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The Kills, JEFF The Brotherhood and Hunters at The Kool Haus in Toronto

Frank Yang — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 13:29:55 +0000

Frank YangIt hasn’t escaped my notice that my live show schedule so far in 2012 has been pretty lean, and what there has been has been more on the sedate side. Which is fine – I dig the low key stuff and getting home well before midnight – but sometimes you get a fever for something bigger, louder and more rawk… and on those occasions, such as Tuesday night, the perfect prescription is The Kills.

The Amer-English duo were on the road for a second North American jaunt in support of last year’s Blood Pressures, but also to mark their tenth anniversary as a live act; the pair first took to the stage a decade prior to this show less a week. I can’t comment on how they were as performers way back when – the only time I’d seen them live was in 2008 in support of Midnight Boom – but considering the difference between that show and this one, I can only imagine that they’ve come a long, long way since that first gig.

I’m sure it was a longevity that first openers on the night, Brookyln’s Hunters, were aspiring to – goodness knows they’d clearly been taking other notes from the headliners, particularly in making good use of co-ed on-stage chemistry to put on an entertaining show. Derek Watson and Isabel Almeida were either trading off vocals and physically playing off each other over tunes that were garage-punk with a hint of bubblegum, and more adolescently hormonal than sophisticatedly seedy. Their stage presence more than compensated for some musical formulaicness and it was evident that their short set was enough to win them some fans, as Watson went for a set-closing crowd surf – not many openers can be assured of not being dropped.

Nashville sibling act JEFF The Brotherhood had been at it almost as long as The Kills, churning out six albums of psych-inflected garage rock over the past ten years and touring a hell of a lot over that time; it’s therefore not surprising that they already had a fanbase welcoming them back and cheering them on. The Orrall brothers specialize in and excel at a heavy but nimble brand of rock that’s more tuneful than you might think, a balance of sludgy stoner and spirited – if greasy – bar stylings. And they brought Alison Mosshart out to sing on their last song, so they also had that going for them.

At The Kills’ 2008 show, I was impressed how well Jamie Hince and Mosshart were able to put on a riveting show without needing to recruit a live band to back them up, so I was rather surprised to see their stage setup included a row of floor toms along the back – I presumed they weren’t just decorative and someone was actually going to play them. Two someones, as it turned out – a pair of drummers whose duties would include rhythm, clapping and choreography. A surprising break in the Kills aesthetic, but a beneficial one – you wouldn’t say they NEEDED the extra impact of those drums, either sonically or visually, but it didn’t hurt.

You could recruit a children’s choir and a symphony orchestra to back The Kills, though, and ultimately it’d just be about Hince and Mosshart – he of the untouchable guitar swagger and she of the feral intensity to match the giant leopard-print backdrop that hung above the stage, and both lubricating the stuttering mechanical rhythms that underpinned their sleazy electro-blues with sweat, blood, and whatever other fluids you might presume. Understand that I’d never suggest that that last show had been restrained in any way, but it seemed that the duo seemed even more confident and assured this time out – as if whereas before they were satisfied to be propelled by their raw charisma and chemistry, now they were steering it.

Unsurprisingly, the set leaned heaviest on Midnight Boom and Blood Pressures but those who wanted a more career-spanning show got a few bones in set opener “No Wow” – the only representative of their second album – and the two encore closers being pulled from their debut Keep On Your Bad Side. There were also a pair of covers – Patsy Cline’s “Crazy” and The Velvet Underground’s “Pale Blue Eyes” – to rep their forthcoming “The Last Goodbye” 12″, due out at the end of the month.

The Kills aren’t a band I necessarily turn to a lot in my regular listening patterns, but if you need a kick in the ass, a grab in the groin or just a reminder of why you love rock’n'roll, seeing them live is just the thing to do it.

The National Post, Music Vice, and PostCity have reviews of the show and amNY a short interview with Mosshart.

Those of you looking forward to the visit of another co-ed rock machine duo – I speak of Sleigh Bells – will have to wait a little longer. Pitchfork reports that rather than play The Phoenix on the evening of February 18, as they were supposed to, the pair will now be doing their pop-metal thing on Saturday Night Live instead. The Toronto show has been rescheduled for March 27, though their April 27 and 28 dates supporting Red Hot Chili Peppers at the Air Canada Centre are unchanged. Reign Of Terror – the new album – is out February 21 and there’s interviews with the band at The Palm Beach Post, The Orlando Sentinel, and Pensacola News Journal – yeah, I’d say the band are in Florida right now.

Peggy Sue, whose attempt to bring their second album Acrobats to town last November was stymied by some immigration issues with their tourmates, will try again as they’ve been added as support for First Aid Kit at The Great Hall on April 4.

MP3: Peggy Sue – “Cut My Teeth”

Though their debut My Head Is An Animal still won’t be out until April 3, Of Monsters & Men are clearly already one of Iceland’s biggest exports as demand for their April 16 show has moved it from The Mod Club to The Phoenix.

Sweden’s Niki & The Dove have a new video for a song which appeared on their 2011 12″ single and will presumably show up on their debut album whenever it arrives later this year.

Video: Niki & The Dove – “The Fox”

The Line Of Best Fit has posted a video session with Loney Dear.

Keeping today’s he-she/trans-Atlantic duo meme going, Big Deal have released a new video from their debut album Lights Out.

Video: Big Deal – “Talk”

Veronica Falls have made a new song available to stream – they were already playing new material on the road last year, you can bet we’ll hear some new tunes at The Garrison on February 14. NOW has an interview with the band in preview of that show.

Stream: Veronica Falls – “My Heart Beats”

Clash, Sloucher, and The Scotsman interview The Twilight Sad. They’re at Lee’s Palace on February 29.

