Ryan MarrToronto’s Forest City Lovers began essentially as a pseudonym for singer-songwriter Kat Burns, and while ably assisted by members of Toronto’s burgeoning music community her debut The Sun & The Wind was accordingly spare, but still gave hints to her broader pop ambitions. 2008’s Haunting Moon Sinking found Forest City Lovers no longer a pseudonym but a proper band and accordingly, it was a much fuller and rangier affair with a few moments of pure pop bounce amidst the more contemplative numbers. It made clear that talent-wise, Forest City Lovers had the potential to be one of the city, if not the country’s, finer pop bands though to make the grab for that brass ring seemed at odds with the understated charm that seemed to be such a fundamental part of their appeal. How would they reconcile that, if at all?

The answer comes in the form of Carriage. Their third album, released this week, is the sort of record that you always hope that a band you believe in will make, but don’t really expect for fear of being disappointed. Somehow Forest City Lovers have managed to make a game-changer of an album without actually changing their game – the core of their sound, Burns’ insightful and evocative lyrics delivered with her gentle, hint-of-smoke vocals, are intact and front and centre but this time out they’re cast against type in some big pop arrangements and damn if they don’t more than rise to the challenge.

Bookended by different versions of both sides of last year’s Phodilus and Tyto 7″, Carriage comes with a wealth of fresh ideas and it seems the more unexpected the turn, the more rewarding the outcome. Perhaps the best example of this is the confidently off-kilter “Minneapolis”, whose two minutes and forty seconds boasts one of the most infectious choruses you’re likely to hear anywhere this year. It’s pretty much the sort of song that you’d have thought Forest City Lovers would be great at but never would have expected them to write, and that feeling of both surprise and satisfaction permeates the record. The presence of new drummer Christian Ingelevics is surely a big part of the album’s heightened energy – he’s certainly brought such to their live show – and perhaps the decision to work with an outside producer for the first time is also part of it, though the record still maintains much of the of intimate, unvarnished vibe of the earlier recordings. But I think that most of the growth on Carriage can be attributed to a band that was simply ready to take that next step and decided to make it a huge leap forward. So very, very rewarding.

I Heart Music also has a review of the album and is offering a download of “Minneapolis”, also his pick as the key song on the record. Exclaim couples their review with a quick interview and Soundproof, The National Post and Chart have features on the band. Forest City Lovers start a three-week North American tour this weekend and will play a hometown record release show at the Great Hall on August 12, preceded by an in-store at Soundscapes on August 10, before heading back out on the road in September.

MP3: Forest City Lovers – “Light You Up”
MP3: Forest City Lovers – “If I Were A Tree”
Video: Forest City Lovers – “If I Were A Tree”
MySpace: Forest City Lovers

Left-field Vancouver art-poppers Apollo Ghosts are touring their Polaris Prize-nominated album Mount Benson right across Canada and are making two stops in Toronto – on July 27 for an in-store performance at Criminal Records at 7PM and then after hitting the east coast, will double back and wrap things up on August 6 at Sneaky Dee’s with Dog Day.

MP3: Apollo Ghosts – “Coka Cola Admen”
MP3: Apollo Ghosts – “Things You Go Through”

The Take interviews The Balconies.

Chart talks to The Sadies, who will ring in Canada Day with a free show at Harbourfront Centre tonight.

Great Lake Swimmers have released a new video from last year’s Lost Channels.

Video: Great Lake Swimmers – “River’s Edge”

Also with a new video are Black Mountain, whose Wilderness Heart is out September 14. They’re at the Horseshoe on July 23.

Video: Black Mountain – “Old Fangs”

The Line Of Best Fit talks to Mark Hamilton of Woodpigeon. They’ll be back in town on October 6 to play a free noon-hour show at Yonge-Dundas Square.

Washington City Paper and Philadelphia Weekly talk to Carl Newman of The New Pornographers, whose performance in Washington DC last week is available to stream over at NPR.

Pornographer going solo Kathryn Calder has released another MP3 from her forthcoming debut Are You My Mother?, out August 10.

MP3: Kathryn Calder – “Arrow”

CBC, Chart and Exclaim interview members of Stars. They are at Massey Hall on October 23.

John O’Regan of Diamond Rings offers The Line Of Best Fit a guide to his Toronto.

