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 YangThere’s hiatuses and there’s hiatuses. The first being the sort where a group needs a break from one another to recharge their batteries, try out new things and eventually, return to one another refreshed and ready for another go; the latter being code for “we’ve split up but don’t want to field questions about so just leave us alone”. For whatever reason, though it was officially for reason the first, when Belle & Sebastian announced they were going on a break following 2006′s The Life Pursuit, I had the dread feeling that the truth was closer to reason the second. Why, I don’t know, but compilation albums and side-projects, however enjoyable on their own merits, don’t always bode well.

So joy was the best word to describe my reaction when word came this Spring that the band’s hiatus was as only as long as some band’s usual between-album gaps and were returning to the studio to record their eighth album. Clearly, I have some bias with regards to the fruits of those sessions – Write About Love, out this week – but I think that even the objective would admit that it’s as strong a record as any they band have released in the second phase (post-Fold Your Hands) of their career. For starters, it immediately adds two songs to any potential best-of career compilation; lead-off track “I Didn’t See It Coming” and first single “I Want The World To Stop”, both of which feature the band in absolute top form in terms of arrangement, musicianship, and the refinement of the Northern soul stylings that has defined their work since “twee” ceased being an appropriate descriptor.

Though those are the clear pinnacles of the record, there’s little in the way of weak spots or filler elsewhere – not something I’d say about any of their last few efforts. On the whole it sounds as though they’ve mellowed a bit and the token attempts to rock out – which never felt quite right – have been shelved in favour of more thoughtful moments that fit much better, not unlike a warm, worn cardigan. Stuart Murdoch’s experimenting with different female vocalists on God Help The Girl also carries over with the presence of Norah Jones on “Little Lou, Ugly Jack, Prophet John” and actress Carey Mulligan on the album’s title track, both bringing something different from usual female vocalist Sarah Martin. Subjectivity demands that everyone has different things they’ll dislike or find wanting about Write About Love – too much of this, not enough of that, WTF Norah Jones – but what’s not up for debate is that eight albums on, Belle & Sebastian are finding ways to keep themselves sounding fresh and interested without tampering with their fundamental strengths and appeal and the world is a better place for it.

So with that out of the way, let’s get to Wednesday night at Massey Hall – the band’s first visit in under a fortnight. And while in Vegas their de facto openers were Spoon and Superchunk, and other cities on the tour have gotten Teenage Fanclub, The Vaselines or Dean & Britta, Toronto got Toronto’s Zeus. This isn’t a complaint, per se – though ubiquitous on city stages over the past year or so in support of their debut Say Us, I’ve managed to have never seen them live before so though it wasn’t Dean Wareham playing Galaxie 500, it was one thing to check off my to-do list. And I’ll have to see them again, not because they blew me away but because I think I need to give them a second chance to make a first impression. For whatever reason, they weren’t sounding great up there with vocals off-key and noticeable instrumental flubs, and for a band who you could tell is normally super-tight vocally and musically – their ’70s-indebted radio rock style of songwriting demands it – the flaws were particularly conspicuous. Not that the band let it rattle them, if they even noticed – they were totally chilled out on stage and didn’t appear intimidated by the setting in the slightest. When they were on, which was most of the time, they were fine. I just suspect they’re normally a fair bit better.

Unlike Belle & Sebastian’s Vegas show where the band came out of the blocks at full speed, Tuesday’s show started from a standing stop. Leading off with Write‘s quietest number, “Read The Blessed Pages”, they followed up with the title track of the new record delivered with less energy than it deserved, leading me to worry that this might turn out to be a rare off night for both the support and headliners. But as the adage goes, “slow and steady wins the race” so it’s fitting that it was with beloved b-side “The Loneliness Of A Middle Distance Runner”, egged on by the most polite stage rush ever, the show found another gear and set course for greatness. That greatness was realized just one song later with “I Want The World To Stop” which was met with an enthusiasm that one rarely hears for a brand-new song – enthusiasm and dancing. The mass at the foot of the stage was a steady mass of bouncing and swaying and on stage, Murdoch had found his groove and was doing a sort of faux-running man dance, henceforth called “The Stu”, that he’d keep up for pretty much the rest of the show.

