Frank YangWhen it first got out that guitar-god-who-walks-amongst-us Johnny Marr had joined English sibling-trio The Cribs, the initial reaction was skepticism. After all, if run through the NME de-hyperbolizer, the truth was probably more like he crossed paths with a Jarman or three on the street and said “hello” – and anyways, wasn’t Marr already occupied as a full-fledged member of Modest Mouse? Well, yes, but it seems that Marr is almost as good at time management as he is at guitar because as the band’s fourth record Ignore The Ignorant showed, his role in the band is much more than stunt casting.

I can’t say I’d paid much attention to The Cribs prior to their latest, ranking them as a decent if not especially distinctive post-Libertines Brit-rock outfit – high on energy and attitude if not personality – so I’m not necessarily in a position to articulate what difference Marr makes to the band. That said, you can hear his distinctive fretwork all over the record in a manner that’s omnipresent yet unobtrusive, adding a melodicism and shimmer to the Cribs’ songs without blunting their more visceral qualities. This, combined with simply better songwriting and production, have made The Cribs an outfit worthy of note beyond simply the simply Anglo-inclined.

That said, I don’t that I’d have been as keen to hit up their show Friday night at The Phoenix had Johnny Marr not also been confirmed as participating in the North American tour. Technically, I’d seen him a couple Summers ago with Modest Mouse opening up for R.E.M., but that view was from the lawns of the Molson Amphitheatre and the soundtrack for the experience wasn’t especially agreeable (not a Modest Mouse fan here, Marr or no). The opportunity to watch Marr do his thing from 10 feet away would not be missed. But just as with the album, it turned out to be a case of “come for the Smith, stay for The Cribs”.

I may have been relatively new to the band but the heart of the 700-plus in attendance were clearly die-hards, and as soon as the quartet took the stage, a mosh pit manifested and I was thankful I’d gotten there just late enough to be up close, but off to the side. And The Cribs would give them plenty to slam dance about, tearing through a 70-minute or so, encore-less set of loud, raucous, anthemic rock. Be it familiarity or just the fact that their better tunes, I found the Ignorant material to be the standouts of the set, allowing Marr – looking almost unsettlingly ageless at 46 alongside his twenty-something bandmates – to really show his stuff. But he also looked quite at home on the older, more bludgeony material, bashing out power chords and providing backing vox while the Jarmans bounded around the stage and incited acts of stage diving and crowd surfing from their fans. Though the set wrapped relatively early for a Friday evening – not even midnight – there would be no complaining about any lack of rock action on the night.

It’s Not The Band I Hate It’s Their Fans was also in attendance with a review. Dose.ca and Metro have interviews with Ross Jarman while The Boston Herald draws the Gary Jarman straw. aux.tv talks to them both.

Photos: The Cribs @ The Phoenix – January 15, 2010
MP3: The Cribs – “We Were Aborted”
Video: The Cribs – “We Share The Same Skies”
Video: The Cribs – “Cheat On Me”
Video: The Cribs – “I’m A Realist”
Video: The Cribs – “Don’t You Wanna Be Relevant”
Video: The Cribs – “Our Bovine Public”
Video: The Cribs – “Men’s Needs”
Video: The Cribs – “You’re Gonna Lose Us”
Video: The Cribs – “Martell”
Video: The Cribs – “Mirror Kissers”
Video: The Cribs – “Hey Scenesters”
Video: The Cribs – “What About Me”
Video: The Cribs – “You Were Always The One”
MySpace: The Cribs

Elbow drummer Richard Jupp talks to Clash about his contributions to the Sudan365 charitable project and also tells NME that, contrary to Guy Garvey’s comments that their new album wouldn’t be ready until 2011, he hopes they’ll release the record this year.

Though there’s been no official word on a follow-up to Do You Like Rock Music?, Spinner reports that British Sea Power are planning a release party for the new record at Britain’s highest bar for “May-ish”. Guitarist Martin Noble provided an update on the new record via their blog a couple weeks ago.

Beyond Race has a feature piece and Sasha Frere-Jones an essay-length The New Yorker review on The xx, in town twice in April – on the 4th at the Phoenix and the 20th at the Kool Haus.

Hot Chip’s Joe Goddard talks to Billboard about the Susan Boyle influence on One Life Stand, due out February 9. They’re at the Kool Haus on April 20.

Horrors frontman Faris Badwan compiles a list of best/worst/most/least for Clash.

NYC Taper is sharing a pretty terrific recording of one of The Joy Formidable’s show in New York City last weekend. Simultaneously makes me feel like I was there while feeling worse for not having actually been there.

