Michael LavineI had thought that their Condo Fucks excursion earlier this year would represent Yo La Tengo’s recorded output for 2009 – after all, crafting a recording of such depth and intricacy has to be exhausting for a band, mentally, emotionally and physically. But as it turns out, that was just a warm-up and Hoboken’s finest will release a proper new collection of tunes this Fall in the form of Popular Songs.

From the write-up in the official bio, it sounds like the band are continuing on with the “everything goes” aesthetic that made 2006’s I Am Not Afraid Of You And I Will Beat Your Ass such a welcome return to form, after a couple of pretty but overly snoozy albums to open the century. Expect sharp pop songs, extended jammed-out excursions and tender balladry, expect them to make preorders worth your while, expect touring this Fall and expect the record to be out September 8.

And expect the first MP3 released to sound exactly like this.

MP3: Yo La Tengo – “Periodically Double Or Triple”

Yo La labelmates Sonic Youth will release their new album The Eternal next week, and are currently streaming it all on iLike. And be forewarned, PitchforkTV is marking the occasion by declaring next week to be Sonic Youth Week – there’ll be video content galore. Canada.com talks to Lee Ranaldo, The Guardian to the whole band and you can look for Sonic Youth at Massey Hall on June 30.

Stream: Sonic Youth / The Eternal

Currently on PitchforkTV is the entirety of Jarvis Cocker’s set at last year’s Pitchfork Festival, and there’s not much to say to that besides, “JARVIS COME TO TORONTO”. The Age has an interview.

Incidentally, the lineup to Virgin Festival BC was announced yesterday, and both Jarvis Cocker and Sonic Youth are part of it. But before you think that the festival’s good name has recovered from the Montreal fiasco, note that the BC headliners are Ben Harper and Our Lady Peace. So feel free to continue to despair, and no, I won’t be buying a plane ticket to Vancouver for that weekend. And they still have to announce Calgary before they get to Ontario, so it’ll probably be a couple weeks before we know what they’ve got in store for us come the end of August.

Dean Wareham talks to the Live Arts & Fringe Festival blog, Decider, QRO and Philadelphia Weekly about memoirs and Warhol, amongst other things. And via A Head Full Of Wishes, check out this video of Dean reading maybe the greatest Luna fan letter ever.

Dinosaur Jr and their stunt doubles unwind a bit (and fall down) while on tour in the new video from Farm, out June 23.

Video: Dinosaur Jr – “Over It”

NOW, The Times, Rolling Stone, The Montreal Mirror and hour.ca talk to Grizzly Bear, playing a sold-out show at the Phoenix tonight.

Interview interviews Bjork.

Maximo Park’s Paul Smith tells NME about needing strategically reinforced suits for live performance. See him not split his crotch while doing a jump at Lee’s Palace on September 18.

Austin’s Ume have plotted a tour up and down American en route to Toronto for NxNE in a couple weeks, where they’ll play Neutral on Thursday, June 18 at 10PM. They’ve also made available another MP3 from their Sunshower EP available to download.

MP3: Ume – “Pendulum”

Gemma Hayes recently released a new digital EP and made a video for the title track.

Video: Gemma Hayes – “Oliver”

Singing Lamb talks to Lucas Jensen of Venice Is Sinking.

The Rural Alberta Advantage is conducting an interesting project over at Kickstarter.com wherein they’re soliciting donations to record and press a super-limited edition 7″ single that their backers will be able to take home for their very own. There’s also various tiers of support – for example, chip in a measly $3K and the RAA will come to your home and play you your own show. They’re running this campaign for a couple months, almost exactly until their July 30 show at the Horseshoe to mark the release of Hometowns on Saddle Creek July 7.

Billboard talks to drummer Jody Stephens about the forthcoming Big Star box set Keep An Eye On The Sky, due out September 15.

Beatroute interviews Malajube, who’ll be playing a free show at Lee’s Palace on June 12.

