Saturday, June 5th, 2010
Calgary Folk FestJust a few weeks after the dust from Sled Island settles (passes for that being given away over here), musicians from near and far will again converge on downtown Calgary for the Calgary Folk Music Festival. Dating back all the way to 1980, the Folk Fest collects its talent onto seven stages at the picturesque Prince’s Island Park on the Bow River in the heart of downtown Calgary, running for four days in late July and despite the name, covers a wide cross-section of musical styles though if folk is still your bread and butter, you won’t be disappointed.
This year’s festival runs from July 22 to 25 and its lineup is stacked with the likes of The Avett Brothers, St. Vincent, Laura Marling, Stars, Dan Mangan, The Swell Season, Ohbijou, Man Man and many, many more.
And, like Sled Island, I’ve got passes to give away… and accommodations! Courtesy of the fest, I’ve got a pair of festival passes – a $270 value – and a hotel room for the weekend (specifics forthcoming) so if you’re from out of town, you just need to get your hitchhiking thumb in order and if you’re already IN Calgary… well, this could be an opportunity to stock up on those little travel-size soaps and shampoos and have someone else make your bed for you. To enter, email me at contests AT chromewaves.net with “I want to go to the Calgary Folk Fest” in the subject line and your full name and mailing address in the body. Contest will close at midnight, June 18.
And of course, if you know people in Calgary/Alberta/western Canada who might not normally stop by here but might be interested in free passes to either this or to Sled Island, please send them over.
Saturday, June 5th, 2010
Sled IslandPeople in the rest of Canada may refer to Toronto with pride/affection/irony/scorn as “the centre of the universe”, but when it comes to Summer music festivals – at lest this year – Hogtown is decidedly the poor cousin. Yes, we’ve got NXNE and it’s looking pretty punk-tacular this year, but our other usual fixtures (Rogers Picnic, Edgefest, Virgin Fest) are all conspicuously absent from the calendar, making not-so-local to-dos like Hillside and Wolfe Island our best options.
So it’s hard not to look enviously to the west, and to Calgary in particular. Not only do they pay no provincial sales tax, but they’ve got a terrific one-two punch of music festivals taking over their downtown next month, and for those out west who rarely get to enter any of my contests or for folks from elsewhere considering a trip to Cowtown this Summer. First, there’s Sled Island, which takes over the city’s clubs from June 30 to July 3. Only four years old as of this year, its already built a formidable reputation thanks to its consistently superb lineups of international and local talent and impressive guest curators – a tradition that continues this year with King Khan, Quintron & Miss Pussycat and Fucked Up helping assemble a lineup that includes – in addition to each of the above – Dinosaur Jr, !!!, Ted Leo & The Pharmacists, Built To Spill, The Thermals, Girl Talk… and really it just goes on.
And courtesy of the festival, I have a festival pass – a $170 value – to give away. To enter, email me at contests AT chromewaves.net with “I want to go to Sled Island” in the subject line and your full name and address in the body, along with the names of the guest curators for the 2009 and 2008 editions of the festival. Don’t worry, it’s easy. Entries must be received by midnight, June 12.
But wait! There’s more!
Friday, June 4th, 2010
Superchunk set date for return
@superchunkbandThough they’d insisted since touring for 2001’s Here’s To Shutting Up wrapped up that Superchunk weren’t finished but just taking a break, for most of this century the evidence was rather to the contrary. There was the attic-clearing compilation, video retrospective and series of live documents – not typically signs of an active band. Mac McCaughan became exceedingly prolific with Portastatic, Jon Wurster became full-time sticksman for The Mountain Goats and comedian and the label that McCaughan and Laura Ballance started back in 1989 started putting out some records that proved to be rather successful in certain circles.
