Todd DuymI can appreciate that relations between Canada and the United States might be a bit strained today, following last night’s Olympic men’s hockey gold medal game – or at least between Canada and the dozen or so Americans who care about hockey – but perhaps this gesture of musical ambassadorship will help ease tensions a little bit.

When I head down to SxSW each year, going to see Canadian acts is usually near the bottom of my list of things to do. Not because it’s not worthy of my attention – far from it – but living in Toronto, I get more than my share of opportunities to see the best of Canadian talent so to fly all the way down to Texas to see those same acts seems… inefficient. But that in no way, shape or form means that I don’t heartily endorse those who aren’t so fortunate as to live in one of the major hubs of Canadian music to take the Sx opportunity to see said acts – so with that in mind, I’m very pleased to be co-presenting the official Paper Bag Records showcase at SxSW this year.

The show will kick off at 8PM with Montreal’s CFCF, though he’ll be handling DJ duties rather than performing pieces from his album Continent. Then it will be the one non-PBR act on the bill, Toronto’s choral-gospel blues choir Bruce Peninsula at 9PM, followed by Montreal electro-pop outfit Winter Gloves at 10PM. Toronto lo-fi rock outfit Little Girls showcases their debut Concepts at 11 and then it’s an all-out electro-rock dance party to wind things out, first with Woodhands and their latest Remorscapade at midnight and Vancouver’s disco-rock heroes You Say Party! We Say Die!, who are finally allowed back into the US following some immigration misunderstandings a few years ago, just in time for them to introduce their latest xxxx to America. Update: Well, my description on how the night will arc won’t be quite right – some set times have moved around, and it will now go: CFCF @ 8, BP @ 9, LG @ 10, WH @ 11, WG @ 12, YSPWSD @ 1. Everything else remains true.

To those headed to Austin in mid-March, the Paper Bag showcase will be taking place on Thursday, March 18 at Speakeasy, located at 412 South Congress Ave at West 5th St. And to those not, some/all of the acts on the bill may be coming to you. YSP!WSD! are making the most of their US visas with dates all over America through March before coming back to Canada including an April 2 date at the Horseshoe. Woodhands are crossing the continent through April, including a hometown show at the Opera House on March 13. Bruce Peninsula are making a couple of US stops en route to Austin and have a handful of Ontario dates in the Spring, including a March 25 show at The Garrison. YSP!WSD! are featured are Blogcritics and Sentimentalist. Uptown and See talk to Woodhands.

MP3: You Say Party! We Say Die! – “Laura Palmer’s Prom”
MP3: Woodhands – “Dissembler”
MP3: Little Girls – “Growing”
MP3: Winter Gloves – “Factories” (alternate)
MP3: Bruce Peninsula – “Crabapples”
MP3: CFCF – “Monolith”

Also noteworthy on the SxSW front is a day show taking place on Thursday, March 18 at the Flamingo Cantina on East 6th St at Red River and co-presented by Team Clermont and my associates at MBV Music. That show, which kicks off at noon, will feature Venice Is Sinking, Jeremy Jay, Collections Of Colonies Of Bees, Jookabox, Dengue Fever and Califone. Plus a special guest headliner whom, if it’s who I’ve heard it might be, will be a hell of a finish. So yeah, drop by. Have a drink. It’ll be a good time.

MP3: Califone – “Funeral Singers”
MP3: Dengue Fever – “Sober Driver”
MP3: Jookabox – “You Cried Me”
MP3: Collections Of Colonies Of Bees – “Flocks 1”
MP3: Jeremy Jay – “Breaking The Ice”
MP3: Venice Is Sinking – “Compass”

Okay, back to now and not Spring Break. There’s a new video available from Love Is All’s forthcoming Two Thousand and Ten Injuries, out March 23. They’re at the Horseshoe on April 3.

Video: Love Is All – “Kungen”

jj have a new video for the first single from No 3, due out March 9. They’re at the Phoenix on April 4.

