I’m told that Glen Hansard of The Frames doesn’t like to talk about The Commitments, in which he played guitarist Outspan Foster. And while it makes me sad that he sees the need to disavow one of my favourite films so, he can rest easy knowing that if anyone asks him about his acting career from here on out, they’ll be far more interested in his performance in Once.

Originally released in Ireland in 2006 and then trickling out in limited release worldwide over the past year, it follows an Irish street busker and Czech emigree who meet in Dublin and begin a musical relationship over the course of a week. It’s a tremendously romantic film, though not necessarily in the conventional boy-girl sense – that the “will they/won’t they” is beside the point seems to be entirely the point. Instead, Once celebrates the romance of music and dreams with nary an ounce of cynicism but also without being treacly or grandiose. It’s perfectly content to work on a very small and human scale that makes it feel that much more real and affecting. An utterly charming film. Those in Toronto still hoping to catch it can do so this weekend at the Bloor (screening Thursday, Saturday and Sunday) and for everyone else, it will be out on DVD on December 18. The Guardian talks to director John Carney, who used to be bassist in The Frames, about the making of the film.

Of course, you can’t talk about Once without talking about the music, since that’s the very core of the film. As the film demands, most of the material was written by Hansard and as such, sounds very Frames-y. Which is unfortunate as I’ve never really cared for The Frames – far too bombastic for my tastes – but in this context, with Marketa Irglova’s voice and piano softening things up and keeping Hansard in check, it works and turns out a handful of really outstanding songs. I do wonder what it’d have been like to listen to the soundtrack before seeing the film and to hear it without connecting the songs to the emotional weight they carried onscreen, but short of suffering a sharp blow to the head, I guess I’ll never know. And not being able to separate “Falling Slowly” with the scene of them first connecting in the music store? I’m okay with that.

Hansard and Irglova have also leveraged the success of the film and soundtrack into a proper band (as well as a romantic relationship, though he’s literally twice her age – ew). Dubbed The Swell Season, they’ve released an album and have been touring North America and performing songs from the film though considering the ticket prices for some of the shows, I hope they’ve got a little more in the repertoire than just that. The Toronto stop of the tour will be on November 23 at the Danforth Music Hall with Mary Margaret O’Hara opening and courtesy of Against The Grain, I’ve got passes to give away. More specifically, one grand prize of a pair of passes to the show and a copy of the Once soundtrack on CD and two runner-up prizes of just the soundtrack CD. To enter, email me at contests AT chromewaves.net with “I want to see Swell Season” in the subject line and your full name in the body before midnight, November 15.

To get a taste of what the live show might be like, check out some video clips at Spinner and this complete live show at NPR. Pixies cover? Really?

Trailer: Once

Also crossing the lines between music and film, Sigur Ros. By this point, people pretty much know whether they find the Icelandic quartet mesmerizing or monotonous and so if you’re in the latter camp, just move on. If you’re still here, you’re likely a bit frustrated that their Fall releases – the Hvarf/Heim double-CD set and the Heima DVD – have been real moving targets on the release calendar. As it stands, the CDs will be out on November 20 and the DVD, originally intended to be out the same day, will now be available December 4 though Toronto-dwellers should note that there’ll be a screening of the film at The Royal in Little Italy on November 23 at 11:15PM. Tickets are $10 in advance and $12 at the door and if you live elsewhere, check the listings at your local rep cinemas and art houses – there’s a good chance that it’s screening nearby in the next little while. Update: Clarification from XL, the label releasing the CD and DVD – the CD is already out in Canada and the DVD is still on for November 20. The above dates are only for the US.

I’ve not seen the film but I have heard the CDs (conveniently streamable below) and while it’s hardly essential – half of it is unreleased material, the other half acoustic versions of old songs – it’s not unnecessary, either. The second disc, in particular, is worth hearing if for no other reason than when Sigur Ros says “unplugged”, they don’t mean they sit around the campfire strumming guit-boxes and singing folk songs in Hopelandish, it means they bring in an orchestra to replace the sonic sweep and impact that normally would have been achieved by electrification. It’s just a different way of achieving the same sense of majesty.

MP3: Sigur Ros – “Pop Song”
Stream: Sigur Ros / Hvarf/Heim
Video: Sigur Ros – “Gitardjamm” (from Heima)
Trailer: Heima version 1
Trailer: Heima version 2

Exclaim! has a brief profile piece on Jens Lekman as well as a much longer interview. The Cleveland Free Times and Cleveland Scene Weekly also have pieces – Jens, big in Cleveland. Who knew.

Spinner has the third part of Shout Out Louds’ North American tour diary – in this installment, the Shout Outs Take Manhattan! The Washington Post Express also checks in with the band.