Sporadic one-off live shows kept the flame alive but it wasn’t until last Spring when the Leaves In The Gutter EP arrived that the notion of Superchunk as an ongoing proposition begane to feel very real. And while it wasn’t an immediate precursor to a new full-length, Superchunk have finally put a date to the release of their ninth album and first in nine years – Majesty Shredding will be released on September 14 and the world will be a better place for it. Pitchfork has the salient details such as track listing and album art and a handful of Fall tour dates which do not, at present include anything north of the border. This is slightly less of an imperative for me as I finally got to see Superchunk live back at SxSW – a short set but one that completely affirmed that the ‘Chunk could still rock and pogo with the best of them – but I would still love to see them in a proper setting with a full set.
To be fair though, the band have put in more than their share of time on the road over the years and it’s not their fault i missed them all – if a visit to Toronto isn’t in the works then I will happily make do with playing the new album to death. And until that comes out, there’s this teaser video previewing some of the songs and showing scenes from the making of the record. And since you can only loop a one-minute video so many times before going batty, there’s last year’s comeback EP to enjoy. And oh yeah, a decade plus’ worth of albums and singles before that. Ohhhh Superchunk, welcome back.
MP3: Superchunk – “Misfits & Mistakes”
Stream: Superchunk / Leaves In The Gutter
The Toronto Star, eye and NOW prepare to welcome The National to town for their two shows at Massey Hall next week, June 8 and 9.
The Antlers, opening up both of those National shows, turn in a Black Cab Session. CMU also has an interview.
Spinner talks to Joe Pernice about the new Goodbye, Killer, due out June 15.
Clash talks to Robert Been of Black Rebel Motorcycle Club.
The new Christina Hendricks-powered video from Broken Bells is now available to watch. There’s an interview with James Mercer at The Boston Globe.
Video: Broken Bells – “The Ghost Inside”
Both The Dodos and Pixies are giving away live (digital) records on their websites in exchange for your email. The Dodos are at the Sound Academy on June 15 opening up for The New Pornographers; Pixies are not.
The Wall Street Journal and Huffington Post talk to Ben Bridwell and Liverpool Echo to Tyler Ramsey of Band Of Horses, who’ve just released a new video from Infinite Arms. They’re playing the Toronto Island Concert on June 19.
Video: Band Of Horses – “For Annabelle”
Carissa’s Weird, the Seattle band from whose ashes rose Band Of Horses, Grand Archives, Sera Cahoone amongst others, is releasing a retrospective collection entitled They Only Miss You When You Leave: Songs 1996-2003 on July 13.
MP3: Carissa’s Weird – “Die”
Phantogram return to town for a show at Wrongbar on July 8, tickets $14.50 in advance. You may wonder how good a two-piece electro-rock band could be live, and the answer is very good. Donewaiting is hosting a video session with the band, if you need more convincing.
MP3: Phantogram – “When I’m Small”
Video: Phantogram – “Mouthful Of Diamonds”
NYC Taper is sharing a live recording of The Depreciation Guild.
Four Tet will hit the road this Fall in support of new record There Is Love In You and stop in at the Mod Club on October 20.
The Music Slut asks eight questions of Mogwai’s Barry Burns. Their Burning/Special Moves live DVD and CD will be out on August 24.
Bandstand Busking invites The Twilight Sad to play one of their bandstand sessions. The Twilight Sad agree. The Washington Examiner and Nashville Scene also have interviews.
The Scenestar talks to Frightened Rabbit’s Scott Hutchison.
To all who asked – presale tickets for Belle & Sebastian’s October 12 show at Massey Hall will go on sale at 10AM next Wednesday, June 9 – password/instructions will be posted at www.collectiveconcerts.com. Prices range from $57.50 for premium floors/balcony to $47.50 for rear floors and centre gallery to $39.50 for side gallery, plus fees.
For Folk’s Sake and Gigwise interview Johnny Flynn about his new record Been Listening, out June 7.
Interview gets to know Peggy Sue. Their debut full-length Fossils & Other Phantoms came out this week and they’re at Sneaky Dee’s on June 13 to support.
Kate Nash has released a new video from My Best Friend Is You.
Video: Kate Nash – “Kiss That Grrrl”
The Line Of Best Fit talks to Richard Hawley, whose False Lights From The Land EP is out next week.
