AEG LiveI’ve given away a lot of stuff over the years, some big, some small, but most or all, I like to think, pretty cool and of genuine interest to those who visit. But I think I can say with no small degree of certainty that this is the coolest contest I’ve ever been able to run.

Leonard Cohen is a figure for whom the term “living legend” was created. He’s not just a Canadian icon, but a global one. He’s… well come on. He’s Leonard Cohen. And though he’s kept a low profile in recent years, he returned to full-on active duty last year with a rapturously-received Canadian and European tour and has carried that forward into 2009, first being revealed as one of the top-billed performers at Coachella, then playing his first American show in over 15 years in New York City last week and almost before that show was over, announcing a massive North American tour. Having played a four-night stand in Toronto last year, he’s not coming to the 416 this time around but will be just down the QEW on May 19 for a date at Copps Coliseum in Hamilton.

And this is where it gets exciting. Courtesy of AEG Live, I have two pairs of tickets to give away for the show. That’s right. Leonard Cohen tickets. For you. The public on-sale for the show is at 10AM on Monday morning, but rather than feverishly hitting refresh on your browser when you should be working and worrying about getting shunted to TicketsNow, two lucky readers will be able to sit back and relax in the knowledge that two golden ducats will be waiting for them at the Copps will call on the 19th of May. Are you excited? Hell, I’m excited and I don’t even know if I’m going to get to go to the show.

And it’s going to work like this. To enter, you need to select your favourite Leonard Cohen lyric, be it a line, a couplet, a verse, and tell me why you love it. Make it 100-150 words, give or take, and leave it in the comments. The submission is just the price of admission – winners will still be chosen at random from submissions. Make sure to include your email in the submission so I can contact the winners. Closing time for this one will be Sunday night, March 1, at midnight. Hop to it.

And to send you on your way and get you in the spirit, Leonard just contributed a new poem to The New Yorker. His Live In London album, taken from last year’s tour, is out on March 31 – details at Billboard.

Update: The New York Times has an interview.
Update 2: NPR is streaming his show at the Beacon Theatre in NYC from last week.
Update 3: The Globe & Mail has an interview.

Contest is closed – congratulations to Matthew and Dimitri, who won the tickets. Thanks to everyone for participating.

Video: Leonard Cohen – “Democracy”
Video: Leonard Cohen – “Closing Time”
Video: Leonard Cohen – “Dance Me To The End Of Love”
Video: Leonard Cohen – “In My Secret Life”
Video: Leonard Cohen – “First We Take Manhattan”
MySpace: Leonard Cohen

MySpaceSay what you will about Taunton, Massachusetts’ Wheat, but you can’t deny that they refuse to stay down. Once upon a time one of my favourite bands (circa Medeiros and Hope & Adams), they became a cautionary tale against the major label machine with 2003’s ill-fated Per Second Per Second Per Second Every Second (which I chronicled back in 2004 and 2005) and essentially disbanded in the aftermath.

They unexpectedly returned in 2007 with Everyday I Said A Prayer For Kathy And Made A One Inch Square, again independent and down a member, but even then they were beset with label problems and delays. And the record itself was free of the excessive gloss of Per Second, it was decent at best – unfocused and only evidencing glimpses of the rough magic that defined their earliest releases. It pretty much came and went and I figured that that was the end of the band, again. They’d returned in order to finish on their own terms.

Or not. There were rumblings of a new record late last year and though there’s no release date as of yet, it has a title – White Ink, Black Ink – and a sample of it has surfaced on the band’s profile for SxSW, where I fully intend to see them play. Obviously not enough to form an opinion on, though it sounds like they’re sticking to the sonic cut-and-paste aesthetic of Kathy. I find I remain curious and still a little excited about the prospect of new music from Wheat – this news prompted me to revisit those magical first two records and they still give me tingles.

And those first two records – Medeiros and Wheat – are being reissued together along with a bonus disc of rarities and whatnots from the era entitled 30 Minute Theatrik (thanks to Mark for the tip). It’s set for a March 10 release but you can pre-order it now and get all three records digitally immediately. If you’ve never heard either one, well, you should. And here’s your chance.

More Wheat info and downloads available at thiswheat.com.

MP3: Wheat – “El Sincero”
MP3: Wheat – “Move = Move”
Mp3: Wheat – “What Everyone Keeps Telling Me”
MP3: Wheat – “World United Already”
Video: Wheat – “Don’t I Hold You”
Video: Wheat – “I Met A Girl”
MySpace: Wheat

Drowned In Sound declared this week just ending “slowcore week” and followed that up with extensive features on personal favourites like Low, Galaxie 500, The New Year and Early Day Miners. They’ll have a new album out sometime this year entitled The Treatment.

The Democrat & Chronicle interviews Blitzen Trapper, playing a sold-out show at the Horseshoe tomorrow night.