The Vancouver Sun talks to Shad, who’s at the Kool Haus on October 1.

Clash interviews Emily Haines of Metric. The video for their Twilight theme song is now available to swoon at. They’re at the Molson Amphitheatre on Friday, July 9

Video: Metric – “Twilight (All Yours)”

Supporting Metric on that show are Holy Fuck; hour.ca has an interview.

Rae Spoon will release Love Is A Hunter, the follow up to 2008’s excellent Superioryouareinferior, on August 17 and the first MP3 is available to download.

MP3: Rae Spoon – “You Can Dance”

The Hidden Cameras will play two intimate shows at the Lower Ossington Theatre on August 5 and 6 as part of the Summerworks theatre and film festival. According to Chart, they will be taking the opportunity to reimagine their last album Origin: Orphan as a theatrical work. Tickets for the shows are just $10.

MP3: The Hidden Cameras – “Walk On”

Half of this Take-Away Show with Land Of Talk was posted a couple weeks ago but the second video posted at Le Blogotheque, presumably a track from Cloak & Cipher, is the real jaw-dropper. So very excited for this record, which will be out August 24.

Exclaim talks to members of Wolf Parade.

PunkNews interviews Mike Haliechuk of Fucked Up.

Harbourfront Centre’s Love Saskatchewan festival will feature free performances from Rah Rah and Library Voices on July 23 and July 25, respectively. And with lots of Saskatchewan-related goodness in between.

Tourisme Montreal talks to Basia Bulat, who was there last week for the Montreal Jazz Festival.

Wired interviews Scott Pilgrim director Edgar Wright and star Michael Cera. Hilarity ensues. Pitchfork also talks to Broken Social Scene’s Brendan Canning about their contributions to the film soundtrack.

The National Post examines the state of the Summer concert season.

Happy Canada Day, everyone. I am marking this auspicious occasion by leaving the country. I’m off to New York City for an extended long weekend – I think these are called vacations. We’ll see how it goes.

Jason CrepsThe first thing you notice about The New Pornographers’ latest album Together is the unison electric guitar and cello line that opens the first track, “Moves”. The second thing you notice is that you probably didn’t notice it at all. The band who first burst onto the scene at the turn of the century with the giddily live wire Mass Romantic transformed themselves from power-pop to orch-pop over the course of their five albums in the past decade that the strings and orchestral flourishes that permeate Together don’t seem at all out of place whereas they’d have had trouble finding the space to be heard amidst the cranked electric guitars and keyboards of their debut.

But sophisticated sonic accouterments aside, Together is still arguably their liveliest record since Electric Version, successfully recovering from the rather staid Challengers. Taken in the context of their career arc, that last record can now be regarded as more of a transitional record which tried to move away from the hepped-up pop of their earlier records and pulled a little too far in the other direction. Together strikes a much more comfortable balance, balancing the likes of “Your Hands (Together)”‘s amplified rock with the more stately pace of “Valkyrie In The Roller Disco”. Having noted those differences, it’s also important to note that which remains the same as on all other New Pornographer records – Carl Newman’s unerring ear for melody, Neko Case’s wonderful vocals and Dan Bejar’s requisite two wildcard songs though his contributions this time around are possibly his most straightforward compositions ever – still the highlights, but also a solid reminder that the world needs a new Destroyer record sooner rather than later.

Carl Newman has been quoted as saying that he knew that Challengers was going to be the band’s “backlash record”, even before it was out – maybe that’s why he made a record so worthy of backlash, so those of us disappointed wouldn’t have to work so hard to find reasons to feel that way. The good news is that the backlash has passed and with Together, The New Pornographers have made their rebound record.

The New Pornographers are currently on a cross-Canada tour – with the full band – and will be at the Sound Academy in Toronto for an all-ages show on June 15 with The Dodos and The Dutchess & The Duke. Tickets are $28 in advance but courtesy of Collective Concerts, I have two pairs of passes to give away for the show. To enter, email me at contests AT chromewaves.net with “I want some New Pornography” in the subject line and your full name in the body, and have that in to me before midnight, June 11. And yes, I will check through my spam filter for entries, just in case.

There’s interviews with Carl Newman at The Star Phoenix, The Edmonton Journal, The Gateway and Canada.com as well as a list of songs that influenced Together at The Calgary Herald.

