Lilja BirgisdottirWhen it was revealed that Jon Thor Birgisson was going to be working on a project separate from Sigur Ros, many – well me, at least – assumed that the instrumental Riceboy Sleeps record which came out earlier this year was it. But in fact, it was credited to Jonsi & Alex, the titular Alex being Alex Somers of Parachutes and Birgisson’s boyfriend and the project being something else completely. Which is just as well because while it was a pretty piece of atmosphere, Riceboy Sleeps didn’t really engage as a piece of music and didn’t do much to tide one over while waiting for the new Sigur Ros record.

When flying solo as just Jonsi, however, the results are more satisfying. Details on Birgisson’s debut album entitled Go were revealed last week alongside the first MP3 – “Boy Lilikoi” – and it’s definitely not lacking in substance. Big and colourful, it finds Birgisson singing in English overtop buoyant and burbling pop arrangements, courtesy of Bjork arranger Nico Muchly and The National producer Peter Katis. This track and the extra audio samples available on the Jonsi website seem to ensure that Go will be enough like Sigur Ros to entice and satisfy fans of Sigur Ros, but different enough to justify not being Sigur Ros.

The album will be out on March 23 of next year, and a world tour to support will follow. Which basically ensures that the new Sigur Ros record won’t be out until Fall at the earliest.

MP3: Jonsi – “Boy Lilikoi”
MP3: Riceboy Sleeps – “Boy 1904″
MySpace: Jonsi

Rolling Stone talks to Ted Leo about his new album The Brutalist Bricks, available March 9. For a sneak preview of the new material, check out this downloadable live show from last week courtesy of NYC Taper.

Magnet does the over/under thing with Built To Spill’s oeuvre.

BrooklynVegan reports that The Antlers will be opening up for Editors on their upcoming North American tour, including the February 16 date at the Phoenix in Toronto. The Irish Times interviews Peter Silberman.

The Fader has posted their recent cover story on Bon Iver online while NME reports that a charity album entitled A Decade With Duke, pairing Justin Vernon with his Eau Claire, Wisconsin high school’s jazz band in performing Duke Ellington songs, Bon Iver songs and a few standards. NPR has a feature piece on the collaboration.

Though they just announced details of their next studio album, entitled Beat The Devil’s Tattoo and out on March 9, Black Rebel Motorcycle Club don’t want folks to forget they also just released a live album – they’ve released a video of four live performances and are offering up one of the tracks to download. Their two worlds collide when they play songs from the new studio album in a live setting on April 1 at the Phoenix.

MP3: Black Rebel Motorcycle Club – “Whatever Happened to My Rock and Roll (Punk Song)” (live)
Video: Black Rebel Motorcycle Club / Live

Paste kicks off their new “Moog Sessions” – featuring videos of performances recorded at the Moog factory in Asheville, North Carolina – with Yo La Tengo.

The Skeleton Crew Quarterly interviews Venice Is Sinking.

For Folk’s Sake interviews Jenn Wasser of Wye Oak.

Drive-By Truckers will release their new studio album The Big To-Do on March 16 – details at Muzzle Of Bees.

This week, PitchforkTV is streaming the 2004 Superchunk documentary, Quest For Sleep.

Video: Superchunk: Quest For Sleep

The Thermals’ Hutch Harris talks lyrics with Paste. Their next album is out September 7, 2010.

The Line Of Best Fit interviews Beach House about their new album Teen Dream, out January 26.

The Independent has an extensive interview with Wilco.

Austinst has information on The Golden Dossier component of Shearwater’s new album The Golden Archipelago, which they are hoping to finance via Kickstarter. The album is out February 23.

Christmas has come early for fans of over-the-top British arena rock and those with nostalgic memories of the ’90s-era Canadian indie rock. Different gifts, though they could well be the same fans. To the former, word that Muse have added a March 8 date at the Air Canada Centre to their Spring 2010 North American tour in support of this year’s The Resistance. Support on the tour will come from Silversun Pickups.