Tindersticks have made a track from their new record The Something Rain, due out February 21.

MP3: Tindersticks – “Frozen”

DIY interviews Field Music, whose new album Plumb arrives next week.

Best news of the day? Richard Hawley has announced details of his new album. Standing At The Sky’s Edge will be out on May 7 and according to the press release at DIY, it will be more stripped-down affair than recent efforts, built on, “two guitars, bass, drums and rocket noises”.

Slate The Disco talks to Kate Jackson.

Review of Beth Jeans Houghton & The Hooves Of Destiny’s Yours Truly, Cellophane Nose

Frank Yang — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 13:33:19 +0000

FacebookAfter writing up some bands lately whose names have either undersold or misrepresented the music they present, it’s rather refreshing to have an artist whose public identity promises exactly what they have to offer. And that artist is Beth Jeans Houghton & The Hooves Of Destiny. A grandiose name, to be sure, and one that’s matched by the title of their just-released debut album Yours Truly, Cellophane Nose.

There’s no way that labels like those could herald anything less than grandiose ambitions, so the question is really whether the 21-year old Newcastle-Upon-Tyne native who gives the band their name can deliver on them. And the answer is an unequivocal, “yes”. Nature has given Houghton not only a richly smoky voice and operatic range, but a tremendously vivid imagination upon which to draw on for her songwriting. All these gifts are combined to impressive effect on Cellophane Nose, which is by turns whimsical and dramatic, dark and technicolour and enchanting throughout.

Houghton’s roots as a folkish/singer-songwriter are perceptible in the record’s quieter moments, but more often they take a backseat to the ornate, often baroque-ish arrangements that adorn everything. By rights they should be overpowering, even with veteran producer Ben Hillier on hand to keep things on track; a case of too much too soon for an artist let loose in the sonic costume shop filled with horns, strings, choirs and harpsichords. And yet, rather than collapsing under the weight of it all, Cellophane Nose finds Houghton not only standing straight and tall in all her finery, but galloping off towards greater things. Hooves of destiny, indeed.

DIY and The Quietus have interviews with Beth Jeans Houghton.

MP3: Beth Jeans Houghton & The Hooves Of Destiny – “Dodecahedron”
Video: Beth Jeans Houghton & The Hooves Of Destiny – “Sweet Tooth Bird”
Video: Beth Jeans Houghton & The Hooves Of Destiny – “Liliputt”
Video: Beth Jeans Houghton & The Hooves Of Destiny – “Dodecahedron”

NPR is streaming the whole of the new Field Music LP Plumb, ahead of its release next week. MusicOhm also has an interview with the David half of the Brewis brothers.

MP3: Field Music – “A New Town”
Stream: Field Music / Plumb

Though The Big Pink’s second album Future This has been out a few weeks now, the band has only now made a track from it available to download. So download it. And read these interviews with Milo Cordell at The Skinny and The Province.

MP3: The Big Pink – “Give It Up”

The video for M.I.A.’s new single surfaced last week, just in time for her appearance at the Super Bowl halftime show this weekend. It’s her video that’s got everyone talking, right? Right?

Video: M.I.A. – “Bad Girls”

The Line Of Best Fit welcomes Lianne La Havas for a video session; her debut album is due out in the Spring, to be preceded by the Forget EP on March 6 in North America.

Video: Lianne La Havas – “Forget”

Daytrotter sessions up with Anna Calvi.

The 405 enlists Summer Camp’s Elizabeth Sankey as an advice columnist.

A Heart Is A Spade and STV have interviews with The Twilight Sad and Le Blogotheque offers up a Take-Away Show with the band. No One Can Ever Know is out today and they’re at Lee’s Palace on February 29.

Band Of Skulls will follow up the release of Sweet Sour next week with a North American tour that hits Lee’s Palace on May 15, and if you can’t wait that long they’re also at The Phoenix on March 30 opening for We Are Augustines. The band takes Gigwise and Spin through the new record track-by-track, with Spin also offering a stream of the whole thing. And over at The Independent, bassist Emma Richardson talks about her painting.

MP3: Band Of Skulls – “Sweet Sour”
MP3: Band Of Skulls – “The Devil Takes Care Of His Own”
Video: Band Of Skulls – “Sweet Sour”
Stream: Band Of Skulls / Sweet Sour

Ca Va Cool caught up with Los Campesinos! on their recent Canadian tour for an interview.

In conversation with The Daily Mail, Noel Gallagher reveals he thought that the Iron Lady was great. No, not the movie.

Liam Gallagher of Beady Eye sounds off to The Daily Mail about fashion, fitness and family.

The Quietus talks to XTC’s Andy Partridge about the making of English Settlement.

Dose gets to know First Aid Kit, in town at The Great Hall on April 4.

The video for the first single from Ladyhawke’s forthcoming Anxiety is now out. The album arrives March 27 in North America.

Video: Ladyhawke – “Black White & Blue”

A (re)introduction to Rose Elinor Dougall

Frank Yang — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 13:28:43 +0000

last.fmI’ve been meaning to write up Without Why, the debut album from Rose Elinor Dougall, for well over a year now but for whatever reason never actually got around to it. And while normally almost year and a half on from its release is too long to give a record props, the fact that Ms Dougall is back on the radar with a new stopgap release while she wraps up work on her second album is good enough reason for me to revisit it.

