Frank YangAfter a much-needed break from live music with a month spent watching television instead of bands, it was back out to the clubs on Monday night for the first gig of 2011, and it was one that as recently as a couple weeks ago I hadn’t planned on attending – The Concretes at The Horseshoe. From passing listens to the singles, I didn’t expect much of their latest WYWH but a proper sit-down with their second post-Victoria Bergsman album happily proved me wrong. And so I went.

Helping that decision along was the presence of New York’s Hooray For Earth as support. I’d meant to investigate their 2010 debut EP Momo further but never did, so seeing them live in advance of their full-length debut True Loves‘ release on May 3 seemed like a good way to make up for that. Unfortunately, and perhaps as a result of a traumatic border-crossing experience alluded to by singer Noel Heroux, the band didn’t seem to be at the top of their game, seeming distracted or even disinterested as they ran through their half-hour set. The quality of their songs – catchy New Waved numbers marked by big ’80s synths and (over)-effected vocals – was evident despite that, but the pep of their recorded sound was decided muted.

I was there the last the the sandwich board outside The ‘Shoe declared, “The Concretes” back in May 2006, but a half-decade one, it was a completely different band who took the stage. Singer Victoria Bergsman departed shortly after that show – that’s been well-documented – and rather than call it a day, drummer Lisa Milberg moved into the role of frontwoman but what was surprising was that Maria Erikson – guitarist, vocalist and co-founder of the band with Milberg and Bergsman – was not amongst the half-dozen Concretes who’d crossed the Atlantic. Or maybe not so surprising considering her credits on the new record amount to “backing vocals”. But either way, this was now Milberg’s show.

And as WYWH would dictate, it was a disco show, but without much dancing. Despite the dancefloor grooves and textures of the new record, it’s still a downbeat record and accordingly, a rather restrained performance. The live renderings were actually sped up some from the album version, perhaps to give them a little more zip or perhaps to help them sit alongside the older material better. Yes, they still did the older material – fair game considering Milberg co-wrote most of it – but what was more surprising than that it wasn’t verboten was how natural those songs still sounded without Bergsman’s distinctively sleepy vocals. And if you think about it, Milberg’s voice might have a different timbre from her former bandmate but it has a similar wounded quality about it that helps maintain the songs’ spirit.

With such disparate-sounding material rubbing elbows on the set list, the flow of the show was a little odd at times but the balance of new material and key singles from The Concretes and In Colour made for a solid batch of songs. And while it was hard to not recall the glorious rotating lead vocals from Bergsman, Milberg and Erikson the last time they played main set closer “Song For The Songs”, these new Concretes had already established their 2011 bona fides. And for that, bravo.

Photos: The Concretes, Hooray For Earth @ The Horseshoe – January 17, 2010
MP3: The Concretes – “All Day”
MP3: The Concretes – “Good Evening”
MP3: Hooray For Earth – “Surrounded By Your Friends”
Video: The Concretes – “Kids”
Video: The Concretes – “All Day”
Video: The Concretes – “Keep Yours”
Video: The Concretes – “Seems Fine”
Video: The Concretes – “Oh Boy”
Video: The Concretes – “Chosen One”
Video: The Concretes – “On The Radio”
Video: The Concretes – “Say Something New”
Video: The Concretes – “You Can’t Hurry Love”
Video: The Concretes – “Warm Night”
Video: Hooray For Earth – “Surrounded By Your Friends”
Video: Hooray For Earth – “Form”
Video: Hooray For Earth – “Rolling/Nectarine”
Video: Hooray For Earth – “Get Home”
Myspace: The Concretes
Myspace: Hooray For Earth

Lykke Li has released a new video from her forthcoming record Wounded Rhymes, out on March 1 – BBC has an interview with her about the new record. She will be at The Phoenix on May 22.

Video: Lykke Li – “I Follow Rivers”

Also straight outta Sweden with a new vid are Peter Bjorn & John – it’s the first sample of their forthcoming Gimme Some, due out March 29, which you can also download over here. They have a talk with Spinner about the new record.