Video: Muse – “Uprising”

And to the latter, the long-rumoured Thrush Hermit reunion appears to be a go. Official confirmation and full dates are still forthcoming, but an eastern leg of the tour appeared on last week and puts the reunited Haligonians at Lee’s Palace in Toronto for two nights, March 26 and 27. Once and future Thrush Hermit frontman Joel Plaskett also just released a new video from Three. Update: Plaskett has confirmed the reunion in an interview with Exclaim.

Video: Joel Plaskett – “You Let Me Down”

Frank YangWhen it comes to bands doing multi-night stands, I’ve come to the wholly unscientific conclusion that given the choice (ie – all shows are announced simultaneously and not only after one has sold out) that the last night of the run is the one to hit. The band isn’t tired from travel, any sound issues will have been sorted out (one hopes) and the looseness is conducive, in theory, to a more exciting or unpredictable show. There’s more chance, in other words, of the band “leaving it all on stage”, as the kids say. And so for Built To Spill’s two-night engagement at Lee’s Palace this week, a repeat of their first-ever visit to Toronto in July 2007, I opted to hit the second night. It figures that everyone else I knew who was going went to the first.

The media as well, judging from the reviews that were circulating the day of my show. And though the verdict was generally positive, it seemed as though the thumbs up was a qualified one, which I could understand. Having seen them twice before, I knew they could offer up guitar-driven transcendence but were also at risk of extended, aimless jamming. But it’s exactly that fine balance of noodly meander and pop focus that makes Built To Spill so great, so I was looking forward to the show regardless.

Openers for the tour were a Swiss act – when was the last time I saw a Swiss band? – called Disco Doom and to the literal minded, no they did not sound like disco nor doom. What they did sound like was a band tailor-made to appeal to fans of Built To Spill who also have a fondness for fuzzy, early ’90s shoegaze influences. They had it all – whispery boy-girl vocals, fuzz-laden guitar lines and pretty much no stage presence at all. They also sort of had songs… nothing that sticks in the memory after the fact, but everything felt good, for what that’s worth. Their set-closing extenda-jam went over well with the rapidly filling audience, and of course it would. If you were looking for 500 people in Toronto who appreciate a good extenda-jam, this is where they’d be.

No one expects a lot of chit-chat from Built To Spill. Or at least they shouldn’t. These are guys who prefer to let their fingers do the talking, coaxing out insanely convoluted and intertwined yet unfailingly melodic lines out of their guitars, and so when what seemed like a final pre-show soundcheck with frontman Doug Martsch and drummer Scott Plouf turned into a jam of “Three Years Ago Today” from their 1993 debut Ultimate Alternative Wavers, well, that seemed perfectly natural. And though the band had just released their latest album – and best in some time – There Is No Enemy the day before, the set list would show it no favouritism, instead touching on every one of their records before it was all over. And comparing it to the previous night’s set, it’s obvious that choosing one night over the other was futile, at least as far as song selections went – only one tune, the Canada-saluting “Hindsight” from the new record, was repeated. If you’re a Built To Spill fan and want to be sure to hear your favourite song during a multi-night stand, be prepared to shell out.

Performance-wise, the first half of the show was a bit snoozy in delivery, the extended tuning breaks and set discussions between selections doing nothing to help maintain the modest energy generated during the actual songs. Guitarist Brett Netson tried engaging in a bit of banter, but mostly the band worked in silence, eyes on their tuners. With “Conventional Wisdom”, however, it seemed like the band spontaneously discovered another gear and gunned it – well, relatively speaking. It didn’t suddenly become a Metallica show, but someone or something definitely kicked them in the sun and made a pretty good show into one that was staring greatness in the face, so it felt like a disappointment when they closed out the set after just over an hour, following a wicked “Virginia Reel Around The Fountain”. Here they were just hitting their stride and they were calling it a night? Sure there was an encore, but how much can you do with the encore? A lot, as it turns out. Though Martsch initially promised just a couple songs, they kept going, ultimately trotting out four more tunes and extending to almost the two-hour mark, much of that an epic-length, appropriately named “Stop The Show” to wrap it up. Not quite the marathon 27-minute “Randy Described Eternity” they served up last time, but still dizzying. I now understand why they do the multi-night thing. It’s not necessarily because they want to do intimate shows or they’ve got the massive fanbase to justify it, but to play all the songs they want to would otherwise take upwards of four hours.

