James MinchinYesterday was one of those wonderful inbox-bursting days of press releases that, rather than having to try to figure out what to write about for a post, I had to choose what to save for later. Today we’ll cover all the concert announcements that will be bringing acts from near and far through town in the next few months.

We’ll start with California’s goth-garage rockers Black Rebel Motorcycle Club because, well, they haven’t been here since Spring 2010 and they give good – or at least smoky – photo. The details of their sixth album Specter At The Feast – coming March 18 – were revealed last week, but they’ve quickly followed that up with a full slate of tour dates that bring them back to Toronto for a show at The Kool Haus on May 9, tickets $25 in advance.

And as is the custom these days, they’re drumming up anticipation for the new record with a series of teaser videos.

MP3: Black Rebel Motorcycle Club – “Whatever Happened to My Rock and Roll (Punk Song)” (live)
Trailer: Specter At The Feast Part 1

The fourth and final installment of the Fucked Up-curated Long Winter concert series has announced their lineup, and addition to Toronto’s hardcore heroes once again headlining the affair, they’ll be joined by Holy Fuck, The Sadies, and more music, art, food, and whatsit. That goes down February 8 at The Great Hall, admission pay-what-you-can.

MP3: Fucked Up – “I Hate Summer”
MP3: Holy Fuck – “Lovely Allen”
MP3: The Sadies – “Another Year Again”

American electronic duo Matmos have announced a North American tour in support of their new record The Marriage Of Two Minds, out February 18. They haven’t settled on a venue yet, but they’ll be in Toronto on February 14. Update: It’s The Garrison.

MP3: Matmos – “Sun On 5 at 152”

It’s been known for a while that punk-poet legend Patti Smith would be in town at some point as part of her Camera Solo exhibition running February 9 to May 13 at the Art Gallery Of Ontario, but NOW finally has details – and they’re pretty swell. She’ll be performing both music and poetry at the March edition of their 1st Thursday events, with two shows on the night of March 8, one early and one late. Tickets are $15, limited to two per person, and go on sale February 8 at 10AM.

MP3: Patti Smith – “Wing”

Having failed to make it over here to support Centipede Hz when it came out last year, Animal Collective will seek to remedy this with a March 9 show at the Danforth Music Hall, and perhaps by way of making up for the delay, will be bringing Dan Deacon along as support, even though he was here just in November in support of his latest America. Tickets for that are $27.50 for floors, $25 for balcony seats, all general admission.

MP3: Animal Collective – “Today’s Supernatural”
MP3: Dan Deacon – “Lots”

Pennsylvania punk-asses Pissed Jeans will be at Lee’s Palace on April 16 to play you songs from their new record Honey’s, coming for your ears February 12. Tickets for the show are $15 in advance.

MP3: Pissed Jeans – “Bathroom Laughter”

Having had to cancel their last scheduled appearance back in November, Vancouver punks White Lung have announced a make-up date as part of a Spring tour with Brooklyn’s Hunters, who made a favourable impression last Winter opening up for The Kills. That bill is at The Hard Luck on April 22, tickets $10.

MP3: Hunters – “Headache”
Video: White Lung – “Deadbeat”

We may have to wait an extra six weeks for North American release of Daughter’s debut If You Leave – it’s out in Europe March 18 but not here until April 30 – but at least we’re getting a North American tour immediately thereafter. They’ll be at The Great Hall on May 7, tickets $16.50. Somewhat bigger than The Drake down the street where they made their debut in October, but still pretty cozy.

MP3: Daughter – “Love”

And last but certainly not least, there’s a festival date to keep you warm until, well, it’s actually warm. To mark their tenth anniversary, local label Arts & Crafts have coerced flagship act Broken Social Scene to break their long-standing retirement – inactive since November 2011! – for a one-off show that will probably be one of those “all hands on deck” affairs that sets Toronto hearts a-fluttering. The two-stage, all-day event – dubbed Field Trip and happening on June 8 at Fort York’s Garrison Commons – will see them be joined by a goodly portion of the label’s active roster – both domestic and international – including Feist, Bloc Party, Hayden, Cold Specks, Timber Timbre, Ra Ra Riot, and more. Early bird tickets go for $55, regular tickets for $75, and kids get in free.