Bandstand Busking is sharing a video session with Peggy Sue, whose debut
Fossils And Other Phantoms is due out in April.

PopMatters interviews The Twilight Sad.

Note that Laura Marling’s February 9 show at the Drake Underground has been moved to Lee’s Palace. Consequently, it is probably not sold out anymore. At least not right now.

Leading up to the February 16 release of Life Is Sweet! Pleased To Meet You, Lightspeed Champion is giving away a free MP3 a week via Domino Records. You have to make with the clicky on the widget and eventually you’ll find a download link. I got to it by accident, don’t ask me what I did. And yes, it’s a bit maddening.

Paste talks to La Roux’s Elly Jackson.

Clash gets an update on the new record from The Futureheads, who are targeting a late February/early March release.

Muse have released a video for the title track of their latest, The Resistance. They are at the Air Canada Centre on March 8.

Video: Muse – “The Resistance”

Tourdates.co.uk talks to Tim Crompton of The High Wire about their new record The Sleep Tape, set to come out in March.

NME reports that Fat Richard-era Suede are set to reunite for a one-off charity gig at the Royal Albert Hall in London in support of the Teenage Cancer Trust. Note that I mock Oakes not so much for his weight, but for his not being Bernard Butler. And also being fat.

Members of Blur talk to BBC 6Music about the experience of making the new documentary on the band, No Distance Left To Run. The one-day Canadian screenings are set for this Thursday but for those unable to attend, like me, Pitchfork reports that the film will be released on DVD come February 15 with a second DVD of the band’s Hyde Park reunion show last year. Which is great if you have a region-free, PAL DVD player. Or live in the UK, which some of you might.

MySpaceWhen I was planning my trip to London back in the Spring of 2008, I was determined to NOT make it a concert-going vacation, Richard Hawley at the Royal Albert aside. But I did pencil in what looked like an interesting little gig at a Notting Hill matinee show presented by Drowned In Sound that I figured would be an opportunity to see some little British acts who’d probably never make it over to this side of the Atlantic. As it turns out, Sky Larkin made it to America sooner than expected, canceling their appearance at the show in order to record their debut The Golden Spike and they’ve returned to tour a times and the second-billed band on the bill, Let’s Wrestle, has just signed with Merge Records to release their debut album In the Court of the Wrestling Let’s over here come March 23.

I grabbed a digital copy of the record when it was released in the UK last Summer as well as its preceding EP In Loving Memory Of… and to say it’s a bit rough around the edges is an understatement, but it’s also deliberate. Musically and lyrically, the trio seek to cultivate an image of youthful insolence and indolence, favouring off-kilter and somewhat soused vocals with buzzsaw guitars to get their clever and sardonic pop culture-referencing points about matters of cosmic import like girls and wrestling across. The snotty punk delivery can’t hide their wicked pop sensibilities, though, nor their musical chops – they may not make a show of it, but they can play – the instrumental title track of the album is proof positive of that.

I’m glad to see that the band is making a stab at North America and that they’ve got good folks like Merge behind them – hopefully there’ll be some touring and I can feel better about ultimately skipping that Notting Hill show completely.

MP3: Let’s Wrestle – “We Are The Men You’ll Grow To Love Soon”
Video: Let’s Wrestle – “I Won’t Lie To You”
Video: Let’s Wrestle – “We Are The Men You’ll Grow To Love Soon”
Video: Let’s Wrestle – “I’m In Fighting Mode”

Paste checks in with Kate Nash, whose second album will be out in Spring of this year.

Little Boots’ Hands will finally get a domestic North American release on March 2.

NME interviews Florence Welch of Florence & The Machine.

BBC6 gets some details on the direction La Roux’s second album.

Cribs bassist and singer Ryan Jarman tells Spinner he’s of the opinion it’s too easy to make music these days. He longs for the old days when you had to go to the trouble of recruiting your siblings and a musical legend to get things done. The Cribs are at the Phoenix this Friday night, January 15.

Tom Smith of Editors talks to Spinner about the surplus of material that came out of the In This Light And On This Evening sessions, five of which will be added to the North American edition of the record when it’s released next Tuesday. They play the Phoenix on February 16.

Pitchfork solicits a list of current obsessions from The xx, who are at the Phoenix on April 4 and the Kool Haus on April 20.

NME reports that Noah And The Whale have recovered all the gear that was stolen from them way back in September.

Lightspeed Champion paid tribute to Elvis Presley’s 75th birthday last week with a cover video – check it out. His next album Life is Sweet! Nice To Meet You is out February 16.

