La Blogotheque is a pretty great French music blog…or at least it seems pretty great as my French is brutal. But what makes La Blogotheque pretty much my favourite site on the net at the moment is their series of Take Away Shows. The premise is simple: take a great artist/band, stick them in an unusual location, film them playing a couple songs, then post the results on the net. The site is based in Paris so the artists tend to end up in Montmartre a lot, which is one of my favourite neighborhoods anywhere. The results are just brilliant.

Artists who have participated include Arcade Fire, Okkervil River, Islands, Andrew Bird, Alan Sparhawk, Jens Lekman, The Shins, The Hidden Cameras, The National, Guillemots and the list goes on. You really need to check out this site if you haven’t already. Check out a few of the performances below:

Andrew Bird – Spare-Ohs

Arcade Fire – Neon Bible (in an elevator!) / Wake Up

The National – Start A War (around a dinner table!)

The Shins – Turn A Square / The Past and Pending / Australia

The site also allows you to download the performances in a variety of formats, including iPod friendly mp4s. I’m constantly impressed by La Blogotheque so go show them some love.

File under rumour for now, but it looks as though Bob Dylan (a singer-songwriter from Minnesota) might be thinking about maybe making his way to Australia this August. According to Bob Links (sort of a legendary site in the Dylan community), Dylan may be here from the second week of August until the end of the month. That sounds like it could be a relatively ‘extensive’ tour. But this is in no way confirmed.

And just to add some real Dylan news…here’s his most recent setlist in Torino:

1. Cat’s In The Well
2. The Times They Are A-Changin’
3. Watching The River Flow
4. It’s Alright, Ma (I’m Only Bleeding)
5. Spirit On The Water
6. Rollin’ And Tumblin’
7. Boots Of Spanish Leather
8. Things Have Changed
9. My Back Pages
10. High Water (For Charley Patton)
11. When The Deal Goes Down
12. Stuck Inside Of Mobile With The Memphis Blues Again
13. Nettie Moore
14. Highway 61 Revisited
15. Blowin’ In The Wind
————
16. Thunder On The Mountain
17. Like A Rolling Stone

And Dylan’s been playing guitar (!!) on the first four or five songs of each show this tour as well ( something he hadn’t done in a few years). Last time I saw him in 2005 he was on keyboards all night, and while I loved the shows I saw, I was longing to see him pick up a guitar just once. Maybe August will be my chance.

Fingers crossed.

Hey Morrissey, this is what a Canadian tour looks like. Check out The White Stripes tour of every friggin’ province and territory in the Great White North. This is, without question, the greatest tour itinerary I’ve ever seen for Canada. Now despite the fact that the Vancouver date is five days before I get home for a visit, and the Boston date is seven days after I leave Boston and head back to Vancouver, I would still like to thank Jack and Meg for this tour.

I dare someone to hit all the dates on this Canadian tour. In fact, I double dog dare you. You heard me. DOUBLE DOG DARE.

The White Stripes vs. Canada Tour Dates:

06.24.07 – Burnaby, BC (Deer Lake Park)
06.25.07 – Whitehorse, YU (Yukon Arts Centre)
06.26.07 – Yellowknife, NT (Shorty Brown Multiplex Arena)
06.27.07 – Iqaluit, NU (Arctic Winter Games Arena)
06.29.07 – Calgary, AB (The Pengrowth Saddledome)
06.30.07 – Edmonton, AB (Shaw Convention Center)
07.01.07 – Saskatoon, SK (TCU Place)
07.02.07 – Winnipeg, MB (MTS Centre)
07.03.07 – Thunder Bay, ON (Community Auditorium)
07.05.07 – London, ON (Molson Ampitheatre)
07.06.07 – Montreal, QC (Bell Centre)
07.07.07 – London, ON (John Labatt Centre)
07.08.07 – Ottawa, ON (Ottawa BluesFest)
07.10.07 – Moncton, NB (Moncton Coliseum Arena)
07.11.07 – Charlottetown, PE (Charlottetown Civic Centre)
07.13.07 – Halifax, NS (Cunard Centre)
07.14.07 – Glace Bay, NS (Savoy Theatre)
07.16.07 – St. John’s, NF (Mile One Center)

What’s with all the shows at Deer Lake Park Vancouver peeps? Kinda shitty. Full tour dates (including US dates) here.

If you need a hit of some live White Stripes material, WhiteStripes.net always has a complete show up for download. Currently they have a show up from 2002. One of my favourite Bob Dylan covers as a sample below.

