Frank YangI haven’t done any sort of formal review of Yeah Yeah Yeahs’ latest album It’s Blitz!, mainly because I think it’d be redundant. Not just because it’s already gotten largely universal praise, but because it should be evident to anyone listening to it that’s it’s a wholly splendid record, and to my ears, the band’s best yet and one of the top of the year from anyone. Heady praise? Yes, but considering my head is pretty much consistently enveloped in a bubble of happy before the end of opening track “Zero” and it doesn’t evaporate for the remainder of the record, I’ll stand by it. It’s remarkable that a band who made their name with abrasive, in-your-face, punk-infused rock would find their crowning achievement – so far – in a record as sleek, synthy and hooky as It’s Blitz!, but there it is. As good as they were at their original sound – which is pretty damn good – they’re better at this.

And as good as they are on record, they’re even better live. My only such experience came in September 2007 at the now-legendary Berkeley Church show, where I have fond memories of getting crushed by hundreds of fans drunk on free booze surging forward towards a mesmerizing Karen O, who just happened to be grabbing my head and screaming in my face. Getting one’s ass kicked was never so much fun, and I couldn’t wait for last week’s two-night stand at the Kool Haus, for which I went to night two, to experience it again. And considering that the Berkeley gig was a semi-private party, many of Toronto’s Yeah Yeah Yeahs disciples had been waiting even longer. A hotly anticipated show? You might say that.

Before the main event, of course, there was the support and for these shows it was a sort-of double-bill with two members of Spank Rock doing DJ duties for fifteen minutes or so before being joined by up-and-coming (based on the PR emails I get) hip-hop artist Amanda Blank, whose debut I Love You just came out. Her short set was high-energy and with a party vibe to it, but she seemed as interested in playing Yeah Yeah Yeahs cheerleader as performing her own material, calling for the crowd to show their love for Karen O on numerous occasions, the audience obliging each time.

Of course, no one in the sold-out house needed a cue to scream in adoration for Ms Orzolek – as soon as the band strode onstage, it was shrieking bedlam. And why not? O is easily one of the most charismatic frontwomen in rock today, complimenting her formidable vocals and presence with a most distinctive sartorial sensibility. Which is to say the woman does love her costumes. And we do love her and her costumes. And I do love photographing her and her costumes. Considering the Berkeley show was notable for being essentially unlit – fitting the dark vibe of the then-current Is Is EP, sure, but a bitch to shoot in – the fact that they decided to match the big and bright production of the new record with equally big and bright stage design was greatly appreciated. It’s never the wrong time for confetti cannons.

I suppose I should talk about the music some, but for the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, more than most bands, the visuals are just as crucial as the sounds. With every strut across the stage, every point with her impossibly long fingers, every dramatic pose and particularly appropriate for Blitz!, every huge grin, O is physically embodying their music. It’s the whole package. Just as for all the praise laid at Karen O’s wonderfully stylish feet, equal accolades must go to her bandmates, drummer Brian Chase and guitarist/keyboardist Nick Zinner (and also to nameless fourth utility player) for laying down the massively tight and wall of sound behind her for the career-spanning, 15-song set – glam and glossy when appropriate as on “Heads Will Roll” and “Hysteric”, rough and jagged for the likes of “Y Control” and “Kiss Kiss” when not, though even their jags tend to sparkle like the rhinestones on O’s “Zero” leather jacket. And of course, as predictable as “Maps” was, dedicated to Toronto no less, it still broke your heart. No one loves you like Yeah Yeah Yeahs love you. It’s true.

The National Post, Exclaim!, Panic Manual and eye were all in attendance at the Wednesday show and offer their thoughts.

