So you may notice the format of today’s post and the mp3 of the week are a little different – I’m trying out a way to do periodic special occasion mp3s of the week, mainly when I don’t feel like dragging out a theme over the span of many weeks (and won’t I feel stupid for doing this when I inevitable run out of material to post!). But anyway. This week’s special expanded version of the mp3 of the week is in tribute to Guided By Voices, who have opted to call it quits at the end of the year and are releasing their final album Half-Smiles Of The Decomposed this week. These tracks will stay up for a week and then that’s it, back to regularly scheduled programming.

I only got into GBV around Isolation Drills, after their ‘golden’ period of Bee Thousand through Under The Bushes, Under The Stars – you know, when they sold out and went mainstream (joke!). I go through periodic Pollard-intensive phases where I plow through everything of theirs/his I have (all the albums, a bunch of EPs, the Suitcase set, a few solo records) though even when I’m in the zone, I find the sheer amount of material, some of it quite throwaway, let’s be honest, pretty tough to wade through When you hit mother lode though, hoo boy. When the Human Amusement At Hourly Rates best-of came out last year, I thought, “Hey – alright, I can finally get a disc with all the best stuff on it for when I don’t feel like going through the entire album”. Then it was pointed out to me that I already own all this material on the albums and could just burn my own compilation CD. Um, right. I’m still a little peeved that they’re not coming back to T.O. for a date on the farewell tour, but I did get to seem them a couple years ago for UTAC at the Horseshoe (tiny club of capacity around 200) so I shouldn’t complain.

Anyway, y’all aren’t here to hear me prattle on so here’s the music:

We’ll start with GBV tour mates and drinking buddies (and Chromewaves whipping boys) The Strokes actually doing a good live version of “A Salty Salute”, Alien Lanes’ opening cut.	Scotland’s Delgados performed this super-quickie version of “Indian Fables” from the Fast Japanese Spin Cycle EP during a BBC session early on in their career.
Vancouver’s Salteens offer up a bubblegummed-up version of “Motor Away”, again from Alien Lanes…	…while Knoxville’s Superdrag (again, GBV tourmates) do a rocking live version of the same tune.
Another Alien Lanes double-shot, “Game Of Pricks”, this one less great all around. England’s My Vitriol do an overly angsty version of this great tune (a b-side from their Always Your Way single…	…While Jimmy Eat World go too straight rock on their version, which just appeared on the Future Soundtrack For America compilation. How hard is it to do a good cover of this tune?
And we’ll finish off with some fellow indie rock legends – As Portastatic, long-time GBV buddy and collaborator Mac McCaughan tackles Bee Thousand nugget “Echos Myron” live.	Fellow Ohian Kim Deal’s Breeders cover the super-brief but super-rocking “Shocker In Gloomtown”, taken from their Head To Toe 10″. The original appeared on The Grand Hour EP.

Guided By Voices are dead. Long live Guided By Voices.

Update: MP3s are gone now. Thank you, come again.

There is talk of re-releasing David O’Rusell’s Three Kings on the eve of the US election with additional documentary footage tying it in with the current Gulf War. Three Kings is easily one of the best war movies of the last decade (if not THE best) – if you haven’t seen it, you really should, whether it’s the new version or the old one. I’ve been meaning to get it on DVD for a while now, but since it looks like it’ll be coming out on DVD regardless of what happens with the theatrical release, I guess I’ll just wait a little bit.

Someone has stolen Edvard Munch’s “The Scream” from a gallery in Oslo. Now THAT is brazen. The London News Review lauds the crack security measures at the gallery.

Okay, comics in bit torrent format? Why haven’t I been downloading these before? Cuz I’m an idiot, that’s why. I’m currently raiding the Suprnova archives, and spent yesterday reading the entire run of Ultimate Spider-Man. CReader is a really nice reader program for the .cbr files and the image quality is really quite excellent. You get used to the scrolling, too. Any other good BT sites with a wide selection of digitized comic goodness?