Download:
Love Sick

Some kinds souls managed to record, upload, and host the webcast of Wilco’s recent show here in Sydney which has been unanimously praised. It really was a special gig. Anyway, just head here to download. For now it’s only available in FLAC format not mp3. So hopefully you know how to deal with those types of files (I’ll keep my eye out for an mp3 version as well). Thanks to Owl and Bear for sharing the gig!

Reading Wayne’s thoughts on the gig reminded me that I wanted to mention how awesome the crowd was at the show. Wilco fans are a great bunch. Friendly, polite, and enthusiastic in all the right places. Even during Glenn Richard’s acoustic opening set the crowd were attentive and quiet. I was really, really impressed.

And how Thin Lizzy are some of those guitar bits on Impossible Germany?

The Basics wrapped up the Sydney portion of their month-long tri-state residency last night at the Hopetoun in front of a PACKED room. I’ve seen the Hoey full before but last night there were people standing on chairs, tables, and stairs trying to watch the band sweat it out on stage (it was hella hot too). As always, a great time was had.

I marvelled at Wally’s drumming all night…he really is something (especially when a guest drummer took the stage for two songs and they ‘dueled’!). And Kris’s basslines during Lookin’ Over My Shoulder were ridiculous; much perfer that song live than on record. And Tim once again sang Bill Scott’s Hey Rain and it was absolutely beautiful…even if the crowd didn’t shut up, even after being urged to by Wally.

And the covers? Well they busted out a version Besame Mucho, another song I first came across on The Beatles Anthology 1 when I was 15. And once again they covered Neil Young, though this time it was Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere. AUSSIES LOVE NEIL. Great stuff! The Basics are your new favourite band.

Setlist:
Money (Gimme, Gimme)
Yeah, Yeah
Jumpin’ Jack Flash
Hey There!
Just Hold On
For Girls Like You
Better
Hey Rain
Lookin’ Over My Shoulder
Besame Mucho
My Baby
Lovin’ Man
Second Best
Rattle My Chain
——-
Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere
All Day And All of the Night

Kris also reiterated what Wally told me in an interview, that The Basics have already begun recording another album….wouldn’t be surprised if we see that before the end of the year. Not bad for a band whose debut album isn’t in shops until May 5 (though you can pick up a digital copy of Stand Out/Fit In via the iTunes store right now). Tracklisting for Stand Out/Fit In:

Rattle My Chain
Memory Lane
Have Love, Will Travel
Hey There!
Just Hold On
(Love, Love) Speak to Me
Lookin’ Over My Shoulder
Sound Off
Better
The Two Words
Three Cool Cats
Bitten By The Same Bug
That Girl

Hopefully The Basics will be back in town in the not too distant future. In the meantime I’d love for them to work on a cover of Eight Days A Week. Amanda just had that playing in the other room and I instantly thought, “The Basics would rock that song.”

Sigur Ros fans should start preparing their wallets for some serious damage over the next year as the band are about to release a slew of stuff. All release dates are perhaps tentative but in chronological order we have:

Hlemmur DVD+CD – to be released in July 2007
This is a re-release of Sigur Ros’ score for the documentary film Hlemmur. This version comes with the soundtrack and the film, though you can still purchase the original release of the soundtrack here.

New EP – to be released in August 2007
This EP should be great as it seems the band have gone into the studio and recorded a bunch of “lost” songs that have been played live every now and then over the past six years. Tracks to be included on this EP include a new version of Von, Salka, Lagið í gær, and Rokklagið. Clearly this EP is being done for benefit of the fans who have been clamoring for proper versions of these songs for years; I think it’s great when a band does something like this.

Download: Rokklagið (live)

Live DVD – to be released in October 2007
This is the live DVD that of the band’s unique tour of Iceland last summer (previously mentioned here). I have a feeling this is going to be a pretty special DVD.

Acoustic LP – to be released in October 2007
Apparently this will be a full-length album of acoustic songs. Not sure what the hell this is going to end up sounding like but I’m sure it will be beautiful.

Odin’s Raven Magic DVD+CD – to be released in January 2008
In April 2002 Sigur Ros took part in an ambitious project…which is best described here. The band were just part of a larger ensemble performing a poetic retelling an ancient myth (read about Odin here). A short clip of the performance can be heard here.

And apparently the band also have a proper Sigur Ros album in the works as well. You’ve been warned. Thanks, as always, to the boys at Sigur-Ros.co.uk for the news.