NME reports that just as they did for Yankee Hotel Foxtrot and A Ghost Is Born, Wilco is re-releasing Sky Blue Sky for Europe with a 5-song bonus CD containing new and live recordings. And just as they did for both of those albums, they’ll be making the new material available digitally to everyone who’s already bought a copy of the album. The physical edition will be released next Monday, and I imagine the bonus goodies will be available to download at the same time.

Liz Powell of Land Of Talk seethes to StudentDirect about how their dream tour opening for The Decemberists in the UK turned into a sort of a nightmare when the headliners cancelled all the shows… and didn’t tell them.

“We turned up in Bristol and started unloading only to find the venue locked. We went around the front and found the whole place shut down and a notice announcing the rest of their tour was cancelled due to ‘band illness’. No one had bothered to tell us anything. The only reason we were on this fucking tour was that band. They were all amazing shows, we might have broken even, we might have got some new fans and then they come along and cancel. They’ve never bothered to contact us. They’re not that popular with us right now.”

First their gear gets ripped off, now this. Poor Land Of Talk. Update: Actually, apparently the UK cancellations happened a month ago, at the start of October. So first they got stood up in the UK, THEN they got their gear stolen. Not that that’s any better.

Let’s hear it for efficiency in concert-going. Technically, I hit up three different shows in under 24 hours over the weekend – two were in-store matinees, sure, but still. That’s getting the most out of a day. The proper show was at the Tiger Bar, in celebration of the one-year anniversary of Easy Tiger nights and with nothing whatsoever to do with Ryan Adams. Actually that’s not entirely true, but mostly.

First on the bill was The Rural Alberta Advantage, a local trio that’s proven more than a little elusive since I first saw them way back in February both in regards to seeing them live or even getting a copy of their 2006 EP. Happily, both proved worth the wait. It’s hard to accurately describe the RAA, which is odd since there’s really not that many ingredients at work – strained hollers, sweet harmonies, frantic acoustic guitars, whirring synths and loads of percussion – but you’d start from the intersection of Neutral Milk Hotel and Yo La Tengo and head west towards the Rockies. A little folky, a little funky and a lot of pop – I eagerly await the proper full-length, hopefully out in the new year.

I actually have a bit of a history with The Wooden Sky – not a “we found a dead body in the ravine and swore never to talk about it” history, but simply that I’ve seen them a few times over the past few years – and my old band played with them once – and it’s been interesting to see them develop. Of course, back then they were called Friday Morning’s Regret, which was the name they originally released their debut album When Lost At Sea under, but in May they announced their new identity and re-pressed all their CDs accordingly. Does that make my copy a collector’s item?

Dressed in skeleton make-up to celebrate the Day Of The Dead, The Wooden Sky reminded me of why I was always so impressed by FMR. I’d remembered them as a Neil-ish alt.country band with sharp arrangements and solid songwriting but they’ve since injected a heavier dose of rock into their sound, recalling Whiskeytown at points (there’s your Ry-Ry content), as well as some strings and keys to mix things up. Though you could still easily and accurately call them a roots-rock band, they evidence an ambition to be more than that – as though understanding that while roots are what they are, they don’t stop you from growing up and out in whatever direction you like.

Photos: The Wooden Sky, The Rural Alberta Advantage @ Tiger Bar – November 2, 2007
MP3: The Wooden Sky – “North Dakota”
MP3: The Wooden Sky – “The Wooden Sky”
MP3: The Rural Alberta Advantage – “The Dethbridge In Lethbridge”
MP3: The Rural Alberta Advantage – “Sleep All Day”
MySpace: The Wooden Sky
MySpace: The Rural Alberta Advantage

The aforementioned in-stores maintained the country-ish vibe of the weekend, with the incomparable Sadies stopping in at Rotate This on Friday evening and then Sonic Boom on Saturday afternoon. Both times, Dallas Good mentioned how daunting the format was for them as they’d never played live acoustically before but if they were having any difficulty, you sure couldn’t tell. They still played as fast and furiously as they would have on their electrics and I found that the (relatively) quieter set allowed them to showcase their other strengths that might otherwise get overlooked, namely their songwriting chops and vocal work. The latter was most evident on songs from New Seasons, where the vocal harmonies and interplay between the Good brothers had the fingerprints of producer Gary Louris all over them. Though you’ll never hear me say anything remotely like electrified Sadies are a bad thing, acoustic Sadies are pretty terrific as well and should be something they consider doing more often.

Photos: The Sadies @ Rotate This – November 2, 2007
Photos: The Sadies @ Sonic Boom – November 3, 2007

The Handsome Furs have a date scheduled for December 20 at Lee’s Palace.

Commercial Appeal talks punk and tacos with Ted Leo.

Spoon-terviews with The Orlando Sentinel, The Houston Chronicle and The Dallas Morning News.

Daytrotter went all Chicago-lovin’ last week by featuring OFFICE (session, interview) and Andrew Bird (interview, session).

