Sebastian SlayterI’ve read a few things about Pacific Northwest by way of New York trio Widowspeak that reference the darkness of their music; the haunting tones, yearning vocals and occasional forays into guitar squalls. Perfectly fair. And most everything written about them mentions the smoky vocals of Molly Hamilton and its immediate reference points of Hope Sandoval and Cat Power. Also totally valid.

And yet listening to their self-titled debut, despite the truth of those points and the fact that I like amounts of all of these things in my music, what stands out the most to me is how much more they have to offer beyond those talking points. Though her voice has that alluring eyes-half-closed quality, she sounds far more awake and engaged with the song and melodies than Sandoval ever has (save, perhaps, her turn on “Sometimes Always”) and evokes neither the suicide-watch despair of early Chan Marshall nor the soul-diva stylings of her now. And musically, though perfectly capable of evoking sadness, they’re much more familiar with the major keys than some would have you believe. There’s a distinct ’50s doo-wop winsomeness running throughout, the guitars are as likely to throw off a twangy spaghetti western lick as drone menacingly and tunes like “Puritan” and “Fir Coat” are downright bouncy. All of which is to say that the critical praise they’ve garnered based on those aforementioned qualities are wholly deserved – they’ve just got much more to offer than you might expect.

Widowspeak are currently touring with Vivian Girls and will be at Parts & Labour in Toronto on September 16. Tickets for the show are $15.00 in advance but courtesy of Embrace, I’ve got two pairs of passes to give away for the show. To enter, email me at contests AT chromewaves.net with “I want to see Widowspeak” in the subject line and your full name in the body. Contest closes at midnight, September 13.

MP3: Widowspeak – “Harsh Realm”
Stream: Widowspeak – “Nightcrawlers”

The deluge of streams for September 13 releases mentioned earlier this week continues; Girls are offering a sneak preview of their sophomore effort Father, Son, Holy Ghost. Billboard talks to bandleader Christopher Owens, who leads his band into The Mod Club on September 27.

MP3: Girls – “Vomit”
Stream: Girls / Father, Son, Holy Ghost

Over at Rolling Stone, you’ve got a stream of Mountaintops, the latest from Mates Of State, a week before its release. They’ll be at The Phoenix on September 28 and Ology has an interview with band he-half Jason Hammell.

MP3: Mates Of State – “Maracas”
Stream: Mates Of State / Mountaintops

Wild Flag jumped the gun and put up a stream of their self-titled debut last week, but held a little something back for this week – their first video. Wild Flag are at Lee’s Palace on October 12.

Video: Wild Flag – “Romance”

Wilco offered up a stream of The Whole Love, out September 27, for a 24-hour period this past weekend and are prepping for next week’s kick-off of their tour with a fan video project wherein you can help them decorate their stage setup by submitting videos of the town in which they’re playing. And perhaps as a bit of inspiration, they’ve released a video from the new record and if that’s still not getting your juices flowing, dose has those video clips of Jeff Tweedy covering Black Eyed Peas last weekend that have been circulating. In any case, I’ll be interested to see what Toronto sends in for their September 16 and 17 shows at Massey Hall. And if you missed the stream, it’ll be back up on September 19.

Video: Wilco – “Born Alone”

Stephen Malkmus has put out a new video from Mirror Traffic and there’s an interview at The West Australian. He and The Jicks are at The Phoenix on September 21.

Video: Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks – “Tigers”

Wye Oak have a new video from their latest album Civilian. They’re at the Sound Academy on October 7 opening up for Explosions In The Sky, with whom Beatroute has an interview.

Video: Wye Oak – “Holy Holy”

Writers On Process gets into the creative space of Crooked Fingers mastermind Eric Bachmann. Their new record Breaks In The Armor is out October 11 and they play The Drake Underground on November 8.

The AV Club talks Archers Of Loaf reunion with bassist Matt Gentling.

The Baltimore Sun talks to National bassist Scott Devendorff.

Clash, Glide and Beatroute talk to Peter Silberman of The Antlers while The Georgia Straight chats with Darcy Cicci.

Salon and American Songwriter get some phone time with Zach Condon of Beirut.

NPR has a World Cafe session and CityPages an interview with Bon Iver.

Blurt documents two decades of the ups and downs of Superchunk.

The Big Takeover has posted the first part of an interview with Jonathan Donahue of Mercury Rev about their masterpiece Deserter’s Songs.

Leah NashIt was only five days or so and not especially far, but this past weekend’s extended jaunt to New York City was a lovely break from both my jobs – the blog and the one that pays – so while I readjust to the reality that my lifestyle is NOT meandering about Manhattan, taking pictures and eating strange and delicious meals, I’m just gonna toss up some stuff that’s been accumulating over the last few days and go have a nap.