If her name isn’t immediately familiar then perhaps her former stage name of Rosay, by which she went when she was one-third of the original lineup of The Pipettes, will ring a bell. The polka-dotted retro-pop trio was all the rage in 2007 but their actual musical merit couldn’t escape the shadow of the novelty and by 2008, things had essentially run their course and both Dougall and Rebecca Stephens, aka RiotBecki, had left the band to pursue their own projects. During her run with The Pipettes, Dougall was clearly the strongest singer of the three and the odds-on favourite to do something interesting on her own; a potential that she seemed set to fulfill based on some early singles and an impressive set at SXSW 2010 wherein she made clear that trading in her polka dot dress for a leather jacket went deeper than just a wardrobe change.

Not that Without Why is a rock record; it’s certainly moreso than the Pipettes ever were but it’s really a pop record that comes without any preset notions of what it should be, though it tends to orbit an uptempo, lightly baroque, and richly conceived and executed aesthetic. You can feel the freedom that Dougall enjoys from having full control over her sound and songwriting – she has sole credits on all but one track – and if there’s any shortcoming to be found, it’s that she takes too much advantage of it. There are points where a less showy vocal approach or lush arrangement might have worked better, but it’s never to the detriment of the song and really, it’s hard to fault someone on their first time out for having too many ideas.

Independently released, I was far from the only one to miss out on giving Without Why its due – hopefully album number two both gets and merits more attention. Dougall has just offered up an EP of unreleased material for free download entitled The Distractions, named for her backing band, but as The Quietus reports these represent more the tail end of the Without Why sessions than the start of the next album’s. But still, new music is new music and free new music is even better – plus it gave me the opportunity to (finally) get this post out of my brain.

Dougall released another free EP of demos a while back, which you can grab over here.

It took Rebecca “RiotBecki” Stephens a little longer to get her post-Pipettes project together, but Projectionists appear ready to make their mark on 2012 – there’s interviews with them at CityLife and The Von Pip Musical Express and one of their songs available to stream below.

Stream: Projectionists – “Falling Into You”

Daytrotter has posted a session with Laura Marling.

Anna Calvi will be releasing a French version of her cover of “Jezebel” b-sided with her take on TV On The Radio’s “Wolf Like Me” on a limited edition 7″ on February 20. Stream it below.

Stream: Anna Calvi – “Jezebel” (French version)

Writers On Process gets into the nuts and bolts of writing for We Were Promised Jetpacks with Adam Thompson.

Blurt reports that the new Wedding Present album, which will be showcased along with 1992′s Seamonsters on their upcoming Spring tour, has the title of Valentina and will be out in March. They’re at The Horseshoe on March 25.

Rolling Stone has premiered one of the tunes from the new Field Music album Plumb, due out February 21, while The Guardian gets the band to play the tune previously released in a video session.

MP3: Field Music – “A New Town”

BBC and Australia’s Summer Festival Guide chat with The Vaccines.

Consequence Of Sound and Billboard have interviews with The Big Pink while songs from their new record Future This are performed live for 4AD Sessions. It’s out tomorrow.

First Aid Kit’s new record The Lion’s Roar is now available to stream at NPR in advance of its release on January 24. They’re at The Great Hall on April 4.

Stream: First Aid Kit / The Lion’s Roar

Review of Summer Camp’s Welcome To Condale

Frank Yang — Thu, 24 Nov 2011 13:31:57 +0000

BeatLondon’s Summer Camp likes them some make-believe, that much is clear. Their first appearance on the musical radar was in the guise of a Swedish septet with a taste for vintage photographs who’d met at a Summer retreat – hence their name. It didn’t take too long for them to be outed as the English duo of Jeremy Warmsley and Elizabeth Sankey, which may have disappointed fans of elaborate back stories but should have done nothing to dampen the enthusiasm of those who like enthusiastic boy-girl indie-pop.

Not that they were going to be content to trade just on their musical merits. Their 2010 debut EP Young was peppered with ’80s references both within and without, from the song titles (“Veronica Sawyer”, “Jake Ryan”) to intro samples (a John Cusack quote from Say Anything opens up “Ghost Train”) and their retro-fixations – despite the fact that neither was old enough to appreciably remember the eighties – went from aesthetic to full-blown concept on their full-length debut Welcome To Condale.

In an attempt to live the American adolescence sold to them via a steady diet of John Hughes movies and the like, the duo created a fictional California town called Condale with which to set the album. In addition, album pre-release activities included crafting a zine which gave insights to the teen angst and drama that filled the halls of the local high school and acted as a vehicle for their songs’ meticulously-crafted backstory. All of which deserves and “A” for effort, but is ultimately unnecessary.

The songs on Condale are immediate, effervescent and come in a sugary package to mask the slightly bitter sentiments contained therein – they require no dressing up, no framing, no period-correct movie dialogue samples acting as prefaces but don’t really add much in the way of meaning or context. It’s worth noting that Summer Camp’s performance at SXSW was one of my favourites of the festival and showed the duo had no shortage of charisma or chemistry to compensate for, being far more engaging as a two-piece with backing tracks than many full bands. Similarly, Condale crackles with energy thanks to Sankey’s brassy vocals – ably supported by Warmsley, who occasionally tags in to take lead – and a punchy brand of gritty, lo-fi guitar-driven synth-pop that’s honestly way more ’90s than ’80s.

I appreciate and certainly do not begrudge Summer Camp’s desire to have as much fun with their band/album/concept as possible, to provide an angle or a hook with which to get people talking. I just feel it’s necessary to point out that they didn’t need to; great songs should always be enough.

Bands In Transit and DIY both have video sessions with Summer Camp.

MP3: Summer Camp – “I Want You”
MP3: Summer Camp – “Ghost Train”
Video: Summer Camp – “Down”
Video: Summer Camp – “Better Off Without You”
Video: Summer Camp – “Ghost Train”

Londonist talks to Emmy The Great about her This Is Christmas album with Tim Wheeler while The Whiteboard Project gets both of them to take part in a whiteboard-powered interview and iol has regular-style chat.

