The Year: 1978
The Album: Magazine, Real Life
Who it Influenced: Radiohead, The Smiths, The Auteurs, Pulp, Momus, Tall Dwarfs

The debut album for post-punk originators Magazine —and the arch, ironic, anxious persona frontman Howard Devoto cultivated on it— cast a long, tall shadow over English indie music for two decades after its 1978 release.

Real Life is a classic due to its critical acclaim and undoubted influence, but for years it was —and still is— a cult record. Magazine were the thinking-person's new-wave band, with odd, angular songs five minutes long, and Devoto's lyrics incisively carved atop.

Devoto was a huge influence on the scene-defining rakes and wits of English music through the '80s; he begat Morrissey, Jarvis Cocker, Momus (who wrote an ode to Devoto in 1998 called "The Most Important Man Alive"), Luke Haines, and Thom Yorke. His appeal isn't, truth be told, as immediate and obvious as any of his successors, and Magazine aren't the kind of polished pop band that The Smiths, Pulp, and Radiohead, for three, would be.

But Real Life is a glorious study in anxiety and antagonization: the album, and the band, a rebellion against the orthodoxy of punk-rock, which, by 1978, was starting to feel less like liberation theology and more a stylistic straitjacket.

• Full review: Magazine, Real Life

Him to She, a Monster of Folk, and mumblin' bluesman supreme: it's our old pal M. Ward. Three years after 2009's Hold Time, Ward is rollin' solo once again: A Wasteland Companion, Ward's new album, will be released April 10 on Merge.

The seventh Ward LP features collaborations with She and Him sparring-partner (and financial titan) Zooey Deschanel, Mike Mogis of Monsters of Folk/Bright Eyes, Howe Gelb of Giant Sand, John Parish, and Steve Shelley of Sonic Youth.

Ward shows in North America this spring will involve SY's Steve Shelley solo and the reformed Firehose, after a stint in France and Great Britain opening theaters for Feist. Guests on the album include Deschanel, Mogis, Steve Shelley of Sonic Youth, Howe Gelb of Giant Sand, PJ Harvey collaborator John Parish, and more. As reported, Ward will tour this spring with the reunited fIREHOSE and Sonic Youth's Lee Ranaldo opening. Below, watch the video for "Hold Time", after the tracklist:

A Wasteland Companion Track List:
1. "Clean Slate (For Alex & El Goodo)"
2. "Primitive Girl"
3. "Me and My Shadow"
4. "Sweetheart"
5. "I Get Ideas"
6. "The First Time I Ran Away"
7. "A Wasteland Companion"
8. "Watch the Show"
9. "There's a Key"
10. "Crawl After You"
11. "Wild Goose"
12. "Pure Joy"

Let Us Sway Into the Sunset:
March 21: Paris, France - Le Zenith
March 22: Lyon, France - Transbordeur
March 23: Lille, France - Theatre Sebastopol
March 25: London, England - Royal Albert Hall
March 26: Manchester, England - O2 Apollo
March 27: Glasgow, Scotland - Royal Concert Hall
April 11: San Francisco, CA - The Fillmore
April 12: Santa Cruz, CA - The Coconut Grove Ballroom
April 13: Indio, CA - Coachella
April 17: Phoenix, AZ - Crescent Ballroom
April 18: Flagstaff, AZ - The Orpheum April 20: Indio, CA - Coachella
May 5: Portland, ME - State Theatre
May 6: Burlington, VT - Higher Ground
May 7: New Haven, CT - Toad's Place
May 8: Boston, MA - House of Blues
May 11: New York, NY - Webster Hall
May 12: Philadelphia, PA - Union Transfer
May 13: Washington, D.C. - 9:30 Club
May 15: Durham, NC - Page Auditorium
May 16: Athens, GA - Georgia Theatre
May 17: Atlanta, GA - Buckhead Theatre
May 22: Chicago, IL - Vic Theatre

Chairlift just released their second LP, Something. It's really rather good; an evolutionary step from 2008's Does You Inspire You that reduces and clarifies the band's sound to a singular electronic sheen, with Caroline Polacheck —as per the wacky "Sidewalk Safari"— now the doubted star of the show.

And that show is being taken on the road: Chairlift will likely spend the foreseeable future on the road; and shows in North America, Australia, Asia, and Europe are already lined up. As is a stint at 2012's SXSW. Oh, and, opening for their North American shows in April will be Nite Jewel, who're a band to watch out for this year.