And for the rest of the night, it was highlight after highlight. The unexpected orchestral open to “Sukie In The Graveyard” where he pulled a dance partner out of the audience, the half-dozen dancers invited up for “Boy With The Arab Strap” including one girl who couldn’t have been more than 10 that invited herself onstage and stole the show, their well-intentioned butchering of a Kinks cover request, the tossing of Dollarama-sourced, forgot-to-be-autographed footballs into the audience, the wealth of non-album singles and b-sides in the set plus a half verse of “This Is Just A Modern Rock Song” in response to another request (until Stuart forgot the words)… it was simply bliss. Which is why it was strange to look around the balconies and galleries of Massey Hall and see people sitting placid and stony-faced through much of the show – the ovations that followed each song certainly made it sound like the sold-out house was loving it, but you wouldn’t know it by looking. Still, there’d be no staying in one’s seat when an unexpected read of “Simple Things” led into a glorious and technicolour “Sleep The Clock Around” – it was a blast of undiluted aural joy that carried over into the Sinister encore double-shot of “Judy and The Dream Of Horses” and “Me and The Major”. Any fears of a sub-par show from the slow start were beyond unfounded – anywhere Belle & Sebastian go, magic is sure to follow. It’s always nice to be reminded that one of the most important bands of your life are still vital and wonderful after almost 15 years at it. Did I already sort of say that? Well it bears repeating – Belle + Sebastian = love.

Panic Manual, Exclaim, BlogTO, Chart, NOW, The Globe & Mail and eye also have reviews of the show. San Francisco Weekly has an interview with Stuart Murdoch. With their Massey Hall appearance out of the way, Zeus have announced a show a little more their scale on December 3 at the Horseshoe.

Photos: Belle & Sebastian, Zeus @ Massey Hall – October 12, 2010
MP3: Belle & Sebastian – “Write About Love”
MP3: Belle & Sebastian – “Funny Little Frog”
MP3: Belle & Sebastian – “Another Sunny Day”
MP3: Belle & Sebastian – “Take Your Carriage Clock And Shove It”
MP3: Belle & Sebastian – “Storytelling”
MP3: Zeus – “Marching Through Your Head”
Video: Belle & Sebastian – “I Want The World To Stop”
Video: Belle & Sebastian – “White Collar Boy”
Video: Belle & Sebastian – “The Blues Are Still Blue”
Video: Belle & Sebastian – “Funny Little Frog”
Video: Belle & Sebastian – “Wrapped Up In Books”
Video: Belle & Sebastian – “I’m A Cuckoo”
Video: Belle & Sebastian – “Step Into My Office Baby”
Video: Belle & Sebastian – “Jonathan David”
Video: Belle & Sebastian – “Jonathan David” (70s version)
Video: Belle & Sebastian – “The Wrong Girl”
Video: Belle & Sebastian – “Legal Man”
Video: Belle & Sebastian – “This Is Just A Modern Rock Song”
Video: Belle & Sebastian – “Is It Wicked Not To Care?”
Video: Belle & Sebastian – “Dirty Dream #2″
Video: Belle & Sebastian – “Lazy Line Painter Jane”
Video: Belle & Sebastian – “Dog On Wheels”
Video: Zeus – “How Does It Feel”
Video: Zeus – “Marching Through Your Head”
MySpace: Belle & Sebastian
MySpace: Zeus

I really don’t mean to keep tying Isobel Campbell items with those of her former bandmates, but that just keeps happening. For example, halfway through the show last night I got word that she would be playing an in-store at Criminal Records on October 20 at 6PM, sans singing partner Mark Lanegan, before their show at Lee’s Palace that night. Washington City Paper has a short chat with Campbell.

Video: Isobel Campbell & Mark Lanegan – “You Won’t Let Me Down Again”

Clash and Houston Press talk to Eugene Kelly and Frances McKee of The Vaselines, respectively. They’re at The Horseshoe on October 30.

Johnny Flynn’s show at Lee’s Palace, originally scheduled for next Monday night, has been given a new date of November 14. Tickets for next week’s show are still good for the new date.

Travis frontman Fran Healy will bring his new solo record Wreckorder to the Mod Club on November 26, tickets $29.50.

Video: Fran Healy – “Buttercups”

British Sea Power have announced the title of their new record via YouTube. Look for Valhalla Dancehall – a BSP title if ever there was one – in January of next year.

