Posts Tagged ‘Ben Gibbard’

Tuesday, January 22nd, 2013

Statues

Old new Hüsker Dü for you

Photo By Mark PetersonMark PetersonIt’s not often you see the words “new” and “Hüsker Dü” together – unless they’re followed, perhaps, but the word “lawsuit” – but that’s what we’re getting as part of the salvo of limited edition releases for this year’s Record Store Day. Okay, it’s not like Bob Mould, Greg Norton, and Grant Hart have secretly buried their many hatchets to follow the lead of fellow Minneapolis legends The Replacements and recorded new material, but they – or those who operate on their behalf – have unearthed some of their very earliest recordings circa 1980, originally released as their first 7″ and decades out of print, and will release them as a limited edition double-7″ on April 20.

Rolling Stone is currently streaming one of the tracks – a Grant Hart vocal which predates their discovery of hardcore and/or methamphetamines, and a far cry from the fury captured on their 1982 debut album Land Speed Record. It’s not an essential document by any means, but one that’s a hell of a lot more interesting than the twice-the-price coloured vinyl edition of a current album you already own that makes up most of the RSD exclusives.

Stream: Hüsker Dü – “Statues”

Dinosaur Jr have rolled out a new video from last year’s I Bet On Sky. And yes, that is Henry Rollins.

Video: Dinosaur Jr – “Pierce The Morning Rain”

Bad Religion have a new album in True North, out today and streamable below, and not one but two local shows coming up in support. They’re at The Horseshoe on January 27 for a private performance to which you can win tickets from CFNY, and then they’re back on March 31 for a date at The Kool Haus as part of the North American tour. Rolling Stone and Billboard have interviews with Brett Gurewitz about the new record and CBC Music with Jay Bentley.

MP3: Bad Religion – “True North”
Stream: Bad Religion / True North

As widely reported last week, Yeah Yeah Yeahs have confirmed the April 16 release of their fourth album Mosquito. Karen O talks to Pitchfork about what to expect from the new record and Rolling Stone talks to the artist responsible for the rather polarizing album art about what he was thinking.

NPR has a stream of II, the new album from Unknown Mortal Orchestra which comes out February 5. They’ll be at Wrongbar on March 3 to play it for you live.

Stream: Unknown Mortal Orchestra / II

Brooklyn-based Here We Go Magic spin-off TEEN – all caps mandatory – will bring their 2012 debut In Limbo to The Drake Underground on February 15.

MP3: TEEN – “Electric”

Divine Fits have a new video from A Thing Called Divine Fits.

Video: Divine Fits – “My Love Is Real”

Today marks the release of Ra Ra Riot’s third album – the rather less orchestral and more electronic Beta Love – and it’s available to stream in whole via YouTube, and there’s features on the band at Spin and Magnet. They’re at Lee’s Palace on March 6 and back in town June 8 as part of the Arts & Crafts Field Trip festival at Fort York.

Stream: Ra Ra Riot / Beta Love

The National Post, Rolling Stone, Consequence Of Sound, CBC Music, and Interview all have feature interviews with Yo La Tengo.

Been wondering what Will Sheff has been up to? Presumably writing the next Okkervil River record, sure, but also establishing a new electronic-y side-project as Lovestreams. The first fruits of that labour is now available in both MP3 and video form.

MP3: Lovestreams – “Shock Corridor”
Video: Lovestreams – “Shock Corridor”

The 405 has an interview with Benjamin Gibbard and boy I bet they’re wishing they’d pressed a little harder about the possibility of a Postal Service reunion.

Of course, maybe they could have just done as Drowned In Sound did and just get Gibbard, Jimmy Tamborello, and Jen Wood to provide an oral history of The Postal Service’s watershed indie-pop opus Give Up on the occasion of its 10th anniversary. It’s pretty much assured that the duo will be reconvening for some live dates this year and a deluxe edition of Give Up is en route but no one should be expecting new material. Of course, no one was expecting live dates either, so who knows. Considering his solo album was mostly old material, Ben may have some recent stuff he’s been looking to get off his chest by way of song. Update: The Give Up anniversary edition is out April 9 and has two unreleased songs on it along with other stuff.

The Quietus interviews John Darnielle of The Mountain Goats.

Son Volt will release a new album entitled Honky Tonk on March 5. American Songwriter has details on the release, whose title is as much description of the contents as a name.

