Jenn Grant plans splendid Honeymoon

jenngrant.comJust to be clear – Haligonian songstress Jenn Grant’s upcoming Toronto show would have been pretty much a must-see regardless. Her latest album Honeymoon Punch is just about the record I’ve been hoping she’d make since she arrived with her debut Orchestra For The Moon in 2007. It sheds some of the overly tasteful production choices that held it and 2009’s Echoes back and gets both breezy and scrappy, pushing the electric guitars up, and introducing synths and nimble rhythms to accompany Grant’s splendid voice and accentuate its playful qualities.

In short, it’s a treat and the opportunity to hear these songs live would have made for a great evening unto itself, but Grant’s gone off and stacked the bill meaning that if you’re anywhere but the Horseshoe Tavern from doors to last call on February 19, it can only be because you are crazy. Opening up the evening will be Calgary’s Rae Spoon, whose 2010 hybrid electro-folk effort Love Is A Hunter surprised and impressed and then you’ll have London’s Olenka & The Autumn Lovers, whose second full-length And Now We Sing may have been an 11th hour add to my year-end list but has more than proven that it belongs in the weeks since. Folks, this will be a superb show and there’s not much else to say besides that tickets are $15 in advance and you should get one.

The Chronicle Herald and Chart have interviews with Jenn Grant while Here chats with Rae Spoon.

MP3: Olenka & The Autumn Lovers – “Odessa”
MP3: Rae Spoon – “Death By Elektro”
Video: Jenn Grant – “Getcha Good”

Earlier that day – 5:30PM to be exact – you can see another Canadian buzz band in Braids as they play an in-store at Sonic Boom in advance of their show at the El Mocambo later that evening in support of Baths. They do pretty much nothing for me but their just-released debut Native Speaker is garnering all kinds of praise so I’m betting people will be interested in seeing them for free (well, for the price of a canned good donation). There’s interviews with the band at Culture Bully and Midnight Poutine, and they just released a new video.

MP3: Braids – “Plath Heart”
Video: Braids – “Plath Heart”

It’s a combination of words that I just can’t reconcile – “The Lowest Of The Low” and “Massey Hall” – and yet those two very things will come together when the Low, whose 2007 dissolution clearly hasn’t taken, play the fanciest stage the city has to offer. Tickets are $29.50 and $49.50 plus fees. The Low. Massey Hall. Crazy-pants.

MP3: The Lowest Of The Low – “Bleed A Little While Tonight”
MP3: The Lowest Of The Low – “Subversives”

Basia Bulat performs a Tiny Desk Concert for NPR.

QRO talks to Greg Alsop of Tokyo Police Club. They play Edgefest 2011 at Downsview Park on July 9.

The Sadies have released a new video from Darker Circles, made with a little help from The Hilarious House of Frightenstein.

Video: The Sadies – “Another Day Again”

Also with a new video are Born Ruffians, who’ve just announced a cross-Canada tour that at present doesn’t include a Toronto date. But there’ll be one. They live here for goodness’ sake. They have to come back eventually.

Video: Born Ruffians – “The Ballad Of Moose Bruce”

Gentleman Reg checks in with NOW from the road and discusses how writing is going for his next album.

NPR, The AV Club, Exclaim, American Songwriter and The Vancouver Sun all have interviews with Dan Bejar of Destroyer about his new record Kaputt. He plays Lee’s Palace on March 31.

The Line Of Best Fit has got another “Oh! Canada” compilation of Can-con goodies available to download. That’s fourteen, if you’re counting.