Aaron Hayward & David HomerThough it was only on the calendar for barely two weeks last Spring – it was cancelled almost as soon as it was announced due to scheduling issues with their Lollapalooza appearance – the prospect of an Empire Of The Sun show in Toronto clearly got some people excited. And why not – though not exactly household names in North America, the glam-synth-pop outfit led by Luke Steele, known to some for his other band The Sleepy Jackson, are veritable superstars in their native Australia thanks to their 2009 debut album Walking On A Dream and have a well-deserved reputation for spectacular live shows.

Predictably, the aforementioned cancellation – which would have seen them bring their elaborate show to the Sound Academy a year ago next week – came with many apologies and promises to try and make it up, promises which I didn’t especially expect to be kept. Not because they didn’t sincerely want to, but simply because it’s surely heinously expensive to do so and, as mentioned, they’re not a guaranteed draw over here. But I’m quite happy to have been proven wrong, as a number of US festival appearances are being leveraged into a proper North American tour which brings them to Echo Beach in Toronto on September 13, and really – a big open-air beachfront venue is a much more appropriate venue than the much-maligned shoebox on the docklands isn’t it? We haven’t had many festivals in Toronto this Summer, but if any show can help create that sort of grandiose spectacle, I’d say it’s this one. Tickets are $39.50 and go on sale Friday at 10AM.

Perth Now reports that Steele’s creative partner Nick Littlemore, who abruptly left the band a couple of years ago to join Cirque de Soleil, is back in the fold and will be touring with the band and in conversation with In THe Mix, Littlemore confirms that work has begun on album number two.

Video: Empire Of The Sun – “Half Mast”
Video: Empire Of The Sun – “Without You”
Video: Empire Of The Sun – “Walking On A Dream”
Video: Empire Of The Sun – “We Are The People”

Also announced yesterday and pretty much at the complete opposite end of every possible spectrum from Empire Of The Sun, yet just as exciting for me, is the news that London’s Still Corners would be in town at the Drake Underground on October 25 as part of a tour in support of their debut album Creatures Of An Hour, due out October 11. I saw them at SXSW and even though they prefer to play in the dark or bathed projected vintage film images, their Broadcast-ish dreamy retro-gaze is delicious.

MP3: Still Corners – “Cuckoo”

Vivian Girls bring their third record Share The Joy to The Shop at Parts & Labour on September 16; they just released a new video from the album and Spoonfed has an interview.

MP3: Vivian Girls – “I Heard You Say”
Video: Vivian Girls – “Take It As It Comes”

As The Drums prep their second album Portamento for September 13 release, they’ve put together a North American tour that brings them to the Mod Club on October 1, tickets $16. They’ve just put out the first video from the new record.

MP3: The Drums – “Down By The Water”
Video: The Drums – “Money”

I’d been wondering when Austra would be staging a triumphant homecoming show, what with their last Toronto appearance being a record release party for Feel It Break, pre-Polaris shortlisting and worldwide praise. Well the answer is December 1 and it’ll happen at The Phoenix. Sentimentalist has an interview with Katie Stelmanis and the third and final performance of Austra’s video session for Room 205 is now up.

MP3: Austra – “Lose It”

Supporting Austra on that show will be Tasseomancy, also known as the Lightman twins, better known as Austra’s backing singers and formerly known as Ghost Bees; their debut full-lenght Ulalume is out August 30. Romy Lightman talks to Spinner about their new video from said album.

MP3: Tasseomancy – “Healthy Hands”
MP3: Tasseomancy – “The Darkest Of Things”
Video: Tasseomancy – “Heavy Sleep”

Timber Timbre, who worked on the aforementioned Tasseomancy record, have premiered a new video from Creep On Creepin’ On at IFC.

Video: Timber Timbre – “Bad Ritual”

BlogTO talks to Evening Hymns’ Jonas Bonetta about their next record Spectral Dusk, which is due out this Fall. They play the ALL CAPS fest out on Toronto Islands on August 13.

Also with a new video are Young Galaxy, taken from this year’s Shapeshifting.

Video: Young Galaxy – “Blown Minded”

And finally, the tease really didn’t last that long – Feist has announced her new album Metals will be out on October 4. Pitchfork has details and Spin has already had a sneak preview and is sharing their thoughts.