The Canadian National (Comic Book) Expo hits town next weekend at the Metro Convention Centre, and The Toronto Star has some interviews with some of the higher-profile guest attendees. I used to go to scads of comiccons when I was a kid, back in the boom of the early 90s when there was a con almost every month somewhere in T.O. Admission was cheap and it was great fun raiding all the dealer tables for deals and back issues (the same back issues which clutter my room back at my parents’ house this very day). Now I look at the $20 admission fee and can’t imagine that I’d get that sort of value out of attending besides watching all the other attendees and thinking, “There but for the grace of God go I”. So I guess I’ll just comfort myself in the knowledge that both Patrick Stewart and George Takei are enjoying the hospitality of my town at the same time and continue downloading comics from the internet.

np – Wilco / Being There

Uncut lists ten reasons they love Sonic Youth, complete with pithy commentary from SY themselves. I, myself, am just now getting into this seminal band. I’ve had Daydream Nation for ages but didn’t feel compelled to get any more – until now. I guess you could say that I am starting to “get it”. It started when I happened across a clip of a track from their latest record Sonic Nurse and I was really taken by the intricacy of the music – this wasn’t the discordant squall of noise that I usually imagined when I thought of Sonic Youth. It fascinated me and I wanted to hear more. Mayhap both I and the band have grown to a point where we can communicate? I intend to find out.

I grabbed their effort before last Murray Street yesterday and find it quite engrossing – I think I needed to start listening to something outside my usual musical comfort zone and this is doing the job of expanding my horizons quite nicely, not to mention giving me all sorts of ideas for abusing the snot out of my my new Jazzmaster (not that new, it’s used and I got it a couple months ago). Expect to see more of thier catalog appearing in my recent purchases list over in the sidebar over the next while. I expected this to happen sooner or later – my roomate in first year university was a big fan so I spent eight months staring at a mondo-sized Sonic Youth poster (I tried to find an image of the exact poster, but to no avail). It had to have gotten into my subconscious at some level. Anyway, I’m just glad that most of their back catalog is plentifully available in the used shop and is muy cheap. And their website is nuts (check out their gearology, sheer madness) – though I’d expect nothing less.

The Alameda Times-Star interviews Steve Earle about his pants. And if you look over to my good ol’ blogroll, you’ll see that I’ve added a new blog from the man himself. I have my doubts as to his ability to keep it current, but it’s a nice touch. He mentions that touring to support The Revolution Starts… Now will begin in October but I don’t expect a Toronto date on this leg – he’s concentrating on states where he might be able to persuade the vote, which pretty much excludes foreign countries.

Oh, and another new celebrity blog in the link-list: Strong Sad is rocking his “Litany of Crushed Hopes and Dreams” again.

Tickets for the Wilco show October 9 show at Massey Hall go on sale Wednesday August 25 at 10:05 through Wilcoworld. TEN. OH. FIVE. Do not attempt to buy tickets before then. You will, uh, get a virus that will, uh, turn all your mp3s into Celine Dion’s “My Heart Will Go On”. Dance remix. You’ve been warned. Actually, I don’t know that they go on sale at 10AM – I am just assuming since that’s when they usually go on sale. Either way, Ticketmaster’s block goes on sale Friday the 27th.

The artwork from Matthew Sweet’s Living Things, out September 7.

Josephy Arthur has been named as support for REM when they swing through Toronto on November 10. That is not the push I needed to decide to attend (all due respect to Mr Arthur).

