Frank YangYes, that’s right – night zero. The Tuesday night of SXSW used to be a chance to settle in, to catch up with friends, to have a proper meal. And maybe get ripped and pass out. Whatever. The last few years have seen the number of Interactive closing party events grow significantly, and as of last year there were official Music showcases scheduled for the Tuesday; not a lot, but enough to see that the festival was growing yet again – remember when there wasn’t much going on on Wednesdays?

Anyways, I’ve been staging a bit of a protest of this by refusing to take part in any Tuesday shows – four nights of madness is quite enough, thanks – but this year, my options for the evening amounted to staying in and watching Escape From L.A. or just giving in and seeing some bands. After a little prodding from You Ain’t No Picasso, I gave in and saw some bands.

Inaugurating this year’s fest – for me, at least – were Guards from New York, whom I’d never heard, at Parkside, a bar I’d never been. I did know they were from New York and that band principal Richie James Follin was brother of Cults singer Madeline Follin – which explains why she and Brian Oblivion were standing side stage. And within a few songs of their set, which was given a bit of a Krautrock vibe thanks to a fire alarm beeping throughout their set, it was clear they specialized in a retro-friendly kind of garage pop that could and would take expeditions into psych jams when they felt like it. It wasn’t especially fresh but very much in vogue, and I suspect that a random sample of bands at the fest this year would sound similar. Still, they had good energy, a decent amount of showmanship and as warm-ups go, did the job.

Seeing Austin’s own Ume has become something of a SXSW tradition for me as dinner at Guero’s, and this time I was able to check them off early – so maybe there was an upside to this Tuesday night showcase thing. Their set was slightly delayed by soundchecking, but it gave time for a goodly-sized crowd to assemble on 6th St outside the open window of Bat Bar. You can probably refer back to any of the past writeups for a sense of how things went – high-energy rock showcasing crazy guitar heroics from Lauren Larsen. Nothing to complain about there. What made this show different was that it incorporated songs from their long-awaited full-length Phantoms, released last year. The new material didn’t necessarily grow the songwriting beyond what they demonstrated on the Sunshower EP, but did expand on it sufficiently to sate one’s appetite. And it gives Ume an excuse to keep touring and melting faces.

And some (mostly) non-SXSW content…

The Line Of Best Fit have premiered a new video from Veronica Falls, a track not taken from last year’s self-titled debut.

Video: Veronica Falls – “My Heart Beats”

Also with a new video – The Horrors, from Skying. The Quietus talks to director Pete Fowler about the clip.

Video: The Horrors – “Changing The Rain”

Tindersticks have released a new video from The Something Rain.

Video: Tindersticks – “A Night So Still”

Saw Clock Opera yesterday but won’t get around to writing that up for a bit so in the meantime, check out the new video from their debut Ways To Forget, out April 23.

Video: Clock Opera – “Man Made”

Summer Camp have re-recorded “Round the Moon” in French in honour of some upcoming French tour dates. DIY has the en francais version available to stream.

Stream: Summer Camp – “Autour De La Lune”

D.L. AndersonIt’s unlikely bird videos will ever achieve the same degree of online adoration as, say, cat videos, but when said clips come courtesy of artists who push the boundaries of what can be called folk music the way that North Carolina’s Bowerbirds and Chicago’s Andrew Bird do, a little more attention should be paid. Both artists released their new albums this week – The Clearing and Break It Yourself, respectively – and both have marked the occasion with the release of a new video.

Both are also streaming the new records in whole – not new news, but always good to be reminded of – and are doing quite a bit of press to promote their records. Bowerbirds are featured in The Quietus, The 405, Consequence Of Sound, Interview, Paste, and NPR while Mr. Bird has chats with each of Interview, PopMatters, The Stool Pigeon, The Guardian, Spinner, and The AV Club.

Where they differ is in their migratory patterns – Bowerbirds have long had a March 27 date at The Garrison in Toronto booked as part of their Spring tour, whereas Andrew Bird’s tour dates come as close as Detroit, but no closer – at least for now. I don’t think he’s been here since Spring 2009 so it’s reasonable to say he owes us a visit.

MP3: Bowerbirds – “Tuck The Darkness In”
MP3: Bowerbirds – “In The Yard”
Stream: Andrew Bird – “Eyeoneye”
Stream: Andrew Bird – “The Crown Salesman”
Video: Bowerbirds – “Tuck The Darkness In”
Video: Andrew Bird – “Eyeoneye”
Stream: Bowerbirds / The Clearing
Stream: Andrew Bird / Break It Yourself

Shearwater is named for a kind of bird, so they’re up next. Rolling Stone talks to frontman Jonathan Meiburg about their new record Animal Joy.