Kele talks to BBC about going solo with The Boxer, out June 21. He’s at the Mod Club on July 29.
The Phoenix has an extensive feature on Robyn Hitchcock, who has two intimate shows at the Drake Underground next week on June 11 and 12.
Paul McCartney – yeah, THAT guy – will be at the Air Canada Centre on August 8. Tickets will cost far too much yet still be easily rationalized.
And while pretty much obvious what with the radio silence all the way into June, it’s been made official that Virgin Festival Canada is taking 2010 off to regroup and hopefully come back next year.
Thursday, June 3rd, 2010
Stars show contempt for traditional promotional cycle
youarestars.comUsually, the process goes that a band releases a record, then tours it, and then if it’s done well and seems like it can be squeezed a little longer, puts out a companion album of remixes and b-sides. Stars appear to be set on doing things, if not in reverse, then in an order of their own choosing, convention be damned.
Shortly after making public the June 22 release date for their fifth album The Five Ghosts, the band announced that they would tour said record extensively before it was out – first with a series of Canadian club dates wherein they performed the new album in its entirety as the main set before dipping into the back catalog for the encore, and then with a moderately-sized American tour running through June, where they would again be showcasing a record that no one had yet heard.
And this week, they announced that the remix portion of the album cycle would also be starting before the album was released. They’ve set up a website wherein fans can play with a real-time remixing widget for the new song “We Don’t Want Your Body” and also download the base tracks from which they could make their own remixes and submit them for harsh judgement by the band. The one found most worthy will be showcased on the band’s website along with whatever “it seemed clever at the time” internet handle it was submitted under.
But all this preamble aside, the record will actually be coming out in a few weeks and as such, a number of fancy pre-sale options are available, the fancy-pantsiest of which is a $100 boxed set that presents the album on six coloured 7″s in a handcrafted wooden box and with a bunch of digital goodies including a remix EP entitled The Séance with the new songs given a do-over by REAL remixers, like The Album Leaf and Of Montreal.
One thing the band are doing that’s typical is offering a pre-release MP3 and making videos, both of which you can hear and see below. And they’re giving interviews, as proven by this conversation with Amy Millan at Cleveland Scene. And they’ll be touring more through the Summer festival season and into the Fall, probably looking forward to seeing fans singing along with the songs instead of staring blankly.
MP3: Stars – “Fixed”
Video: Stars – “Fixed”
Tokyo Police Club are also putting out a new record soon – next week, to be exact – and they’re building anticipation the old fashioned way (old fashioned by 2010 standards, anyways) with an advance stream of Champ over at Exclaim until its release on June 8, though they’re also doing competitions (challenge to band at stuff) and fancy presale packages (get a hoodie!) – details on their website. They also talk to Exclaim about the new album which, I’m not too proud to admit, is much better than I had expected it to be – more mature-sounding, yet just as energetic and hooky. Not an easy balance to strike. Looking forward to hearing it live when they play the Molson Amphitheatre on July 8 supporting The Flaming Lips and Spoon.
Stream: Tokyo Police Club / Champ
Both aux and Grand Crew have acoustic video sessions with Born Ruffians – okay really just guitarist Luke Lalonde – in Toronto and Paris, respectively. Lalonde also gives an interview to Beatroute, teams up with bassist Mitch Derosier for their feature at I Like Music and prodigal drummer Steve Hamelin chats with Spinner.
Chart talks to Dallas Good of The Sadies. They play a free show at Harbourfront Centre on July 1.
Carl Newman of The New Pornographers talks to Beatroute about Together while Kathryn Calder discusses the album art with Spinner. They play the Sound Academy on June 15 and have just released a fun new video.
Video: The New Pornographers – “Crash Years”
The New Current caught up with The Rural Alberta Advantage while they were in the UK to play The Great Escape.
Soundproof talks to Joel Plaskett about the now-over Thrush Hermit reunion.
