Autumn de WildeIt’s odd to think that a band’s most direct and tuneful album might turn out to be its most divisive, but were you to survey a cross-section of Decemberists fans, it’s unlikely that “convention” would come up as what they love most about the Portland band. After all, this is a band who made their name with sea shanties, drama club videos, multi-part prog-rock epics and full-blown rock operas – hardly the standard template for pop music success, and yet it’s served the band well as they’ve built progressively their eccentricities up, using their folk roots and pop smarts as mortar, culminating in 2009’s grandiose The Hazards Of Love.

So with nowhere further to go on that trip, it was inevitable that they’d dial it back some for their next effort but the degree to which The King Is Dead retreats is pretty remarkable. You’d have to go back as far as their 2001 debut EP 5 Songs to find a collection of songs as countrified, direct and simply adorned as these, and even then Colin Meloy’s penchant for period-costume characters and storytelling sets the two bookends of their career (thus far) apart. While he remains an erudite and wordy lyricist, his quirkier narrative inclinations take a step back to allow the band’s musicianship and songcraft carry the day. And start to finish, this is probably The Decemberists’ most tasteful and accomplished record to date, given extra weight from vocal contributions by Gillian Welch and notable for the absence of the one or two compositional experiments that seemed mandatory on past efforts.

For most other bands, such a record would be an unqualified high-water mark but for The Decemberists it’s enough of a departure that the portion of their audience who love them for their idiosyncrasies might find it puzzling and/or disappointing – it’s not a perspective I necessarily agree with as the merits of The King Is Dead, irrespective of the rest of their catalog, are myriad, but it’s an understandable one. But for others who might have been turned off by the band’s indulgences in the past, it could be just the record they’ve been waiting for. Assuming that one waits for records from bands they’ve already been turned off of.

NPR, Billboard, The Wall Street Journal and MusicOmh have interviews with the band, whose record is out tomorrow and whose tour for the record commences next week – look for them at The Sound Academy in Toronto on February 1.

MP3: The Decemberists – “Down By The Water”

S. Carey chats with The AV Club and discusses his new video with Spin.

Video: S. Carey – “In The Dirt”

Mark Olson talks to NOW and Gary Louris to Spinner about the The Jayhawks reunion, which kicks off its tour tomorrow night at The Phoenix – the same day their deluxe reissues of Hollywood Town Hall and Tomorrow The Green Grass come out.

Daytrotter serves up a session with Iron & Wine, whose new record Kiss Each Other Clean is out next week.

NPR is streaming a World Cafe session with Old 97s.

NYC Taper is sharing a recording of the “Dean Wareham plays Galaxie 500” at Maxwell’s in New Jersey from last week.

There’s a new video from Buffalo Tom’s forthcoming record Skins, due out February 15.

Video: Buffalo Tom – “Down”

Peter Buck tells NME he thinks quite highly of R.E.M.’s new record Collapse Into Now; the world will judge when it comes out on March 8 (or a couple weeks earlier when it leaks).

The Denver Post and Denver Westword have interviews with Liz Phair.

Parts & Labor are sharing the MP3 for the title track from their new record Constant Future, due out March 8.

MP3: Parts & Labor – “Constant Future”

Undercover discovers the statute of limitations on talking smack about former bandmates is up, as evidenced by this interview with Paul Banks of Interpol. They’re at The Sound Academy on February 15.

Washington City Paper recalls the heyday of The Dismemberment Plan.

Dave Gedge of The Wedding Present takes to The Guardian to offer The Flaming Lips some advice on how to successfully release a single a month for a year – after all, they did just that back in 1992 and included a b-side for each, no less. Of course, they didn’t write a song meant to be played on four iPhones simultaneously… The Lips have them beat there.

And oh yeah, Archers Of Loaf got back together for the first time in over a decade in Carrboro, North Carolina on Saturday night and it doesn’t feel like a one-off. If this is why we shouldn’t expect a new Crooked Fingers record before the end of the year, well, that’s okay then.

Devonté HynesWhen it comes to his art, Dev Hynes is no stranger to abruptly shifting gears. His first band, the sophomoric dance-punk band Test Icicles called it quits in early 2006 just when they were starting to achieve some success, and Hynes would resurface a year later as a solo act operating as Lightspeed Champion. It’s that project that brought Hynes to the attention of most, thanks to the wonderful country-tinged debut, Falling Off The Lavender Bridge. This year’s follow-up Life Is Sweet! Nice To Meet You didn’t quite measure up, feeling overburdened by its more orchestral aspirations, but was hardly a failure. And surely album number three would be better?

