The first Batman Begins one-sheet… because as everyone knows, bats are creatures of the dusk. See it full-size (well, larger-size anyway) at The Beat. Is it June 12 yet? How ’bout now? Now?

A passing thought – Feist’s Let It Die hasn’t received a proper release or any sort of exposure, really, in the US yet. I wonder if there are plans to do so, and if so, how it’ll take south of the border? Most everyone up here is convinced of Ms Feist’s star potential, I wonder whether her sound and style would connect with a large enough base of the good people of America to qualify as a breakthrough? This isn’t a case of me needing US validation of a local artist to think they’ve truly arrived, just curiosity.

The Guardian lays down some ground rules for bands considering reunions. From Largehearted Boy.

Donewaiting readers discuss their biggest disappointments of 2004.

My Mean Magpie takes a trip in the wayback machine and compiles his year-end list… for 1994.

A second Stars show has been added for December 19th at the Mod Club, this one all ages. Since it’s a Sunday, I assume that it will be an early show, which is good becuase a late one would surely go past everyone’s bed-times.

Chart announces that local cosmic cowboys The Frontier Index (whose website seems to have gone AWOL) have finally signed on the dotted line with Detroit power-pop label Rainbow Quartz. I had originally planned to catch their show at the Horseshoe last night, but opted for the GTA Bloggers Christmas party instead. Luckily, they’ll be back at it in two weeks on the 17th at the 360 with Mod-fetishist labelmates The High Dials and Showroom.

As for the Christmas party, it was hosted once again by the gracious Accordian Guy and quite literally packed to the gills with local blog-folk. It was a good opportunity to eat, drink and be merry with people who don’t look at you funny because you spend an inordinate portion of every day scrounging the corners of the interweb looking for trivia to write about. And by ‘you’, I mean ‘me’, of course. There were some new faces, some old faces and much unbridled geekery on topics of music, photography and comic books. Good times.

Segway Schmegway – I want a Toyota iFoot.

np – Bob Dylan / Bringing It All Back Home

I wasn’t sure what to expect from Feist’s Toronto show last night. The last time I saw her in June, it was a truly unique show that I honestly hoped she wouldn’t try to reproduce. This time around, she kept pretty much the same band configuration, though trading in the projectionist for a second keyboardist.

I’m looking over my review from June, and really, there’s not much to add – it was very similar in sound and structure, but somewhat different in feel. Where the Mod Club show seemed rather scripted and performance art-y, last night felt more like a proper ‘rock’ show. Feist was more engaging and chatty with the crowd than six months ago, which I personally found more appealing. The music (and unusually excellent house sound) must have gotten some people in the mood as there was no shortage of volunteers when she invited audience members onstage to take part in a kissing contest while they sorted out a technical problem. Though it wasn’t so much a contest as an opportunity for two strangers to get on stage and make out for 10 seconds in front of 1000-odd people, which they did and with gusto. The bulk of the material came from Let It Die, naturally, but there were some tunes I didn’t recognize which may or may not have been new. These ones seemed to have more rock spirit in them, so whether it heralds a new direction for her future work remains to be seen.

Local boy Howie Beck got an unusually long opening set (upwards of 45 minutes) which he filled with pleasant, if largely unremarkable, singer-songwriter pop. I, however, am on the record as being especially difficult to impress by a guy on an acoustic guitar (even if accompanied by tasteful electric lead work). Can’t really say why, just am. Within five minutes of him leaving the stage, I’d forgotten everything he’d done.

It was a battle getting photos last night – besides people constantly standing right in front of me (as in close enough that I could tell what shampoo they used… or that they didn’t use shampoo), the lighting was damned peculiar. Very heavy on the reds, and damn near impossible to get a consistent white balance, focus or exposure reading. I managed to get a decent album together, but you should see the number of shots I had to toss… And if you’re looking for natural skintones, well just keep walking.

Pitchfork frankly surprises the hell out of me by awarding Slowdive’s new 2-disc retrospective compilation Catch The Breeze a 9.5. Their rationale is that the band was much more than just another shoegaze act, but a trailblazer in the post-rock and electronica genres, this based largely on the merits of their final album Pygmalion (which gets better every time I listen to it). This isn’t going to be a big Slowdive love-in post, however – I just did one of those back in July. I think there’s some stuff on Catch The Breeze that I don’t have, but I can’t justify shelling out the import prices for it. Thankfully, I have… other avenues for getting the material…

Pitchfork also gives Stars’ latest Set Yourself On Fire a reasonable 7.8. I like the record but it hasn’t entirely grabbed me yet. Mind you, Heart took a while as well. Stars are at the Mod Club December 18.

