Last time I ran a contest for passes to see Maria Taylor play here in Toronto, the show was canceled at the last minute because they were stuck in traffic and couldn’t make it. Hopefully her show next Wednesday at the Horseshoe goes off a little better, hmm? She’ll be here promoting her new album Lynn Teeter Flower which is really quite a good record, maintaining the forlorn atmosphere of her work with Azure Ray but rendered with more forthright, organic and even upbeat instrumentation. And I hear that live, she plays with a full band and actually rocks out some. As a bonus, opening will be Basia Bulat who’d be entirely worth seeing on her own and pretty much guarantees this’ll be a terrific show.

Anyway, to the contest bit – courtesy of Against The Grain, I’ve got three pairs of passes to give away to this show and this one’s straightforward – just email me at contests AT chromewaves.net with your full name in the body and “I want to see Maria Taylor” in the subject line. The contest will close at midnight, March 18. Thanks, and drive careful.

MP3: Maria Taylor – “A Good Start”
MP3: Maria Taylor – “Lost Time”

The last couple years, Canadian Music Week has been sort of like a speed bump on my way to SxSW – under other circumstances, I’d have spent more time taking in the music on offer but given the tight timelines, I usually had to either take it in in passing or not at all. This year, however, I ended up going three nights straight, starting with the Under Byen show on Thursday. Friday night I spent what was, for me at least, a record six and a half hours at the Horseshoe taking in the Chart showcase. Quite a grab bag of acts on the bill, half of which looked an awful lot like this showcase from NxNE last year. Hmm.

The first act I caught was Peter Elkas, whom I apparently saw some 12 years ago with his old act The Local Rabbits. These days he’s sporting the shaggy hair and beard that’s a uniform of sorts for Canadian roots rockers but looks can be deceiving. His bag is smooth, soul music now, and he’s pretty dang good at it. He and his band (affectionately named “Elkoholics”) found their groove early and worked it for the duration, previewing tracks from their new album Wall Of Fire, out March 20. Chart previewed the show via a Q&A with Elkas.

MP3: Peter Elkas – “Wall Of Fire”
MySpace: Peter Elkas

BC’s You Say Party! We Say Die! trade in the sort of hepped up dance-punk that whether you particularly enjoy the style or not, is always a blast to watch live… assuming the band is good at it. And YSP!WSD! are good at it. Frontwoman Becky Ninkovic was a grinning whirlwind of energy, pogoing around the stage while her band impressively managed to keep up. Sound-wise, it could have been a dozen songs or just one song played for forty minutes – it was loud, fast and all kind of blended together for me – but was a good time either way. Their new record Lose All Time is out March 20 and they’re back in town April 4 as part of the Spring Fling tour put on by Exclaim!, who also put the band on the cover of their west coast editions this month. Chart had a pre-game chat with the band.

MP3: You Say Party! We Say Die! – “Monster”
MP3: You Say Party! We Say Die! – “Opportunity”
MySpace: You Say Party! We Say Die!

Like dance-punk, hip-hop isn’t something I listen to but do enjoy seeing in person, again providing it’s done well. And Edmonton’s Cadence Weapon, probably the biggest draw on the bill this night, also delivered. With DJ Weasel manning the turntables, Cadence Weapon came out amped up and sustained the energy level through his whole intense and unpretentious set and brought the crowd’s up to match (though grabbing the people in the front row and physically shaking them helps there). There was a definite electricity in the room from his performance that lingered after much of the audience up-front cleared out with its conclusion. His Breaking Kayfabe album, nominated for a Polaris last year in Canada, is out March 13 in the US, just in time for his arrival at SxSW this week. Chart also talked to him before the festival.

MP3: Cadence Weapon – “Sharks”
MP3: Cadence Weapon – “Black Hand”
MySpace: Cadence Weapon

Personal faves Land Of Talk from Montreal drew the midnight slot and sadly got off to a bit of a rough start, thanks in no small part to an extremely drunk and pushy patron who decided then and there would be the best time to try and pick up frontwoman Liz Powell. Loudly and persistently. They (and we up front) did our best to ignore him – not an easy task – and the band eventually did find their footing about midway through the set and finished strongly. Overall not their best performance (their set opening for The Dears back in October was fierce and set the standard from my POV) but still enjoyable and it was great to hear new material that will appear on their next record, hopefully out by the Fall. Their current EP/mini-album, Applause Cheer Boo Hiss will be out on March 20 in the US. Canadians have no excuse to not already own it.

MP3: Land Of Talk – “Speak To Me Bones”
MySpace: Land Of Talk

Unintentionally, I missed the whole of Kill The Lights’ set on account of, well, talking to other people. But I can say that they were very loud. Their debut album Buffalo Of Love is out tomorrow and they’ll be on MTV Canada to celebrate.

