Autumn de WildeThere might be question marks around whether or not we’ll see 2009 editions of big Toronto events like V Fest, but for the eighth year running, the city will host Over The Top Fest in May and showcase an eclectic range of acts in clubs around the city for a weekend in May, this year the 21st through the 24th. The official website is still having the finishing touches put on it but the lineup was announced last week at Stille Post and, as expected, there’s a whole lot of acts I’ve never heard of. But considering the festival has, in years past, welcomed the likes of Of Montreal, Grizzly Bear and Matt & Kim amongst many, many others – all before they became the international superstars they are today – you ignore the unfamiliar names at your indie cred peril.

This year’s edition is somewhat smaller than past years – there’s a recession going on, dontcha know – but still pretty packed. I’ll leave you to peruse the artists yourself, but names that jump out – even if not up my particular alley – include Japanese noise experimentalist Merzbow at the Polish Combatants Hall on May 21, Arcade Fire/Unicorns alumnus Clues, whose self-titled debut is out May 19, at Sneaky Dees on May 21 and Montreal dance-punk maniacs Think About Life at the Polish Combatants Hall on the 22nd. The most interesting one to me – and probably the only show I’ll make it out to – is New York pre-teen sibling duo Tiny Masters Of Today. You might expect an act with a set up like that playing punk rock music might be pure novelty, but their sophomore album Skeletons, out June 16, is surprisingly sophisticated and really sounds good, whatever their age. They’re playing the Whippersnapper Gallery on May 23.

And in addition, there’s film and theatre components to the festival and promises of a “concert on a transit bus, BBQ and Acoustic Concert” for closing festivities on the Sunday, May 24. Tickets for many of the shows are already available on Ticketweb (see Stille Post link for links), will be available in stores this week and a limited number of festival passes will also be made available.

MP3: Tiny Masters Of Today – “K.I.D.S.”
MP3: Tiny Masters Of Today – “La La Land”
MP3: Clues – “Perfect Fit”
MP3: Clues – “Remember Severed Head”
MP3: Think About Life – “Paul Cries”
Video: Tiny Masters Of Today – “Skeletons”

Also announced yesterday was the 2009 edition of the Olympic Island show, which is an almost-annual tradition but you can never be absolutely sure when it’s going to be, who’s going to play or if it’s even going to happen. The answers to all those questions, however, are July 11, Broken Social Scene, who are playing for the fifth time out of the six the party has been held, Explosions In The Sky, Thunderheist, Beach House, Apostle Of Hustle and Rattlesnake Choir, and yes it is (obviously). With V still being a big old question mark, this could be the city’s one opportunity to rock out and piss off the islanders, and having had almost three years elapse since I last saw the Scene, I think I’m getting eager to catch them live again. Tickets are $57.50 including ferry to and from the islands, though CFNY (that’s “Edge 102” to those of you under the age of 30) has a limited number available for $39.50 – 1021 tickets, according to Chart.

The Book Is Broken, a book documenting the story of Broken Social scene, will be out May 16. Thunderheist are the cover feature on this month’s Exclaim and their self-titled debut came out at the end of March and they play The Phoenix on April 30. Apostle Of Hustle’s new album Eats Darkness is out May 19 and he plays the Music Gallery on May 29.

MP3: Broken Social Scene presents Brendan Canning – “Hit The Wall”
MP3: Broken Social Scene presents Kevin Drew – “TBTF”
MP3: Explosions In The Sky – “Welcome, Ghosts”
MP3: Thunderheist – “Jerk It”
MP3: Beach House – “Gila”

And also recently announced was this year’s edition of Pitter Patter Fest which, if not as big in profile or stature as either of the aforementioned events, is certainly the largest in geographical terms. Though centered in Toronto, Pitter Patter events will be happening all over southern Ontario, from London to Guelph to Peterborough to Belleville – 150 bands, 10 cities and four nights from May 28 to 31 – and feature the likes of Dog Day, The Craft Economy, The Diableros, Great Bloomers, Fjord Rowboat, Megan Hamilton and Spiral Beach to name but a very few who’ve been covered on this site in the past. All shows are pay-what-you-can and the schedule, which will probably see many of the bands playing numerous dates and cities, is still forthcoming.