Spinner talks to La Roux’s Elly Jackson about collaborations and Kanye.

The first video from Duffy’s new record Endlessly is out. The album hits stores November 30.

Video: Duffy – “Well Well Well”

Drowned In Sound meets The Concretes, whose new record WYWH is streaming at its own website in advance of its November 8 release.

Stream: The Concretes / WYWH

The Drums will warm up for their this Saturday’s (October 16) show at the Mod Club later that evening with an in-store down the street at Soundscapes at 7PM, possibly to give their still-new substitute guitarist as much practice as possible. eye has a list of five things you should know about the band and AM New York has a Q&A.

MP3: The Drums – “Down By The Water”

NPR is streaming a complete Deerhunter show from DC. They’re at The Opera House on October 19.

NOW talks to Blonde Redhead in advance of Sunday’s show at The Phoenix.

Frank YangOne might think that after last weekend’s three-day salute to the ’90s I’d be ready to get back to the 21st century, musically-speaking, but instead last Wednesday night turned the dial on the wayback-machine even further – Chapterhouse was in town. The North American leg of their reunion tour, which began in late 2009, was delayed from May until this Fall due to volcanic ash though the Toronto show was cancelled earlier for reasons unknown. Hogtown was back on for the new dates, however, and at a larger venue no less that was respectably filled. Clearly whatever reason nixed the original date wasn’t lack of interest.

For anyone with even a passing affection for the British shoegazing movement of the early ’90s, it was hard not to be interested – My Bloody Valentine aside, this was the only first-wave shoegaze band in recent memory to reunite, let alone play shows in North America, in well over a decade (if anyone wants to fact-check that statement, feel free). And while Chapterhouse weren’t as seminal – in my eyes/ears, anyways – as the likes of Ride, Slowdive or Lush, their credentials are indisputable and their debut Whirlpool an essential listen for the genre. Which is basically another way of saying, “if you are a shoegaze fan and Chapterhouse come to your town, you go”.

Locals Fjord Rowboat know how that goes, but for them it was “if Chapterhouse comes to your town, you lend them your gear and open for them”. Which they did, and in return got to play an impressive show for probably a more receptive audience than they’ve ever had. I used Chapterhouse as a reference point their 2007 debut Saved The Compliments For Morning and that still holds for the just-released follow-up Under Cover Of Brightness, the band remaining faithful to the spirit of shoegazing while remembering, unlike many modern-day purveyors of the style, that what made the greats great was that underneath the layers of sound, there were solid songs. And in the interests of disclosure, I should mention that Fjord has two former bandmates in their number. High five!

I’d lived the Ulrich Schnauss experience twice before and thought I’d figured out the secret to appreciating his electro-ambient stuff – close your eyes. Then you don’t notice that the entire “live” set consists of Schnauss playing preprogrammed tracks off his laptop while adding keyboards overtop or mixing things in real-time, or at least I assume that’s what he was doing – I couldn’t actually hear anything changing in the mix as he clicked and fiddled. This time his set came with its own visual component – projections of European urban scenes, mostly looking as though they’d been filmed from a moving car, which held ones interest for a while but after they began to loop, one’s attention began to wander. By the end, I had a new way to enjoy Schnauss’ set – as a particularly cosmic soundtrack to a game of iPhone Civilization.

One of the first thing you notice about Chapterhouse is how young they all still look – all five are barely 40 (if even) and frontmen Andrew Sherriff and Stephen Patman still look remarkably boyish. This is less a comment on their skin care regimen than the fact that they were barely into their twenties (if even) when Whirlpool was released and so, returning to Toronto for the first time in nearly 20 years, they still seemed younger than many acts making their debuts. Also setting them apart from many other acts on the road today was the fact that they weren’t out trying to win over new fans or make a name for themselves – if you were there, you knew why and what you were going to get and were just happy to be there. This isn’t to suggest that the bar for performance was lowered at all, but any mistakes or less-than-perfection – and there was some, in the way of feedback (the bad kind, not the good kind), some awkward re-learning of songs onstage and a “Crystal” that wasn’t as tight or together as you’d want – were quickly and easily forgiven.