LA Music Blog, The Times-Picayune, Dallas Observer, and Blurt talk to Joey Burns of Calexico.

Wednesday, November 14th, 2012

Stupid Things

Yo La Tengo are coming to town and this photo is hilarious

Photo via TwitterTwitterYo La Tengo haven’t quite spilled the beans on their thirteenth studio album, besides to acknowledge it exists, that recent single “Stupid Things” will appear on it albeit in a different version, that it was produced by Tortoise’s John McEntire, that it’ll be out in late January – the smart money is on the 29th, since the last week of the month is typically when the year’s first big releases are slated – and that a North American tour – of which only a few dates have been revealed – would follow. And while a tweet yesterday implied that today was the day for revelations, details on the Toronto show came yesterday – and so here they are: Hoboken’s finest will be at The Phoenix on February 9 – their first visit since October 2009, not counting their “Sounds Of Science” performance here in April. Tickets for that are $25 in advance and go on sale Friday.

While on the topic, I just finished reading Big Day Coning: Yo La Tengo and The Rise of Indie Rock. You might wonder how interesting a bio of a band that has been rather resolutely drama-free over its career could be, but it’s the understatedness of their story – plus the greatness of their music – and how it intertwines with the transformation of the underground to college to alternative to indie rock scene that makes it an interesting read.

I had hoped to get up this morning and find all the salient new album info conveniently collected in a press release in my inbox, but instead there was an email from the library telling me that the aforementioned book was a week overdue. Not quite the same thing. So I’ll update this post with specifics about the tour and release when they surface today – assuming they do – but in the meantime, marvel at the photo up above, picked up via Matablog, of Yo La Tengo with a trio of Japanese lookalikes. Don’t ask why or how, just marvel.

Update: And Matablog has it: Fade, out January 15, and tour starts the 23rd.

MP3: Yo La Tengo – “Stupid Things”
MP3: Yo La Tengo – “Nuclear War”

Keeping with the New Jersey theme, Titus Andronicus are interviewed by Beatroute, Boise Weekly, and Pitchfork and a couple more tracks from their latest Local Business are available to download. They’re at Lee’s Palace on November 27.

MP3: Titus Andronicus – “In A Big City”
MP3: Titus Andronicus – “Ecce Homo”

And if you were wondering what former Titus guitarist Amy Klein was up to, know that in addition to playing in Leda, she’s got a drum-and-guitar duo called Hilly Eye. Exclaim has some details on their debut album Reasons To Live, due January 22, and a couple of songs are available to stream.

Stream: Hilly Eye – “Jacob’s Ladder”
Stream: Hilly Eye – “Amnesia”

The Village Voice, Red Eye, and Seven Days have interviews with Sharon Van Etten.

Interview talks to Paul Banks about balancing the solo work with Interpol.

Nada Surf have released a video from their latest, The Stars Are Indifferent To Astronomy.

Video: Nada Surf – “Jules & Jim”

Some feel it’s still to early for Christmas music, but Sufjan Stevens is hoping that doesn’t apply to him. He’s made the whole of his six-EP Silver & Gold box set – that’s 58 tracks worth – available to stream and also released a couple more videos for good measure. It’s available to buy as of yesterday.

MP3: Sufjan Stevens – “Ding-A-Ling-A-Ring-A-Ling”
Video: Sufjan Stevens – “I’ll Be Home For Christmas”
Video: Sufjan Stevens – “Silver & Gold”
Stream: Sufjan Stevens / Silver & Gold

Pitchfork has details on the second album from Brooklyn’s Widowspeak; Almanac will be out on January 22 and the first MP3 from it is available to download.

MP3: Widowspeak – “Ballad Of The Golden Hour”

School Of Seven Bells are streaming the whole of their new EP Put Your Sad Down, released this week.

MP3: School Of Seven Bells – “Secret Days”
Stream: School Of Seven Bells / Put Your Sad Down

Filter talks to Grizzly Bear.

Ra Ra Riot are streaming the first track from their new record Beta Love, out January 22. They bring it to Lee’s Palace on March 6. There’s also a feature on the band at syracuse.com.

Stream: Ra Ra Riot – “Beta Love”

Head over to RecordStoreDay.com to stream the whole of Chocomel Daze, the You’re Living All Over Me-vintage Dinosaur Jr live record being released on vinyl-only next week.

Stream: Dinoaur Jr / Chocomel Daze

SF Weekly talks to Greg Dulli of The Afghan Whigs.

