saddle-creek.comLand Of Talk was supposed to spend this year promoting the hell out of their excellent 2008 full-length debut Some Are Lakes but following a short bit of local touring around the end of January, including an excellent long-awaited show at the Horseshoe, the band had to go on an extended break while frontwoman Liz Powell underwent and recovered from vocal cord surgery.

They returned to live duty with some shows over the course of the Summer, but have now put together a proper if shortish tour for the Fall, taking them from south to north along the Pacific coast, though east coast dates are also promised. And while the current live itinerary will only benefit westerners, they’re also releasing a new EP on October 27 that people can enjoy irrespective of their personal geography. Fun And Laughter will contain four new songs and three videos from Some Are Lakes. The clip for the title track emerged a few months ago, the one for “The Man Who Breaks Things” has just hit the interwebs and the last one for “Troubled” will probably surface closer to the actual release date.

The news of new music from Land Of Talk is certainly welcome, but not as much as the fact that they’re back, presumably in good health and raring to go. Good to have you back.

Video: Land Of Talk – “The Man Who Breaks Things (Dark Shuffle)”
Video: Land Of Talk – “Some Are Lakes”

The Wooden Sky, whose acquaintance you may have made last month, will be playing an in-store at Sonic Boom on Monday night, August 24, at 7PM, to mark the release of their new album If I Don’t Come Home You’ll Know I’m Gone, which will be officially out the next day. Of course you’ll be able to buy it early at this show, but don’t tell anyone.

MP3: The Wooden Sky – “Something Hiding For Us In The Night”

Cuff The Duke are also celebrating the release of their new album Way Down Here with an in-store at Criminal Records on September 8, the date of release. They’re also doing two nights at the Horseshoe on October 16 and 17. Exclaim talks to the band about their Fall plans.

The Bravery are at the Opera House on October 6, previewing their new as-yet-untitled album due out November 10.

Boston’s Hallelujah The Hills have made a date at Sneaky Dee’s for October 17 to support their new album Colonial Drones, out September 22.

MP3: Hallelujah The Hills – “Blank Passports”

White Denim will make an appearance at the Horseshoe on November 9 as part of an extensive tour in support of their new album Fits, out October 20. Grab a track at RCRDLBL.

MP3: White Denim – “You” (live at KVRX)

Camera Obscura’s last show here in June was super-sold out on account of being at Lee’s Palace, several degrees smaller than their usual accommodations when the Scots visit. Well those shut out of that performance will be pleased to know that the band is staging a Fall tour that will bring them back to the more appropriately-sized Phoenix on November 26 with Papercuts as support. Camera Obscura recorded a session for NPR which is available to stream.

MP3: Camera Obscura – “French Navy”
MP3: Papercuts – “You Can Have What You Want”

And shocker – The Charlatans won’t be crossing our path after all. They’ve canceled their Fall North American tour on account of drummer Jon Brookes requiring shoulder surgery. This, of course, includes their September 23 date at the Mod Club – the second time in the past year and a bit they made and then broken a date in Toronto.

MP3: The Charlatans – “You Cross My Path”

Luxury Wafers is sharing the audio and video fruits of a session with The Rural Alberta Advantage. They’re playing day one of V Fest at the Molson Amphitheatre on August 29.

Also on day one of V next week will be Franz Ferdinand, whose 2005 mini-doc Tour de Franz is the movie of the week at PitchforkTV.

Video: Franz Ferdinand: Tour de Franz

And appearing on day two of said festival are Mew, who are streaming their new album No More Stories on their MySpace leading up to the album’s release next Tuesday. SF Station has an interview with singer Jonas Bjerre.

Stream: Mew / No More Stories

Spinner talks to Victoria Bergsman of Taken By Trees, whose new album East Of Eden is out September 8.

NPR is streaming a radio session with A Camp.

The Galway Advertiser talks to Okkervil River’s Will Sheff on the Irish influences on his writing and songwriting inspiration in general.

Joe Pernice talks to The Portland Mercury and Oregon Live. He’s at the Dakota Tavern on September 24.

