Hold My Life brings us one of the coolest things I’ve seen in ages – high-quality live video concert footage of a ridiculously young and raw Replacements circa 1991 1981, courtesy of their old label, TwinTone.

While it’s nice that the TwinTone website is finally putting up some decent material from their vaults, it’s still a crime that there’s not definitive ‘Mats resource on the web. Themats.com went AWOL a little while ago and all Google has otherwise are pages for that Keanu Reeves movie of the same name. Someone should do something about that. Someone besides me.

Update: Jeff submits Color Me Impressed – certainly looks promising to me!

eye runs a cover story on Emm Gryner, talking to her about her new record Songs Of Love And Death, out Tuesday.

The Gedge rattles off ten favourite album for Amazon.co.uk. The Wedding Present’s Take Fountain is out February 15.

Hooray to me for getting a namecheck in this week’s Anti-Hit List for linking the new Doves single, “Black & White Town” a little while back. And for an encore, here’s the video. (Via Poptart) A touch ironic that a song called “Black & White Town” would be their first promo clip shot in colour, no? Some Cities is out March 1, and preliminary reviews are very good.

Scenestars is first out of the box with the new Idlewild single, “Love Steals Us From Loneliness”. The album, Warnings/Promises is out March 8 (I think/hope). Torr reports that Idlewild will be at SXSW this year, along with ten other Scottish bands enjoying the fruits of government arts grants.

Ex-Helium frontwoman Mary Timony releases Ex-Hex, her first album for Lookout!, in mid-April. More details from Billboard.

While there is no Toronto date yet, Steve Earle is touring across Canada at the end of February – graphing distance versus time, we see that a February 28 show in Winnipeg should hopefully hopefully translate into a Toronto show at the very start of March… assuming this isn’t just a western swing and he’s going home after the ‘Peg. But, fingers crossed that he will make it over here and that it’ll be at Massey Hall and not the Kool Haus…

NOW previews Neko Case’s show this Sunday at the Phoenix, asking her about the making of The Tigers Have Spoken. She also talks about the making of her new studio album and confesses that we’ll be lucky to see a Fall release date – the original Spring target is right out.

NOW also points out that The Comas’ show February 16 at Lee’s is free! Excellent.

My Blog Is Poop lists off twenty-four reasons they love 24. From Information Leafblower.

This Super Mario Bros sheet music almost makes me wish I still knew how to play piano. Almost.

np – The Radio Dept. / Lesser Matters

Infernal Affairs = good frickin’ movie, though I can’t decide if the title is clever or awful. Originally released in Hong Kong in 2002 where it sell all kinds of box office records, it’s finally gotten some kind of lame ass release over here – I just rented the DVD though. For those not in the know, it’s a cop film about two cops – one of whom is a police mole in the Triads, the other is a Triad mole in the police department. As their respective operations come into conflict, they’re each charged with uncovering the identity of the other resulting in a pretty intense game of cat and mouse. I won’t reveal too much as it’s really worth seeing, but as the plot thicks, their respective orbits become more and more intertwined and their loyalties more and more convoluted and suspect until they all (naturally) come to a head. My only complaint would be that for undercover cops, they don’t seem to know the slightest thing about staying out of sight. For example, tailing a gangster’s car in a huge marked SUV or trying to follow the suspect by walking maybe 10 metres behind him very loudly? Come on.

Massively successful in Hong Kong, it’s already spawned two sequels, though the second film is technically a prequel. I’ve taken a look at the synopses and reviews and don’t know if I really want to see either of them – The film does just fine as a standalone story. Apparently Martin Scorcese wants to do a remake, I would be intrigued to see how that turns out. There’s nothing inherently Asian about the film, so in the right hands – and I think Scorcese qualifies – it could be just as good as a Western film. By the by, the ‘alternate ending’ on the DVD sucked major ass. Why even bother? But do see the film, it’s good.

Coolfer declares the Arcade Fire the most over-blogged band of 2004. I can’t really argue with that, I’m as guilty as anyone, but over-blogged doesn’t really reflect on the quality of the music – just the extent of the media feeding frenzy. And while I’m also guilty for giving constant props to Ted Leo, I stopped being interested in Franz Ferdinand in early Summer, only got involved in the Ashlee Simpson SNL fiasco for a couple days and didn’t actually write about Death Cab that much at all, all things considered. No new album and no Toronto shows pretty much kept them off my radar. I’m surprised that Wilco didn’t make his list, however. I would think that I alone would have tipped the scales to over-saturation. But the basic premise of his post is a little silly – all I do is talk about what interests me, and I suspect other bloggers do the same. I have no control over what anyone else writes nor do I especially care. And I think I make up for it – come on, when’s the last time anyone did a big post for, say, Six By Seven? Never, that’s when. But blogging is inherently viral – when something is legitimately good or interesting, the snowball effect is unavoidable.

Metric’s show at the Mod Club has turned into a bit of a residency – with both the original January 21 date sold out and the added January 22 date following close behind, they’ve now added a third show for Sunday January 23.

