Caught my first movie at the Bloor in many many months last night – The Triplets Of Belleville. Visually, it was amazing. I always have and always will maintain that there’s nothing like hand-drawn cell animation to capture the true essence of an animator’s vision. Nuts to computers, celluloid and ink is where it’s at. The Triplets Of Belleville is packed to the gills with amazingly inventive imagery and sweet comic touches. I had no idea what it was about going in – it’s basically the story of a grandmother who travels from France to Belleville (read: America) to rescue her kidnapped cyclist grandson from the clutches of the French Mafia with the help of a trio of former cabaret singers from the ’30s. I had expected the storyline to be a somewhat more outrageous – something to match the visuals for their sheer creativity – and was just a little disappointed with the slightness of the plot. That’s just a minor complaint, though. Interstingly, the tale is told with an absolute minimum of dialogue – None of the main characters speak (or just barely), except to sing, and the tale is told almost like a silent movie. Which is good, because what little spoken dialogue there is is in French, and my French ain’t so good. Which is to say, it sucks. But the movie is fun and different – recommended.

While Rachel Goswell’s The Sleep Shelter EP will be released in the UK next Monday, people on this side of the pond might have some trouble finding it in their local shops. If you don’t think your local Walmart will be stocking enough copies or if you just don’t want to wait, 4AD has the entire EP, complete with artwork, available as a 192 kps mp3 digital download here for the reasonable sum of 3 pounds sterling. 4AD also has her artist page up now. Thanks to Ed, webaster of the Mojave 3 website for reminding me of this.

And speaking of things you can buy online, Magnetic Fields tickets are on sale now – click here. They’re not cheap – $25 USD each, and after service charges and shipping and all, they’re running about $45 CDN a piece. Ouchie. I’m going to take a chance and see what they’ll sell for locally… Never thought I’d be counting on Ticketmaster to save me some cash.

And another segue – Stephin Merritt and Sufjan Stevens sound off on the current state of pop music.

I found a used copy of the new Modest Mouse last night and we’re taking one last flyer on the band based on so many positive reviews of the record and the fact that the couple songs I’ve heard are pretty good. Verdict so far? Hmm. Still deliberating. Will report back later.

The powers that be must’ve known it was my birthday – yesterday in the mail, I got a couple free movie passes from Bell Canada for the debacle that was my busted phone line last month, and the Toronto Star is giving me free Monday to Friday papers even though I’m only paying for weekends. Of course, I won’t have time to read most of it and it’s just exponentially more recycling for me, but it’s the thought that counts.

Yeah, it’s my birthday today, or at least that’s what my mom said when she called this morning. She should know, I guess – she was there. It’s the big 2-9 today. Should I initiate a full-on panic for the last 365 days of my 20s? Whatever. I was going to post a picture of me as a wee toddler from way back when, but upon closer inspection it appears that the photo I’ve been toting around with me for the past few years is in fact probably not me, but my brother. So never mind that, maybe I’ll post it on his birthday.

np – The Magnetic Fields / i

So I’ve been happily watching the DVDs of The Office season one, finished off the first disc and thought I had another disc to go – but no, the series is only six episodes! The bonus features were alright, but still, I was pretty disappointed that it was so short. I had just been getting into the rhythm and headspace of the show then and it was over. It was far subtler than I’d expected and required more concentration than your typical sit-com. I hear season two and three aren’t isn’t as good and not surprisingly, the American version is supposedly atrocious. Pity. And while I like Martin Freeman, I think he’s going to have to ratchet up the befuddlement to properly portray Arthur Dent in the Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy film.

Time to check in with some of the web’s finest e-zines to see what they’ve got on offer.

Splendid is on a tear with thier interview features. Next up – The Mountain Goats.

Stylus gets misty-eyed about Television’s oh-so-rough but oh-so-excellent double live album, The Blow-Up.

Nude As The News gets down to brass tacks with Kurt Wagner of Lambchop about their double-album opuses Aw, C’Mon and No, You C’Mon but neglects to ask him about his other life as Nightcrawler from the X-Men.

Straight has a little chat with Sarah Harmer. From LHB.

I actually went through more than a few drafts of commentary for this Flash Kikkoman soy sauce commercial, but no words can really properly capture its essence. So I’ll let Neil Gaiman, from whom I filched the link, do it for me: “As it is, it becomes a zen cohen: what is the sound of one fish-headed soy-superhero clapping…?” What indeed. Update: Here’s a version subtitled in English. Are the translations legit? I don’t know, but even if they are, they don’t make it any less perplexing.

Webmonkey, RIP. From Blogna.

np – Franz Ferdinand / Franz Ferdinand

It’s easy to talk smack about Rolling Stone – where they were once pretty much the biggest music magazine in the world, now they’re an irrelevant mostly-substanceless fashion magazine. What they do still have, however, is clout, so when they ask musical luminaries to write essays on the fifty greatest artists of all time, they do so. You’ve got Elvis Costello on The Beatles (#1, natch), Bob Dylan by Robbie Robertson and The Band by Lucinda Williams. But Flea on Neil Young? What? Link from Coolfer.