MySpace: Kill The Lights

By this point, it was way past my bedtime and while I was doing alright, wakefulness-wise, all things considered, I needed a pick-me-up to make it through the night and The Adam Brown (definite article mandatory) provided just the rock injection necessary. They may come from Montreal but they live in a world where the language spoken is Marshall Stack and “yeah yeah yeah” is as profound a lyric as anything Dylan could have written. No frills, no fuss, no muss, just arrow-straight old school rock’n’roll and loads of fun. They didn’t care that there was but a fraction of the audience left over from earlier in the night – it just meant there was more room for dancing. My second wind lasted about exactly as long as their set… and then I went home and collapsed. Chart chatted with the band before the show.

Video: The Adam Brown – “Big Roker” (YouTube)
MySpace: The Adam Brown

ACT TWO. Or three. Anyways, I was undecided on what, if anything, I was going to do for Saturday night. Sleep was an option, as was playing Guitar Hero 2 at Graig’s (probably as close as I’m going to get to fulfilling my dream of covering “Tonight I’m Going To Rock You Tonight”). I thought about trying to catch The Pipettes but decided (correctly) that that would be folly. And so it happened that I ended up at the Whipper Snapper Gallery for Paper Bag’s showcase.

I arrived a bit late for The Hot Springs’ set, but still in time to be impressed. I arrived a bit late for The Hot Springs’ set, but still in time to be impressed. Fronted by the intense, entertaining and probably a little unhinged Giselle Webber and her distinctive warble, the Montrealers take equal parts of ’70s punk and classic rock (and metal) and mash them together into something unnatural, unholy and bilingual. I had intended to catch them last October at Pop Montreal but was sidetracked. But hey – better late than never.

MP3: The Hot Springs – “Bacteria”
MP3: The Hot Springs – “Caco Disco”
MySpace: The Hot Springs

And what better way to wrap up Canadian Music Week (for me) than with a band I’ve called “quintessentially Canadian”, Ottawa’s The Acorn. They seemed to be feeding off the cozy, informal environment of the Gallery and were extra loose and jovial, shrugging off technical difficulties and malfunctioning amps to still turn in a sweet and upbeat set of shimmering pop. My love for any band that not only utilizes the ukulele – but swaps it between band members – continues unabated. If you’ve not discovered the joys of the Acorn yet, keep April 12 open as they play the Drake Underground that night.

MP3: The Acorn – “Blankets”
MP3: The Acorn – “Plates & Saucers”
MySpace: The Acorn

And that was my weekend. Like the recipe promised, a healthy dollop of Canadian talent from across the country covering a range of sounds and styles. The Toronto Star has their best picks from the fest and Chart is still compiling all their showcase report cards. And, as usual, here’s the photographic evidence that I’m not just making this all up.

Photos: The Adam Brown, Land Of Talk, Cadence Weapon, You Say Party! We Say Die! Peter Elkas @ The Horseshoe – March 9, 2007
Photos: The Acorn, The Hot Springs @ The Whipper Snapper Gallery – March 10, 2007

Dean & Britta tonight! I’ll be putting the review together en route to Austin so with luck I’ll have it up by late afternoon/early evening. Before SxSW devours everything, anyway.

Update: Almost two days before someone told me I forgot to put up the link to the Of Montreal cover of The Who. Geez people, you have to help me to help you. Anyway, it’s there now.

Flurry of concert announcements yesterday – I myself am most/only exited about Maximo Park’s gig at the Mod Club on July 14 in support of their new album Our Earthly Pleasures. Maximo’s Paul Smith tells GigWise the new album is better than the first one, but of course he’d say that, wouldn’t he? We’ll found out when it’s released on April 3 in the UK and May 8 in North America. I think they played here a number of times in 2005 in support of A Certain Trigger but I was not, as the kids say, in the know at that time. But now I am hip to their jive. Billboard has full North American tour dates.

We’re also having something of an invasion of French electronic duos this Summer. Think about that. Being invaded by the French. Air bring their Pocket Symphony to the Kool Haus on May 5 while Daft Punk roll into Arrow Hall three months later on August 5 with The Rapture in tow. Pitchfork has full dates for both Air and Daft Punk.

If you like your indie-dance hybrids a little more pointy, !!! (Chk Chk Chk) are at Lee’s Palace on May 19 for the final date of their North American tour.

And finally, Black Rebel Motorcycle Club celebrate the release of their new album Baby 81 with a gig at the Kool Haus on May 26, full dates at Pollstar.

And some other stuff to clear out before things get SxSW wacky for the next week…

Glorious Noise has an interview with producer Larry Crane, who’s overseeing the release of New Moon on May 8, a double-disc collection of Elliott Smith rarities.

