Photo by Paul Hammond

So while the first shows associated with this year’s edition of Canadian Music Week got started last night with Gogol Bordello at the Sound Academy, the complete takeover of the city’s live music clubs doesn’t really begin until Thursday evening. I like to try and catch as much as I reasonably can, but my CMW participation is always mitigated by trying to conserve some energy for SxSW next week as well the fact that many of the bands playing that I would normally want to see are hardly strangers to Toronto and there will certainly be more opportunities to see them play in the future… but on the other hand, a good show from a good band is a good show from a good band.

My personal schedule is starting to coalesce, largely based on picking one act I really want to see and checking out what else is nearby. I’m not going to get into specifics right now because it could all possibly change, but if I can make it to Sunday and have caught Rebekah Higgs, The Details, Jane Vain & The Dark Matter, Pooma and The Pigeon Detectives, I’ll have considered the week a success.

On a more general level, I’d recommend folks looking for something to see catch Dog Day at one of their many shows – Thursday at 9:20PM at the Horseshoe, Saturday at 11PM at the Rivoli or their free in-store at Criminal Records at 6:40PM on Saturday. It’s true that they’re not the most scintillating live band, but Night Group is such a good record they’re worth your time and attention anyways. Chart has two interviews with the band in advance of their CMW appearances.

Other shows you may want to plan an evening around are Sloan’s Thursday night gig at Supermarket – that’s the little 200-capacity venue in Kensington, so if you don’t have a ticket already you’d best get one now (assuming they’re not all gone) because that’s going to be packed. And if it is, you can always try your luck at The Besnard Lakes’ midnight show at the El Mocambo just down the block. The Horseshoe’s lineups all weekend are all stacked into the wee, wee hours of the night but Thursday is particularly impressive – starting at 8:30, you’ve got Immaculate Machine, the aforementioned Dog Day, Katie Stelmanis, Plants & Animals, The Acorn (Sunparlour Players and if you’re still upright at 2:30AM on a work night, Oh No Forest Fires will make you glad you are. Jenn Grant has two shows, Thursday and Saturday night at the Rivoli, both at 10PM. Heading to the Drake Underground on Friday night will get you the Paper Bag Records showcase with the likes of Laura Barrett and Woodhands. Obviously, that’s only a tiny sampling of what’s on offer this weekend as viewed through my narrow filter. The entertainment weeklies will certainly have a more thorough preview of performers this Thursday. The National Post has their picks for the week up already.

And to add to the list of in-stores I rounded up last week, Criminal Records on Queen West will have Jenny Omnichord and The Burning Hell serenading shoppers on Wednesday, March 6 from 6 to 7 and on Saturday afternoon, Julie Doiron highlights a block of Maritimer performances from Calm Down It’s Monday, Dog Day and The Superfantastics – that starts around 5, Julie on at 5:30. Update: More Criminal Records action – Friday, March 7 from 6 to 8 – Winter Gloves and Plants & Animals.

An in-store that’s not CMW-related but definitely worthy of note is Bon Iver, who will be doing a solo acoustic set at Soundscapes on Wednesday, March 5 at 4PM which is tough noogies to those of us with regular day jobs but a boon to everyone else, especially if you don’t have tickets to his sold out show at Lee’s Palace that night with Black Mountain, with whom BeatRoute has an interview.

Kathleen Edwards talks to Spinner, Country Standard Time, The New York Daily News and The Seattle Times about her new album Asking For Flowers, in stores tomorrow. She plays The Phoenix on April 23.

The Telegraph catches up with Neil Young on the occasion of his first visit to the UK in half a decade.

And while we’re (mostly) talking Canadian music, a moment for blues guitar great Jeff Healey, who passed away at age 41 yesterday.

This is Canadian Music Week so to mark the occasion, three records from bands who are not playing Canadian Music Week. Huzzah!

The D’Urbervilles / We Are The Hunters (Out Of This Spark) The debut full-length from Guelph’s D’Urbervilles crackles with the anticipation of some bad shit going down. The tension of the band straining to bust loose is tangible but singer/guitarist John O’Regen keeps everything barely in check with his almost preternaturally calm vocals – even when he’s shouting he sounds calm. It’s as though he knows that this musical knife fight is just the prelude to something even bigger coming around the corner. If there’s a complaint, it’s that that something bigger never quite manages to arrive – there’s post-punk border skirmishes and disco-rock commando strikes, but each only seems to be pointing to something bigger just over the next ridge and it’s that epic, battle of Mordor finale that never quite arrives. But maybe it’s for the best because the build up is tremendous and if was to actually deliver a worthy climax, heads might quite literally explode. A rather stunning record from a band that I didn’t know had it in them. I salute them. The D’Urbervilles play a CD release show with labelmates Forest City Lovers at the Tranzac on Friday, March 14 and tour across Canada through late March and most of April. MP3: The D’Urbervilles – “Dragnet” MP3: The D’Urbervilles – “National Flowers” MP3: The D’Urbervilles – “Hot Tips” MySpace: The D’Urbervilles

