FacebookSeeing as how 2010 is basically over and done with – didn’t you see all the lists summing it all up? The next week and a half are just formality – it’s time to start turning our eyes ever so slightly to next year and Canadian Musicfest, one of the first big upcoming to-dos hereabouts, has given us something to focus on with the first batch of showcasing artists at the festival, which will run March 9 to 13 at clubs around downtown Toronto.

Some of the names that jump out at me are J Mascis, who will be showcasing his acoustic side as per his forthcoming solo record Several Shades Of Why out March 15, buzzy Brit band Bombay Bicycle Club, Canadian acts like Land Of Talk and Shad who will have graduated to marquee artist status and up and comers such as La Patère Rose and Olenka & The Autumn Lovers.

I was especially pleased to see Miracle Fortress in the lineup, as it means the long wait for a follow-up to 2007’s Five Roses could finally be coming to an end. At one point last year the word was the famine was going to become a feast with not one but two new albums being readied for release, but nothing came of them and Graham Van Pelt busied himself with Think About Life. A new record for 2011 seems like a certainty, although exactly what that record will be is anyone’s guess. The promotion cycle for Five Roses turned Miracle Fortrees from a solo endeavour into a band, but key members Jessie Stein and Adam Waito have their own projects – The Luyas and Adam & The Amethysts respectively – demanding their attention. I’ll bet that album number two will again be Van Pelt on his own and suspect that anyone hoping for another collection of sparklingly psychedelic Beach Boys-esque pop will be left scratching their heads. But my guess is as good as anyone else’s, and we’ll find out for sure come March.

MP3: Miracle Fortress – “Have You Seen In Your Dreams”

Diamond Rings has had a pretty impressive 2010, and his 2011 is looking to be shaping up nicely as well – it was announced yesterday that he would be opening up for Swedish pop superstar Robyn on all her upcoming North American dates, starting on January 26 at the Sound Academy in Toronto. Yes indeed, a hell of a thing.

MP3: Diamond Rings – “Something Else”

Paste asks Destroyer’s Dan Bejar to describe his new record Kaputt. Said album is out on January 25.

The first MP3 from Iron & Wine’s new record Kiss Each Other Clean is up for download at the band’s website in exchange for an email address.

Billboard talks to Bright Eyes’ Conor Oberst about their new record The People’s Key, out February 15. They are at the Sound Academy on March 13.

Beach House are giving away a new song, just because they sound like Summer and it is currently, in no way shape or form, Summer. Except in the southern hemisphere.

MP3: Beach House – “I Do Not Care For The Winter Sun”

If you missed their sold-out show at the Drake last week, take heart – husband-and-wife duo Tennis will return on February 25 for a show at the Horseshoe. Their debut Cape Dory is due out January 18. The Denver Post profiles the band.

MP3: Tennis – “Take Me Somewhere”
MP3: Tennis – “Baltimore”

Bandwidth has an acoustic video session with Frightened Rabbit.

Matablog reveals that Belle & Sebastian’s hometown show at the Barrowland in Glasgow next Tuesday will be streamed live via a number of online outlets, including NPR, starting at 4PM EST.

The Dumbing Of America, Bloginity and Herald Scotland interview White Lies, whose second album Ritual will be out January 18. They’re at the Mod Club on January 29 and a live version of the first single is available to download at their Myspace.

Grinderman have a new video. It’s “Evil”. And evil.

Video: Grinderman – “Evil”

Pitchfork has details on Peter Bjorn & John’s next record, which will be entitled Gimme Some and be out on March 29.

Frank YangWhen I went to Vancouver some seven years ago, I made the mistake of venturing out onto the seawall in Stanley Park without first having lunch or bringing along some water. And so it was that I ended up trudging around the perimeter of the park for over an hour, hungry thirsty and tired and accompanied only by some crazy guy who, despite being crazy, had managed to rent a bike and was following me around. The point of this being that I clearly didn’t learn anything from the experience as yesterday, driven by a desire to see the ocean, I walked from downtown to Point Pleasant Park without eating first or bringing any water. At least there wasn’t any crazy guy on a bike this time. Clearly there’s something about large parks on either coast of Canada that make me dumb as shit. Anyways.

The second night of ye olde Halifax Pop Explosion didn’t fully pass my “see only new stuff” mission, but it wasn’t entirely my fault. Take The Modern Superstitions, in all the way from Toronto – sure, I saw them last year when they played the boardwalk baby band stage at V Fest, but a) they were only called The Superstitions then, and b) they didn’t sound nearly as good as they do now. That band was very much a work in progress but this one – with a new EP in All The Things We’ve Been Told under their belts – came across much more like a finished product. Everything they sounded like they were trying to do before – show the world there was still a need for a female-fronted Strokes-y garage rock band – they were now actually doing, particularly singer Nyssa Rosaleen. Last Summer, she seemed uncomfortable with being the frontwoman of the band; now, while not exactly devouring the role, she does come across much more confidently and her delivery is all the better for it. Sometimes a dose of modernity is all it takes.