USA Today talks to Michael Stipe on the occasion of REM’s induction into the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame on Monday. You can watch the induction ceremonies live online at Spinner.com, if you’re so inclined – they also have a Q&A with ol’ Stipey. And Billboard reports that the band is set to enter the studio to recored their 14th album with the guy who produced U2’s How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb and Snow Patrol’s Final Straw, but also Bloc Party’s latest. Interesting…?

Billboard has details on The Shepherd’s Dog, the new album from Iron & Wine due out in September.

Jay Farrar chats briefly with Harp about Son Volt’s new one The Search. They’re at the Mod Club on April 12.

Jeff Tweedy tells Billboard he’s not concerned about Wilco’s Sky Blue Sky having leaked to the internet months before its official May 15 release date thanks to last weekend’s full-album preview… and to prove it, they’re streaming the whole thing again tomorrow from 10AM to 10PM EST.

The Broward-Palm Beach New Times talks to The Hold Steady’s Franz Nicolay while The New York Times goes out for a night on the town with the band.

Harp and CMJ sing the praises of Daytrotter. Daytrotter blushes.

I didn’t get to bed till almost 4 last night. I need a coffee. Talk amongst yourselves.

When was the last time I did a morning-after concert review? Been a while, so thank the early start time at the Mod Club last night (and the fact that I had nothing else ready for today).

As previewed yesterday, last night was the start of the Scandinavian invasion of Canadian Music Week, with Denmark’s Under Byen and Sweden’s Frida Hyvonen in town and sharing a bill with Toronto’s Ohbijou. The locals opened things up and as with each other time I’ve seen them, they were wonderful. Though the difference between calling them “chamber pop” and “orch-pop” seems academic, the distinction is evident when you compare their record Swift Feet For Troubling Times (the former) with their live show (the latter), the respective differences enough to make both required listening/seeing. Onstage, even when saddled with an overly muddy mix as they were last night, they were nothing less than beguiling – a swirl of strings, horns, guitars, keys and creative percussion topped with sweet vocals. No cover of “Heartbeat” this time but as always, a delight.

Though the stage was a veritable sea of musical equipment at the start of the night – both Ohbijou and Under Byen come heavily equipped and must be a roadie’s nightmare – most of it was cleared off, save for a single keyboard, for Frida Hyvonen. And even alone onstage and at an angle with her back facing much of the audience, she was mesmerizing. Dressed in a light coloured dress (with pockets) which combined with her beyond-fair complexion and platinum hair made her look like an apparition, her personality veered from loopy to almost maniacal in chatting with the audience in between performing songs from Until Death Comes (which is also equal parts loopy and manic), yet always entertainingly so. And just when you were convinced this woman was completely off her nut, she’d pull out a ballad of such remarkable beauty that your head would spin and your heart would break. As much as I enjoy the record, I certainly didn’t expect her set to be so much fun. But she was. And it was good.

As much as I enjoy the recording of Samme Stof Som Stof, it was seeing Under Byen at last Fall in Montreal that really drove home how good and unique this eight-piece is and sealed the deal for me as a fan. The lineup seems to have changed a bit since that show in October, but they were every bit as sonically devastating last night, probably even more so. Achieving volume by means of layers and layers of instrumentation and not by simply turning amps up (though having two drummers going full tilt certainly helps raise the noise floor), Under Byen offered a fresh and exciting take on what one might reductively call post-rock though that really doesn’t do their art justice. Their set comprised Samme Stof material and a fair bit that I didn’t recognize, but they’re not exactly a band that needs to air out the hit singles to satisfy – just by sheer force of performance they could win over a total newcomer and I wager they did just that last night. So, so good.

Photos: Under Byen, Frida Hyvonen, Ohbijou @ The Mod Club – March 8, 2007
MP3: Under Byen – “Af Samme Stof Som Stof”
MP3: Under Byen – “Den Her Sang Handler Om At Fa Det Bedste Ud Af Det”
MP3: Frida Hyvonen – “You Never Got Me Right”
MP3: Ohbijou – “Misty Eyes”
MP3: Ohbijou – “Steep”
Video: Under Byen – “Af Samme Stof Som Stof” (YouTube)
Video: Frida Hyvonen – “I Drive My Friend” (MOV)
Video: Frida Hyvonen – “The Modern” (MOV)
Video: Ohbijou – “The Woods” (MOV)
MySpace: Under Byen
MySpace: Frida Hyvonen
MySpace: Ohbijou

Billboard talks to Feist about her new album The Reminder, out May 1. She plays Massey Hall on May 26.

From Blown Speakers is reporting that Metric’s long-lost (yet not hard to find if you know where to look) first album Grow Up And Blow Away will be getting re-released this Summer, though I don’t know if that’s the right term since it wasn’t really released the first time around. What I’ve heard sounds almost a world away from their current synth-rock sound so it’ll be interesting to see how it’s received. Also, Uberdrivel has a live Metric set from 2005 available to download.

