While I will freely admit that I probably don’t give enough ink to worthy Toronto acts, the only one I actually feel guilty about not having written up before now is Mr Tony Dekker – he who is Great Lake Swimmers. I’d seen GLS a few times live – always opening for someone else, never on purpose – but always walked away very impressed and thinking, “I need to get some of that boy’s records”. And never got around to it until recently, when I picked up a copy of their latest release Bodies And Minds.

It’s a gorgeous record, with Dekker’s plaintive voice skipping overtop the gently fingerpicked guitar and ghostly backing band of pedal steel, organ and banjo like a pebble on a perfectly still lake. Recorded in a church, the vibe is intimate and spacious at the same time – like being curled up in a little ball on a wide open plain. And, as you can tell, it has a way of eliciting nature metaphors from those trying to describe it. Though primarly composed of slow, sad songs, tracks like “When It Flows” prove that Dekker can write more upbeat, poppier material if he chooses to. But considering the sad-eyed, sepia-toned melancholy that’s innate to Dekker’s voice and pen, there wouldn’t be a word of complaint if he stuck only to the downbeat, slowcore-ish material – he’s just so good at it.

It’s also interesting that whether playing solo or with his band, the songs always feel perfectly accompanied – truly a testament to the sensitivity the players have for the material. I expect the full band will be out this Saturday afternoon when Great Lake Swimmers performing on a Great Lake at 2:00PM as part of Indie Unlimited at Harbourfront Centre. Anyone asking the band if they’re going to go for a swim will be summarily removed. Amy Millan, whose Honey From The Tombs was just released in the US to lukewarm reviews, is on at 3:30.

MP3: Great Lake Swimmers – “Various Stages”
MP3: Great Lake Swimmers – “Bodies And Minds”
Video: Great Lake Swimmers – “To Leave It Behind”
MySpace: Great Lake Swimmers

Chart talks to Joel Gibb about what lays ahead for The Hidden Cameras, both with respect to new album AWOO and beyond as well as his love of Toronto. The Hidden Cameras will headline the aforementioned Indie Unlimited festival at Harbourfront on Saturday. They’re on at 9:30 PM.

And the Sunday schedule at Harbourfront ain’t too shabby either… unless you like singers. The mainstage acts will be vibraphone love-fest The Hylozoists, with whom Tandem has a brief chat, and Arcade Fire alumnus Belle Orchestre. The former are on at 3PM, the latter at 4:30.

Cokemachineglow talks to Sadies bassist Sean Dean about live album In Concert, Volume One and playing live in general, The Montreal Mirror chats up Travis Good and The Rochester Democrat & Chronicle talks to Dallas about pretty much the same. No one wanted to talk to Mike Belitsky, I guess. Pitchfork gave In Concert a 7.5.

Today’s post is kind of slight – I spent much of last night prepping for tonight’s Shoegaze cover show at the Tranzac, which I shall be DJ-ing in incredibly lazy fashion. Which is to say, I’ve burned a few mix CDs and will just be letting those spin through the night. Don’t give me that look. No one’s coming out to see me play Rob Gordon – they’re going to be there to see Fjord Rowboat, Wyrd Visions, No Dynamics, The Assistants and T.O. supergroup The Black Rabbit pay homage to the best music of the early 90s at probably excruciating volumes. Oh baby. But yeah, things get under way at 9PM so come on out. I dare you.

np – Dirty On Purpose / Hallelujah Sirens

As far as the music industry goes, this Tuesday effectively marks the end of Summer and the start of the Fall album season, as the record stores are going to be deluged with great new releases from now till at least October (at which point the new releases trickle off and are replaced by compilations and box sets for the holiday season). Here’s a Hollywood Squares of stuff that’ll be in stores today that’s worth your time and money – some of it I’ve talked about, others I will probably get to in the future, but most I’ve heard and can certainly recommend.

On topic, BrooklynVegan linked to this Yahoo News piece wondering if backloading the big-name releases in the fourth quarter is really the best strategy for the industry. Not surprisingly, none of the albums I’m excited about are referenced in the piece – after all, it despairs me to no end to know that all of these records, combined, will be outsold by Paris Hilton’s debut CD. Probably exponentially.

But enough sad thoughts. Time to plan your trip to the record store – most of these artists are on tour as well.