There was a going-away party for Five Seventeen last night to bid him adieu as he moves to Vancouver at the start of next month to open the west coast branch of the burgeoning Chromewaves empire. It was a good old fashioned house party, though it was a bit of a disappointment as Kid showed up but Play was nowhere to be seen.

np – Sonic Youth / Murray Street

Ever since my R.E.M. nostalgia kick a couple weeks back, I’ve been going through all their records giving them a re-evaluation. Hell, I’m even thinking about going to see them at the Hummingbird Centre on November 10 – if they get a solid opener, that could push me off the fence. Of course, if it was nostalgia I wanted, I should have gone to their greatest hits tour last year with Sparklehorse supporting. Anyway, here’s the Cole’s notes:

Murmur is still an amazing record. I remember them performing “Perfect Circle” on MTV Unplugged back in 91 or 92, and even though I didn’t know the song at the time it totally mesmerized me. I didn’t enjoy Reckoning as much as I thought I did. While “Harbourcoat” and “So. Central Rain” are still all-time faves, the rest of the material wasn’t quite as great as I remembered. Fables Of The Reconstruction is still my least favourite of the IRS era, but “Driver 8” is beyond reproach whereas Life’s Rich Pageant, for my money, is their loosest and most rocking affair. I’d forgotten how much I loved “Fall On Me”. Document – even though I wore my cassette copy out, I never really liked this record. The songs were too oblique and ‘difficult’. I still feel that way. Yeah, blasphemy.

Warner years: Green – Half great, half not so great, but the presence of “World Leader Pretend” and “Orange Crush” could elevate ANY record to respectability. Out Of Time was my gateway to the band and remains a sentimental fave. I think the best songs are the non-singles: “Texarkana”, “Country Feedback”, “Belong”, “Near Wild Heaven”, “Half A World Away”. Mike Mills really needs to step up to the mic more. Automatic For The People is near perfection from start to finish. “Find The River” is the most beautiful album closer, like, EVER (note – I will in no way debate or defend that last statement). Monster wasn’t as awful as I’d remembered, but the whole thing still sounds overly same-y and plodding. “What’s The Frequency, Kenneth” and “Star 69” are great and “Let Me In” always did get to me (in a good way). As I’ve said, New Adventures In Hi-Fi is my favourite Warners album. I love the wide variety of styles that keep things interesting. Don’t ask me to pick favourite tracks, I think I like almost every song on this record. Really. Up is the first post-Berry record, similar in feel and eclecticism to Hi-Fi. While not reaching the same overall level of quality, it’s still surprisingly solid. “At My Most Beautiful” is aptly titled and “Walk Unafraid” has got teeth. While Up was a pleasant surprise, Reveal was as big a let-down as I’d remembered. It sounds flat and uninterested. The only decent song was the first single “Imitation Of Life” and that’s the sort of song they could write in their sleep.

I have no idea what to expect from Around The Sun, out October 5, but if the first single “Around The Sun” is any indication, there’s less of the smothering electronics of Reveal but it’s still a laid-back affair. Hrmm. Two REM-centric posts in two weeks. Sorry, it just happened that way.

And now for something slightly different.

Goth-Country chaunteuse Jesse Sykes & The Sweet Hereafter are at the Rivoli September 26 with localers The Great Lakes Swimmers as support.

Le Tigre are at The Guvernment October 25, touring for the first time on a major-label’s nickel (they now call Universal Records home). Their new album The Island is out October 19. You notice how I didn’t call them “riot grrls” or “ex-riot grrls”? That was intentional.

Pinback are at the Horseshoe October 19, tickets $13 and go on sale September 9 (though their website says they’re playing Lee’s. Either/or). Their new record Summer in Abaddon will be out on Touch And Go on October 12.

Touch and Go also have the video for The New Year’s “Disease”, off of The End Is Near. Though utterly simplistic, I found it riveting. How can these guys not have a Fender endorsement deal? Some major Telecaster loving going on there. As for what the band is up to, their Shows page says “The band has been asked to do a festival in Spain, a tour of China, shows in France, Holland, Canada, England, Scotland, Sweden, Norway, etc.

Maybe the festival in Spain in November for now… We’ll see.” So the likelihood of them playing Canada is on par with them doing a tour of China? Greaaaaat. But on the plus side, they have t-shirts for sale on their website, cheap. $11 US shipped! Nice.