Their June 16 show at Lee’s is already sold out, but if you’re ducat-less, fear not – Passion Pit have already scheduled another show at the Phoenix for August 11, tickets $15. I guess they were really serious about making up each of those canceled shows from earlier this year.

MP3: Passion Pit – “Sleepyhead”
Video: Passion Pit – “Sleepyhead”

Boston’s Drug Rug have a date at the Horseshoe on August 18.

MP3: Drug Rug – “Day I Die”

Words? Mono and Maserati don’t need no stinking words – just volume and grandeur, and they’ll prove it October 2 at Lee’s Palace.

MP3: Mono – “Follow The Map”
MP3: Mono – “Ashes In The Snow”
MP3: Maserati – “The World Outside”
Video: Mono – “Follow The Map”
Video: Maserati – “This Is A Sight We Had One Day From The High Mountain”

And congratulations to Scott Marchi, who won the contest for the National t-shirt.

Leigh RightonVancouver fuzz-merchant duo Japandroids chose an interesting way to celebrate the release of their new album Post-Nothing and the attendant “Best New Music” laurels bestowed upon it by Pitchfork – they cancelled nearly their entire scheduled Spring tour.

Okay “chose” is probably the wrong word, as singer-guitarist Brian King probably didn’t decide this was the perfect time to suffer a perforated ulcer and go in for emergency surgery. But that’s what happened, and so nearly a month’s worth of dates were scrapped but almost immediately rescheduled – Pitchfork has the new dates, including a July 16 date at the El Mocambo in Toronto to make up for the nixed May 9 date.

In the meantime, they can try and keep up with the increased media interest that this record is sure to generate – witness them already on the cover of the latest Exclaim. There’s also interviews with them at JAM and View, while Metro talks to them in the context of what it identifies as a new trend of “lo-fi” bands.

MP3: Japandroids – “Young Hearts Spark Fire”
Video: Japandroids – “Heart Sweats”
MySpace: Japandroids

Exclaim! and Chart talk to Dog Day about new album Concentration. They’re at Lee’s on May 28.

Metric week continues at Drowned In Sound as the band plays tour guide – bassist Josh Winstead relates his favourite things about New York City and guitarist Jimmy Shaw does the same for Toronto.

NOW features The Dears, kicking of their North American tour at the Mod Club tonight.

Fucked Up will be hosting a night of what’s sure to be musical mayhem at the Phoenix on July 16 with a bill that will include Women and Vivian Girls amongst others still to be announced. There’s features on the band at Vue and Uptown.

MP3: Fucked Up – “No Epiphany” (No Age remix)
MP3: Fucked Up – “No Epiphany”
MP3: Fucked Up – “Twice Born”

The Los Angeles Record gets the boys from No Age to interview Bob Mould. No Age will be in town in June for NxNE – specifics still forthcoming.

Aquarium Drunkard interviews James McNew of Condo Fucks.

NPR has a World Cafe session with School Of Seven Bells.

The Guardian profiles St Vincent’s Annie Clark. Her new record Actor is out next week.

John Vanderslice has let loose another MP3 from Romanian Names, out May 19.

MP3: John Vanderslice – “Too Much Time”

M Ward stops by MPR for a session. Metro also offers up an interview.

Magnet offers an over/under analysis of The Hold Steady’s five most over- and underrated songs. Some of those songs make an appearance in the band’s session recorded for Daytrotter during SxSW, which is now available to download (or will be later today – will link when it’s up). Update: There we go.

Paste goes Bob Dylan-crazy on the occasion of his new album’s release. Together Through Life came out earlier this week and is streaming at Spinner.

Stream: Bob Dylan / Together Through Life

Metromix talks to Stephin Merritt about his score for the stage version of Neil Gaiman’s Coraline.

I like how much I’ve been able to swear in today’s post, and none if it was me being profane.

