I have begun the process of shopping for a new digital camera. I’ve just about outgrown my Fuji Finepix 2600z and am looking for something towards the higher end of point-and-shoots to suit my needs for the next few years at least, if not longer. I’m not prepared to go DSLR because, really, I don’t want to spend that sort of money and time to learn how to work everything. Well, mostly the money. Who knows – maybe by the time I outgrow this next camera I’ll be ready to take that step. Anyway.

I had my choices narrowed down to either the Canon PowerShot A80 ($499 CAN) or the Canon PowerShot S60 ($699 CAN) as Canon seems get far and away the best reviews of the consumer-level P&S digicams. The Fuji came out last week and announced a whole slew of new models, including the FinePix E550 ($599 CAN) and the FinePix F810 ($649 CAN). I can’t tell spec-wise how these two models differ, actually, though the F810 is twice as heavy as the E550. There’s been no reviews of either of these models since they’re not even on the market yet (I heard end of October for the E550).

Anyone want to offer some advice on my purchase decision? Nikon? Minolota? I’m looking for something that will offer decent low-light/indoor performance (for concert pics, natch) and while I’m obviously not going to get professional results, I figure anything in this price range will be a step up from my current camera. I also want a greater than 3x optical zoom or at the very least, a threaded barrel for attachable lenses. Anyone have suggestions on any of the ultra-zoom models out there? Or how to read/compare specs in general? What’s important, what’s not? Other matters like battery type, memory type, etc etc will be considered but won’t likely be deal-breakers either way. Also, if anyone has suggestions on where/how to buy to get the best deal – there has to be a better way than walking into Future Shop and paying sticker price – those recommendations are appreciated as well. I’m not rushing into this, I’m willing to wait till Christmas to take advantage of Boxing Day sales if I have to. I also don’t want to get caught on the wrong side of new product launches. I’m looking to keep the price within the $500-$700 CAN range (around $350-$550 US?) cause I’ll have to be spending on memory cards, a case probably and other ancillary items as well. Thanks!

Jeff Tweedy does some press with The Toronto Sun to promote their sold-out show at the Mod Club tomorrow night. “It all sounds very pretentious, but mostly we just wanted to rock, it’s good for you!”

I did make it to Wavelength last night after all, though it was by no means a sure thing – it’s damned easy to simply not go out by 10:30 on a Sunday night. The lure of a free beer finally won out, however, and was enough to get me on my bike and away to Sneaky Dee’s. I guess they were running behind schedule because when I arrived Jet Project Labs was still rocking the mic with his odd Maritime folk-hop. It was mildly compelling but not really my thing. I was more interested in seeing the other two bands, both fronted by regulars on the 20Hz message boards, which have become sort of the defacto hub for the grassroots Canadian indie scene.

Montreal’s A Vertical Mosaic are a three-piece with a lot of keyboards, but also an old-school guitar and bass to keep things a little rough around the edges. I found their sound to be a bit of a cross between a really mellowed-out Stereolab and early New Order. Some of their material was much better than the other stuff, particularly when the guitar was more to the fore. Granted, I personally like guitar music, but I think the music benefitted from the more organic sound. On the peppier numbers I think they could have really benefitted from a real drummer to put them over the top as opposed to the drum machine sequences they favoured, but I guess that’d be rather contrary to what they’re trying to do. Good musicianship and nice vocal arrangements (when they could hear themselves, at least) and decent enough all in all, anyway.

Locals Femme Generation were the headliners of the evening, as evidenced by a) their going on last and b) everyone actually moving to the front of the bar when they started their set. They trade in the disco-inflected downstroked post-punk sound that’s de rigeur these days, but with a significantly more aggressive approach – you can tell there’s some serious rock in these guys’ background. They had really good stage presence up there but the songs didn’t quite have the hooks to really get my attention. That was just me, however, and the rest of the audience seemed to be having a splendid time and the band’s just-released EP Circle Gets The Square netted a very positive review in this week’s eye.

Late post? Yeah, it’s a long weekend, chumps!

np – Rogue Wave / Out Of The Shadow

I started reading Chuck Klosterman’s Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs: A Low Culture Manifesto last night, which is basically a collection of essays by the Spin writer on a variety of pop culture topics which are of utterly no consequence. So rooted in the realm of the late 90s and early aughts that I think the book will be completely unreadable within five years. But it’s funny and as someone who also writes at great length about topics of utterly no consequence, I’m enjoying it. And hey, I’m only about three chapters in – it could very well turn to matters of cosmic import in the next few pages… but I’m not counting on it. There’s an interview with the author about the book here.