And I guess we’ll start with Mr Stephen Malkmus, whose Mirror Traffic – his Beck-produced, recorded pre-Pavement reunion but mixed post-reunion record with The Jicks, is out today. There’s plenty of press surrounding its release, but this piece at Salon is particularly interesting to me, anyways, as it’s written by fellow 90s college rock icon Dean Wareham of the dearly, dearly departed Luna and Galaxie 500… though I can’t help noticing that one of the questions not asked was, “so should I get the old band back together?” though I suspect the answer from SM wouldn’t be the one the Luna fan in me would want to hear.

There’s other conversations with Malkmus about the new record – though by less esteemed interviewers – at Billboard, Clash, New York Magazine, Nerve, Exclaim, MTV Hive and Interview. And a new video from the record just premiered over at The New York Times. The album is still up to stream in whole at NPR.

Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks kick off their North American tour in support of Mirror Traffic in just under a month; the second date is in Toronto at The Phoenix on September 21.

MP3: Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks – “Tigers”
MP3: Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks – “Senator”
Video: Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks – “No One Is (As I Are Be)”
Stream: Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks / Mirror Traffic

Spin gets Wild Flag – whose Janet Weiss is not a Jick this time around – to list off some of their favourite things while The Vine talks to keyboardist Rebecca Cole. Their debut self-title will be more than few peoples’ favourite thing when it comes out on September 13. They play Lee’s Palace on October 11.

The Decemberists have premiered a new video from The King Is Dead over at NPR. The Georgia Straight has a chat with bassist Nate Query.

Video: The Decemberists – “Calamity Song”

Also with a new video straight out of the Pacific northwest is The Head & The Heart. You can also stream their set at the Newport Folk Festival from a few weeks back at NPR.

Video: The Head & The Heart – “Cats & Dogs”

Under The Radar and AltSonds have interviews with Blitzen Trapper. Their new one American Goldwing is out September 13 and they play The Opera House on October 30.

Spinner reports – in decidedly first-hand fashion – that The Flaming Lips and Death Cab For Cutie will be collaborating on a new EP sometime in the future.

Erika Anderson of EMA chats with Spinner and talks fashion with Spin.

Low have released a new video from C’Mon.

Video: Low – “Especially Me”

Head over to The Jayhawks’ official Facebook page where the band have been giving away free live MP3s en masse as a lead up to the September 20 release of their new album Mockingbird Time.

The new Bon Iver video practically doubles as a PSA for Tourism Iceland. Colour me convinced – see you in October!

Video: Bon Iver – “Holocene”

St. Louis Magazine has an extensive feature on Wilco, including some acoustic performances of new material from Jeff Tweedy. The Whole Love is out September 27 and they play Massey Hall on September 17 and 18.

NPR has a World Cafe session with My Morning Jacket while You Ain’t No Picasso and Citybeat have band interviews. Paste talks to guitarist Carl Broemel about not only MMJ, but his latest solo record All Birds Say.

Magnet Q&As Of Montreal before making them guest editors of their website for a week. They’re going to be picking glitter out of the office furniture for weeks to come.

NYC Taper is sharing a recording of Sonic Youth’s show at the Williamsburg Waterfront in Brooklyn last week.

They Shoot Music has a video session with The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart.

Details are coming out about the first new Tom Waits studio album in some seven years – Exclaim reports on the track listing of Bad As Me and indicates it will be out October 25. Expectations are also that a stream of the title track, which has appeared and disappeared online in the last little while, will be made officially available sometime today. As for the questions of will Waits tour behind it… well, Tom Waits does what Tom Waits wants to do, but the odds are certainly a lot better with a new album than without.

Jason SummersThis isn’t a review of the double-disc edition of Icky Mettle, released earlier this week and the first of four Archers Of Loaf reissues to come over the next year and a bit – for that, hit up the excellent Pitchfork writeup. I’ve had Icky Mettle for years but it hasn’t become such a part of me that I can offer any sort of explanation as to why it’s such a great record – in fact, I’ve only really come to that realization recently. So go read Matt LeMay’s writeup.

This also isn’t a broader discussion of why Archers were such a great and important band, and why their reunion is so exciting, even for those who are super-jaded about reunions in general. For that, check out this The Village Voice piece that gets The Hold Steady’s Craig Finn, Band Of Horses’ Ben Bridwell and members of Les Savy Fav to articulate their love for and influence of the band.

No, this is just me trying to clear out some links and make it to the weekend while listening to All The Nation’s Airports. So if you’re looking for some Archers content, check out the interviews with the band at The Village Voice and Washington Post and hope that the promises that Eric Bachmann made last month while here with Crooked Fingers to bring Archers through town sometime next March prove to be true.