Video: Lightspeed Champion – “Devil In Disguise”

Thanks to A Good Day For Airplay for pointing me to this online issue of Nightshift, music magazine from Oxford, England, which features an interview with all four members of Ride on the occasion of their debut, self-titled EP’s 20th anniversary. And yes, the reunion question is asked and no, it’s not happening. But it’s not dismissed either. So… there. Oh, and that link’s a PDF so forewarned.

The Guardian talks to Danny O’Connor, director of Upside Down – a documentary about the Creation Records story. No release date has been given but a vague Spring target has been mentioned.

Trailer: Upside Down

Pitchfork has premiered the first track from The Ruby Suns’ forthcoming album Fight Softly, due out March 10. They play the Drake Underground on March 30.

MP3: Ruby Suns – “Cranberry”

Ms Lara Meyerratken, aka El May, aka Australian ex-pat in America, aka touring keyboardist for Dean & Britta and Luna and vocal foil for Eric Bachmann on Crooked Fingers’ masterful Dignity & Shame, has completed her first solo record – also entitled El May – and will release it next Tuesday. Physical copies are limited to 500 so if you like the tangible media, pre-order one now.

Marcus Roth/Paolo ProserpioI should start setting aside Tuesday posts for concert announcements – every Monday brings an absolute deluge of them, yesterday through to this morning being no exception. But even on a day filled with big announcements, there was this.

Toronto Island Concert isn’t the catchiest name – apparently calling it the Olympic Island Festival is now verboten? – but it really doesn’t matter what you brand a show that features Pavement, Broken Social Scene and Band Of Horses because everyone with a lick of sense will simply call it “awesome”. The show is only the third North American date officially confirmed for the reformed indie rock legends, after Sasquatch in May and the four-night stand in New York’s Central Park in September, though word is they’re also headlining this year’s Pitchfork Music Festival in Chicago, probably in mid-July. I tend to vacillate between indifference and great love for Pavement, depending on my mood. Right now it’s all love, and I would say that even with more acts to be added to the bill, this has already more than made up for last year’s canceled BSS/Explosions In The Sky event.

The show will go June 19, which is a bit ill-timed as it falls on the last day of NXNE but really, there’s no choice to be made. This must happen. Tickets will be $49.50 (plus $1.50 facility fee and $6.50 ferry admission) and go on sale next Friday, January 22 though a pre-sale through Arts & Crafts’ online store starts January 18 and also gets you a $5 credit towards their merch. So why wouldn’t you.

Pavement have a best-of in Quarantine The Past and series of vinyl reissues coming March 9. Broken Social Scene’s new record is supposed to arrive in May. Band Of Horses’ third album has a title of Night Rainbows and is due out sometime this year. Pavement drummer Bob Nastanovich talks to The Courier-Journal about the impending reunion tour and basically confirms the Pitchfork Festival appearance.

MP3: Pavement – “Gold Soundz”
MP3: Pavement – “Rattled By The Rush”
MP3: Broken Social Scene presents Brendan Canning – “Hit The Wall”
MP3: Broken Social Scene presents Kevin Drew – “TBTF”
MP3: Band Of Horses – “No One’s Gonna Love You”
MP3: Band Of Horses – “Is There A Ghost”
MP3: Band Of Horses – “The Great Salt Lake”
MP3: Band Of Horses – “The Funeral”

And everything else that came out yesterday, in chronological order:

Mumford & Sons’ February 15 show has been moved from the El Mocambo to Lee’s Palace due to overwhelming demand for bluegrass-ish music. Sigh No More gets a North American release on March 15.

Norwegian ambassadors of chillax, the Kings Of Convenience, will be at the Phoenix on February 18 in support of last year’s Declaration Of Dependence. Tickets are $21.50. The Independent has a feature on the duo.

MP3: Kings Of Convenience – “Boat Behind”
Video: Kings Of Convenience – “Boat Behind”

Born Ruffians have set a date at the Phoenix for March 14. Their new record Say It will be out sometime.

Well it looks like I won’t be going a half decade without seeing Spoon – in addition to headlining Stubb’s on the first night of SxSW, they’ve announced a full North American tour – they’ll be at the Sound Academy on March 29 with Deerhunter and The Strange Boys. Tickets are $24.50 for general admission, $33.50 for VIP balcony spots. Apparently this is what it will take to get me back to the Sound Academy. Transference is out next Tuesday and is streaming in its entirety right now at NPR. Deerhunter made an entire album available for free download last December.