Wednesday, June 2nd, 2010
Belle & Sebastian announce North American tour, return to Massey Hall
Reuben CoxI’d have gone to see them at the Sound Academy, where they last played in February 2006, even though they swore never to return there. I’d have gone to see them again at the Kool Haus, where they made their first Toronto appearance in May 2002, finally making good on their cancelled debut at the Opera House way back in 1998. I’d have even gone to see them at an Arrow Hall filled with angry hornets. But Belle & Sebastian are finally returning to play the only room in the city where they belong – Massey Hall, site of their glorious beyond words show in October 2003.
Yes, the North American tour hinted at just last week has been announced, and it contains an October 12 date at the Grand Old Lady of Shuter Street, and noting the day off between that show and Washington DC and the fact that they sold out the larger Docks in a heartbeat last time, perhaps a two-fer could be in the offing? Plausible, but let’s not get greedy – most markets on the continent aren’t even getting one show, though considering their last news update implied these shows were being squeezed in between other commitments, you have to think that a proper tour in support of their new record is still to come.
Said record, their first since 2006’s The Life Pursuit is still in the mixing stages, and is without title or release date but Fall of this year – say September-ish – seems reasonable. Either way, speculation will become fact soon enough but all that really matters right now is Belle & Sebastian are coming to town and another sunny day just got a little brighter.
MP3: Belle & Sebastian – “Funny Little Frog”
MP3: Belle & Sebastian – “Another Sunny Day”
MP3: Belle & Sebastian – “Take Your Carriage Clock And Shove It”
MP3: Belle & Sebastian – “Storytelling”
eMusic and The Edinburgh Evening News talks to Norman Blake and California Chronicle to Raymond McGinley of Teenage Fanclub about their new album Shadows, which is out next week. It’s kind of impossible to look at the fact that the Fannies are supposed to tour North America this Fall and are already teaming up with Belle & Sebastian for at least one show in Brooklyn and not hope that they’ll be supporting the Massey show. Such a bill would surely make more than one pop afficianado’s heart melt and head explode…
And because it apparently remains impossible for Isobel Campbell to fully escape the shadow of her former bandmates, it was announced today in the NME that a third album with Mark Langean, entitled Hawk, would be coming out on August 16.
Modern English, whom you may remember from the song below or perhaps the Burger King commercial that utilized said song, are back – or maybe they never went away but were just very quiet for a while – and will be at Lee’s Palace on July 15.
Video: Modern English – “I Melt With You”
Sleigh Bells – whose just-released, sugar-high/sugar-headache inducing debut Treats looks like it’s going to be one of the jams of the Summer, has set a date at the Phoenix on July 20 with Die Antwood as support. ABC News has a feature on the band.
Dirty Projectors are hitting the road this Fall and their itinerary includes a date at the Opera House on September 15.
MP3: Dirty Projectors – “Stillness Is The Move”
Elle is offering a download of She & Him covering Rick Nelson for Levi’s Pioneer Sessions while The Bay Area Tribune talks to Matt Ward. They’re at the Sound academy next Wednesday night, June 9.
MP3: She & Him – “Fools Rush In”
Anyone wondering what it’s going to sound like when Thao and Mirah team up on tour as Thao and Mirah With The Most of All starting next week should check out this video session at Yours Truly, where the pair tackle one of Thao’s new songs. The tour hits the Horseshoe on June 26; These United States will support.
MP3: These United States – “I Want You To Keep Everything”
The AV Club interviews James Murphy of LCD Soundsystem.
Spoon’s Britt Daniel hijacks the Matablog to big up Ted Leo and make their new single “Bottled In Cork” available as a download, complete with demo version. Spoon is at the Molson Amphitheatre on July 7, Ted Leo & The Pharmacists are at Lee’s Palace on June 26.
ZIP: Ted Leo & The Pharmacists / Bottled In Cork
Jonsi talks to MusicOmh and gives The Guardian a list of the music he grew up with, including Sloan’s Smeared.
5 Comments
facebook
![[Valid RSS]](http://www.chromewaves.net/images/interface/valid-rss.png "Validate my RSS feed"){kind=small}