You Are Infinitely Invited:
January 28: Brisbane, Australia - Laneway Festival
January 31: Darlinghurst, Australia - Oxford Arts Factory
February 4: Melbourne, Australia - Laneway Festival
February 5: Sydney, Australia - Laneway Festival
February 7: Melbourne, Australia - East Brunswick Club
February 10: Adelaide, Australia - Laneway Festival
February 11: Perth, Australia - Laneway Festival
February 12: Singapore, Singapore - Laneway
February 14: Stockholm, Sweden - Debaser
February 15: Gothenburg, Sweden - Parken
February 16: Aarhus, Denmark - Voxhall
February 17: Copenhagen, Denmark - Vega
February 19: Utrecht, Holland - Tivoli
February 21: Gent, Belgium - Charlatan
February 23: Hamburg, Germany - Knust
February 24: Berlin, Germany - Gretchen
February 25: Munich, Germany - Atomic Cafe
February 26: Zurich, Switzerland - Abart
February 28: Strasbourg, France - La Laiterie
February 29: Paris, France - La Maroquinerie
March 2: Rennes, France - Ubu Club
March 3: Tourcoing, France - Le Grand Mix
March 4: Brussels, Belgium - Botanique Rotunde
March 5: Amsterdam, Holland - Bitterzoet
March 6: London, England - Borderline
March 14-18: Austin, TX - SXSW
March 26: Boston, MA - Brighton Music Hall
March 27: Montréal, QC - Il Motore
March 28: Toronto, ON - Legendary Horseshoe Tavern
March 29: Detroit, MI - Magic Stick
March 30: Chicago, IL - Empty Bottle
March 31: Minneapolis, MN - Triple Rock Social Club
April 3: Denver, CO - Larimer Lounge
April 4: Salt Lake City, UT - Urban Lounge
April 6: Vancouver, BC - Electric Owl
April 7: Seattle, WA - The Crocodile
April 8: Portland, OR - Doug Fir
April 10: San Francisco, CA - The Independent
April 11: Los Angeles, CA - Troubadour
April 12: San Diego, CA - Casbah
April 14: Phoenix, AZ - The Crescent Ballroom
April 16: Dallas, TX - Club Dada
April 17: Austin, TX - The Mohawk
April 18: New Orleans, LA - One Eyed Jacks
April 19: Atlanta, GA - The Earl
April 20: Chapel Hill, NC - Local 506
April 21: Washington, DC - U Street Music Hall
April 22: Philadelphia, PA - Johnny Brenda's

I found St. Vincent's third LP, Strange Mercy, a little overrated (her place on Stereogum's indie crushes list was, however, certainly not overrated (promotional conversations tend to reinforce this)).

St. Vincent live on stage is never something to be overpraised; Annie Clark oozing a starlet's class as she casually shreds and dexterously delivers her oddball torchsongs. With Strange Mercy still fairly fresh, St. Vincent has a whole slate of tour dates lined up, with shows in Europe, Australia, and North America all scheduled.

How Did We Get Here?:
February 21: Istanbul, Turkey - Salon IKSV
February 22: Rome, Italy - Lanificio 159
February 23: Bologna, Italy - Locomotiv
February 24: Milan, Italy - Tunnel
February 26: Paris, France - Alhambra
February 27: London, England - Shepherd's Bush Empire
February 28: Brussels, Belgium - Botanique-Rotonde
February 29: Amsterdam, Netherlands - Melkweg
March 2: Porto, Portugal - Vodafone Mexe Festival
March 8: Perth, Australia - Rosemount Hotel
March 10: Brisbane, Australia - The Hi-Fi
March 12: Sydney, Australia - Factory Theater
March 14: Melbourne, Australia - The Hi-Fi
March 18: Auckland, New Zealand - The Kings Arms Tavern
March 19: Wellington, New Zealand - San Francisco Bath House
April 14: Indio, CA - Coachella
April 17: Tucson, AZ - Rialto Theater
April 21: Indio, CA - Coachella
April 24: Oakland, CA - Fox Theater
May 3: Providence, RI - Lupo's
May 5: Buffalo, NY - Town Ballroom
May 7: Pittsburgh, PA - Altar
May 8: Columbus, OH - Newport Music Hall
May 9: Cincinnati, OH - Bogart's
May 10: Indianapolis, IN - Old National Centre
May 11: Chicago, IL - Vic Theatre
May 12: Minneapolis, MN - First Avenue
May 14: Omaha, NE - Slowdown
May 15: Tulsa, OK - Cain's Ballroom
May 17: Memphis, TN - Minglewood Hall
May 18: Birmingham, AL - The Bottletree
May 19: Atlanta, GA - Variety Playhouse
May 21: Nashville, TN - Cannery Ballroom
May 22: Knoxville, TN - Bijou Theatre
May 23: Carrboro, NC - Cat's Cradle
May 24: Richmond, VA - The National

Photo © Tina Tyrell