanegan / Hawk

Also streaming in whole is Rose Elinor Dougall’s solo debut Without Why – it’s out next week.

Stream: Rose Elinor Dougall / Without Why

Exciting news from The Radio Dept. – following the release of a new single on November for “Never Follow Suit”, the reclusive Swedes will be coming to North America for a pair of shows in New York City on November 30 and December 1. And while I flew down there the last time they paid a visit, I’m hoping that won’t be necessary this time as they’re also promising more US (North American dates?) in early 2011 following the release of a double-disc compilation of b-sides and rarities in January. Radio Dept! Doing stuff! Yay! More details on the above available at Under The Radar.

@superchunkbandThough they’d insisted since touring for 2001’s Here’s To Shutting Up wrapped up that Superchunk weren’t finished but just taking a break, for most of this century the evidence was rather to the contrary. There was the attic-clearing compilation, video retrospective and series of live documents – not typically signs of an active band. Mac McCaughan became exceedingly prolific with Portastatic, Jon Wurster became full-time sticksman for The Mountain Goats and comedian and the label that McCaughan and Laura Ballance started back in 1989 started putting out some records that proved to be rather successful in certain circles.

Sporadic one-off live shows kept the flame alive but it wasn’t until last Spring when the Leaves In The Gutter EP arrived that the notion of Superchunk as an ongoing proposition begane to feel very real. And while it wasn’t an immediate precursor to a new full-length, Superchunk have finally put a date to the release of their ninth album and first in nine years – Majesty Shredding will be released on September 14 and the world will be a better place for it. Pitchfork has the salient details such as track listing and album art and a handful of Fall tour dates which do not, at present include anything north of the border. This is slightly less of an imperative for me as I finally got to see Superchunk live back at SxSW – a short set but one that completely affirmed that the ‘Chunk could still rock and pogo with the best of them – but I would still love to see them in a proper setting with a full set.

To be fair though, the band have put in more than their share of time on the road over the years and it’s not their fault i missed them all – if a visit to Toronto isn’t in the works then I will happily make do with playing the new album to death. And until that comes out, there’s this teaser video previewing some of the songs and showing scenes from the making of the record. And since you can only loop a one-minute video so many times before going batty, there’s last year’s comeback EP to enjoy. And oh yeah, a decade plus’ worth of albums and singles before that. Ohhhh Superchunk, welcome back.

MP3: Superchunk – “Misfits & Mistakes”
Stream: Superchunk / Leaves In The Gutter

The Toronto Star, eye and NOW prepare to welcome The National to town for their two shows at Massey Hall next week, June 8 and 9.

The Antlers, opening up both of those National shows, turn in a Black Cab Session. CMU also has an interview.

Spinner talks to Joe Pernice about the new Goodbye, Killer, due out June 15.

Clash talks to Robert Been of Black Rebel Motorcycle Club.

The new Christina Hendricks-powered video from Broken Bells is now available to watch. There’s an interview with James Mercer at The Boston Globe.

Video: Broken Bells – “The Ghost Inside”

Both The Dodos and Pixies are giving away live (digital) records on their websites in exchange for your email. The Dodos are at the Sound Academy on June 15 opening up for The New Pornographers; Pixies are not.

The Wall Street Journal and Huffington Post talk to Ben Bridwell and Liverpool Echo to Tyler Ramsey of Band Of Horses, who’ve just released a new video from Infinite Arms. They’re playing the Toronto Island Concert on June 19.

Video: Band Of Horses – “For Annabelle”

Carissa’s Weird, the Seattle band from whose ashes rose Band Of Horses, Grand Archives, Sera Cahoone amongst others, is releasing a retrospective collection entitled They Only Miss You When You Leave: Songs 1996-2003 on July 13.

MP3: Carissa’s Weird – “Die”

Phantogram return to town for a show at Wrongbar on July 8, tickets $14.50 in advance. You may wonder how good a two-piece electro-rock band could be live, and the answer is very good. Donewaiting is hosting a video session with the band, if you need more convincing.

MP3: Phantogram – “When I’m Small”
Video: Phantogram – “Mouthful Of Diamonds”

NYC Taper is sharing a live recording of The Depreciation Guild.