Photos: Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Amanda Blank @ The Kool Haus – August 5, 2009
MP3: Yeah Yeah Yeahs – “Bang”
MP3: Amanda Blank – “Make It Take It” (Eli Escobar remix)
Video: Yeah Yeah Yeahs – “Heads Will Roll”
Video: Yeah Yeah Yeahs – “Zero”
Video: Yeah Yeah Yeahs – “Down Boy”
Video: Yeah Yeah Yeahs – “Cheated Hearts”
Video: Yeah Yeah Yeahs – “Turn Into”
Video: Yeah Yeah Yeahs – “Gold Lion”
Video: Yeah Yeah Yeahs – “Y Control”
Video: Yeah Yeah Yeahs – “Maps”
Video: Yeah Yeah Yeahs – “Pin”
Video: Yeah Yeah Yeahs – “Date With The Night”
MySpace: Yeah Yeah Yeahs

Exclaim talks to Thurston Moore and Lee Ranaldo of Sonic Youth.

PopMatters talks to Kim Deal, who will be seeing a lot of the 416 (and 705) in the next while as she’s in town this Saturday at Lee’s palace with The Breeders and then returns a fortnight later with Pixies at V Fest Ontario. And if Blurt has their information correct, their set will NOT be a Doolittle set, which is actually perfectly fine with me – they’ll still play the best tunes from that, and we may still get to hear the likes of “Where Is My Mind?”, “Velouria” and “Head On”. I’ll take it.

Under The Radar has an interview with Mew, who are playing the second day of V Fest on August 30 and who will release No More Stories on August 25.

The Line Of Best Fit chit-chats with Mum and Drowned In Sound have declared this Mum week, and are running all manner of Iceland-themed pieces including this one on the state of the Icelandic music scene, post-economic collapse. Their new album Sing Along To Songs You Don’t Know is out August 24 and they’re at the Phoenix on October 27.

Daytrotter offers up a session with Longwave.

The new video from Julian Plenti, aka Paul Banks from Interpol finally escaped from the spectre of Carlos D’s dubious facial hair only to grow some of his own, features him canoodling with Metric’s Emily Haines in Toronto’s super-sketchy Waverly Hotel. The album, Julian Plenti Is… Skyscraper, came out last week.

Video: Julian Plenti – “Games For Days”

Matt Johnson gives The AV Club a tour of Kim Schifino’s iPod. Matt & Kim are at the Reverb on October 1.

Threadless (the online t-shirt shop, yes) has a video interview with Ume.

Jennifer TzarSo how exactly does a band who’ve not yet even released an album yet get to play arguably the most storied venue in Toronto – Massey Hall – their first time out? The kind that’s made up of My Morning Jacket’s Jim James, M Ward’s Matt Ward, Conor Oberst’s Conor Oberst and Bright Eyes’ Mike Mogis, also known as the Monsters Of Folk.

As reported earlier this week, the supergroup will release their self-titled debut album on September 22, but it was announced yesterday that they would also be undertaking an extensive tour first across North America and then Europe, with $1 from each North American date ticket sale going to a worthy charity local to that city via philanthropic organization Air Traffic Control . The Toronto date falls on November 2 at Massey Hall and the charity selected to receive the proceeds is Foodshare Toronto. Ticket presale goes July 28, regular onsale July 31 – check back at monstersoffolk.com for more information. Tickets for the Toronto show range from $36.50 to $49.50 plus charges.

And congrats to Lousiville, Kentucky for drawing the Halloween date – I expect everyone who attends that show to dress up as their favourite folk monster. Werewolf Woody Guthries, Zombie Pete Seegers. You know.

MP3: Monsters Of Folk – “Say Please”
MySpace: Monsters Of Folk

Woodpigeon have bid farewell to Michael Jackson by way of a cover. I hadn’t intended to post any MJ covers and yet here’s two, two days in a row. Hrm.

MP3: Woodpigeon – “Say Say Say”

The Singing Lamb has an interview with The Most Serene Republic about their new album …And The Ever Expanding Universe. They’re at the Mod Club on October 15.

MP3: The Most Serene Repbulic – “Heavens To Purgatory”

Matt & Kim are coming back to town for a show at the Reverb on October 1, tickets $13.50.

