Pieter van HattemSo all manner of things have been piling up over the past week while I’ve been reminiscing about warm Summer sojourns to Chicago. Let’s get to them.

San Francisco’s Morning Benders are no strangers to Toronto this year, having already come through town twice – once in April for their own show just after their latest album Big Echo was released, and again in June opening up for Broken Bells. They’re back in a couple weeks supporting both Black Keys dates at the Kool Haus on August 3 and 4, but in addition to those performances, they’ve announced they’ll be playing a free acoustic show at the corner of College and Manning in Little Italy on August 4 at 5:30PM in what probably would have been a Soundscapes in-store had the weather not been so nice (or so everyone is hoping). There are rumours that there will be free BBQ and ice cream, but even without refreshments it’ll be a fine, free afternoon of pop music.

MP3: The Morning Benders – “Promises”
Video: The Morning Benders – “Promises”

At long last, after watching her Lilith Fair, Of Montreal and own dates skip us over, Toronto has a date with soul/r&b superstar-in-waiting Janelle Monáe – she is joining The Sadies in supporting Arcade Fire on the Toronto Islands on August 14. Why yes, that is a wacky-ass bill, how good of you to notice. But also an excellent one. Watch this video and tell me that Arcade Fire doesn’t run a real risk of being upstaged by her.

Video: Janelle Monáe – “Tightrope”

Unpronouncable Californian dance-punk outfit !!! (chk chk chk to their friends) have slated a North America tour in support of their forthcoming album Strange Weather Isn’t It?, due out on August 24. Grab an MP3 from their website and look for them at Lee’s Palace on September 26, tickets $16.50 in advance.

MP3: !!! – “Must Be The Moon”
Video: !!! – “AM/FM”

The Dears look to be about done with the follow up to 2008′s Missiles as they’ve scheduled a three-night stand at the Garrison from October 13 to 15 where they’ll surely be previewing new material; tickets on sale Friday (via Singing Lamb). Update: Their label reports that they’ll play the entire new album at the shows and the record isn’t due out till early 2011.

MP3: The Dears – “Disclaimer”

Only in town last month, Swedish sister act First Aid Kit are coming back to North America and will be at the El Mocambo in Toronto on October 15.

MP3: First Aid Kit – “I Met Up With The King”

Blonde Redhead have plotted a North American tour in support of their forthcoming album Penny Sparkle, due September 14. They’ll be at the Phoenix on October 17 with Pantha Du Prince as support; tickets $24.

MP3: Blonde Redhead – “Here Sometimes”
MP3: Pantha Du Prince – “The Splendour”

Helmet are still around and will be at Lee’s Palace on October 17 in support of a new album, Seeing Eye Dog, out September 7.

Video: Helmet – “Unsung”

There are apparently still enough people who want to see The Dandy Warhols live that they can not only book The Phoenix for them, but charge $30 a head. They’re there November 1.

Video: The Dandy Warhols – “Bohemian Like You”

Delorean are back on November 18 for a date at the Mod Club with Lemonade as support.

MP3: Delorean – “Real Love”
Video: Lemonade – “Big Weekend”

Blitzen Trapper tell Spinner that even though Destroyer Of The Void only came out last month, they’re already writing its follow-up. Look for them at the Opera House on August 3.

If it ever looks like Ben Curtis of School Of Seven Bells is sleepwalking through a show, it’s because he may very well be. Hopefully their new live drummer will keep him on his toes when they play the Mod Club on September 15. He also chats with New York Magazine.

Chart has a chat with Beach House; they’re at the Molson Amphitheatre on September 27.

Spinner serves up an Interface session with Stars. They play Massey Hall on October 23.

NPR has a World Cafe session with The National.

Jeff Tweedy talks to Billboard about Wilco’s future as an independent band.

Their own major label experiment come to an ignoble end, Margot & The Nuclear So And So’s will release Buzzard on September 21 on their own.

Paste catches up with John Roderick of The Long Winters, who are so overdue for a new album it’s not funny.

Interview talks to She & Him’s Matt Ward and Zooey Deschanel.

Spinner interviews Holly Miranda.

Rest in peace, Andy Hummel of Big Star.

The final volume of Scott Pilgrim came out this week – The Toronto Star and National Post look at the comic book phenomenon and the film that will be released on August 13, while Exclaim looks at the movie’s soundtrack.

Frank YangNXNE has quite thoroughly kicked my ass, so you’ll forgive me if this week’s selection falls under the category of quick and easy. But hopefully still satisfactory.