Los Campesinos! interviews are the order of the day at The Quietus and The Line Of Best Fit, the latter of which is split into two parts.

Insound has a video session with Veronica Falls.

Rolling Stone has premiered a new video from The Vaccines for the b-side from their new “Wetsuit” 7″ single, out in limited edition – as in 50 pieces – on December 12. The Daily Record talks to frontman Justin Young about the throat surgery that sidelined the band this Fall but which now in the past – the band are back to performing live this Winter, hopefully set to make up the cancelled North American dates before too long.

Video: The Vaccines – “Tiger Blood”

NME reports that Mystery Jets will release their fourth album – the cryptically titled LP4 – in April of next year.

Pitchfork has posted a Take-Away Show with Stornoway recorded at the Parisian edition of the Pitchfork Music Festival last month.

Stereogum gets a status update on Field Music’s new record Plumb, due out February 14, while The Chronicle chats briefly with Peter Brewis.

NPR has a World Cafe session with Nick Lowe.

Peter Hook tells NME he’s a bit sorry about how badly (and publicly) New Order broke up.

Press Play And Record is a new blog that’s essential for those who remember the compilation cassettes that used to come attached to the front of NME – because that’s what it’s all about. Digitized NME compilation cassettes. Yes.

Oh, and if you were looking for ticket information for the Fucked Up David Comes To Life benefit show at the Great Hall on December 20, look no further – $20 plus tax (so $22.60 total) on sale right here, right now. I assume the tickets for the Sloan show the following night will be the same price and be online shortly.

Couldn’t go to Iceland? For A Minor Reflection and Of Monsters And Men bring Iceland to you

Frank Yang — Wed, 02 Nov 2011 12:19:48 +0000

Anthony BacigalupoOkay so I know I probably said I was done with all things Iceland when I wrapped up my Iceland Airwaves coverage a couple weeks ago, but this is actually relevant for those who won’t be hopping on a plane to the Blue Lagoon anytime soon. You see, while a large part of Airwaves’ mandate is to bring bands and fans from the rest of the world to Iceland, it also works hard to export its own talent beyond the Bjorks and Sigur Ros’, and one of its targets is none other than Toronto.

On November 13, the Toronto Best Party will present the Iceland Arts Festival at the El Mocambo, starting in the afternoon with a Kolaport market featuring all manner of Iceland goods for sale – hopefully including some Pylsur hot dogs – and a screening of the Iceland Airwaves documentary film Of Monsters & Men, who were incidentally the very first band I saw at Airwaves this year and instrumental post-rock practitioners For A Minor Reflection, who I gave up on seeing because of a scheduling conflict and knowing that I could see them here. Both acts very different but very good and very Icelandic.

Tickets for the film screening are $5 and the show $10, available at Eventbrite – but courtesy of Toronto Best Party, I have one pair of passes to give away for the concert. To enter, email me at contests AT chromewaves.net with “I want some Iceland in Toronto” in the subject line and your full name in the body; contest closes at midnight, November 8. And there’s also a second related event, more electronic music-oriented, taking place on November 18 at Nocture – details here.

Paste has a feature piece on Of Monsters & Men, who are being tipped to make some serious inroads in the North American market. Their debut My Head Is An Animal was released in Iceland in September and is set for a major label worldwide release next year.

MP3: For A Minor Reflection – “Dansi Dans”
MP3: Of Monsters & Men – “Little Talks”
Trailer: Where’s The Snow?!

While on the topic of things Icelandic, INNI – the Sigur Ros concert film just concluded its run at the TIFF Lightbox last night. If you’ve yet to see it, the DVD/live album will be out on November 15 – Spinner and North Shore News talk to director Vincent Morriset about making the film.

The Line Of Best Fit talks to Swedish singer-songwriter Amanda Mair. Her debut album is due out this Winter.

Spin has premiered the video for the title track from from First Aid Kit’s new record The Lion’s Roar; the album is not out until January 24 of the new year but they’re in town at The Sound Academy on November 15 opening for Lykke Li.

Video: First Aid Kit – “The Lion’s Roar”

Serenades are a new Swedish band, half of whom are Alec Olenius from Shout Out Louds. Their debut album Criminal Heaven is presently only available in Sweden, but they have international aspirations – check out a couple of tunes from the record and a video.

MP3: Serenades – “Birds”
MP3: Serenades – “Oceans”
Video: The Serenades – “Oceans”

DIY, The Dallas Observer and The Vinyl District have interviews with We Were Promised Jetpacks.

The Horrors share some gripes about the state of music journalism with Spinner and talk about touring Mexico to The Guardian.

DIY talks to Summer Camp about their debut Welcome To Condale, out November 8.

Field Music have announced a February 14 release date for their new record Plumb; Exclaim has details and you can swap an email for an MP3 at the band’s website.

Stream: Field Music – “(I Keep Thinking About) A New Thing”

Rolling Stone have premiered a new MP3 from The Jezabels’ forthcoming debut Prisoner, out November 8. They’re at The Phoenix on November 24 and 25 supporting Hey Rosetta!.

MP3: The Jezabels – “Try Colour”

a-ha and Ray Materick at Massey Hall in Toronto

Frank Yang — Thu, 13 May 2010 12:37:12 +0000

Frank YangI’ve taken a bit of ribbing in the last while about not only attending Monday night’s a-ha show at Massey Hall, but for being excited about it. Which is sort of fair, I suppose, as the Norwegian trio largely fell off the North American radar around 1987, despite not only maintaining but growing a massive fanbase worldwide over the past two decades plus. But those who assumed the band had been creatively fallow since Hunting High And Low – or even no longer in existence – not only missed out on 25 years or so of great pop music, but by ignoring the Toronto stop on the band’s farewell tour, an amazing show as well.