Mother Jones chats with Sharon Van Etten, who just premiered a new video from Tramp at The Los Angeles Times.

Video: Sharon Van Etten – “Leonard”

Perhaps hoping to get people talking about something besides their collaboration with a corporation as ethically vile as Urban Outfitters, Best Coast have announced the May 15 release of their second album The Only Place and accompanying tour which hits The Phoenix on July 21, tickets $18.50. Details on the record and full tour dates over at Tiny Mix Tapes.

MP3: Best Coast – “Boyfriend”

The Decemberists are spreading the love around, streaming both discs of their forthcoming live set We All Raise Our Voices at two different sites – Rolling Stone and Paste.

Stream: The Decemberists / We All Raise Our Voices to the Air (Live Songs 04.11-08.11) disc one
Stream: The Decemberists / We All Raise Our Voices to the Air (Live Songs 04.11-08.11) disc two

They haven’t fessed up to the accuracy of reports that their new album would be called Bloom and released on May 15, but the fact that a new Beach House song showed up to stream on their website the other night certainly makes it seem to be the case. The track is called “Myth” and it sounds like Beach House. Update: Okay, the above new album info is officially official.

Stream: Beach House – “Myth”

NOW welcomes EMA back to town; she’s at The Garrison on March 13. The Chicago Sun-Times, Montreal Mirror, and Playback:STL also have interviews.

Death & Taxes, Clash, and DIY have interviews with Sleigh Bells, making up a cancelled date at The Phoenix on March 26 and supporting Red Hot Chili Peppers at The Air Canada Centre on April 27 and 28.

For a guy with a reputation for being a tough interview, Stephin Merritt sure is entertaining a lot of inquiries. The Magnetic Fields mastermind chats Love At The Bottom Of The Sea with PopMatters, Rolling Stone, Clash, Beatroute, Salon, and Vulture. They will play The Sound Academy on March 30.

They Shoot Music has a video session and Magnet and Beatroute interviews with Nada Surf. They play The Opera House on April 4.

co.create looks at the marketing campaign being organized to help make Minneapolis’ Howler your new favourite band. They may or may not include this video session and interview at The Alternate Side or this interview about their already in-process second album at Paste, and if they work, you may find yourself seeing them at The Drake Underground on April 5.

Also courtesy of The Alternate Side is a session and interview with Perfume Genius, and also worth reading is an interview with Mike Hadreas at Slutever. Perfume Genius is at The Drake on April 8.

If you ever need a reminder of how gorgeous Low can be, this performance recorded in a Duluth church for a new television programme called Audio-Files should do the trick. They’re here on April 19 at Massey Hall opening for Death Cab For Cutie.

Video: Low – “Point Of Disgust” (live for Audio-Files)

Interview gets to know Hospitality, in town at The Garrison on May 5.

The Fly talks to James Mercer of The Shins, whose Port Of Morrow arrives March 20. They are at The Molson Amphitheatre on August 4.

Clash talks to Jay Farrar about the Woody Guthrie tribute project New Multitudes, of which he’s a part.

Jeff Tweedy and Nels Cline discuss the guitar (read: gear) side of Wilco’s The Whole Love with Guitar World.

Also talking the gear: St. Vincent’s Annie Clark with Guitar Player.

Pitch, The Daily Nebraskan, and SXSW interview Lauren Larsen of Ume.

Daytrotter has posted a session with Telekinesis.

NYC Taper has shared a recording of one of Craig Finn’s recent performances in New York while Allentown Morning Call shares an interview.

The Quietus talks reunion with Greg Dulli of The Afghan Whigs.

Dirty Laundry hangs out in a laundromat with Eric Bachmann of Crooked Fingers and Archers Of Loaf.

Loud & Quiet talks to Robert Pollard of Guided By Voices.

PopDose talks to Bill Janovitz about the 20th anniversary of Buffalo Tom’s excellent Let Me Come Over.

Justin HollarI had actually forgotten how weird Alpinisms, the 2008 debut from New York’s School Of Seven Bells was. It basically inverted the balance of pop-to-experimentalism of the Deheza sisters’ former outfit On! Air! Library! and made itself it much more accessible than O!A!L!’s self-titled effort but was still willing to forgo the pop in parts to play with textures, exotic sounds and the interesting harmonies that their twin frontwomen could create.

