I’m still trying to decide if it’s a great album title or total shithouse.

Early next year British Sea Power will release their long-awaited third album Do You Like Rock Music? and I cannot wait. Luckily, I don’t really have to as the band are also releasing a digital EP (I think it hits shops soonish as well) entitled Krankenhaus? which features two songs from the upcoming album as well as a few other songs from the third album sessions. Pitchfork has more details here and here.

The first track on the EP is called Atom and it marks a return of the zany guitar antics of their earlier work. This one will also feature on the album…

Download
British Sea Power – Atom

I quite liked their second, quieter album but I must say the way Atom kicked me in the teeth the first time I heard it was very much welcome. Hopefully the band will make their way to Australian shores next year in support of Rock Music? as they are easily one of the best live bands around these days. I’m pretty sure I left a gig of their’s drenched in sweat and clutching a branch which was chucked into the crowd. Fun times.

I don’t think it’s that much of a secret that John K. Samson is one of Canada’s most fiercely intelligent, talented, and flat-out important artists. His work with Propagandhi is the stuff of Canadian punk legend and his work with his current band, The Weakerthans, just keeps getting better and better. Case in point, Reunion Tour, one of the finest records of 2007.

Reunion Tour seems to have had a lengthy gestation period as it comes nearly four years after the last record by The Weakerthans – but the record is all the better for it. Each song manages to perfectly encapsulate a moment, a feeling or an idea. In the case of Elegy for Gump Worsley, for example, the band spin a delicate, subdued tribute to a Canadian hockey legend who passed away earlier this year.

In fact, this is one of the most “Canadian” records I’ve heard in a very long time. While the Arcade Fire, Broken Social Scene, Feist, and the Wolf Parade/Sunset Rubdown/Handsome Furs conglomerate tend to grab most of the Canadian indie rock headlines, it is The Weakerthans that most accurately capture (whether intentionally or not) the sounds, the stories, and the psyche of Canada and Canadians.

This is not to say the record has a narrow focus, far from it. I really believe it’s a fabulous piece of work with universal appeal. From the crashing opener Civil Twilight through the melodic Sun In an Empty Room to the closing slide guitar of Utilities, Reunion Tour never falters. Seldom does a record come around that hits every note it strives for. Reunion Tour does.

Download
The Weakerthans – Sun In An Empty Room
The Weakerthans – Night Windows

My girlfriend is sick in bed while I’m up by myself liveblogging the Rugby World Cup. So I’m going to post Whitley’s new video for I Remember as I think she’ll like it for a couple reasons. First, she’s on a Japan kick these days and the video was shot in Tokyo. Second, it’s a great little song and she has a soft spot for male singer/songwriter’s that aren’t named Bob Dylan. Feel better Amanda!

Whitley’s debut album, The Submarine, is out now on Dew Process.

Photo of Tokyo was found here.

Here’s pretty much all I know about Melbourne’s Devastations:

They are now based out of Berlin, one of my favourite cities.
They have just released a brand new record called Yes, U.
They seem kind of dark. And kind of awesome.
Devastations is one of the best band names. Ever.
This song kicks ass:

Download:
Devastations – Mistakes

That is all.

While I was back in Vancouver in July I finally took it upon myself to check out a few Canadian bands I’d been hearing a lot about but had yet to get around to. The band that has stuck with me most are The Besnard Lakes.

The Besnard Lakes Are the Dark Horse is an album that requires a great deal of time to really absorb (well at least it did for me). As it was so critically acclaimed I assumed it would grab me from the off…but it didn’t. However, I stuck with it and have found the record to be an incredibly warm, organic, beautiful work that sounds a bit different every time I hear it. Recommended.

Download:
The Besnard Lakes – And You Lied To Me

You can also check out the video for For Agent 13 here. But if it takes name dropping to sell you on a record: members of Stars and Godspeed (amongst others) help out on this album.

The Besnard Lakes Are the Dark Horse is also one of the nominated albums for Canada’s Polaris Prize which will be awarded on September 24th.

Rage Against the Machine announced their Australian tour today. They will be playing the Entertainment Centre here in Sydney on January 22. They will be playing Melbourne on January 30. Guess who’s headlining Big Day Out? I think that is more than just a rumour now.

In June, just before I went back to Canada for a visit, an Ebay ad started airing here in Australia using Feist’s 1234 as the soundtrack. Then when I got to Canada I saw two more ads featuring the music of the talented Canadian songwriter: Lacoste using Mushaboom, Verizon using My Moon My Man. And now 1234 can be heard and seen pimping the iPod Fatty for Apple. Is this too much?

It used to be that when any artist that could be loosely defined as “indie” started popping up in ads for major corporations people would be up in arms. I’ve heard no complaints from Feist fans. Is this indicative of a shift in attitude towards the relationships between artists and advertisers? Do more people accept the Moby Principle that if radio won’t play it a commercial is the next best thing? It still baffles me that Wilco licensed so much of Sky Blue Sky for Volkswagen. Are those ads really going to sell any more Wilco albums?