MP3: Broken Social Scene – “World Sick”
MP3: Hayden – “Old Dreams”
MP3: Timber Timbre – “Black Water”
MP3: Ra Ra Riot – “Dying Is Fine”
Video: Feist – “Graveyard”
Video: Bloc Party – “Kettling”
Video: Cold Specks – “Hector”

Emily BergerWhile it’s true that Toronto’s days of having a BIG annual music festival out on the islands appear to be over – the locally-grown, Wavelength-affiliated ALL CAPS fest has been more then happy to step in for those needing to combine a ferry crossing with live music to make their Summer worthwhile.

Since their inaugural edition in 2009, they’ve put together bills that have showcased a lot of local and a little bit of imported talent, combined with art and film components and as of last year, overnight camping but this year’s lineup – set to take place on August 11 and 12 at Gibraltar Point – has quite surprised me with its all-out aggressiveness.

The first night is headlined by Montreal’s Yamantaka//Sonic Titan, whom I’m not going to try and find new words to describe but were a real highlight of NXNE, with an eclectic undercard consisting of Maylee Todd, Choir! Choir! Choir!, Tyvek, Wet Hair, and Esther Grey. The Sunday night will be closed out by Brooklyn noise-and-strobe freaks A Place To Bury Strangers, following sets from Lioness, OG Melody, Young Mother, and Canadian Winter. Many/most of these acts are only peripherally known to me – if that – so I suggest checking out the Wavelength site for capsule descriptions, but I will say that they won’t be boring. Unless you’re bored of interesting things.

A limited number of two-day passes including camping on the island are available for $65, two-day passes that force you to go home and sleep in your own bed on Saturday night will run you $30 and single-day tickets are a very reasonable $17; ferry tickets are not included in the price. They go on sale on July 12 but you can also get them now via the IndieGogo fundraising site. And while Gibraltar Point is way on the other end of the islands from the residences at Ward’s Island and faces out into the lake, I can’t help but hope that there’s a southwesterly wind that wafts just a little bit of Oliver Ackermann’s sonic armageddon over their cottages. Just a little.

Guitar World, The Fredericksburg Free Lance-Star, and CultureMob talk to Ackermann about the new APTBS album Worship.

MP3: A Place To Bury Strangers – “You Are The One”
MP3: Lioness – “The Night”
MP3: Choir! Choir! Choir! – “I Want It That Way”
Video: Yamanta//Sonic Titan – “Hoshi Neko”
Video: Maylee Todd – “Heart Throb”
Video: OG Melody – “Change Gon Come”

Interview and The Georgia Straight profile Japandroids, who’ve made another couple track from Celebration Rock available to download.

MP3: Japandroids – “The Nights Of Wine And Roses”
MP3: Japandroids – “Younger Us”

Daytrotter has posted a session with Memoryhouse.

Rolling Stone and NPR profile Metric, bringing it home to the Air Canada Centre on November 14.

Brightest Young Things and The AV Club talk to Spencer Krug of Moonface.

Exclaim gets Brian Borcherdt to discuss the state of Holy Fuck even as he focuses on his new project Dusted, whose debut Total Dust is out on Tuesday, is available to stream now at Chart, and they open up for Chad VanGaalen at The Mod Club on July 26.

MP3: Dusted – “(Into The) Atmosphere”
Stream: Dusted / Total Dust

Beatroute and Chart have interviews with Vancouver’s Chains Of Love.

NPR gets into Americana with Neil Young, adding a World Cafe session on top of the Fresh Air interview.

The Mountain Goats celebrate their 40,000th Twitter follower by giving away an old demo track.

MP3: The Mountain Goats – “All Devils All Devils”

That first preview of the new Antlers EP Undersea is now available to download. It’s out July 24.

MP3: The Antlers – “Drift Dive”

DIY and Prefix have features on Dirty Projectors, in town tonight at the Danforth Music Hall.

Spinner talks to Alexis Krauss of Sleigh Bells.