2010’s Disconnect From Desire was decidedly slicker, dancier and more straight-ahead in comparison – at least relatively speaking in a dream-pop/post-shoegaze frame of reference. It successfully grew their audience but not without cost – keyboardist/vocalist Claudia Deheza left the band in the middle of a Fall tour that year, leaving the official band lineup as just sister Alejandra and guitarist Ben Curtis, replacing the musical chemistry between the two with another singer being pretty much impossible.

You would think that losing a third of the band would have more dramatic impact on their sound, but had you no knowledge of the personnel changes and just came to their just-released third album Ghostory with a familiarity of their previous efforts, you would be forgiven for assuming that everything was business as usual. Losing their keyboardist hasn’t meant losing the keys as the album still leans heavily on sequenced rhythms and synthetic atmosphere and through the magic of overdubs the band’s signature harmonies are superficially intact if less inherently magical. In fact, though the band is officially now a pair of guitarists, Ghostory is arguably less guitar-driven than before, instead favouring a more ’80s-era 4AD sheen than any overt ’90s shoegaze aesthetic; anyone who still wants to pigeonhole them as such is working with outdated information.

Perhaps the most notable thing about Ghostory is how steady on it finds the band in what they do despite the upheavals. Parsing the lyrics, which ostensibly center around a young girl literally haunted by ghosts, you can find traces of deeper, more personal emotions – loss, regret, what have you – but this is not music meant for soundtracking deep introspection. It’s for drifting, dreaming, dancing. No more, no less. The school may experience staff turnover but the lesson plan remains the same.

Ghostory is out today and available to stream in full at Spinner. After a jaunt in Europe, their North American tour brings the band to The Hoxton in Toronto on May 2. Alejandra Deheza talks to Spin about her interest in tarot cards and to Rolling Stone about the just-released first video from the album.

MP3: School Of Seven Bells – “Lafaye”
MP3: School Of Seven Bells – “The Night”
Video: School Of Seven Bells – “Lafaye”
Stream: School Of Seven Bells / Ghostory

Blurt chats with Amber Papini of Hospitality, in town at The Horseshoe on February 29 and The Garrison on May 4 in support of Tennis and Eleanor Friedberger, respectively.

Stereogum is streaming in whole The Clearing, the new album from Bowerbirds, out next Tuesday. They play The Garrison on March 27.

MP3: Bowerbirds – “Tuck The Darkness In”
MP3: Bowerbirds – “In The Yard”
Stream: Bowerbirds / The Clearing

NPR is streaming the whole of Milk Famous, the new one from White Rabbits, a week ahead of its March 6 release date.

MP3: White Rabbits – “Heavy Metal”
Stream: White Rabbits / Milk Famous

Young Prisms will warm up for their March 10 show at The Drake Underground with an in-store at the Kensington location of Sonic Boom that afternoon at 5PM. Their second album In Between is out March 27 and Stereogum just premiered the first video.

MP3: Young Prisms – “Floating In Blue”
Video: Young Prisms – “Floating In Blue”

James Mercer of The Shins stops in at The Alternate Side for an interview and video session. Port Of Morrow comes out March 20.

Spin has posted online the Sleigh Bells cover story from the all-new, redesigned magazine, and dang is it pretty. The magazine, not the story, but if Alexis Krauss does it for you, then it’s both. There’s also features at eMusic, AltSounds, The Guardian, and The Stool Pigeon. Sleigh Bells are at The Phoenix on March 26 and The Air Canada Centre on April 27 and 28 with Red Hot Chili Peppers.

NPR is streaming a World Cafe session and The Fly has an interview with with Chairlift, who are at The Horseshoe on March 28.

Pitchfork has a +1 interview and video session with Perfume Genius while Stereogum gets Mike Hadreas on the phone for an interview about Put Your Back N 2 It. He plays The Drake Underground on April 8.

Maps & Atlases have made a May 16 date at The Horseshoe in support of their forthcoming album Beware And Be Grateful; the album is out April 17, tickets for the show are $11.50 and the first MP3 is available to download courtesy of Rolling Stone.

MP3: Maps & Atlases – “Winter”

It’s happy news that the Luna back catalog is finally going to be reissued on vinyl, at least some of it. Record Store Day will see their last two albums, Romantica and Rendezvous, come out on wax (that’s April 21) and there’s plans to press my personal favourite Bewitched in early Summer and Penthouse will eventually follow. I said I was largely done re-buying albums I already owned on LP, but this is an exception. Oh yes. And coincidentally, the band played their final show seven years ago today. Sigh.