MP3: Archers Of Loaf – “What Did You Expect”
Video: Archers Of Loaf – “Web In Front”

Also being reissued with bonuses is Superchunk’s 1994 album Foolish, out on September 13. Full details available at Exclaim.

Video: Superchunk – “Driveway To Driveway”

Pitchfork reveals that super-deluxe, super-limited remastered reissues of Olivia Tremor Control’s two albums – Dusk At Cubist Castle and Black Foliage: Animation Music Volume One – are coming on November 15. That’s too late to grace the merch table on their upcoming Fall tour, including the September 16 show at Lee’s Palace, but considering there’s only going to be 1000 of each made, it’s doubtful they’d make it past the first few cities on the itinerary anyways.

Not a reissue, but Old 97s are revisiting their past by giving away MP3s of all the demos for their 1997 album Too Far To Care.

MP3: Old 97′s – “Daybed” (demo)
MP3: Old 97′s – “Timebomb” (demo)

The Chicago Daily Herald talks to John Darnielle of The Mountain Goats.

The Awl has an interview with Amy Klein of Titus Andronicus.

My Morning Jacket drummer Patrick Hallahan discusses the band’s approach to playing live with Billboard. The Indianapolis Star also chats with guitarist Carl Broemel.

Writers On Process and Blurt go under the creative hood with Richard Buckner. Both are two-parters though the back half of the Writers piece is still forthcoming.

Drowned In Sound talks to Ra Ra Riot bassist Mathieu Santos. They play Lee’s Palace on October 6.

Exclaim reports that Ryan Adams – who apparently ended his retirement last year and has already released like fifteen albums – will put out his first proper solo record in some time with Ashes & Fire, due out October 11.

Rachael Yamagata will release a new album in Chesapeake on October 11; grab the first MP3 below.

MP3: Rachael Yamagata – “Starlight”

Spin has premiered the video for EMA’s contribution to their Nirvana tribute album Newermind.

Video: EMA – “Endless Nameless”

Decemberists bassist Nate Query confirms the band’s upcoming hiatus to Billboard but assures them it’s just a break, nothing permanent. The Arizona Republic and Cincinnati Citybeat also get to query Query (oh come on).

Brooklyn rockers Obits have set an October 25 date at The Rivoli in support of their second record Moody Standard & Poor. Tickets are $13 in advance.

MP3: Obits – “Shift Operator”
MP3: Obits – “You Gotta Lose”

San Francisco’s Wooden Shjips will release their latest West on September 15 and follow up with a show at The Horseshoe on November 7.

MP3: Wooden Shjips – “Lazy Bones”

NOW has put Bon Iver frontman Justin Vernon on their cover with accompanying interview, while NPR is streaming their show in DC from earlier this week. Bon Iver play The Sound Academy on Monday night, August 8.

NOW also checks in with Kathleen Edwards, whose next album will be produced by Vernon. And who’s also his girlfriend. Not that that matters.

The Toronto Star and NOW welcome The Doughboys back to active duty – they’ll play a free show at the Bovine Sex Club on Monday night as a warm-up to opening up for Foo Fighters at the Air Canada Centre the next night.

Emily Haines gives The Grid a status report on the next Metric record.

MTV gets Broken Social Scene’s Kevin Drew to respond to comments made by guitarist Andrew Whiteman about the band’s last video for “The Sweetest Kill”.

The Line Of Best Fit has a video session with Dan Mangan, whose next record Oh Fortune is out September 27 and who plays The Queen Elizabeth Theatre on October 28.

The Thrill Is Back got Rural Alberta Advantage into the back of their van at Hillside a few weeks ago and videotaped him playing a couple songs, including one new one.

Metro chats with The Wilderness Of Manitoba.

YouTubeThis has been shaping up to be a pretty solid year for fans of the more “adult contemporary” end of the indie spectrum. Last month, Bon Iver released their second album of swoony falsetto and heartbreaking romanticism in Bon Iver and after a good number of years of laying low, Feist just this week announced her new record Metals would be coming out on October 4. Between those two records, you’ve got your make-out and/or break-up soundtrack for 2011.

The two acts – or at least one of them and the other’s work – came together in Australian radio station triple-j’s studio back in 2009 when Justin Vernon, he who was and essentially still is Bon Iver, offered up a cover of Feist’s “The Park” as part of an interview and session. Now Bon Iver has done a lot of covers and most of them sound like, well, Bon Iver singing someone else’s song, but this one I liked quite a bit more as Vernon’s delivery enhances the not inconsiderable beauty that Feist crafted into the original.

Bon Iver plays a sold out show at the Sound Academy on August 8. Feist has announced a short US tour to coincide with the release of Metals; I would expect that a Toronto hometown show will come sometime around then as well – I mean, how can one not? In the meantime, you can paint your own version of the Metals album art at her Facebook because that’s almost as good. Obviously.