Photos: The Modern Superstitions @ Tribeca – October 21, 2010
MP3: The Modern Superstitions – “Visions Of You”

Montreal’s Camaromance was a “hey the MySpace sounds alright and I’ll be around there so why not” selection, and largely failed to remind me of why I chose to see them play. Playing as a two-guitar duo, Martine Groulx’s compositions didn’t have the same richness as the recordings and while the lack of embellishment and quiet venue allowed her downbeat, dense narratives the attention required to absorb, it also revealed it as pretty standard singer-songwriter fare.

Photos: Camaromance @ The Foggy Goggle – October 21, 2010
Video: Camaromance – “Mostly Harmless”
MySpace: Camaromance

I didn’t plan on seeing The Darcys, but some staggered set times and side-by-side venues made it happen, and I’m glad it did. I seem to check in on my fellow Torontonians every six months or so, and each time they seem to have improved markedly. This time, as always, I was impressed by their musicianship and ability to pull off the complex rhythms, intricate guitar work and great dynamics that make their epically-inclined, proggish-but-not-prog rock so compelling. But what was missing was the big hook or chorus to make them the anthems they aspire to be. No, it’s not an easy thing to achieve – it’s a skill that careers are built on – but I think they’ll get there. When? Dunno, check back with me in six months or so.

Photos: The Darcys @ The Seahorse Tavern – October 21, 2010
MP3: The Darcys – “House Built Around Your Voice”
MySpace: The Darcys

I hadn’t checked in with Halifax native Rebekah Higgs for a few years, since she was in Toronto fairly often circa her promising self-titled debut. Ruby Jean & The Thoughtful Bees, the electro-dance project which occupied her time the last little while didn’t do much for me, though, so I was pleased to hear she was returning to working sans pseudonym just in time for me to catch a hometown show. Her debut was am ambitious melding of folk, pop and electronic elements whose reach occasionally exceeded its grasp but was still quite promising, and from the sounds of the set of all-new material she showcased last night, that promise is being delivered on. As before, she played surrounded by an ocean of technology in the form of keyboards, pedals and sonic gewgaws, but even though she had a bit of trouble navigating it all mid-song, she still largely pulled off all the loops and samples needed to recreate her songs and deliver them with confidence and sass. The ingenue-ishness of her older material has been traded in for a more mature and musically rangier style and it works for her. Her new album is due out next year and will be preceded by the Little Voice digital EP coming out November 23.

Photos: Rebekah Higgs @ The Seahorse Tavern – October 21, 2010
MP3: Rebekah Higgs – “Little Voice”
Video: Rebekah Higgs – “Parables”
Video: Rebekah Higgs – “Parables” (alternate video)
MySpace: Rebekah Higgs

Westword asks three questions of Of Montreal’s Kevin Barnes.

Here talks to Craig Finn of The Hold Steady.

Writers On Process delves into the muck of songwriting for Titus Andronicus with Patrick Stickles.

Iron & Wine’s Sam Beam talks about his new record Kiss Each Other Clean to Spin. There’s no official release date as of yet, but January 25 appears to be shaping up as the first big new record day of the year, so that’s as likely a candidate as any.

Valerie PhillipsWhen Why You Runnin’, the debut EP from Rock Island, Illinois native Elisabeth Maurus – aka Lissie – was released late last year, she was heralded as a bright new voice of the alt.country scene and indeed, her emotive voice and songwriting had the right balance of twang and rasp that she could well have become the next big crossover act for the genre. The problem with this was that in many ways, alt.country has become as rigid and codified a style as the Nashville scene that it was initially a reaction to in the late ’80s, and for an ambitious new artist, may not be a pigeonhole they want to get stuck in before they’ve even gotten their careers started.

That’s my speculation about why Lissie’s debut album Catching A Tiger is what it is, and that’s a big, genre-hopping record that pops and rocks as much as it twangs. It might have caught some off-guard, but really shouldn’t have – after all, its release was preceded by a series of viral videos that featured Lissie covering decidedly non-country acts like Lady Gaga, Kid Cudi and Metallica. There was definitely an aspect of calculated marketing to these selections, but that took a back seat to the fact that Lissie did a great job of making them her own, and that sentiment largely covers Catching A Tiger as well.