MP3: Matt & Kim – “Yea Yeah”

The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age talk to Friendly Fires, who have released a video for their new single, which will be appended to the deluxe reissue of their self-titled debut, coming September 9. They’re at Lee’s Palace on August 10 and I will bet that as soon as that date passes, the December 2 slot on their Fall itinerary will magically fill up. Just watch.

Video: Friendly Fires – “Kiss Of Life”

BBC talks to Little Boots about her new video for “Remedy”, which they are also premiering. She is at Wrongbar on September 13.

Video: Little Boots – “Remedy”

MPR has a session with Sonic Youth. There’s also an interview at The Georgia Straight and The Stranger nominates some of the best tracks from their career.

Drowned In Sound spends some time with St Vincent. You can do the same next Saturday night, August 8, at the Horseshoe.

Pitchfork has details on a new EP coming from The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart – look for four new songs packaged as Higher Than The Stars come September 22. The Georgia Straight and LAist have interviews with the band, who’re at the Horseshoe on September 7.

Opening up that POBPAH show are Cymbals Eat Guitars – The Line Of Best Fit has an interview with the band and Baeble has a live video performance from the Cake Shop in New York. They’re also interviewed by altsounds.

Daytrotter and Noisevox have audio and video sessions with The Thermals, respectively.

Yours Truly has Loney Dear in for a video session. They’re at the Horseshoe on October 13.

PitchforkTV welcomes Andrew Bird to their Cemetery Gates series for a live performance.

Frank YangWhen Metric’s latest album Fantasies first became available to stream a month ago, the immediate reaction around the interwebs seemed to be largely along the lines of breathless, “their best album yet!”-type praise (tempered by the mandatory, “worst ever!” naysayers). I myself took to it far quicker than I did their last effort Live It Out, which I never really took to at all, and thought this would be the record to rekindle what had once been an intense interest in the band but which had waned significantly in recent years. Some more time spent with the album has tempered that opinion a bit – Fantasies boasts some of Metric’s very best choruses and some killer catchy tunes, but it’s not the game-changer they’d probably have to deliver to really turn me around completely. But that’s alright because it’s obvious that many, many people love them just the way they are and “just another Metric record” is probably synonymous with, “best thing in the world”.

And it was with these people that the Mod Club, a venue many times smaller than the band normally plays these days, was packed with on Tuesday night. The intimate hometown club show was one of the special events held to mark the new record’s release, following an even smaller secret show and in-store in the preceding weeks. For me, it’d been over five and a half years since I’d seen them play a full show (the exception being part of their V Fest 2007 set) – a fact I had to double-check to make sure was correct – so the experience was a bit odd, like running into someone you knew a long time ago and presumed to still know, but possibly/probably didn’t at all.

Opening things up were electro-instrumentalists Holy Fuck, a band who themselves are used to headlining much larger rooms. While I like their recorded output alright, I always enjoy seeing them live as they perform with more energy than a couple guys standing at makeshift tables decked out with keyboards and effects pedals have any right to, mutating their songs in real time. The privilege of seeing them do their thing in such close quarters seemed to be largely lost on the audience, however, who were there for one thing and one thing only.

And for that one thing – Metric, if you weren’t keeping up – they had to wait, as the band didn’t take the stage until over half an hour later than their scheduled set time (kind of like back in 2003 – nice to see some things don’t change). I don’t think anyone cared, though, based on the roars that greeted them when they finally strode onstage and into “Twilight Galaxy”, from Fantasies. Not the most high-energy opener, but an effective intro even with Emily Haines’ synth not firing on all cylinders. The roadies rectified it almost immediately after the song’s end, however, and the band played the song’s outro again to demonstrate how much better it’d have sounded if the synth had been working. Cute.

The last couple times I’d seen Haines live was in her solo/Soft Skeleton guise and banter or audience interaction was largely verboten, so I was a bit surprised at how chatty and engaging she was from the get-go. Of course, her banter was Billy Bob-esque in its randomness and incoherence, but it was nice to see her making the effort and the devout audience ate up every rambling word. There was no lack of focus in her performance, though – she and her Aladdin Sane makeup demonstrated the charisma that makes her arguably one of the most dynamic frontpersons in Canada, even if some of it felt more rehearsed than spontaneous.