Video: Peter Bjorn & John – “Breaker Breaker”

There were a crapload of show announcements yesterday… and a crapload today. Starting with Suuns, who’ll be playing an in-store at Sonic Boom on January 29 at 4PM. As always, it’s a free show but food bank donations are encouraged.

MP3: Suuns – “Up Past The Nursery”

Ty Segall will be anchoring the Wrongbar lineup for Canadian Musicfest on the Saturday night, March 12.

MP3: Ty Segall – “Girlfriend”

I would have thought that they’d be playing bigger rooms by now, but that just means that Warpaint’s show at Wrongbar on March 26 – which they packed last August well before their debut The Fool came out and got all those rave reviews – will be that much more of a hot ticket. You’ve been warned. Full tour dates up at Beggars USA and support for the show will be Australia’s PVT.

MP3: Warpaint – “Undertow”
MP3: PVT – “Quick Mile”

After a too-long absence – I’m not counting their set opening for Gogol Bordello last Spring because a) it was at The Sound Academy and b) I couldn’t go – DeVotchKa are coming back to town. Their last headlining show was way back in June 2006, so that they’ll bring their new record 100 Lovers to the Mod Club on March 30 is welcome news indeed; tickets $19 in advance.

MP3: DeVotchKa – “Along The Way”

Luke Temple’s Here We Go Magic have made a date at the El Mocambo for April 2, tickets $13.50. Their last record Pigeons came out last Summer.

MP3: Here We Go Magic – “Casual”
MP3: Here We Go Magic – “Collector”

I don’t know if John Darnielle thought Toronto wouldn’t notice that The Mountain Goats skipped us over entirely whilst touring their last record The Life Of The World To Come, but it’s good to know we won’t be slighted when All Eternals Deck comes out on March 29 – they’ll be here just five days later, April 3, with Megafaun in tow, for a show at the Opera Hosue – tickets $17.50 in advance. Pitchfork has a chat with Darnielle about the new album and there’s a campaign to get The Mountain Goats on Law & Order: SVU so obviously you should go and get behind that.

MP3: The Mountain Goats – “Tyler Lambert’s Grave”

Following an extensive North American tour, Kingston’s PS I Love You will play an almost-hometown show at The Garrison on April 7.

MP3: PS I Love You – “Get Over”

And looking waaaaay ahead, Keren Ann will follow up the March 22 release of her new record 101 with Summer dates that include an appearance at the Drake Underground on June 28, tickets $16.50. She’s just released a video from said record.

Video: Keren Ann – “My Name Is Trouble”

Aquarium Drunkard, Artinfo, The Fader and Prefix talk to Dan Bejar of Destroyer, whose new record Kaputt is out next week but streaming right now at Hype Machine. Destroyer plays Lee’s Palace on March 31.

Stream: Destroyer / Kaputt

The Line Of Best Fit and The AV Club interview Jenny Conlee and Colin Meloy of The Decemberists, respectively. The Polaroid portfolio which was a part of deluxe editions of The King Is Dead is available to peruse at New York Magazine with commentary from photographer Autumn de Wilde. Further, the band’s hometown show in Portland will be webcast tonight on NPR starting at 3PM EST. The Decemberists are at The Sound Academy on February 1.

And the only relevance that the Coachella lineup has to my life is the fact that Elbow and Suede are on this continent in April…

FacebookThat sound you hear is the sound of legions of Bright Eyes fans, whom having just recovered from the news that Conor Oberst was returning to that project for one more record in The People’s Key on February 15, are swooning and weeping (with joy) even more at the announcement of the first leg of tour dates to support said record.

Oberst last played Toronto as Bright Eyes back in May of 2007 with a show at Massey Hall, but didn’t return with his own Mystic Valley Band solo thing. He did make an appearance last Fall with his Monsters Of Folk compatriots, again at Massey, but TO Conor-ites will finally get a proper fix next March when he leads whomever is in Bright Eyes this time out for a show at the Sound Academy on March 13. Not the classy digs he’s gotten used to over the last couple visits, no, but venue complaints aside you can bet that the date is being circled on a lot of calendars right now, especially if the rumours that this is Oberst’s final kick at the Bright Eyes can are accurate.