The IndependentThough not a performer, Neil Young’s presence was keenly felt down at SxSW last week. The man himself was in town showing off his LincVolt electric car which is serving as inspiration for his forthcoming album Fork In The Road, due April 7, and for which he continues to crank out many high-quality promo videos. I’m a little bit concerned that the songs are starting to grow on me just a bit.

Director Jonathan Demme was also on hand to talk about Neil Young Truck Show, his forthcoming Neil documentary and second following 2006’s Heart Of Gold. Rolling Stone has details on the deliberately rough and DIY-aesthetic film, which should be finished post-production for a 2009 unveiling.

But the most exciting piece of news revealed last week was the announcement by Neil’s manager Elliott Roberts of an official release date for Archives Volume 1 – June 2. I know many release dates have come and gone over the years but this seems for real. The massive collection will be available as an 8-CD set for $99, a 10-DVD set for $199 and a 10-BluRay set for $299 (suggested prices in US dollars). Needless to say, the more you spend, the more you get. Billboard has details.

Video: Neil Young – “Cough Up The Bucks”
Video: Neil Young – “Light A Candle”
Video: Neil Young – “Johnny Magic” (Magic Sun)
Video: Neil Young – “Johnny Magic” (LincVolt)
Video: Neil Young – “Fork In The Road”
Trailer: Neil Young / Archives Volume 1

Wilco’s Jeff Tweedy talks to GQ about their new album, due out in June, and the Ashes Of American Flags DVD being released April 18. Creative Loafing has an interview with the director of the doc, Brendan Canty.

Spinner has an MP3 from Bob Mould’s new record Life And Times, out April 17.

MP3: Bob Mould – “City Lights (Days Go By)”

Dinosaur Jr have completed work on their new album Farm and will release it on June 23. Pitchfork has more on that.

Ira Kaplan comes clean to The Hartford Advocate about the mysterious relationship between Condo Fucks and Yo La Tengo. Fuckbook is out now and streamable in its entirety.

Stream: Condo Fucks / Fuckbook

Also out now and doing the stream thing is The Decemberists’ latest The Hazards Of Love. Magnet Q&As Colin Meloy about the new record.

Stream: The Decemberists / The Hazards of Love

Pitchfork has an interview with Neko Case, who herself has a new video. She’s at Trinity-St Paul’s on April 17 and 18.

Video: Neko Case – “People Got A Lotta Nerve”

The National Post has an interview with Leonard Cohen, whose Live In London double-album is out next week but which you can stream right now at NPR. He plays Copps Coliseum in Hamilton on May 19.

Stream: Leonard Cohen / Live In London

Magnet plays over-under with R.E.M., selecting their five most over- and underrated songs.

Great Lake Swimmers have released a new video from their forthcoming album Lost Channels, out next Tuesday. They play the Queen Elizabeth Theatre on April 25. Vue has an interview with Tony Dekker.

Video: Great Lake Swimmers – “Pulling On A Line”

Chart and NOW have features on Julie Doiron, who’s playing the Horseshoe tonight in support of her new album I Can Wonder What You Did With Your Day.

And to follow up yesterday’s post, tickets for the first NYC Radio Dept show are on sale and I have one. Travel that weekend has been made easier by the fact that I won’t be attending Primavera Sound the following week – got offered media but NOT a photo pass and I don’t think I could go all that way (and pay all that money) and not be able to shoot. My head would quite literally explode. But hey, word is Jarv will be coming to North America to promote the new record so, worst case, I fly somewhere closer (and less exotic, yes) to see him assuming he doesn’t shaft T.O. again. That’s Toronto. Not Terrell Owens. Though he’s in Buffalo now, so at least that’d be more geographically convenient.

Okay I’m going to shut up now.

Frank YangEven before setting foot in the Opera House on Tuesday night, you knew it wasn’t going to be a typical evening – security wasn’t bothering to check anyone’s ID, as the odds of someone underage wanting to sneak into a Tindersticks were pretty much slim to none. The audience for the veteran Brits, on their first North American tour in half a decade in support of their first album in just as long – last year’s The Hungry Saw – skewed older to say the least.