And why wouldn’t it be? There are few better go-to guys for covers than Ted Leo, who seemingly hasn’t met a song from any genre that he’s not prepared to take a swing at if it’s a good tune. And there are few bands who’ve wrote more good/great songs that have been – and deserve to be – covered ad infinitum than Big Star. So Ted Leo – solo and acoustic and Pharmacist-free – offering a tender rendition of one of Alex Chilton’s best-loved compositions, sometime circa 2006? Made of win, as the kids say.

Ted tours his newest album The Brutalist Bricks through Toronto this Saturday for a show at Lee’s Palace. Big Star’s Alex Chilton passed away in March and the world remains a colder place for his absence.

MP3: Ted Leo – “The Ballad Of El Goodo”
Video: Big Star – “The Ballad Of El Goodo” (live)

D.L. AndersonA lot of bands these days lay claim to the adjective of “orchestral” – and indeed, the tasteful addition of some strings, brass and/or woodwinds to one’s aural palette can set one apart from the pack. Those following this path should know, however, that the bar for these sorts of stylings has been raised by North Carolina’s Lost In The Trees. By a lot.

Even if stripped down to just main composer Ari Picker, Lost In The Trees would be a worthy of note – his songwriting is lyrically evocative and his voice capable of ranging from an introspective grumble to a plaintive yelp – but his ambitions go far beyond folk or singer-songwriter. Their third album All Alone In An Empty House – originally released in 2008 but re-recorded and set to be re-released on August 10 – wraps him and his songs in gorgeous tapestries of strings and chorals that are clearly informed by Picker’s Berklee training in classical composition, with the vocal pieces giving way on multiple occasions to full-on insturmental suites. Mixing those in with the more austere numbers and occasional electrified rockers could – and probably should – make for a jarring listening experience but Picker and company – seven in total in the touring configuration but numbering more than a dozen in the studio – make it all blend beautifully. Those other bands can keep calling themselves orchestral – Lost In The Trees are symphonic.

Lost In The Trees are currently on tour and will be in Toronto this coming Tuesday, June 15, for a free show at the El Mocambo. That’s right – the price of admission is the effort it takes to show up. There’s interviews with Ari Picker at The Washington Examiner and hour.ca.

MP3: Lost In The Trees – “Fireplace”
MP3: Lost In The Trees – “All Alone In An Empty House”
MP3: Lost In The Trees – “Time Taunts Me”
MySpace: Lost In The Trees

QRD talks guitars with Anna-Lynne Wiliams of Trespassers William.

Author Michael Chabon offers an eloquent tribute to power pop in general and Big Star in particular.

Drive-By Truckers have a new video from The Big To-Do.

Video: Drive-By Truckers – “After The Scene Dies”

Spinner talks to Tift Merritt about her new record See You On The Moon.

eye‘s cover feature this week welcomes the Pavement reunion to town next Saturday on Toronto Island without actually talking to anyone in the band. It was just announced that the reunion is having a reunion of its own – the band’s June 24 show in their former hometown of Stockton, California will feature their original drummer Gary Young behind the kit. Stockton fans got excited, until they remembered that Young wasn’t a very good drummer.

James Murphy of LCD Soundsystem talks to Spinner.

Phantogram check in at Daytrotter for studio session and with The Visalia Times Delta for an interview; they’ll be at Wrongbar on July 8.

Spin checks in with Of Montreal, presently in the studio recording a new record.

The Drums talk to Spinner and BBC about their self-titled debut, out digitally now, and on vinyl come August 10 and on CD in September.

Sky Larkin have nailed down the release date for their second album Kaleide – it will be available in the UK on August 9.

PopMatters chats with Gareth Campesinos! of Los Campesinos!.

Exclaim reports that The Vaselines will release their first new album in some 20 years on September 14 with Sex With An X, the first MP3 of which you can get from their website.

The Telegraph interviews Richard Thompson, whose new recorded-live-in-front-of-an-audience album Dream Attic is out August 31.

New fatherhood may have kept bassist Ted Malmros from participating in the Shout Out Louds’ recent North American tour, but he kept busy producing a new video from Work. Blast and The Days Of Yore also have interviews with Shout Out Loud-ers.

Video: Shout Out Louds – “Show Me Something New”

Drowned In Sound meets Love Is All.

Frank YangAs of Monday night, it had been four and a half years since I saw Spoon live and just over four years since I’d been to The Sound Academy (nee The Docks) for a show. One of these streaks I was anxious to break; the other I was not. To be fair, I only missed one of their Toronto shows – a 2008 appearance at the Kool Haus in support of Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga – but apparently that was the one where they officially crossed over to “rock star” status. That last time at The Phoenix in November 2005, it felt like a show for Spoon fans – this time, at a room three times the size but just as full, it felt more like the show was simply the place to be that night. That’s not intended with any snarkiness, just an observation.