I can’t pretend that I’ve kept up with a-ha in all that time. Their first three albums or so were staples of my youth, thanks to my older brother’s music collection, but circa 1990′s East Of The Sun, West Of The Moon, grunge/alternative broke out and there was little room in this 15-year old’s world for sophisticated Euro-pop. Even so, I’ve always had a soft spot for them, gave new singles a listen whenever they crossed my path and taken notice if they made any sort of news – as they did when they announced last Fall that they would split up after a final world tour that would cover most of 2010. And when Toronto was listed as one of the four North American cities and seven shows on this continent in total to host one of these farewell shows, I decided I kind of had to be there. Which brings us to Monday.

If you’ve ever wondered what 24 years of pent-up demand felt like – that’s how long it had been since a-ha’s last and only visit to Toronto – then Massey, where that show also happened, was the place to be. I would imagine that anyone who only knew them as “that band with that song and that video” was elsewhere on this evening (or else had too much disposable income) because while the theatre wasn’t quite sold out – I wager there were a couple hundred of the less choice seats vacant – but the buzz of anticipation from the other couple thousand plus in attendance more than made up for the empty seats.

When the lights dimmed for the start of the show, anticipation turned into confusion as the opener was introduced as Hamilton folksinger Ray Materick, who had a few radio hits back in the ’70s. His appearance was not without context, as this piece in eye explains, but it was an odd pairing to say the least. While Materick delivered a short set of his material new and old, the audience managed to stay on the right side of polite while not really paying much attention. Which is probably all that could have been expected.

“Polite” wouldn’t be the word to describe the atmosphere when the house lights dimmed a second time and the giant video screen that served as backdrop to the otherwise bare-bones stage setup began playing a montage of sweeping abstract visuals – “madness” might be more accurate. And “madness squared” for when the visuals resolved into a giant “2010″ and the band strode onto a Toronto stage for the first time in almost a quarter century. Not that you could necessarily tell that much time had elapsed by looking at them – though all around 50 years of age, they all looked remarkably well-kept and youthful. But they weren’t here just to act as testaments to the benefits of nordic living; they were here to put on a show.

And with the title track of their latest (last) album Foot Of The Mountain, they began a backwards journey through their discography that was clearly designed to remind to deliver maximum hit value while serving to remind that they were writing solid songs to the very end. It didn’t take them even an hour to blow through the ’00s and ’90s, highlighted by “Summer Moved On” from 2000′s Minor Earth Major Sky wherein Morten Harkett proved he had lost not iota of range or power from his voice over the years, hitting and holding the high notes for an absurdly long time. The sweeping “Stay On These Roads” and “The Living Daylights”, backed by Bond-ian visuals, marked the start of the golden age portion of their set and immediately shifted gears for a two-song, acoustic break of “And You Tell Me” and “Early Morning”. They spent the remainder of the main set with their first two records, Scoundrel Days and Hunting High & Low, including stellar readings of “Manhattan Skyline” and “I’ve Been Losing You”. When they walked off stage following “Cry Wolf”, no one believed for a millisecond they weren’t coming back, and following an extended video montage of stills and photos from the band’s earliest days, they returned for a soaring “The Sun Always Shines On TV” and “Hunting High & Low”, and after one final encore, it was “Take On Me” and the end.

From start to finish, the trio – backed by a drummer and keyboardist/bassist – put on a nearly perfect performance, striking the right balance of slickness and honesty, not unlike their music. Though this was a farewell tour, there was no sense of sadness or regret to be found – more than anything, the prevailing emotion was pride in a body of work assembled over a career any artist should be envious of and a sincere appreciation for the fans who stood steadfast by them, even though they were more or less neglected since the start of the ’90s. If North America had some appreciation for adult contemporary-ish pop music that wasn’t r&b-based or just pap, a-ha might well have been the stars here that they were in the rest of the world. But as it was, we just got this one final opportunity to say hello and goodbye and were grateful for it.

The Toronto Sun also has a review of the show and The National Post Chicago Sun-Times have interviews with guitarist Paul Waaktaar-Savoy. a-ha’s first two albums will be reissued in double-CD expanded form on June 28 by Rhino.

Swedish folk duo First Aid Kit will release their debut full-length The Big Black & The Blue on May 25. Hear songs from it when they play the Rivoli on June 11. And also by clicking below. That works too.

MP3: First Aid Kit – “Hard Believer”
MP3: First Aid Kit – “Sailor Song” (live)

Delays, whose a-ha cover remains this week’s cover selection for a few more days, have released a first MP3 from their new record Star Tiger, Star Ariel, due out June 21.

MP3: Delays – “Find A Home (New Forest Shaker)”

Field Music have released a new video from (Measure).

Video: Field Music – “Let’s Write A Book”

Damon Albarn tells NME that new Blur singles are likely, but not a proper album. Until they collect said singles into an album.

M.I.A. has named her new album /\/\/\Y/\. Yeah, someone needs to talk to her handlers. It’s out July 13.

The Fly checks in with Ritzy of The Joy Formidable to see how work on their debut full-length is going. It’s targeted for an Autumn release. Blare also has an interview.

The San Jose Mercury News and The Georgia Straight talk to Scott Hutchison of Frightened Rabbit.

The Big Pink have premiered a new video from last year’s A Brief History Of Love.

Video: The Big Pink – “Tonight”

Shad will mark the release of his new record TSOL – out May 25 – with an in-store performance at Sonic Boom on May 24 at 7PM. He plays a full show at the Opera House on June 12.

