Kjeli B PerssonWhile it’s factually correct for Sambassadeur to have named their latest album European, it’s also a bit redundant. For from the moment album opener “Stranded”‘s power ballad piano intro segues into the sprightly orchestrally-inclined power pop verse, there’s no questioning what side of the Atlantic this record was crafted on. Or even which country.

There is something about Sambassadeur that is so very Swedish, beyond the obvious reference point of singer Anna Persson’s accent and precise, ever-so-slightly forlorn delivery. There’s the way the songs manage to be so richly appointed without becoming overburdened or overthought and they’re so wonderfully efficient in how they deliver their many irresistible hooks without ever feeling rushed. And while each song stands in pop splendour on their own, strung together they make European a delightful listening experience from start to end, a journey that lasts not even 34 minutes but easily justifies many round trips.

I had thought that Sambassadeur had reached their apex with 2007′s Migration, but clearly I underestimated them. This would normally be the part of the review where I’d say something along the lines of “I can’t wait to hear what they do next”, but I actually can because I’m perfectly happy to just keep spinning European for the foreseeable future. It’s a gem.

MP3: Sambassadeur – “Days”
MP3: Sambassadeur – “Stranded”
Video: Sambassadeur – “I Can Try”
MySpace: Sambassadeur

Spin are offering for download an unreleased track from jj, recorded circa their album jj No 2. That’s the one that got everyone excited about them, not to be confused with jj No 3, which got everyone indifferent to them. It will be getting a reissue on August 3.

MP3: jj – “Baby”
MP3: jj – “Ecstasy”

NPR has posted a World Cafe session with Shout Out Louds.

The Bellingham Herald interviews Norway’s Casiokids, who have set a date at Supermarket for August 27 in support of Topp Stemning Pa Lokal Bar.

MP3: Casiokids – “Fot i hose”
MP3: Casiokids – “Finn bikkjen!”

Serena-Maneesh return to Toronto in support of S-M 2: Abyss In B Minor with a date at The Garrison on October 1, part of a co-headline tour with Wovenhand.

MP3: Serena Maneesh – “I Just Want To See Your Face”
MP3: Serena-Maneesh – “Ayisha Abyss”

Last week, PitchforkTV ran a Cemetery Gates video session series with Jonsi and altsounds an interview.

PitchforkTV is streaming the Vincent Moon-directed Mogwai feature Adelia: I Want To Love. Their new concert film/album Burning/Special Moves is out August 24 and there’ll be a screening of the film on September 14 at the Drake Underground.

Video: Adelia: I Want To Love

Interview talks to Neil Tennant of Pet Shop Boys.

The Pipettes have rolled out a new video from their just-released new album Earth Vs. the Pipettes

Video: The Pipettes – “Call Me”

The Fly serves up a courtyard video session with Johnny Flynn.

If you thought the July 19 show at the Horseshoe with We Are Scientists was undersized, it’s even moreso now that Lightspeed Champion has been announced as support. He’s got a number of North American dates in support of this year’s Life Is Sweet! Nice To Meet You.

Video: Lightspeed Champion – “Madame Van Damme”

Spinner continues to get mileage out af an interview with The Joy Formidable. And I continue to enable them.

Chart and Exclaim chat with Kele. He plays the Mod Club solo on July 27.

Mumford & Sons tell BBC they might try something different with album number two.

Beth Orton’s August 12 show at the Mod Club has been cancelled.

D.L. AndersonA lot of bands these days lay claim to the adjective of “orchestral” – and indeed, the tasteful addition of some strings, brass and/or woodwinds to one’s aural palette can set one apart from the pack. Those following this path should know, however, that the bar for these sorts of stylings has been raised by North Carolina’s Lost In The Trees. By a lot.

Even if stripped down to just main composer Ari Picker, Lost In The Trees would be a worthy of note – his songwriting is lyrically evocative and his voice capable of ranging from an introspective grumble to a plaintive yelp – but his ambitions go far beyond folk or singer-songwriter. Their third album All Alone In An Empty House – originally released in 2008 but re-recorded and set to be re-released on August 10 – wraps him and his songs in gorgeous tapestries of strings and chorals that are clearly informed by Picker’s Berklee training in classical composition, with the vocal pieces giving way on multiple occasions to full-on insturmental suites. Mixing those in with the more austere numbers and occasional electrified rockers could – and probably should – make for a jarring listening experience but Picker and company – seven in total in the touring configuration but numbering more than a dozen in the studio – make it all blend beautifully. Those other bands can keep calling themselves orchestral – Lost In The Trees are symphonic.