Instead, it was much easier to focus on the good. There was the seemingly endless rotation of my favourite guitars and the massive sounds the three guitarists coaxed out of them, including Simon Rowe whose status in Mojave 3 is as unclear as the band’s itself and who missed their last tour. There was their cover of The Beatles’ “Rain”, which got a pass on my usual “no Beatles covers please” rule, their pretty much perfect rendering of “Pearl” – more than making up for “Crystal” – and a set list that, while curiously light on their second album Blood Music, delivered almost all of Whirlpool and a selection of b-sides and rarities that they must have known would be appreciated by an audience of the faithful.

While they were hardly monsters of rock onstage, it was hard to imagine that their performances inspired the originally-derisive “shoegaze” label – sure, Rowe stood pretty much stock-still through the set but Sherriff and Patman moved around and hardly glanced at their feet. Of course, unlike many of their peers Chapterhouse have always been as much about the groove as the wall of sound, sometimes referred to as “baggy-gaze” and moving further towards dance and electronic sounds with Blood Music. None of which makes them sound any more contemporary, but no one was here for contemporary. We were here for 1990 and Chapterhouse brought it.

Prefix and The Faster Times have Chapterhouse interviews and Jess Barnett a conversation with Ulrich Schnauss. Exclaim and Panic Manual have reviews of the Toronto show.

Photos: Chapterhouse, Ulrich Schnauss, Fjord Rowboat @ Lee’s Palace – October 6, 2010
MP3: Chapterhouse – “Pearl”
MP3: Ulrich Schnauss – “Passing By”
MP3: Fjord Rowboat – “Carried Away”
MP3: Fjord Rowboat – “Paragon”
Video: Chapterhouse – “Breather”
Video: Chapterhouse – “April”
Video: Ulrich Schnauss – “Medusa”
Video: Fjord Rowboat – “Carried Away”
MySpace: Chapterhouse
MySpace: Fjord Rowboat

Beatroute and The Boston Globe talk to The Vaselines; they’re in town on October 30 for a show at The Horseshoe.

The New York Times, Chicago Tribune, L.A. Record and DCist have feature pieces on Teenage Fanclub.

NPR talks to Stuart Murdoch of Belle & Sebastian. He and his band are at Massey Hall tonight and their new album Write About Love is also out today – the promo TV talk show put together for the record is streaming at PitchforkTV and the performance of “I Want The World To Stop” from said programme has been excerpted as the first official video from the record.

Video: Belle & Sebastian – “I Want The World To Stop”
Video: Belle & Sebastian Write About Love

A track from Idlewild’s latest (and final?) album Post-Electric Blues has been made available to download to mark the album’s North American release today.

MP3: Idlewild – “Younger Than America”

Drowned In Sound has gone a little British Sea Power-crazy, what with the release of the new Zeus EP in advance of next year’s new full-length – they’ve commissioned a number of features from the band, including their top five UK castles, ten things they wish they hadn’t done, the joy of knitting and a guide to keeping amused on the road.

Charlatans drummer Jon Brookes takes to the band’s blog to thank fans for their support as he convalesces from surgery for a brain tumour while Clash talks to frontman Tim Burgess. A track from their new record Who We Touch has been made available to download.

MP3: The Charlatans – “Love Is Ending”

Barry Hyde of The Futureheads tells Spinner they’re planning on releasing an a capella record early next year.

The Fly has a first listen to the new White Lies record Ritual, due out January 17 in the UK.

A whole slew of new videos in the past few days from the other side of the Atlantic – let’s start with Kele, who has a new clip from his solo record The Boxer.

Video: Kele – “On The Lam”

Foals have rolled out a new video from their second record Total Life Forever.

Video: Foals – “Blue Blood”

Mystery Jets have a new short from this year’s Serotonin. eFestivals and MusicOmh also have interviews.

Video: Mystery Jets – “Show Me The Light”

6 Day Riot have a video for the first single from their forthcoming record On This Island, available in the UK on November 1.

Video: 6 Day Riot – “Take Me Out”

Oxford University’s Cherwell talks to Kate Nash, who has a new single to coincide with her North American tour. It kicks off later this month and includes a date at The Phoenix on November 13.

Video: Kate Nash – “Later On”

For whatever reason, the powers that be have decided that the UK video for La Roux’s “In For The Kill”, out for over a year, just won’t cut it for American audiences and have commissioned a new one. I guess their focus groups demanded more snakes, less cars.

