Title holder of the most laid-back festival in existence, Dog Day Afternoon celebrates its 10th anniversary this year and will be held on August 17 at a top-secret, undisclosed location somewhere outside of Guelph. I had the pleasure of attending the one-day event last year and it was a wonderful day of sitting on the grass, listening to music, eating, drinking and… well, imagine a long, lazy picnic with a terrific soundtrack.

This year, as with all the others, The Sadies will be headlining the festivities – and believe me there’s nothing quite like watching the Sadies under a starry night sky – and will be joined by The D’Urbervilles, The Shovels, Dog Day, Gentleman Reg, Now YR Taken and One Heart Many Hands. A very solid lineup all-around, but I’m especially pleased to be able to see Haligonians Dog Day again and not just because their presence satisfies my sense of cosmic order (not that that means I’m lobbying for The Virgins to play V Fest). I enjoyed their show at the Drake last December and continue to enjoy their last record Night Group. The band, ever the road warriors, kept a tour blog for Exclaim on their just-completed jaunt out west and in addition to this show, they’re playing a free show at the Horseshoe on the following Tuesday, August 19.

While it used to be a private/invite-only party, Dog Day Afternoon now also has tickets available to the public. Inquiries can be sent via the MySpace or to dogdayafternoon@bust.com.

MP3: Dog Day – “Great Pains” (live)
Video: Dog Day – “Oh Dead Life”
Video: Dog Day – “Lydia”
MySpace: Dog Day

Crawdaddy talks to Silver Jew David Berman. He/They’re at Lee’s Palace on September 2.

Paste talks with both Mark Olsen and Gary Louris about their forthcoming, “don’t call it a Jayhawks record” record Ready For The Flood, out September 16.

Pitchfork has specifics on the next TV On The Radio album. Dear Science will be out September 23.

The Vancouver Sun profiles Black Mountain, in town September 27 at the Opera House.

Thanks to For The Records for pointing out that Dirty On Purpose will be the support for The Wedding Present on their Fall tour, including the October 3 date at Lee’s Palace. DoP skipped SxSW for the first time this year, and thus I haven’t had my annual live fix yet.

Also in town on October 3 is newly-signed to Dead Oceans outfit These Are Powers. They’ll be at Sneaky Dee’s.

MP3: These Are Powers – “Cockles”
Video: These Are Powers – “Cockles”

Billboard has details on Rachael Yamagata’s long-delayed sophomore record, and she’s making up for the wait with volume. Not as in loud, as in quantity. The two-CD A Record in Two Parts … Elephants and Teeth Sinking Into Heart will be out on October 7 with touring to follow.

The Anchorage Daily News talks to John Stirratt of Wilco.

The Georgia Straight talks to Jonathan Meiburg of Shearwater.

Hutch Harris of The Thermals updates Pitchfork on the status of their new album Now We Can See, set to be released sometime.

MTV gets some vague ideas from Colin Meloy about what direction the next Decemberists record might be heading.

Daytrotter sessions up with The Blakes.

Finally got around to seeing The Dark Knight last night. Last thing the world needs is another review, so I’ll simply say it was good. Even made up for the worst Taco Bell meal I’ve ever had, and I’ve had some bad ones. I had a notion of what I thought would make a good plot for the third film – I think I mentioned it after I saw the first one – but something focusing on Batman’s detective skills, perhaps with the Riddler as a villain but never even seen till the final act when Bats unravels the mystery at han. But considering the status quo established at the end of this film, that’d be difficult to do. Still though, something that emphasizes the intelligence of Batman beyond just the toys and fighting would be a novel twist.

And lastly, Rotten Tomatoes has a detailed, frame-by-frame analysis of the Watchmen trailer. It looked mighty good up there on the big screen, let me tell you.