Mary RozziI forget who I was talking to but it was just in the last couple of weeks and it was about how Feist has done a pretty good job of not having anyone notice it’s been a long time since her last record – almost four years, three months and counting. Sure, the first couple years of that was spent touring and promoting The Reminder as it blew up worldwide, but after that wound down she’s struck a pretty good balance between guest appearances – whether occasionally onstage with Broken Social Scene or on record as a duet partner with Wilco – to make people happy just to see and hear her, and staying out of sight enough that those same people don’t wonder why she’s not hidden away, working on a new record.

Well it turns out she has been, and with her website now taken over by the first of a dozen “vignettes” – short videos soundtracked by what we can probably assume are samples of the new record. And while I’m sure they’d like to keep details tantalizingly obscured, women’s magazine Chatelaine revealed, while nominating Ms Leslie as one of their “women of the year”, that the new record was targeted for an October 2011 release. Presumably they’re not just making that up – after all, it’s Chatelaine. In any case, the timeline indicated by the vignette calendar on Feist’s website – the third clip is dated July 25 – implies that this won’t be a long, drawn-out reveal; you’ll probably be able to pre-order whatever this is before the August long weekend is over.

Video: Feist – “My Moon My Man”

Broken Social Scene guitarist Andrew Whiteman slags his own band’s latest video and videos in general to Spinner and tells The Calgary Herald they didn’t deserve a book to be written about them, while Paste compiles a list of the bands that make up the Broken Social family tree.

FFWD chats with Beatrice Martin of Coeur de pirate, herself way overdue for a new album though at least she allows that when it arrives, it will likely be entitled Blonde.

Room 205 has another performance in their video session with Austra online while The Georgia Straight has a feature.

The Globe & Mail, The Georgia Straight and Uptown have interviews with Louise Burns.

Exclaim solicits a rooftop performance from The Darcys, who should be announcing details about the release of their second self-titled album soon. One would hope.

Bay Of Quinte and Napanee Guide interview Patrick Pentland of Sloan, who’re clearly in cottage country right now but will be back in the city playing a free show at Echo Beach on August 5.

The reconstituted Doughboys will warm up for their August 9 date opening up for Foo Fighters at the Air Canada Centre with a free show at the Bovine Sex Club the night before, August 8. I would like to go to this but I fear that my broken collarbone (hey guys I broke my collarbone for the third time) won’t be healed enough to survive the mosh pit that’ll surely ensue, even if it is a middle-aged mosh pit.

Video: The Doughboys – “Fix Me”

Mudhoney have a date at The Horseshoe on September 10, tickets $22.50 in advance.

MP3: Mudhoney – “I’m Now”
MP3: Mudhoney – “Sonic Infusion”

Paste catches up with Portugal. The Man while Mashable finds out about their sled dog-powered new video. They bring their new album In The Mountain, In The Cloud to the Opera House on October 18; tickets are $16.50 in advance.

Video: Portugal. The Man – “Got It All”

Neon Indian will follow up the September 13 release of Era Extraña with a North American tour that hits Lee’s Palace on October 18.

Video: Neon Indian – “Heart: Decay”

Flush with their second Polaris shortlist appearance, maritimers Hey Rosetta! are embarking on a cross-Canada tour and bringing aussies The Jezabels along with them. The Toronto stop is November 24 at The Phoenix, tickets $20 in advance. Hey Rosetta will also be the subject of a Polaris Salon on August 9 at the Drake, wherein a juror will talk to the band about their record, and The Jezabels are prepping their debut Prisoner for a Spring 2012 release.

MP3: Hey Rosetta! – “Yer Spring”
MP3: The Jezabels – “Mace Spray”

NOW, The Village Voice, Boston Phoenix and hour talk to Erika Anderson of EMA, who makes her Toronto debut at The Garrison tomorrow night.

Spin pokes around Stephen Malkmus’ home. Malkmus’ latest Mirror Traffic is out August 23 and he plays The Phoenix on September 21.

Hot on the heels of announcing their new record – Father, Son, Holy Ghost out September 13 – and Fall tour – The Mod Club on September 27 – Girls have put out a first MP3 from said record.

MP3: Girls – “Vomit”

NPR has a World Cafe session with Warpaint while The Japan Times and New Zealand Herald have interviews.

TV On The Radio have released a new video from Nine Types Of Light.

Video: TV On The Radio – “Caffeinated Consciousness”

Peter Silberman of The Antlers goes into some of the influences that went into Burst Apart for Stereogum.