Four Tet will hit the road this Fall in support of new record There Is Love In You and stop in at the Mod Club on October 20.

The Music Slut asks eight questions of Mogwai’s Barry Burns. Their Burning/Special Moves live DVD and CD will be out on August 24.

Bandstand Busking invites The Twilight Sad to play one of their bandstand sessions. The Twilight Sad agree. The Washington Examiner and Nashville Scene also have interviews.

The Scenestar talks to Frightened Rabbit’s Scott Hutchison.

To all who asked – presale tickets for Belle & Sebastian’s October 12 show at Massey Hall will go on sale at 10AM next Wednesday, June 9 – password/instructions will be posted at www.collectiveconcerts.com. Prices range from $57.50 for premium floors/balcony to $47.50 for rear floors and centre gallery to $39.50 for side gallery, plus fees.

For Folk’s Sake and Gigwise interview Johnny Flynn about his new record Been Listening, out June 7.

Interview gets to know Peggy Sue. Their debut full-length Fossils & Other Phantoms came out this week and they’re at Sneaky Dee’s on June 13 to support.

Kate Nash has released a new video from My Best Friend Is You.

Video: Kate Nash – “Kiss That Grrrl”

The Line Of Best Fit talks to Richard Hawley, whose False Lights From The Land EP is out next week.

Kele talks to BBC about going solo with The Boxer, out June 21. He’s at the Mod Club on July 29.

The Phoenix has an extensive feature on Robyn Hitchcock, who has two intimate shows at the Drake Underground next week on June 11 and 12.

Paul McCartney – yeah, THAT guy – will be at the Air Canada Centre on August 8. Tickets will cost far too much yet still be easily rationalized.

And while pretty much obvious what with the radio silence all the way into June, it’s been made official that Virgin Festival Canada is taking 2010 off to regroup and hopefully come back next year.

Frank YangThe curious pairing of Japan’s Mono and Scotland’s Twilight Sad probably hasn’t yielded many tour stories as they trek across North America – after all, the former can barely speak English, if at all, and the latter might speak English but it’s delivered in such a thick brogue that even native Anglophones would have trouble deciphering it. I imagine there’s been a lot of nodding and pointing. But what they lack in linguistic common ground, they make up for in their mutual affinity and expertise in sonic devastation and those skills were put on display on Wednesday night at Lee’s Palace.

Though they’d finally earned headlining honours their last time through town in October of last year, The Twilight Sad were again in the support slot this time. Now I’m never one to complain about venues leaving the stage lights up, but seeing a band whose music tends towards a certain mood – darkness and melancholy – it was odd seeing the Glasgow five-piece so well lit… at least for a song. Singer James Graham asked for them to be dimmed, not for ambience but because it was hot enough in Lee’s without a bank of incandescent stage lights pointed at you.

None of which is really meaningful except to say that it started their set off on a strange note that seemed to carry over into their performance. Part of the joys of The Twilight Sad live has always been the sheer, visceral impact of their sound and though it was plenty loud – I pulled the earplugs out a couple times to verify – it still didn’t seem quite loud enough. Certainly Andy MacFarlane had his amps turned up and James Graham was hardly taking it easy on the mic, but it took them a while – almost the whole set – to get the momentum going sufficiently to create what I’d call a proper Twilight Sad experience. They got there, though, and by Fourteen Autumns, Fifteen Winters‘ “I Am Taking The Train Home”, I was feeling the magic and pulverizing set closer “Cold Days From The Birdhouse” sealed the deal.

I’d never seen Mono before, and my experience with their recorded works only went so far as their EP collection Gone. Even so, instrumental post-rock isn’t really the sort of genre where you have to be intimately familiar with a band’s compositions to appreciate the show – it’s more about the impact and emotiveness of the performance as it happens rather than the hearing of a favourite tunes. And in the case of Mono, the performance is in reference primarily to the music and not the band’s showmanship. The four members are rather the epitome of staying in the background and letting the music speak for them, for not only did they not utter a word, they set up a ways back into the stage and only bassist Tamaki Kunishi played standing up – both Takaakira Goto and Yasunori Takada played primarily seated and hunched over their guitars, hair obscuring their faces, though they occasionally stood and still managed to strike some impressive rock poses at various points in the night.