The show focused heavily on Fantasies, with nine of the ten tracks getting aired, which suited me fine. Contrasted with the new material’s undeniable melodic and anthemic qualities, Live It Out’s aggressive guitar-led tunes sounded even more abrasive (in a bad way) than I remembered. Old World Underground, Where Are You Now? was represented only by “Dead Disco”, and I’d thought that would be the end of the main set but had forgotten that they now had “Stadium Love”, a glorious anthem that will rightly close their shows from now until the end of time.

The encore consisted of “Monster Hospital” and a greatly stripped-down “Live It Out”, but by then I’d inched almost out the door and barely heard Haines thanking everyone and declaring her love for everyone. And possibly selling anti-depressants, it wasn’t entirely clear. Putting aside some garbage that left me in a somewhat sour mood most of the night, including but not limited to a heinously drunk guy threatening to smash a bottle on my head for asking him to stop shoving before the show had even started, Metric put on an impressive show that’s well-suited for the large-scale stages that they’ve grown accustomed to playing and will no doubt continue to do, buoyed by the mass appeal of Fantasies. It also made it clear that I’ll likely never be as into the band as I once was – we’ll always have 2003 – but they’ll go far, these ones.

eye, Chart, The Globe & Mail, The Toronto Star and The National Post all have reviews of the show. RCRDLBL has a remix of “Help, I’m Alive” available to download and Ear Farm, Canada.com and The National Post have interviews with the band. Their spending the next few months touring the world and will return home for a June 20 show as part of Edgefest at Downsview Park. Holy Fuck are touring Europe and the US this Spring and do a hometown show at Harbourfront Centre on July 10.

Photos: Metric @ The Mod Club – April 14, 2009
MP3: Holy Fuck – “Lovely Allen”
MP3: Holy Fuck – “Jungles”
Video: Metric – “Gimme Sympathy”
Video: Metric – “Monster Hospital”
Video: Metric – “Poster Of A Girl”
Video: Metric – “Empty”
Video: Metric – “Dead Disco”
Video: Metric – “Combat Baby”
Video: Metric – “Succexy”
Video: Holy Fuck – “Lovely Allen”
Video: Holy Fuck – “Milkshake”
MySpace: Metric
MySpace: Holy Fuck

The Dears have released a new video from last year’s Missiles and are hitting the road soon, starting on April 30 with a show at the Mod Club.

Video: The Dears – “Disclaimer”

CBC Radio 3, CityNews and AOL Music Canada interview Tony Dekker of Great Lake Swimmers, who have a show at the Queen Elizabeth Theatre on April 25.

The Montreal Gazette talks to Arcade Fire’s Win Butler about making the Miroir Noir film.

Jeremy Jay will be at the Poor Alex Theatre on May 6 in support of his new album Slow Dance. Tickets are $10.

MP3: Jeremy Jay – “Beautiful Rebel”

Phoenix, not seen in these parts since V Fest 2006, will return on June 15 for a show at, wait for it, The Phoenix. Did that just blow your mind a little? Yeah. Full tour dates at Stereogum. Their new album Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix is out May 29. Here’s a video. You can grab an MP3 from their website.

Video: Phoenix – “Lisztomania”

For The Records reports that Friendly Fires, who stole the show from White Lies back in March, will return for a headlining show of their own at Lee’s Palace on August 10.

NOW reports that some of the acts coming to town for NxNE will include Black Lips, No Age and Matt & Kim. This year’s fest takes place June 18 to 20.

This Saturday is Record Store Day. Go out and hug your local record store. eye has a round-up of what’s going on at stores around Toronto while Pitchfork has rounded up some of the limited edition goodies that’ll be available at some outlets courtesy of various record labels.