MP3: Luna – “Black Postcards”

Lower Dens have released a video for the first single from their forthcoming album Nootropics; it’s out May 1.

Video: Lower Dens – “Brains”

A visit to France has yielded some live Blouse videos worth watching; a full show at arte.tv and a session for Faits Divers; there’s also one recorded stateside at Yours Truly and an interview with the band at Drowned In Sound. Blouse are at The Garrison on May 5.

The original release has since been redacted – someone broke embargo, apparently – but it seems likely that the new Beach House album will be out on May 15 and be called Bloom. Unless, of course, it’s not – in which case, it’s another case of “oh, internet!”.

Girls have gone to Conan O’Brien to premiere the new video from Father, Son, Holy Ghost.

Video: Girls – “My Ma”

Bon Iver has released a new video from Bon Iver.

Video: Bon Iver – “Towers”

NPR has got a World Cafe session with Real Estate.

Daytrotter has posted a session with CANT.

CBC Radio 3 and CNN have conversations with The Kills, who are streaming the Velvet Underground cover that appears on the “Last Goodbye” 10″.

Stream: The Kills – “Pale Blue Eyes”

Annie Clark of St. Vincent talks to The New Zealand Herald, The Guardian, and Drowned In Sound while the director for her “Cheerleader” video explains the clip to Pitchfork.

Culture Mob talks to Ume.

Pitchfork talks to James Murphy about his life post-LCD Soundsystem.

Greg Dulli of The Afghan Whigs talks to Spin about the band’s reunion. No word of lie, there is no show announcement I await more eagerly than this one.

Billboard talks to Bob Mould about Sugar’s Copper Blue, which he’s taken to performing in its entirety for a handful of mostly European shows.

MergeIf you thought that it had been a while since we heard from Nashville’s Lambchop, well you were right. It had. After finishing up with 2008’s OH (ohio), bandleader Kurt Wagner was content to put the orchestral country-soul outfit in mothballs for an undetermined spell while he worked on KORT, a collaborative project with singer-songwriter Courtney Tidwell.

But with the passing of friend and collaborator Vic Chesnutt in 2009 and at the urging of guitarist Mark Nevers, Wagner got the band back together for at least one more go-around and the result is Mr. M, their eleventh studio album which will be out on February 21 of the new year.

Clash has details on the new record and some background from Wagner about its inception, and the leadoff track has been made available as a download – if you were hoping that Wagner had gotten in touch with his inner metalhead during the layoff, you may be disappointed. But if you want some lovely, languid string-laden soul, “If Not I’ll Just Die” is like manna.

MP3: Lambchop – “If Not I’ll Just Die”

Daytrotter has posted up a session with Crooked Fingers, and there’s some fresh and vintage Bachmann available to download via the just-released Merge Winter Sampler: a new MP3 from the exquisite new Crooked Fingers record Breaks In The Armor and one of Archers Of Loaf’s best tunes, from the forthcoming Vee Vee reissue due out sometime in the new year. Plus a pile of other stuff either recently out or coming soon from the label – so download already. And read this interview with Bachmann over at Denver Westword.

MP3: Crooked Fingers – “Bad Blood”
MP3: Archers Of Loaf – “Harnessed In Slums”
ZIP: Merge Winter Sampler 2011

Over at The AV Club, Mac McCaughan of Superchunk discusses and performs “Digging For Something” from their latest, Majesty Shredding.

Fleet Foxes have gotten around to releasing a new video from Helplessness Blues.

Video: Fleet Foxes – “The Shrine/An Argument”

Paste is streaming the new Calexico CD Selections From Road Atlas 1998-2011, which is not to be confused with their new vinyl box set Road Atlas 1998-2011. The former is a 16-track sampler of the latter, which is a compendium of all the band’s tour-only releases of the past 13 years – 12 LPs worth. The former is also out now, whereas the latter is out next week.

Stream: Calexico / Selections From Road Atlas 1998-2011

CNN talks to Jeff Tweedy and John Stirratt of Wilco.

Craig Finn discusses the Friday Night Lights connection in his debut solo album Clear Heart Full Eyes with Slate. It’s out January 24.

Having released his second album of the calendar year in Humour Risk at the start of the month, Cass McCombs will be back in town for a show at The Garrison on January 27, tickets $14.50 in advance. Pitchfork has an interview.

MP3: Cass McCombs – “The Same Thing”
Video: Cass McCombs – “The Same Thing”

The Fly interviews Girls.