Except there apparently won’t be an album three. Even before Life Is Sweet came out, Hynes began writing, recording and gigging under the guise of Blood Orange – it didn’t sound worlds removed from Lightspeed, but the one-man home recordings certainly pointed at it being an outlet for his funkier, more groove-oriented side. And according to this new interview at Interview, Hynes is putting Lightspeed Champion out to pasture and making Blood Orange his main creative outlet – a debut single will be out in January and a full-length will follow in the early part of next year, and that means the Van Dyke Parks-enhanced Bye Bye EP coming out on December 13 will be prophetically-titled.

I will miss Lightspeed – Lavender Bridge remains a favourite from the past few years – and am especially sorry I wasn’t able to see him at the Horseshoe this past Summer, but if Blood Orange is what it – and he – is going to be, then I’ll be there.

MP3: Blood Orange – “S’Cooled” (demo)
Video: Blood Orange – “S’Cooled”
Video: Blood Orange – “I’m Sorry We Lied”
Myspace: Blood Orange

Oxford Student talk to Stornoway, who will be a the El Mocambo tonight and have just released another MP3 from their lovely Beachcomber’s Windowsill by way of enticement.

MP3: Stornoway – “Fuel Up”

BBC reports that Portishead are making plans for album number four and there are also rumours swirling that they’re intending to stage their first North American tour in forever next Fall. Fingers crossed.

The Yorkshire Post talks to David Gedge of The Wedding Present, who apparently lost bassist Terry de Castro as a member sometime in the Summer.

British Sea Power have released the first video from their forthcoming Valhalla Dancehall – out January 11 – and I can’t figure out if it’s playful, creepy, romantic or just plain weird. I am going to go with weird.

Video: British Sea Power – “Living Is So Easy”

NME reports that Editors think three studio albums are enough to justify releasing a box set, and will do just that in February of next year – Editors: The Complete Collection will consist of seven 12″ records (album-length or single is unclear) and seven CDs of b-sides, rarities and other Editors ephemera.

Belle & Sebastian frontman Stuart Murdoch’s diaries circa The Life Pursuit and Dear Catastrophe Waitress have been collected in book form – The Celestial Cafe will be released in early 2011.

MusicOmh talks to Duffy. Her new record Endlessly arrives December 7.

The Vaccines, who are apparently set to be the next big thing out of the UK, will be riding the buzz through a free show at the Horseshoe on January 18. The Guardian and Von Pip Musical Express have profiles of the band, which should give you all the background you need to make like you’ve been a fan, like, forever when you’re jammed into the ‘Shoe with all the other Anglophiles in the city.

MP3: The Vaccines – “Wreckin’ Bar (Ra Ra Ra)”

Spinner chats with Kate Nash.

Frank YangWhenever I see reviews of Kate Nash’s just-released sophomore effort My Best Friend Is You that put forward the tracks that represent her well-documented discovery of Riot Grrl as the standouts and bemoan the number of pure pop numbers on the record, I have to wonder if the writers of said pieces actually like Kate Nash. Because as commendable as it is that she’s seeking to branch out beyond her precocious piano girl image and explore her interest in louder, rawer sounds, the inescapable fact is is that she’s not very good at it.

In its finest moments, Best Friend finds Nash taking what made Made Of Bricks such a delight – the fast-talking sass and hooky piano-led melodies – and honing them further, exhibiting the growth you’d expect over three years without sounding too grown-up. Tracks like “Paris”, “Don’t You Want To Share The Guilt” and lead single “Do Wah Do” are immediate and indelibly catchy sugar bombs that hold up over repeat listens, and the like thankfully outnumber those where Nash attempts to get her punk on. While “Mansion Song” actually works better than you’d expect, segueing from profanity-laced spoken word intro into a clattering, stomping sing-along, other stylistic forays like “I Just Love You More” find Nash tries to sound angry and guttural but instead comes across as on the verge of laughing hysterically – probably not the desired effect – and the lo-fi “I’ve Got A Secret” just wobbles aimlessly. But missteps aside – Bricks had its share as well – Best Friend is a largely enjoyable listen that gives Nash fans what they want… and sometimes you have to take the crunchy with the smooth.