Trying to describe Mono invites some obvious comparisons, at least in my frame of reference, but really, in this style you’ve only got a certain number of tools to work with. The clean, intertwining guitar lines, the deafening riffage, the quiet-loud dynamic shifts… what sets the artists apart is the emotional quotient of their work; what they’re trying to convey to the listener. And where the likes of Mogwai evoke tension and anxiety and Explosions In The Sky trade in uplift and anthem, Mono’s prevailing mood is of elegant, elegiac sadness. The way their set unfolded was like an alternately hypnotic and crushing epic, wordless tragedy – surprisingly western in classical musical influence but wholly eastern in its solemn dignity. As previously noted, I couldn’t tell you what songs they played but I can say that whatever the individual components were, the sum of it was nearly two hours of breathtaking, bludgeoning beauty. Astonishing.

The Twilight Sad will release a new EP entitled The Wrong Side Of The Car on July 26.

Photos: Mono, The Twilight Sad @ Lee’s Palace – May 26, 2010
MP3: Mono – “Ashes In The Snow”
MP3: Mono – “Follow The Map”
MP3: Mono – “Gone”
MP3: Mono – “The Flames Beyond The Cold Mountain”
MP3: Mono – “Halcyon (Beautiful Days)”
MP3: The Twilight Sad – “Reflection Of The Television”
MP3: The Twilight Sad – “Cold Days From The Birdhouse”
MP3: The Twilight Sad – “That Summer, At Home I Had Become The Invisible Boy”
Video: Mono – “Follow The Map”
Video: The Twilight Sad – “The Room”
Video: The Twilight Sad – “Seven Years Of Letters”
Video: The Twilight Sad – “I Became A Prostitute”
Video: The Twilight Sad – “And She Would Darken The Memory”
MySpace: Mono
MySpace: The Twilight Sad

Drowned In Sound meets Charlotte Gainsbourg, who has released a new video from IRM.

Video: Charlotte Gainsbourg – “Time Of The Assassins”

Nicky Wire resorts to Aerosmith analogies in describing to XFM how the Manic Street Preachers’ new record is shaping up.

PitchforkTV has a Tunnelvision session with The Clientele.

Elvis Costello will have at least two new releases this year: an album of new material entitled American Ransom on October 3 and a best-of covering the past 20 years called Pomp & Pout: The Universal Years, due on June 29.

Mumford & Sons have a new video from Sigh No More; City Pages has an interview.

Video: Mumford & Sons – “Roll Your Stone Away”

Spinner continues their conversation with Tender Trap’s Amelia Fletcher.

The New York Times has a profile of M.I.A. which has ignited a bit of a brouhaha – details at Exclaim. M.I.A.’s new record /\/\/\Y/\ is out July 13.

Fucked Up have posted some details and thoughts on tonight’s free show at the Toronto Reference Library. Doors are at 7:30, things start at 8 and while the library atrium is big, you’d best get there early if you’re planning on attending. Forewarned.

Frank YangNear as I can tell, there’s no great narrative that explains why or how Two Door Cinema Club’s sold-out show at Wrongbar earlier this week became the hottest show in town, with tickets in huge demand and scalpers having apparently missed the boat entirely. There’s been no soundtrack appearance, no ad placement, no celebrity scandal, nothing that could explain why people were lined up hours in advance of doors to see the Northern Irish trio (quartet live) except that, well, they liked the songs from their debut album Tourist History. Which is reasonable.

Not that folks had necessarily intended to line up for hours. The quoted door and set times proved to be completely wrong, but as it turned out, with good explanation – Miami’s MillionYoung, who was supposed to open things up, had all their gear stolen in Montreal the night before (really, Montreal? Again?) and consequently had to cancel, throwing the evening’s schedule into disarray. The way it all shook out, doors opened an hour later than planned – thankfully the weather was nice out – and the sole support act, Cincinnati’s Bad Veins, rolled out a little after 9.

