Paper Bag RecordsAs previously reported, Toronto’s Paper Bag Records is celebrating its tenth anniversary this year and they’re doing it with a three-night run of shows at The Great Hall featuring performances from much of their active roster. And though it’s their birthday, they’re the ones offering the gifts.

You may have seen the giveaways run at Quick Before It Melts and Soft Signal for prize packs consisting of label goodies and passes to the Thursday and Saturday nights respectively, and wondered where the Friday night one was – well wonder no more, it’s right here.

Courtesy of Paper Bag, I’ve got one prize pack consisting of:

– A pair of tickets to see The Rural Alberta Advantage, Cuff The Duke, PS I Love You, and Slim Twig at The Great Hall on September 28 – note that this is a 19+ show.
– A special PBR10 t-shirt and commemorative poster
– Exercises by CFCF LP
– Days Into Years by Elliott Brood LP
– All Red by Winter Gloves LP
– Contempt! by Slim Twig LP
– PS I Love You/Diamond Rings “Leftovers” 7″ single

Not bad, eh? To enter, leave a comment on this post naming your favourite Paper Bag artist and release from the past decade, and be sure to include your email as that’s how the winners will be contacted. By email. Contest is restricted to folks in the Toronto area – you gots to go to the show – and closes at midnight, September 15.

Tickets for the shows are available from direct from Paper Bag.

MP3: Cuff The Duke – “Standing On The Edge”
MP3: Elliott Brood – “Northern Air”
MP3: PS I Love You w Diamond Rings – “Leftovers”
MP3: The Rural Alberta Advantage – “Stamp”

Zuzana HudackovaIt’s shaping up to be an Autumn of Can-rock double bills high on value. Folks thought that it was a pretty impressive pairing of talent when it was announced last month that Dan Mangan and The Rural Alberta Advantage were teaming up to cross the country in October, or the June announcement that Metric and Stars were hitting the country’s arenas together, but that were just the first of a number of impressive double-bills looking to share driving duties across Canada this Fall.

First, you’ve got Toronto’s Cuff The Duke teaming up with Halifax’s Jenn Grant teaming up for a tour that stretches from BC out to Montreal, and while the Toronto venue isn’t officially announced, the date is confirmed as November 24 and the rumoured venue is the fancy-pants Winter Garden Theatre. Both artists have new records coming out, hence the road trip. Cuff The Duke will release Union October 2 and from the first taste of the new material via a live Paper Bag Session, it sounds like it’ll be more tuneful country-rock of the sort that they’ve built their following on. Grant, on the other hand, looks to be shifting gears again with The Beautiful Wild, out September 25. Following the effervescent pop of Honeymoon Punch, Exclaim reports that Wild will pursue a more mature and musically adventurous direction. The first single from said record is streamable below. Update: Winter Garden Theatre is confirmed, tickets on sale August 20.

Cuff The Duke have a couple of local shows before the Grant tour – there’s a free show at Yonge-Dundas Square the evening of August 31 and they’re part of the Paper Bag Records 10th anniversary show at The Great Hall on September 27.

Stream: Jenn Grant – “In The Belly Of A Dragon”
Video: Cuff The Duke – “Side By Side” (Paper Bag Sessions)

Elliott Brood are also playing that PBR10 show on September 27, but will be back on a Toronto stage on October 21 at The Danforth Music Hall as part of their Marvel Team-Up almost cross-Canada tour – no BC dates at the moment – with Halifax’s Wintersleep; tickets for that one are $25.50. Both released new records earlier this year – Days Into Years for the Brood, Hello Hum for the ‘Sleep. Chronicle Herald and The Montreal Gazette have Wintersleep features.

MP3: Elliott Brood – “Norther Air”
MP3: Wintersleep – “Resuscitate”

METZ will celebrate the release of the debut self-titled album with a hometown show at The Horseshoe on October 12, ticket $12 in advance.

MP3: METZ – “Headache”

After a couple visits in a supporting role, Cadence Weapon has scheduled a headlining gig of his own in support of the Polaris shortlisted Hope In Dirt City at Wrongbar for October 12, tickets $12.

MP3: Cadence Weapon – “Conditioning”

CBC Music talked to The Magic ahead of their Summerworks record release show for Ragged Gold this past weekend. Counteract also has a short feature piece.

Evening Hymns have released the first official video from Spectral Dusk, which is out next Tuesday but gets its live public unveiling this Friday night at Summerworks. The album, however, is unveiled as of right now courtesy of the stream at The Line Of Best Fit, which also comes with song-by-song annotations from Jonas Bonnetta.

Video: Evening Hymns – “Family Tree”
Stream: Evening Hymns / Spectral Dusk

Bry Webb talks to NOW about his plans for his own Summerworks show on August 18.

Exclaim and Stereogum talk to Dan Boeckner about his new outfit Divine Fits, while Britt Daniel does the same for Mountain X-Press. A Thing Called Divine Fits is out August 28 – though it’s available to stream now – and they play Lee’s Palace on September 5.