Eric Bachmann / To The Races
MP3: Eric Bachmann – “Lonesome Warrior”
On tour – in Toronto @ The Horseshoe, September 16

Early Day Miners / Offshore
MP3: Early Day Miners – “Return Of The Native”
On tour – in Toronto @ The Tranzac, September 13

Headlights / Kill Them With Kindness
MP3: Headlights – “Put Us Back Together Right”
On tour

The Hidden Cameras – AWOO
MP3: The Hidden Cameras – “Death Of A Tune”
On tour – in Toronto @ Harbourfront Centre, August 26 and @ Olympic Island, September 9

Lambchop / Damaged
MP3: Lambchop – “Crackers”
On tour – in Toronto @ The Mod Club, September 24

Jason Molina / Let Me Go Let Me Go Let Me Go
MP3: Jason Molina – “Get Out Get Out Get Out”
On tour – in Toronto @ Lee’s Palace, September 12

The Mountain Goats / Get Lonely!
MP3: The Mountain Goats – “Woke Up New”
On tour – in Toronto @ Lee’s Palace, September 19

Chad Van Gaalen / Skelliconnection
MP3: Chad Van Gaalen – “Flower Gardens”
On tour

What Made Milwaukee Famous / Trying To Never Catch Up
MP3: What Made Milwaukee Famous – “Sweet Lady”
On tour – in Toronto @ Lee’s Palace, October 4

And speaking of WWMF, Stereogum has an quickie interview with the band and AOL is streaming the whole of their album right now. Also, Punknews reports that the vinyl version of Bachmann’s To The Races will have a different version of the title track – with vocals – and Pitchfork has a faint praise review of the Headlights record.

The Grates give PopMatters a guide to touring on the cheap. Gravity Won’t Get You High is out next Tuesday and they’re at Lee’s Palace with Rogue Wave on September 9.

Figurines, who are Danish by the way, are at the Horseshoe on October 22, tickets $10. And Jet are at the Guvernment October 1.

If you were wondering why Grizzly Bear cancelled their Fall tour including the Sept 23 date at the El Mocambo, it’s because they’re now supporting TV On The Radio on their tour, including the October 12 date at the Opera House. Pitchfork has details and full dates.

And Pulse Of The Twin Cities has a piece on digital music and includes a nice shout-out to yours truly. Nice enough that I will refrain from commenting on the minefield of bad HTML special characters throughout the piece.

np – Catfish Haven / Tell Me

When I went on my Scandanavian theme week back in mid-May, I was a little confounded about how I came up empty for decent or interesting Danish bands. I mean, I didn’t look THAT hard, but certainly couldn’t think of any I wanted to write about off the top of my head.

First off, I have to confess that their famously awful album art kept me from listening to Mew’s And the Glass Handed Kites for… I don’t know how long. But it was a while. Not as long as it’s taken the album to get a North American release (it came out in Europe in 2004 2005), but still – a while. But when I did finally pop it in the CD player, my initial reaction was… what the hell. A lot of reviews have referenced Sigur Ros in trying to describe Mew’s sound, but I’ve found more often than not such parallels are lazy writing applied to any Scandanavian band that doesn’t sound like The Hives.

In Mew’s case, the comparisons are simultaneously dead-on yet way-off. Jonas Bjerre’s voice can indeed soar to the stratosphere like Jonsi Birgisson’s and with a similar wide-eyed, childlike quality and the band often reaches even further into space in their musical ambitions. But if Sigur Ros evokes the frozen beauty of a glacier plain, Mew dwell in the hyper-kinetic, ultra-urban neon wilderness of glass and stainless steel. The quartet spew out epic-length glammy post-prog-space rock with touches of Queen-approved arena-metal grandiosity. There’s even a couple J Mascis guest vocals – it’s an unusually demented sort of band that actually invites J to sing on a record, and for that they have my respect. I intially found it hard to believe what I was hearing was created unironically but I think that’s more a comment on my own musical cynicism than anything else. No, these Danes mean every soaring note and I think the world is a better place for it.