Jim HerringtonSteve Earle has announced details on his next album, and now that he’s done so the real question is why he hadn’t done this sooner? The new record is called Townes, and is a tribute album to his friend, mentor and the man he once declared the “best songwriter in the whole world,” Townes Van Zandt. Van Zandt passed in 1997 and was paid tribute by Earle in the song, “Fort Worth Blues”, but this record should be a much larger love letter to the late singer-songwriter.

Earle has been in political firebrand mode for his past few records so it’s good to see him return to his more introspective works, though I don’t know if this counts as the “chick songs” record he’s promised for a while. I can’t decide if I’d prefer it he play this one straight and reverential and avoid the sonic tomfoolery that permeated Washington Square Serenade or try to push the envelope a little, knowing he’s got such solid songs to work with. From the details at Blurt, it sounds like he’s doing both, enlisting a bluegrass band for some numbers and getting Serenade producer John King to produce and Rage Against The Machine’s Tom Morello to play on another. A couple of new songs – including the aforementioned track with Morello – are streaming at Earle’s MySpace, and I must say – his reading of “Pancho & Lefty” does it for me. Yes it does.

Update: There’s a short interview with Steve at the SteveEarle.com forums about the record.

Townes will be available as a single or double-CD set and will be out May 12.

Video: Steve Earle – “Fort Worth Blues” (live)
MySpace: Steve Earle

Rolling Stone reports that Bob Dylan is almost done work on a new album, set for a late April release.

There’s a new video from Neil Young’s Fork In The Road, out April 7. Are you stoked? ARE YOU STOKED? No? Can’t imagine why not.

Video: Neil Young – “Johnny Magic”

JamBase talks to Mark Olson & Gary Louris.

MP3: Mark Olson & Gary Louris – “Turn Your Pretty Name Around”

JAM and The AV Club talk to Neko Case. She’s got two sold-out shows at Trinity-St Paul’s on April 17 and 18.

JamBase profiles Jason Isbell.

MPR has a session with The Submarines. They’ve released a couple of digital remix EPs creatively titled Honeysuckle Weeks Remixes EP 1 and Honeysuckle Weeks Remixes EP 2, the second of which is available this week.

MP3: The Submarines – “You, Me & The Bourgeoisie” (Tonetiger remix)
MP3: The Submarines – “Submarine Symphonika” (Ra Ra Riot remix)

This Is Fake DIY interviews Ra Ra Riot, who will play the Sound Academy in support of Death Cab on April 7.

One For The Good Days has an interview with Ed Droste of Grizzly Bear. Their new record Veckatimest is out May 26 and they play The Phoenix on June 5.

CMJ talks to Matt Johnson of Matt & Kim. They’re at Circa on March 20 in support of Cut Copy.

Bishop Allen have a new video from Grr…, now out. You Ain’t No Picasso has an interview with his site’s namesake.

Video: Bishop Allen – “Dimmer”

Time Out Chicago and Paste talk Warhol with Dean Wareham of Dean & Britta.

Woodpigeon’s Mark Hamilton gives Anika In London a guide to Calgary.

They may not feature Mark Ronson production or Owen Pallet arrangements, but this Daytrotter session offers the first taste I’ve seen/heard of the new material from The Rumble Strips.

NME reports that Maximo Park are offering a free download of a track from album number three, Quicken The Heart. It’s not an especially remarkable track, but it’s just a taste, not a single. The record is out in May 11 and the offer is only good for a fortnight.

The Yeah Yeah Yeahs are streaming their new album It’s Blitz! on their MySpace in advance of its March 31 release, and goodness this is a sleek and shiny record. Those who loved the band for their unhinged, spiky guitar freak-outs may be disappointed but for those who always thought that they should indulge their potent inner disco-pop band, your ship has come in. And by you, I mean me. They’ve also got a new video. And Karen O gives an interview to Pitchfork about the internets.