In 2005 when Jose Gonzalez became a (relatively) household name no one really seemed to care that an, admittedly beautiful, Sony ad was reponsible for his breakthrough. But all these Feist ads are a bit odd. Gonzalez was pretty unknown at the time that Heartbeats was working wonders for Sony so it seemed to be a shrewd PR move on his part. Plus that song was a cover, not one of his own compositions.

Feist on the other hand isn’t a new artist desperate for more press. I remember a large feature in the New York Times around the release of her latest record; The Reminder was going to introduce her to a much larger audience without all these ads, hence my bafflement. I think my main problem with artists I love licensing songs for commercials is that I fear automatically associating a song I love with a corporation or ad campaign. Maybe that’s just me.

But I still love Feist.

Feist for Ebay

Arts & Crafts formally announced today that the Constantines have joined the family. I called it!

And a bit late with this one, but Brian Wilson will be playing a FREE SHOW in Sydney on January 5 in The Domain. AWESOME.

I was a bit late to the world of Jens Lekman only discovering his music sometime in 2005. Since then I’ve been really taken with his ability to blend so many disparate styles of music into his work and making it sound effortless.

I’m not sure what it is specifically about his music that grabs me. I can’t say I adore his voice and his lyrics can, at times, drift into melodrama. That said, the majority of his lyrics are pretty damn cool.

Jens will release his new album, Night Falls Over Kortedala next week (P4k just gave it a 9.0) on Secretly Canadian. It’s a great record that only gets better every time I listen to it. Recommended. Check out the first single:

Download:
Jens Lekman – The Opposite of Hallelujah

Daft Punk tickets are $127. Bloody. Hell.

Renowned for both their wackiness and their insane consistency (although a friend would disagree after he described their last two records in less than lovely terms) the Super Furry Animals are back with another new record. Another great new record. These guys never get the press/hype of a lot of other bands from the last decade, but they are easily one of Earth’s coolest bands. Maybe even the Universe’s. And they deserve your love.

Hey Venus! combines nearly every element of the Super Furry Arsenal: randomness, clever songwriting, and humour to name but a few. While I don’t think it will be my favourite SFA record I do think it’s got more to love about it than the last couple records. I’ve got my fingers crossed for an Australian tour as these guys are wicked live.

Download:
Super Furry Animals – Run-Away

The last time Underworld released a record I picked up a (bootleg) copy at some crazy, random, huge market of illegal goods in Warsaw, Poland. I was in Europe a very long time ago, five years ago in fact, so Underworld, it would seem, are long overdue for a record.

In the five years since One Hundred Days Off Underworld have actually kept fairly busy releasing music in rather unique ways. In late 2005/early 2006 Rick Smith and Karl Hyde released three pieces of music (each approaching 30 minutes) in the RiverRun series. The RiverRun series was only available through Underworld’s website so it more or less passed under the radar.

In 2006 Underworld worked on the music for Danny Boyle’s Sunshine although, sadly, there has been no retail release of that soundtrack. Last year they also worked with Gabriel Yared on the score for Anthony Minghella’s Breaking and Entering.

These projects allowed Underworld to experiment with their sound and identity a bit, but later this year Underworld proper return with a brand new record, Oblivion With Bells, which will be released in October. The first single is called Crocodile and you can stream the track at Pitchfork. After all their other projects of the last couple years it seems that the classic Underworld sound is back. I can’t wait for Oblivion.

Other bits and pieces.

The Drones (with support from Snowman!) will take over the Annandale for a pair of shows in October (18th and 19th). That’s two great live bands on one bill…should be a great show. For all the details of this Australian tour check FasterLouder.

Download:
The Drones – This Time (live)

Dappled Cites Fly hosted Rage on Saturday. It was the first time I’d sat down and watched an extended stretch of Rage in ages and the Dappled boys made it worth my while as they busted out some great videos. Then while checking out the Rage site I came across this:

2006 ended with Dappled Cities being voted ‘Australia’s #1 Band’ on a poll that combined voting lists from Australia’s top 25 music blogging sites. 35,000 kids can’t be wrong surely!

That’s me! Not sure what the 35,000 kids refers to though…

It is almost that time of year again!

If you read this blog regularly you might know that I think The Paper Scissors are one of my favourite Sydney bands. The band blend so many styles and influences into their music and they make it seem incredibly easy. It helps that a lot of these influences SEEM to be bands I love. They’ve just released their debut album Less Talk More Paper Scissors and are touring all over the place (check their MySpace for dates). Right now, you should…

Download:
The Paper Scissors – Yamanote Line

Or watch the Yamanote Line video.

I rode the Yamanote Line once…