MP3: Bon Iver – “The Park”
Video: Bon Iver – “The Park” (live on JJJ)
Video: Feist – “The Park” (live)

Frank YangIn case anyone was wondering – and I certainly was earlier on on Saturday night – there is no air conditioning at The Garrison. Had I known this for sure beforehand, it would have been another compelling reason – right behind a week-old broken bone and backlog of television to watch – to stay home and just not deal with the world. But EMA was in town and easing myself off prescription meds as I was, getting out for a show was the sort of distraction I could use.

I confess to no familiarity with Erika Anderson’s last band Gowns, but her debut under the acronym identity Past Life Martyred Saints has been on fairly heavy rotation over the past couple months. Its a fascinating balance of rawness and poise, grunge and folk, all tied together with Anderson’s almost uncomfortably bare and confessional lyrics – I quite wanted to see how it would all come off live.

As did a healthy number of other people – a couple hundred by my guesstimate – all adding to the general sweatiness of the proceedings but also providing plenty of incentive for Anderson and her three bandmates to turn in an impressive show despite looking like hot messes before even playing a note. Throughout their hour-long set they alternately and simultaneously evoked Sonic Youth – thanks in no small part to Anderson’s Kim Gordon-esque vocals – and The Velvet Underground – duelling violins in a rock context will do that – all with a distinctly ’90s alt-rock vibe that was equal parts Nirvana and Pavement.

Between songs Anderson was chatty, a bit dorky and a lot funny, a decidedly different character than you might expect given the open wound vibe of the album’s stream of consciousness confessionals. But expecting every live show to be some sort of catharsis would be unreasonable and probably unhealthy – instead the show contained a healthy dose of attitude and snarl and was delivered with a surprising degree of theatricality. Things weren’t so polished, however, that after closing the set with a properly intense and stage-messing “California”, Anderson had to spend a little while putting her pedals and gear back together before being able to close out with one more song. Short, sweet and satisfying. And sweaty. Oh so sweaty.

Photos: EMA @ The Garrison – July 23, 2011
MP3: EMA – “Milkman”
MP3: EMA – “The Grey Ship”
Video: EMA – “California”
Video: EMA – “Milkman”

St. Vincent has set up a StrangeMercy.com to build anticipation for album number three, Strange Mercy, before its release on September 13 and via a Twitter campaign, the first MP3 from the album was made available last week.

MP3: St. Vincent – “Surgeon”

Dum Dum Girls have also offered the first preview of their new record Only In Dreams, due out September 27. They play Lee’s Palace on October 16.

MP3: Dum Dum Girls – “Coming Down”

And Ume have shared the first sample of their new record Phantoms, out August 30.

MP3: Ume – “Captive”

The Chicago Tribune gets to know Wild Flag, whose self-titled debut drops September 13. They play Lee’s Palace on October 11.

Exclaim and The Globe & Mail talk to Eleanor Friedberger about her solo works and what’s next for The Fiery Furnaces. Though here just last week for a solo show, word is Friedberger will be back with a full band sometime in October. A new video from Last Summer also came out a few weeks ago.

Video: Eleanor Friedberger – “Roosevelt Island”

The Calgary Herald profiles The Head & The Heart.

Black Book checks in with Ivy about their return to active duty with All Hours, in stores September 20.

The Big Takeover, AV Club and Austin 360 have chats with Andrew Kenny of The Wooden Birds.

The Quietus interviews Zach Condon of Beirut. They play The Phoenix on August 2 and 4 and release a new album in The Rip Tide on August 30.

The new single from Bon Iver is up for grabs. Their just-started tour hits The Sound Academy on August 8.

MP3: Bon Iver – “Holocene”

Spinner has got a new MP3 from Richard Buckner’s next album Our Blood available to download while NPR is streaming the album in whole ahead of its August 2 release date.

MP3: Richard Buckner – “Escape”
Stream: Richard Buckner / Our Blood

Stereogum gets a progress report on the new Crooked Fingers record Breaks In The Armor, due out October 11, and the Archers Of Loaf reunion.

Pitchfork has streams of the latest Flaming Lips releases – the ones that come on USB sticks embedded in gummy fetuses – and there’s also a video for a track they recorded with Lightning Bolt. The Boston Herald and Montreal Gazette have interviews with Wayne Coyne.

Video: The Flaming Lips with Lightning Bolt – “I Want To Get High But I Don’t Want Brain Damage”

FFWD and The Montreal Gazette chat with Yo La Tengo.

The AV Club offers a newcomer’s guide to the works of R.E.M..

Crawdaddy talks memoirs with Bob Mould.