MP3: Spoon – “The Underdog”
MP3: Deerhunter – “Rainwater Cassette Exchange”
MP3: The Strange Boys – “Heard You Wanna Beat Me Up”
Stream: Spoon / Transference

Beach House will finally make up their canceled appearance at last year’s Olympic Island show on their Spring North American tour – it brings them to the Opera House on March 30 with Bachelorette, tickets $14. Their new album Teen Dream is out January 26.

MP3: Beach House – “Norway”

Almost as exciting – or maybe even moreso – as the Pavement announcement was that of the April 1 date at Lee’s Palace for the amazing double bill of Shearwater and Wye Oak, part of a North American tour. Shearwater’s epic The Golden Archipelago is out February 23 and Wye Oak are still supporting last year’s excellent The Knot.

MP3: Shearwater – “Castaways”
MP3: Wye Oak – “Take It In”

The Black Lips are setting up for a two-night stand at the Horseshoe on March 27 and 28, tickets for each night are $15.50. I seem to recall hearing tales of anarchy the last time they played there – no reason to believe this time will be any different. Demon Claws and Box Elders support.

MP3: The Black Lips – “Lock & Key” (live at Amoeba)

Already posted but now official – The xx and jj at the Phoenix on April 4, admission $20. jj’s No 3 is out March 9, Creative Review has a look at the recently unveiled video sculpture for their debut album.

MP3: The xx – “Basic Space”
MP3: jj – “Ecstasy”

The Low Anthem will bring their Oh My God, Charlie Darwin to the Church Of The Redeemer on April 10.

MP3: The Low Anthem – “Charlie Darwin”
MP3: The Low Anthem – “To Ohio”

The Wedding Present have announced the dates for their tour commemorating the 21st anniversary of Bizarro and that includes an April 14 date at the Horseshoe.

Quasi have set a February 23 release date for their new record American Gong and are hitting the road to promote – look for them April 18 at the Horseshoe. And I could be wrong on this, but I think this is their first time back in town since 2001. That’s almost as long as, um, Pavement!

MP3: Quasi – “Repulsion”

Shout Out Louds are crossing the Atlantic this Spring to support new album Work, out February 23. They’ll be in Toronto at the Mod Club on May 8 and have just released a new video.

MP3: Shout Out Louds – “Walls”
Video: Shout Out Louds – “Fall Hard”

And to close with something completely different – if you aren’t following my Twitter feed and didn’t hear the collective cry of fear/rage yesterday afternoon from the geek nation, it was announced that Spider-Man 4 – which as early as yesterday morning appeared to have confirmed John Malkovich as the Vulture – will instead be a complete reboot, jettisoning Tobey Maguire in the lead role and Sam Raimi in the director’s chair, and bring in a whole new cast while heading back to a high school setting for Peter Parker. I didn’t think it’d be possible to make a worse film than Spider-Man 3 but it seems they’ve found a way.

Glen WilkinsWhile most peoples’ “most anticipated albums of 2010” lists read something like “Arcade Fire Interpol Strokes Fleet Foxes etc”, damn near the top of my list you’ll find A Coming Of Age, the sophomore effort from London’s Lucky Soul. Their 2007 debut The Great Unwanted, an irresistible piece of Motown/Northern soul-channeling pop glory, remains one of my favourite records of the past decade, so the follow-up has some mighty big shoes to fill but judging from the first couple of tastes, it’ll manage that just fine.

Last March brought the first single in the disco-fied “Whoa Billy!”, which was as good as anything on Unwanted if not better, and they’ve just released a video for their new single “White Russian Doll” – out in the UK on Monday – which brings a little bit (ok a lot) of Smiths into the mix. The clip was filmed on location in Berlin and features frontwoman Ali Howard dancing and karaoke-ing her way through the city, and Lucky Soul guitarist Andrew Laidlaw has put up a blog post detailing the mostly commando-style filming of the clip. That’s commando as in run-and-gun, on-location, no-permit; not as in rescue pre-teen Alyssa Milano from Dan Hedaya with lots of gunplay. Though that’d make for an excellent follow-up video.

A Coming Of Age is due out in March.

MP3: Lucky Soul – “Whoa Billy!”
Video: Lucky Soul – “White Russian Doll”

Questions about whether The xx would be appearing with jj on the Toronto date of their North American tour – just two weeks before their already scheduled date supporting Hot Chip – have been answered by their booking agency and yes, indeed, Toronto gets a double-shot of The xx in just over a fortnight – April 4 at The Phoenix (apparently moved from the original venue of Lee’s Palace) with jj and again on April 20 at the Kool Haus with Hot Chip. Expect precise details on the show next week.

MP3: The xx – “Basic Space”

Paste talks to Hot Chip frontman Alexis Taylor about their new record One Life Stand, out February 2.