Flavorwire, The Maneater, The Boston Herald and The Cornell Sun have interviews with Doug Martsch.

Photos: Built To Spill, Disco Doom @ Lee’s Palace – October 7, 2009
MP3: Built To Spill – “Hindsight”
Video: Built To Spill – “Conventional Wisdom”
MySpace: Built To Spill
MySpace: Disco Doom

NPR is streaming last night’s Dinosaur Jr show in Washington DC – something to hold you over until they finally come to Toronto to play the Phoenix on January 21 of next year. The Washington Examiner talks to Dino drummer Murph.

Minnesota Public Radio is streaming a studio session with Yo La Tengo. There’s interviews with the band at AZ Central, The Denver Post, The Standard and Decider.

In honour of their reunion, which now includes a them-curated All Tomorrow’s Parties in May in the UK to go with their four nights in Central Park in September, PitchforkTV is streaming the Pavement documentary/live film The Slow Century for a week.

Video: Pavement: The Slow Century

Okkervil River’s Will Sheff talks to The Golden Gate X-Press and mentions that an album they made with Roky Erikson will be out early next year. Erikson is playing Lee’s Palace on October 28, but don’t expect Okkervil to be along as his band for that – the fact that The Sadies are opening that show up pretty much guarantees they’ll be his band.

The Sadies will also be playing with R&B legend Andre Williams at the Horseshoe on November 19, tickets $15.

NOW talks to Amy Millan, who is playing the Mod Club next Wednesday, October 14. Congratulations to Patrick and Janice, who won the passes to the show.

QRO has an interview with Emil Svanagen of Loney Dear, who will be at the Horseshoe on Monday night. Congratulations to Thierry and Bruce, who won the passes to the show.

And speaking of winning passes, here’s a doozie of a contest though it’s not mine. The folks at Against The Grain and Rootmeansquare, who put on many/most of the awesome shows in the city and who are responsible for most of the ticket giveaways I have, are officially joining forces (in a corporate sense) starting next year and as such, are looking for a new name and are soliciting your help in coming up with one. In their words, “Think MUSIC, art, alternative, indie, new wave, cool but not retro, etc.” If your suggestion inspires them or is chosen as their new identity, you will win “ONE YEAR OF FREE CONCERT TICKETS (+ 1) to all ATG, RMS, H-Shoe Tavern, & Lees Palace shows (non-transferable)”. That, friends, is a shitload of concerts. The letterhead they write the guest lists on will essentially have your name printed on it. So put those thinking toques on and send you ideas to shows@atgconcerts.com with “BUSINESS NAME” in the subject line. Go!

Still not convinced my hosting isn’t going to go kack as soon as regular traffic loads ramp up. Not much I can do about it until I’ve gotten all my files and data backed up, which is hard to do when your site is inaccessible, let me tell you. Hoping to have this all sorted out within a week or so, though, so thanks for sticking around. Assuming you’re sticking around.

Brian TaborelloI’m thinking I should start declaring Fridays to be “Leftover Fridays”, or “Fragmented Fridays” on account of them more often than not being theme-less hodge-podges of whatever bits of linkage I have left over from the week that I’d rather not sit on through the weekend. Though today maybe it should be “Funny Friday” because rather than kick off with music, we’ve got some comedy to close out your week.

Season two of Flight Of The Conchords ended exponentially stronger than it started (which was pretty weak) and so the resulting second album I Told You I Was Freaky – out October 20 – should have a healthy quotient of parodic hilarity. Don’t know if there’s anything quite on the level of genius of “Inner City Pressure”, “Hiphopopotamus vs. Rhymenoceros” or “Foux du Fafa”, but “Sugalumps”, available to download below, was pretty great and “Too Many Dicks On The Dance Floor” is pure Gondry gold.