MP3: The New Pornographers – “Your Hands (Together)”
Video: The New Pornographers – “The Crash Years”
Video: The New Pornographers – “Your Hands (Together)”
MySpace: The New Pornographers

Forest City Lovers have announced a full mostly Canadian tour (there’s one Chicago date) for the month of July to mark the June 29 release of their third album Carriage. After they return from out west, they’ll play a homecoming release show on August 12 at The Great Hall accompanied by Gentleman Reg and Carmen Elle, preceded by an August 10 in-store at Soundscapes. They’re also playing the LEAF celebrations at Wychwood Barns on June 11.

MP3: Forest City Lovers – “Light You Up”

The Toronto Star examines the low-key appeal of Shad, who is also featured by The Gauntlet, The Leader-Post and The Times-Colonist. He plays the Opera House on June 12; passes to the show are up for grabs.

The Fly has another video session with Born Ruffians; those guys will unplug for anyone with a video camera! There’s also interviews at The Seattle Times and Metro.

In town for two intimate nights at The Drake Underground this coming Friday and Saturday, Robyn Hitchcock has added an in-store at Sonic Boom on June 12 at 4PM to his itinerary. It goes without saying that this is going to be worth seeing.

Spinner has an Interface session with Two Door Cinema Club, who will follow up last month’s sold out gig at Wrongbar with a show at The Phoenix on October 25.

MP3: Two Door Cinema Club – “Something Good Can Work”

Paste catches up with Laura Marling.

Pitchfork talks to Aaron Dessner and Matt Berninger of The National. They open a two-night stand at Massey Hall tomorrow evening.

Though Bono’s bad back has forced Interpol to cancel their dates opening up for U2, they’ve still given their fans something to get excited about by announcing that their fourth album would be self-titled and out in mid-September and the replacement for departed bassist Carlos Dengler would be former Slint guitarist (and hired gun for too many acts to name) David Pajo.

Spinner, The Boot, Charlotte Observer and The Huffington Post talk to Tift Merritt about her new record See You On The Moon, an MP3 from which you can download over here.

Video: Tift Merritt – “Mixtape”

Pitchfork has details on the new Thermals record Personal Life, due out September 7.

Frank YangI think I’m done qualifying any opinions I might voice on the subject of hip-hop. Which doesn’t happen often, no, but when it does, I’ve always felt the need to point out that I don’t have the experience with the genre to form what I’d consider a properly contextualized viewpoint and so end up with a quarter-assed collection of observations rather than my usual half-assed.

This insecurity manifested itself most acutely a couple years ago when I was on the grand jury for the 2008 Polaris Prize and was unsure about throwing my support behind Shad’s shortlisted sophomore album The Old Prince because, even though I knew I liked it, I wasn’t sure I could actually say it was a great – objectively-speaking – rap album because, well, I didn’t know what that meant, exactly. And I’d like to think that I wasn’t the swing vote in The Old Prince not winning that year.

I’m much more confident this time around about things Shad and Polaris, specifically his new record TSOL – out today – and where it stands relative to my ballot when it goes in in a couple weeks – because it’ll be on there. From the first listen, TSOL succeeded in capturing my attention thanks to Shadrach Kabango’s imaginative wordplay and ability to convey heart and humour without getting schmaltzy. It doesn’t hurt that it’s more direct and pop-rock influenced than The Old Prince, which had more jazzy inclinations, but that doesn’t make it less sophisticated than its predecessor – just louder and heavier at a few key points. And strong enough that I can get up and say that this is one of the best, or at least one of my favourite, Canadian records of the past twelve months. Of any genre.

Shad was marking the release of the new record last night with an in-store at Sonic Boom, and despite it being perfect long weekend weather for basking in the sun, a goodly number of folks headed for the Annex record store’s basement to see the London-bred, Vancouver-based rapper showcase some of his material. Though a non-functioning guitar kept him from demonstrating his instrumental skills, his mic was working just fine and backed by a DJ and bassist-keyboardist – and getting guest vocals on “We Are The Ones” from Relic – he powered through a selection of TSOL tracks, highlights including his soulful tribute to women in “Keep Shining” and the big rock declaration of “We, Myself & I” (can someone please tell me where that guitar riff is lifted from). Those, combined with a couple of must-haves from The Old Prince demonstrated why despite sometimes seeming easy-going and self-effacing to a fault, he’s a charismatic and energetic MC, more than capable of working a room and putting on a show equal to the material. As Polaris jurors, we’e not supposed to let the artist’s live show influence our decision-making process – it’s all about the records – but it never hurts to have decisions that have already been made be reinforced.