CBC Radio 3 talks to Casey Mecija of Ohbijou, who will release their second album Beacons on April 14 and follow that up with a CD release show at the Opera House on April 18.

The Thermals are hitting the road in support of their new album Now We Can See, out April 7. Pitchfork has the full North American itinerary, which includes a May 3 date at the Horseshoe.

MP3: The Thermals – “Now We Can See”

Mogwai have announced a North American tour for this Spring which will make up their cancelled The Hawk Is Howling dates from last Fall when drummer Martin Bulloch’s pacemaker threatened to escape from his chest. The Toronto date will be May 4 at the Phoenix – those who won passes to the cancelled show, I’ll be in touch about the make-up date.

MP3: Mogwai – “The Sun Smells Too Loud”

With their new album What Is?! coming out domestically on April 12, King Khan & The Shrines will be at the Phoenix on May 12 to promote.

Vetiver have a date at the Horseshoe on May 15 in support of last year’s Tight Knit.

MP3: Vetiver – “Everyday”

Leonard Cohen has announced a North American tour – closest local date is May 19 at Copps Coliseum in Hamilton. Second closest is May 24 at John Labbat Centre in London. Tickets on sale March 2.

Neil Young’s Fork In The Road has a confirmed release date of March 31. Archives? Don’t ask.

Annie Clark, aka St Vincent, will release her sophomore album in Actor on May 5. Full details on the release at Pitchfork.

Also out May 5 is Outer South, the second solo record from Conor Oberst and The Mystic Valley Band.

Viva Voce will release Rose City on May 26.

The Broken West have turned out a new video from last year’s Now Or Heaven.

Video: The Broken West – “Perfect Games”

CHUD interviews Scott Pligrim creator Bryan Lee-O’Malley.

MySpaceWhilst perusing the current issue of eye, I noticed something on the full-page announcement of the Bloc Party show at the Kool Haus on March 14 – an image and url for something called Canadian Music Fest. As it turns out, it wasn’t nearly as interesting as I’d initially hoped – just a rebrand of the venerable Canadian Music Week festivities, but with the live showcases now being presented under a slightly different banner than the conference/business-y side of things.

But what was more interesting was the fairly extensive list of artists already confirmed to play CMF/CMW/whatever the weekend of March 12 to 14, and I’m especially pleased to see that London’s 6 Day Riot are coming back to town. They beguiled this past June at NxNE and should do much the same on the return engagement, though I hope they’re prepared for a decidedly different climatological experience this time around. They’ll be spending the first bit of the new year in the studio recording album number two, so I look forward to hearing some new material.

And on the domestic side – it is a Canadian music fest, after all – expect appearances from Basia Bulat, Chad Van Gaalen, Angela Desveaux, Gentleman Reg, Human Highway, Malajube, The Acorn and The Rural Alberta Advantage, amongst many others.

Not playing this fest but hopefully coming to town sooner rather than later regardless are Woodpigeon – they’ll be releasing Treasury Library Canada on February 3 and have made available an MP3 both from it and the companion/bonus album Houndstooth Europa. They’ve also made a new video.

MP3: Woodpigeon – “Love In The Time Of Hopscotch”
MP3: Woodpigeon – “Oberkampf”
Video: Woodpigeon – “A Moment’s Peace for Mary Christa O’Keefe”

Toronto-based label Out Of This Spark will celebrate its second anniversary with a show at the Tranzac on January 10 featuring their entire lineup, which is to say The D’Urbervilles, Forest City Lovers, Timber Timbre and Jenny Omnichord. Admission is $8 with a canned food item, $10 without. And the same bill will be at the Albion Hotel in Guelph on January 16.

NME, Paste and Pitchfork talk to Win Butler about the new Arcade Fire film Miroir Noir, available now digitally and by the end of March as a DVD.

To mark the peculiar happening of “Halleleujah” placing both #1 and #2 on the UK singles charts this week (the former a cover of Jeff Buckley’s version of the song by some pop poppet, the latter Jeff Buckley’s version of the song), The Scotsman has a feature on Leonard Cohen and The Telegraph a list of the 20 most interesting things about the song that will pretty much ensure that Lenny’s financial troubles are a thing of the past.

Austin’s …And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead will release The Century Of Self on February 17 and roll into Lee’s Palace on March 4, tickets $18.50.

That same day, February 17, Ben Folds is at the Kool Haus, $30.50 in advance.

Witch, who are notable largely for the fact that their drummer is one J Mascis, have a date at the Horseshoe on February 20. Tickets $10.50.

So Much Silence has graciously ripped an acoustic Hold Steady session at KEXP for your listening pleasure.

John Darnielle is offering up a handful of unreleased and really old Mountain Goats tracks for download in the spirit of the season in hopes you’ll “pay it forward”, as they say. If looking for a cause, may I suggest a donation to the Humane Society of Durham, which tragically burned down last week. Goodness knows they need the help right now.