For Folks Sake has details on Laura Marling’s second album, entitled I Speak Because I Can and due out on March 1. Expect to hear lots of new stuff when she plays the Drake Underground on February 9.

Battery In Your Leg interviews The Joy Formidable, who are making their North American debut this weekend with a slew of shows in New York, none of which I will be at – a fact which saddens me. They are looking to have their first proper full-length out in the first part of 2010.

Beatroute and ABC News talk to Gareth Campesinos! of Los Campesinos!, whose Romance Is Boring comes out January 27.

Reigning Mercury Prize winner Speech Debelle will make her Toronto debut at Wrongbar Revival on March 10 as part of Canadian Music Fst. Tickets are $15 in advance.

MP3: Speech Debelle – “Better Days” revox featuring Wiley
Video: Speech Debelle – “Better Days” featuring Micachu

List talks to Frightened Rabbit frontman Scott Hutchison about The Winter Of Mixed Drinks. The new album isn’t out till March 16 but Stereogum has both their new single and its b-side available to stream right now.

PitchforkTV has a Tunnelvision video session with A Sunny Day In Glasgow, who are at the Garrison on April 2.

Beatroute and SF Station talk to Asobi Seksu about going acoustic on Rewolf. It’s unplugged they’ll be when they play the Drake Underground on February 1.

Filter gets to know Yo La Tengo.

The New York Times has a feature piece on Spoon. Transference is out on January 19.

Joe Pernice appears to be making good on his promise to play around town more often, as he’s scheduled a date at the Dakota Tavern for February 16. His show there in September was terrific, but I think I’m going to miss it in favour of seeing Editors and The Antlers at the Phoenix that same night. Which is funny, because last time I skipped seeing The Antlers at the Horseshoe in favour of Joe Pernice. Full tour dates and a new album update can be found over here.

Not sure what’s greater – Mac McCaughan and a children’s choir (okay, maybe not quite a choir) channeling Dan Bejar on a Destroyer cover by Portastatic, taken from the Make It Sound In Tune digital EP for charity, or the accompanying image by Ryan Catbirdseat over at MBV Music, where you can download the track.

And also great – all the illustrations accompanying Hype Machine’s 2009 zeitgeist list of artists. Amazing, every one.

Grand CrewSo everybody’s holidays going well? Been catching up with friends and family, perhaps indulging in a little post-holiday retail therapy? That’s largely been my last few days, and in between all that, watching lots and Lost and lots of television. So in the spirit of that sloth, here’s some stuff for y’all to watch – particularly if you, like me, are stuck at work this week.

Grand Crew is a site based out of France that I hadn’t heard of until last week, when they began spreading the word that they had a beautifully-shot, wonderfully recorded and intelligently-presented – check out the timeline/song-selector at the bottom – multi-camera concert of a solo Mountain Goats show in Paris from October of this year. John Darnielle and company have yet to tour The Life Of The World To Come up this way – hopefully in the new year – so until then, this recording will have to suffice. And wholly impressed by this show, some digging through the archives revealed similarly high-quality performances from The Big Pink, The xx and Micachu, amongst others. Worth taking some time out to enjoy, and that club looks beautiful to shot in – tasteful smoke machine, front-lighting… my shutter button-finger is getting twitchy.

The Big Pink are at the Mod Club on March 24. The xx are at the Kool Haus on April 20.

Video: The Mountain Goats @ Point Ephémère, Paris – October 13, 2009
Video: The xx @ Point Ephémère, Paris – April 29, 2009
Video: The Big Pink @ Point Ephémère, Paris – April 29, 2009
Video: Micachu & The Shapes @ Point Ephémère, Paris – April 21, 2009

Also coming out of Paris are a couple more noteworthy performance courtesy of La Blogotheque – a Take-Away Show from The Antlers and a Soiree de poche (pocket evening?) from The Dodos.

A bit closer to home, Southern Souls have posted a new performance from Diamond Rings, who you have no shortage of opportunities to see live over the next while – he’s performing at the big Tranzac New Year’s Eve throwdown happening, um, New Year’s Eve at the Tranzac, then opening up for Owen Pallett at the Mod Club on January 12 then at the Roundhouse on February 11 as part of Wavelength 500. And now’s as good a time as any to remind you that The D’Urbervilles, aka Diamond Rings’ rock’n’roll outfit, are playing The Drake Underground tonight as part of What’s In The Box. Spinner talks to John O’Regan about how things are coming with The D’Urbs’ next record.

And finally, Ohbijou stopped in at Toro Magazine’s studios for a video performance of “Jailbird Blues”.