MP3: Shad – “Yaa I Get It”

Keane are hoping their fanbase has increased about five fold since the last time they were here as they’re booked into the Molson Amphitheatre on July 30. They just released a new album entitled Night Train.

Video: Keane – “Clear Skies”

The UK’s Wild Beasts return to town in support of Two Dancers with a date at the Mod Club on August 6.

MP3: Wild Beasts – “All The King’s Men”

The August 7 show at the Horseshoe with Maps & Atlases just got that much buzzier with the addition of mysteriously shimmering Motown-y New York duo Cults. Their debut 7″ is available to download for free at their website. Listen and find out what all the cool kids are talking about for the next 3 seconds.

MP3: Cults – “Go Outside”

Logistical issues have snookered the August 8 Empire Of The Sun show at the Sound Academy. They apologize and hope to make it back, but not to the point of offering anything resembling a window when that might happen. So don’t expect it to happen.

Michael Gira’s newly-reformed (as in formed again, not as in served hard time but feeling much better) Swans have put together a Fall tour that includes an October 2 date at Lee’s Palace.

An introduction to A Sunny Day In Glasgow and giveaway

Frank Yang — Mon, 29 Mar 2010 12:20:12 +0000

Ever NalensThis isn’t quite an introduction as I first said hello to A Sunny Day In Glasgow back in December 2006, but considering they’re far from the same band they were at the time of their first EP, I think we can let it slide. When I first took notice of the Philadelphia outfit, they were a family unit – Ben Daniels on songwriting and instrumentation with twin sisters Robin and Lauren on vocals – with some clear genetic predilection for blending wispy melodies with fuzzy, clattering programming and cut-and-paste production, the net result sounding like a proud standard-bearer for electro-twee-gaze, if such a genre ever existed.

And while that sounds like the sort of thing that would be target-marketed to my musical sensibilities, I found their 2007 debut Scribble Mural Comic Journal a little too much of a head trip to really fall in love with. The melodies, while present, were buried under reverb and white noise and the song structures deliberately bent into disorienting shapes. Clearly this was deliberate aesthetic and musical choice on their part, and points should probably be given and not taken away for not doing the easy “pop” thing, but I never found myself wanting to listen to it much.

The follow-up, last year’s Ashes Grammar, continued along the path forged by the debut but with enough added clarity and growth to make it a far superior effort, at least by my standards. The aural gauze that swaddled all of Comic Journal has been thinned out enough that it’s easier and more enjoyable to pick out the many tones and textures at play. The vocals are still deliberately ghost-like, but given stronger melodies to wrap themselves around, they can’t help but make their presence more strongly felt. It’s a record that manages to be much more what I wanted to hear from them and yet remaining very much what they envision for themselves – win-win.

So of course as soon as the record came out, the band went off and reinvented themselves, personnel-wise. Through a series of circumstances, both sisters left the band and a new lineup more suited to touring was assembled around the one constant of Ben Daniels. It was this ASDG Mk2 that I saw a couple weeks ago at SxSW and who surprised me just how direct-sounding the live renderings of their songs are. Granted, reproducing the records verbatim would be as difficult as it is pointless, but it was still a bit of a shock – pleasantly so – how willing and able they were reinvent themselves as a relatively straight pop band on stage.

Due to an inability to tell time, I only caught the tail end of their performance but it was enough that for all the live music options in Toronto this coming Friday night, April 2, I’ve committed to catching their local debut at the Garrison. Tickets for the show are $10 in advance but courtesy of Collective Concerts, I’ve got a pair of passes to give away for the show. To enter, email me at contests AT chromewaves.net with “I want to spend A Sunny Day In Glasgow” in the subject line and your full name in the body, and have that in to me before midnight, March 31.

aux.tv, The Daily Free Press and Spinner have interviews with ASDG leader Ben Daniels.

MP3: A Sunny Day In Glasgow – “Sigh Inhibitionist”
MP3: A Sunny Day In Glasgow – “Ashes Grammar/Ashes Math”
MP3: A Sunny Day In Glasgow – “Best Summer Ever”
MP3: A Sunny Day In Glasgow – “Watery (Drowning is Just Another Word for Being Buried Alive Under Water)”
Video: A Sunny Day In Glasgow – “A Mundane Phone Call To Jack Parsons”
Video: A Sunny Day In Glasgow – “So Bloody Tight”
MySpace: A Sunny Day In Glasgow

NOW and The Boston Herald have feature pieces on Beach House, playing a sold-out show at the Opera House tomorrow night and then returning for the Toronto Island Concert on June 19.

Faster Louder talks to Neil Halstead about the legacy of Slowdive. A legacy which is being anthologized (again) in a new collection entitled Shining Breeze, out April 26 in the UK. There’s details on the collection over here – looks like it’s a mix of album and single/EP tracks, but nothing that wasn’t made available via the reissues in 2005 or the presumably out of print 2004 best-of Catch The Breeze.

California Chronicle interviews The Big Pink.

Field Music talks to eye.

The Pipettes have released a new video from their forthcoming record Earth vs Pipettes, due out on June 28.

Video: The Pipettes – “Stop The Music”

NME chats with Florence Welch of Florence & The Machine, who has released a new video for “The Dog Days Are Over” from Lungs. I thought the original one was fun and fine, but if you’ve got budget to spend I guess you may as well. Florence is at the Kool Haus on April 10.

Video: Florence & The Machine – “The Dog Days Are Over” (new version)
Video: Florence & The Machine – “The Dog Days Are Over” (old version)

The Music Magazine talks to Emmy The Great about how things are progressing on album number two. Answer: slowly.