Spin is marking the 20th anniversary of Nirvana’s Nevermind with a tribute album – available for free – featuring the likes of Titus Andronicus, EMA and The Vaselines, amongst others.

jmonae.comBack in mid-December, I pointed out that the website for the 2011 edition of Canadian Musicfest had gone live with the first batch of showcasing artists for the festival. And while there was enough in that initial list to get my attention, in the last couple of weeks the information available has really ramped up and, methinks, another round-up of acts who will be filling Toronto clubs from March 9 to 13 is in order.

Perhaps most exciting is the return of cyber-soul firecracker Janelle Monáe, though if you were hoping to see her play a conventional headlining show then “frustrating” might be the more accurate word. She made Canadian debut last Summer on Olympic Island as part of the Arcade Fire mini-fest and this time she’s performing as part of the CMW/CMF-associated Indie Awards, the exact mandate of which I’ve never understood. But whatever the reason, Monáe will top a bill that also includes Shad, Hollerado, Bombay Bicycle Club, Hannah Georgas and Desperate Union. Obviously, it’s an awards ceremony as well as a show, but my understanding is that Monáe, at least, will play a full set so the $30 ticket price would still be worth it; a festival wristband will also get you in. The Indies take place in the Canadian Room of the Royal York on March 12.

Other “big” shows that week: Land Of Talk, Hollerado, Cadence Weapon, Isis (ex. Thunderheist) and Little Scream show at the Opera House on March 10 (already reported I know), admission $18 or with a wristband. For those who like dudes with their hair hanging over their faces while they play guitar, the pairing of J Mascis and Kurt Vile at The Great Hall on March 11 is not to be missed – that one’s limited wristbands, advance tickets $27.50. It won’t get roots-rockier than Dawes and Deer Tick to say nothing of their Voltron-like supergroup Middle Brother (which includes Matt Vasquez of Delta Spirit), all three of whom will be at the Opera House on March 11, all wristbands accepted or $18.50 for advance tickets.

Also noteworthy and festival-related if not necessarily in my wheelhouse – a Big Sugar reunion at the Sound Academy, Good Charlotte at the Phoenix, Melissa Etheridge at Massey Hall – all on the Friday, March 11 – and the can’t miss (with a rocket launcher, ideally) pairing of Buckcherry and Papa Roach at the Sound Academy on March 12. Something for everyone? And less renowned/reviled but of more interest to me – Brits Esben & The Witch (date/place TBA) and Anna Calvi (Wrongbar, March 11), Australians The Jezebels (Lee’s Palace, March 11) and surely many more that still haven’t been announced – they’re expecting some 800 showcasing bands when all’s said and done and the official artist list is only at around 560. Of course, as always, it’s logistics that will ultimately determine what I end up seeing – the schedule has just started going up and already, I’m seeing some tough choices that are going to have to be made about where to be and when.

And let’s not even get started on the fact that SxSW’s showcase listings are slowly coming together.

MP3: Land Of Talk – “Swift Coin”
MP3: Dawes – “Love Is All I Am”
MP3: Esben & The Witch – “Warpath”
MP3: Anna Calvi – “Jezebel”
MP3: The Jezebels – “Mace Spray”
Video: Janelle Monáe – “Tightrope”

I mentioned a little while back that the release of Bruce Peninsula’s second album was on the back burner while frontman Neil Haverty was being treated for acute promyelocytic leukemia; now his friends and bandmates are staging a fundraiser to help mitigate some of the financial burdens of being ill. On January 29, two fundraisers will be held at the Music Gallery – a matinee show with Snowblink, Kith & Kin, The Deep, Steve McKay and Lake Andrew Drowning and an evening show with Timber Timbre, Austra (former BP-er Katie Stelmanis newly signed to Domino) and Evening Hymns. Admission is a $10 suggested donation for the matinee and $20 for the evening show, or if you just want to donate a PayPal account has been set up. More details at the Facebook event.

MP3: Timber Timbre – “Demon Ghost”
MP3: Austra – “The Beat & The Pulse”
MP3: Evening Hymns – “Broken Rifle”
MP3: Snowblink – “Ambergris”

If Do Make Say Think’s show at the Drake Underground during Boxing Week was too big or expensive for you, take heart – they’ll be going smaller, cheaper (free with canned good) and just as below grade with an in-store at Sonic Boom on February 3.