Stream: Divine Fits / A Thing Called Divine Fits

And Boeckner’s former bandmate Spencer Krug talks to The Quietus about his current project, Moonface.

Two Hours Traffic have announced a new EP Siren Spell, due out September 11, which not only offers a sneak preview of what their new lineup sounds like, but also gives the band a chance to indulge in their favourite pastime – touring across the country. Dates are coming this week but in the meantime, check out a track from the new EP.

MP3: Two Hours Traffic – “Amour Than Amis”

After a couple of non-album teases, The Wilderness Of Manitoba have finally offered an official first taste of their second album Island Of Echoes. It’s out September 18.

MP3: The Wilderness Of Manitoba – “Morning Sun”

NPR is streaming a new song from the forthcoming Stars album The North. It’s out September 4 and they support Metric at The Air Canada Centre on November 24. But I think I already said that.

Stream: Stars – “Backlines”

Hot on the heels of her Feistodon interactive clip, Feist has released a more conventional, less metal video from Metals.

Video: Feist – “Anti-Pioneer”

The Luyas have released a preview track from their new record Animator, out October 18. They’re at The Great Hall on September 29 for the PBR10 show.

MP3: The Luyas – “Fifty Fifty”

The AV Club welcomes Destroyer to AV Undercover and they choose to cover Gorky’s Zygotic Mynci. Of course.

DIY interviews Purity Ring.

NOW and The Montreal Gazette talk to Al Spx of Cold Specks.

John O’Regan talks to Spin about the new Diamond Rings record Free Dimensional, due out October 23.

Sloan have announced their super-fancy Twice Removed 20th anniversary package will be out on September 4; Exclaim has rounded up exactly what your $90 plus shipping gets you besides a public declaration that you really like “Pen Pals”.

Yamantaka // Sonic Titan drummer Alaska B lists her favourite albums of the last 20 years for CBC Music.

Beatroute checks in with Black Mountain.

Ben and Jonah of Fucked Up give Exclaim a progress report on their next album. They play Fort York on September 9 as part of Riot Fest.

FacebookCustom dictates that for tenth anniversaries, the traditional gift is something made from tin and the modern equivalent is aluminum. Or diamond. How on earth do you get from tin to diamond? Happily, Toronto’s Paper Bag Records pays no attention to such convention and to mark their tenth year of releasing great music from both Canada and abroad, they’ve opted to put together three nights of shows at The Great Hall from September 27 to 29 and featuring the best of their current roster as well as a surprise and welcome return – You Say Party.

The Vancouver dance-rock band were riding high on their third album, 2009’s XXXX, when their drummer Devon Clifford suddenly and tragically died onstage in April 2010. They soldiered on for another year and then, promotional duties done, went on indefinite hiatus – a hiatus that would last a year and a half, as they state on their website, “Over the course of the last year, we came to realize a simple truth: that the four of us missed making music together”. Their appearance on the third night of the PBR anniversary shows will mark their first step back and as a four-piece, reconfiguring their old songs to fit and presumably crafting new ones.

Their return will surely be a highlight of that third night, which also features Young Galaxy, The Luyas, and a special guest that you probably don’t need to do too much thinking to guess who it will but all three evenings are pretty stacked. Thursday night features Elliott Brood, Born Ruffians, Woodhands, and The Acorn and Friday brings in The Rural Alberta Advantage, Cuff The Duke, PS I Love You, and Slim Twig.

Tickets for each night are $25 and a three-day pass comes in at $60, on sale now. The Great Hall isn’t that big so if you’re thinking this is something you should be at, turning thought into action soon is recommended.

MP3: The Acorn – “Restoration”
MP3: Born Ruffians – “Sole Brother”
MP3: Cuff The Duke – “Standing On The Edge”
MP3: Elliott Brood – “Northern Air”
MP3: The Luyas – “Too Beautiful To Work”
MP3: PS I Love You – “2012”
MP3: The Rural Alberta Advantage – “Stamp”
MP3: Slim Twig – “Young Hussies”
MP3: Woodhands – “Dissembler”
MP3: You Say Party! – “Laura Palmer’s Prom”
MP3: Young Galaxy – “Peripheral Visionaries”

Under The Radar chats with Torq Campbell of Stars, who released their first albums on Paper Bag and will put their sixth album North out on September 4. They’ve made a new track from said record available to stream and will be at the Air Canada Centre on November 14 supporting Metric.

Stream: Stars – “Hold On When You Get Love And Let Go When You Give It”

The New York Times has a feature piece on Purity Ring, whose much-anticipated debut Shrines is out this week and who’ve made another track from it available to download.

MP3: Purity Ring – “Belispeak”

Damian Abraham of Fucked Up rattles off his favourite records of the past two decades for CBC Music. They’re at Historic Fort York on September 9 as part of Riot Fest.