And further, Eugene Mirman – who plays landlord Eugene on Flight Of The Conchords – also has a new album out in God Is A 12-Year Old Boy With Aspbergers. It’s a straight stand-up recording and is chock full of LOL and LULZ moments, though I don’t think a bear was actually heckling as heard in the sample MP3. It’s out on Tuesday.

And that photo is pretty funny, too. Look, Jemaine is trying to bribe some miniature toy policemen. And he and Bret are also miniature!

MP3: Flight Of The Conchords – “Sugalumps”
MP3: Eugene Mirman – “Vancouver, Detroit & Bears”
Video: Flight Of The Conchords – “Sugalumps”

And oh yeah, David Cross is in town for two shows at the Queen Elizabeth theatre tonight, early and late. He’s labelmates with FOTC and Eugene Mirman so I thought I’d throw that in there. There’s interviews with Cross at eye and The Pitch.

MP3: David Cross – “Certain Leaders in Government Look or Act Like Certian Pop Culture References”
MP3: David Cross – “My Wife’s Crazy!”

Sentimentalist talks to A Place To Bury Strangers about their new record Exploding Head, out next Tuesday. Look for them at the Mod Club on October 27.

Asobi Seksu are offering tastes of their two new releases – a video for the title track of their “Transparence” 10″ single and an MP3 of the Hope Sandoval cover from their acoustic Rewolf album, due out November 10. The latter should give a sense of what to expect when they play the Horseshoe on October 13. There’s also an interview with the band at The Georgia Straight.

MP3: Asobi Seksu – “Suzanne”
Video: Asobi Seksu – “Transparence”

Hope Sandoval will herself be in town next week, with a show at the Mod Club on October 7. Interview has an interview.

I’m not usually one for posting remixes but this xx re-imagining of Florence & The Machine’s “You’ve Got The Love” is more cover than remix, with the young London outfit basically replacing all of the original with their own recorded tracks and vocals, saving only a bit of Florence for the chorus. Of course, Florence’s version is itself a cover of Candi Staton, so… yeah. Florence is at the Mod Club on November 2 while The xx are at the Phoenix on December 2. The Times has an interview with the latter.

MP3: Florence & The Machine – “You’ve Got The Love” (xx remix)

The Joy Formidable are giving away a new song via last.fm which is just about as good as anything on their superb A Balloon Called Moaning mini-album. They’re also putting out a limited-edition live CD entitled First You have To Get Mad, recorded this past Wednesday night (!) in London – it’s officially released on November 16.

MP3: The Joy Formidable – “Greyhounds In The Slips”

eMusic, The List, The Skinny and MusicOmh interview The Big Pink. They’ve a date at Lee’s Palace on November 29.

Clash interviews Editors. In This Light and On This Evening is out next week.

NME reports that Elbow are re-issuing their 2001 debut Asleep In The Back on October 26 enhanced with a second disc of bonus and live tracks and a DVD. I’ve fallen in love with all of their subsequent records but their debut still leaves me unmoved. I doubt this edition will change that, and I’m okay with that.

Mum have premiered a new video for the sort-of title track from Sing Along To Songs You Don’t Know over at Stereogum. They play the Phoenix on October 27.

Video: Mum – “Sing Along”

Ladyhawke has released a new video. The San Francisco Examiner has an interview.

Video: Ladyhawke – “Magic”

Built To Spill are streaming their new record There Is No Enemy at their MySpace in advance of next Tuesday’s release date. They’ve got two dates at Lee’s Palace on October 6 and 7.

Stream: Built To Spill / There Is No Enemy

St. Vicent’s Annie Clark talks to Pitchfork about her contributions to the new Twilight soundtrack.

An MP3 from the Alela Diane EP Alela & Alina – out Tuesday – is now up for grabs. She plays the Horseshoe on October 16.

MP3: Alela Diane with Alina Hardin – “Bowling Green”

Canadian Interviews talks to Tony Dekker of Great Lake Swimmers.

Though he’s in town on Monday at the Mod Club opening up for Bob Mould, Miles Anthony Benjamin Robinson has already scheduled a return engagement for after his new album Summer Of Fear is released on October 20. He’ll be at the Drake Underground on November 17 with These United States, who themselves have a new record out in Everything Touches Everything.

