My Morning Jacket are the latest band to make my October that much more intense, announcing a show at the Guvernment on October 19 in support of their new album Z, out October 4 (This is what you’ll be looking for on store shelves that day, FYI). Kathleen Edwards is opening all dates on the tour EXCEPT for Toronto. Figures.

The only track I’ve heard off of Z so far is the reggae-ish “Off The Record”, but word is a) that the album is very good and b) quite different. There’s apparently less of the hair-whipping Southern rock stylee that characterized It Still Moves, which is just as well since Jim James and company have cut their hair and it ain’t all that suited to whipping around anymore. Maybe the band got their Southern rocks jones out channelling Skynyrd for their appearance in the new Cameron Crowe film, Elizabethtown, where they play a cover band in a bar playing “Freebird”. I’ve always like Cameron Crowe’s films – they’re clever but not snotty and always have genuine heart to them, something that’s all too rare in Hollywood. The film opens October 14, and you can check out the trailer here – it’s weird seeing Orlando Bloom in a non-fantasy/period setting. I kept expecting him to pull out a longsword and behead Kirsten Dunst or something.

But back to MMJ – if you want to hear some of the new stuff (and some old stuff), Glide has the whole of their Bonnarroo set from June available to download in MP3 format.

Thanks to Bradley’s Almanac for pointing out this Rotoscope-y video for The American Analog Set’s “Come Home Baby Julie, Come Home”, off of their last album Promise Of Love. I was listening to a few more tracks off of the upcoming Set Free and they were excellent. This will be a good one.

And on the topic of Arts & Crafts artists, the official word on the new Broken Social Scene album is out – it will be eponymous, in stores October 4 and early pressings will come with a bonus 7-song EP entitled EP To Be You And Me. They’ve also offering a free download of the much bootlegged and distributed song “7/4 (Shoreline)” for a week. You can also grok the artwork for the new album via the same link.

The details of the Three Gut fifth anniversary (and farewell) parties are out. It’ll be a doubleheader of sorts, firstly with an all-ages show on the afternoon of August 20 at the Tranzac, with performances by Jim Guthrie and Gentleman Reg and solo sets from members of Royal City, The Constantines, Oakley Hall and others. Then the nite cap will happen just down the street at Lee’s Palace with The Constantines, Oakley Hall, Oneida and Kinski.

Village Voice. Sufjan Stevens. You thought I was kidding when I said I was doing one of these a day, didn’t you?

The upcoming week in shows for Torontoist.

np – My Morning Jacket / Bonnaroo 2005