Melancholy & The Infinite Shadness is the name of a new mixtape from Shad that you need in your life. Get it for free.

ZIP: Shad / Melancholoy & The Infinite Shadness

The Georgia Straight and The Victoria Times-Colonist talks to Kathryn Calder.

CBC Music has five tracks to preview for the forthcoming live Dears album Never Destroy Us, due out this Fall.

Patrick Watson gives Spinner his thoughts on and ambitions for the music video medium; he also chats with Vermont’s Seven Days. He’s at Massey Hall on December 6.

Idée FixeWhen you’ve spent much of your life doing one thing, and that one thing draws to a close, it’s not unreasonable to decide to do something completely the opposite next. So for Bry Webb to make his first post-Constantines record Provider a quiet, mainly acoustic affair only stands to reason – particularly for anyone who heard him operating as Harbourcoats before the Cons went on hiatus.

But to suggest that Provider is just the Cons frontman gone unplugged is a grave injustice – this is not a slapdash set of songs recorded on a single mic in his back room. Yes, Provider is quiet, slow, and spare but what elements are there – a persistent, ghostly steel guitar, a low and mournful chorus of horns, a foreboding tremoloed electric guitar- are meticulously arranged around Webb’s rough, resonant vocals to help carry the weight of the songs.

And weight, Provider has plenty of. Weight, meaning and purpose, all of which make the record feel so much bigger than it sounds on the surface. Webb writes from the perspective of one who has had experience in the world and the time to stop and consider it; there is wisdom in his words, rough-hewn and hard-won yet warm and comforting. Though Provider feels intensely personal, it’s not insular and is for its spareness, is welcoming in its own fashion. It may not fill the Constantines-shaped hole in their fanbase’s hearts, but does offer a glimpse directly into Webb’s own.

The Edmonton Journal has two feature pieces on Webb while Exclaim and The National Post talk to him about collaborating with Feist on her new record. He opens up for her at Massey Hall on December 1.

MP3: Bry Webb – “Rivers Of Gold”

In Toronto profiles Katie Stelmanis of Austra, while Quick Before It Melts has premiered the second video in her unplugged Paper Bag Sessions.

The Wooden Sky are making their Holiday Revue shows an annual thing, holding the second one at The Music Gallery on December 10 with special guest Nils Edenloff of The Rural Alberta Advantage; tickets are $20 in advance with proceeds going to support the Daily Bread Food Bank – details at Facebook.

MP3: The Wooden Sky – “Angelina”

And to make official two shows that are already Toronto institutions – New Year’s Eve with Elliott Brood at Lee’s Palace and The Sadies at The Horseshoe. Tickets for the former are $20 in advance, the latter $25.

MP3: Elliot Brood – “Northern Air”
MP3: The Sadies – “Another Year Again”

Canadian Interviews talks to Neil Haverty and Matt Cully of Bruce Peninsula.

Rae Spoon discusses his new album I Can’t Keep All of Our Secrets with Exclaim and has also announced a Canadian tour that brings him to the Gladstone in Toronto on January 27. The record is out January 10 and the first MP3 is now available.

MP3: Rae Spoon – “Crash Landing”

Louise Burns submits to a Q&A from CBC Radio 3; she’s at The Horseshoe on Saturday night opening up for Cuff The Duke.

Exclaim welcomes Kat Burns of Forest City Lovers to their studio for a video session.

The Line Of Best Fit have posted a video session with Kathleen Edwards. Her Voyageur is out January 17 and she plays The Phoenix on February 11.

Pitchfork has details on Leonard Cohen’s new studio album Old Ideas, now officially scheduled for a January 31 release – you can stream the first single from it below.

Stream: Leonard Cohen – “Show Me The Place”

The Line Of Best Fit and Spinner talk to Michael Barclay, co-author of Have Not Been The Same and compiler of the companion Too Cool to Live, Too Smart to Die tribute compilation.

Paper BagWho: Elliott Brood
What: Toronto-based, self-described “death country” practitioners who just released their third album Days Into Years earlier this Fall.
Why: In the midst of a cross-Canada tour in support of the new record, the trio will make a stop at home to play to their neighbours and do some laundry.
When: Friday, November 18, 2011
Where: The Phoenix in Toronto (19+)
Who else: Fellow Toronto country-singing types $100 will open up.
How: Tickets are $20 in advance but courtesy of Collective Concerts, I have two pairs of passes to give away for the show as well as a copy of Days Into Year on CD. To enter, email me at contests AT chromewaves.net with “I want to see Elliott Brood” in the subject line and your full name in the body – one winner will get the CD and passes, the other just the passes. Winner will be drawn at midnight, November 15.
What else: CBC Radio 3, BC Local News, Uptown, Metro, and Winnipeg Free Press have feature pieces on the band.

MP3: Elliott Brood – “Northern Air”