Shad plays the Opera House on June 12. He talks to Winnipeg Free Press and Metro, is the cover boy of this month’s Exclaim and gives Spinner a track-by-track breakdown of the new record.

Photos: Shad @ Sonic Boom – May 24, 2010
MP3: Shad – “Yaa I Get It”
MP3: Shad – “I Don’t Really Like To”
Video: Shad – “Yaa I Get It”
Video: Shad – “The Old Prince Still Lives At Home”
Video: Shad – “I Don’t Really Like To”
Video: Shad – “Brother (Watching)”
MySpace: Shad

Filter gets to know The Besnard Lakes. They’re at the Mod Club on June 17 as part of NXNE.

Inside Toronto talks to Kat Burns of Forest City Lovers about their love of forests in cities. Their new record Carriage is out June 29 and they play the LEAF celebrations at Wychwood Barns on June 11.

Deer Tick were just here in April but will be putting out a new record in The Black Dirt Sessions on June 8 and as such, will be returning for a date at the Horseshoe on August 10. New York Magazine talks to frontman John McCauley.

MP3: Deer Tick – “Twenty Miles”

New York’s Liars will be at Lee’s Palace on September 29 in support of this year’s Sisterworld. The Georgia Straight has an interview with Angus Andrew.

Video: Liars – “The Overachievers”
Video: Liars – “Scissor”

The San Francisco Chronicle talks to Matt Berninger of The National. They’re in town on June 8 and 9 at Massey Hall.

Daytrotter has posted up a session with The Dodos; they’ve got a date at the Sound Academy on June 15 opening up for The New Pornographers.

Spin talks to Band Of Horses’ Ben Bridwell. They are at the Toronto Islands on June 19.

Josh Ritter talks to Spinner about his literary ambitions: his debut novel Bright’s Passage is due out next Summer.

MySpaceIt’s bad form, but I’m generally too lazy to type out the HTML special characters that properly render things like accents or other non-English written language goodies, but in the case of The Dø, I’ll make an exception – one usually only reserved for the mighty umlaut. Partly because failing to do so reduces French-Finnish duo’s brief yet memorable name to something utterly forgettable (though either way they’re going to have to accept that it’s going to be mispronounced), but also because the slashed o – “ø” – just looks so cool.

And that coolness factor does raise some expectations for the act that would trade under said character, expectations that they largely deliver on if you rate oddness highly. It’s hard to describe what The Dø do – their debut album A Mouthful encompasses a wide range of styles, dwelling where folk, jazz and hip-hop intersect at pop. The ensuing melange is catchy yet discomfiting, with Olivia Merilahti’s plaintive vocals – capable of coo or caterwaul – providing an uneasy anchor and with multi-instrumentalist Dan Levy’s cinematic background making for a widescreen yet intimate effect that can be just as unsettling. A Mouthful is a accessible in that it lets you in easily, but once inside you may not ever be able to figure out exactly where you are.

A Mouthful was released in Europe in 2008 and became the first English-language album to top the French charts. It only received a North American release last month, though bolstered with a handful of bonus tracks by way of apology, and come this Fall they’ll follow it up with a North American tour that includes a September 11 date at The Mod Club.

MP3: The Dø – “At Last”
MP3: The Dø – “Tammie”
Video: The Dø – “At Last”
Video: The Dø -“On My Shoulders”
MySpace: The Dø

Phoenix frontman Thomas Mars tells Spinner they have no time for side projects – they’re too busy playing Tiny Desk Concerts for NPR.

And moving from the French portion of the post – yes it was brief – to the “just announced”: LEAF – which stands for “Local Enhancement & Appreciation of Forests” – will hold their fourth annual celebration of preserving the urban forest with a show at the Wychwood Barns featuring two local acts who, at least by their names, share the same appreciation of flora and possibly fauna. That’d be Forest City Lovers and The Wilderness Of Manitoba, both of whom have new records out soon – Carriage on June 29 and When You Left The Fire on June 22, respectively. Tickets for the show are $25 in advance, full details on the event over here.