Stream: The Yeah Yeah Yeahs / It’s Blitz!
Video: The Yeah Yeah Yeahs – “Zero”

Good news – Sky Larkin are coming to town! Bad news – it’s in support of Los Campesinos!. This isn’t an indictment of the Welsh kiddies – I’m not a big fan but they’ve got an energetic, entertaining show. It’s a complaint because that April 1 show at the Opera House would be my third gig in a row when I expect to still be recovering from SxSW, and I don’t realistically think I can swing that, and I’m planning on seeing them in Austin anyways. But to anyone who is going – get there early and see them! – and to anyone on the fence about attending – do so! BrooklynVegan has full Los Camp dates including which ones feature Sky Larkin support.

The National have made their contribution to the Dark Was The Night AIDS benefit album available to download, and it’s a gem. A sparkly, shiny gem. You can also watch them perform it at PitchforkTV. They – along with Feist, Sharon Jones and other contributors to the album will be playing a special show in New York City at Radio City Music Hall on May 3 that will surely be something to remember. We will have to settle for seeing them at the Kool Haus on May 21.

MP3: The National – “So Far Around The Bend”
Video: The National – “So Far Around The Bend” (live)

Katelyn RoofMuch of the buzz surrounding next Thursday’s show at Neutral is focusing on the evening’s headliners, Brooklyn’s The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart, and with good reason – their new self-titled album, out tomorrow, is wonderful and will be discussed soon enough. But it’s a shame that all the attention is falling on them when their tourmates are just as noteworthy.

That would be The Depreciation Guild, also from Brooklyn, and talking points around the band generally center around the fact that they’re giving their debut album, In Her Gentle Jaws away for free on their website and also that their band’s sound is built off of an old 8-bit Nintendo gaming system. Which, as far as angles for getting noticed go, are pretty good. But putting those aside and focusing on the music, there’s still plenty to comment on.

Like how they take those tones and textures that evoke memories of pixelated plumbers amongst those of a certain generation and build soaring, shoegazing soundscapes of pop wonder out of them. And while the 8-bit aesthetic is fundamental to their sound, they’re not beholden to it – they also use more conventional instruments like guitars and drums to get where they’re going and the songs would more than stand up even without the Nintendo backbone – it just might not be quite as much fun.

Exclaim and Gothamist talk to The Depreciation Guild about, um, their Nintendo-fi sounds and their free album. And you can also get their EP Nautilus for free at 8-Bit Peoples. Update: This show has been moved to Lee’s Palace.

MP3: The Depreciation Guild – “Darklooming”
MP3: The Depreciation Guild – “Butterfly Kisses”
MP3: The Depreciation Guild – “Nautilus”
Video: The Depreciation Guild – “Nautilus”
MySpace: The Depreciation Guild

Rolf Klausener talks to The National Post about the utter bizarreness of The Acorn’s world right now, where just before setting out on an arena tour of the UK in support of Elbow, they get the Kanye West seal of approval for their video for “Crooked Legs”.

Video: The Acorn – “Crooked Legs”

The Village Voice and Exclaim talk to Matt & Kim, though it’s really just Matt.

Spinner interfaces with Of Montreal, feels vaguely dirty about it the next morning.

It’s a kiwi invasion! First, Cut Off Your Hands will make their Toronto debut at the Horseshoe on March 30 – tickets $10 in advance.

And then Flight Of The Conchords will play not one but two nights at Massey Hall on April 21 and 22. Presale goes today at 10AM, tickets $49.50. That’s… a lot.

Cloud Cult and Margot & The Nuclear So And So’s are at the El Mocambo on April 3, tickets $10.

Super Furry Animals have a new album in the can, if not a name for it, and will release it digitally via their website on March 16 and give it a physical release on April 21. Details at Beggars blog.

This Is Fake DIY interviews The Airborne Toxic Event, playing the El Mocambo on March 3.

Stereogum gets a progress report on the new Wrens record.

Spin gets the backstory on the AC Newman song “Submarines Of Stockholm”.

White Lies’ chart-topping (in the UK) debut To Lose My Life will get a North American release on March 17 – none of this, “wait a year before jumping across the pond” nonsense. Tickets for their March 31 show at Lee’s Palace with Friendly Fires and The Soft Pack will run you $15.