Sonic Boom Records up in the Annex will celebrate Record Store Day this Saturday, April 18, with a in-store mini-fest featuring Little Girls, Steamboat, Green Go, Gentleman Reg, Sunparlour Players, Lullabye Arkestra and Slim Twig. No idea of specific set times but it starts at 4PM and the store closes at midnight. You do the math. Admission is free but donations of non-perishable food items is strongly encouraged.

As for Gentleman Reg, he’s spending his Spring on tour in support of Jet Black, first with The Stills and then A Camp, including their June 1 date at the Mod Club.

MP3: Gentleman Reg – “We’re In A Thunderstorm”
Video: Gentleman Reg – “We’re In A Thunderstorm”

Immaculate Machine will release their new record High On Jackson Hill on April 28, right in the midst of an Ontario tour that includes a stop at the Drake Underground on April 30.

MP3: Immaculate Machine – “Sound The Alarm”

Pink Mountaintops have a date at the Horseshoe on June 14 in support of their new album Outside Love, out May 5. Tickets for that are $11.50.

MP3: Pink Mountaintops – “Vampire”

Full details are still forthcoming, but Holy Fuck are one of the acts playing this year’s Beats, Breaks and Culture fest at Harbourfront Centre – they’re playing July 10, and as always, this show is free to all.

MP3: Holy Fuck – “Lovely Allen”

The Decemberists have announced the second leg of their North American tour in support of Hazards Of Love, and it includes an August 3 date at the Kool Haus with The Heartless Bastards as support. Tickets are $30.50 and go on sale Thursday.

MP3: Heartless Bastards – “Searching For the Ghost” (acoustic)
MP3: Heartless Bastards – “The Mountain”

George WrightWith most of his recent releases being of the archival sort – two box sets in the last two years in the form of I Wanna Go Backwards and Luminous Groove and with more to come – you might be forgiven for thinking that Robyn Hitchcock had his hands full reflecting on an enormous and impressive career. You would also, of course, be wrong. Even while supervising the extensive retrospective project, Hitchcock found the time to regroup with the Venus 3 – the 3/5 of R.E.M., Peter Buck, Bill Rieflin and Scott McCaughey, with whom he recorded 2006’s wonderful Ole Tarantula – and recorded yet another new album, the just-released Goodnight Oslo.

Unlike the bright and sprightly Tarantula, Oslo feels darker in mood and more expansive in tone, favouring more meditative, droning song structures and incorporating the likes of strings, horns and backing singers into the brew. But more importantly, like its predecessor, Oslo is full of classic-sounding, jangly pop songs turned on their heads by Hitchcock’s clever and curious wordplay and distinctive delivery. Having been at it for thirty-odd years, the man has a signature. And more importantly, he’s still working at an impressively high level. While he may have spent the last little while looking backwards, there’s no question he’s still moving ever-forwards.

Hitchcock and his crew are touring North America and will be at the Mod Club in Toronto this Thursday night, April 16. I saw them there in 2006 and even for someone only casually familiar with Hitchcock’s oeuvre, it was a tremendously enjoyable show. This should be no different. Courtesy of Against The Grain, I’ve got two pairs of passes to give away for this show. To enter, email me at contests AT chromewaves.net with “I wanna go backwards” in the subject line and your full name in the body, and get that in to me by midnight tomorrow evening – April 14.

There’s interviews with Hitchcock at Wired, JamBase, Philadelphia Daily News and Nashville Scene. And while there’s no album MP3 from Goodnight Oslo available, Hitchcock’s live shows are freely available at archive.org and that includes shows from the current tour, like this one from Carrboro, North Carolina where he naturally played some of the new material.

MP3: Robyn Hitchcock & The Venus 3 – “What You Is” (live)
MP3: Robyn Hitchcock & The Venus 3 – “Goodnight Oslo” (live)
MySpace: Robyn Hitchcock

Thanks go to Anika In London for pointing the way to this video session with Emmy The Great at Channel M. There’s also an interview with Emmy at The Is Nottingham.

And digging through those Channel M archives unearthed this session with Fanfarlo. Have I mentioned how great their Reservoir album is? I have? Good. Because it is.

Gomez have a date at the Phoenix on May 29 in support of their new album A New Tide.

Beatroute, The Georgia Straight and Decider have interviews with Friendly Fires.

Incendiary and The Skinny interview Micachu & The Shapes.

St Vincent has a new video from her new album Actor, due out on May 5.