Brooklyn Vegan has a track from the new Decemberists record to whet your appetite. Picaresque is out March 22.

Toronto entertainment weekly eye now has a blog. Everyone and their mother, I swear…

np – The Delgados / Universal Audio

So it seems that Andy Bell, ex of Ride and current of Oasis, was in town last week and was spotted at the Mod Club where he performed a short acoustic set:

Chelsea Girl

Step Into My World

Live Forever

Fading Dreams (new Oasis song)

Today

Now I can’t say that I’m kicking myself for missing that, because it was completely unannounced and there’s pretty much no circumstance under which I would have been hanging out at the Mod Club on a Tuesday night. But still, that’s pretty cool. In keeping in spirit with yesterday’s post, I dug up another set of Questions of Doom from Poptones, these ones directed at – that’s right – Mr Andy “I’m not the gay guy from Erasure” Bell. Lots of good stuff in this one, including the revelation that Bell and Sanctuary Records are assembling a shoegazing box set to be entitled… get ready for it… The Shoebox. Genius. I’ll take two. Also, the Creation Records fansite has a slew of interviews, mostly recent, with the band members.

Anyone who knows me and/or reads this site knows that a) I am a huge Ride fan and b) I gladly poop on everything that Messrs Bell and Gardener have done post-Ride. Hurricane #1? Poop. The Animalhouse? Poop. Oasis? Double poop. Mark’s solo stuff… well, I haven’t heard too much of it yet and only in solo acoustic format, so the jury is still out on that. Give me anything from Nowhere through most of Carnival Of Light however, including the EPs in-between, and I can sing their praises ad nauseum (excepting Tarantula, which gets the poop, but the band pretty much disavows it as well, so that’s okay). Those records are just sublime. A textbook example of the musical whole being so very much more than just the sum of its parts, which seems to be an all-too phenomenon in the UK indie scene. If you want more background, Pitchfork’s review of the OX4 best-of disc functions as a pretty good capsule history, though it’s excessively harsh on Carnival Of Light.

I still remember being congratulated by the store clerk when I first bought Carnival Of Light in the winter of 98, he seemed genuinely pleased that the album had found a good home. Over the next few months, I sought out the remainder of their discography and am now pretty much complete – all I’m missing is the CD-single for I Don’t Know Where It Comes From, the one with the remixes, and with eBay as my witness, it will not elude me for much longer. It’s been a sort of windfall in the last few years for Ride fans with the albums all getting the remaster/rerelease with bonus tracks treatment, as well as the box set, reunion EP and BBC sessions (Gary – I need my copy of Waves back, please. I’ve already listened to the rest of my stuff), but sadly the well seems to be running dry. They’re still assembling a DVD scheduled for release next year, but after that the vaults are pretty much empty. They could possibly put out some more live albums but none of them would match the Reading 1992 performance released in the OX4 box set which captures them at the very peak of their powers. Since their heyday was more than a decade ago, I never got to see them live – seeing Mark Gardener solo at Lee’s Palace last year was probably as close as I’ll ever get. I actually don’t think I’d want them to get on the reunion bandwagon, to be honest…

…Oh who am I kidding, I’d love it. Coming Up For Air proved that the chemistry was still there. But I doubt it’ll ever happen – word is fellow Oxford-ians Radiohead threw big bags of money at them last year to get them to re-form and support their Hail To The Thief tour, but to no avail. Grudging respect. We’ll always have Reading.

Since it’s the holiday season, I give you this – a performance of their ‘signature’ song, “Vapour Trail” (mp3), live in London circa 1991. Share and enjoy.

I should warn you all in advance that I have been on a heavy-duty shoegaze kick of late, and it may very well trickle down into my posts for the next little while. Just so you know. I need to buy more pedals. And put together a band. And buy all of them pedals.

Chart gets some soundbites from Idlewild about their just-completed new album Warnings/Promises, out next March.

Those REM reissues are coming out February 15, not January 25.

