New music from Glasvegas

Glasvegas have a new album on the way. It's called Later... When The TV Turns To Static and it'll be out September 2. Here are a couple of new tunes. "If" features always cool Canadian William Shatner. Great sounding tunes.

"If"

"I'd Rather Be Dead (Than Be With You)"

Five by Five: Jools Holland

Later with Jools Holland is a fantastic show in that they bring together diverse artists, present them in a true live sound setting and give exposure to new artists and established stars. If they could get Jools himself to enunciate, it would be perfect, but I'm probably reaching.

Here are five five-star rated tunes performed live on Jools.

"Paranoid Android" by Radiohead

"Tighten Up" by The Black Keys

"Glory Box" by Portishead

"Stuck Between Stations" by The Hold Steady

"Never Tear Us Apart" by INXS

New Franz Ferdinand

Franz Ferdinand have a new album coming out August 27. It'll be called Right Thoughts, Right Words, Right Action and they've released two classic Franz sounding tunes for our enjoyment and general excitement-building.

"Love Illumination"

"Right Action"

Yeah Yeah Yeahs video from atop the Empire State Building

Yeah Yeah Yeahs have just released a new clip from Mosquito. It's for the song "Despair" and they've made history as the first band to film a video on the top of the Empire State Building. So there.

Uplifting!

New Arctic Monkeys

Arctic Monkeys just announced that their new album, called AM, will be released September 10. Here's the first track from the album, "Do I Wanna Know?" It starts off with the drum beat from "Closer" and then uses a smooth lick to transform into a downtempo groove.

I posted the track "R U Mine?" back in April of last year.

Does anyone think that their choice of album title, along with Beady Eye's recent BE, is part of some global conspiracy?

New Okkervil River album on the way

There's some Okkervil River that I absolutely love. And frankly there's some Okkervil River that I just don't get. No matter what my opinion is, there are lots of Okkervil River fans who will be looking forward to the September 3 release of their new album The Silver Gymnasium.

I'm enjoying this new preview track, "It Was My Season". Hope you will too.

Cool tune by Small Black

I read a lot of music blogs. I check out a lot of music. I'd like to check out more, but there are those other parts of life that keep interfering. I sometimes just check out a band on a whim, or because some blogger's description of them peaks my interest, or because I've seen the name around a lot.

I think it was the latter that made me check out Small Black. It's kind of mellow, but I like the sounds I'm hearing from the tune "No Stranger" and some of the other tunes on their album Limits of Desire that I've checked out so far.

Here's the video for "No Stranger". Hope you like it, too. Sounds like a good song for a relaxing patio, a sunset and a cocktail.

And here's another tune from Limits of Desire, "Free At Dawn".

Five by Five: Five Five-Star Rated Songs

Here's something new. I'm going to call it "Five-by-Five" which will be five selections from the five-star rated songs in my iTunes library. I think the only other restriction I'll put on it is that these will be songs that I've never posted on the blog before.

"Damn, I Wish I Was Your Lover" by Sophie B. Hawkins. First time I heard this song was while I was checking out music for my college radio show. I loved it instantly and still love it.

"Noticeable One" by Missing Persons. An old friend of mine could never figure out why I liked Missing Persons. They certainly didn't seem to be a fit for a rocker like myself. They are, however, some of the most accomplished musicians to put out such pure pop. Check it out. Most if not all of the band members spent time in Frank Zappa's band. And I like the tunes.

"You Only Live Once" by The Strokes. No big story here. I like The Strokes. And this song came up on a smart playlist recently.

"Human Behaviour" by Bjork. I can't remember for sure where I first heard "Big Time Sensuality" from Bjork's Début, but it blew me away. I love that album.

"Jessica Numbers" by The New Pornographers. I absolutely love this band. I could have picked many tunes, and probably will if this becomes a recurring feature on the blog. I heard that The New Pornographers are playing a free show at The Bandshell at the Canadian National Exhibition, known in Toronto parts as the CNE, on August 17. Should be cool.

New White Lies

I really like "Death" from White Lies début album, 2009's To Lose My Life. Their new album, Big TV, is out August 12 and here's a cool tune called "There Goes Our Love Again". Based on the picture above, and my years of experience in this music industry, I predict a video's on its way.

Cool songs from the Polaris Prize long list

Those music-loving folks at The Polaris Music Prize have released this year's long list of nominees. I'll be picking through it and discovering some new stuff I've never heard before, but for now, I'll just post a few of the familiar standouts from the list, from my perspective.

Best of luck to all the nominees for exposure, success and music-making.

The Luyas, Animator, "Fifty Fifty"

Metric, Synthetica, "Youth Without Youth"

METZ, METZ, "Wet Blanket"

AC Newman, Shut Down The Streets, "I'm Not Talking"

Purity Ring, Shrines, "Fineshrine"

Tegan and Sara, Heartthrob, "Closer"

Young Galaxy, Ultramarine, "Pretty Boy"

I really don't want to make a prediction on who will win for three reasons:

1. I'm not familiar with all the albums, so it would be unfair
2. Even among the artists I know, there are so many great songs
3. I don't usually like the band/album that wins

Chvrches full-length album announced

In my opinion, Chvrches are one of the coolest new bands to come along in recent years. I love their brand of synth pop and their singer's delivery. You may have noticed that I feature pretty much every release they tease out. But this is bigger news.

Chvrches have announced that their full length début album will be out September 24 and that it's called The Bones Of What You Believe. Here's the first video, for the tune "Gun".