Robin SharpThe Diamond Rings journey thus far – from viral video through legal scuffle, at festivals at home and abroad – has been documented hereabouts pretty well, I think, but there’s still one fairly important – or only important – facet of the tale to be considered – the debut album, Special Affections, which finally arrives next Tuesday, October 26.

For an artist who has been so successful with the single format – a new track, or more specifically a new video – every few months to keep interest alive, the full-length could be a daunting proposition; after all, what works well in 4-minute portions may prove to be less-so over 40, particularly when it’s of as specific a sound and style as John O’Regan has defined Diamond Rings to be. So it’s to John O’s credit that Special Affections is strong enough to stand apart from the extravagant visuals that define Diamond Rings live and on video, though it does take on a different character in just the audio realm; more minor in key and sombre in tone and with the leanness of the sound even more evident. Still, he finds enough variety in the keys/laptop/voice DIY electro-pop recipe that forms the backbone of the record to fully engage anyone who’s ear was tweaked by any of the lead-up singles.

That said, it’s telling that the best moments on the record come when O’Reagan loosens the man-and-machine aesthetic and allows elements like the female backing vocals on “On Our Own” or the raw electric guitar he so ably wields in The D’Urbervilles into the mix. Beyond just elevating the songs they appear on, they point to a more interesting future for Diamond Rings – one where it’s more than a pseudonym but a proper project or even band. The long-term prospects of the current aesthetic are unclear, but if the sounds start clearly serving the songs and not the other way around, then the sky is the limit. But that’s a suggestion for tomorrow; for today, Diamond Rings is John O’Reagan and Special Affections delivers on all promises made.

X-Tra has a feature piece on Diamond Rings, whom after an intense CMJ festival this week, will be playing a number of Canadian dates before packing up his glitter and laptop for a jaunt to the UK. Record release day, October 26, will be spent at home with a special launch party at The Garrison and courtesy of Embrace, I have three pairs of passes to give away for the show. To enter, email me at contests AT chromewaves.net with “I want to see Diamond Rings” in the subject line and your full name in the body. Contest closes at midnight, October 22.

MP3: Diamond Rings – “All Yr Songs”
MP3: Diamond Rings – “Wait And See”
Video: Diamond Rings – “Something Else”
Video: Diamond Rings – “Show Me Your Stuff”
Video: Diamond Rings – “All Yr Songs”
Video: Diamond Rings – “Wait & See”
MySpace: Diamond Rings

Westword interviews PS I Love You, who are opening up for Diamond Rings on the 26th and have released a new video from Meet Me At The Muster Station; they’re playing a free in-store at Soundscapes at 7PM that same evening.

Video: PS I Love You – “Butterflies & Boners”

Pitchfork reports that the long wait for a new Destroyer record ends when the terrifically-titled Kaputt drops on January 25.

Born Ruffians have released a new video from their sophomore effort Say It and will put out an EP of unreleased odds and ends on November 2 called Plinky Plonk – it’s digital-only with physical copies only available at their shows.

Video: Born Ruffians – “Nova-Leigh”

Holy Fuck have gone cat-crazy for their latest video from Latin, further proving that cats = internet gold.

Video: Holy Fuck – “Red Lights”

Know what would be great? If for their just-announced Hallowe’en show at The Garrison, Fucked Up and The Sadies dressed up as each other. Pink Eyes in a Nudie suit, The Sadies in their underwear… actually, never mind. Ticket info still forthcoming; Times Square has an interview with Dallas Good of The Sadies.

MP3: Fucked Up – “No Epiphany”
MP3: The Sadies – “Another Year Again”

Forest City Lovers have announced an in-store at Criminal Records on November 4 at 6PM, the day before their big show at The Horseshoe. That’d be November 5. If it was unclear.

MP3: Forest City Lovers – “Light You Up”

Suuns will hold a record release show for their debut Zeroes QC at The Silver Dollar on November 26, even though the album has been out since last week. Chart has an interview with the band.