MTV.com finally has details of The Cure’s summer festival tour. Dubbed “Curiosa”, it will feature Interpol, The Rapture and Mogwai on the main stage and Muse, Thursday, Cursive, Auf Der Maur, The Cooper Temple Clause and Head Automatica as rotating acts on the second stage. There’s no Toronto date yet though there is a gap in the schedule between Boston and Detroit that would fit nicely, August 8 through 11, which is pretty much right after Lollapalooza (August 5 and 6) and the Sloan/Sam Roberts Canuck-fest on Olympic Island (August 7). So assuming the Cure hits here on the 8th or so, someone could concievably do all three, but they’d have to be quite, quite mad to try.

Low box set out in July – three discs and a DVD. Details here. From Blogna.

Looks like Arrested Development will be getting the DVD treatment, which is good because I like the show but haven’t managed to see nearly enough episodes to really follow what’s going on. Has this show been officially cancelled by Fox yet? It will be, just wait. From Soaring With Eagles.

np – Steve Earle / Transcendental Blues

Finally watched The Ring last night – Yeah, yeah, I know, that is so 2002. Bite me, alright? It was alright, not all that though. I had expected something… I dunno, but something more. Shoulda figured it wouldn’t be too over the top with a PG-13 rating. I did like how all the images in the video came together, though. Very nice. I’d like to know just how the ghost managed to put together a VHS video, though. Call me pedantic, but I have trouble picturing the production process. “Is it set to 2 hour or 6 hour? Well, it’s only about 10 minutes long – 2 hour would have a better picture, wouldn’t it? Can you adjust the tracking? There’s these lines on the image…” They’re making a sequel, I hear? At first thought, that’s not such an awful idea – There’s certainly more that can be mined from this story without getting repetitive. Of course, that’s probably what they said about The Blair Witch Project. But I do have one note for Hollywood – enough with the solemn little children spouting crypticisms in ghost stories already? It’s so bloody old. More Naomi Watts, however, is a-ok.

Camera Obscura, that other fey Scottish pop band, will be embarking on their first-ever North American tour this summer in support of Underachievers Please Try Harder. The roadshow will be stopping in at the Horseshoe in Toronto July 23.

Ted Leo and his Pharmacists have returned to the studio with producer Chris Shaw and will hopefully have the results on shiny plastic discs for public consumption by October.

Andrew Bird will be opening for The Magnetic Fields on their upcoming tour. I picked up i yesterday – I like the explicit “No synths” note in the credits of the liner notes. I also like the synth-less sound, it’s fascinating how Merritt still manages to make the arrangements sound so distinctly Magnetic Fields, even without his usual instrumentation.

The Toronto Star looks at the emergence of recording clubs – the latest incarnation of the DIY independent record label – in our fair city.

You know what I love? How they somehow manage to forecast 48 hours of showers each and every weekend. It’s my favorite thing ever.

np – Mojave 3 / Ask Me Tomorrow

New release news new release news new release news.

Belle & Sebastian are releasing a third single from Dear Catastrophe Waitress. “Wrapped Up In Books” will be the lead track, b-sided by “Your Cover’s Blown” and “Your Secrets”. The whole thing is titled Books and while there’s no formal release date yet, it should be out this Summer or early Fall. And speaking of B&S EPs, I think I have to find some stuff by Monica Queen or Thrum – her vocals on “Lazy Line Painter Jane” just slay me. Every single time. A shame her only album, Ten Sorrowful Mysteries seems to only be available as super-pricey import.

The new Old 97’s album Drag It Up has been pushed back a month from June 29 to July 27. The official reason? “We were so late on everything, (art, mixes, setup, website, etc).” Booooo.

American Music Club’s You Better Watch What You Say finally has a release date – October 12 on Merge Records. Billboard confirms they will be touring to support the record.

The new Rilo Kiley album has a title – More Adventurous. It will be out late July as the first release on their own Brute/Beaute label. Indie-snob pedants can breathe a sigh of relief as earlier reports of them jumping ship from Saddle Creek to an EMI subsidiary are apparently false. They’ve jumped ship to their own ship.

Alt.country sweetheart Tift Merritt’s sophomore release will be out on Lost Highway on August 24, title still to be determined. Guest artists on this record include The Jayhawks’ Gary Louris, Tom Petty sideman Mike Campbell and Maria McKee. Merritt says the new record is, “a little more soul and a little more rock and roll” than Bramble Rose, which while a good record, was a little over-polite.

Catbirdseat is saying awful unpleasant things, like that the new Spoon record has been moved from a Spring 2004 release date to January 2005 (!). Make him stop.

Six By Seven have made available an exclusive online EP for their fans to download while waiting for Down Here On The Ground to be released. You can get Bring Down The Government, complete with artwork, here. There’s no charge to download it though a donation of one pound (Sterling) are encouraged. If you do download it, please pay them for it – it’s the right thing to do and the easy way to do it. They are also releasing a proper single, We’re Ready For You Now, June 14 in the UK.

Ride have finally hunted down the video footage of their performance at the Reading Festival in 1992 and have begun compiling the material for a DVD they hope will be released in early Autumn. That’s the same show as the live album in the OX4 box set, and while it might have been nice to get a different show for the DVD, that was an incendiary performance and will be great to see regardless.

And finally, look for Toronto Lollapalooza tickets to go on sale May 27. No pricing info yet.

np – Television / The Blow-Up