Nick Cave is coming to town, but not for a concert – Exclaim reports that Cave will be in town on September 16 for a live interview and signing at the Indigo at the Eaton Centre to promote his new novel The Death Of Bunny Munro, which will be released on September 4.

And if you can’t get enough rocker/lit convergence, be sure to check out Word On The Street in Queen’s Park on September 27, where in addition to the infinite kiosks of booksellers and publishers, there will be a music stage where the songwriters of Bruce Peninsula, Ghost Bees and Sandro Perri will be discussing their creative process.

Roger SargentIt’s been some time since The Charlatans could be considered “buzzworthy” by any objective measure. Don’t get me wrong, it’s commendable that they’ve endured as long as they have, outliving most of their contemporaries in the baggy/Britpop eras and assembling a respectable oeuvre of singles and albums, but I will wager they’ve never been anyone in the world’s favourite band and that’s unlikely to change anytime soon.

They did manage to garner more headlines than they have in years last year, though, when they opted to release their tenth album, You Cross My Path, as a free download (physical formats that you had to pay for followed a couple months later). The record was also notable for being surprisingly decent. They’d lost me with 2001’s funk-soul pastiche Wonderland and I’d assumed that the plot remained lost, but Path was very much an example of the Charlatans doing what they’d always done well, melodic, danceable and anthemic and if you listen closely, cribbing shamelessly from pretty much every era of British rock.

And on a more local scale, they made a surprise concert announcement in July, making a date for the the Mod Club in October – a venue that no matter how far removed from their heyday they might be, would still be considered small for them. And, of course, they canceled the date for reasons unknown barely two weeks later. But it seems they’re bound and determined to give their Toronto-area fans an up-close and personal encounter as they’ve again announced a show at the Mod Club, this one for September 23 – that gives them four months to change their minds. They’ve also announced a couple other North American dates, including September 22 in London, Ontario, so it looks like they’re making a proper tour of this. Tickets for the Toronto show are a rather dear $36 before service charges, so you’ll have to stop and think just how badly you want to hear “The Only One I Know”. And yeah, tickets for the canceled show were a slightly more reasonable $30 but hey – the economy’s collapsed. What’re you going to do.

MP3: The Charlatans – “Oh! Vanity”
MP3: The Charlatans – “You Cross My Path”
Video: The Charlatans – “Oh Vanity”
Video: The Charlatans – “You Cross My Path”
Video: The Charlatans – “The Misbegotten”
Video: The Charlatans – “Mis-Takes”
ZIP: The Charlatans / You Cross My Path

Colorado Daily and The Colorado Springs Independent have interviews with Doves, who will be at the Kool Haus next Monday night, June 1.

Dots & Dashes talks to Patrick Wolf about new album The Bachelor, out June 1. He’ll be at the Mod Club on June 15.

White Lies discuss the state of the music industry with BBC. They’re at the Phoenix on September 26.

Florence & The Machine’s debut Lungs has a UK release date of July 6 but according to Pitchfork, it’s not going to be out in North America until October 13. Yeah, I’ll wait for the domestic release. Sure.

Clash asks Fanfarlo on how they like to pass the time while waiting.

With their North American tour set to kick off tonight in New York, A Camp took some time to talk to NME, New York Magazine, New York Press and Magnet, where Nina Persson and Nathan Larsen are also playing guest editor this week. They’ll be at the Mod Club on June 1.

The Boston Globe talks to Gentleman Reg, who will be opening up many of those A Camp shows.

While in town this week, The National stopped in at the CBC to record a performance of one of their new songs, formerly entitled “Karamazov” but now dubbed “Runaway”. Gorgeous stuff.

Video: The National – “Runaway” (live on QTV)

The San Francisco Chronicle interviews Jenny Lewis.

The Los Angeles Times profiles The Kills.

All week, PitchforkTV is running Do You Love Me Like I Love You, the documentary feature that appear on the recent Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds reissues. The first two segments are up now, more to follow.