Chaos is a fundamental element of Broken Social Scene – that a collective as large as they are can even coordinate schedules to perform let alone be creatively vital is remarkable. However, it’s inevitable that in a situation like that, sometimes the chaos would get the upper hand. But maybe I’m being overly dramatic… Last night’s Tsunami relief benefit show was by far the hottest ticket in town (though there’s not really a lot of competition on a snowy Tuesday night), and Lee’s Palace had a packed house in attendance to see the local heroes play for the first time since last August.

Openers at a Broken Social Scene show are usually more a formality than anything else. If they’re part of the BSS family, it’s inevitable that the backing band will look an awful lot like the headliners – case in point, Jason Collett and Apostle of Hustle. They opened things up with a short set each, emceed by head BSScenester Kevin Drew and featuring an expansive and fluctuating lineup of musicians on guitar, percussion and horns. The rule of thumb appears to be you can never have too much percussion – they had a big pile of instruments on the middle of the stage that people wandered over to, grabbed something and shook it. Just like grade school.

Then came the surprise guests portion of the night, as Drew apologized for the absence of one Ms Feist. To make up for her absence, brought out Gentleman Reg to perform a duet cover of “Mushaboom” – of the high points of the night. This was followed by an abbreviated set by an abbreviated Stars, with only Amy, Torq and Evan able to make the show. They performed one song from Set Yourself On Fire (the title of which eludes me at the moment) and then Drew forced Torq to ad lib a new song on the spot while he played guitar, with decent results.

Finally, the Scene proper came out at 11 and started what would turn out to be a sprawling, shambolic 2-hour plus set. I should say that their last show that I saw at Harbourfront in August was one of the best shows I’d seen last year and was probably a highwater mark in the history of BSS live shows – so it’s not really a slight to say that last night’s show didn’t meet up to that standard. Maybe it was because of just flying in from Halifax late Monday/early Tuesday (I wasn’t sure which), but I felt that the band had trouble finding that ‘zone’ wherein they harness the chaos I mentioned earlier and channel it into something special. There were a few jams that went on a little too long and a little too nowhere and a few new songs that didn’t sound quite grown up enough to be playing in the front yard. Overall, it seemed the band had some difficulty finding that extra gear or really getting everyone simpatico – it was only on the older You Forgot It In People material that they really found their groove. As could be expected, Emily Haines (who was celebrating a birthday) and Amy Millan provided the highlights of the show with their combined performances on “Anthems For A Seventeen Year-Old Girl” and “Backyards”.

At the start of the show, the audience was warned that the band was just going to mess around like the used to way back in their early days as a loose project jamming at Ted’s Wrecking Yard, and it was a valid warning. There was a very off-the-cuff vibe about the whole affair that was made for a homier, more intimate feel, but I wonder if maybe playing in front of the hometown crowd they get a little too slack? Surely when they’re on the road, opening for say, the Pixies, they’re a little more down to business? Just curious. But I hope that saying it was a good show, and not necessarily a great show or an amazing show, isn’t damning them with faint praise. Good is still good – I’ve just seen them play better. Still, the crowd was really into it, the band was having a good time and it was all for a good cause, so what the hell.

I’ll have photos up tomorrow – I got home too late last night to spend the time processing them (and with the lighting, there’s a lot of processing needed). I’m already running on, like, four hours of sleep. Come back tomorrow.

Anyone who wants more Apostle of Hustle should be at the Drake on February 18, tickets $10.

It’s a Can-rock double-bill triple-header as The Weakerthans and The Constantines camp out at Lee’s Palace on April 8 and 9, including an all-ages matinee on the 9th. Tickets $18.

VietNam are opening for The Comas at a free show at Lee’s Palace on February 16. The press clippings on the Vice Recordings page sound interesting. The song samples provided make me thing I’ll need to bring a pillow and/or bong.

The Belfast Telegraph talks to Guy Chadwick about the House of Love reunion.

In this week’s installment of Comic Book Resources’ The Basement Tapes, Joe Casey and Matt Fraction debate the state and merit of comic book blogs. Some interesting discussion about the blog medium, applicable not only to those dedicated to comics but the blog dynamic in general.