Lost In The Trees are currently on tour and will be in Toronto this coming Tuesday, June 15, for a free show at the El Mocambo. That’s right – the price of admission is the effort it takes to show up. There’s interviews with Ari Picker at The Washington Examiner and hour.ca.

MP3: Lost In The Trees – “Fireplace”
MP3: Lost In The Trees – “All Alone In An Empty House”
MP3: Lost In The Trees – “Time Taunts Me”
MySpace: Lost In The Trees

QRD talks guitars with Anna-Lynne Wiliams of Trespassers William.

Author Michael Chabon offers an eloquent tribute to power pop in general and Big Star in particular.

Drive-By Truckers have a new video from The Big To-Do.

Video: Drive-By Truckers – “After The Scene Dies”

Spinner talks to Tift Merritt about her new record See You On The Moon.

eye‘s cover feature this week welcomes the Pavement reunion to town next Saturday on Toronto Island without actually talking to anyone in the band. It was just announced that the reunion is having a reunion of its own – the band’s June 24 show in their former hometown of Stockton, California will feature their original drummer Gary Young behind the kit. Stockton fans got excited, until they remembered that Young wasn’t a very good drummer.

James Murphy of LCD Soundsystem talks to Spinner.

Phantogram check in at Daytrotter for studio session and with The Visalia Times Delta for an interview; they’ll be at Wrongbar on July 8.

Spin checks in with Of Montreal, presently in the studio recording a new record.

The Drums talk to Spinner and BBC about their self-titled debut, out digitally now, and on vinyl come August 10 and on CD in September.

Sky Larkin have nailed down the release date for their second album Kaleide – it will be available in the UK on August 9.

PopMatters chats with Gareth Campesinos! of Los Campesinos!.

Exclaim reports that The Vaselines will release their first new album in some 20 years on September 14 with Sex With An X, the first MP3 of which you can get from their website.

The Telegraph interviews Richard Thompson, whose new recorded-live-in-front-of-an-audience album Dream Attic is out August 31.

New fatherhood may have kept bassist Ted Malmros from participating in the Shout Out Louds’ recent North American tour, but he kept busy producing a new video from Work. Blast and The Days Of Yore also have interviews with Shout Out Loud-ers.

Video: Shout Out Louds – “Show Me Something New”

Drowned In Sound meets Love Is All.

Frank YangI detected a sense of general disappointment, critically speaking, around Shout Out Louds’ latest record Work, mostly centered around the fact that it didn’t represent as big a leap from 2007′s Our Ill Wills as that record did from their debut Howl Howl Gaff Gaff. And if we allow that there’s a way to quantify such things, it’s probably true – Work isn’t as sonically lush as its predecessor and its songs are more efficient, and it generally splits the difference between the grand Ills Wills and the scrappy Howl Howl. But what those who criticize Work on the basis that it’s not another watershed moment in their career – because those typically immediately follow previous watershed moments – seem to miss out on is the much more important fact that it, like the rest of Shout Out Louds’ oeuvre, is laden with glorious jangly and melodic indie-pop that’s as suited to dancing as rocking.

And though some critics might not get that, the fans do, and their first Toronto show in two and a half years on Saturday night at the Mod Club was sold out well in advance – even the lone scalper out front only had one ducat to offer. About 100 or so of the 500-plus who’d eventually be in attendance showed up early enough to see New York’s Freelance Whales do their thing, which was play clever and ultra twee pop from their debut album Weathervanes. I’d seen them do said thing back at SxSW but that was a break-of-day set where I wouldn’t have expected anyone to be at their best and appropriately, their set on this evening – though also technically early – was much peppier and pep is kind of essential to their sound, all made of glockenspiels, harmoniums, banjos and five-part harmonies. And while on record they can drift to the wrong side of wimpy, live they beefed up their sound enough – volume wins! – to keep it engaging. And closing (though not deliberately as they thought they’d have time for one more) with a well-intentioned if not entirely tidy cover of Broken Social Scene’s “7/4 (Shoreline)” was a nice nod to the city… or as they wryly noted, “that one’s called ‘pandering’”.