Video: La Roux – “In For The Kill” (US)
Video: La Roux – “In For The Kill” (UK)

The Telegraph talks to Duffy, who releases her second album Endlessly on November 30.

Word is Johnny Flynn’s October 18 show at Lee’s Palace has been postponed until mid-November; all other shows on the North American jaunt, including the 19th in Montreal, appear to still be on, so no idea what the problem with T.O. is. Anyone else hear “Kentucky Pill” on last week’s Weeds? Of course not, because no one with any dignity should admit to watching Weeds anymore. Me, I just heard about it. On the Twitter. Yeah.

Spinner talks to Elvis Costello about his new album National Ransom, out November 2. You can download a track from the record at his website.

Norway’s Serena-Maneesh have rolled out a new video from S-M 2: Abyss In B Minor.

Video: Serena-Maneesh – “D.I.W.S.W.T.T.D.”

NPR is streaming a complete show from The Tallest Man On Earth.

Frank YangFlashback to November 2003 and Belle & Sebastian’s second last visit to Toronto and first at Massey Hall – an eminently memorable show for both reasons bad and good. The bad being an invitation to have an audience member come up and sing a song with the band backfiring when she demanded they play one of HER own songs (which they did, politely and awkwardly) and the good being pretty much everything else but particularly their impromptu (at hollered audience request) cover of The Jackson 5′s “I Want You Back”, which began with Bob Kildea goofing on the bassline, the rest of the band looking at each other, shrugging and joining in with Stuart Murdoch showing off his falsetto.

It was a magical moment that still stands out in a magical show, and one that since it came before camera phones with video and audio capability became ubiquitous, one that I thought was undocumented except by anecdote and a handful of blurry photos. As it turns out, I just haven’t been looking hard enough, because an audience recording of that Massey show – or at least that one song – has been circulating in live bootleg circles for some time and only just came into my possession. The audio quality is pretty dire, as to be expected of anything of that vintage, but it’s listenable and more importantly triggers the right memory synapses. But since I prefer to have the stuff I post here be of a certain aural standard, I’m making this week’s post a twofer with a slightly better-sounding MJ cover of undetermined origins.

Belle & Sebastian return – triumphantly, I’m sure – to Massey Hall on Tuesday night in support of their new record Write About Love. And, if they do anything interesting – or anything at all – I’m sure a million videos will appear on YouTube within 30 seconds. Ah, technology.

MP3: Belle & Sebastian – “I Want You Back” (live in Toronto)
MP3: Belle & Sebastian – “Billie Jean” (live)
Video: The Jackson 5 – “I Want You Back” (live on American Bandstand)
Video: Michael Jackson – “Billie Jean”

Frank YangThe generally packed Matador At 21 schedule didn’t allow time for much activity beyond getting rocked and sleeping it off, but on Saturday I still managed to get away from The Palms and over to the strip with Dave Rawkblog and Brad Almanac for some Vegas-style (read: totally excessive) buffet and celebrity-sighting (Pete Rose and Tim Gunn were hanging at Caesar’s Palace while I bought a new mouse), and it’s a good thing that I loaded up before the evening’s festivities, because this day was going to be a long one.

So long that I had to skip out on the first mainstage act of the day – Girls – to take care of some business, and was okay with that. I’d seen them at Pitchfork and that was enough for a while. I did make sure to catch Come, however, seeing as how it was just the Boston quartet’s third show in 15 years. And yeah, it was a good thing I did as they played the role that Chavez had the night before of groundbreaking ’90s act whom if not for the relative misfortune of being ahead of their time, might have found a much greater audience. Led by Thalia Zedek and her worn, emotive voice, their set was heavy and atmospheric with her and Chris Brokaw’s guitars weaving through and around each other overtop the steady and grinding rhythm section. Like Chavez, Come were a band I tried out some time ago and couldn’t quite get into – their performance made me think it might be time to try again.