MP3: Miles Anthony Benjamin Robinson – “The Sound”
MP3: These United States – “I Want You To Keep Everything”

Luxury Wafers interviews Matthew Clark of White Rabbits. They’re at the Horseshoe on October 24.

And the Malajube show originally scheduled for that date at the ‘Shoe has been postponed to November 26.

Decider chats with The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart.

Wye Oak are the subject of feature pieces at Slap Magazine, LAist and Honest Tune.

Exclaim talks to Mac McCaughan and Laura Ballance of Merge Records.

Jonathan TaggartSaying I was a bit award-ed out following last week’s Polaris Prize gala would be something of an understatement, so the ceremonies for the Verge XM Awards the following night were largely ignored around these parts. But that doesn’t mean the results weren’t of interest – okay, Alexisonfire winning album of the year was of zero interest, but the declaration of Vancouver’s Dan Mangan as artist of the year certainly drew a double-take. This response had nothing to do with Mangan or his work, simply the fact that it’s a pretty heady honour to bestow on someone who’d only released his new album Nice, Nice, Very Nice a little over a month prior, though that was preceded by the Roboteering EP in the Spring. The whys and wherefores of that do interest me, but we’ll set that aside for now and just consider the record.

And it’s a good one. On the surface, it’s a tuneful collection of roots-rock/pop, hummably melodic and understatedly orchestrated, but what’s most compelling is the narrator that Mangan inhabits in his songs. Though his likeable rasp implies a certain forthrightness of character, that he’s the sort of guy who tells is straight and like it is, lyrically he’s much slipperier. Sardonic observer of the world around him one moment, absurdist storyteller the next, but I suppose when done right the two really aren’t all that different. You’re never sure if Mangan is telling tall tales or pouring his broken heart out because he does both with a twinkle in his eye; the unreliable narrator, the court jester, or just the guy perched on a barstool, it doesn’t really matter – there’s as much cosmic truth as fiction in these songs and either is where you find it. And if you’re just looking for some great songs, they’re here too. Artist of the Year still strikes me as a bit premature, but if Mangan is still finding himself up for awards in a year’s time or so, it wouldn’t surprise me a bit.

Mangan kicks off a cross-country tour this week and will be in Toronto in a couple weeks on October 16 for an in-store at Criminal Records on October 16 at 6PM and a gig proper at the Rivoli that night. Then it’s off to the UK and Europe. Okay, maybe he’s having a really good year after all. There’s features on Mangan at The Georgia Straight.

MP3: Dan Mangan – “Road Regrets”
MP3: Dan Mangan – “Robots”
Video: Dan Mangan – “The Indie Queens Are Waiting”
Stream: Dan Mangan / Roboteering
Stream: Dan Mangan / Nice, Nice, Very Nice
MySpace: Dan Mangan

As promised, Sloan are giving away a new song. “Take It Upon Yourself” is a Chris song that sounds like a Jay song (it’s the piano) and is available for frees in exchange for your email address.

Note that the Rural Alberta Advantage show originally scheduled for November 4 at Lee’s Palace has been moved to November 20 – tickets for the former date are still good. There’s an interview with frontman Nils Edenloff at The Maneater.

Forest City Lovers have completed their first 7″ single, available to pre-order now in advance of its November 10 release. Something to hold you over until they release album number three next year.

Portions of the Caribou Vibration Ensemble performance at All Tomorrow’s Parties NY have been made available to stream or download at the Free Music Archive, with word that a full live album may be forthcoming. The Toronto show was amazing – I expect this was nothing less.

MP3: The Caribou Vibration Ensemble – “Skunks”
MP3: The Caribou Vibration Ensemble – “Barnowl”
MP3: The Caribou Vibration Ensemble – “Brahminy Kite”
MP3: The Caribou Vibration Ensemble – “A Final Warning”

Handsome Furs have set a date for Lee’s Palace on December 5, tickets $15. No occasion, just bringing some rock.