Jim James is done hiding behind bands and pseudonyms; he’ll release his solo debut Regions of Light and Sound of God on February 5 – details at Pitchfork and the first taste is streamable below.

Stream: Jim James – “Know Til Now”

The Chicago Tribune, Boston Globe, and Newsday talk to Aimee Mann, who has released a new video from her latest Charmer.

Video: Aimee Mann – “Soon Enough”

DIY interviews Benjamin Gibbard.

Wednesday, November 7th, 2012

All Through The Night

Win an evening with Escort! No, not like that.

Photo By Jody KivortJody KivortI’m not diversifying into the adult entertainment industry, despite what some ads that occasionally get served here might imply, but am instead talking about New York’s Escort. Sometimes a lean five-piece band, sometimes a proper orchestra numbering as many as 17 – but always fronted by diva Adeline Michele – Escort have been busting out old-school yet thoroughly contemporary dancefloor disco electro-soul since 2006 but only just released their full-length debut Escort earlier this year and are now taking their legendarily slick and irresistibly fun live show on the road.

They’re hitting The Horseshoe this Saturday night, November 10, and if you’re thinking there’s no way they’d fit 17 people on that stage, you’re right – it’s going to be a smaller-form Escort that rolls into town, but if you think that means it’ll somehow be a smaller party… no. Just no. Tickets for the show are $16.50 in advance, but courtesy of Webster Media Consulting, I’ve got two pairs of passes to give away for the show. To enter, email me at contests@chromewaves.net with “I want an Escort” in the subject line and your full name in the body, and have that in to me before midnight, November 8.

Metro has an interview with Michele about the genesis of the band, and the band’s just-released remix album – Escort Remixed – is available to stream in full.

MP3: Escort – “Love In Indigo”
MP3: Escort – “Make Over”
Video: Escort – “Why Oh Why”
Video: Escort – “All Through The Night”
Stream: Escort / Escort Remixed

School Of Seven Bells have made a track from their new EP, Put Your Sad Down, available to download. It’s out November 13.

MP3: School Of Seven Bells – “Secret Days”

The Antlers have released a new video from their last EP, Undersea.

Video: The Antlers – “Drift Dive”

Ahead of their appearance warming up for Titus Andronicus at Lee’s Palace later that night, Ceremony will play an in-store at Sonic Boom’s Kensington location on November 27 at 6:00PM.

MP3: Ceremony – “Hysteria”

And speaking of Titus Andronicus, The Village Voice has a profile piece on the band. As mentioned – Lee’s Palace, November 27. Them.

Passion Pit will team up with Matt & Kim for a Winter tour that stops in at The Kool Haus on February 16; tickets for that are $32.50 in advance.

MP3: Matt & Kim – “Let’s Go”
Video: Passion Pit – “Take A Walk”

Denver Westword and The Seattle Times have interviews with Greg Dulli of The Afghan Whigs, who also just recorded a World Cafe session with NPR.

Benjamin Gibbard submits to a questionnaire from Exclaim and answers some more questions beyond that. He also performs video sessions for The Fly and NPR, and has released a video from his solo joint Former Lives.

Video: Benjamin Gibbard – “Teardrop Windows”

MTV Hive talks to Jason Lytle, opening up for Band Of Horses at Massey Hall on December 5.

Nicole Atkins talks to The Village Voice about the damage that Hurricane Sandy did to her beloved New Jersey shore. She’s re-recorded the title track of her 2007 debut album, Neptune City, and re-released it to raise funds to rebuild the shore.

Stream: Nicole Atkins – “Neptune City (For The Shore)”

Bob Mould plays a video session for NPR.

Sam Fogarino reflects on Interpol’s past ten years to Spin. The Turn On The Bright Lights anniversary edition is out November 19. They’ve also shared a live video taken from their first Los Angeles show in 2002.

Video: Interpol – “Obstacle 1” (live at The Troubdaour, 2002)

Congratulations on doing several right things last night, America. First time I haven’t been bitterly disappointed by the outcome of an election in, oh, four years. I’ll be down there later this week to give some of you a big hug.

Thursday, October 25th, 2012

So Many Details

Toro Y Moi means, “new album and tour” in Spanish. Look it up.