Kara Keith / Kara Keith (Saved By Radio) Kara Keith, former frontwoman for Calgary’s Falconhawk, drives her piano like a runaway car. She careens from the theatricality of “Gorgeous Gets The Gold” through the crashing power pop of “Kick This City” before skidding into the baroque tension of finale “Knosses”, and of course she gets up and walks away without a scratch on her. She’s obviously well trained on the keys but that doesn’t stop her from delivering the goods with irreverence, genuine punk rock zeal and enough stylistic ADD (know what goes great with angelic choral vocals? Massive fuzz bass!) to make the record’s 13-minute running time feel like even more of a whirlwind experience – but one that merits hitting the “repeat” button over and over again. MP3: Kara Keith – “Kick This City” MP3: Kara Keith – “Get Up And Go Go”

The Paper Cranes / Halcyon Days (Unfamiliar) I’d almost forgotten that I reviewed the Paper Cranes’ debut EP Veins a couple years ago, though re-reading that piece doesn’t do much to remind me what I thought of it. I seemed rather fixated on singer Ryan McCullagh’s yelping and while yes, his vocals on the full-length will be a comfort for those who seek no cure for clapping hands, saying yeah or shouting out loud, they’re no longer the object of fixation for me. Maybe I’ve grown, maybe he’s grown, but either way it’s the songs and not the singing that stuck in my head this time around. They’re no longer easily pigeonholed as new wave or post-punk or whatever label jaggy guitars and, um, yelpy vocals usually garner – they’re still obviously children of the ’80s but there’s a melodic sophistication that mines a more timeless vein of pop songcraft. The Paper Cranes play the Wrong Bar this Thursday night, March 6. Yes, it’s during Canadian Music Week. No, it’s not a Canadian Music Week show. And no, this is not the same band that’s opening for R.E.M. at SxSW next week – that’s a different Papercranes. Oh the difference a space makes. MP3: The Paper Cranes – “I’ll Love You Till My Veins Explode”

Photo via ANTI

Bob Mould has long since earned the right, via his works with Husker Du and Sugar as well as his solo work, to do whatever the hell he wants. But it’s probably safe to say that most of his fans breathed a sigh of relief when he backtracked from his decision to give up electric guitar and concentrate on his DJ gigs and dance music. 2005’s Body Of Song was a welcome return to his more aggressive, plugged-in aesthetic though he brought with him touches of the electronica that has inspired him in recent years. This new, consolidated Bob returns with District Line, a record I’ve yet to hear in its entirety but which is garnering solid reviews.

Besides the return to the ear-shredding volume he’d once sworn off, the tour for Body Of Song was remarkable for the fact that Mould once again embraced the songs he’d written for Husker Du and Sugar, a trend that one can expect to continue when he returns to Toronto to play the Mod Club on March 10. And, courtesy of ANTI/Epitaph, I’ve got two prize packs consisting of a pair of passes to the show and a copy of District Line on CD to give away. To enter, shoot me an email to contests AT chromewaves.net with “I want the Bob” in the subject line and your full mailing address in the body. Contest will close at midnight, March 5.

Oh, and the other best thing about Bob live, besides getting to hear the likes of “Could You Be The One”? No vocoder.

The Star-Tribune and Reveille talk to Bob from a hometown POV and NPR has a World Cafe session.

MP3: Bob Mould – “The Silence Between Us”
Video: Husker Du – “Could You Be The One”
MySpace: Bob Mould

Photo by Catherine Stockhausen

Some might challenge the legitimacy of “singer-songwriter” as a genre because as vague and pigeonhole-y as epithets as “jazz”, “rock” or “country” might be, they at least give some indication as to the musical gene pool from which an artist is descended. But what does “singer-songwriter” tell you? That the person in question both sings and writes. That’s helpful.

But consider Toronto’s Matthew Barber, who releases his new album Ghost Notes this week. It’s too soft to file under “rock”, too jauntily contemporary for the folk crowd and let’s not even get into the whole “pop” thing, whatever that might mean these days. And so we’re left with the singer – he has a fine voice, expressive and articulate yet not elastic enough to allow over-singing – and the songwriting, which covers the well-worn terrain of love and heartache but is well-crafted and mated to fine musicianship and sharp, yet subtle arrangements. It’s all quite pleasant but a bit overly-soft for my tastes. But hey, that’s singer-songwriter for ya.

Barber is playing an in-store at Sonic Boom next Thursday evening, March 6, at 7PM then jaunts down to Austin for some SxSW action before returning to his home and native land for the cross-Canada “Sibling Revelry” tour with sister Jill Barber which stops in at the Rivoli on April 3 (Chart and BeatRoute talk to both Barbers about the upcoming tour). And, courtesy of Stage Fright Publicity, I’ve got three copies of Ghost Notes to give away. To enter, email me at contests AT chromewaves.net with “I want some hot singer-songwriter action” in the subject line and your full mailing address in the body. Get these in to me by the time Barber takes the Sonic Boom stage at 7PM on March 6 and, for a change, this contest is open to anyone anywhere.

And you can stream the whole record on his MySpace right now.

MP3: Matthew Barber – “Easily Bruised” (demo)
MySpace: Matthew Barber