These are what I want for my birthday. Update: Links no longer working, I guess they were told to take the Fantastic Four merch down but The Beat has a pic of the Thing feet.

np – Belle & Sebastian / Dear Catastrophe Waitress

Billboard and NME get the skinny on the new New Order album, Waiting For The Siren’s Call, due out in North America on April 26. It promises to be a frosted mini-wheat of a record, with a rocking, guitar-heavy half for the grown-up in you and a dancey, synth-heavy half for the kid in you. For a taste, Torr has a radio rip of the first single, “Krafty”, available to download, and the band gives a track-by-track breakdown of the album here.

Hey, it was either a mini-wheat analogy or a McBLT. “Keeps the rock side rock and the dance side dance”? Nah.

It seems that Autolux is singularly incapable of making clear touring plans. There was some confusion earlier this month as to whether or not they’d be playing with The Secret Machines at the Mod Club on February 2 (they are), but now Pollstar is reporting that they’re also opening for Ambulance Ltd at the same venue exactly one month later on March 2. Their website confirms that they will be playing with Ambulance, but that leg of the tour doesn’t start until March 22… contrary to the Pollstar listings which show them touring with Ambulance from March 1 through April 9. Got all that? Me neither. Some outfit called Dr Dog is also listed on that Ambulance bill at the Mod Club, FYI.

Who are Kasabian and why have they sold out their February 26 show at Lee’s Palace in the blink of an eye? No seriously, who are they? I’m listening to some of their album here, and my life isn’t being changed.

Kevin Drew of Broken Social Scene apparently mentioned on the CBC this weekend that the new BSS album likely won’t be out till the Fall – the Valentine’s Day target date was little more than a pipe dream. Maybe he’ll have some more specifics at tonight’s Tsunami relief show.

I realize that year-end lists are SO last year, but Buddyhead’s late entry is still worth noting just because is so damn funny. From Stereogum.

24: Things that women should know before getting involved with Jack Bauer – 1) The odds that they will be held hostage increase exponentially and 2) Jack will go to ridiculous and bloody lengths to win their father’s approval. Fox wasn’t kidding when they said it was going to be an intense first 10 minutes of 24 – I haven’t seen a firefight like that on network television since that episode of Night Court when Bull climbed into the clock tower with the high-powered rifle… Again, I commend the producers on their sense of pacing – allowing the first act to wrap up tidily and for everyone to catch their breath only heightens the anticipation for act two. Good for Beruz for finally getting a backbone in beating Mr I-Dress-Like-An-Assassin to death… and hey look – an empty grave, how convenient! But seriously, I did like the dynamic in the Araz family segments, all bets are off as to the mom’s loyalty as the season progresses. Another solid ep, but someone on the writing team has some real father issues they need to address… Popmatters has their own thoughts on the first five hours of 24, season four, thus far.

np – Charlotte Hatherley / Grey Will Fade

Madison, Wisconsin’s Rainer Maria have completed recording their fifth album with an interesting choice for producer – Canadian ex-pat Malcolm Burn. Burn is best known as a protege of sorts to Daniel Lanois and his resume has been pretty roots-centric to this point, most notably the last few Emmylou Harris records. What influence will he have on RM’s decidedly more visceral and punkish sound? I don’t know, but I’m quite curious to find out. I’ve enjoyed the evolution they’ve made over their last couple albums, becoming more tuneful and versitile and leaving their shrill emo roots behind, but I wouldn’t have expected them to work with someone like Burn anytime soon – shows what I know. The still-untitled album is due out sometime in the Spring.

The Tear That Hangs Inside My Soul Forever (Mishie, you have GOT to get a blog name that rolls off the tongue a little easier…) talked to Emm Gryner about her latest album Songs Of Love And Death at her CD release show last week.

It’s been a regular Ben Gibbard video-fest lately. Check out the video for Death Cab For Cutie’s latest single, “Title & Registration”. From Hold My Life.

Prefix is a relatively new online magazine that has built up a nice little archive of interview features. Their latest is a two-part interview with Richard Parry of Arcade Fire, but even if you’re all AF-ed out, there’s surely something else of interest.

I’m honoured to have been nominated as a finalist in the “Best Canadian Weblog” category of the 2005 Bloggies, alongside Marmalade.ca, Bacon & Ehs, Photojunkie and Accordion Guy. It’s interesting that I’ve actually met three of the four other finalists in person, and all are from Toronto – who says cyberspace is impersonal?