Support on the Canadian dates were Montreal’s Elfin Saddle, a duo expanded to trio for live performance and whose principals set up seated behind small fortresses of unusual musical instruments. They sounded like what you might expect to hear if you were traversing the hills of medieval England and just happened to stumble across a Japanese temple built into a Gregorian monastery – a strange and fascinating combination of Eastern and Western sounds from long ago, not so much blended as tied together with wire and string. Definitely unique.

I’ve fully admitted to being a Tindersticks neophyte, but after their show I can also declare myself a total convert. They began with each player taking the stage one by one as they built up “Introduction”, the instrumental opener from The Hungry Saw, from nothing to perfection and thus set the tone for the night and that tone was one of effortless elegance. The seven-piece band of guitar, bass, drums, keys, horns and of course Stuart Staples’ inimitable croon were the very definition of class up there, grand yet understated, in creating an atmosphere like a suspended breath or the very last dance of the evening – like one of those fleeting moments you want to last forever.

And while not forever, their 90-minute set still felt like a gift, one which the enraptured crowd didn’t take for granted if their almost utter silence throughout the show was any indication (enthusiastic applause aside). Though Staples’ interaction with the audience was minimal – we got a “hello” and an “I already said hello” – it was obvious from the looks on he and founding guitarist Neil Fraser that they were fully enjoying this return to action after so long away. The setlist – punctuated with lovely instrumental interludes throughout – drew heavily on The Hungry Saw, so even though my knowledge of their catalog was limited the show still felt warm and enveloping. And as for the songs I didn’t know, while their words and melodies may have been unfamiliar, their language of sumptuous melancholy was one I’m quite fluent in and nothing was lost in translation. Simply a stunning show, top to bottom.

eye also has a review of the performance. The San Francisco Examiner has an interview with Stuart Staples, hour.ca talks to Elfin Saddle.

Photos: Tindersticks, Elfin Saddle @ The Opera House – March 10, 2009
MP3: Tindersticks – “The Hungry Saw”
MP3: Elfin Saddle – “Temple Daughter”
Video: Tindersticks – “Can Our Love…”
Video: Tindersticks – “Traveling Light”
Video: Tindersticks – “The Art Of Lovemaking”
Video: Tindersticks – “Rented Rooms”
Video: Tindersticks – “Dying Slowly”
Video: Tindersticks – “Can We Start Again?”
Video: Tindersticks – “No More Affairs”
Video: Tindersticks – “City Sickness”
MySpace: Tindersticks

Beirut have made a date for the Phoenix on July 9 with The Dodos as support. Tickets are on sale Saturday at 10AM, and will cost $25.

Matador continues to build the mythology of Yo La Tengo the Condo Fucks with a short documentary film entitled Straight Outta Connecticut. The Fuckbook album is out March 24.

MP3: Condo Fucks – “Whathca Gonna Do About It?”

The Tripwire and Newsweek have conversations with Bob Mould about his new album The Life & Times, out April 7. You can stream the first single over at Anti-blog.

NPR has an acoustic session with School Of Seven Bells.

The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart are releasing a new 7″ on March 31, the a-side of which you can download below, perhaps as an excuse to continue touring – they’re at Lee’s Palace on April 28. They’re also playing every show and showcase at SxSW next week. I was going to play a little game called “Try not to see POBPAH in Austin” but that would pretty much require me to not leave my hotel, and even then I don’t think I’d be safe.

MP3: The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart – “Young Adult Friction”

Filter has posted online their recent cover story featuring a meeting of the minds between Elvis Costello and Jenny Lewis.

Clash talks to Colin Meloy of The Decemberists about their new album The Hazards Of Love, out March 24.

The Boston Herald and The Varsity interview AC Newman while Philadelphia Weekly gets him to review some of his reviews.