Tickets for the Toronto show are $34.50 for general admission (aka those who need to be as close to Conor as possible) and $49.50 for VIP (aka those who need to be as far from those who need to be as close to Conor as possible) and go on sale this Friday, December 17.

MP3: Bright Eyes – “Four Winds”
MP3: Bright Eyes – “Lua”
MP3: Bright Eyes – “Lover I Don’t Have To Love”

Connoisseurs of French pop will be pleased to know that Parisians Revolver have made a date at the Drake Underground for March 3, tickets $10.50 in advance. Their debut Music For A While was released domestically back in August.

MP3: Revolver – “Get Around Town”
Video: Revolver – “Leave Me Alone”
Video: Revolver – “Balulalow”

Those who missed Chicagoan glam-punk moppets The Smith Westerns last month when they opened for Florence & The Machine and played a tiny after show the same evening will be pleased to know they’ve slated a proper tour and will be back in town at the Horseshoe on February 28. And they’ve put out a new video, too. Their second album Dye It Blonde is out January 18.

MP3: Smith Westerns – “Imagine, Pt 3”
Video: The Smith Westerns – “Weekend”

The first sample of The Rural Alberta Advantage’s new record Departing is now up for grabs. The record is out March 1 and they play a sold-out show at Lee’s Palace tomorrow night.

MP3: The Rural Alberta Advantage – “Stamp”

Dodos frontman Meric Long talks to Pitchfork about their plans for album number three.

The Mountain Goats are giving away a new MP3 for a song that won’t be appearing on their next album All Eternals Deck when it’s released on March 29. But hey – new Mountain Goats.

MP3: The Mountain Goats – “Tyler Lambert’s Grave”

NPR has a World Cafe session with Johnny Flynn.

The Quietus interviews Titus Andronicus. The band, not the fictional character.

The first video from Nicole Atkins’ forthcoming Mondo Amore is now available for all to see. The record is out January 25 and she plays the Horseshoe on February 26.

Video: Nicole Atkins – “Vultures”

Colin Meloy previews some of The Decemberists’ new record The King Is Dead in session for NPR. The album is out January 18 and they play The Sound Academy on February 1.

The AV Club’s AV Undercover series from this Summer is over and done, they’re busting out the covers series for the holiday season with Holiday Undercover, which includes Shearwater covering Randy Newman’s bummer seasonal tune “God’s Song (That’s Why I Love Mankind)” and Kate Nash taking on Slade’s “Merry X-Mas Everybody”.

And speaking of Randy Newman, he’s coming to town for a date at the University of Toronto’s Convocation Hall on March 26 of next year.

Video: Randy Newman – “I Love LA”

American Songwriter contemplates the career of Jay Farrar and chooses their 20 favourite songs.

Norman WongAs of right now, I’m perfectly happy to see the 2010 concert season – as wonderful as it’s been – winding down, but talk to me in a few weeks when resting up begins to turn into getting bored, and I may be getting itchy for something to do or see. Which is where The Drake Hotel has come in handy since 2006, running a week of (mostly) live music programming in The Underground for the next-to-nothing cover charge of $5.

This year’s lineup was just unveiled and as always, there’s some choice stuff on the schedule. The evening of Tuesday December 28 should be particularly tasty, being headlined as it is by local instrumental monsters Do Make Say Think, who usually play much larger rooms and cost much more than a fiver. Also appearing throughout the week will be Kingston’s buzz/fuzz merchants PS I Love You, up-and-comers Ruby Coast, veterans By Divine Right and many more. And again: $5. Beat that with a stick, I dare you.

MP3: PS I Love You – “Facelove”
Video: Do Make Say Think – “In Mind”
Video: Ruby Coast – “Whatever This Is”

aux.tv has posted up a 3-song Camera Music session with Diamond Rings, Oregon Music News an interview.

NPR talks to Born Ruffians.

Emo-rock forebears The Get-Up Kids have set a date at The Phoenix for March 8 of next year in support of their new record There Are Rules, out January 25. Tickets $24.50 in advance.