Billboard previews The Decemberists’ Picaresque, out March 22.

Good news – Eisley is coming to town. Bad news – they’re playing the Kool Haus opening for New Found Glory and Reggie & The Full Effect (April 3, if you’re actually interested). This is actually exactly what I expected to happen – by signing to a major label this early in their career, they’ve pretty much eliminated the chance of a club tour of their own, and will spend all their time opening for other acts I have no interest in seeing ad nauseum. Alas.

The CMW schedule is up. As expected, it’s mainly the same bands we usually see playing around town. Tahiti 80 are confirmed for the Reverb on Friday, March 4 as part of the “French Music Export Showcase”, along with Sebastien Tellier, Ghinzu and Vegomatic – admission $10 at the door or by wristband. Also promising is the lineup at Healey’s on Saturday March 5 – Adrienne Pierce, Motion Soundtrack, The High Dials, Telepathic Butterflies and The Frontier Index. I also recognize BC’s Hinterland from some shoegaze message boards… they’re at Clintons on the 4th. I’ll try to find the time to surf through some of the artist bios before deciding on what to attend, if anything.

np – Wilco / A Ghost Is Born

The new record from Chicago’s Fruit Bats is called Spelled In Bones and out in June, presumably on SubPop again. Consisting of basically the duo of Eric Johnson and Gillian Lisée (though they do have a deep pool of musical compadres to enlist help from, what with Johnson having been a member of Califone), their 2003 album Mouthfuls was unjustly overlooked – maybe because of the god-awful cover art. Come on Sub Pop, you can do better than that!

Hidden behind the boring-ass cover laid ten tracks of lovely, understated folkish-based pop songs, featuring great vocal harmonies and just a dash of electronic sonic gibbery (I just made that word up). Other applicable adjectives – warm, laid back, lush, etc. Recommended for fans of The Shins or the Elephant 6 bands, though less tripped-out. They put on a pretty good show too – I caught them in May ’03 at the B-Side. Hopefully they’ll tour through again to support the new record.

MP3: The Fruit Bats – “A Bit Of Wind”

Just when I was worried that my February concert calendar was looking a little sparse, we discover Chapel Hill’s self-proclaimed “stoner pop” practitioners The Comas are at Lee’s Palace on February 16 to promote last year’s Conductor. I’ve only heard a little of their stuff, but I like it. I will be there.

And even better than that, Bettie Serveert are touring Attagirl (out either January 25 or February 2 depending on who you ask) through Lee’s on February 10! I think this is their first time back through Toronto in years, at least since 1997’s Dust Bunnies. I know for certain they haven’t been through since they left Matador. Either way, YAY.

Somewhere Cold talks to Rachel Goswell about her musical influences and finds out that the new Mojave 3 record could be out before Summer, though with minimal creative input from her (on account of her being busy promoting Waves Are Universal).

Itty-bitty Rachael Yamagata videos here. Pity about the resolution – at least the Windows Media versions are scalable, though. From Achtung! Baby.

And another 24 post… So the scene under the bridge? Masterful. In any other situation, it would be a given that the good guy would rescue the hostage, but past seasons of 24 has already established that Jack doesn’t operate by standard good guy code and is willing to do whatever he has to for the greater good. He could very well have left Andrew to die and it would have been perfectly in character. Very nice. Also interesting was the opportunity to see Chloe do some actual acting. She almost stopped annoying me for a few minutes. Oh, and Jack knocking over a gas station for national security? I love it. I am a little concerned that they’re interjecting useless personal crisis stuff for the CTU staff – that was one of the big problems with last season, assuming that the audience actually cares about anyone but Jack, but hopefully that sort of thing will remain incidental. But overall, for the first four hours, 24 has scored a big thumbs up from me. Of course, now the hard part of only getting one hour a week begins. Gaaaahhh. Oh, and that sleeper cell kid has totally gotta shoot his mom. I mean, come on – she bumped off his girlfriend, and she was a cutie. End spoilers.

Apologies if today’s post seems a little rushed – I only started it at like 12:30 last night. Yesterday was a frazzle-riffic sort of day.

np – Spacemen 3 / Playing With Fire

Welcome back, Jack. A very canny move by Fox to broadcast 1/6th of the new season of 24 over 48 hours – it gives them a little more time to get all the pieces into place to hook the audience. So halfway through said premiere, how have they done so far? For the benefit of folks outside North America who don’t want things ruined for them before they get a chance to see it, we’ll dust off the ol’ “spoiler” tag and get into it, shall we? Highlight to read (note to those who requested the spoiler tags – read comments at your peril!):

The more things change… Even though he’s now based out of Washington, Jack is still at odds with authority of all kinds – but that’s his schtick, it’s what he does. Gonzo shoots himself out of a cannon, Jack Bauer usurps authority. He’s also taking a page from Chase’s book last season and is bumping uglies with his boss’ daughter and trying to keep it secret (though I think it’s her who’s embaressed of him this time around, right?). But to prove you CAN teach an old dog new tricks, the premiere featured some very un-Jack behaviour – ie, smiling and wearing a suit, but I don’t think we’ll be seeing too much more of that. I don’t really understand why of all the old cast members to keep, they kept Chloe, but at least they ditched the vest and she’s not acting like a total retard.