Forest City Lovers say hello with both a new download, a live acoustic track from a few years back, and a lovely new video. Kat Burns is playing a solo show at Rolly’s Garage on April 4 before the band heads out on a European tour (!). Their next local show is June 27 at the Tranzac for the Zunior anniversary. Burns gives Anika In London her guide to Toronto.

MP3: Forest City Lovers – “Oh Humility” (live)
Video: Forest City Lovers – “Song For Morrie”

NOW talks to Handsome Furs’ Dan Boeckner. They’re at the Horseshoe tomorrow night.

eye interviews Malajube, who play the El Mocambo tonight.

The Playlist rounds up some of the musical developments in the Scott Pilgrim film.

Marius HansenLast July, I was introduced to Spanish site Buffet Libre on account of their releasing a massive compilation of covers – mainly of ’80s pop tunes – by a slew of artists I’d mostly never heard of, but also the likes of Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin and Electric Soft Parade. That was only the first salvo, however, and they’ve rung in the new year with part the second – another massive batch of covers, this one featuring the likes of Headlights, Au Revoir Simone and Amiina… and a whole pile of bands I’ve never heard of. Lots to wade through, and a bit fortuitously timed since I was just soliciting cover versions a couple days ago.

So why the picture of Ms Charlotte Hatherley, who does not appear on the aforementioned comp? Well hearing Headlights’ sleepy cover of XTC’s “Making Plans For Nigel” reminded me how much I enjoyed Hatherley’s own take on Swindon’s favourite sons in “This Is Pop”, recorded for a radio session in 2007. And it also reminded me to check on the progress of her third album, and what do you know? It’s completed and has a title – Cinnabar City – and is set for release in the first part of this year. According to the flowery language of the official release, it was tracked in a single week in London, has uber-producer Alan Moulder’s fingerprints on it in some capacity (probably mixing) and features “prog-pop, pop-punk and electro-junk”. Alls I know is that I’ve really enjoyed both Grey Will Fade and The Deep Blue, so whenever this one sees the light of day, I’ll be there.

Rewinding (ahem) a moment back to Champaign, Illinois’ finest pop band, Headlights, they released a remix record in the cryptically-titled Remixes late last year. It’s limited to 1000 copies so if you want, move it. All racing, no stopping.

I’ll tie up this twisty bit of blog with a trio of XTC covers – Hatherley’s, Headlights’ and SSLYBY’s from the first Rewind comp – and point you to XTC’s MySpace blog, which features extensive interviews with both Andy Partridge and Colin Moulding about a different song of theirs each week… and they’ve been doing this since October 2006. I know some of y’all are crazy XTC fans, so if this is news to you, consider your day/week wasted. You’re welcome.

MP3: Charlotte Hatherley – “This Is Pop”
MP3: Headlights – “Making Plans For Nigel”
MP3: Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin – “Another Satellite”

The AV Club talks to Death Cab’s Ben Gibbard while Alternative Press has an interview with Chris Walla. I somehow doubt that Walla is going to get his wish for a louder, angrier Death Cab – becoming Mr Zoey Deschanel isn’t really the sort of thing that’d press Gibbard’s “rage” buttons.

Paste declares Gemma Hayes their artist of the week.

Matador continues to play “what the fuck” in announcing the release of a Condo Fucks album in March entitled Fuckbook. The Condo Fucks are a long-running joke alias for Yo La Tengo and it’s unclear if this is actually a new YLT record, an actual YLT side-project record or just an excuse for the Beggars Group to add yet another Fuck band to their roster though I have to say, if they’re not from Toronto – fictionally or otherwise – the critical acclaim isn’t guaranteed.

MP3: Condo Fucks – “Whatcha Gonna Do About It”

NPR profiles Blitzen Trapper, in town at the Horseshoe on February 21.

New York Press and The Daily Record talk to Glasvegas, whose self-titled debut gets a North American release today.

Daytrotter has a session with Thao.

Pitchfork interviews Love Is All’s Josephine Olausson.