BBC6 and Clash talk to Laura Marling about her new record I Speak Because I Can, out in North American on April 6. There’s a couple videos of the song “Rambling Man” now available – the official video and a Black Cab Session recorded at last year’s SxSW festival.

Video: Laura Marling – “Rambling Man”

Spinner talks to Mumford & Sons about their just-released Interface session.

Toro Y Moi has had to cancel Tuesday night’s appearance at the Drake Underground as a result of having his gear nicked in New York the other night. Headliners The Ruby Suns are still performing.

Sloan will be marking Record Store Day on April 17 with an in-store at Sonic Boom, time TBA. Blurt has a piece on why Record Store Day and record stores in general are awesome.

Rufus Wainwright will be performing at the Elgin-Winter Garden on June 15. His opera Prima Donna is running that week as part of LuminaTO, but it seems this date will be a concert from Rufus himself. Update: PR just confirmed the 15th is a solo Rufus show and a second show has been added for June 17.

Kate Nash jets across Atlantic for North American tour

Frank Yang — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 13:27:41 +0000

Clare NashUpdates from the recording sessions for Kate Nash’s follow-up to 2007′s Made Of Bricks were few and far-between, but what did come out – that she was working with Bernard Butler, as famed for his stint as guitarist in Suede as his production work and that boyfriend Ryan Jarman from Brit-rockers The Cribs was hanging around – seemed to imply that her bubbly piano anthems might be taking on a harder edge on the sophomore effort. A theory borne out by the first released MP3 from the album, initially entitled Crayon Full Of Color but since changed to My Best Friend Is You and out on April 20 either way – “I Just Love You More” sounded like a not especially successful attempt at punk rock and certainly not playing to Nash’s strengths – clever wordplay and keen, observational songwriting that’s as humorous as it is pointed.

The first proper single, however, does sound like vintage Kate Nash. “Do Wah Doo”, for which a fun dancing stewardess-themed video has just been released, is very much in line with the best of Bricks, just gussied up with Butler’s signature retro-slick production. In fact it might be a little too similar to those who’d like to see some more growth from album one to two, but if “Do Wah Doo” represents one end of the stylistic spectrum covered on the new record and “I Just Love You More” the other, then My Best Friend Is You should be a fun and interesting listen.

Nash was already announced as one of the artists taking part in this year’s Lilith Fair revival, but this piece in Rolling Stone shows she’s not waiting for Sarah McLachlan’s say-so to bring her new record to North America. Less than a week after the record’s release, Nash is embarking on a small club tour across the continent, starting on April 26 in Toronto at the Mod Club – tickets $22.50. I missed both of Nash’s previous local shows back in 2008, so I’m pretty excited about the opportunity to finally see her live, and in cozy environs no less. And hopefully it will go better than her recent Glasgow show.

The Daily Record and Contact Music have interviews with Nash.

MP3: Kate Nash – “I Just Love You More”
Video: Kate Nash – “Do Wah Doo”

Spin finds out why Victoria Hesketh calls herself Little Boots while NYLON and Metro also have interviews. It seems that it’s not just the Toronto date of her North American tour that’s been scotched – none of her east coast, post-Coachella dates are listed on her website anymore.

Pitchfork has details on the forthcoming album from the all-new. all-different Pipettes – Earth vs. the Pipettes will be out on June 28 in the UK and if the band believes that it’s the planet Earth that is conspiring to have all their members quit… they may be on to something.

Magnet has an interview with former Delgados frontwoman Emma Pollock, who has been playing guest editor on their site all week. Her second solo record The Law Of Large Numbers came out last week.

MP3: Emma Pollock – “Hug The Harbour”

If the questions posed in these following Spinner quickie SxSW preview interviews look familiar… well, they are. Thankfully the answers are different.

Spinner talks to Frightened Rabbit, whose Winter Of Mixed Drinks finally began this week. They are at the Opera House on May 4.

Fanfarlo chats with Spinner and The Daily Texan. They’re in town with a show at Lee’s Palace on April 9, and Clash reports the band are planning to give away a free live EP in conjunction with this (or some other upcoming) tour.

This Spinner interview with The xx strays from the script a little bit. They’re at the Phoenix on April 4 and the Kool Haus on April 20.

Let’s Wrestle grapples with some questions from Spinner. They’re at the Horseshoe on April 18.

NYC Taper is sharing a recording of a recent show from We Were Promised Jetpacks and oh yeah, there’s one of those Spinner interviews too.

The Line Of Best Fit chats with Field Music. They’re at the Horseshoe next Friday night with The Clientele, with whom 77 Square and City Pages have chats.

The Tripwire has a feature piece on The Big Pink. They play The Mod Club on March 24.

JAM and The Montreal Gazette interview Muse.

The High Wire, heartily endorsed late last year, have made the title track of their new album The Sleep Tape available to download. It starts out small, but quickly becomes a pretty compelling argument for this as one of the best dream-pop records of the year. Which, as of this moment, it is.

MP3: The High Wire – “The Sleep Tape”

Exclaim reports that Belle & Sebastian are off hiatus and headed back into the studio to record album number eight. EIGHT. Goodness.

Daytrotter has a session with Ian McCulloch of Echo & The Bunnymen. They are at The Phoenix on April 23.

Rumoured a little while ago but now official – first-wave shoegazers Chapterhouse have slated a North American tour for this Spring and will kick it off on May 1 at the Horseshoe in Toronto.

Video: Chapterhouse – “Pearl”

Billboard wonders what David Bowie is up to – apparently, not much.