Yesterday I volunteered to help deliver the August Wavelength ‘zines around town, which had me biking along the stretch of Queen West between Penguin and The Drake with about 350 of the things in my backpack. Those things were heavy and it was damned hot out but it didn’t take me that long and was sorta fun. Like having a paper route back in the day. It was a year ago this weekend that Lake Holiday played Wavelength, still our best show to date, I think. Wow, a year. Where does the time go, I do not know. I may go down to tonight’s show since I don’t have to get up in the morning and my payment for yesterday’s labour is a free beer.

Miles Krukowsky of Beulah reflects on his band calling it a day to The New York Post. From LHB.

I’m afraid I have very little to say today. It’s the middle day of a long weekend and I’m trying to assemble a grocery shopping list. I’ve always found the long weekend to be a bit of a mixed blessing – on the one hand, it’s always good to have an extra day off for sleeping and puttering around and whatnot, but on the other hand if I end up doing nothing that I wouldn’t do on a normal weekend, I feel like I’ve squandered the time. I should be skydiving or parasailing or on safari or something.

np – Camera Obscura / Underachievers Please Try Harder

I discovered Omahans Tilly & The Wall through Allmusic.com’s Artist Spotlight feature on their homepage (which you may have noticed if you weren’t too busy raging at their redesign), which just goes to show that having cute girls in your band really can help your career. Who knew. Signed to Conor Orbest’s Saddle Creek-spinoff label Team Love and featuring some Bright Eyes alumnus (though really, is there any musician in Nebraksa who’s not?), the five-piece outfit plays big, buoyant Spector-ish pop songs made distinctive by their wonderful co-ed wall of vocals and their decision to eschew a drummer in favour of a tap-dancer (!). Yeah, it sounds gimmicky, but it really works and you’ll be too busy grooving to the songs and vocal harmonies to give it too much notice – and I’m betting it makes for a terrific live show (Jasper at jenyk calls them “the cutest band in the world” and is willing to testify about the live experience). I’m liking this quite a lot, it’s just so happy. Go here to download their whole debut album Wild Like Children (it’s cool, it’s from their label) which came out last month and watch the video for “Reckless”.

Jay Farrar talks to The Orlando Sentinel about the state of radio, politics and his new live record Stone, Steel & Bright Lights. He also mentions that he and Jeff Tweedy haven’t been in touch “this century”, so stick that in your Uncle Tupelo reunion pipe and smoke it. Link from LHB.

First, there was no news. Now there’s just conflicting news. Billboard has an interview with Matthew Sweet about his two upcoming records, as does Rolling Stone. Whereas my initial information had Living Things coming out on September 7 and Kimi Ga Suki on October 5, the Billboard piece hsa Kimi Ga Suki released on September 7 and Living Things on October 19. To muddle things up even more, Rolling Stone says they’re both out on October 19. Whichever it turns out to be, they’re at least in consensus on the material itself. Sweet gets his electric ya-yas out on Kimi Ga Suki and goes for a much lusher, more orchestrated and acoustic feel on Living Things, though it features many of the same players. Touring should commence in October.

The French Kicks are at the Guvernment on September 21. I don’t know if this is a headlining show – are they big enough to have their own show at the Guvernment? That surprises me.

Thrashers Wheat has taken the trouble to compile every press clipping comparing Jeff Tweedy’s guitar playing on A Ghost Is Born with Neil Young. In case you wanted all those quotes in one convenient location, of course.

np – Old 97’s / Drag It Up

Ex-Replacement Tommy Stinson takes some time off from doing nothing with Guns N Roses and comes to the Horseshoe September 9 to promote his new solo record Village Gorilla Head, which just came out this week (And for the record, he insists Chinese Democracy is still coming out – probably when China actually has a democracy). Anyway, $10 gets you in the door and also gives you the right to shout out drunken requests for “Bastards Of Young” AND “November Rain”. Until he jumps off stage and kicks your ass, of course, but really – won’t it be worth it? Download “Motivation” from his new album here.

The Toronto Star ran this piece on Jim White yesterday – he sounds like an interesting guy, to say the least. Some local media outlets are suggesting he might just upstage Wilco this Tuesday at their Mod Club show – I doubt that, but I am intrigued by the guy.

Swedish combo The Concretes will make their Toronto debut October 11 at Lee’s Palace, tickets $15.

I am listening to the new Rilo Kiley record. Holy shit this is good. Well, Blake’s one song is kinda shit and sticks out like a sore thumb, but Jenny’s songs rule. More Adventurous is out August 17 and they’re in town October 3. You can preview a few tracks from the new record here.

Athens, GA’s The Flagpole has a couple nice features brought to my attention by Largehearted Boy – an interview with Tracyanne Campbell of Camera Obscura and a European tour diary from Elf Power.

I think I am far too excited about Harold And Kumar Go To White Castle, opening today. The reviews are surprisingly good and I think if you were to filter out the ones whose chief complaint is that the film is a 90-minute commercial for a burger joint (though one that doesn’t exist in Canada so it may as well be fictional – Lord knows the Slyder sounds too ridiculous to be real), the ratings would be even higher. In all likelihood I will be seeing it this long weekend.