John Darnielle has revealed details of The Mountain Goats’ next record – All Eternals Deck is coming on March 29 and may or may not have a little death metal seasoning in the brew.

Spinner talks to Editors frontman Tom Smith.

This excerpt from a documentary about a man who bicycled around the world is being used as the first official Mogwai video from Hardcore Will Never Die, But You Will, out February 15. They’re at the Phoenix on April 26.

Video: Mogwai – “How To Be A Werewolf”

Adele has rolled out the first video from her new record 21, due out February 22. She talks to Spinner about making the clip.

Video: Adele – “Rolling In The Deep”

The Radio Dept have made the whole of their acoustic radio session at KEXP available to download. Their Passive Aggressive compilation comes out January 25 and they play Lee’s Palace on February 7.

John Eriksson gives Spin a status update on the new Peter Bjorn & John record, due out in the early part of 2011.

New York Magazine talks to Nick Cave about Grinderman while The Los Angeles Times looks at how a Bad Seeds song made it onto the latest Harry Potter soundtrack. BBC reports that Cave crashed his car this week, but is alright.

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.

Frank YangThe Friday night programme of NXNE didn’t have, at least for me, any must-see anchor act around which to plan my evening so, instead, I assembled an itinerary of acts I was curious about, had recommended or were just conveniently slotted. A smorgasbord of showcases, if you will, which could either turn out great or… not so great.

Things kicked off at Bread & Circus in Kensington, partly because of its proximity to Big Fat Burrito and partly because Christopher Smith was playing at 8PM. The Beckon Call was both the name of the Vancouverite’s band and his debut album, and though just a four-piece when their show began, there were still more of them in the room than audience. And while obviously no one wants to play to no one, the emptiness was quite suited to the spectral qualities of Smith’s delicate voice and slow motion folk-pop songs. And by their set’s end, there were many times more people in the room than on stage. Well, three times. Or so.

Photos: Christopher Smith & The Beckon Call @ Bread & Circus – June 18, 2010
MP3: Christopher Smith – “Gently, Gently”
MP3: Christopher Smith – “Piece By Piece”
Video: Christopher Smith – “Gently, Gently”
MySpace: Christopher Smith

It should have been a quick shot down College to get to the Whippersnapper Gallery, but that plan was foiled by the massive Taste Of Italy street fair which slowed things down considerably, but I still got to the space in time for Inlets. The project led by Sebastian Krueger wasn’t a far stretch from what I had just seen Smith do, but his compositions from Inter Arbiter had a more jazzy or baroque feel to it, and with more blood and sinew. Though nominally a three-piece live, they were a bassist and performed quite effectively as a two piece, putting the focus squarely on Krueger’s unconventional melodies and Intricatley shifty guitarwork. Music suited for sitting quietly on the floor of an art gallery to.

Photos: Inlets @ The Whippersnapper Gallery – June 18, 2010
MP3: Inlets – “Bright Orange Air”
MP3: Inlets – “Spotsylvania”
MP3: Inlets – “In Which I, Robert”
Video: Inlets – “Bright Orange Air”

Six-string prowess was also on display at Lee’s Palace the next hour, courtesy of The Happy Hollows’ Sarah Negahdari. The frontwoman of the trio was like 2/3 of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs in one, combining the on-stage energy and charisma of Karen O (and similar looks) with some insane guitar chops, a la Nick Zinner, albeit more shreddy than sound effect-y. Carrying the copious guitar solos which had Negahdari skipping and whipping around stage were punchy tunes from their debut Spells, equal parts glam, punk and prog. A wicked wake-up call for what had heretofore been a pretty sleepy night.

Photos: The Happy Hollows @ Lee’s Palace – June 18, 2010
MP3: The Happy Hollows – “Faces”
Video: The Happy Hollows – “Meteors”
Video: The Happy Hollows – “Big Bad Wolf”
Video: The Happy Hollows – “Vietnam”
Video: The Happy Hollows – “Death To Vivek Kemp”
Video: The Happy Hollows – “My Wet Tongue”
MySpace: The Happy Hollows

A trip down a Bathurst St jammed with traffic – road closures would be the recurring theme of the weekend – to Czehoski would bring the tempo back down, thanks to Denmark’s Katerine Ottoson, aka CALLmeKAT. The one-woman act offered a set of moody, slinky electro-lounge that thanks to an array of keyboards and her elastic voice, was able to engage but over the course of a set, the limits of her aesthetic became clear. The good songs were great but in the long run she needed more to offer the ears.