PopMatters interviews The War On Drugs, in town for a show at the Horseshoe on December 9.

Of Montreal are streaming the first taste of their forthcoming Paralytic Stalks, due out next year.

Stream: Of Montreal – “Wintered Debts”

The Line Of Best Fit gets Okkervil River to play a video session from aboard a boat at End Of The Road in September while Spoonfed snags an interview with Will Sheff.

HearYa has a session with Mates Of State available to watch and/or download. On Milwaukee, Cleveland Scene and Minnesota Daily snag interviews as the duo tours through the midwest.

The Georgia Straight, Huffington Post, SF Weekly, The Weal, Victoria Times-Colonist and Calgary Herald talk to Merrell Garbus of tUnE-yArDs.

The Austin Chronicle profiles hometown heroes Ume.

The New Zealand Herald interviews Annie Clark of St. Vincent, who plays The Phoenix on December 15.

More R.E.M. exit interviews – there’s been a lot of them, yes, but once this round is done, that’s it. For always. Read the pieces at Spin, Spinner, The AV Club, NPR, Shortlist, and Pitchfork.

Kisha BariIf you were to ask anyone at SXSW this past March what was the best thing they’d seen, odds are you’d have heard “Charles Bradley” in response; I certainly did. Like his Daptone labelmate Sharon Jones, the Florida-born, Brooklyn-based classic soul singer had travelled a long, hard road filled with false starts and personal tragedies, but with the release of his first full-length album No Time For Dreaming earlier this year and accompanying praise for both his recordings and performances, it seemed he was finally getting his due.

Or so I heard. I didn’t catch any of his sets in Austin and waiting for him to tour through Toronto – as I was certain he would considering he made appearances at Osheaga in Montreal and Sappyfest in Mount Allison in late July – proved fruitless. I had no doubt that the wide-eyed, breathless testimonials about the power of his shows was deserved, but I had yet to witness it for myself. Well as it turns out, I only had to wait the better part of a year – Charles Bradley & His Extraordinaires have just announced a date at Lee’s Palace on February 11 of next year, tickets $22.50 in advance and on sale this Friday. Which is not to complain – after all, Bradley had to wait decades for his shot. A year’s not so bad. If you’re a fan of old-school soul – and everyone should be – you ought to be there.

MP3: Charles Bradley – “The World (Is Going Up In Flames)”
MP3: Charles Bradley – “Now That I’m Gone”
Video: Charles Bradley – “Heartaches And Pain”
Video: Charles Bradley – “The World (Is Going Up In Flames)”

The Smith Westerns are rolling into The Horseshoe on January 27, tickets $15 in advance. It’s unlikely they’ve got a new album finished and ready for sneak release, so assume this is continuing to support this year’s Dye It Blonde.

MP3: The Smith Westerns – “Still New”

Oklahoma’s Other Lives got a bit of a profile boost when they were announced as the openers for the first leg of Radiohead’s US tour this Spring, but seeing as how there’s no local date for that bill as yet, fans and the curious will be pleased to know that they’ll be in town at The Drake Underground on February 14, tickets $12.50. That’s a bit less than Radiohead tickets would cost, I think.

MP3: Other Lives – “For 12”
MP3: Other Lives – “Tamer Animals”
MP3: Other Lives – “Song Song”

With the final – presumably – R.E.M. release in Part Lies Part Heart Part Truth Part Garbage 1982-2011 now out, it’s exit interview time. Michael Stipe explains the band’s decision to disband in conversation with Salon and CNN while Mike Mills chats with Billboard, Time, Spin, Consequence Of Sound, and Scotland On Sunday – he also talks to Spinner about Occupy Wall Street – and USA Today gets some quotes from all three members. Blurt, meanwhile, solicits testimonials from a range of artists and fans.

It’s not an official Neutral Milk Hotel video or anything, but this clip put together by Naomi Yang of Galaxie 500/Damon & Naomi is noteworthy if for no other reason than the song was, apparently, written about her.

Video: Neutral Milk Hotel – “Naomi”

The Stool Pigeon and Spinner talk to Dee Dee of Dum Dum Girls.

The Washington Post interviews Ted Leo.

Stereogum checks in with School Of Seven Bells to see how their first album as a duo is coming along. At least well enough to have a title – Ghostory – and ballpark release date of next Spring. Update: The record is out February 28.

Guitar Junkie, The Riverfront Times and Apes On Tape talk to Lauren Larsen of Ume.