That said, the balance of the two wasn’t what many would have liked on Monday night at the Mod Club in Toronto. It marked the kickoff of her North American tour and in rounding up support acts, she didn’t have to look too far. Rachel Trachtenburg opened for Nash before – The Trachtenburg Family Slideshow Players opened up for her on a number of her 2008 dates – but this time, she was fronting her new band Supercute!, which teamed the 16-year old with 13- and 14-year old accomplices in shiny outfits and giant hair bows, playing Led Zeppelin and Pink Floyd covers alongside self-penned songs about candy, hula-hooping and boys. It was short, sweet and strange. Considering that there would have been an hour wait between the end of Supercute!’s set and the start of Nash’s, the unbilled set by Nash guitarist Brett Alaimo was a welcome one. Playing mostly solo, except for one song where he was accompanied by the rest of Nash’s band, he was part Libertines, part Billy Bragg and part spoken-word poet/stand-up comic. Certainly a more enjoyable way to pass the time than constantly checking my mail (especially since I wasn’t getting much mail).

At this point it’s worth noting that this show was a) all-ages and b) sold-out, which is generally a recipe for a) feeling old and b) losing a few degrees of hearing from the squealing that inevitably occurs when the headlining act comes on stage. And so it was that the crowd went mad when Kate Nash finally followed her band onstage and seated herself at the keyboard with the empowering message, “A c*nt is a useful thing” emblazoned across a sheet draped off it (the message itself wasn’t censored, just my transcription). Grinning ear to ear at the enthusiasm of the crowd, she kicked off with Best Friend‘s “Paris”, which proved as excellent a set opener as it is an album opener, and straight into “Do Wah Do” and then Bricks’ “Mouthwash”, all sounding great and setting the tone for what was looking like a terrific show. She then surprised by moving over to guitar for the next song and remaining there for the next few numbers, all scrappy pop selections from the new record and all also sounding quite good.

The second half of the show was decidedly less triumphant, with the more questionable bits of her repertoire making appearances and Nash seemingly determined to redefine herself as guitar-wielding rocker chick right then and there. While some fans indulged her, even attempting to pogo or mosh a bit, most waited patiently for her to get back to doing what she did best. They were repaid with the likes of “Foundations” and “Very Merry”, but the show failed to end on a high note. Both main set closers “Mansion Song” and “I Just Love You More” came across more awkward live than on record – and as stated, the latter was pretty awkward to begin with – and the encore selection was b-side “Model Behaviour”, which gave Nash leave to do more shrieking and sent many heading for an early exit.

Poor finish aside, the night still went in the win column though only barely. This was my first time seeing Nash live and it was great to finally hear some of those songs done live – though more than three selections from Bricks would have been nice – and Nash’s rapport with her very devout fanbase was charming and fun to watch. But if she’s going to continue to try and be the second coming of Bikini Kill, she’s really going to have to work on her screaming.

The Toronto Sun, Spin, Exclaim, Chart and Panic Manual also have reviews of the show while The Daily Mail and Nylon have interviews with Nash.

Photos: Kate Nash, Brett Alaimo, Supercute! @ The Mod Club – April 26, 2010
MP3: Kate Nash – “I Just Love You More”
MP3: Kate Nash – “We Get On” (live at the BBC)
MP3: Supercute! – “Not To Write About Boys”
Video: Kate Nash – “Do Wah Doo”
Video: Kate Nash – “Foundations”
Video: Kate Nash – “Mouthwash”
Video: Kate Nash – “Pumpkin Soup”
Video: Supercute! – “Not To Write About Boys”
MySpace: Kate Nash

The San Francisco Examiner and The Portland Mercury interview The Wedding Present’s David Lewis Gedge.

Under The Radar talks to Ian McCulloch and The Centre Daily Times to Will Sargent, both of Echo & The Bunnymen.

The Music Slut asks eight questions of Los Campesinos!, who’ve finally beat the volcano and made it over to North America.

Camera Obscura, who were already on this side of the Atlantic when Iceland blew up, talked to Under The Radar at Coachella.

The Boston Herald interviews Frightened Rabbit’s Scott Hutchison. They’re at the Opera House on May 4.