The Joy Formidable cover Echo & the Bunnymen

Here's a cool cover of Echo & the Bunnymen's "The Killing Moon" by one of my favourite bands ever, The Joy Formidable. Sounds amazing.

New music from Neko Case

Neko Case, generally wonderful singer and member of supergroup collective The New Pornographers, has a new album called The Worse Things Get, the Harder I Fight, the Harder I Fight, the More I Love You coming out September 3rd.

Check out the tune "Man". Sounds good to me.

Alabama Shakes play a song for vampires

Here's something new from Alabama Shakes called "Pocket Change". Somehow it's absolutely perfect that this song is from the latest True Blood soundtrack.

One of my biggest live music regrets is that I didn't go to their show at Lee's Palace in Toronto. It would have been amazing to see such a great talent in such an intimate venue.

New Nude Beach

Here's a strummy summertime song from Nude Beach from a forthcoming single. The tune's called "I'm Giving Up". Dig the cool vibes and wah-wah infused guitar solo.



If you like what you hear, check out some other posts featuring Nude Beach tunes.

New Mark Kozelek: Mark Kozelek & Desertshore with Mariette

Mark Kozelek is a bit of an unknown quantity for me. A friend brought me to a Mark Kozelek solo show last year and frankly I was a bit scared. His reputation preceded him and I didn't know any of the music - except for his take on Husker Du's "Celebrated Summer". Turns out we were a well behaved audience and he put on a good show.

He's got a new project called Mark Kozelek & Desertshore with Red House Painters guitarist Phil Carney and pianist Chris Connolly. They're previewing this easy breezy track "Mariette". Lean back and soak it in.

The album will be out August 20.

New KT Tunstall

I've enjoyed KT Tunstall since her first album, 2004's Eye to the Telescope. I even featured her solo version of "Black Horse and the Cherry Tree" on the blog. KT's fourth album, Invisible Empire // Crescent Moon, just came out and you can listen to the first single, "Feel It All", not to be confused with the great Feist song, below.

Video for New Summer by Young Galaxy

Here's the latest clip from Young Galaxy's recently-released album Ultramarine. The tune is "New Summer" and yes, I did feature the song when it was first previewed. The easy going tune makes me regret not going to see them at Lee's Palace a couple of weeks ago. Just wasn't feeling up for the night out...

New Grouplove: Ways to Go

Grouplove's début Never Trust a Happy Song is a pop masterpiece, full of peppy, hooky, happy songs. I featured "Naked Kids" back in '11 and "Tongue Tied" in '12. It's no coincidence that their albums and singles are released in the summertime. Their easy going pop is perfect for cruising, soaking up the sun and havin' a few.

Their new album Spreading Rumours will be released on September 17. Til then, we can listen to their newest earworm, "Ways to Go".

Favourite: Mr. November by The National

I've got a list as long as my arm of tunes to write about. And my heart's just not in it today. So, in honour of The National, who are awesome, and who are playing a free concert this Friday night in Toronto, I give you "Mr. November" from their 2005 album Alligator.

Of Monsters and Men with King And Lionheart

I enjoyed "Little Talks" by Of Monsters and Men, as did many other people. It even made it to number 37 on my favourite tunes of 2012 list. Their album My Head Is an Animal is quite solid and yielded another single in the form of "King And Lionheart".

New video for Friction by The xx

The xx are on a roll. Their first album xx came out in 2009 and is fantastic. They followed it up with the equally wonderful Coexist in 2012. They've just released a video for "Fiction" from their latest.

And they wrote "Together" for The Great Gatsby movie.

I love this band.

New Nine Inch Nails!

Last November, Trent Reznor said that there would be new Nine Inch Nails music and that they might even tour again. Then, about a week ago, he announced that he'd completed a "fucking great" new album with Atticus Ross and Alan Moulder. Now we get to hear a song.

The tune is "Came Back Haunted", the album is called Hesitation Marks and it will be out September 3.

What can I say about this tune, besides it is what it says on the tin. It's definitely a Nine Inch Nails song. Sounds pretty fucking great.

Since I never saw this band back in the day, they might actually get me to go to another stadium show. As long as the tickets aren't at Rolling Stones price levels. They've got tour deets here. They'll be playing the ACC on October 4.

New tune Gravity from Surfer Blood

About a month ago, I featured the tune "Demon Dance" from Surfer Blood's forthcoming release called Pythons. Now you can check out "Gravity" below and you can stream the whole thing at NPR.

Pythons is out June 11.

Shout Out Louds with Illusions

Here's the official video for "Illusions" from Shout Out Louds' latest album Optica. Cool tune!

And just cuz I never posted it before, here's the brilliant "Tonight I Have To Leave It" from their first album, 2007's Our Ill Wills.

Chvrches cover Rage Against The Machine

I tend to love covers that are a complete counterpoint to the original tune. Here's a great example by members of the beautiful Chvrches doing a gentle version of Rage Against the Machine's over-the-top rant "Killing in the Name".

Great tune by LoveLikeFire

LoveLikeFire are from San Francisco and they make high energy indie rock. Here's a song from their 2007 EP An Ocean in the Air. The tune's called "From A Tower".

White Lung

Keeping the energy up and the guitars cranked from yesterday's Metz post, here is west-coast Canada's own White Lung.

"Bag"

"Glue"

"Take the Mirror"

"Deadbeat"

Their latest album is Sorry and you can get it now.