The production is pretty slick – overly so in parts – and the attempts to make songs in certain styles sound authentic, like the ’50s AM radio-filtered “Stranger”, try too hard, but Lissie’s voice and songwriting are strong and versatile enough to transcend any excess studio tinkering. She has a gift for inserting a big chorus where you’re not expecting a big chorus and thus making tracks like “Loosen The Knot” and “Cuckoo” indelible from the very first listen. Her folkier side isn’t neglected either, though it’s largely represented with the three tracks carried over from Why You Runnin’. Their placement alongside the more stylistically rangy selections of the record makes them more impactful, however, and by the time the gospelly “Oh Mississippi” closes things out, it’s clear that the decision to bust out of the pigeonhole before even being put in it was the right one – she’d have busted out of it sooner rather than later anyways.

The Dallas Observer and Spinner have interviews with Lissie, who is currently on tour in support of Catching A Tiger – she’ll be at the El Mocambo in Toronto on October 19.

MP3: Lissie – “Little Lovin'”
MP3: Lissie – “Everywhere I Go”
MP3: Lissie – “In Sleep” (live)
Video: Lissie – “When I’m Alone”
Video: Lissie – “Cuckoo”
MySpace: Lissie

American Songwriter, Washington City Paper and The Cornell Sun talk to Sharon Van Etten, who’ll be at Lee’s Palace on November 5.

The lead single from Nicole Atkins’ sophomore effort Mondo Amore is now available to download, widget-free. The record is out January 25.

MP3: Nicole Atkins – “Vultures”

Anyone who missed seeing S. Carey open up for The Tallest Man On Earth last month, take heart – he will be returning on his own tour, supported by White Hinterland, for a show at the Horseshoe on December 19. And honestly, I can’t think of a better bill to welcome Winter and close out (probably) the 2010 touring calendar – Carey’s All We Grow is a beaut.

MP3: S. Carey – “In The Dirt”
MP3: S. Carey – “In The Stream”
MP3: White Hinterland – “No Logic”
MP3: White Hinterland – “Dreaming Of The Plum Trees”

Spinner talks to Chris Chu of The Morning Benders about their high-profile support slots this year. They headline their own show at the Mod Club on November 5 and some of footage of their/his ice cream-powered in-store/out-store show in August has been posted as a video session over at the newly-minted TapeDek.

Offbeat interviews Local Natives; they’ve got a sold out show at Mod Club on October 19.

Pitchfork gets a musical history from Patrick Stickles of Titus Andronicus.

My Morning Jacket bassist Tom Blankenship tells Spin that their next album, currently in production, will be a return to the reverb-drenched atmospheric rock of their early records.

The Chicago Tribune talks to Guided By Voices’ Tobin Sprout about how the current reunion came together and where it might go from here.

Pitchfork takes the recent GQ interview with Steve Albini as a launching pad for contemplating the long-term effects of Sonic Youth’s major label tenure on the indie world.

CMJ reports that when Iron & Wine’s new record Kiss Yourself Clean comes out next January, it will be on a major label – they’ve signed to Warner Bros in North America. Their indie cred remains intact in the rest of the world, where they’ll be handled by 4AD.

Spinner interviews Warpaint, who have a new video for the first single from The Fool, out October 26.

Video: Warpaint – “Undertow”

Black Book interviews both Bjork and Antony Hegarty of Antony & The Johnsons, the latter of whom has a new record out in Swanlights. A video from said record was just released.

Video: Antony & The Johnsons – “The Spirit Is Gone”

Claudia Dehaza has left School Of Seven Bells for “personal reasons”. Ben Curtis and Alley Dehaza intend to carry on with the band, though without those sisterly harmonies it can’t help but be a wholly different beast.

With Jim Bryson acting as a touring member of The Weakerthans for some time now, it’s only fair that the Winnipeggers help out on the Ottawa-based artists’ next solo record, and so it is that the Weakerthans are functioning as Bryson’s backing band on his new record The Falcon Lake Incident. The record is due out next Tuesday, October 19, and they’re marking the occasion (sort-of/not really) halfway between their respective homes with some free shows – one on Tuesday night at the Horseshoe at 10PM and another by way of in-store at Sonic Boom on Wednesday at 6PM. And on top of that, John K Samson will play a solo set as part of the screening of their tour documentary We’re The Weakerthans, We’re From Winnipeg at the Royal on Monday night, October 18. If you need more Weakerthan action than that in a week, then I can’t help you. No one can.

MP3: Jim Bryson & The Weakerthans – “Wild Folk”
Trailer: We’re The Weakerthans, We’re From Winnipeg

And apparently their perfect sendoff at The Horseshoe in December 2007 wasn’t perfect enough – The Lowest Of The Low are getting back together for two gigs at Lee’s Palace on December 3 and 4. The occasion is the 20th anniversary of their beloved debut Shakespeare… My Butt which is getting a fancy-pants remastered reissue on November 23 and will include a DVD with a 45-minute documentary about the band entitled LowRoads 91-08. I waxed nostalgic about the record and what it meant to me in Summer 2007, but think I might let these shows pass me by. I’ve said thanks and goodbye already.