MP3: Handsome Furs – “I’m Confused”

NPR has a World Cafe session with The Jayhawks.

Spinner has another video taken from the forthcoming live R.E.M. album Live At The Olympia, out October 27.

Video: R.E.M. – “Man-Sized Wreath” (live)

Long-time R.E.M. sideman and once-and-future Posie Ken Stringfellow has a new band of Norwegians called The Disciplines. It’s got a garage-ish bent, but there’s no suppressing Stringfellow’s canny pop sensibilities. They’re heading out for a North American tour next month, including a stop at the Velvet Underground in Toronto on October 22 ($8 in advance), and are also looking for places to crash in many of the cities on the itinerary and a Vox AC30 amp to borrow.

Video: The Disciplines – “Best Mistake”
Video: The Disciplines – “Yours For The Taking (Smoking Kills)”

AZCentral talks to the other principal in the Posies, Jon Auer.

City Pages Q&A’s Built To Spill, whose new record There Is No Enemy is out next week and who have Lee’s Palace reserved for two nights, October 6 and 7.

Epigram Music talks to Sufjan Stevens about his BQE project, out October 20. He plays Lee’s Palace on Thursday night, October 1.

St Vincent’s Annice clark talks to Radar Online about her contribution to the soundtrack to New Moon, which I’m content to know nothing about save for one of the protagonists sparkles. Clark also gives an interview to The Vanguard.

There’s a new video for the Taken By Trees cover of Animal Collective’s “My Girls”, from her new album East Of Eden.

Video: Taken By Trees – “My Boys”

Blurt has a feature on Monsters Of Folk, who will be at Massey Hall on November 2.

Frank YangSome shows you want to see in a packed, sweaty club. Others you don’t. In the case of St. Vincent, more than two years removed from her last visit to Toronto, you’ll take her anywhere you can but as much as I love the Horseshoe Tavern, its sweltering environs on Saturday night weren’t what I’d call the ideal setting for Annie Clark’s elegant pop and its Jekyll-and-Hyde/frosted miniwheat balance of beauty and abrasion. The band did what they could to dress it up, hanging white drapes across the back wall and setting up some dramatic lighting, but something more akin to a church or theatre would have seemed more appropriate. Or perhaps just somewhere with more effective air conditioning.

Opener Gentleman Reg has been somewhat ubiquitous on Toronto stages since the Spring release of his latest record Jet Black, but considering the length of the layoff between it and 2004’s Darby & Joan, he can be forgiven for making the most of the opportunity. Reg Vermue has always had a gift for blending folk and pop, but I’ve felt he needed the proper backing players for his songs to properly shine – an opinion that was shared, apparently, because the band that he’s assembled for Jet Black really hits that sweet spot, though I’m not sure if the players on the record were the same ones on stage with him on Saturday – I don’t have the proper roster notes to comment. Either way, the balance of feyness and punch on display this evening seemed just right and it was good to see Reg settled so comfortably in the role of frontman. I’d missed numerous opportunities to see him play throughout the Summer – glad to have finally rectified that.

As distinctive as Annie Clark’s creative vision is, live she’s also much-defined by her band, or lack thereof. The first time I saw her in February 2007, she was supporting Midlake and operating solo, and as such made heavy use of looping pedals and a Stompin’ Tom-approved board for percussion. The next time in Austin that September she’d expanded to a power trio format and though that configuration sounded a little more conventional, it freed her up musically. This time, she was fronting a five-piece St. Vincent complete with utility players tasked with handling a myriad of instruments including guitar, bass, keys, violin, saxophone and clarinet – obviously ready to do the orchestrations and textures of Actor justice.

And the presence of those extra players made a world of difference in recreating the new material, of which the set list was mostly comprised (as well as the solo cover of “Dig A Pony” which again seems to be a set staple). It’s hard to imagine “Marrow” or “Black Rainbow” without the trill of the woodwinds and brass, but there they were, adding crucial accent to Clark’s crystalline voice (or chorused/delayed/voice when she sang through her second mic) and then getting gleefully obliterated when she went in for a fuzzed-out, shred-happy guitar break. And it was that wanton and wonderful collision of beauty and brutality, punctuated by Clark’s charmingly off-kilter banter, that defined the evening. That and the stifling heat.