Video: jj – “Let Go”

To anyone curious as to what Jonsi has in store for his two night stand at the Sound Academy on April 30 and May 1, check out this video about the making of his stage set. His solo debut Go is out March 23.

Ca Va Cool interviews Shout Out Louds. They play The Mod Club on May 8.

The Hamilton Spectator has a feature piece on Owen Pallett, who plays the Queen Elizabeth Theatre on April 8.

Volume 8 of The Line Of Best Fit’s Oh! Canada mixtape series is now up for grabs.

Frank YangI don’t really want to have to quote myself, but I kind of have to point to my writeup of Woodpigeon’s last visit to Toronto for NXNE 2009 to reinforce the fact that in all the times I’ve seen them perform – four or five as of this show – it has been an almost completely different band and/or configuration and as such, a markedly different personality. The one constant, of course, is singer-songwriter-bandleader Mark Hamilton – and while you’d think that his gleaming, folk-pop compositions would be another thing you could count on, this show proved that they’re not nearly as immutable as you might think.

Support for this show and many of the others on this eastern Canadian jaunt came from Betty Burke, whose name might be new but whose face is familiar to Toronto. Fronted by Maggie MacDonald, recognizable from countless local bands and art projects over the years but mainly known as one of the longest-serving Hidden Cameras, I’m sure there was a complex artistic-cultural mandate behind the project but to my ears, they cultivated a pretty straight country-rockish vibe highlighted by the vocal interplay between MacDonald and guitarist Holly Andruchuk and MacDonald’s between/during-song banter.

I’m rather used to Woodpigeon sounding louder and rockier live than on record – I actually prefer it that way, being able to enjoy the delicate nuances of their music in the comfort of home and the more dynamic versions in the clubs. That said, I was still surprised by how this current lineup of the band rendered the material from Die Stadt Muzikanten and Treasury Library Canada. That they’d do things louder was kind of a foregone conclusion, but rather than simply rearranged, some songs were completely re-imagined. Most notably, the keyboards were tapped to handle some key guitar parts, resulting in “Denial In Argyle” being given a swinging, New Wave-y vibe and “Piano Pieces For Adult Beginners” being transformed into a pretty convincing rendition of sixties-ish psych-rock. Kind of hard to imagine, but there they were.

The price of doing things in an all-new way, however, was paid with precision. I couldn’t say how long this particular configuration of the band had been playing together, but it was clear some gelling was still needed before this could be considered a really cohesive unit. There wasn’t anything really specific that was off, just a sense that they could – and hopefully would – sound better as the tour progressed. On the second night of the road trip, some slop was probably to be expected. By the same token, the guest appearance from Gentleman Reg to cover Jamie Fooks’ parts on the duet “Our Love Is As Tall As The Calgary Tower” wasn’t as sublime as it probably should have been, with Reg appearing to have some difficulty hearing himself. But considering that without him, we probably wouldn’t have heard the song at all, I’ll take it. And that largely went for the show – considering how infrequently they make it over to this part of the country, slightly imperfect Woodpigeon is better than none at all.

The Whig-Standard talks to Woodpigeon’s Mark Hamilton.

Photos: Woodpigeon, Betty Burke @ The Drake Underground – February 11, 2010
MP3: Woodpigeon – “Empty-Hall Sing-Along”
MP3: Woodpigeon – “Morningside” (live)
MP3: Woodpigeon – “Knock Knock”
MP3: Woodpigeon – “A Moment’s Peace For Mary Christa O’Keefe”
MP3: Woodpigeon – “Love In The Time Of Hopscotch”
MP3: Woodpigeon – “Oberkampf”
MP3: Woodpigeon – “Lay All Your Love On Me”
Video: Woodpigeon – “A Moment’s Peace for Mary Christa O’Keefe”
Video: Woodpigeon – “…A Given”
Video: Woodpigeon – “Home as a Romanticized Concept Where Everyone Loves You Always and Forever”
MySpace: Woodpigeon
MySpace: Betty Burke

MusicOmh talks to Joel Gibb of The Hidden Cameras, while Clash gets some background on their recently-released video for “Underage” from director Scott Cudmore.