I didn’t expect to make the cut in the new Best Entertainment category, and didn’t (though I’m pleased to see Moby was shut out as well). All the finalists there (Largehearted Boy, Stereogum, Fluxblog, Defamer and Whatevs) are juggernauts and deserving of the recognition, though it’s interesting that despite attempts to broaden the range of blogs within the category, three finalists are still almost completely music-centric (I don’t really know what Whatevs is about, but there are often pictures of the NSFW variety, so I’m happy). And yes, Paul, we know the Bloggies enrage you. Simmer down. Anyway, I’d encourage you all to go and vote, but the Bloggies site seem to have exceeded their bandwidth for the month. Whoopsie. Update: Bloggies site is back up.

Excepting a couple brief jaunts to grab the newspaper from my front stoop, I stayed indoors for 42 hours straight this weekend, only venturing outside on Sunday afternoon to get groceries. Hibernation at its finest.

np – The Reindeer Section / Son Of Evil Reindeer

New York City’s Ambulance Ltd are one of those bands that, on paper, I should love. They draw on a slew of excellent influences from early-90s British rock and graft them onto solid pop tunes. At various points on their debut LP album, you can hear Blur-type guitar riffage, Spiritualized drones and atmospherics and My Bloody Valentine-esque whammy bar bends. Good stuff, right? So why does it sound like I’m going to follow this up with a “but”? Because I am. But it’s just a little but.

BUT. While they wear their influences on their sleeves, which is fine, they’re not entirely successful in absorbing them all and combining them into something cohesive. You can pick out the Blur song, and the Spiritualized song, and the MBV song… it’s not slavish imitation, but it’s pretty overt. What this means is that what you like about one song may be entirely absent from another song – everyone I’ve talked to about LP has commented on how they like a certain percentage of it. “I like maybe half the songs,” “There’s seven or eight great songs,” and so forth – it’s that easy to decide which ones you do and don’t like. And that’s fine if you’re a singles-centric person, just focus on the songs you like, ignore the rest. Me, I’m an album guy, and I would prefer to enjoy the entire effort. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t dislike any of it (though the first single, “Primitive”, is for my money the worst song on the record and a large part of the reason I have only gotten around to discovering the band now), but I definitely play favourites, which is unusual.

Those mild reservations aside, I’ve grown to quite enjoy LP and expect bigger and better things from them in the future. I’m also pleased to see that they’ll be in town at the Mod Club on March 2, tickets $12.50 on sale now. They played here at least four times last year, but I didn’t catch any of them. Hey, win some, lose some. Their website has the usual media on offer – samples of the whole record, a couple videos and a couple downloadable MP3s and there’s a little bit more here. This interview with VH1 is interesting in that they don’t recognize The House Of Love’s “Shine On”, even though they seem to have done a pretty good job of borrowing from many of their contemporaries.

Speaking of the House of Love, check out the cover artwork and lyrics from Days Run Away, out February 28. You can also hear the first single, “Love You Too Much”, on BBC’s Roundtable. Listen to last Friday’s show and wait through the news report and commentator introductions – it’s the first track played. My opinion is about the same as Bradley’s – not overwhelmed. I was hoping for something a little more… epic. This one sounds like a bit of a throwaway, to be honest. The panelists are similarly underwhelmed.

Straight from the horse’s mouth – the horse in this case being Britt Daniel at the Arcade Fire show in Austin this past Friday – Spoon’s new one is coming out in early May and the most current title is still The Beast And Dragon Are Adored. The band will also be playing SXSW.

Stream the entirety of Low’s The Great Destroyer here – or wait till Tuesday and buy the thing. From Donewaiting.

Brooklynvegan brings us photos of the final Sea Ray show in New York this past Friday. Sob.

The Telegraph interviews Rilo Kiley, preparing to release More Adventurous in the UK on Monday. From Largehearted Boy.

Zoilus drafts an interesting essay on the ongoing game of chicken between indie culture and pop culture for The Globe & Mail.

np – Spacemen 3 / The Perfect Prescription

Curious time at the Bright Eyes show last night. The transportation gods were with me as I managed to get to the Phoenix with an absolute minimum of time spent outdoors in the -19 cold. Unfortunately, the band had requested that cameras not be allowed in so I had to check mine – a completely futile gesture, judging from the stroborific light show all the camera flashes in the audience created when the headliners took the stage. Y’know Conor, I don’t use a flash… but I’m getting ahead of myself.