Photo By Patrick JeffordsPatrick JeffordsIt’s still October, but for all intents and purposes, 2012 is over. How so? Not only is every new album being announced slated to come out in the new year, but pretty much every tour announcement as well. Still hoping that December dance card was going to fill up? Maybe get a jump on your Christmas shopping instead.

But at least you have something to look forward to, including the third album from South Carolinan electronic pop – let’s not call it electro-pop – artist Chaz Bundick, aka Toro Y Moi. Entitled Anything In Return, the follow-up to 2011’s Underneath The Pine will be out on January 22 and will be accompanied a week later by a month-long North American tour that takes him right around the continent, including a February 17 date at Lee’s Palace in Toronto, tickets for which will run you $20. Pitchfork has the full itinerary and the first track from the new record is available to download.

MP3: Toro Y Moi – “So Many Details”

Also coming out on January 22 is the third album from Syracuse, New York’s finest (and only?) indie rock ensemble Ra Ra Riot. It’s called Beta Love and is their first since the departure of cellist Alexandra Lawn, so it will be interesting to hear how that lineup change effects their sound. They’ve also got an extensive North American tour scheduled – with a slight detour to Japan – and will be at Lee’s Palace on March 6, tickets $18.50 in advance.

MP3: Ra Ra Riot – “Boy”

And while the official word on Local Natives’ second album and attendant tour came last week, the conspicuous lack of a Toronto date was addressed – as I predicted – this week, with the addition of a date at The Opera House on March 28. Tickets for that are $21.50.

MP3: Local Natives – “Sun Hands”

Sufjan Stevens has released a video from his Silver & Gold Christmas box set coming November 13, and while it is animated, it’s probably not for kids.

Video: Sufjan Stevens – “Mr. Frosty Man”

Wild Nothing have released a new video from their latest Nocturne that comes with a little celebrity flavour in the form of Michelle Williams. You know, that girl from Dawson’s Creek. No, the other one. Tangentially, you should all be watching Don’t Trust The B– In Apartment 23. Very tangentially.

Video: Wild Nothing – “Paradise”

A Place To Bury Strangers also have a new video taken from Worship.

Video: A Place To Bury Strangers – “And I’m Up”

And between giving interviews to The 405 and Drowned In Sound, Paul Banks has rolled out a new clip from his solo record Banks.

Video: Paul Banks – “Young Again”

Interview and Creative Loafing interview Josh Tillman of Father John Misty, hutting up Lee’s Palace this Saturday night, October 27.

Tobin Sprout talks to Rolling Stone about a new song available to stream from the third Guided By Voices album of 2012, The Bears For Lunch. It’s out November 13.

Stream: Guided By Voices – “She Lives In An Airport”

While no fan of this “deluxe edition” trend going on for current albums, at least Sharon Van Etten is offering some good value. Consequence Of Sound reports that the double-disc edition of Tramp, out November 13, will come with a bonus disc of demos of every song on the album. And, if you’ve already bought it – which you should have – the demos will be available on their own CD. And that, folks, is how you do deluxe. One of the extras – a song not on the finished album – has been made available to stream. We Love DC also has an interview.

Stream: Sharon Van Etten – “Tell Me” (demo)

The Awl and Exclaim hang out with Patrick Stickles of Titus Andronicus. They’re at Lee’s Palace on November 27.

Stereogum and Rolling Stone talk to Jason Lytle, rolling into Massey Hall on December 5 opening for Band Of Horses.

The Cincinatti Enquirer, Chicago Tribune, Time Out Chicago, and City Pages interview members of The Afghan Whigs.

Blurt, Chicago Tribune, and The Wall Street Journal interview Divine Fits.

In conversation with Spinner, Ben Gibbard says that a second Postal Service record isn’t going to happen anytime soon and probably not ever.

Monday, October 22nd, 2012

Sun

Cat Power, Willis Earl Beal, and Xray Eyeballs at The Kool Haus in Toronto

Photo By Frank YangFrank YangEvery good thing you’ve heard about Cat Power live is true, and also a lie; the same goes for every bad thing. The reputation that Chan Marshall gained as a fragile, erratic performer over the first decade or so of her career may have seemed overstated to mythic proportions, but few have made great efforts to dispute it. I can’t speak from experience – though a modest fan since Moon Pix, I’d avoided seeing her in concert because of that reputation and reports from the Toronto shows I’d missed in that time seemed to bear out that I hadn’t missed much.