The terrorist plot, I’m not very excited about but if the writers stay true to form, they’ll cease being a factor in the show within a few weeks. Who will the realy big bad be? I don’t know, but I’m hope hope hoping it’s aliens. Jack Bauer vs aliens. Wouldn’t be more ridiculous than some of the stuff they’ve pulled out of their hats in previous storylines. As I mentioned before, they’re playing it somewhat safe thus far in putting events into motion – kidnappings, random stupid people doing stupid things, dumbass civilians, dumbass superior officers… just like the good ol’ days. And did you notice that they’ve put the CTU security officers in red shirts? Just like Star Trek – it makes them easier to shoot!

But on the whole, I found it reasonably engrossing and will certainly have the VCR set for tomorrow night (I won’t be home to watch it in real-time). I won’t give them points for originality thus far, but full marks for execution – they’re moving things along like pros. Even though we’ve seen much of this before, I understand there’s really only so many openings they can go with. It’s how they carry it out over the course of the season that really counts. I’m still pulling for aliens.

And on a meta note, did anyone find it strange to hear Keifer Sutherland using his happy voice for Ford during the commercials and using his intense voice for the show? End spoilers.

And what have we got that’s non-24 related? Not much. Johnny Dowd will be opening things up for Neko Case next Sunday at the Phoenix.

Despite promising us a new redesign and content for today, Pitchfork has failed to live up to their word. SHAME SHAME SHA– *ring ring* — oh, hang on. Hello? Oh, hi Pot. No, I’m sorry, Kettle’s not here right now. Can I take a message?

np – My Bloody Valentine / Isn’t Anything

Yes, I’m all agog about going to Austin for SXSW this year, but don’t take that as meaning I’m neglecting any of the fine fests that take are taking place on my very doorstep this year. Granted, none have the same profile, international breadth of acts or barbeque supply as Austin’s grandaddy of them all (I’ve been promised barbeque, dammit!), but they are a good time and there’s almost always some good to great shows. There’s still only limited information available for most, but here’s a brief preview.

Canadian Music Week will be taking place from March 2 to 5 this year and they’ve begun naming off the artists that have been invited to perform. While the majority of acts featured are local or Canadian (obviously), there are usually some international acts who pass through town and get their shows branded with the CMW stamp. This year, we’ll hopefully have French dance-pop act Tahiti 80 in town on one of those days, at some venue – probably Lee’s.

The 2005 edition of the wonderfully eclectic and egalitarian Over The Top Fest will be taking place May 5 to 8. While still a relatively young festival – I think this is its fourth year? – it has always done a fine job of combining a wide range of disparate local and touring acts for some interesting bills. Many of the bands play both licensed evening shows and all-ages matiness, giving everyone a chance to enjoy the shows. No schedule has been announced yet, but the kick-off party happens April 23rd at the Rockit and features Of Montreal and Better Than Everyone, plus some more acts to be named. Tickets $10, on sale soon.

It’s too early to have any details, but a couple other Summer festivals in and around town include NXNE, happening June 9 to 11, and the Hillside Festival taking place in Guelph, July 22-24. And I’m sure there are other noteworthy ones happening this Summer that I’m forgetting at the moment.

Another new festival taking place in town this year is the Ear To The Ground fest. Debuting this September 16 to 18 at the Exhibition Grounds, it’s mandate is “to showcase artists between 18 and 40 years old, who fall outside of the realm of the mainstream commercial entertainment industry” and featuring artists from many disciplines including “music, theatre, dance, film and video, fashion, visual arts, and literature”. Sounds pretty good to me. They’re holding a fundraiser show at the 360 on January 21 featuring Great Lake Swimmers, Barmitzvah Brothers, Adam Cotton and Pine Music, admission $7.

Some random notes from a walkabout around town yesterday afternoon: Flash & Crash’s new arrivals section was populated by albums by My Bloody Valentine, Spiritualized, Mojave 3, Sigur Ros… it was like someone had sold my entire record collection or disavowed all my musical taste in one fell swoop. Rather disconcerting. Then at Queen Video, there was this guy who was asking the clerk for any movie starring Michael Douglas. He didn’t care what, he just wanted as much Michael Douglas as possible. At first it was funny, then weird, and then just plain creepy. I shudder to think what that copy of Don’t Tell A Soul is being used for right now. And at the supermarket, they were having a two-for-$5 sale on boxes of really bad-for-you cereal. Stuff that would have prizes in the boxes if they still did that. I managed to avoid the Nestle Quik and Resse Peanut Butter Cup cereals, but I had to bring my old friend Count Chocula home for a little re-acquainting. Don’t judge me.

24! Tonight! 8pm!

np – Godspeed You Black Emperor! / Lift Yr Skinny Fists Like Antennas To Heaven!