J Tillman – “Diamondback” From Singing Ax, out now on Western Vinyl.

Superchunk – “Digging For Something”

The Washington Post profiles Superchunk's Mac McCaughan.

Arthur magazine shares an essay by William S. Burroughs on Led Zeppelin.

Black Mountain bassist Matt Camirand talks to the Vancouver Sun about the band's new album, Wilderness Heart (out today).

Five reasons County Grind is glad Surfer Blood signed to Warner Brothers Records.

Sound on the Sound shares a September mixtape.

Drowned in Sound interviews former Orange Juice frontman Edwyn Collins.

The A.V. Club interviews Weezer frontman Rivers Cuomo about the band's new album, Hurley.

Dinner Party Download interviews Noah Lennox, aka Panda Bear.

Kele visits The Current studio for an interview and live performance.

Frank YangIt’s not quite a French invasion, but the success of acts like Phoenix and Daft Punk in North America – and to a lesser degree M83 – certainly made the idea of bands hailing from France making inroads over here a plausible idea, not something you could have said a few years ago. Seeking to be part of this wave are Franco-Finnish duo The Dø, whose debut album A Mouthful was a hit in France when it was released in 2008. And while it’s not nearly as accessible a record for the masses as a Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix, it has plenty to offer the more adventurous listener and singer Olivia Merilahti is the sort of woman who could sell anything to anyone. And so it was that the album was released in North American back in May, when the band would otherwise have been hard at work at album number two, and a Fall tour that brought them to Toronto’s Wrongbar on Saturday night.

Though A Mouthful is almost dizzyingly eclectic in the sounds and styles it encompasses, The Dø live were a much more focused entity, operating in a conventional four-piece band configuration and locked into “rock” mode. This didn’t mean that they were all about extended solos or feet up on monitors (though both of those things did happen), but many of the jazz and folk idiosyncrasies of the album were checked in favour of focusing on their more immediate pop material – and a few smouldering ballads – and putting on a more direct, impactful performance. With co-conspirator Dan Levy handling bass duties, Merilahti – occasionally armed with a guitar but always with her fascinatingly plaintive voice and considerable charisma – led the band through a set including much Mouthful material, a good crop of new material and an extended and deconstructed rendering of Janelle Monáe’s “Tightrope”. When they left the stage after an hour, they seemed to think they were done – as did the house DJ and roadie, who was shutting off amps – but the audience demanded more and they returned for one final song. Encores that are unplanned are great; so are shows that are over by nine. Yeah.

Photos: The Dø @ Wrongbar – September 11, 2010
MP3: The Dø – “Tammie”
Video: The Dø – “At Last”
MySpace: The Dø

Spinner and The Line Of Best Fit interview Tim Burgess of The Charlatans.

A non-geoblocked version of the new Manic Street Preachers video startting Anna Friel (I hear you Kristen Chenoweth) and Michael Sheen is now up on the internets, though the official making-of video is available to all to see. The Guardian’s stream of Postcards From A Young Man, out September 28, is still for residents of the UK only though.

Video: Manic Street Preachers – “(It’s Not War) Just The End Of Love”

I’m not sure what the context for this just-released Clientele live video is – the song is from 2007′s God Save The Clientele and not the new Minotaur EP – but it’s pretty so it’s worth watching regardless.

Video: The Clientele – “Somebody Changed”

Build-A-Beard talks to Scott Hutchison of Frightened Rabbit about his beard.

Drowned In Sound talks to Owen Brinley of the just-disbanded Grammatics about why the Leeds outfit called it a day.

MP3: Grammatics – “Double Negative”

Australian electronic-rock artist formerly known as Pivot – and now going by PVT – will soon be on tour in support of his new album Church With No Magic.

MP3: PVT – “Quick Mile”

Marathonpacks’ Eric Harvey has a great piece at Pitchfork on the parallels and intersection of the aesthetics of photography and independent music.

Fulton Lights - “Staring Out The Window” Fulton Lights' song of a million launchings and crisscrossings, motors revving on dreams. “Staring out the window / I'm thinking about my days,” it begins, like the worst kind of dull song; yet the banality is up-ended, shown to be banal, at least next to the song's riotous chug and booming horns. A man sits in the passenger seat, head leaning on the window, trading talk of tomorrows; but in his heart is the meteoric Next next next next next next, like the snick of white lines under tires. [“Staring Out The Window” is from Fulton Lights' great new digital EP, 3 Songs. Stream it at MBV. Buy it at iTunes.]

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