Everybody’s favourite beard, Sam Coomes Beam aka Iron & Wine, is releasing the Woman King EP on February 22 next year. It will feature all new material as detailed here.

Pulse Of The Twin Cities talks to Patterson Hood about the history of his day job with the Drive By Truckers as well as his solo material. Everyone who told me to get Southern Rock Opera was absolutely right – that record kicks my ass. From LHB.

Billboard calls bullshit on the Coachella 2005 lineup rumours floating around the internet. Promoters say that they have just tendered offers to the acts, no one has confirmed and they don’t even have a specific date set aside. The conspiracist in me wonders if maybe that lineup wasn’t leaked by the promoters to see what the reaction of the punters would be?

Largehearted Boy is first out of the blocks with his top albums of 2004, complete with sample mp3s. Some surprises on the list – or more, some surprises NOT on the list… but where’s the fun in being predictable? Mind you, my list will be completely predictable. In fact, anyone who manages to guess my top 10 albums (no ranking this year) will get a prize. I don’t know what prize, I really haven’t thought this out yet.

np – The Sundays / Reading, Writing & Artihmetic

Poptones poses Questions of Doom to chanteuse Dot Allison. If you’re not familiar with Dot Allison, the article is a pretty good primer – but if you’re too lazy to click, I’ll give you the run down.

She stared out as vocalist for Manchester acid housers One Dove, then after the band and scene imploded she disappeared from the scene for several years. She made a somewhat surprising return in 1999 with Afterglow, a wonderfully eclectic record blending electronica, torch songs and pop, simultaneously warm and chilly, and anchored by Allison’s wonderful voice. It was also notable a guest appearance on one track by My Bloody Valentine’s Kevin Shields, who was just beginning to emerge from the chinchilla obsession that kept him a recluse through the latter part of the ’90s.

2002’s We Are Science took a darker turn, with more electronic and programmed sounds and a colder, detached vocal persona on Allison’s part. Think Factory Records – she certainly was. It’s grown on me since, but I still reach for Afterglow when I’m in the mood for her stuff. However, if she’s correct in describing her forthcoming third record as sounding like “Low or Mazzy Star“, I may have a new favourite.

In between working on her own records, she also lends her voice to records and tours by the likes of Death In Vegas and Massive Attack. I sort of wish that I’d gone to see her open – in 2002, I think – for Saint Etienne. Ah well, next time, perhaps.

MP3.com has some sample clips for your perusal, if you’re interested.

Sticking with news out of Scotland, Idlewild have finally revealed details of their fourth album, Warnings/Promises, which will be in stores March 8. Produced once again by Dave Eringa, I believe this will be the first time that one of their records gets a North American release concurrent with the UK/Europe. The first single, “Love Steals Us From Loneliness”, will be released February 21 in the UK, and both British and North American tours will follow in March and April. NME has full details.

Idlewild frontman Roddy Woomble was so excited about finishing the record, he went straight away and wrote about it in his journal. In addition to reminiscing over the year that was, he outlines the rough plans for the band in ’05 and recaps some of his favourite records of 2004. Amongst his picks, Wilco’s A Ghost Is Born, Bjork’s Medulla and Britney Spears’ My Prerogative. Roddy, Roddy, Roddy. Don’t you know that compilations aren’t eligible for year-end lists? Tut tut.

Okay, I made that last bit up. Compilations are fair game.

Feist gets her dancing shoes on in the new video for “One Evening”. Follow the link and click through to ‘videos’. And if you click on the ‘Live pics from the Canadian tour’ link on the homepage, you’ll, uh, end up right back here. Hopefully I will have some more tomorrow night after the Phoenix show.

Exclaim! has posted their year-end lists – pop album of the year? Arcade Fire’s Funeral, a pick I expect to see repeated ad nauseum over the next month or so. For my part, I will begin assembling my year-end features (yes, plural) shortly, expect something mid-December. I will probably spread it out over a number of days since December is generally news-light and I need something to write about…

…and speaking of Arcade Fire, Pulse Of The Twin Cities has a profile on the band. From LHB.

The Portland Mercury brings us the story of a man who found an acetate master of the Velvet Undeground’s first recording session at a yard sale for $0.75.