I remember Shout Out Louds’ October 2007 show as a lively affair that took some of the polish off of the Ill Wills album arrangements, and their SxSW 2008 as a raucous, stage trashing throwdown – this time, they split the difference between the two and turned in what was the best performance I’ve seen them do yet. Perhaps it was the pressure of a hard 10PM curfew, but kicking off with Work leadoff track “1999″, they barrelled through their 90-minute set without much let up in energy and with only just enough missteps to count as charming, particularly early on when Adam Olenius lept into the audience for “Tonight I Have To Leave It” and had a bit of trouble climbing back onstage. By and large, though, the show was a fast-paced romp through all of their records – Work was well-represented but not at the expense of older favourites – that got the house up and kept them there, particularly with the sing-along encore closer of “Walls”, which was marked by much jumping up and down and arm-waving. Perhaps if, a few records from now, Shout Out Louds are still ploughing the same field of inspiration, I might find myself on the side of those who wish they’d try to branch out a bit more but for now, a record like Work and a show like this, are plenty to keep me satisfied.

Exclaim and Panic Manual also have reviews of the show. QRO and Ion have interviews with assorted Shout Out Louds while NPR is streaming their show in Washington DC from last week.

Photos: Shout Out Louds, Freelance Whales @ The Mod Club – May 8, 2010
MP3: Shout Out Louds – “Walls”
MP3: Shout Out Louds – “Tonight I Have To Leave It”
MP3: Freelance Whales – “Generator 2nd Floor”
Video: Shout Out Louds – “Fall Hard”
Video: Shout Out Louds – “Walls”
Video: Shout Out Louds – “Tonight I Have To Leave It”
Video: Shout Out Louds – “Impossible”
Video: Shout Out Louds – “Please Please Please”
Video: Freelance Whales – “Generator 2nd Floor”
MySpace: Shout Out Louds
MySpace: Freelance Whales

Pitchfork has the first sample of the new album from The Concretes, entitled WYWH and due out in October.

MP3: The Concretes – “Good Evening”

Johan Duncanson talks to Spinner about The Radio Dept’s obsessive/lazy work ethic, and why it took so long for Clinging To A Scheme to see the light of day.

The Mary Onettes have a new video for their recent, non-album single.

Video: The Mary Onettes – “The Night Before The Funeral”

PitchforkTV has a Tunnel Vision session with The Tallest Man On Earth.

Under The Radar chats with Jonsi at Coachella.

MusicOmh interviews Doves.

Beatroute and The Georgia Straight chat with James Graham of The Twilight Sad; they are at Lee’s Palace on May 26 with Mono.

PopMatters talks to Chris Chu of The Morning Benders, who seem to have become the go-to band for duos looking for openers. They’re in town supporting Broken Bells at the Queen Elizabeth Theatre on June 2 and then The Black Keys at The Kool Haus on August 3.

If you needed a little more incentive to go see Midlake’s show at the Mod Club on May 21, how about the fact that a solo Jason Lytle, along with John Grant, will be supporting? And the fact that Midlake, apparently, no longer perform hidden behind a wall of keyboards?

MP3: Jason Lytle – “Yours Truly, The Commuter”

Nathaniel Rateliff’s May 30 show at the Drake Underground has been canceled. But if you were looking forward to seeing him play, there’s at least this video performance for Yours Truly.

The previously announced July 20 Real Estate/Kurt Vile show has found a home – it’ll be taking place at the Great Hall.

Last.fmSo apparently there’s this guy – based in Ohio but sings with an affected British accent, played in a band with his brother for a while, has a habit of writing amazing pop songs and recording them onto 4-track cassette and is worshipped by those in the know. I’m talking, of course, about Bill Fox. Why, who were you thinking of?

I actually can’t pretend to be one of those aforementioned “in the know”, however. Prior to a few weeks ago, the first I’d heard of Bill Fox was via the first sample of Nada Surf’s forthcoming covers record, if i had a hi-fi, and “Electrocution” offered a terrific first impression – both of the Nada Surf record and the songwriting talent behind that song. And then a copy of his 1998 record Transit Byzantium was forwarded on to me by the folks at Ottawa-based Kelp Records, both for my own musical edification and by way of invitation to help them celebrate their 16th anniversary.

Apparently the traditional 16th anniversary gift is silver holloware, but who doesn’t have enough of that cluttering up their homes? Instead, Kelp – who has been and still is home to such acts as The Acorn, Hilotrons and Jim Bryson, is marking their 16th by throwing a series of parties in Toronto, Montreal and Ottawa, featuring Mr Bill Fox and a variety of Kelp friends and family. For my part, I’m pleased to be co-presenting the Toronto show which will take place on Wednesday, May 12, and feature sets by Andrew Vincent, Chris Page, Leif Vollebekk and of course, Bill Fox.