This tour saw the band bringing two others on tour with them – one who surely benefited from being shown off in front of such-sized audiences and another that probably could have packed a respectably-sized room all on their own. The former of these were The Strange Boys, who hailed from Austin, Texas and proudly carried on that city’s tradition of psychedelic-garage rock. Granted, they weren’t overly trippy, preferring focused pop structures over sprawling jams and weren’t above injecting some twang into their sound, but their roots and skill at said stylings were clear. A little more energy or stage presence wouldn’t have been unwelcome, but still a solid start to the evening from a band making their first visit to Canada.

Deerhunter, on the other hand, were probably responsible for drawing no small percentage of the audience, if not just for themselves then for tilting the decision of whether to see Spoon in one the city’s least-favoured venues into the “yea” column. Though their psychedelic/shoegazing/pop affinities would make them seem the sort of thing I’d really be into, I had not listened to Deerhunter much before and certainly hadn’t seen them live. And now I wish I had, because their set was pretty superb – musically, they were far more direct (read: less wall of noise) than I’d expected, but with enough bludgeoning volume and droning excursions to keep it sufficiently trippy and the show itself was livened up with Bradford Cox’s space cadet stage banter, an unexpected stage invasion from one of The Black Lips (or perhaps expected considering that before they began the song, Cox dedicated it to his fellow Atlantans) and another guest appearance from Spoon’s Britt Daniel, who took over on guitar from Cox while the gangly bandleader engaged in some on-stage shenanigans I couldn’t actually see from my angle – see the eye review for specifics. As far as their recorded works go, I’ve only really spent time with Microcastle – further recommendations are welcome.

I don’t, however, need any help getting acquainted with the collected works of Spoon, having followed them attentively since 2001′s Girls Can Tell, and if there’s a downside to their consistently excellent output over this decade – hell, century – it’s that it can cause one to take them for granted a bit. Some have criticized this year’s Transference as being less focused than its pop-friendly predecessor Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga, I – for reasons I can’t quite articulate – prefer it. Both sides of the argument would have been perfectly happy with Monday night’s set list, then, as it opened with Transference’s sublime closer “Nobody Gets Me But You” and drew heavily from both records – seven tracks from each – while also hitting most of the essential notes from all the other Merge releases, even going as far back as 1997′s Soft Effects for the unexpected, “I Could See The Dude”.

In total, they ran through an impressive 25 songs over an hour and forty minutes, aptly showcasing the band’s unique sound and dynamic. Britt Daniel – he of the scratchy voice and stabby six-string – is front and centre, dancing around the stage in his herky-jerky manner as if pulled uncontrollably by his guitar but the contributions of his bandmates can’t be overstated, even if they seem perfectly happy to stay in the background. Eric Harvey’s keys provided the melodic underpinnings that allow Daniel’s guitar lines to wander while he impossibly tight and just funky enough rhythm section of Jim Eno and Rob Pope were omnipresent on this night – possibly because the Sound Academy’s acoustics leaned way towards the bassy. And don’t get me started on the sightlines – it’s a sad situation when you find yourself pining for the environs of the Kool Haus.

In my comments from that Phoenix show in 2005, I noted that ‘I will have to amend my one-line synopsis on Spoon live from “they put on a good show” to “they usually put on a good show, but sometimes they put on a GREAT show”. If Monday was a proper indication of how far they’ve progressed as a live act in the past half-decade, then their work on stage is almost on par with in the studio and I’ll have to update my notes to read, “they put on a great show” – no qualifiers.

Westword, NOW, CBC, The Quietus, The Toronto Star, The Chronicle Herald,NPR, The Toronto Sun and The San Francisco Chronicle have feature pieces on Spoon. Spin has excerpted this month’s feature piece that puts Britt Daniel in conversation with Ray Davies and New York Magazine talks to him about the art of the set list. Chart, The Globe & Mail and Exclaim have reviews of the show. The Fly profiles The Strange Boys.