So it was with great surprise and pleasure that my first two Cat Power shows in Fall 2006 – an intimate solo show at Lee’s Palace and a full band performance at The Phoenix, both in support of The Greatest, were sublime experiences. The former had a few awkward moments though they were far outnumbered by the great ones, but the latter, powered by the Memphis Rhythm Band, was about as perfect as you could get. A subsequent show at the 2007 Rogers Picnic was far less assured – though she got the benefit of the doubt as that whole day was just weird – and the last time I saw her at Matador at 21, she again sounded great; any reservations were more about the continued absence of new material than the performance itself. So I was optimistic for her first Toronto show since early 2008 this past Saturday night, since it was coming in support of her game-changing and excellent new album Sun; surely the sass and confidence that went into crafting that record would translate live? It’d be a couple of support acts before we’d find out.

Leadoff hitters Xray Eyeballs may have hailed from Brooklyn, but their psychedelic garage rock sound was decidedly west coast in lineage. With guitarist O.J. San Felipe and bassist Carly Rabalais trading off lead vocals while laying down beds of fuzzy guitars, simple percussion, and whirring synths, their set wasn’t sophisticated but not amateurish, either. It wasn’t a new sound by any stretch nor was their take on it overly memorable, but decent enough for passing a half hour. Though a note to San Felipe – they’re called Straploks and you should look into them.

I’d heard many good things about Chicago’s Willis Earl Beal prior to his being a late but welcome addition as support for this tour – that he was a poet, a soul-singer, a visual artist, an eccentric, a philosopher, and a hell of a performer – but despite him having come through town twice already in support of his lauded debut Acousmatic Sorcery, I hadn’t had a chance to explore further and his being a late addition as support for this leg of the tour was welcome news. He took the stage not with a band but a couple of mannequins, and instead literally played to backing tapes – he had a reel-to-reel tape machine set up behind him, providing the musical backing for him to sing over.

And really, even if he’d brought a full orchestra with him, it’s unlikely anyone would have noticed as it was nigh impossible to take your eyes off of him once he got going. With a huge voice that could go from a soulfully supple to hitting like a sack of gravel, he sang like an avatar of manic desperation while pacing the stage and turning everything around him – the mic stand, the flag that had covered his tape machine, a folding chair, his clothes – into a performance prop and closing out with mic twirls whilst doing The Running Man. Using an artist as singular as Tom Waits as a reference point for any other performer is usually unwise as it’s far too high a bar for mortals to measure against, but for Willis Earl Beal? It’s both stylistically accurate and speaks to the man’s potential. Pretty much amazing.

That the intro music for Cat Power’s set was Bob Dylan’s “Shelter From The Storm” – it played twice, once when they band was scheduled to take the stage and again fifteen minutes later when they actually did – was telling. Just as Dylan has earled a reputation as a difficult live act, frequently inverting and rearranging his classic songs to the point of being unrecognizable, so to has Marshall taken to treating her songbook as raw material for crafting something new rather than as canon to be performed respectfully. Also unrecognizable was Marshall herself, following her band onstage in leather jacket and the short, spiky, blonde hairdo debuted in her video for “Cherokee” further punkified with shaved sides. That song opened the show, but rather than stay in character from the video and battle zombies, she instead did battle with the incense burning on stage, constantly fussing with it while singing and then turning her attention to the two mics set up for her – indistinguishable to the eye and ear – through “Sun”, and then the mic stands on “3, 6, 9”. To her credit, she mostly sounded alright while this was going on, if not as in key or articulate as one would like, but it was distracting to watch.

As has been typical for the past few years, Marshall eschewed guitar duties to concentrate on singing – and fussing – leaving her four-piece backing band to the music, and theirs was not an easy task. They had to give the songs enough structure so as to stay intact and relatively recognizable, yet allow Marshall the space to roam and improvise as she was wont to do. And this was where I saw where the crucial difference between this show and the Greatest show would be – in that setting, Marshall had to rein herself in to meet the supremely tight and professional standards of that veteran outfit, but here she was in charge and it was her players’ job to follow her, wherever she felt like going. While they stuck to the Sun material, things stayed fairly steady and onstage eccentrics aside – the incense/mic/stand fiddling and rambling banter persisted – the audience remained onside.