Obviously I cannot pretend that I’m anything resembling an old-school fan of Bill Fox or his old band The Mice, but my crash course in his story and works has been a wholly enjoyable one: The Mice are terrific scrappy power pop and Fox’s solo works more folkish and thoughtful but just as melodic. And so I’m happy to be able to associate my name with a Canadian label that’s been fighting the good fight for so long and a show that is no doubt bringing much happiness to those out there who ARE old-school Bill Fox fans. For a while Fox had dropped almost completely out of sight – his Wikipedia page more or less tells the tale – and while he’s now playing live more and his catalog is slowly being reissued courtesy of Scat Records, the man doesn’t really tour so this is, as they say, an opportunity.

Tickets for the Toronto show are $10 in advance. Grab a free sampler of Kelp artists at Bandcamp.

MP3: The Mice – “Not Proud Of The USA”
MP3: The Mice – “More Than I Can Talk About”
MP3: Nada Surf – “Electrocution”

Stereogum has premiered the new video from Born Ruffians’ forthcoming Say It, due out June 1. They play The Horseshoe on May 28.

Video: Born Ruffians – “What To Say”

The New Pornographers are streaming Together in its entirety at Exclaim, a week ahead of its May 4 release. They will be at the Sound Academy on June 15.

Stream: The New Pornographers / Together

School Of Seven Bells have finally put a release date on their second album, Disconnect From Desire. Pitchfork has the vitals on the new record, which will out on July 13.

Alison Mosshart of The Kills tells BBC 6 that their new record is more than halfway complete.

The Fly interviews James Murphy of LCD Soundsystem, whose This Is Happening is out May 18 and who are at the Kool Haus on May 25. Slowly, but surely, I am starting to get LCD. It’s fun like parties, right? I get that.

Shout Out Louds are taking over the editors desk at Magnet this week as they gear up for their North American tour which brings them to the Mod Club on May 8.

Mew have released a typically weird new video from No More Stories.

Video: Mew – “Beach”

In concert news, the June 9 She & Him show has been moved from the Phoenix to the Sound Academy. I’m somewhat surprised at this, as the show has been sold out for well over a month and I figured if a move was in the offing, it’d have happened sooner. But so it is that Matt and Zooey will now be visiting in the most despised room in the city, but look on the bright side – it’s now all-ages so at least some of the 2000 more people who can attend won’t be very tall. And no, there’s no info on getting refunds because you have the new room. Sorry.

MP3: She & Him – “Why Do You Let Me Stay Here?”

Their free record release show last week having been a huge (crushing) success, Plants & Animals will be returning for a June 24 show at the Opera House; unfortunately this one you have to pay for. They’re featured in The Montreal Mirror, The Montreal Gazette, Chart and The Toronto Sun.

MP3: Plants & Animals – “Tom Cruz”

Could one band who hasn’t been here in ages and another who just visited make up the bill of the Summer? When it’s The Flaming Lips and Spoon, maybe so. The pair will be at the Molson Amphitheatre on July 8 and considering the show starts at 6:45 and curfew is 11PM, it seems the Lips will finally be making up for their 15-minute V Fest set in 2006. Tickets go on sale Saturday at 10AM and range from $52.50 for GA floors (and the privilege of being in Wayne Coyne’s bubble walk route) to $29.50 for lawns (unlikely he’ll make it up there but you never know).

Video: The Flaming Lips – “Powerless”
Video: Spoon – “Written In Reverse”

The Swell Season will be coming back to town on July 12 for a show at the Queen Elizabeth Theatre, tickets $39.50 to $42.50. It sounds as though Glen Hansard is getting The Frames out of mothballs for their 20th anniversary, so this could be your last chance to see him in a quieter headspace, not to mention Marketa Irglova.

MP3: The Swell Season – “In These Arms”

Ween are coming to town – look for them at the Kool Haus on July 20, tickets $35. Is it wrong that this is my favourite Ween composition?

MP3: Ween – “Where’d The Cheese Go?”

City SlangOkay, I get it – Andorra was a gateway drug, a bit of bait and switch. After failing to really connect with either his Manitoba output or The Milk Of Human Kindness, his first record as Caribou, Dan Snaith managed to draw me in with his 2008 foray into classic pop structures and songcraft and then, once I was hooked, he turned right around and dove back into parts unknown and pulled me right along with him.