Many – myself included – thought that two nights at the Sound Academy was overambitious for Jonsi, so it’s not surprising that the May 1 show has been canceled, leaving just this Friday’s April 30 performance. However the official reasons given aren’t ticket sales, but the logistics involved with tearing down the elaborate stage sets in time for a later event at the venue. Both nights were originally supposed to be with the venue in a theatre configuration, holding around 1200 if memory serves, but now the Friday show will be with the Sound Academy at full size. All Saturday tickets will be valid for Friday and refunds are also available. Unfortunate venue aside, all reports from the tour have been that the show is astonishing so if you can swallow the Sound Academy, it could be worth your while. Or even more disappointing.

The Summer concert season continues to shape up with a bunch more announcements to go with the slew that came yesterday. The Gaslight Anthem will be at the Sound Academy on July 14, presale already open. Their new album American Slang is due out June 14 and New Zealand City, Spinner and Gibson Guitars have features on the band.

Bear In Heaven and Twin Sister are teaming up for a Summer tour that stops in at the El Mocambo on July 15. Spoonfed interviews Bear In Heaven.

MP3: Bear In Heaven – “Bag Of Bags”
MP3: Twin Sister – “Dry Hump”

Their show at the Mod Club tomorrow having sold out in a hiccup, MGMT are playing a more appropriately-sized room in the Kool Haus when they return on August 5. Tickets are $35 in advance, on sale Friday.

I’m a little surprised that Australia’s Empire Of The Sun is fixing to do a few North American dates around their Lollapalooza appearance – 2008’s Walking On A Dream didn’t exactly do mad business over here. I still prefer The Sleepy Jackson to EOTS’ electro-disco-glam, but am intrigued by the Toronto date at the Sound Academy on August 8 as apparently the live show is a spectacle and a half.

Video: Empire Of The Sun – “Walking On A Dream”
Video: Empire Of The Sun – “We Are The People”

And CBC Radio 3 has revealed the first wave of acts playing this year’s Hillside Festival in Guelph on July 23, 24 and 25. Lots of familiar names, but still immensely quality – you’ve got Los Lobos, The Hidden Cameras, Basia Bulat, Calexico and Sarah Harmer, to name but a few. Tickets go on sale this Saturday.

Frank YangI would say that a band that’s been around as long, as influential and as consistently excellent as The Wedding Present has been over their quarter-century existence is entitled to a little indulgence, and what better occasion than the 21st anniversary of one of your most beloved albums? But indulgence isn’t the Wedding Present’s style, so rather than make a big production of it, they rolled into town on Wednesday night to do their thing, same as they’ve done a number of times since David Gedge put the Cinerama name on the shelf and brought The Wedding Present out of mothballs.

Unlike their past few visits, however, this show was booked into the cozier Horseshoe rather than their usual digs at Lee’s Palace – a greater than normal number of hot tickets in the city that evening meant that the Toronto concert-going public would be split amongst any number of venues, but another benefit of longevity is a loyal fanbase – for many, when the Wedding Present comes to town and promises to play Bizarro in its entirety, there is no plan B.

Support for this leg of the tour seemed a curious choice on paper – Girl In A Coma hail from San Antonio, are named for a Smiths song and are signed to Joan Jett’s label. What woud you expect them to sound like? If you said a catchy blend of punk aggression and rockabilly twang, you’d be correct. Frontwoman Nina Diaz was petite but had a big presence, both with her guitar and voice – the latter, in particular, was an elastic and expressive instrument that she mostly chose to utilize via snarling but was obviously capable of more. I hadn’t gone in expecting a lot, but was pleasantly surprised and entertained.

My past reviews of Wedding Present shows tended to focus on how consistently good they were and, with the exception of incorporating material from the latest record, how fairly the song selection covered all eras of The Wedding Present’s career. That held true on this night, even with 3/5 of the set fixed in stone 21 years ago. The front bit of the show covered the non-Bizarro material – three new songs and four more strategically picked from key points of their career and which, if presented to someone who’d never heard the band before, would have provided a pretty accurate picture of what they were all about. At any other Wedding Present show, selections like “Corduroy” and “Everyone Thinks He Looks Daft” would have been more than a meal, but at this one they were just the appetizer.