Video: The Hidden Cameras – “Underage”

Check out a new track from Woodhands’ new record Remorscapade. They’re at the Opera House on March 11.

MP3: Woodhands – “Dissembler”

PitchforkTV has the debut of the new video of their favourite Torontonian electro-pop act, Diamond Rings. He’s got two Canadian Musicfest shows coming up – March 11 at The Garrison and March 12 at The Silver Dollar.

Video: Diamond Rings – “Wait And See”

Spinner talks to Bruce Peninsula, who are making their inaugural visit to the US in March en route to SxSW. Upon their return, they’ll play a hometown show at The Garrison on March 25, tickets $10.

Sloan have put their digital b-sides compilation B-Sides Win up for sale at their website.

And yes, I did indeed miss every single night of Wavelength 500 – real life won out. But the celebrations sounded epic – check out BlogTO for coverage – so I guess I’ll just say congratulations, farewell and hopefully see you soon.

Jeremy R. JansenA birthday party is a bit of an odd time to announce a memorial, but such was the case this past February when, at the end of the successful 9th anniversary bash for Toronto’s venerable Wavelength weekly music series, it was announced that the 2010, 10th anniversary shows would also mark the final edition of the showcase… at least in its present form. While the weekly showcases are ending, the Wavelength marque and ethos will continue on via monthly showcases and one-off events, thus ensuring that the stages that gave countless Toronto acts – including Broken Social Scene, The Hidden Cameras and Constantines to name but a very few of the better known – will remain open and inviting.

But before the new Wavelength can begin, the old must be celebrated and put to bed, and that’s what the second weekend of February is going to be all about. Wavelength 500 will bring together acts from all throughout its history, some of whom have gone on to bigger things and some who have simply gone but all of whom are crucial parts of Toronto’s musical tapestry over the past decade. The festival will run over five nights at five venues, starting on February 10 and running through to February 14 for what’s sure to be the loudest, sweatiest Valentine’s Day bash on record. The lineups and locales for each night are as follows:

February 10 @ The Music Gallery: Bruce Peninsula, Evening Hymns, Pony Da Look, Deep Dark United, Canaille ($12)
February 11 @ The Steam Whistle Roundhouse – Holy Fuck, The Russian Futurists, Fembots, Diamond Rings, Professor Fingers ($18)
February 12 @ Sneaky Dee’s – From Fiction, The Bicycles, Laura Barrett, Magic Cheezies, Young Mother ($12)
February 13 @ The Polish Combatants Hall – Constantines, Rockets Red Glare, Donne Roberts, Picastro, Danger Bay ($20)
February 14 @ The Garrison – Kids On TV, Barcelona Pavilion, Mean Red Spiders, Neck, Boars (PWYC)

Advance tickets for the first four nights are available at the prices noted, while the fifth and final night will be pay-what-you-can. In addition, festival passes guaranteeing admission to all five shows will go on sale January 7 at the wholly reasonable price of $50. The timing of the festival is a bit unfortunate as there’s a lot a lot of other stuff going on before, during and after that weekend, but it’s not Wavelength’s fault – they’ve had this date circled on the calendar for, oh, a decade.

MP3: Laura Barrett – “Robot Ponies”
MP3: Bruce Peninsula – “Crabapples”
MP3: Canaille – “Vincent Massey” (live)
MP3: Constantines – “Nighttime Anytime It’s Alright”
MP3: Diamond Rings – “All Yr Songs”
MP3: Evening Hymns – “Dead Deer”
MP3: Fembots – “Good Days”
MP3: Holy Fuck – “Lovely Allen”
MP3: Picastro – “Hortur”
MP3: The Russian Futurists – “Paul Simon”

Constantines are no strangers to anniversary parties, having just wrapped up four Toronto shows to mark their own decade mark this past weekend. Spinner talked to frontman Bry Webb about the milestone.