The world of Swim, at least initially, feels wholly alien compared to the more familiar touchstones of the Polaris-winning Andorra or the more overtly electronic aesthetic of his other works. Though plenty of real instrumentation weaves in and out of the mix, there’s a decidedly synthetic texture across the record that combined with it’s dense, intimate sonic architecture makes it simultaneously disorienting and entrancing – you can’t help but want to touch it, and don’t really have a choice in the matter. Also insistent is the rhythmic backbone of the record – a throbbing, undulating, liquidous thing that you’re tempted to call disco or dance, but while you can, should and probably must move to it, Swim doesn’t sound like it was intended just for dancing or good times; It feels darker and more desperate than that, as though the publicly romantic sentiments of Andorra have led behind closed doors and now given way to something slinkier, sexier and seedier.

With further listens, Swim becomes more familiar as a Caribou record and for someone more familiar with the full breadth of Snaith’s career, perhaps it’s a much more logical next step than Andorra was a previous one, but what does seem clear to me now is that even when Caribou sounds little like what you think or thought Caribou sounded like, it still sounds like Caribou. And though blending electronic sensibilities with pop ones isn’t especially unusual or groundbreaking in this day and age, the way Snaith goes about it – and the results he gets – are wholly unique, thanks to the slightly warped lens that his musical vision is projected out of.

Caribou set out on a North American tour starting on April 3 at the Phoenix in Toronto, with a full-band Toro Y Moi opening up most dates. Clash, The Times, Spoonfed, The National Post, Exclaim and Spinner have features on Snaith and his newest work.

MP3: Caribou – “Odessa”
MP3: Caribou – “Odessa” (David Wrench’s Drumapella remix)
Video: Caribou – “Odessa”
MySpace: Caribou

Shad will follow-up to his own Polaris nominated album The Old Prince with TSOL, out May 25. The first video and MP3 are out now and do they make a good first impression? Yes they do. Shad plays the Opera House on June 12.

MP3: Shad – “Yaa I Get It”
Video: Shad – “Yaa I Get It”

Bostonist interviews Owen Pallett.

JAM, The Vancouver Sun and Ottawa Citizen profile Plants & Animals, whose La La Land was released yesterday.

So you love Metric’s? How much? Can you put a price on it? How about $60? Yeah? Great – because that’s how much floors for their just-announced July 9 show at the Molson Amphitheatre will run you. Too much? Luckily, 200-level seats are only $52, and lawns a bargain at $44 before fees. That Passion Pit and Holy Fuck are support for the show helps the overall value marginally, but those are still jaw-droppingly high prices. It makes the “we’re independent!” angle of this Chart piece on the band’s two Juno award wins kind of ironic, considering they’re now charging their fans many times over what many major label bands do for tickets – it’s almost Bieber/Buble-expensive. Yeah, congratulations. Oh yeah, Metric has a new video too.

Video: Metric – “Gold Gun Girls”

Pitchfork reports that Broken Social Scene’s new album Forgiveness Rock Record will be released with a 10-track bonus EP entitled Lo-Fi For The Dividing Nights, available with all pre-orders and at selected retail outlets (HMV and indies) in Canada and indies only in the US.

Crystal Castles had intended to release their second album on June 8, but online leakage have prompted them to move that timetable up a bit – or a lot. NME reports that the self-titled effort will now be made available digitally starting this Friday, April 23, with the physical release to follow on May 24. The play the Kool Haus on August 14.

Jonsi talks to Interview and tells Spinner that reports of Sigur Ros’ hiatus have been exagerrated; they’ll be working on new material in between his solo tours. He has two dates at the Sound Academy on April 30 and May 1.

PopMatters interview Shout Out Louds; they play the Mod Club on May 8.

Spinner talks to Mac McCaughan about the past and future of Merge Records, and no – he doesn’t know when the new Arcade Fire record will be done, or more accurately, he’s not telling. But with their addition to this year’s edition of Ottawa Bluesfest, they’ll now be back in live action by July 13 – surely they’ll have something out for the kids to shout along with by then? And what might the lineup of talent who’ll be up the 401 the weekend of July 10 and 11 imply about the perplexing Imagine Concert at Downsview – an event which, despite fake tweets to the contrary, is apparently still all systems go.