The middle portion of the set was probably more trying. A reading of the unreleased “Bully” found Marshall in her best voice of the evening to that point as being accompanied only by piano, being distracted wasn’t really an option, and from that she went into an almost operatic, dramatically backlit performance of Mexican icon Pedro Infante’s “Angelitos Negros” (a Jukebox bonus track), and then a half-speed, Moon Pix-skeletal version of “The Greatest” that traded almost all melody for a steadily building, almost ominous dynamic – an interesting interpretation, but perhaps not what an audience who’d been waiting over 10 minutes for something remotely familiar wanted.

It having been a half-decade since she’d toured an album of original material through town, most were probably hoping to hear more catalog material but given how it was being presented, they were probably thankful whenever the set returned to Sun and more familiar if recent sounds. When Marshall finally strapped on a guitar for “Silent Machine”, it was both invigorating and frustrating – for those four minutes, her Danelectro was like a lightning rod that channeled everything the band could be into that slinky, sexy, slide riff and they were tight and focused like they’d not been the rest of the show. And of course, while that was the only song that Marshall would play an instrument and the indisputable high point of the show, they did raise their game for a powerful “Nothin’ But Time” and “Peace and Love”. Lest the momentum keep going, however, they went back to You Are Free for a sprawling, deconstructed “I Don’t Blame You”, before again pulling it together for a strong “Ruin”. For the show’s close of I think “Rambling (Wo)man” – I can’t be sure – a fan handed Marshall a bouquet of flowers which she spend most of the song distributing amongst her band and then tossing, flower by flower, into the audience. And continuing in a giving theme, gave away a t-shirt and all the lyrics sheets she had on stage before requesting – and receiving – a fan’s Charlie Chaplin t-shirt.

It was a nice moment and close to a show that was, even to die-hard fans and apologists, uneven and oft frustrating. Though Marshall seemed in good spirits throughout and any performance where she doesn’t halt a song midway through to complain about the monitors or just walk right off is a positive one, for as long as she’s been doing this she should be much better. She can be and has been. But perhaps for an artist for whom, “is she alright?” is always a legitimate question – a brace of cancelled promotional appearances before the start of the tour was cause for concern, as was her tweet from the inside of an ambulance the afternoon of the show – perhaps overt fan service by way of her song selections and arrangements is too much to ask. Perhaps it’s enough that she’s again making great records, and that your odds of seeing a good show – while still obviously not even – are much better than they once were. At least she’s trying.

NOW, The National Post, and BlogTO were also on hand for the show.

Photos: Cat Power, Willis Earl Beal, Xray Eyeballs @ The Kool Haus – October 20, 2012
MP3: Cat Power – “Ruin”
MP3: Cat Power – “Cherokee”
MP3: Cat Power – “Manhattan”
MP3: Cat Power – “Metal Heart”
MP3: Cat Power – “The Greatest”
MP3: Cat Power – “He-War”
MP3: Cat Power – “Nude As The News”
MP3: Willis Earl Beal – “Monotony”
MP3: Willis Earl Beal – “Blue Escape”
MP3: Willis Earl Beal – “White Noise”
MP3: Xray Eyeballs – “Crystal”
MP3: Xray Eyeballs – “Egyptian Magician”
Video: Cat Power – “Cherokee”
Video: Cat Power – “King Rides By”
Video: Cat Power – “Living Proof”
Video: Cat Power – “Lived In Bars”
Video: Cat Power – “He War”
Video: Cat Power – “Crossbones Style”
Video: Willis Earl Beal – “Monotony”
Video: Xray Eyeballs – “X”
Video: Xray Eyeballs – “Crystal”

Sufjan Stevens has made one of the songs from his upcoming Silver & Gold Christmas song box set available for download. The set’s not out until November 13 so think of it like that one gift that you were allowed to open on Christmas Eve. It’s just like that.

MP3: Sufjan Stevens – “Ding-A-Ling-A-Ring-A-Ling”

Patrick Stickles of Titus Andronicus talks to Consequence Of Sound. They’re at Lee’s Palace on November 27.

Clash and The Oklahoman meet Band Of Horses, in town at Massey Hall on December 5.

NPR has a World Cafe session with Grizzly Bear.

NYC Taper is sharing another The Mountain Goats live recording from last week.

Pitchfork talks to Sharon Van Etten about making her recent video for “Magic Chords”; Varsity just talks to her about whatever.

DIY has a feature interview with Savoir Adore.

The San Francisco Chronicle and CBC Music chat with Joey Burns of Calexico while The 405 also ropes John Covertino into their conversation.

NPR talks to Benjamin Gibbard.