The beginning of the main course was heralded by the PA, through which came an audio collage of the late, great John Peel intoning the band’s name over and over again – it went on a little while as the Wedding Present were one of Peel’s very favourite acts and were fixtures on his radio show, and as soon as it ended, the wonderful descending riff of “Brassneck” began and they were off. Bizarro might now be old enough to drink in all 50 states, but it’s aged amazingly well, as the live renderings would attest. The dry, dueling guitars with their combination of jangle and pummel have lost none of their vitality and the tales of romantic frustration and futility that David Gedge has been mining and pointedly articulating for a quarter-century will never cease being topical. And they certainly still inspire fervor amongst the faithful, a fact borne out by the enthusiastic middle-aged mosh pit that frequently broke out throughout the night, particularly for the heavier moments of “Kennedy” and the nine minute-plus centerpiece, “Take Me!”. The relatively gentle “Be Honest” provided the denouement to a run-through of a classic album that’s sadly not really appreciated as such – just as The Wedding Present aren’t properly appreciated for all they’ve done. But that’s those who don’t get it’s loss. For the rest of us, well, Seamonsters turns 20 next year. See you there.

And oh yeah, early on in the show I got hit in the head with a semi-inflated sex doll. Why someone had that with them and not a beach ball, I will never know. But I’m over it.

Exclaim was also in attendance and has some thoughts on the show.

Photos: The Wedding Present, Girl In A Coma @ The Horseshoe – April 14, 2010
MP3: The Wedding Present – “The Thing I Like Best About Him Is His Girl Friend”
MP3: Girl In A Coma – “Clumsy Sky”
MP3: Girl In A Coma – “Static Mind”
Video: The Wedding Present – “Don’t Take Me Home Until I’m Drunk”
Video: The Wedding Present – “Ringway To Seatac”
Video: The Wedding Present – “I’m From Further North Than You”
Video: The Wedding Present – “Don’t Touch That Dial”
Video: The Wedding Present – “Interstate 5”
Video: The Wedding Present – “Yeah Yeah Yeah Yeah Yeah”
Video: The Wedding Present – “Chant Of The Ever Circling Skeletal Family”
Video: The Wedding Present – “No Christmas”
Video: The Wedding Present – “Loveslave”
Video: The Wedding Present – “Boing!”
Video: The Wedding Present – “Come Play With Me”
Video: The Wedding Present – “Silver Shorts”
Video: The Wedding Present – “Three”
Video: The Wedding Present – “Go Go Dancer”
Video: The Wedding Present – “Blue Eyes”
Video: The Wedding Present – “Dalliance”
Video: The Wedding Present – “Crawl”
Video: The Wedding Present – “Brassneck”
Video: The Wedding Present – “Why Are You Being So Reasonable Now?”
Video: The Wedding Present – “Nobody’s Twisting Your Arm”
Video: Girl In A Coma – “Static Mind”
Video: Girl In A Coma – “El Monte”
Video: Girl In A Coma – “Their Cell”
Video: Girl In A Coma – “Clumsy Mind”
Video: Girl In A Coma – “Say”
Video: Girl In A Coma – “Road To Home”
MySpace: The Wedding Present
MySpace: Girls In A Coma

Kate Nash tells Spinner that people seeing her on her upcoming North American tour – which begins April 26 at the Mod Club in Toronto – shouldn’t automatically assume they’ll hear “Foundations”. But they will hear her new record My Best Friend Is You, which comes out next week. One assumes.

So Much Silence talks to Frightened Rabbit frontman Scott Hutchison.

Gareth Keenan investigates the new video from Slow Club.

Video: Slow Club – “Giving Up On Love”

CBC and Spinner talk to Handsome Furs about how it feels to be Juno Award nominees.

White Hinterland will follow up her show at the Drake on Sunday night, April 18, with an in-store at Soundscapes on April 19 at 6PM.

MP3: White Hinterland – “Icarus”
MP3: White Hinterland – “No Logic”

The Acorn will celebrate the June 1 release of No Ghost with a show at Lee’s Palace on June 11 and a handful of other dates around southern Ontario and Montreal.

All those who like their synth-pop slinky and ’80s-styled would do well to check out New York’s Class Actress at Wrongbar on June 12.

MP3: Class Actress – “All The Saints”

The folks at Buffet Libre have put together some impressive compilations in the last while, but they may have outdone themselves with Peace, a 180-song collection featuring artists from all over the world and assembled in conjunction with Amnesty International. They’re offering the collection for a minimum donation of 5 Euro to Amnesty and if you need further persuading, they’ve made a number of tracks available to download for free. Goodness knows that these ones – a Kate Bush cover by Patrick Wolf, a new Voxtrot song and – most excitingly – the first new Dubstar song in a decade. Dubstar! With Sarah Blackwood! Exclamation!