Video: St Vincent – “Actor Out Of Work”

At long last, Los Angeles-based music mag Under The Radar has a proper website with actual content. Like this interview with Bob Mould. Under The Radar remains one of the best (and last) indie-centric music magazines out there in the physical world, I look forward to seeing the same high level of quality from them online.

MySpaceNatasha Khan of Bat For Lashes could sing the alphabet and make it sound sultry and mysterious. So when she tackled this Cure classic for the Perfect As Cats tribute album last Fall, it was really no surprise that the result was, well, sultry and mysterious where the original was tense and foreboding – whereas Robert Smith sounded like he wanted to scare you away from the forest, Khan seeks to entice.

Bat For Lashes released their second album Two Suns last week to glowing reviews and a Pitchfork “Best New Music” endorsement. Her North American tour consists of a short, five-date east coast jaunt in late April followed by a handful of west coast dates in June. It all starts next Saturday night, April 25, at the Mod Club in Toronto, and there’s simply no way the show won’t be marvelous.

There’s features on Bat For Lashes at The Birmingham Mail and BBC, and Deaf Indie Elephants has a couple MP3s from a BBC Live Lounge session, including a Kings Of Leon cover. The Cure have, I believe, stopped pretending they’re going to retire anytime soon.

MP3: Bat For Lashes – “A Forest”
Video: The Cure – “A Forest”

TravisI’ll not be so ungenerous as to say something like, “Travis? They’re still around?”. After all, I got a lot of enjoyment out of their 1999 breakthrough album The Man Who, although those good feelings may have just been dispelled by the realization that that record came out a full decade ago. And though they never quite reached that level of popular success again, I know the Scottish quartet have forged a very respectable career in the interim.

But still, they’d fallen off my radar more than a little and I was a bit surprised when their latest album Ode To J Smith showed up in my mailbox last year, it being the first physical evidence of their continued plugging along I’d been faced with in some time. And I was even more surprised to find that rather than get softer in their old age – they were hardly rock monsters even in their youth – Smith presented a louder and more aggressive Travis than I’d expected. Fran Healy’s yearning voice does still soften the edges of anything it’s laid overtop and the ballad end of things is well-represented, but the record has an energy level that they are to commended on. I don’t know that the songs themselves are that noteworthy – loud or no, they’re still a pop band and there’s nothing that’s as hooky or affecting as their best work (though the anthemic “Song To Self” comes pretty damn close) – but it’s pleasing to see they’re still kicking and with such vitality.

And they’re currently kicking their way across North America on tour for J Smith and that itinerary includes a date at the Sound Academy in Toronto on April 21. And, courtesy of Fontana North, I’ve got a pair of tickets for the show to give away. If you want to go and promise to cheer just as loudly for the new material as you will for “Why Does It Always Rain On Me?”, them email me at contests AT chromewaves.net with “I want to see Travis” in the subject line and your full name and mailing address in the body. These are physical tickets that will need to be delivered. And as such, this contest will close at midnight, April 14 so that the post office has time to do their thing.

There’s interviews with the band at Planet Radiocity, Deseret News and The Salt Lake Tribune.

Video: Travis – “J Smith”
Video: Travis – “Song To Self”
Video: Travis – “Why Does It Always Rain On Me”
MySpace: Travis

Brooke FitsDamien Jurado is a big guy. At first glance, certainly not the sort of guy you’d expect to deal in songs such as his, full of frailty and heartbreak, but it just goes to show you can’t… I don’t believe I’m going to use this phrase… judge a book by its cover. But with his latest release, last year’s Caught In The Trees, it seems Jurado is adding a new chapter to that book, one with brighter tones and tempos and perhaps a lighter mood. The plot is unchanged from one of dark, aching beauty, but at least the setting has shifted a bit.

Jurado is taking his show on the road this Spring accompanied by Laura Gibson and will be at the Drake Underground in Toronto next Tuesday night, April 14. And courtesy of Against The Grain, I’ve got a pair of passes to give away for the show. To enter, email me at contests AT chromewaves.net with “I want to see Damien Jurado” in the subject line and your full name in the body, and get that to me by midnight Sunday, April 12.

MP3: Damien Jurado – “Gillian Was A Horse”
MP3: Damien Jurado – “What Were The Chances”
MP3: Damien Jurado – “White Center”
MP3: Damien Jurado – “Texas To Ohio”
MySpace: Damien Jurado