CONTEST – The Clientele & Field Music @ The Horseshoe – March 19, 2010

Frank Yang — Sat, 06 Mar 2010 15:15:17 +0000

Andy WillsherDo not get me wrong, I’m as excited as anything to be heading down to Austin, Texas in a week and a half for my sixth (!) SxSW, but there’s more than a twinge of regret over what I’ll be missing back here at home: my cat, my own bed and a hell of a double-bill at the Horseshoe on the Friday night with The Clientele and Field Music.

The former will be touring in support of last year’s lovely (and rumoured swan song) Bonfires On The Heath while the latter will be playing songs from their just-released return to active duty, (Measure). Verily, for an Anglophile such as myself, it’s the sort of bill that one dreams about and missing it, as I will be? Well, it hurts. It really does.

So for those of you remaining in the 416, I ask that you go, bid these weary travelers welcome and bear witness to this show in my stead. I’ll even make it easy for you – courtesy of Collective Concerts, I’ve got a pair of passes to the show to give away. To enter, email me at contests AT chromewaves.net with “I want to see The Clientele” in the subject line and your full name in the body, and have that in to me before midnight, March 14.

There’s an interview with The Clientele at The Los Angeles Times and with Field Music at Tour Dates UK.

MP3: The Clientele – “Harvest Time”
MP3: The Clientele – “I Wonder Who We Are”
MP3: Field Music – “Measure”
Video: Field Music – “Them That Do Nothing”
MySpace: The Clientele
MySpace: Field Music

Editors and The Antlers at The Phoenix in Toronto

Frank Yang — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 13:28:52 +0000

Frank YangEditors are from Birmingham in the UK and are weathering criticism for daring to mess with their sonic formula on their latest effort In This Light And On This Evening. The Antlers are from Brooklyn in the USA and are basking in acclaim and ever-growing attention in the wake of last year’s Hospice. Two bands who wouldn’t appear to have a whole lot in common except for this – both steep their music deeply in dramatics for effect and both were at the Phoenix in Toronto on Tuesday night.

For The Antlers, the drama extended into their very arrival, having been held up at the border by some extra-conscientious immigration officers and only beginning to load in at their designated set time. Still, they were set up and ready to go just 10 minutes later than scheduled and immediately launched into a sprawling reading of “Kettering”, clearly not willing to be rushed for the sake of expediency. When I saw them in September 2009 at their Criminal Records in-store, what stood out most was how in a live context, they were able to transform the the anguish that permeates Hospice into something more cathartic, and in a large setting such as this, that was even more the case. Despite the late start, they were able to stretch out five songs over about 40 minutes, each filled with crescendos, false endings and emotion, and when they left the stage, it was to an ovation that you might have thought marked the end of the evening.

But no, as much as the crowd appreciated The Antlers, they were here for Editors, mixed reactions to In This Light be damned. Opening with the title track from the new album, it became clear how they’d be handling its synth-heavy sounds while maintaining the dynamicism of their live show – it began with Tom Smith seated at the piano and then midway through, getting up to grab his guitar while Chris Urbanowicz switched off from guitar to synth, a routine that would continue throughout the night as some or all would handle keyboard duties while the others kept it analog. Not a bad arrangement, allowing them to maintain the walls of keyboards while Smith did what he does best, and that’s lurch around stage and providing the kinetic energy necessary to get the show into gear. Though the rest of the band was more animated than the last time I saw them, it’s Smith’s presence and delivery that allows Editors to sell their songs to those, such as myself, who might otherwise have difficulty embracing the dubious lyricism of their grandly appointed anthems.

Clearly believing their new material is more worthy than the critics do, Editors played In This Light in its entirety, and to be fair, its shortcomings are less evident when interspersed with the stronger, more guitar-driven material from their first two records. Both An End Has A Start and The Back Room were well represented, with five tracks from each getting aired out. There were stretches where my attention began to wander but there was usually a big single strategically placed to pull it back in and keep me hanging around and my endurance was rewarded with pretty intense readings of “Munich” and “Papillon” in the encore. Critics of Editors like to point at the band’s over-emotive and unabashedly melodramatic approach, and yeah, they’re pretty well over the top in that department, but it wouldn’t have been nearly as good a show if they weren’t.

eye has a review of the whole show Panic Manual some thoughts on the Antlers’ set while Chart only has eyes for Editors. The Boston Herald and Metro have interviews with Editors and WOXY a Lounge Act session with Antlers, who were just announced as support for The National’s upcoming Spring tour, including the June 8 and 9 dates at Massey Hall.

Rolling Stone checks in with Aaron Dessner of The National, who still don’t have a title for the new record but should have one before it hits stores on May 11. As mentioned, they have two nights at Massey Hall on June 8 and 9.

There’s a second MP3 available from Ted Leo & The Pharmacists’ new record The Brutalist Bricks, out March 9. And Ted has excuses as to why there’s not Toronto date on the tour itinerary yet, but promises one is coming soon.

MP3: Ted Leo & The Pharmacists – “The Mighty Sparrow”

The Calgary Herald has an interview with Jeff Tweedy of Wilco.

Stephin Merritt of The Magnetic Fields talks to Chart about Realism.

Quasi have released a second MP3 from American Gong, due out next Tuesday. They’re at The Horseshoe on April 18.

MP3: Quasi – “Laissez les Bon Temps Rouler”

Spinner has an Interface session with Beach House – look for them March 30 at the Opera House.

The Futureheads have rolled out a video from their new album The Chaos, due out April 26. Drowned In Sound has it and a making-of clip for the video.

Video: The Futureheads – “Heartbeat Song”

The Quietus interviews Field Music. They’re at The Horsesehoe on March 19.

The Dallas Observer profiles We Were Promised Jetpacks.