NPR has launched a new music-oriented site that gathers all their wonderful content – live sessions, concerts, interviews – into an easy-to-navigate hub. Loverly.

The New York Times features Zach Condon of Beirut… in their Fashion & Style section. BeatRoute and Harp also have pieces on Beirut, one longer, one shorter.

Ed Droste of Grizzly Bear annotates their Spring 2007 tour itinerary for Harp.

My Brightest Diamond’s 2006 album Bring Me The Workhorse wouldn’t really seem to be the likeliest candidate for remixing, what with its blend of rock, classical, opera and cabaret styles. And yet, that’s what Tear It Down does – recasts her compositions with electronic underpinnings ranging from the ambient to dance. The former work better than the latter, and in the case of the best ones if you didn’t know they were remixes, you’d probably assume these were the original versions of the songs. Shara Worden has the sort of voice that you could easily believe an electronic trip-hoppish act would enlist.

So as My Brightest Diamond heads out on tour starting this week, it will be interesting to see if she adopts any of the remixed versions of her songs into the live arrangements. The Toronto stop is at the Drake Underground this Friday night, November 9, and courtesy of Against The Grain, I’ve got two pairs of passes to give away to the show. To enter, email me at contests AT chromewaves.net with “I want to see My Brightest Diamond” in the subject line and your full name in the body. Contest closes at midnight, November 7 and if you’ve also entered the Ohbijou contest that same night, make a mention of which one you’d rather go to in the event that I draw your name for both.

MP3: My Brightest Diamond – “Golden Star” (remix by Alias)
MP3: My Brightest Diamond – “Freak Out” (Gold Chains Panique mix)
MP3: My Brightest Diamond – “Disappear”
MP3: My Brightest Diamond – “Something Of An End”
Video: My Brightest Diamond – “Freak Out” (Gold Chains Panique mix) (YouTube)
Video: My Brightest Diamond – “Magic Rabbit” (YouTube)
Video: My Brightest Diamond – “Disappear” (Stakka Remix) (YouTube)
Video: My Brightest Diamond – “Dragonfly” (YouTube)
MySpace: My Brightest Diamond

In my submission to I Heart Music’s “33 Hottest Bands In Canada” poll, I annotated Ohbijou’s #7 ranking with, “More of a slow smoulder of a year rather than fire-y hot as Swift Feet For Troubling Times spread its magic outwards from Toronto but word is getting out.” And while I have no empirical evidence to support this, I suspect that everyone whose list they were on had seen them perform live before and all those who didn’t include them simply haven’t had the pleasure yet.

Because while Swift Feet is an utterly charming record – all sleepy-eyed, anorak-clad, forest-wandering lullabies – it’s as a live unit that Ohbijou really seal the deal. They maintain all the warmth and wonder of the record but give it a sprightly step that turns the record’s Autumnal vibe into something more Spring-like. And it’s this that makes them the perfect pick to soundtrack these graying, shortening days that have us reaching for the heavier sweaters.

But you can leave those sweaters at home on November 9 when the band plays Lee’s Palace accompanied by Basia Bulat and Bruce Peninsula, all followed by a Bocce dance party. Their last show for a while as they work on their new record, it’ll be a celebration of the year in Ohbijou and they want you to be there. Courtesy of the band, I’ve got some really sweet prize packs to give away:

– One grand prize consisting of a pair of passes to the show, two different show posters, two copies of Swift Feet (one a limited edition, numbered original version and one a remastered, bonus-tracked but less-fancy-packaged version) and an Ohbijou t-shirt.
– Two second prizes consisting of a pair of passes to the show and a copy of the limited edition CD
– One third prize consisting of a pair of passes to the show.

To enter, shoot me an email to contests AT chromewaves.net with “I want to Ohbijou” in the subject line and your full name in the body before midnight, November 7.

MP3: Ohbijou – “St Francis”
MP3: Ohbijou – “Misty Eyes”
MP3: Ohbijou – “Steep”
Video: Ohbijou – “The Woods” (YouTube)
MySpace: Ohbijou

Speaking of the I Heart Music poll, both Macleans’ Taste Police, From Blown Speakers and Radio Free Canuckistan have some commentary both on their own picks and the final list.

And #7 on the list, The Acorn, will be playing an in-store at Soundscapes on November 24 at 4PM in advance of their proper show at the Horseshoe that evening.

Muzzle Of Bees talks to #32, Land Of Talk, and gets a sort-of update on the status of the new record. In short – sessions with original drummer Bucky Wheaton were shelved, songs re-recorded with new drummer Eric Thibodeau, hopefully out by early/mid-2008.

BeatRoute talks to Torquil Campbell of Stars (#26). They’re at the Phoenix from November 26 to 29.