Looking forward to seeing Land Of Talk at the ‘Shoe tonight. Filter just posted the schedule for all of their shows at SxSW next week, and they’re managing to squeeze a remarkable seven performances into their four days in Austin. The one to see, of course, will be at Hot Freaks on Saturday, 1:30PM at the Mohawk. The preceding five shows are just warm-ups. Yeah.

So tonight begins what will almost certainly be an insane eleven days punctuated by Canadian Music Week here at home over the next three nights and then SxSW in Austin for most of next week. I’m bracing myself as best I can but it’s akin to holding tightly onto a tree in the face of an incoming hurricane – any way you slice it, you’re gonna get buffeted.

For me – and for many – things kick off tonight with Under Byen, Frida Hyvonen and Ohbijou at the Mod Club – a rock solid bill that doesn’t actually rock at all in the conventional sense. Under Byen’s concert page also states that they and Frida Hyvonen will be on MTV Live tonight. I believe you can be part of the studio audience if you show up at the studio at Yonge and Davenport at 5PM – don’t take my word for it, call them for details. And the Mod Club show is an early one so if you’re going, be there by 7:30 when Ohbijou is scheduled to go on. eye features Under Byen on this week’s cover, The Toronto Star has a profile and Stereogum, who is presenting the tour, has a couple of new remixes from the Danish band’s latest album Samme Stof Som Stof, and they will be playing multiple times at SxSW though their official showcase is at 9:00 on Thursday, March 15 in Emo’s. And congrats to Dmitri, Vincent and Jonathan who won the Frida Hyvonen CDs.

Then tomorrow I’ll be spending far longer than any one person should at the Horseshoe for the Chart-sponsored showcase featuring a wealth of Canadian talent. Land Of Talk will be the highlight for me, but the bill also includes (in no particular order) Vancouver dance-punkers You Say Party! We Say Die!, former Local Rabbit Peter Elkas, Edmonton hip-hop artist and newest addition to the Anti-/Epitaph roster Cadence Weapon, Montreal rock machine The Adam Brown, Haligonian roots rockers The Divorcees Vancouver I’ve-no-idea-what-to-call-them Mother Mother and Toronto/Montreal’s Kill The Lights. Yeah that’s a hell of a lot of acts for one night but the ‘Shoe is open till 4AM this weekend. Don’t expect me to last the whole thing.

Saturday night is up in the air – right now I’ve got The Acorn and friends at the Whippersnapper Gallery on the calendar, though I’m not sure if that’s an actual CMW show, but I’m also tempted by The Coast and Santa Dog at Clinton’s or even make a half-assed attempted to see The Pipettes at the Rivoli, though that’s almost certainly not going to happen. And less likely but still worthy of note are post-rockers The Red Sparowes at the El Mocambo, Leeroy Stagger at the Hideout or The Golden Dogs, Yoko Casionos and Jenn Grant at the Horseshoe. Or I could stay home and sleep.

NOW, The Toronto Sun, and The Toronto Star offer up some of their picks for the festival while eye, being sponsor of the event, has a full sched with bios and a slew of other features, profiles and interviews. Torontoist is making their picks day-by-day and The Toronto Star also considers the state of the festival, celebrating its 25th anniversary this year.

While a saner course of action for Monday night would be getting organized to catch a plane to Austin the next morning, I will instead be seeing Dean & Britta at the Mod Club that night. Packing can wait till later (but hopefully not too late). Dean Wareham talks to NOW about going back on the road after two years away and progress on his memoir (also check out the audio clips at the bottom of the page) and to Chart about same. Phillips, meanwhile, talks to Harp about her second life as a cartoon.

As for SxSW? Oh man. Still haven’t wrangled a wristband but I’ve got a plan (or a few plans) for rectifying that once I get to Texas. I’ll be posting my schedule in the next couple days for those who are curious, but in the meantime check out Drowned In Sound’s picks – three of four are up, the last one will be posted tomorrow. They’ve also got this piece asking various UK music execs what their SxSW plans are. Besides BBQ. But you know what I’m looking forward to the most? This.

A couple of bits that, in an ideal world, would have gone in yesterday’s post – Tripwire has a rather expansive interview with Jarvis Cocker, who also tells NME there is no Pulp reunion in the works. Ted Leo tells Harp 10 things you didn’t know about him. Number eleven might be the fact that he has a new ecard with a Living With The Living preview.

And I finally got my copy of the Arcade Fire album yesterday. One listen in? It’s alright. The Malaysia Star has a rather large profile of the band from The Chicago Tribune‘s Greg Kot.