Photos: CALLmeKAT @ Czehoski – June 18, 2010
MP3: CALLmeKAT – “Flower In The Night”
Video: CALLmeKAT – “My Sea”

From there I doubled back to Kensington and Chinatown and the El Mocambo, where Haligonian Rich Aucoin was gearing up to show why people got so excited about his live shows. And even before they played a note, it was pretty clear what we could expect – the balloons, tambourines, beach balls and other party favours strewn about the stage telegraphed Aucoin’s dollar store Flaming Lips ambitions, and indeed his set was all about the party. With his bottomless bag of audience-engaging tricks, from songs comprised of call-and-response slogans and parachute play (like in grade school gym class), fun was pretty much guaranteed but taking a step back, it was hard to ignore that the songs didn’t really have much substance and were more soundtracks for the antics than standalone statements. Which is fine, but also kind of unfortunate. If he could couple the shenanigans with good and proper songs, then he’d really be onto something.

Photos: Rich Aucoin @ The El Mocambo – June 18, 2010
MP3: Rich Aucoin – “10,342 Cuts For The US”

And then it was back to where the night began – Bread & Circus – though by this time of night it was quite full of NXNE-ers. The draw were Gramercy Riffs, in all the way from Newfoundland. Though their debut It’s Heartbreak didn’t make the Polaris Prize long list, it did garner enough positive chatter amongst jurors to warrant a look- and listen-see. And yeah, the pop-rock from the band ably fronted by Lee Hanlon and Mara Pellerin is eminently likeable and catchy, even when it’s delivered in as much of a state of inebriation as the band seemed to be. Straight ahead and built on big melodies and choruses with just enough frills and flourishes to catch the ear, Gramercy Riffs are still relatively unknown outside of The Rock but seem well on their way to rectifying that. Spinner also caught the show and talked to the band afterwards.

Photos: Gramercy Riffs @ Bread & Circus – June 18, 2010
MP3: Gramercy Riffs – “Call Me”
MySpace: Gramercy Riffs

For one week, PitchforkTV is streaming the Rian Johnson-helmed concert video for The Mountain Goats’ last record The Life Of The World To Come.

Video: The Mountain Goats – The Life Of The World To Come

JAM and The Toronto Star talk to Sarah Harmer about plugging back in on her new record Oh Little Fire, out now. It’s streaming over at Spinner this week and she plays a sold-out record release show at the Palais Royale tonight.

Stream: Sarah Harmer / Oh Little Fire

Hercules & Love Affair will play a live set at the Mod Club on July 26.

Video: Hercules & Love Affair – “You Belong”

Obviously waiting until their NXNE set was done to announce, Warpaint are coming back on August 11 for a show at Wrongbar supported by Javelin and Beach Fossils. Their debut album will be out on or around September 28. Update: Warpaint will also be opening up for The xx at Massey Hall on September 29. HMM.

MP3: Warpaint – “Billie Holiday”
MP3: Javelin – “Oh! Centra”
MP3: Beach Fossils – “Youth”

Pop rules as Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin and Telekinesis team up for a Fall tour – SSLYBY in support of the forthcoming Let It Sway and Telekinesis for last year’s self-titled debut. The Toronto date is September 4 at the El Mocambo.

MP3: Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin – “Sink/Let It Sway”
MP3: Telekinesis – “Coast Of Carolina”

And it will get a little bit astrological when Stars and Young Galaxy play Massey Hall on October 23 as part of Stars’ Fall tour in support of the just-released The Five Ghosts. The Vancouver Sun, Spinner and Edmonton Journal have features on the band.

MP3: Stars – “We Don’t Want Your Body”
MP3: Young Galaxy – “Long Live The Fallen World”

Pitchfork has details on the soundtrack to Scott Pilgrim Vs The World, opening August 13.