MP3: Forest City Lovers – “Light You Up”
MP3: The Wilderness Of Manitoba – “Hermit”

Minus The Bear will be in town at the Mod Club on July 4 in support of their new record OMNI; Black Book has an interview with singer Jake Snider.

MP3: Minus The Bear – “My Time”
Video: Minus The Bear – “My Time”

One of the acts I kept hearing people talk about at SxSW this year was Los Angeles’ Pepper Rabbit, though I never managed to see them play. And now that they’re coming to town on July 6 for a show at the Drake Underground… I still not make it seeing as how I’ll have just gotten back in town the day before.

MP3: Pepper Rabbit – “Red Wine”

I don’t think they’ve been through town any time in recent memory – certainly not since I acquired one of their band wristbands for admission to SxSW 2006 (it’s okay, they got paid) – but Phosphorescent will finally be in Toronto on July 10 for a show at the Horseshoe. Their new record is Here’s To Taking It Easy and pretty well captures the spirit of Matthew Houck’s laid-back, feel-good country-rock.

MP3: Phosphorescent – “It’s Hard To Be Humble (When You’re From Alabama)”
MP3: Phosphorescent – “The Mermaid Parade”
MP3: Phosphorescent – “A Picture Of Our Torn-Up Praise”

Calexico will be in town on July 22 for a show at the Phoenix with Elliott Brood as support. Calexico haven’t put out an album since 2008’s Carried To Dust; it’s not unreasonable to assume that touring implies a new record is on its way. Or it’s just folk festival season. Tickets for the show are $21.50 in advance.

MP3: Calexico – “Two Silver Trees”

The Stills – who recently welcomed original singer-guitarist Gregory Paquet back into the fold – have a date at the Horseshoe on July 29, tickets $20 in advance.

MP3: The Stils – “Being Here”

Heaviness will ensue when Boris and Russian Circles roll into Lee’s Palace on August 9.

MP3: Boris – “Farwell”
MP3: Russian Circles – “Malko”

So people have been waiting for ages for Justin Vernon to come back to town… and they’re going to get their wish – but not in the way they might have thought. He’s hitting the road this Fall but not as Bon Iver – that’s still on the shelf – but as part of Gayngs, a supergroup of sorts featuring members of Bon Iver, Megafaun and The Rosebuds, amongst others. Their mandate is funky, sexy slow jams and if that sounds completely at odds with what you’d expect from those involved… well it is. The album is called Relayted and the Autumn tour stops in at The Phoenix on October 1, tickets $20.

MP3: Gayngs – “The Gaudy Side Of Town”
MP3: Gayngs – “Faded High”
Video: Gayngs – “Cry”

Stage FrightThere seems to be a fixation with the supernatural running through Canadian indie circles right now – or at least through their naming processes – if a few upcoming, high-profile releases are any indication. First off, you’ve got Ottawa’s Acorn, whose long-awaited follow-up to 2007’s Glory Hope Mountain will be out on June 1 and carry the title of No Ghost. Their interest in the spirit world isn’t new, however, as their 2004 debut – albeit by a decidedly different Acorn than exists today – was called The Pink Ghosts, so perhaps the new record is some response to that? Yeah, probably not. The MP3 for the title track of the new record is available now to share and enjoy and they play Lee’s Palace on June 11.

MP3: The Acorn – “No Ghost”

Montreal’s Stars are five-upping The Acorn – or maybe infinite-upping them, considering their album title implies null ghosts – by calling their new record The Five Ghosts. Even though the album isn’t out until June 22 and, as Amy Millan admits to Chart, touring a record so far ahead of its release is probably insane, they’re setting out on an extensive North American tour where they’ll play the whole thing in its entirety starting at the Mod Club in Toronto – congratulations go out to Tony, Jacob and Mike for winning my contest for passes.