Photos: Spoon, Deerhunter, The Strange Boys @ The Sound Academy – March 29, 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”
MP3: Deerhunter – “Wash Off”
MP3: Deerhunter – “Rainwater Cassette Exchange”
Video: Spoon – “Written In Reverse”
Video: Spoon – “The Underdog”
Video: Spoon – “Don’t You Evah”
Video: Spoon – “The Two Sides Of Monsieur Valentine”
Video: Spoon – “I Turn My Camera On”
Video: Spoon – “Sister Jack”
Video: Spoon – “Jonathan Fisk”
Video: Spoon – “Small Stakes”
Video: Spoon – “Everything Hits At Once”
Video: Deerhunter – “Agoraphobia”
Video: Deerhunter – “Strange Lights”
Video: The Strange Boys – “Be Brave”
Video: The Strange Boys – “Woe Is You And Me”

The Line Of Best Fit and Montreal Gazette have interviews with Jonathan Meiburg of Shearwater; The Gazette has also posted the full transcript of their interview. Shearwater play Lee’s Palace tomorrow night, April 1.

Also on the bill for that show are Wye Oak, who played a Tiny Desk Concert for NPR.

Daytrotter is featuring a session with Richard Buckner.

Paste reports that Tift Merritt will release a new record entitled See You On The Moon on June 1. The Fayetteville Observer has an interview with Merritt.

Pitchfork has details on Blitzen Trapper’s new album Destroyer Of The Void, due out June 8.

MP3: Blitzen Trapper – “Heaven & Earth”

Jeff Tweedy of Wilco is interviewed by The Miami Herald, Palm Beach Pulse and The Weekender while Le Blogotheque has a Take-Away Show with the band.

The Fly talks to The National frontman Matt Berninger about their new album High Violet, out May 11. They play Massey Hall on June 8 and 9.

LAist and The Dallas Observer chat with Ted Leo, who’s released a new video from The Brutalist Bricks. A Toronto show has also finally been announced – Ted and the Pharmacists will be at Lee’s Palace on June 26, tickets $15.

Video: Ted Leo & The Pharmacists – “The Mighty Sparrow”

Spinner, Prefix and Blurt have features on the Drive-By Truckers, who bring their new album The Big To-Do to Lee’s Palace for two nights next week, April 6 and 7.

Their respective members have moved on to new projects for the time being, but that hasn’t stopped Monsters Of Folk from releasing a new video from their self-titled album.

Video: Monsters Of Folk – “Dear God”

Crawdaddy profiles John Vanderslice.

NPR is streaming the entirety of Joanna Newsom’s concert in Washington DC last week.

Under The Radar talks to School Of Seven Bells’ Alejandra Deheza about their new album Disconnect From Desire. She says it will be out this Spring; it now being Spring, I am less confident than her about this point – it will be out this year, though.

Phantogram have released a new video from Eyelid Movies. If you’ve been having trouble finding in stores in Canada, there’s a reason – apparently it’s not out here until April 6, their deal with Barsuk not counting north of the 49th? Don’t know, but it’s worth seeking out wherever you have to go to do it. Playtonic Dialogues has an interview.

Video: Phantogram – “Mouthful Of Diamonds”

Portland atmospheric electronicist Eluvium will be at the Drake on May 22 in support of his new album Similes; tickets $12 in advance.

MP3: Eluvium – “The Motion Makes Me Last”

tUnE-yArDs brings her much-feted (but not really understood by me) debut BiRd-BrAiNs to the Horseshoe on June 13 – tickets $12 in advance. I tried, really I did.

MP3: tUnE-yArDs – “Sunlight”
Video: tUnE-yArDs – “Real Live Flesh”

Blurt, Pitchfork and Paul Westerberg – via The New York Times – eulogize Alex Chilton of Big Star.

Frank YangThis was the first year in many years that I did nothing at all involving TIFF. Not a screening, not a party, nothing. But I did get to do something tangentially cinematic on Wednesday evening, and that was attend a lovely little private show at the Dakota Tavern by The Swell Season, perhaps still better known as Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova, the real-life incarnation of the protagonists from the film Once and for it, winners of the 2008 Academy Award for Best Original Song.

But while that film and award have obviously defined their career, it hasn’t been their career – prior to the soundtrack to the film, they released a self-titled album and come October 27, will release their second proper record in Strict Joy, and while that date is still some time off, the duo were in town to do some promotion and to play this show at a room a miniscule fraction of the size of Massey Hall, where they’ll be on November 3. Special? Yes it was.

Though accustomed to much larger settings, the duo were perfectly comfortable in the down-home environs of the Dakota. Rather than use her own portable keyboard, Irglova opted to use the house upright piano, giving proceedings a distinct roadhouse (and slightly out of tune) flavour. This left her set up back somewhat on the stage and put Hansard front and centre, which is how it would have seemed anyways – he was the stereotypical gregarious Irishman, quick with the wit and charm in between songs, at one point thanking those in attendance for coming to this show instead of going to see his countrymen U2 at the Rogers Centre (where they were headed after the performance, apparently).