MP3: Suuns – “Up Past The Nursery”

So I’m off to Halifax for the Halifax Pop Explosion on Wednesday, and having never been to Halifax or further east in Canada than Quebec City, am soliciting suggestions for things to do and see whilst out there. Most recommendations I’ve gotten so far are beers – which is great though dangerous – but beyond the eat/drink, what else should I make sure to fit in? I’ve got Citadel Hill, the ferry to Dartmouth, Point Pleasant Park… and?

Joe FudaAnd now, a bunch of stuff that has nothing to do with a certain record label that is now old enough to drink in the US.

Starting locally, with The Rural Alberta Advantage. After one of the best and busiest 2009s on record, the trio has been relatively quiet through most of this year working on the follow-up to their debut Hometowns, as these photos (sort of) attest. But you can only keep road warriors in one place for so long and they’ll be on the road again starting at the end of this month with a pretty extensive Fall tour that takes them out across the prairies to the west coast of Canada, across the Atlantic for a slew of European and UK dates and then, finally, back home to Toronto for a show at Lee’s Palace on December 16 – their first proper local show in over a year. It’ll be good to hear some of the new material that will appear on album number two when it hits sometime next year, but mostly it’ll just be nice to see them again. Tickets for the show are $15 in advance.

MP3: The Rural Alberta Advantage – “Frank, AB”
MP3: The Rural Alberta Advantage – “Don’t Haunt This Place”

And more to the show announcements from the past week or so – Avi Buffalo will precede their October 18 show at the Horseshoe with an in-store at Soundscapes on October 17 at 7PM. It’ll be interesting to see if Avigdor Zahner-Isenberg can tear it up as fiercely on acoustic as he does electric. I am guessing yes.

MP3: Avi Buffalo – “Remember Last Time”
MP3: Avi Buffalo – “What’s In It For?”

Also doing it free for the kids is PS I Love You, whose just-released debut Meet Me At The Muster Station has been getting some impressive Pitchfork-love. They’ll be at Soundscapes on October 26 at 7PM before heading down to The Garrison to open up for Diamond Rings. The duo are profiled in The Province, National Post, Chart and Exclaim.

MP3: PS I Love You – “2012”
MP3: PS I Love You – “Butterflies & Boners”
MP3: PS I Love You – “Facelove”

Forest City Lovers have set a date at The Horseshoe for November 5, amidst a smattering of Fall dates. They’ve also just put out a new pensive-to-party video from Carriage.

MP3: Forest City Lovers – “Light You Up”
Video: Forest City Lovers – “Tell Me Cancer”

Horse Feathers and Anaïs Mitchell will team up for a show at the Drake Underground on November 8.

MP3: Horse Feathers – “Curs In The Weeds”
MP3: Anaïs Mitchell – “Flowers (Eurydice’s Song)”

The Balconies, who like The RAA were omni-present in 2009 but relatively quiet in 2010, are back for a show at The Horseshoe on November 9 – hopefully as a precursor to a second album.

MP3: The Balconies – “Serious Bedtime”

The Meligrove Band have put together both a North American tour for and a video from their just-released new record Shimmering Lights. They’re at The Great Hall on November 12 and there’s interviews at The National Post and dose.

MP3: The Meligrove Band – “Bones Attack!!!”
MP3: The Meligrove Band – “Halflight”
Video: The Meligrove Band – “Racing To Shimmering Lights”

Rufus Wainwright has a date at Massey Hall on December 4.

Video: Rufus Wainwright – “Zebulon”

Damon Gough, aka Badly Drawn Boy, has slated a North American tour in support of his new record It’s What I’m Thinking Pt.1 — Photographing Snowflakes. The record is out next Tuesday and will be available in a variety of deluxe and standard packages, as detailed at Exclaim. The Toronto date of the aforementioned tour is December 8 at The Great Hall, tickets $27.50 in advance.

Video: Badly Drawn Boy – “Too Many Miracles”

Interpol will be making good on the support slot for U2 this past Summer which was canceled along with the entire tour when Bono realized he was an old man. They’ll be at the Air Canada Centre on July 11 of next year.

MP3: Interpol – “Lights”

BeatRoute discusses The Age Of Adz with Sufjan Stevens. The record is out October 12 and he plays Massey Hall on October 13.