Panic Manual and eye have reviews of the show. The Globe & Mail has a feature interview with Annie Clark while Renegade Bus has an interview with Evan Smith, one of the backing musicians who makes St. Vincent a band and not just a pseudonym.

Photos: St. Vincent, Gentleman Reg @ The Horseshoe – August 8, 2009
MP3: St. Vincent – “Actor Out Of Work”
MP3: St. Vincent – “The Strangers”
MP3: St. Vincent – “Now Now”
MP3: Gentleman Reg – “We’re In A Thunderstorm”
MP3: Gentleman Reg – “How We Exit”
MP3: Gentleman Reg – “Plan On Including Me”
Video: St. Vincent – “Actor Out Of Work”
Video: St. Vincent – “Jesus Saves I Spend”
Video: Gentleman Reg – “How We Exit”
Video: Gentleman Reg – “Rewind”
Video: Gentleman Reg – “We’re In A Thunderstorm”
Video: Gentleman Reg – “Boyfriend Song”
MySpace: St. Vincent
MySpace: Gentleman Reg

Here’s some news – St. Vincent’s one-time bandleader Sufjan Stevens has announced the details of his previously-implied Fall tour, and it’s a small one. As in venue. Though he could easily fill rooms two or three times the size for his first local show in four years, Stevens is opting for a club tour and will return to Lee’s Palace on October 1, where he played last in November 2004. Contrary to previous speculation, this show will not be in support of the BQE show/soundtrack coming out October 20, which raises the question not only of what material will be aired – a melange of Illinois, Michigan and Seven Swans seems most likely – but what the theme of the costumes will be. There had better be costumes, Sufjan. Don’t you be going sensible on us. Support for the tour will be Cryptacize, and tickets will be doled out very carefully. Ticket details are forthcoming later this week, but they will go on sale Satureday and be limited to two a person with them only being available to be picked up at the venue the night of the show. But you know that they could also insist that patrons have to eat a jar of flaming cockroaches before being admitted and Lee’s would be packed before 8PM.

MP3: Sufjan Stevens – “The Henney Buggy Band”
MP3: Sufjan Stevens – “The Man Of Metropolis Steals Our Hearts”
MP3: Sufjan Stevens – “Casimir Pulaski Day”
MP3: Sufjan Stevens – “Sister”
MP3: Sufjan Stevens – “Holland”
MP3: Cryptacize – “Blue Tears”

Flavorwire talks to Dean Wareham of Dean & Britta.

Pitchfork has a feature on Antony Hegarty of Antony & The Johnsons. Their new Aeon EP was released last week.

Mark Eitzel has revealed details of his next solo record, entitled Klamath and due out this Fall. Work is also beginning on a new American Music Club record.

Those holding their breath for the release of Final Fantasy’s Heartland can circle January 5, 2010 as a date to exhale. Owen Pallett revealed via Twitter that the record would be out the first week of the new year, and that’s the Tuesday of said week. Also noteworthy is that he has signed with Domino Records to release the album worldwide, though Blocks will presumably continue to handle things in Canada.

Victoria Bergsman will release her second album as Taken By Trees in East Of Eden, due out September 8. The first MP3 from it is available to sample and there’s a feature piece at National Geographic that follows Bergsman to Pakistan where she recorded the new record.

MP3: Taken By Trees – “Watch The Waves”

Paste reports that Built To Spill’s next album There Is No Enemy has finally been given a release date of October 6 – that’s the same day as night one of their two-night residency at Lee’s Palace in Toronto.

DCist, The New York Times and The Valley Advocate talk to Joe Pernice about his new book and album, It Feels So Good When I Stop. He’s at the Dakota Tavern on September 24.

There’s now some context for Thao with the Get Down Stay Down’s upcoming November 1 show at the El Mocambo – she’s releasing a new album in Know Better Learn Faster on October 13. Details at Blurt.