MP3: The Lowest Of The Low – “Bleed A Little While Tonight”
Trailer: LowRoads 91-08

Elizabeth WeibergA note: I’m presently barely conscious after staying up way too late the other night doing the Polaris post-game, so I’m just going to start tossing up stuff that’s been collecting in the hopper over the last few days until I pass out.

And we’ll kick off with a new batch of fully realized, produced and presented songs from the inimitable John Vanderslice, collected under the title of Green Grow The Rushes. It’s being given away for exactly zero dollars in both high-quality MP3 and uncompressed WAV format over at his website. Why? Because he’s got these songs he wants you to hear and because he’s great. But if you want to thank the ‘Slice in some monetary way, perhaps pick up a copy of his last full-length Romanian Names? It’s not quite as free but still a great record.

MP3: John Vanderslice – “Thule Fog”
MP3: John Vanderslice – “I’ll Never Live Up To You”
ZIP: John Vanderslice / Green Grow The Rushes

Exclaim has some details on the new Iron & Wine album, entitled Kiss Each Other Clean and due out in early 2011.

Michael Benjamin Lerner of Telekinesis chats with The Washington Post.

The Thermals have released a new single from Personal Life which, in the parlance of our time, means that there’s a new MP3 to download.

MP3: The Thermals – “Never Listen To Me”

The Line Of Best Fit and Spinner talk to Ken Stringfellow and Jon Auer of The Posies. Their new record Blood/Candy is out September 28.

The Boston Herald talks to drummer Bob Nastanovich of Pavement. NYC Taper has also got a recording of their Williamsburg show to share.

Clash interviews Local Natives, in town at the Mod Club on October 19.

Spin declares Lissie to be “breaking out”. She’s at the El Mocambo on October 19.

Spin gets to the root of Margot & The Nuclear So And So’s name, while Filter has a track from their new record Buzzard available to download.

MP3: Margot & The Nuclear So And So’s – “Lunatic, Lunatic, Lunatic”

Spinner serves up an Interface session with Drive-By Truckers.

R.E.M. has completed work on album number 15 and are targeting a Spring 2011 release for it.

Drowned In Sound talks to Will Sheff of Okkervil River about working with Roky Erikson on this year’s True Love Casts Out All Evil.

NYC Taper is sharing a recording of Spoon’s show in the teeny tiny Cake Shop last week.

The new Deerhunter record Halcyon Digest is streaming at NPR in advance of its release next week. They’re at Lee’s Palace the Opera House on October 19.

Stream: Deerhunter / Halcyon Digest

The AV Club, American Songwriter, The Boston Herald, Pinnastorm, The Awl and NPR have interviews with Superchunk. NPR is also streaming their show in Washington DC last week and NYC Taper offering downloads of the Brooklyn show, giving you a taste of what to expect when they return to Toronto to play the Sound Academy on December 9 opening up for Broken Social Scene; you’ll just have to imagine the pogoing.

The Sydney Morning Herald talks to Interpol.

PitchforkTV has posted a POV session with The Hold Steady.

Clash declares Holly Miranda “One To Watch”.

New York Magazine talks to Yeah Yeah Yeahs guitarist Nick Zinner.

Spin gets a live preview of Nicole Atkins’ new record Mondo Amore, due out on January 25 of next year, and you can download a new track from the record over at Nicole’s website.

Daytrotter has posted a session with Ra Ra Riot, who have made good on their promise to come back to town in December – they’ll be at the Mod Club on the first of that month, tickets $16.

MP3: Ra Ra Riot – “Boy”

Matthew AvignoneFor an establishment with the history and mythology that it has, the Chelsea Hotel in New York City really isn’t all that expensive – rooms can be had for as little as $129 a night which, for Manhattan, is kind of dirt cheap. Of course, it’s far from opulent and you’re probably not guaranteed the sort of time Leonard Cohen immortalized in his song, “Chelsea Hotel No 2”.

It’s one of Cohen’s finest compositions and certainly one of his most-covered, Iron & Wine’s Sam Beam one of hundreds who’ve committed a version of it to tape, this recording dates back to around 2002. But though it’s both old and rare, it doesn’t appear on his forthcoming double-disc collection of rarities, Around The Well. Perhaps it was too obvious, considering the covers that did make the cut include songs originally by The Flaming Lips, Stereolab and The Postal Service.

Around The Well is out on Tuesday, the same date that Leonard Cohen plays Copp’s Coliseum in Hamilton. Me, I saw him on Thursday. More on that forthcoming.

MP3: Iron & Wine – “Chelsea Hotel No 2”
Video: Leonard Cohen – “Chelsea Hotel No. 2” (live in San Sebastian, 1988)