And if Mew wasn’t enough to cement Denmark’s place in the musical firmament, I was recently introduced to their countrymen Under Byen, whose name means “under the city”. They’re very aptly named because their slow, druggy aesthetic really does sound subterranean in a modern-day, steampunk sort of way… actually, it sounds like the lost soundtrack to Jean-Pierre Jeunet’s City Of Lost Children, by turns tinkling like a music box or clanging like pipes, hypnotic and beautifully creepy. Adding to the mysteriousness is the fact that all vocals are in Danish, though that’s probably less otherworldly if you speak Danish. One might be tempted to call them a hybrid of Sigur Ros (them again!) and Amina fronted by Bjork, but while that’s quantitatively quite accurate, it also sounds more than a little cliche and doesn’t do the band nearly enough justice for the uniqueness of their sound.

The band has just signed a North American deal with Toronto’s Paper Bag Records, who will release their latest album Samme Stof Som Stof (“Same Fabric As Fabric”) on September 26. They will be playing Pop Montreal on October 5 with Joanna Newsom, so that’s a “for sure” on my calendar – presumably/hopefully there will be a Toronto date to go along with that, perhaps with Newsom again on October 4 at the Mod Club? Pure speculation.

Since both bands are quite established back in their homeland (if wholly unknown on these shores), there’s a surplus of audio and video materials to get acquainted with. Mew, in high gear promoting the album in North America, recently did a session for AOL’s Interface and Pitchfork has an exclusive MP3 to audition. Spin also has some streams. As for Under Byen, this comprehensive fansite has plenty to get you started.

So yeah, Denmark. Way to go. No more Aqua jokes.

MP3: Mew – “Chinaberry Tree”
MP3: Under Byen – “Af Samme Stof Som Stof”
MP3: Under Byen – “Den Her Sang Handler Om At Fa Det Bedste Ud Af Det”
Video: Mew – “Special” (YouTube)
Video: Mew – “The Zookeper’s Boy” (YouTube)
Video: Under Byen – “Af Samme Stof Som Stof” (YouTube)
MySpace: Mew
MySpace: Under Byen

PopMatters talks to Bobby Gillespie about Primal Scream’s new one Riot City Blues, which is out tomorrow.

So Much Silence has MP3-ified Rob Dickinson’s recent radio session for WOXY.

Lily Allen, aka this year’s model (for overexposed internet sensations) has booked a Toronto date at the Mod Club Lee’s Palace on October 8. Via For The Records.

Yo La Tengo tell Scotsman.com they don’t like the term “indie”. I Am Not Afriad Of You And I Will Beat Your Ass is out September 12.

Watched Kicking And Screaming last night. The Noah Baumbach film, not the Will Ferrell one. Enjoyed it. Realized it has been seven years since I graduated from university. Spent the rest of the night in severe depression.

And yes, I was down all morning. Believe me, I know.

np – Great Lake Swimmers / Bodies And Minds

Oppenheimer / Oppenheimer (Bar/None) The self-titled debut from Irish duo Oppenheimer is indie-pop by the numbers – soft vocals, bleeping and whirring synths, jangle-fuzz guitars and upbeat hooks galore. There’s nothing here that will change anyone’s life but by god it will get those skinny, indie kid non-asses on the dance floor who will ask, “who is this?” and then forget they even cared the moment the song is over. Required milk crate fodder for everyone who fancies themselves an indie rock DJ, which means they should sell about a zillion copies. They play Sneaky Dee’s on August 24 with Lifestyle and Bad Flirt. Video: Oppenheimer – “Breakfast In NYC” (YouTube) MySpace: Oppenheimer

My Brightest Diamond / Bring Me The Workhorse (Asthmatic Kitty) My Brightest Diamond may not be a familiar name, but Shara Worden – she who is MBD – played Toronto a couple years ago opening for Sufjan Stevens under the name AwRY (and was/is also a member of Steven’s Michigan Militia/Illinoisemakers/etc). Though the Stevens gig probably gets all the attention, Worden is a formidable talent on her own. Bring Me The Workhorse is a dark, dramatic record that makes full use of her rich voice. Her cabaret and operatic influences are obvious but she neatly sidesteps any genre cliches and instead blends it all together to craft something quite new and different, yet still timeless. Lovely stuff. MP3: My Brightest Diamond – “Disappear” MP3: My Brightest Diamond – “Something Of An End” Video: My Brightest Diamond – “Dragonfly” (MOV) MySpace: My Brightest Diamond