MP3: Do Make Say Think – “Other Truths album mix”

Halifax’s Jenn Grant will be bringing her shiny new record Honeymoon Punch – which finds her going a little less jazzy and a little more poppy with great results – at the Horseshoe on February 19, advance tickets $15. The National Post and aux.tv have features on Grant, who’s just released a new video from the album.

Video: Jenn Grant – “Getcha Good”

Broken Social Scene’s January 18 show at Terminal 5 in New York City will be broadcast live on YouTube starting at 9PM.

QTV has a video interview with Feist.

Volume 1 Brooklyn talks books with Owen Pallett.

eye puts Tokyo Police Club on this week’s cover and solicits their New Year’s resolutions in honour of Saturday’s show at the Kool Haus.

Beatroute has an interviews with Dan Bejar while NOW talks to one of the Toronto-based horn players who’s all over Destroyer’s new record Kaputt. out January 25. They’ll play Lee’s Palace on March 31.

Nils Edenloff of The Rural Alberta Advantage discusses the inspiration behind the song “Tornado ’87” with Spinner. Said song appears on their new album Departing, out March 1.

Fucked Up frontman Damian Abraham talks to eye about his new gig as veejay of MuchMusic’s back-from-the-dead alternative nation show The Wedge which returns to the air on January 26 at 10PM, and to Chart about the new Fucked Up record David Comes To Life, which could be out as soon as May.

Ground ControlSo maybe some of you heard that Jeff Mangum, that guy who used to be in that one band, played a surprise show of Neutral Milk Hotel tunes to a Brooklyn crowd of about 75 this past weekend (MP3s or it didn’t happen). And while that’s a pretty cool thing in and of itself, not to mention giving those in attendance bragging rights in certain circles for the rest of their lives, that it happened just before word that the Elephant 6 collective of which the Neutral Milk was a founding member was planning a big Spring touring to-do was… interesting. Not implying anything untoward, simply observing that if it was a coincidence, it was a well-timed one.

Said to-do is the Elephant 6 Holiday Surprise Tour, which was first rolled out at about this time of the year in 2008 by former Neutral Milk Hotelier, current Music Tapes leader and all-around Christmas fan Julian Koster. It consisted of a massive and random group of Elephant 6 alumni past and present, including members of Apples In Stereo, Elf Power, Circulatory System, Olivia Tremor Control amongst others – which is to say about 1/10 the population of Athens, Georgia – who trekked about performing holiday songs and each others’ compositions and generally celebrating the spirit of pop, psychedelia and community that informed the movement back in their heyday of the mid-’90s. And apparently they had such a good time of it, they’re doing it again.

The details on the who and the what are unclear as of yet – Koster will certainly be driving it again, covering much of the same terrain as his ongoing Lullabye Tour – but the itinerary is up, showing dates across North America running from late February through the end of March. You know, exactly when there aren’t any real holidays. Unlike the original Holiday Tour, this one includes a Toronto stop on March 18 at the Horseshoe, which is great for those of us who will be hundreds of miles away at SxSW at the time (that’s not a plea for sympathy, just statement of fact), particularly since none of Elf Power, Circulatory System or the reunited Olivia Tremor Control have come up this way in forever. But it is what it is and what it should be is an excitingly unpredictable treat for fans and you can bet no one is forgetting that Mangum made appearances at some of those shows in 2008… Will he be along this time out? Maybe he just needs to get re-accustomed to playing live OH WAIT.

The AV Club talked to Koster about the tour back in the Fall of 2008 while NPR has audio from the Chicago stop of that tour – all two and a half hours of it.

MP3: Music Tapes – “Majesty”
MP3: Neutral Milk Hotel – “Holland 1945”
MP3: The Apples In Stereo – “Benefits Of Lying With Your Friend”
MP3: Elf Power – “Stranger In The Window”
MP3: Circulatory System – “Yesterday’s World”
MP3: Circulatory System – “Now”

It’s understandable if you thought that The Wooden Sky’s show at Lee’s back at the start of November was their last local hurrah for the year, but they’ve got one more engagement on the calendar – an intimate December 19 show at the Music Gallery with Philadelphia’s Strand Of Oaks. It’s an all-ages gig, tickets $25 and all proceeds going to the Daily Bread Food Bank.

MP3: The Wooden Sky – “Something Hiding For Us In The Night”
MP3: Strand Of Oaks – “Bonfire”

The double-bill of one-man act Wild Nothing and many-man band Abe Vigoda have made a date at Wrongbar on February 17, full dates of the tour available at Pitchfork.