If you didn’t surf through the comments in yesterday’s post (And why not? That’s where the good stuff is! Witty reparte!), you may have missed this tidbit from Five Seventeen – Absolutely Kosher is going to releasing a The Arms of his “ill”, a 7-song, 10″ EP (yeah, vinyl) of Hidden Cameras four-track recordings. It’s strictly limited to 1000 copies and can be pre-ordered from the label’s website. As an enticement, they’ve posted an mp3 of the four-track version of “Builds The Bone” from Mississauga Goddam. The link off the website is busted – use this one.

The Onion AV Club asks Steve Earle when he’s going to get back to writing chick songs and gets a great interview in response. From Hold My Life.

I just heard that The Strokes’ live album slated to come out in October has been cancelled. Hey guys, I’m sorry I made fun of you. You don’t have to take your ball and go home, though. Ah, what do I care.

And now for something completely different.

Conspiracy theory? What conspiracy theory? Rigorous Institution has compiled a massive list of 9/11 and Bush clan ‘coincidences’ that frankly, if even a fraction are true, is pretty damned terrifying.

So. Very. Wrong. From The Beat.

np – Drive-By Truckers / Decoration Day

Check it out – Yahoo Movies has the first trailer for the new Wes Anderson film, The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou. It’s got a whole host of Anderson regulars (though no Kumar Pallana) and from the trailer, it looks pretty damn funny. And New Order’s “Ceremony” soundtracking it? Perfection. I’m waiting for the official soundtrack to be released to see what bands the patronage of Wes Anderson will elevate from obscurity to uber-hipness. The movie comes out December 1.

Here are some other things coming to the cinema this Fall worth getting excited about – is there anything I’m missing? The release date lists only seem to go as far as October.

The rumour mill places Morrissey at the Hummingbird Centre on October 12. This is not confirmed, don’t go camp out for tickets yet. Or actually, do – I’ll bike by and laugh at you. Update: All signs are pointing to this information being correct. So NOW you can go grab your sleeping bags and annoy the employees at Ticketmaster.

Not a rumour – some BC talent coming to town. Victoria’s Frog Eyes are at the Horseshoe September 27 ($7.00) and Vancouver’s The Organ on October 23 ($8.50).

I’m really not normally one to nitpick reviews, but this line from Pitchfork’s review of The Hidden Cameras’ Mississauga Goddam had me doing a double-take: “Named for a dam in Gibb’s suburban Ontario hometown…”. Um, is he serious? Because if not, he forgot to make up a punchline for the joke. And if he is serious… well, he’s an idiot. Surely the press release mentioned it being a tribute to Nina Simone’s “Mississippi Goddam”? Because only EVERY other review and article on the planet has mentioned it. Either way, this is the lowest review for a Toronto band from PF in ages – I guess the honeymoon is over. Someone probably didn’t like being peed on.

Take a sneak peak at the artwork for Luna’s Rendezvous, out October 26.

Merge is re-releasing Camera Obscura’s debut record Biggest Bluest Hi-Fi on October 12.

Largehearted Boy yesterday pointed out Being There, a new online mag with fine taste in music and film. Features in the first issue? Pieces on Joel Plaskett, Stephin Merritt and the Coen Brothers. Yes.