Murray Lightburn of The Dears talks to eye in advance of the band’s three-night residency at The Garrison next week, October 13 through 15, where they’ll play all of their new, as-yet untitled and release date-less album, start to finish.

The Oklahoma Daily and Austinist talk to members of Local Natives, who’ve put out a new video and have a sold-out show at the Mod Club on October 19.

Video: Local Natives – “Wide Eyes”

Spinner has an interview with Lissie, who brings her full-length debut Catching A Tiger to the El Mocambo on October 19. There’s also a new video from said record.

Video: Lissie – “Everywhere I Go”

Uptown and The Ottawa Citizen profile Rae Spoon, in town for a show at the Gladstone on October 21.

Stars, who are playing Massey Hall on October 26, are interviewed by BeatRoute and The Huffington Post.

Spinner talks to Black Mountain. They’ll be dressing up as a band playing The Phoenix on Hallowe’en.

Thanks Captain Obvious, The Village Voice and Spinner talk to Sharon Van Etten about her new record Epic. She is at Lee’s Palace on November 5 supporting Junip.

The Wooden Sky, who’ve got a date at Lee’s Palace on November 6, have just been featured in a Daytrotter session and a Gateway interview.

Wolf Parade have rolled out a new video from Expo 86. They’ll be at the Sound Academy on November 26.

Video: Wolf Parade – “Yulia”

NPR has a World Cafe session with Ra Ra Riot, in town for a show at the Mod Club on December 1. There’s also interviews at The Omaha World-Herald and Wall Street Journal.

Kevin Drew tells Spin why Broken Social Scene are called Broken Social Scene while Brendan Canning talks to The Georgia Straight and Andrew Whiteman to The Gateway. They are at the Sound Academy on December 9.

BeatRoute chats with Owen Pallett.

Pitchfork interviews Arcade Fire.

Spinner, The Gateway, See and BeatRoute talk to Holy Fuck.

Over at YouTube, Daniel Lanois offers a track-by-track analysis of Neil Young’s Le Noise from the view of the producer’s chair.

Didn’t The Flaming Lips just release a video from Embryonic last week? Yes they did. But here’s another one anyways.

Video: The Flaming Lips – “The Sparrow Looks Up At The Machine”

How do you know Of Montreal were just in the UK? Interviews with Kevin Barnes at Drowned In Sound, The Quietus and The Line Of Best Fit.

The Fly talks to the ladies of Warpaint about their forthcoming debut The Fool, hitting the streets on October 26.

MOVE talks to Mountain Goat Peter Hughes.

Craig Finn of The Hold Steady discusses the benefits of getting older with The Boston Globe.

And seriously, this isn’t even nearly everything I’ve had backlogged to post over the past week.

Young TurksAt first blush, neither Foals nor Holy Fuck have much in common with the other. One is an Oxford, UK-based post-punk outfit built on stabby guitars and tense vocals, the other is a Toronto, Canada-bred electronic-rock band based on squelching synths and no vocals. But both have been nominated for prestigious, astrologically-named awards in their respective countries, are likely to induce dancing – though while Holy Fuck can soundtrack proper grooving, Foals are more likely to induce nervous twitching – and the two toured the UK together back in 2007.

It was an experience which seemed positive enough that they released a now out-of-print split 12″ wherein each covered one of the others’ songs – Foals tackling the opening track from Holy Fuck’s debut LP and Holy Fuck transmuting one of the singles from Foals’ first record Antidotes. Neither sounds much like the original but sound pretty cool in their own right, and that’s really kind of the point, isn’t it?

Both Foals and Holy Fuck have released new records this year – Foals with Total Life Forever and Holy Fuck with Latin – and both are touring North America (though not together this time) and their paths will almost cross in Toronto next week – Foals are at Lee’s Palace on September 27 and Holy Fuck at the Phoenix on September 29. Red & Black has an interview with Holy Fuck.

MP3: Foals – “Super Inuit”
MP3: Holy Fuck – “Balloons”
Video: Holy Fuck – “Super Inuit”
Video: Foals – “Balloons”