Southern Souls is featuring a couple of video performances from Evening Hymns, who in addition to playing the Wavelength anniversary will be at the Garrison on January 22 for the Out Of This Spark 3rd anniversary show, alongside The D’Urbervilles, Forest City Lovers and Jenny Omnichord. Evening Hymns are also on HeroHill’s “best of 2009” list with a couple of unreleased tracks up for grabs and interviews with many of their picks.

Forest City Lovers frontwoman Kat Burns offers a couple of solo performances and an interview in this video feature from The National Post.

BlogTO has a feature on the Third Floor Sessions which have been happening at Ryerson University and yielding downloadable sessions from the likes of Ohbijou and The Wooden Sky… and yes, that is your cue to make with the clicky and download the goods (while watching the videos, of course).

NXEW is offering a free Christmas EP from Oh No Forest Fires that’s probably louder and fuzzier than your usual holiday fare. Thank goodness.

The Line Of Best Fit’s “Oh! Canada” series of compilations is also back with another volume, just in time for the holidays. Go get.

MergeLast week, I was complaining that with the US holiday season, there wasn’t nearly enough blog fodder trickling out of the interwebs. This week, it’s like a deluge.

We begin wading through it all in Scandinavia, particularly Stockholm, Sweden, home of the Shout Out Louds. The quintet turned in one of the indie-pop highlights of 2007 with Our Ill Wills and are set to follow it up with the release of Work. For this outing, they’ve opted to not work with Bjorn Yttling, who manned the boards for Our Ill Wills and have instead enlisted producer Phil Ek, best known for his work with The Shins and Built To Spill, amongst many others. And if the band’s idea of adding an American accent to things means going for a drier, less shiny sonic approach without giving up any of the hooks, then judging from the just-released first MP3 and video they’ve succeeded.

Work is out on February 23 of next year and they promise to spend most of the year touring to support. They posted up a short video clip of the recording sessions back in September.

MP3: Shout Out Louds – “Walls”
Video: Shout Out Louds – “Walls”

PopMatters interviews Anna Ternheim, who will be supporting El Perro Del Mar on her Winter 2010 tour including the February 21 date at the Mod Club. After her too-short set opening for Loney Dear at the Horseshoe in October, I had hoped she’d be back soon for a longer performance – wish granted.

MP3: Anna Ternheim – “What Have I Done”

Serena Maneesh are offering a taste of their new record, still untitled and due out in March 2010, by way of a Norwegian television session.

Clash gets a guided tour of Reykjavik from Mum.

DCist interviews Jonas Bjerre of Mew, who will be at the Mod Club in Toronto on December 6.

Chart talks to The Raveonettes.

The National Post profiles Jonas Bonnetta of Evening Hymns, who are playing an in-store at 7PM at Soundscapes tonight and a full show at the Tranzac on Friday night.

Resonancity interviews Matt Cully of Bruce Peninsula.

One of the great mythical unicorn-griffin-dragon hybrids of the indie rock world, the solo debut from Beulah frontman Miles Kurosky, should become a reality on March 9 under the title of The Desert Of Shallow Effects… unless it doesn’t. Details at AntiMusic.

There’s still no North American release date set for Sigh No More, the debut album from Mumford & Sons, but considering they’re cobbling together a North American tour for February, including a February 15 date at the El Mocambo (tickets $12), mid-February seems like a reasonable guess.

Video: Mumford & Sons – “Winter Winds”
Video: Mumford & Sons – “Little Lion Man”

Johnny Flynn, with whom Mumford & Sons made their Toronto debut last October, has put out a new EP entitled Sweet William, from which you can download a track, courtesy of Drowned In Sound.

MP3: Johnny Flynn – “Drum”

The third member of that bill, Laura Marling, is still targeting a Winter 2010 release for her sophomore effort and will release the first single from album number two in “Goodbye England (Covered In Snow)” as a Christmas single on December 14.

Magnet and Filter Q&A Ray Davies.

Daytrotter has offered up a session with The Swell Season.

MySpaceIf it were possible to monetize pure musical oddity, then not only would Iceland’s economic problems be a thing of the past, they might well be the world’s top fiscal superpower. Yes, the likes of Bjork and Sigur Ros would guarantee a GDP many times greater than the rest of the planet, but the tiny country’s smaller exports would also help push things forward – case in point, Sprengjuhollin (it’s pronounced the way it’s spelled. Go on, try).