And hey, check it out – Amazon has got the next Scott Pilgrim book, Scott Pilgrim Gets It Together, available for pre-order and due out November 14! There’s a 14-page preview here. File under: yessssss.

Some things in life you can count on. Like The Sadies. Like the fact that they’ll be at the Horseshoe on New Year’s Eve. And that they’ll put out a new record every couple years with the help of someone named Steve Albini or Greg Keelor. And that try as it might, as good as it might be, it won’t capture the electrifying majesty of the live Sadies experience. Even the live record. And that everyone is fine with that because it gives them an excuse to go see the Sadies live.

The above is true even when The Sadies try something different, like recording their latest New Seasons with Jayhawk Gary Louris at the helm in the south of Spain. It follows quite naturally in the arc their catalog has made from blistering cowpunk guitar fiends to more thoughtful songwriters who just happen to have insane instrumental chops. You could argue that New Seasons has a hazier, more psychedelic vibe about it – a little extra petroleum jelly smeared on the lens, so to speak – and maybe a stronger pop sensibility but the difference between it and its proper studio predecessor Favourite Colours is like drawing a distinction between the last day of Autumn and the first day of Winter. If you own other Sadies records, you may not need this one but you also won’t regret having it. And if nothing else, every new record is a reminder that they’ll be touring through your town soon enough and you won’t want to miss it.

And this weekend, as I’ve been mentioning, they’re carpet bombing their hometown with gigs so if you’re in Toronto there’s no excuse not to catch them, whatever your budget. Starting tonight at 6PM with an in-store at Rotate This on Queen West (though remember to account for the fact that the Bathurst streetcar isn’t running), then a show at Lee’s Palace later in the evening and they’ll do it all again tomorrow with a 4:30PM in-store at Sonic Boom at Bloor and Bathurst and finally closing things out at their spiritual home base, The Horseshoe. Sadies-tacular. The Toronto Star caught up with Dallas Good on a rare off-day to talk about the new record and lessons learned from friends made along the way. And a shout-out to Beth at Rock Paper Pixels, who took the promo photo that graces this post. Nice work.

MP3: The Sadies – “Anna Leigh”
MySpace: The Sadies

And The Sadies rank at number 31 on I Heart Music’s annual “33 Hottest Bands In Canada” poll, the results of which were announced (read: blogged) this morning. All ten of my picks ranked and he’s included my commentary for each in the post so I won’t bother repeating. But I will give my overall list (final poll positions in brackets), for the curious. Note that my decisions were based both on objective and subjective criteria and doesn’t necessarily reflect my top 10 favourite current Canadian artists.

1. Arcade Fire (2)
2. Feist (1)
3. Miracle Fortress (3)
4. Basia Bulat (5)
5. The Acorn (7)
6. Neil Young (23)
7. Ohbijou (17)
8. The Besnard Lakes (9)
9. Great Lake Swimmers (20)
10. Land Of Talk (32)

The Gateway chats with Acorn frontman Rolf Klausener. The ‘Corn (now there’s a nickname that will never catch on) are at the Horseshoe on November 24.

Harp follows Band Of Horses’ Ben Bridwell from South Carolina to Seattle and back to South Carolina, through the creation of Cease To Begin. The Falls Church New Press covers similar ground in an interview with Bridwell. They’re at the Phoenix on November 9.

Sam Beam of Iron & Wine talks to Incendiary.

Wilco offer a sneak preview of their Austin City Limits performance (
which I was at!), which will air this coming week on PBS. Torontonians (and anyone who get Buffalo’s WNED) take note – it airs in our area tomorrow (November 3) next Saturday (November 10) at 9PM. Watch Nels Cline’s fingers. They’re crazy. CRAZY.

Video: Wilco – “Impossible Germany” (live on ACL)

The Stranger asks Craig Finn of The Hold Steady (whom NME report are planning a live album for next year) who his favourite current lyricist is – his answer? John K Samson of The Weakerthans. Samson and band are at the Phoenix next week on November 7 and 8 and talk to The Toronto Star, McGill Daily, Hour, The Montreal Gazette, The Western Gazette and eye about their Reunion Tour with nary a shout out to Finn.

Bon Iver, newly signed to Jagjaguwar, will be accompanying Elvis Perkins to the Horseshoe on November 28. Some folks are pretty high on this guy, not sure I’m feeling it yet.

MP3: Bon Iver – “Skinny Love”

Also incoming – Vampire Weekend, stopping in at the El Mocambo December 13. Their debut self-titled full-length is out January 29.

Josh Ritter talks to Chart about teaching Joan Baez to play Grand Theft Auto.

Decemberist Jon Moen tells Go Triad he was pleased their Fall UK tour was canceled on account of an illness in the band (presumably not his) so he’s probably ecstatic that their “Long And Short Of It” US dates have also been canned.