What this meant, besides the fact that the photo accompanying this post is NOT from last night or taken by me, is that I spent a rare show somewhere besides right up front (which is good, as I hear Conor is a spitter…). Instead, I was up on the balcony in the licensed section, overlooking the teeming sea of Livejournals, asymmetrical haircuts and black-framed glasses down below.

Tilly & The Wall had just gotten started when I arrived at 5:30 sharp. Punctual, nice. The crowds were still filtering in while they played their typically bubbly tap-pop, but those in attendance were quick to get into the spirit of the show. Their performance didn’t translate quite as well in a large concert hall as it did when they played the Horseshoe last Fall – the mix was excessively boomy, making Jamie’s tap dancing sound like a John Bonham kick drum and Kianna and Neely’s vocals were kinda raspy – but their exuberance and energy helped make up for that. Judging from the number of Tilly & The Wall shirts and tote bags I saw being bought up after the show, I’d say they made some fans.

Paris-based CocoRosie had a tougher time winning over the crowd. Most didn’t seem to know how to take the band’s peculiar circus-folk sound, and the applause was mostly polite. I couldn’t get into them either, I confess – maybe in a different environment they might have come across a little more effectively, but last night I just wasn’t interested.

And then Bright Eyes. From the sound of crowd when they took the stage, you’d think it was the second coming – and for some, it possibly was. It took a couple songs to get the mix sorted out but once it was, the next hour and a half consisted of a very solid set of moderately energetic and nicely arranged folk and country-rock – I can’t get into set specifics because I didn’t actually know most of the material. They played only one song from Lifted and I think one from Fevers And Mirrors – the rest were all new and technically unreleased since I’m Wide Awake, It’s Morning, from which the rest of the set was taken, isn’t technically out till Tuesday (though they were selling copies of it and Digital Ash at the show). I bought a copy of the record there and while I liked the show alright, the songs definitely impress more on record – probably because Conor Oberst’s lyrics are easier to understand. But my point is is that limited my ability to get into the show somewhat. But seeing Conor fall over a couple times did add to the entertainment value.

But that’s not the curious thing about the show. I went down onto the floor between the main set and the encore to retrieve my camera from the coat check, and some of the audience down there were behaving like they’d just witnessed the rapture (the Biblical event, not the band). There was one girl I saw crying through the whole encore, and others who looked on the verge of tears or ecstasy. It was as if they were experiencing a completely different show than me – they were taking it in on another level entirely… It’s sort of hard to explain, but it was strange. I felt like a tourist.

Anyway. Bright Eyes. Yeah.

Jack Rabid of The Big Takeover has confirmed (though a contact at Capitol) that Idlewild’s Promises/Warnings has NO North American release date, despite what I’ve read and reported. Apologies to anyone who had March 8 circled on their calendars to camp out at their local record store. Hopefully it won’t be too long in coming after the UK release, or Capitol’s Canadian division will import a bunch of copies for our consumption before a proper domestic version is released, as frequently happens. Sometimes there are perks to being a colony! But as some small compensation, here’s the video for the first single “Love Steals Us From Loneliness”. Link from Torr.

The video for Charlotte Hatherley’s new single “Bastardo” is one of the most fun things I’ve seen in ages. But I’ve always had a soft spot for cute girls with Fender Jaguars.

The Independent talks to Mercury Rev about their new album, The Secret Migration, which is out in the UK on Monday but not over here (in CD format, anyway) till April. Boo.

Aimee Mann’s The Forgotten Arm is out May 3.

I’m waiting for The Wedding Present to announce a Toronto date – My money is on April 26, seeing as how they’re in Montreal the 27th and Boston the 28th. Probably Lee’s?

So my apartment decided to celebrate the one-year anniversary of my flood with – get ready for it – another flood. Not nearly as bad this time, it was a pipe in the laundry room, not my apartment proper, but still a real mess and the timing – 12:30 AM – was just gravy. It was almost an hour and a half before the plumber showed up and was able to shut off the water, and I didn’t get to bed till almost 4. FUN. Nothing I like better than being up for 20 hours under significant stress. I don’t know how Jack Bauer does it.

How was YOUR Friday night?

np – Bright Eyes / I’m Wide Awake, It’s Morning