One of my favorite musical discoveries of the past year was Los Angeles’ Rilo Kiley. Signed to indie label du jour Saddle Creek, RK trade in indie-pop with a distinct country feel, anchored by singer Jenny Lewis’ sweet elastic voice. Their first record, Take-Offs And Landings was more countrified than last years The Execution Of All Things, which upped the rock quotient a few notches and was easily one of the best albums of 2002 that I didn’t find out about until 2003, from a profile in Magnet. If you haven’t heard their stuff before, there’s a whole slew of live and rare mp3s available here and here. A selection of album tracks are available here. The studio stuff is tighter and more polished than the live stuff, but it’s all worth checking out. Finally, click here to see some live concert footage and their too-cute one and only video for “The Frug”, from the 1998 film Desert Blue, starring Christina Ricci. “The Frug” originally appeared on their super-rare debut EP/minialbum, The Initial Friend.

SubPop has put together a little minisite for the release of the new Shins album Chutes Too Narrow in a couple weeks. From Catbirdseat.

The closest thing we’re getting to a new Magnetic Fields record before next Spring will be the soundtrack to the new Katie Holmes movie, Pieces Of April. Out on November 4, the soundtrack consists of five previously released Magnetic Fields songs and five new ones, only one of which actually appears in the film. And it’ll be credited to Stephin Merritt, not the Magnetic Fields, in case you’re looking for it. Bradley’s Almanac already has a review of the movie, not out till next Friday.

np – Mojave 3 / Spoon & Rafter

God bless Indian summer. It was an amazingly beautiful day out – warm, sunny, not a cloud in the sky. And I spent it in a mall. Well, only part of the afternoon, but a few hours, anyway. I haven’t been in a mall in I don’t know how long, and it was pretty amusing to be reminded of why I avoid them whenever possible. I had to go today on account of it being the best place to deal with the long list of horribly mundane items I needed to get. Twine, tissue, contact lens solution… Pretty exciting. I failed to acquire a phone book but I did get some kitchen stuff – for the first time ever, I am the owner of both a set of matching dishes and cutlery (though the cutlery doesn’t match the dishes, I didn’t have that much foresight). By the end, I was pretty damn glad to get out of there. Note to self – do all Christmas shopping online this year. Gads.

I’ve been in a bit of a panic lately about my well of songs for the MP3 of the week drying up. I’ve raided my CD and MP3 collections for material and think I will have enough interesting selections to get through the rest of the year, at least, but into 2004 things might get iffy. We shall see.

Former Jedi Master Liam Neeson thinks the Star Wars films have “kind of got silly now, haven’t they?” I’m glad someone involved is willing to say it.

MTV has the new Benny Hill-approved video for Belle & Sebastian’s “Step Into My Office, Baby” available to view online. Bottom left, under “Here Today, Hip Tomorrow”.

The Leafs season opener is on right now, and they’re already down 3-0 in the second period. Good to see some things never change.

np – The Wrens / The Meadowlands

The Joy Division vs New Order tribute night was a pretty solid success last night. Despite some last-minute lineup changes (two bands bailed, one got added), everything went off without a hitch and the place was packed. As expected, Joy Division material was greatly favoured over New Order, with us being one of I think only three bands to do any material past Low-Life. Amazingly, we were also the only band to bring a keyboard (or a cello or a harmonica, but I’m not as surprised about that). A New Order tribute night without keyboards – who’d have guessed? Most of the covers were rocked-up versions of the originals, aided by a really massive drum sound. It would have been nice if someone had ensured that no bands repeated songs – the first three bands all took a swing at “Ceremony” – there was a good mix of material through the night. I’m a little surprised no one tried “True Faith”, but as I said, everyone seemed to be more about the Joy Division. Either way, it was a lot of fun and great to be a part of.

From LHB: The worst Halloween costumes from the 70s and 80s. Man, they don’t make em like that anymore.

I may have spoke too soon yesterday when I said there was nothing music-related to report?

Ironically-named but still utterly charming Vancouver twee-popsters Young & Sexy hold a CD release party at the Horseshoe December 4. Their sophomore album Life Through One Speaker is already out, but I guess they need to celebrate with Eastern Canada.

The Joel Plaskett Emergency have two nights scheduled at Lee’s Palace – November 20 and 22, the second of which is an all-ages matinee show. Joel’s new album Truthfully, Truthfully is out October 21.

My vacation started off on a pretty sombre note yesterday at work. One of the board of directors at my company passed away in the night. It wasn’t a surprise, he was older and hadn’t been doing too well for a little while, but everyone was still pretty gutted. Mine is a small company and very tightly knit, and this man was like a father/grandfather-figure and mentor to most of my co-workers. I didn’t really know him, but he was immensely respected by everyone who knew him. As I understand, he was something of a giant in the Canadian marketing world and had led a pretty remarkable life, including flying Spitfires for the RAF in World War II. I’m sorry I didn’t get a chance to know him better or to know the man that my colleagues did, but I mourn him all the same. RIP, Bruce.

np – Tender Trap / Film Molecules

If you hadn’t noticed, there’s been a real dearth of interesting (to me) music news lately, which greatly affects the amount of topics I have to write about. All the new releases and concerts for ’03 have been announced and no one’s really talking about ’04 yet. So, where does that leave us? Say it with me… potpourri! Alright.

Tonight is the Joy Division/New Order tribute night at Sneaky Dee’s. I think we’re in good enough shape to not embaress ourselves or enrage the faithful, though I only worked out my parts this morning while riding my bike to work. It should be fun, Clay gets to do double duty playing drums with us and then bass with Mellonova later on in the evening. Toronto-ites are encouraged to come on out – doors at 9, show at 10, we’re on around 11, cover is $6.

Check it out – ninja teddy bears. It takes a dog’s age to load but worth the wait.

Emogame 2!!!

The Album Cover Challenge is like the rotating album cover images I had on older versions of Chromewaves. The artist and album info has been photoshopped out and it’s up to you to identify them. I scored 38 of 60. Link from Traveler’s Diagram.

I dropped my discman yesterday and it broke. Well, the player still works but the latch is busted. I’ve rectified it with some electrical tape… not elegant, but it works. Bah.

np – Velvet Crush / Teenage Symphonies To God

Some links of note from Largehearted Boy:

An expansive interview with Ben Gibbard of Death Cab. Speaking of which, I got Transatlanticism yesterday. Only given a couple non-critical listenings, no opinions worth noting yet.

Indie Rock Live is a site that offers free downloads of, uh, live indie rock. The current featured artist is My Morning Jacket.

I’m glad it’s almost the weekend and almost my week off. I’ve been feeling simultaneously tired and anxious lately, not sure what’s up. By anxious, I mean all jittery-like for no good reason. Maybe another vacation of going nowhere and doing nothing of importance will help.

np – Death Cab For Cutie / Transatlanticism