The title of Wolf Parade’s new record Expo 86 doesn’t have anything to do with ghosts – except maybe those of Worlds Fairs past – but in addition to an interview, Spencer Krug gives Pitchfork a sneak preview of the new album with a pair of downloads, one of which is called – wait for it – “Ghost Pressure”. Would five ghosts exert more pressure than no ghosts, considering they’re inherently intangible and thus incapable of exerting any pressure at all? HMM. Expo 86 is out June 29 and is notable as the first Wolf Parade album to not have terrible album art. Spinner also talks to drummer Arlen Thompson.

MP3: Wolf Parade – “Ghost Pressure”
MP3: Wolf Parade – “What Did My Lover Say? (It Always Had To Go This Way)

Forest City Lovers have set a June 29 release for their third album Carriage – check out the first MP3 below.

MP3: Forest City Lovers – “Light You Up”

The Wilderness Of Manitoba have announced details and a first sample from their debut full-length When You Left The Fire, due out on June 22. Expect a proper record release show, but for now their hometown dates are of the support variety – May 12 at the Mod Club with Matthew Barber and June 4 at The Phoenix with Basia Bulat and Julie Doiron.

MP3: The Wilderness Of Manitoba – “Hermit”

TwentyFourBit reports that Daniel Lanois is producing the next Neil Young record – this could well be fantastic. Or not. But the potential for greatness is definitely there.

Le Blogotheque has a Take-Away Show from the streets of Montreal featuring Jason Collett and Zeus, the latter of whom’s Mike O’Brien is the subject of an interview at Bring Back The Boom Box.

Cornershop Studios talks to Dan Mangan.

The Vancouver Sun and The Globe & Mail talk to Carl Newman of The New Pornographers, whose Together is out today. They’re at the Sound Academy on June 15.

Resonancity, The Montreal Mirror and Montreal Gazette interview Dan Snaith of Caribou.

More show announcements – a bill made up of bands whose names I see a lot in my RSS reader are coming to town – Austin’s This Will Destroy You, Chicago’s Light Pollution and Brooklyn’s Slow Six sound like they’ll make up a pretty psych/post-rocking good time at the Rivoli on June 5.

MP3: This Will Destroy You – “The World Is”
MP3: Light Pollution – “Good Feelings”
MP3: Slow Six – “The Night You Left New York”

English folkers Peggy Sue – who visited last Fall – will be back for a show at Sneaky Dee’s on June 13. Their full-length debut Fossils & Other Phantoms is due out June 1 – check out their Daytrotter session from last year for a preview of the new material.

Video: Peggy Sue – “Watchman”

Angsty Scots We Were Promised Jetpacks will be setting down at the Horseshoe on July 3, tickets $13.50 in advance.

MP3: We Were Promised Jetpacks – “Quiet Little Voices”

With their new record Sea Of Cowards due out next Tuesday, The Dead Weather have slated a North American tour that stops in at the Sound Academy on July 15, tickets $35 for general admission and $45 for VIP balcony. Spinner talks to Alison Mosshart about the new record, which is streaming over at NPR and the band also streamed a live performance of the album performed in its entirety last night at their MySpace and it’s still available to watch.

Stream: The Dead Weather / Sea Of Cowards
Stream: The Dead Weather / Sea Of Cowards (live)

Those Black Mountain dates announced a little while ago that ended in London, Ontario before cutting over to Europe for a week have been extended and a second North American leg kicks off July 23 at the Horseshoe in Toronto before cutting west across the US. Expect to hear lots of material from their next record at these shows – it’s tentatively called Wilderness Heart and targeted for a late Summer release.

MP3: Black Mountain – “Tyrants”

(Former?) Bloc Party frontman Kele (Okereke) will bring his solo debut The Boxer, to The Mod Club on July 29, tickets $20 in advance. And if you were wondering – as I was – it’s not as terrible as some have said, but certainly not something I’d take over Bloc Party, given the choice.

Perhaps by way of apology for canceling their April show, The Specials have added a second show at the Sound Academy following the August 27 make-up date – they’ll also be there on August 28.

And if you needed a final reminder to head out to the Horseshoe tonight for the free Joy Formidable show, here’s a recording of the band’s set at the Truck America festival in upstate New York this past weekend, courtesy of NYC Taper – he’s also got a recording of their set in New York from January to share, and you can also stream their debut mini-album A Balloon Called Moaning, released in North America today, at Spinner. The Joy Formidable are on at 11 – be there.

Stream: The Joy Formidable / A Balloon Called Moaning