The Reykjavík quintet don’t wave their freak flag nearly as high as their more famous countrymen, preferring to draw inspiration from their no-doubt substantial collection of Mod-era LPs rather than by communing with snow fairies out on the fjords, but assuming them to be straight pop purveyors, as their English-language singles might imply, would be unwise. Because while tracks like the orchestral folk-pop of “Worry Till Spring” might act as an easily accessible point of entry for their second self-titled album, once inside it’s a much stranger place. The majority of songs are in Icelandic and are given to more warped trajectories, at times recalling Dungen in their psychedelic inclinations, but always remaining concise and more importantly, hooky. You don’t need to speak the language to hum along.

Sprengjuhollin were around back in the Winter for Canadian Musicfest and both won folks over and were won over themselves – they’re returning for an eastern Canadian tour that will start and end in the Maritimes but swing through Ontario next week for a couple of Toronto dates – one on October 24 at the Rivoli and another on October 25 at Rancho Relaxo. The band were also an eMusic Selects pick last Summer – check out the feature piece for an interview with the band and a guided tour of the last record.

MP3: Sprengjuhollin – “Worry ‘Til Spring”
MP3: Sprengjuhollin – “Tonight”

Peter Bjorn & John have released a video for the title track of their latest Living Thing, which they’ll (again) bring to the Phoenix on November 11.

Video: Peter Bjorn & John – “Living Thing”

The National Post has an interview with Sune Rose Wagner of The Raveonettes, whose new album In And Out Of Control is shockingly good. By shockingly, I mean they no longer sound like a band that I always feel like I should like more than I do, and like a band that I could actually really like. They’re at the Phoenix on October 22.

MP3: The Raveonettes – “Last Dance”
Video: The Raveonettes – “Last Dance”

Spinner is featuring an Interface session with Mew. Babelgum is also presenting a 30-minute feature on the band recorded at a special gig at London’s Institute of Contemporary Arts.

Donewaiting has an interview with Wye Oak.

The deluxe edition of School Of Seven Bells’ 2008 debut Alpinisms is out today and available to stream – second disc of remixes and bonus tracks included – at Spinner. They also recently announced they’ve given their second album, due out next year, a title – Disconnect From Desire – expect to hear some of those new songs on Thursday night when they play Lee’s Palace.

Stream: School Of Seven Bells / Alpinisms

Anika In London discusses matters of cosmic import, such as take-out food, with The Antlers.

Clash talks to Wayne Coyne of The Flaming Lips. Embryonic is out today

The Decemberists have released a first video from this year’s The Hazards Of Love.

Video: The Decemberists – “The Rake’s Song”

John Darnielle of The Mountain Goats gives eMusic a list of his favourite religiously-themed records and offers a more conventional interview to Tiny Mix Tapes.

Over at Asthmatic Kitty, Sufjan Stevens interviews current tourmate and bandmate Nedelle Torisi of Cryptacize. They’re at the El Mocambo on November 7.

Ume – the toast of both SxSW and NXNE if I’m to be believed – are embarking on another northeast/Canadian tour and will be at the Horseshoe on November 3 for a free show. The occasion is the Canadian release of their Sunshower EP on October 27.

MP3: Ume – “Pendulum”
MP3: Ume – “The Conductor”

The Dodos talk to Spinner, Chartattack, New York Press, The Brooklyn Paper, The AV Club and The Diamondback. They’re at Lee’s Palace on Friday Saturday night.

I Heart Music has ripped a CBC session from Woodpigeon for you to keep for your very own. Their new album Die Stadt Muzikanten is out January 12.

The first part of the Wooden Sky tour documentary A Documentary In Pieces is now online for your viewing pleasure. They have a date at Lee’s Palace on November 13

In addition to their November 7 show at the North York Central Library, Bruce Peninsula have set two dates at the Music Gallery for November 27 and 28.