I must not have checked my luggage too carefully because I seem to have brought a bunch of British bands with a fondness for the definite article back to Toronto with me. Another salvo of bands for this year’s V Fest was announced yesterday. A few of the names had trickled out in past weeks but this was the first large block of acts since the initial announcement two months ago – no headliner-calibre acts, everyone is rather firmly b-list (if even that) but at least there’s a better idea of who we’ll be seeing September 6 and 7 at the Toronto Islands.

Joining the initially announced Saturday lineup of Foo Fighters, Bloc Party, Spiritualized, Wintersleep and Constantines will be The Kooks, The Fratellis, MGMT, Against Me!, Shudder To Think, The Midway State and The Airborne Toxic Event while Sunday’s roster of Oasis, Paul Weller, Sterophonics, The Weakerthans and The Pigeon Detectives will welcome Silversun Pickups, Robyn, The Cribs, The Wombats, Danko Jones and Sons & Daughters.

The last of those is the only band of all the additions that I’d actually call myself a fan of (hence their photo being used above) so the latest announcement was a bit underwhelming but I’m still looking forward to this year’s festival. I mean, taking the “glass half full” approach, that’s a lot of bands I’ve never seen live before. Not necessarily ones I’ve wanted to see, but whatever. More acts are still to come but anyone holding out hope that there’s going to be anything earth-shaking is probably going to be (more) disappointed.

MP3: Sons & Daughters – “Gilt Complex” (acoustic, live on Vic Galloway)
MP3: The Kooks – “No Longer”
MP3: The Airborne Toxic Event – “Wishing Well”
MP3: Silversun Pickups – “Kissing Families”
MP3: Robyn – “Cobrastyle”

Day one act Spiritualized release their new record Songs In A & E today, and IGN, Billboard, The Irish Independent, The Sun and Drowned In Sound have interviews with J Spaceman about the album.

The NxNE schedule is now up in ugly, annoying, registrant-only and easily-crashable format. It amazes me that in this day and age, people still can’t figure out how to construct a user-friendly online schedule. Anyway, I’ll be trying to parse the sched and making some comments later.

But one of the associated shows will be the “Gay-Way” party at the Phoenix on June 12 featuring The Hidden Cameras. Tickets for that are $25 and presumably some NxNE wristbands will be given admittance. The Cameras are also supposed to be doing some shows in around Pride at the end of June.

Harbourfront Centre has listed their lineup of free festivals for this Summer, if not the actual acts that are playing each. But I know that Ohbijou are there on the 28th of June for “A Rocky Mountain High”, Basia Bulat on Canada Day for, uh Canada Day, and Ladytron with Poni Hoax on July 4 for Beats, Breaks & Culture.

He had to cancel his appearance at Hillside last year, but Alejandro Escovedo returns to the region on July 7 for a show at the Mod Club, tickets $18.50. His new album Real Animal is out June 24.

On July 11, DD/MM/YYYY will play host to The Mae-Shi from Los Angeles, TheDeathset from Baltimore and The Fucking Ocean from San Francisco. That’ll be at Sneaky Dee’s, tickets $10.

MP3: The Mae Shi – “Run To Your Grave”
MP3: TheDeathSet – “Negative Thinking”
MP3: The Fucking Ocean – “Literacy Test”

Though they’d originally said touring was unlikely, She & Him will find the time to visit Toronto for a show at the Opera House on July 23, tickets $23.50. Perhaps Zooey Deschanel anticipates needing some time away from Hollywood following the debacle that The Happening is almost certain to be. Full tour dates at Spin. MTV and NPR talk to Deschanel about the band.

Anyone wanting to see Graham Van Pelt get really tired should be at Sneaky Dee’s on July 26 when he’ll do double duty, first with Think About Life and then fronting Miracle Fortress. Tickets are $12, and maybe bring the man some towels.

Horribly-named British electro-punk outfit Does It Offend You, Yeah? will be at the Drake Undergound on August 4, tickets $13.50.

Final Fantasy will perform at the Danforth Music Hall on August 27, tickets $20.

The reconstituted Squeeze have a date at the Kool Haus on August 28, tickets $44.50.

Tortoise are at the Mod Club on September 5, admission $18.

And re: that pop-up survey thing – apologies if you find it objectionable, it’s a thing for a thing that’s totally benign. You, your information and your organs are not being harvested. Click it or close it, it’ll go away.