So I got my copy of More Adventurous yesterday, just a day later than the rest of the world. As good as the mp3s sounded, the album sounds even better through my stereo – the production on this record is great. Jenny Lewis’ voice has really come into its own with this record and sounds more confident and emotive than ever before. The album does tail off a little towards the second half but it’s still very very good – like year-end list good. It’s always so satisfying to see a band take that step to realizing their potential, to go from a good band to a great band. I think that with this record Rilo Kiley have made that leap and are destined for greatness, or at least a spot on The O.C. soundtrack. I also think that as good as this record is, they’ve got an even better one in them yet – and that’s even more exciting to contemplate than them soundtracking a makeout session between… um, that guy on The O.C. – the geeky one – and that girl. The really skinny one from The Sixth Sense. You know who I’m talking about. Okay, okay – I don’t watch the show, excuse me for trying to be current. Howabout “a makeout session between Joanie and Chachi”? Is that better? It’s probably not a good thing that I knew Joanie and Chachi were Erin Moran and Scott Baio without even having to look it up, is it. Hrmm. I think I’ve said too much. Where’s the off button on this thing?

np – Rilo Kiley / More Adventurous

Said The Gramophone has the first single from the new Delgados album, Universal Audio, up for grabs right now. I’d heard a snippet of “Everybody Come Down” from the Chemikal website about a month ago and was taken aback by how clean it sounded – really pop-sounding and production-wise, miles away from their recent Fridmann-ized epic albums, The Great Eastern and Hate. I’m glad they’ve decided to take a step back from the huge washes of sound that defined those records – they sounded majestic but the sonics did threaten to overwhelm the songs at times. As for the poppiness, hey – I’m the last guy on the planet who’s going to argue with a hook. As the band puts it, “the new album is a big, stomping beast of an affair – guitars and vocals to the fore and by all accounts, it’s our long-awaited ‘pop’ album”. Sounds good to me. If you want to hear more, Chemikal has a 50-second clip of “Is This All That I Came For?” and there’s a 30-second clip of “I Fought The Angels” on their website if you sign up for their mailing list. Also fun is all four band members are keeping a blog on their site (Alun hasn’t made an entry yet – slacker). Universal Audio comes out in North America September 28 and they’re at Lee’s Palace with Crooked Fingers October 23.

BBC1 talks to Steve Earle about making his most political album yet, The Revolution Starts… Now, out next Tuesday. He’ll also be hosting a weekly radio show of the same name on the fledgling Air America radio station starting August 22 at 10pm, wherein he plays music and interviews guests. We don’t get that station up here but it is streamable off their website – and I think I’ll actually have to try and tune in. That could be some good stuff. BBC link from LHB.

New download in the Wilco roadcase – a live version of “Spiders (Kidsmoke)”, recorded June 12 at The Vic in Chicago. It’s a big one – 13 MB – and a long one – 11 minutes – but anyone who hates the album version of the song needs to hear it live, it truly kicks ass.

The Stills are at the Mod Club October 2. I don’t like the Stills so that’s all I’ll say about that. Update: Okay, that was a lie. I’ll also say this: Jason Collett of Broken Social Scene opens and tickets go on sale August 21 at 10AM for $15. NOW I’m done.

Currently tops on the “blogged to death” list – ESPN’s Bill Simmons & Chuck Klosterman back-and-forth. After reading Sex, Drugs & Cocoa Puffs, I would count myself among Mr Klosterman’s fans. I don’t know who this Bill Simmons guy is, but this is some funny stuff.

The local shops did not have the new Rilo Kiley yesterday. Yeah, I have the mp3s but it’s not the same. Naturally, the rest of the blogosphere is all agog about it (Largehearted Boy, Stereogum and Whatevs, I’m looking in your direction) – I’m feeling a bit like the poor cousin at the family reunion whose family can’t afford shoes so I wear Kleenex boxes instead. Except they’re not even Kleenex, they’re like some cheap Kleenex knock-off that have to call themselves “disposable handkerchiefs” or some shit. Boooo for late distribution. This wouldn’t have happened if they’d have just signed with a major label like they were rumoured to have. Don’t they know that the major labels (or is it now down to label, singular?) always get things done right? Sheesh. Anyway, I’ll try again Friday. If it’s still not in, someone’s gonna get hurt.

Speaking of getting hurt – woke up last night in the middle of the night, had a screaming muscle spasm in my left calf, fell right back asleep. What the hell is that?

np – Rhett Miller / The Instigator