Comic artist legend Jim Lee has a set of videos linked off his blog which show him creating a sketch of The Authority‘s Jenny Sparks. It’s mesmerizing to watch. And another comic creator who’s been blogging is Brian K Vaughan, writer of Ex Machina and Y – The Last Man, amongst others.

Left-field question… If I want to find some sort of apparatus that will let me use my bicycle as a stationary bike, that is, some sort of jig or blocks that gets my tires off the ground indoors, what am I looking for and where can I get it?

np – Six By Seven / The Things We Make

Thrashers Wheat reports that Michael Moore has directed a new video for Neil Young’s “Rockin’ In The Free World”, which is being re-released as a single from his Greatest Hits. See the video here. Interspersing footage from Fahrenheit 9/11 and live performances from Neil’s recent Greendale tour, it’s a pretty severe edit of the song and it plays more like a commercial for the film than a video for the song. Consider that Neil’s Weld tour, which spawned a live album, came during the height of the first Gulf War and made this song a protest anthem of sorts, and now almost fifteen years later, a second Gulf War led by Bush Jr provides fresh, yet familiar, visuals for a second video. Well, that’s just messed.

Neil’s always been politically unpredictable, having gone from 70s hippie to a vocal Reagan-ite in the 80s (and alienating much of his longtime hippie audience, though his musical output over the same era certainly accomplished the same goal) to unofficially participating in this year’s Vote For Change tour. By unofficial, I mean that though he wasn’t technically one of the musical acts trying to oust Dubya (unsuccessfully, if you’ve been living in a cave), he did make a number of guest appearances at several shows. The man is almost 60, and yet somehow he’s still got the same fire in him that he had thirty years ago. Respect, Neil. Pitchfork has a review of Greatest Hits, which intrigues me for the DVD mixes of all the tracks but I still think any Neil neophyte would be better off with Decade and Live Rust as starting points.

It’s Stylus’ turn to talk to Dean Wareham about Luna’s breakup. This interview is pretty good, though. The west coast leg of their farewell tour is now being finalized and it looks like they will culminate in a couple final shows at the Bowery Ballroom in New York City in mid- to late-February.

An update on Jayhawksfanpage.com drops the tantilizing nugget that there may be some Golden Smog sessions taking place in the new year. If true, this is good news. It’s been far too long since the boys got together for Weird Tales.

JAM! talks to Feist about Let It Die‘s evolution from scrappy indie-rock demos into lush Euro-torch album. Feist is at the Phoenix on Thursday.

Y’all know I love the shoegaze, right? Course you do. So you can believe me when I say I was pleasantly surprised to discover Sweden’s Fathom 5 – their lovely dream-pop sound harkens back to the sounds of classic Ride and Slowdive in a way that few modern bands who claim the same influence do – more often than not, acts that pledge allegiance to studying their sneakers use that as an excuse to play one chord for hours at excruciatingly high volume, completely neglecting the delicate melodicism that was just as much a hallmark of the genre. Of course, rather vague or simplistic lyrics were also characteristic of the original shoegaze movement, and Fathom 5 also follow suit there, but we’ll let that go for now. Sample Fathom 5’s mp3s here – it’s quite good stuff.

The Washington Post (bugmenot: arglooblaha@gmail.com/purplehair) has some advice for Americans who said, jokingly or not, that they were going to flee to Canada after November 2 – don’t. Before all my fellow Canuckistanians get up in arms about it, I have to say that the article makes some good points. I’m as proud as the next hoser of my country, but the Smug Canadian is just as true a stereotype as the Ugly American, and it embarrasses me. And since I can’t think of a way to say “Americans are actually nice people!” without sounding utterly patronizing, I won’t. But they are. Well, most of them. And by most I mean some. And by some, I mean I have a list…

But on a more positive nationalist note, former Saskatchewan premier Tommy Douglas has been voted The Greatest Canadian in a CBC poll. Douglas is best known for being the father of Canada’s socialized medicare system, an accomplishment which often overshadows his equally impressive feats of saving Santa Claus from the Martians and being Joe Perry’s replacement in Aerosmith during the early 1980s. My personal choice for Greatest Canadian (and to bring things full circle) was Neil Young. Yeah, universal health care is good, if you’re into that sort of thing, but “Cinnamon Girl” is GREAT. Dah dah dah dah! Duh-da-da-da-duuuuh…

np – The House Of Love / A Spy In The House Of Love