Photos: Come @ Pearl at The Palms – October 2, 2010
Video: Come – “Cimarron”
Video: Come – “Submerge”

I figured I’d gotten enough The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion back at Pitchfork, but found I actually enjoyed this performance considerably more. Surely the setting was part of it – the JSBX are far more suited to playing dark, grungy clubs – or fancy theatres masquerading as dark, grungy clubs – than bright, sunlit afternoons at festivals, and being in their element definitely helped their vibe. They sounded jammier and greasier and angrier than they did there, that last one partly thanks to Spencer’s dissatisfaction with the sound onstage – at one point, he smashed his mic and tried (unsuccessfully) to sing through the kick drum mic. They eventually got things fixed in time for their big finish, but the stage crew was clearly unimpressed with Spencer exploding his blues all over their equipment and cut their set off at the earliest opportunity though they probably could have squeezed one more in. This wasn’t well-received by the audience, resulting in one drink thrown and one demonstration of the Pearl security’s lack of tolerance for thrown drinks.

Photos: The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion @ Pearl at The Palms – October 2, 2010
Video: The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion – “Dang”
Video: The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion – “Flavor”
Video: The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion – “Talk About The Blues”

While most of the performers at Matador at 21 were veterans that represented the pinnacle of the label’s roster, there were still a few new acts injected into the lineup, including one of their most recent signees – Perfume Genius. Though the piano duo, playing some songs on separate keyboards and some on the same, took the energy levels down several hundred notches following Jon Spencer’s over-the-top set, the stark beauty of their short set largely and impressively silenced a room that had been absolutely adrenalized minutes earlier. I tend to approach the sensitive, piano-based singer-songwriter thing with some trepidation, but I think Mike Hadreas is the real deal. They’re currently on tour in support of debut album LearningLearning and at the Drake Underground in Toronto tomorrow night. If you’re on the fence, let me nudge you towards yes.

Photos: Perfume Genius @ Pearl at The Palms – October 2, 2010
MP3: Perfume Genius – “Learning”

The evening’s timetable had been overly optimistic in thinking that the simplicity of Perfume Genius’ setup would allow them to segue directly into Cat Power’s set, and the changeover and soundcheck ended up taking considerably longer than zero minutes and set things back by at least half an hour. Anyone hopes that the occasion would find Chan Marshall revisiting the days of Moon Pix and You Are Free evaporated when the band setup was clearly that of the Dirty Delta Blues Band that had supported her on the Jukebox tours but when her set finally got underway, there was a nod to those simpler, starker days as Chan offered her version of The Rolling Stones’ “Satisfaction” accompanying herself only on electric guitar. But then the guitar went away and the band came out and the rest of the set featured the southern soul diva Cat Power who dazzled on 2006′s The Greatest with a brace of largely unfamiliar songs and covers. I admit to having some reservations of her continuing on in this style as it puts too much focus on Cat Power the voice and that’s not nearly as compelling as Cat Power the songwriter but regardless, she sounded great, looked radiant and seemed pretty together save for some random repositioning of her mic stand.

Photos: Cat Power @ Pearl at The Palms – October 2, 2010
MP3: Cat Power – “The Greatest”
MP3: Cat Power – “He War”

When 2010 began, high up on my list of bands that I had yet to see (but really wanted to) was North Carolina’s Superchunk. I finally got to check that off thanks to their short but sweet set at SxSW in March, and as energized as they were there I clearly hadn’t seen anything yet. Playing half a year later with a terrific new record in Majesty Shredding and some touring under their belts, Superchunk were a rock revelation. Easily the most energetic performer of the weekend – and that’s saying something – the former Matador signees and current Merge masterminds incited a pogo party in the crowd, pounding out power punk gems from all points in their career, wrapping with an explosive “Precision Auto” and just generally being awesome. Superchunk. Super. Chunk. Can’t wait to make it a three-peat when they play the Sound Academy on December 9 opening up for and inevitably upstaging Broken Social Scene.

Photos: Superchunk @ Pearl at The Palms – October 2, 2010
MP3: Superchunk – “Digging For Something”
MP3: Superchunk – “Misfits & Mistakes”
MP3: Superchunk – “Never Too Young To Smoke”
MP3: Superchunk – “Rainy Streets”
MP3: Superchunk – “Becoming A Speck”
MP3: Superchunk – “Pink Clouds”
MP3: Superchunk – “Detroit Has A Skyline” (acoustic)
MP3: Superchunk – “Nu Bruises”
MP3: Superchunk – “Skip Steps 1 & 3″

Continuing the Matador-Merge cross-label summit were Spoon, who started their career on the former but found their fame on the latter. And like their label bosses and lead-in act, it’s kind of funny that I’d gone some five years without seeing Spoon live and here this was my third Spoon show in the past six months. This one wasn’t too different from those, with the band tight and taut and embellishing their sound with a locally-recruited horn section and guest percussionist. Their special treats for the occasion were a cover of the late Matador artist Jay Reatard’s “No Time” and a few seriously old-school back catalog selections including fan favourite “Car Radio”. Their set may not have offered a lot of surprises, but it certainly didn’t disappoint.