MP3: Wild Nothing – “Golden Haze”
MP3: Abe Vigoda – “Throwing Shade”

Akron/Family will follow up the February 8 release of S/T II: The Cosmic Birth and Journey of Shinju TNT with a date at The Horseshoe on February 20. And if you haven’t read the background on the record, Consequence Of Sound has details… which sound mental.

MP3: Akron/Family – “River”

The Low Anthem, who are readying their Smart Flesh for a February 22 release, have made a date at The Great Hall for March 2 – tickets $17.50 in advance. You can grab the first MP3 from said record in exchange for your email at their website.

Clash talks to LCD Soundsystem main man James Murphy.

Drowned In Sound interviews Britt Daniel and Eric Harvey of Spoon.

Exclaim has details on the long-awaited second Rural Alberta Advantage record. Departing will be out on March 1 and you can expect to hear at least some of it at their sold-out Lee’s Palace show next Thursday, December 16.

Daytrotter’s recent sojourn to Pop Montreal has yielded sessions with Karkwa and also with Diamond Rings. Karkwa are at Lee’s Palace on March 5.

Monday has a feature on Dan Mangan.

The Guardian, Winnipeg Free Press and Pitchfork talk to Feist about her Look At What The Light Did Now documentary, out today on DVD.

Big HassleLast year, I wrote up a duo out of Minnesota called Now, Now Every Children who impressed with their debut album Cars, a no-frills chunk of indie rock made special by Cacie Dalager’s winsome vocals, simultaneously sweet and sullen. I had been looking forward to experiencing that specialness live in August of ’09, when they were slated to play the El Mocambo, but that show was cancelled when their van broke down for not the first time on that tour and given that apparently not many tickets had been sold, it wasn’t rescheduled.

But even without conquering Canada, they rode Cars to some pretty impressive success, touring the US and Europe before enjoying some well-deserved burnout and disappearing from view. And in that time off, they retooled, ditched half of their name and gained a member (or three, depending on what promo photos you look at) and have now re-emerged as Now, Now. Though less grammatically awkward, it’s still far from great as names go but complaints like that are quickly forgotten thanks to the first release it’s attached to, the forthcoming Neighbors EP. And while I don’t know that the differences between it and Cars necessarily required an identity change, they’ve experienced a pretty remarkable artistic growth spurt in the past year.

Dalager’s voice is still as beguiling an instrument as ever, but the growth in their songwriting and musicianship is what really stands out – the arrangements are more sophisticated and dynamic, yet leaner. It’s as though they’ve figured out how to do much more with less, and while the EP only really numbers four proper songs – two are acoustic versions and one an instrumental introduction – and clocks in at barely 20 minutes, it feels rangier and more satisfying than many bands’ can muster in twice the length. It might be just a teaser for a full-length that won’t be out for a while yet (it’s not being recorded until the new year), but it’s a strong reminder that Now, Now, or whatever they’re calling themselves a few months from now, are an outfit worth hearing.

Spin has a chat with the band and Filter is streaming the whole of Neighbors, which is out next Tuesday, December 7.

MP3: Now, Now – “Neighbors”
MP3: Now, Now – “Roommates”
Stream: Now, Now / Neighbors

The Fly has an acoustic video session with Warpaint.

Lucinda Williams will release a new album in Blessed on March 1, just in time for her dates at Massey Hall on March 4 and 5 opening up for Levon Helm. Paste has details.

Bandstand Busking hearkens back to warmer days (read: the Summer) with this session featuring Forest City Lovers.

Rae Spoon returns to Toronto sor a show at the Gladstone on December 12.

MP3: Rae Spoon – “Death By Elektro”
MP3: Rae Spoon – “You Can Dance”

Exclaim is streaming four of the songs to be found on the CD component of Feist’s forthcoming Look At What The Light Did Now doc, out on Tuesday.

JAM and aux.tv talk to The Lowest Of The Low, celebrating the 20th anniversary reissue of Shakespeare… My Butt with two sold-out shows at Lee’s Palace tonight and tomorrow and an in-store at Sonic Boom on Saturday afternoon at 3PM.

Drowned In Sound has unearthed the transcript of an interview with Efrim Manuck of Godspeed You! Black Emperor, just in time for their return to active duty via All Tomorrow’s Parties. They’ve got four sold-out shows set for Lee’s Palace next April.