MBV is off for the holidays– tune in to LargeHearted Boy, Fluxblog, Said The Gramophone, Chromewaves and Catbirdseat to get your music fix until we return.

Metric
Aaron Eiland, 2009

Andy WillsherOkay, most inconvenient tour ever is probably a bit of an overstatement. From a logistical/routing point of view, The Clientele’s upcoming jaunt across the pond in support of Bonfires On The Heath makes perfect sense – fly into New York, head south, west through Texas to California, up the west coast and back east along the 49th, cross the border for a couple Canadian dates, back down to New York and then home. But for me – and really, isn’t that what it’s all about? – it sucks. Because the Toronto date at the Horseshoe Tavern falls on March 19 (not the 18th, as listed in itinerary), when I will be half a continent away in Austin at SxSW.

And yeah, I’m sure some/most/all of you will have some difficulty mustering up any sympathy for me, basking as I will be in the warm Texas sun surrounded by tunes and BBQ, but missing out on their distinctively English atmosphere, particularly if they make good on the promise/threat to call it a day after this album, is definite cause for sadface. I’ve seen them before – once in Summer 2005 when I wasn’t a fan at all and last at V Fest 2007, when I was a moderate fan. Too miss them now, when I’m a full-on devotee, is all kinds of disappointing. And possibly cause for a road trip sometime down the road… though it’d probably have to be an air trip.

Anyways. To any Torontoans planning on attending – which I would think is at least some of you (should be all but whatever…) – I may be asking you to get me a shirt, yo. In return I will bring you some BBQ sauce.

MP3: The Clientele – “Harvest Time”
MP3: The Clientele – “I Wonder Who We Are”
Stream: The Clientele / Bonfires On The Heath
MySpace: The Clientele

NYC Taper is sharing a recording of Fanfarlo’s CMJ show in Brooklyn from October.

NPR is streaming a radio session with Florence & The Machine and BBC6 an interview about their next record.

Pitchfork has the new video from Field Music’s comeback album (Measure), out February 16.

Video: Field Music – “Them That Do Nothing”

BBC6 talks to Futurehead Barry Hyde about their new album, still untitled but due out in the early part of 2010.

Final Fantasy is no more! After a half-decade of paying tribute to the venerable video game franchise with his stage name, Owen Pallett has opted to retire it (possibly/probably with the assistance of legal advice) and continue on as simply “Owen Pallett”. Less memorable, but more easily Googleable and probably less costly. Heartland will still be released on January 12, but under the Owen Pallett brand and past releases will be reissued in the near future. So does that make my promo copy of Heartland, very much credited to Final Fantasy on the spine, a collector’s item? Now soliciting bids! The Music Magazine has reprinted the full official statement on the name change.

Stereogum and Under The Radar talk to Matt Berninger of The National – the former about how one of their songs came to soundtrack a Google ad and the latter about the progress of their next album.

Yours Truly has a video of Holly Miranda covering Jeff Buckley’s “Lover, You Should Have Come Over” in a living room while Paste has an interview. Her solo debut The Magician’s Private Library is out February 23.

Paul Banks of Interpol hints at an “orchestral” direction for their next album, due out next year, in conversation with BBC6. I can see them in the studio with a philharmonic now… “No, no! Only downstrokes! Pointier! Stabbier!”

NPR is streaming a radio session with Jay Farrar & Ben Gibbard.

American Songwriter has drinks with Jason Isbell.

Grant Hart tells Blurt why a Husker Du reunion is not likely to happen, ever.

Fuzzy-fi practitioners Real Estate and Woods are teaming up for a North American tour. I know there’s a joke to be made about, um, property values or topography or something, but damned if I can think of it right now.

MP3: Real Estate – “Black Lake”
MP3: Real Estate – “Beach Comber”
MP3: Woods – “To Clean”

Moderat - “Rusty Nails” The dark treacle of these vocals is at first too sweet, but Sascha Ring's singing resolves itself into something that recalls Elbow's Guy Garvey. (This is good.) There's nothing else here to remind you of Elbow, however: it's dubstep skitter, looming synths, the wail of an empty city. It's not quite beautiful - and also not quite lost. [buy]

Elsewhere:

I highly recommend the first MP3 from Shearwater's upcoming Golden Archipelago, "Castaways".

I'm also really smitten with Portishead's new song, "Chase the Tear". It's tense, upbeat and kraut - and I can't get enough of it. Alas, it's an Amnesty charity single, and Amnesty are wonderful, and so I won't post it here - but please don't hesitate to buy the song here.