Photos: Spoon @ Pearl at The Palms – October 2, 2010
MP3: Spoon – “The Underdog”
MP3: Spoon – “I Turn My Camera On”
MP3: Spoon – “The Way We Get By”
MP3: Spoon – “This Book Is A Movie”
MP3: Spoon – “Mountain To Sound”
MP3: Spoon – “Chips & Dip”
MP3: Spoon – “Idiot Driver”

Oh, Belle & Sebastian. The only British act on the mainstage this weekend and really, not having a lot in common stylistically with most of the other performers but still big enough and beloved enough to rate closing out the second night’s programming. Their presence at this event was something of a surprise since they had been on an indefinite hiatus since 2006′s The Life Pursuit and Stuart Murdoch was devoting all his energies to last year’s God Help The Girl project. But it apparently doesn’t take long to get the band back together and though most would be happy just to have the band back, they’ve returned with one of their best records in some time with Write About Love, out next Tuesday and currently streaming at NPR. I’ll comment more on the record next week after their Toronto show at Massey Hall also on the 12th – for now, just their Vegas appearance.

And it’s a show that opened with a new song – “I Didn’t See It Coming”, the first track on the new record – and even if it was unfamiliar to most of the audience, the duet between Stuart Murdoch and Sarah Martin was immediate enough to announce that Belle & Sebastian were back and hadn’t lost a step in the time away. And if anyone had forgotten how good they were as a live band, they were well reminded by the Scots’ wonderful hour-fifteen set. In between songs that touched on every one of their albums, going back as far as their debut Tigermilk for “The State I Am In”, Murdoch and guitarist Stevie Jackson tossed off wonderful bits of banter to the audience and each other and Murdoch demonstrated his throwing arm by tossing autographed toy footballs into the crowd and later, audience members were enlisted to clap and dance through “There’s Too Much Love” and “The Boy With The Arab Strap” and rewarded with gold medals. Those of us not so fortunate as to cut a rug with the band had to settle – so to speak – for bobbing up and down to energetic readings of favourites like “Get Me Away From Here, I’m Dying” and “I’m A Cuckoo”. By the time they wrapped up the set with “Sleep The Clock Around”, things had already run almost an hour later than scheduled and it was unclear if we’d be allowed an encore, but clapped and cheered for one anyways. The band returned in short order, saying they’d been given permission for one more song if they made it “fucking quick” and though “Me And The Major” was quick, it was still glorious. And yes, I do feel incredibly fortunate to be seeing them again so soon, particularly since I’ve been so handily reminded of how much I love this band.

Photos: Belle & Sebastian @ Pearl at The Palms – October 2, 2010
MP3: Belle & Sebastian – “Write About Love”
MP3: Belle & Sebastian – “Funny Little Frog”
MP3: Belle & Sebastian – “Another Sunny Day”
MP3: Belle & Sebastian – “Take Your Carriage Clock And Shove It”
MP3: Belle & Sebastian – “Storytelling”

If I had any sense this would have been the end of the night but I’d skipped out on the previous night’s after party festivities and damn it, this was Las Vegas – you don’t go to sleep at a reasonable hour. Instead you go to indie rock karaoke and rush the stage when Matador staff are called on to sing Pavement’s “Summer Babe” and crowd surf Ted Leo. If you’re wondering, it looks something like this. And then at 5AM – 8AM your own time – you go back to your room and pass out.

The Patriot-Ledger and Phoenix have features on the Come reunion. Rolling Stone talks to Cat Power about her plans for her next record, and they include playing all of the instruments herself. If that pans out, then it surely won’t be sounding like The Greatest or Jukebox – colour me intrigued. Interview and NPR have features on Superchunk. The Guardian interviews Belle & Sebastian, who are running a contest wherein a winner gets to spend a day with Stuart Murdoch and co-write a song for a forthcoming 7″.

The AV Club, Rolling Stone, Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times and Las Vegas Weekly all have further Saturday night recaps.