Darker My Love / Darker My Love (Dangerbird) Those who were disappointed with Black Rebel Motorcycle Club’s decision to trade in their fuzzboxes for acoustic guitars and head for the Delta can take solace in the fact that they still have Los Angeles’ Darker My Love to fulfill their slow, druggy drone rock needs. Actually, to my ears, Darker My Love might actually be superior to the BRMC at their craft, having more than one speed in their transmission , more interesting production and a stronger melodic sense. But considering I was never a big Black Rebel fan, that may not be saying much. But for those who are/were, break out the leather jackets and shades – your new favourite record is out Tuesday. MP3: Darker My Love – “Summer Is Here” MP3: Darker My Love – “What’s A Man’s Paris” MP3: Darker My Love – “Helium Heels” Video: Darker My Love – “Cold And Sinus” (MySpace) MySpace: Darker My Love

np – Eric Bachmann / To The Races

It’s a shame The Mendoza Line released Full Of Light And Full Of Fire so late in 2005 because had it made it out earlier, like before critics around the country had battened down the hatches and closed the book on the record release year, it may well have made its share of best-of lists. Filled with sharp songwriting, barbed, sardonic wit, pointed political commentary and pop hooks with a sweet Southern tang (the band originally hails from Georgia though they now call Brooklyn home), in a just world it would have gotten the attention it deserved and I wouldn’t have to resort to all these silly “hook” adjectives.

Full Of Light was the first album written after co-founder Peter Hoffman’s departure from the band following the release of Fortune and while Hoffman’s contributions to the band were undeniably superb, the album does benefit from the greater focus of having just the two primary songwriters. The record has a delicious swagger and confidence that wasn’t always evident in the earlier records – Shannon McCardle’s honeyed twang has never sounded better and Tim Bracy’s nasal delivery sounds less like a poor Dylan impersonation and more like his own voice. It’s really a superb record that deserves to be revisited if you overlooked it the first time around. And if you’re in the UK, you’re in luck – it’s being released there in September so you can make up for the colonies’ mistakes and put it on your best of 2006 lists.

McCardle and Bracy also have a second band in Slow Dazzle that in their own words, is an “urbanization of their previous band’s pastoral tendencies”. While there’s definitely less down-home, front-porch grinning and picking on their only release so far, The View From The Floor, and more programmed beats and loops, the distinctiveness of the couple’s voices – both singing and writing – makes it sound very much like another Mendoza Line record, which, for the record, is a good thing. And they know it, happily performing Slow Dazzle material in Mendoza Line live shows.

I caught them live at SxSW after having to bail on their Toronto show last December, but have to admit was a bit disappointed in their performance. It was their fourth or fifth performance of the festival, though, so they were allowed to be a little lethargic. This live set available for download at Southern Shelter from last month sounds better, though. While the band is now off the road, they’re working on new material for an EP release either this Fall or next Winter. There’s a sample from each of their last three albums below, with more MP3s to be had here.

MP3: The Mendoza Line – “Catch A Collapsing Star”
MP3: The Mendoza Line – “Let’s Not Talk About It”
MP3: The Mendoza Line – “What Ever Happened To You?”
MP3: Slow Dazzle – “Fleur De Lis”
MySpace: The Mendoza Line
MySpace: Slow Dazzle

The Stranger gets to know The Mountain Goats. Get Lonely! is out Tuesday and there’s another MP3 available courtesy of AmpCamp.

MP3: The Mountain Goats – “Wild Sage”

The Riverfront Times talks to Caithlin De Marrais of Rainer Maria. Via Largehearted Boy.

Neil Young on The Colbert Report.

Nina Persson of The Cardigans explains to Pitchfork why the band’s North American tour was cancelled and why it’s taken a year for Super Extra Gravity to find a domestic release in the US. It comes out there September 19 courtesy of Nettwerk, no bonuses for the latecomers to the party, and they may make up the cancelled tour next Summer. Here’s hoping. And The Times offers a top-ten list why The Cardigans are awesome.

Shows – The Killers are at the Kool Haus on October 20 and White Whale will be at Sneaky Dee’s on October 31.

Pitchfork has got the first MP3 from the new Hold Steady album, Boys And Girls In America, out October 3. They’re at the Horseshoe on October 28 with Sean Na Na.

np – The National / Alligator