And most Swell Season songs are led by his voice and guitar anyways, with Irglova adding understated but crucial harmonies and piano accompaniment – her presence may be understated, but it’s still omnipresent. It’s remarkable how full they’re able to make their arrangements with just those four instruments at their disposal. They did swap places for a song, with Irglova taking the guitar and lead vocals and Hansard hitting the ivories, but by and large it was Hansard in the spotlight. Though the show ran only around 40 minutes, they struck a decent balance between the new material and old. Being really only familiar with the soundtrack and not heard the new record, I’m not in a position to comment on where their sound is going relative to where it’s been, but it did seem like the new material lacked the sense of anguish that ran through most of the songs in Once, instead taking on a more peaceful or perhaps resigned tone. “When Your Mind’s Made Up” was the exception, delivered with the fire (and perhaps overdramatic delivery) that was Hansard’s signature in The Frames but by and large the show was a gentle one. Unsurprisingly, the highlight was “Falling Slowly”, which Irglova started on piano but abandoned quickly due to tuning conflicts with the guitar, instead joining Hansard on his chair up front for a proper duet and stayed for their final song, a cover of Tim Buckley’s “Buzzin’ Fly” – the perfect finale to the show.

Just as the romantic relationship between Hansard and Irglova was a key talking point circa Once, the end of said relationship prior to the release of the new record is sure to be of interest to spectators. But anyone looking for Richard and Linda Thompson-style tension would have been disappointed – there was still plenty of genuine warmth between the two, implying they’ve either found a place of balance or are much better actors than you’d expect. Given their long and complex backstory, it’s futile to try and fully comprehend the emotions that were palpable between the duo and though that’s obviously a compelling facet of their story, it’s really no one’s business but theirs. We get the music, and that’s plenty.

Photos: The Swell Season @ The Dakota Tavern – September 16, 2009
MP3: The Swell Season – “In These Arms”
MySpace: The Swell Season

Rolling Stone talks to director Jonathan Demme about making the Neil Young Trunk Show concert film.

Dean Wareham interviews Buffy Sainte-Marie for Magnet.

Prefix and Access Atlanta chat with Son Volt’s Jay Farrar while The Austin Chronicle reports that Farrar has teamed up with Will Johnson , Anders Parker and Jim James to put more of Woody Guthrie’s words to music, a la Mermaid Avenue. Obviously any discomfort Farrar has with being measured against Jeff Tweedy is long past – good for him.

There’s interviews with Yo La Tengo’s Ira Kaplan at Washington City Paper, The Daily Times, Spinner, The AV Club and Billboard. Last night’s show in DC is also streaming at NPR. Yo La Tengo are at the Opera House on October 3.

Unexpected, yes, but also real – Pavement are getting back together, more than a decade after calling it quits, for a world tour that will kick off next September in New York City and visit a number of as-yet undetermined “big towns” (as which I hope Toronto qualifies). There will also be a compilation album released at some point next year to let newcomers understand why indie rock fans of a certain age are getting whipped into a frenzy by the news, but they’ve stated quite clearly that this is not a prelude to a permanent reunion – it’s a one-off tour and that’s it. Stephen Malkmus will be working on the new Jicks album this Fall and Scott Kannberg’s first solo record (albeit as Spiral Stairs) The Real Feel will be out October 20. Kannberg discusses how the Pavement reunion came about with Rolling Stone.

MP3: Spiral Stairs – “Maltese Terrier”

Aquarium Drunkard interviews Big Star drummer Jody Stephens about the band’s new Keep An Eye On The Sky box set, while Interview talks to John Fry, owner of Ardent Studios in Memphis where the band tracked much of their early, classic material. Spinner also talks to Stephens and is streaming one of the rarities which has surfaced in the box set.

NPR is streaming Unmap, the debut album from Volcano Choir, aka the new project from Bon Iver’s Justin Vernon – the album is out Tuesday. Spinner talks to Vernon about the project.

Stream: Volcano Choir / Unmap

Bishop Allen are heading out for a Fall tour which will bring them to the El Mocambo on October 30.

MP3: Bishop Allen – “Dimmer”
MP3: Bishop Allen – “The Ancient Commonsense Of Things”

Thunderheist have set a date at the Mod Club for December 3.

Gawker has posted an excerpt from Our Noise, the new book chronicling the first twenty years of Merge Records, and have a nice Q&A with Mac and Laura of the label (and Superchunk) in the comments.