Wilco. Were. Brilliant.

The last time I saw Wilco I was less than amazed, but last night I finally saw the live Wilco that everyone raves about. Despite this Australian tour being the beginning of the Sky Blue Sky campaign, the band played as though they’d been touring for weeks. They were sharp, the sound was fantastic, and they had the crowd hanging on every song. I was a bit surprised at how few songs off the new record were played (I assume they’ll be adding more into the set once the album is released) but those they did play fit in perfectly with the sometimes dissonant but beautiful songs from the previous two albums.

They played a lot of Yankee Hotel Foxtrot which was great. I Am Trying To Greak Your Heart featured some impressive drumming (actually the drumming was stunning all night) and the transition from Poor Places to Spiders to end the show was perfect. Just a great show from the first note to the very last. Of course the gig was broadcast over the internet and I’m sure that webcast will show up in mp3 form before the day is out. I’ll keep you posted.

Setlist:
Your Are My Face
I Am Trying to Break Your Heart
Muzzle of Bees
Handshake Drugs
A Shot In The Arm
At Least That’s What You Said
One By One
Impossible Germany
Jesus, Etc.
War on War
Via Chicago
Walken
Theologians
I’m The Man Who Loves You
Hummingbird
———–
Hate It Here
The Late Greats
Kingpin
I’m a Wheel
————
Misunderstood
California Stars
Airline to Heaven
Poor Places
Spiders (Kidsmoke)

Augie March’s Glenn Richards opened the show with an acoustic set that I enjoyed more than I thought I would. The last Augie March album didn’t really do it for me but I found Richards’ solo performance really quite beautiful. The set featured a couple covers as well as two new songs which may end up on the next Augie March album.

Cold Acre
Mother Greer
Bottle Baby
The Night Is A Blackbird
Backyard Arcana (new song)
A Rainy Night in Soho (Pogues cover)
Poor Dog’s Soul (GREAT song….very Nick Drakey)
The Good Ship Austria (new song)
One Crowded Hour
Ohio River Boat Song (Will Oldham cover which is a cover of this)
This Train Is Taking No Passengers

Photos from the show here. Jeff Tweedy interview in the SMH here.

Just reading Pitchfork and they’ve got the new Architecture in Helsinki single up for download! Check it out:

Download: Heart It Races

Can’t wait for the show in May! (Which Muscles is apparently no longer appearing at, by the way)

UPDATE: apparently Pfork weren’t supposed to mp3 that track…so you can stream it here instead.

Also, tonight’s Wilco show at the Enmore will be webcast! Someone have that all mp3d up for me when I get home from the show please. Thnx.

One of my favourite bands, Constantines, recently played my hometown of Vancouver. I saw them play there last year when I was at home for Christmas and I’m DYING for them to come out here. Anyway, friends of mine were at the recent Vancouver gig at which the Cons closed the show by covering AC/DC’s Thunderstruck. Helping out on stage are support acts Jon Rae and the River and one of Ladyhawk, another great Canadian band you should check out.

Thanks to Yuki for shooting/uploading and Quinn for sharing. Make sure to check out Quinn’s review of the gig as well.

Download:
Ladyhawk – War
Constantines – On To You
Constantines – Soon Enough

Totally unrelated, but it was great to see Pitchfork give The Crayon Fields’ Animal Bells a GREAT review today! Just a reminder to me that I really need to get on that record after being a bit non-plussed at their live show.

I bumped into Dappled Tim at an Andrew Bird gig back in January. We chatted between sets and he filled Amanda and I in on Dappled Cities Fly’s plans for the rest of 2007…which of course, as we all know now, includes moving overseas in the not too distant future and taking over the world one gig at a time. The following day the band hit a studio in Sydney to film a video for current single Fire Fire Fire. The video is done now and it’s a cool little clip…so cool it’s coming DAMN close to being added to MTVU rotation.

In fact, you can go vote (AS MANY TIMES AS YOU WANT) for the video on the MTVU Freshmen page in a competition which pits the local boys against the likes of Damon Albarn, Paul Simonon, and Tony Allen. Sure, The Good, The Bad & The Queen is a great record, but do we really need to see their boring video? So give those Dappled boys a chance at MTV glory. Vote early and vote often.

You can watch the video below (or at the above MTVU link):

And that DFA remix again (what do you think of it? ):

Download: Fire Fire Fire (Loving Hands Remix)