MP3: Patrick Wolf – “Army Dreamers” (Kate Bush cover)
MP3: Voxtrot – “Whiskey and Water”
MP3: Dubstar – “I’m In Love With A German Film Star”

Record Store Day hits tomorrow, April 17, and honestly the list of RSD exclusive goodies that will go on sale Saturday has reached ludicrous proportions. There’s a few digital items being made available but the emphasis is hugely on limited edition wax, which I find both exciting and bewildering. I mean, I know that vinyl continues to make a comeback – I myself decided to buy LPs whenever possible at the start of this year – but to see people who weren’t even alive the last time turntables were in vogue scrambling for 7″s is… neat. To do their part in marking the occasion, PitchforkTV is streaming I Need That Record, a documentary on record stores for one week, and if you miss it (or love it), it is one of the items that will go on sale tomorrow. Convenient! Spinner also talks to Flaming Lip Wayne Coyne about the phenomenon of Record Store Day.

Video: I Need That Record! The Death (Or Possible Survival) Of The Independent Record Store

NOW looks forward to Record Store Day by talking to some of the proprietors of Toronto shops taking part in the event – I’ve tried to round up as many of the specials and special happenings that people can look forward to at the various shops in the 416 in addition to random and unknowable quantities of the aforementioned RSD exclusive items (most of the store links have details on what they have going on), while eye has done the same in map format:

– Criminal Records has been reporting arrivals of goods via Twitter and Facebook and will be offering discounts on regularly priced merchandise as well as door crashers.
– Soundscapes will be offering 10% off all CDs, vinyl, DVDs and books
– Sonic Boom is having giveaways and hosting an in-store festival starting at 3PM and featuring sets from Valery Gore, Buck 65, METZ, Meligrove Band, Adam Green and Sloan, who are slated to go on around 9. Admission free with donation of a canned good. Update: Lullabye Arkestra are now kicking things off at 2:30, Adam Green is on at 4:45, METZ at 7PM and Pink Eyes from Fucked Up is MC-ing all day.
– Rotate This is having a sale
– Vortex will have a day-long 25% off sale on used items and holding raffles of sweet prizes
– Kops will be hosting an in-store with The Junction at 5PM and City Sweethearts at 6PM.
– Sunrise Records at Yonge and Dundas will have in-store sets from Justin Nozuka, Moneen, Ash Koley, Fox Jaws and Hunter Valentine. Those get started at noon and run all afternoon.
– Slinky Music is having a 10% off sale
– Penguin Music, Neurotica and Hits & Misses are also all listed as participating stores, which means at the least there should be some sort of sale and/or RSD exclusives to be had.

And maybe the greatest record-related thing I’ve seen this week is the return of the Sound Burger, albeit under the less moniker of the Crosley Revolution. There’s probably no way this thing sounds anything but terrible, but the sheer cool points you’d get from having one of these hanging from your belt more than makes up for that. Right? It’s cool, right?

The Moment’s GoneConsider this entry a bit of an adjunct to yesterday’s contest post wherein I wondered exactly which edition of Bizarro we’d hear The Wedding Present perform on the album’s 20th anniversary tour. Because if they do what’s probably the right thing and stick to the original album’s 10 tracks, then we may not get to hear their version of Pavement’s “Box Elder”, which was originally included as a b-side on the Brassneck EP and added to the US edition of the album as well as the 2001 reissue.

For further information and context, refer to this FAQs.org piece on the band, particularly item 5.2 which I’ve helpfully copied out here below:

Q5.2 Did TWP cover a Pavement song? Where can I find the original?
A5.2 David Gedge: “Keith returned from a holiday in America in 1989 with a cassette of [“Box Elder”] which we all liked and decided to cover on the Brassneck E.P. ”

This question comes up because Pavement were not credited on the US version, though they were on the UK version. Also the copyright date on Westing is later than that of Bizarro, leading people to believe that Pavement covered TWP.

Though it should be noted that according to this, “Box Elder” never actually did appear on the France-only mini-LP Hit Parade 3. So interestingly, what was one of the band’s more popular early tracks was also one of the more elusive to actually get a hold of in some parts of the world, at least until the digital age.

Anyways, what’s important is this – The Wedding Present are at the Horseshoe this Wednesday night, April 14, and may or may not play “Box Elder”. The reunited Pavement are headlining the Toronto Island Concert on June 19 and almost certainly will.

MP3: The Wedding Present – “Box Elder Mo”
Video: Pavement – “Box Elder” (live)