Oh yeah, what I said yesterday about having next week’s mp3 picked out? Nix that – I have some other ideas… but fret not, everything will make an appearance in good time.

np – Rogue Wave / Out Of The Shadow

I’ll warn you straight off – today’s post is dedicated to shoegazer giants Slowdive. If you’re not interested, scroll down. Waaaay down.

Why the love-in? Well, the Reading, England-based band will be the recipients of a double-disc anthology entitled Catch The Breeze on Sanctuary Records, out September 27 in the UK. I say “recipients of” because no one from the band had any hand in putting this together. Content-wise, it’s a decent enough collection of stuff from their three albums and some EPs (Full tracklisting here) and considering how hard the non-album material and Pygmalion are to find, it’s filling a real gap in record store shelves.

It’s nice to see Slowdive getting some belated appreciation. My Bloody Valentine rightfully gets cited as the be-all and end-all of the shoegazing movement, but in my mind Slowdive was just as important. Where MBV was about the all-out sonic assault and experimented with dance rhythms, Slowdive took the more ambient route and created walls of dreamy, beautiful sound.

Their influence is becoming evident in more and more contemporary ambient/shoegaze bands (Sigur Ros, I’m looking in your direction!) as well as electronic-type acts who’ve likely worn out a copy or two of Pygmalion. Case in point: Blue Skied An’ Clear, a tribute album put out by the electronic-centric German label Morr in 2002. It comprised one disc of covers and one disc of songs ‘inspired’ by the band – basically, a clever way of introducing the label’s bands to Slowdive fans who picked up the tribute album. I got a copy off Gary a while ago, and I think I just decided my next cover of the week is gonna be. Three guesses, first two don’t count.

I wasn’t completely honest when I said earlier that the EPs and such were really hard to find – if we’re talking about downloadable mp3s, they’re dead easy to find. You’d be hard-pressed to find any of this material in stores as it’s all way out of print, so I think you can download with a clear consience (assuming your conscience has an opinion on the topic of downloads). It is worth noting, however, that rights to all the Slowdive material will revert back to the band in the upcoming months and there are rough plans to reissue it all – presumably with bonus tracks and such. There’s also a couple of live shows and videos available online. The unofficially official Creation Records website conducted interviews with Rachel Goswell and Christian Savill in 2002 wherein they reflected on their band’s legacy and life in the Creation madhouse. And while I’m tossing out every related link I can find, here’s schematics of Neil and Christian’s guitar rigs.

So where are they now? Since disbanding in 1995, three of the principals in Slowdive – Rachel Goswell, Neil Halstead and Ian McCutcheon – traded in their Kevin Shields fan club membership cards for a milk crate of old Bob Dylan, Nick Drake and Gram Parsons records and a new band. Mojave 3 is a much folkier, strummier sort of outfit although vestiges of their former band’s dreamy sonic approach remain, especially in the live show which is surprisingly powerful – I’ve often described them as the loudest quiet band around. They’ve released four albums, 2003’s Spoon & Rafter being the most recent release. Christian Savill now plies his trade in Monster Movie.

They’ve been busy outside Mojave 3, as well. Neil Halstead released his first solo album Sleeping On Roads in 2002 and Rachell Goswell put out Waves Are Universal earlier this year. She was slated to support Tanya Donelly on a mini-American tour in August (how great would that have been?) but had to pull out due to illness. Alas. I’m hoping Rachel will make up the dates and include a Toronto show – when Neil was plugging his record, I think he came through town on three separate occasions. And finally, there should be a fifth Mojave 3 album out next year.

Update: Check out Ed’s comment below for some clarifications, namely that Rachel WILL still be opening for Tanya’s tour in August.

…And I think that about does it. For those of you with no interest in Slowdive who waded through all that, here’s your reward:

The Batman Begins trailer. You know what? I like it. I like the set-up, and that’s not just the fanboy in me talking. This will be good.

The nice folks at The Beguiling gave me an Alien Vs Predator t-shirt yesterday. And when I say ‘gave’, I mean they pretty much forced me to take it – seems they got a big box of these things for a promotion they had no interest in taking part in. So even without trying, my wardrobe gets a little bit geekier every day. Why fight it?

Jude Law as Ian Curtis in a film adaptation of Touching From A Distance? NME says it can happen, and Peter Hook says it’s a good choice.

American Music Club’s first tour in God knows how long has been announced, and it’s not coming here. And with Will Johnson opening. That’s it, this calls for a rock-n-roll road trip. I’m serious. November 6 in New York City or November 13 in Chicago. They’re both Saturdays. One of these, I’m going. I’m serious. Chi-town is on my calendar over the left and everything. Who’s coming?

np – Tanya Donelly / Whiskey Tango Ghosts