As the duo pointed out early, it was their first time playing in Toronto though it wasn’t their first time here – they had already crossed the border last Summer en route to a date at the El Mocambo when headliner Now Now Every Children’s van self-destructed and the gig had to be canceled at the last minute. This I know because I was one of a handful of people standing around outside a shuttered ElMo that evening, wondering what the what. The delay may have proved to be a blessing, though, as they can now say they made their Toronto debut in front of a packed house instead of an empty one. And while the duo’s aesthetic might have appeared junk-store – drums and guitar were handled live, but additional backing tracks were run off a reel-to-reel analog tape recorder and singer Ben Davis often sang through an old telephone handset (and through the earpiece, no less) – their songs were stadium-sized, all heart on sleeve emotional and built on big choruses. I had forgotten that I actually quite liked their 2009 self-titled debut, but their set more than reminded me not only that I did, but why.

For Two Door Cinema Club, this show marked the finale of a two-week tour that saw them criss-cross the continent and a peak to the buzz that they’d been steadily building along the trek. And really, their appeal isn’t hard to understand – it’s upbeat, hooky, danceable guitar pop delivered by young men with accents. It’s not especially deep or rich in variety – the musical equivalent of empty calories – but it is fun and when the whole room is bouncing up and down and singing along, you’d have to be an exceptionally determined stick in the mud to not play along. With just the one album clocking in at a touch over half an hour, their set list was predictable with the whole of Tourist History being aired along with three non-album tracks. All were played tightly and nearly note-perfect to the recorded versions, but theirs is not the sort of pop with a lot of room for side trips or on-the-fly reinterpretations; it’s meant to be delivered fast and fun and to keep the kids moving. Countless bands have made it work for them in the past, countless more will do so in the future. For now, however, the moment appears to belong to Two Door Cinema Club.

Paste declares Two Door Cinema Club amongst their “best of what’s next”; after a Summer of European touring, they’ll be back in North American in the Fall – expect another and larger Toronto date in October-ish. Bad Veins will be back in town sooner than that on June 15 at The Phoenix, opening for Thrice.

Photos: Two Door Cinema Club, Bad Veins @ Wrongbar – May 17, 2010
MP3: Two Door Cinema Club – “I Can Talk”
MP3: Two Door Cinema Club – “Something Good Can Work”
MP3: Bad Veins – “Gold & Warm”
MP3: Bad Veins – “Go Home”
Video: Two Door Cinema Club – “I Can Talk”
Video: Two Door Cinema Club – “Undercover Martyn”
Video: Two Door Cinema Club – “Something Good Can Work”
Video: Bad Veins – “Gold And Warm”
MySpace: Two Door Cinema Club
MySpace: Bad Veins

State talks to Kele about his solo debut The Boxer, due out June 21. He plays the Mod Club on July 29.

NYC Taper is sharing a recording of yet another Joy Formidable show from New York, this one from the Mercury Lounge on May 10.

The Twilight Sad will release a new EP on July 26 entitled The Wrong Side Of The Car; details at Clash. They’re at Lee’s Palace on May 26.

MPR is streaming a studio session with Frightened Rabbit.

Filter and The Atlantic have feature pieces on Laura Marling.

Florence Welch of Florence & The Machine talks to BBC6 about how her second album is shaping up. But before that, a new and final video from her first album.

Video: Florence & The Machine – “Cosmic Love”

Rose Elinor Dougall has also put out a new video and her debut album Without Why has finally been given a release date – it will be out on August 30.

Video: Rose Elinor Dougall – “Find Me Out”

Patrick Wolf has reported via blog that work is complete on his new record The Conqueror and it will be coming out on a new subsidiary of Mercury Records later this year, thus returning the Wolf to the major label fold. Here’s hoping it turns out to be a more enjoyable experience than last time…

Le Blogotheque scores a Take-Away Show with Echo & The Bunnymen. The song they convince Mac to play for them? One guess.

To accompany the deluxe reissue of Disintegration on June 8 in bonus-laden triple CD or bonus-less double LP form, The Cure have set up a minisite on which they’re streaming 20 live and unreleased tracks from the era which are not included in the reissue. Hit up Slicing Up Eyeballs for details on the set, the site, and a way to save those streaming tracks for your very own.