Frank YangA day later than I would have liked – but some things like after parties, gin and tonics, and going to bed way too late can’t be helped – here’s my official writeup of Monday night’s Polaris Music Prize gala, in convenient short and long versions.

The short: Feist won the $30,000 prize for Metals. This pleased some people, displeased others. Eventually, everyone got on with their lives. Some got drunk first. Not naming names.

The long: Despite telling anyone who asked – or who’d listen – that I could see perfectly reasonable scenarios wherein six or seven of this year’s shortlist could walk off with the prize, I was more than a little surprised that in the end, it was Feist. This despite the fact that I become more convinced as time goes by that history will hold her as one of the most creative Canadian artists of this decade. I just thought that for all its artfulness, subtle merits, and general grower-ness, it hadn’t seemed to generate the sort of passion amongst listeners that would allow it to come out on top of such a strong pack of albums through what was surely a rough-and-tumble critical throw-down. Shows what I know.

That announcement came at the end of another largely entertaining Polaris gala, dedicated this year to the memory of Canadian music icon Sam ‘The Record Man’ Sniderman who’d passed away the day before.. Now that it’s in its seventh year, folks pretty much know what to expect: CBC’s Grant Lawrence hosting – this year with MuchMusic’s Lauren Toyota as co-host – cracking a few jokes but mainly passing things off to the journalists/jurors who would introduce each of the nominees and, if they were present, said artist would make an appearance or perform. This year’s live slate included seven of the ten shortlisters, with Japandroids bowing out on account of touring in Europe, Handsome Furs not performing on account of no longer existing, and Drake not showing up on account of being Drake.

The perennial question of, “who plays when?” had an extra angle this year in, “who plays after Fucked Up?” And since it would be unfair to make any one act follow their maniacal live show, the organizers probably did the smart thing in making everyone follow them while also kicking the show off with a bang. With the band laying down David Comes To Life, frontman Damian Abraham wandered onstage in a sweatshirt and backpack, looking like he just ducked out of class at Ryerson to attend to this, and got down to it. Having seen Fucked Up many times, this performance seemed a little more perfunctory than usual – not surprising given the setting, and unlike in 2009, they were here as former champions, not outsiders with something to prove. Still, they sounded good, Abraham still stripped down to his shorts and it was nice hearing Jennifer Castle on hand to reprise her vocals on “The Other Shoe”.

Handsome Furs had their moment next, with Alexei Perry offering an emotional and heartfelt thank you to all – Polaris and public – for their support over the band’s career. CBC has the full text of her acceptance speech, which no matter what came next would be the most moving part of the evening.

While some artists in the past have used the Polaris gala as an opportunity to do something different or fancy, Cold Specks opted to eschew performance frills and played to her strengths, letting her huge, emotive voice carry the songs from I Predict A Graceful Expulsion to the roof of the concert hall while her band played it spare and tasteful. Sticking with the “let the music do the talking” modus, Al Spx offered few words after performance, offering just, “cool” and “thanks”.

Cadence Weapon had the stage next, and playing with just his DJ as he always did, there was a lot of stage for him to work with. Taking advantage of the spotlight and working with efficiency, he got through three songs in his allotted time, rapping, dancing, and as on the nominated Hope In Dirt City, even trying a little actual singing. The beats were turned up loud but still sounded pretty tinny, though that’s less a flaw than a deliberate fidelity choice as on the record. One would hope.

Conversely, Kathleen Edwards only offered up one song, but decked it out with youth choir in addition to her full band. But rather than flirt with excess, “Soft Place To Land” from Voyageur was as vulnerable and bare a performance as the evening would offer. Edwards’ detractors – myself sometimes amongst them – often take issue with the traditionalness of her songwriting, but moments like this were a potent reminder that sometimes words, a voice, and a guitar are all you need. And a youth choir, if you’ve got access to one. Her acceptance speech was also solid and worth transcribing, or at least CBC Music thought so.

It’s possible that Grimes was conscious of how visually static her performance might seem, given that she wouldn’t have the time to deck the stage out in the way she would for her usual shows, so she did the only logical thing to spice it up: she hired a male pole dancer. And so as she went to work assembling the selections from the heavily-favoured Visions live, layering keyboards, triggering samples, and providing vocals, dancer Gary – whom she said she’d only met 10 minutes earlier – wowed the crowd with his moves up and down the stripper pole. It was all very tasteful and artistic, but not entirely PG – after messing up at one point an effected and very amplified, “fuck” rang out. Yup.

While acknowledging that Yamantaka//Sonic Titan might have a tough time recreating the dense and dynamic visual atmosphere of their typical live shows, I had still hoped that they’d be as much of a wild card on the evening’s performances as they were on the shortlist itself. That wasn’t to be, as they played without full costumes or stage props – the kabuki make-up was there, though – and chose the most prog and pop ends of YT//ST – “Reverse Crystal” and “Hoshi Neko” – to introduce themselves. It wasn’t as out there as some might have hoped for, but compared to Cold Specks, it still may as well have been from the furthest reaches of outer space.

Finally, there was Feist. She’d already begun slowly disassembling her Metals touring band when I saw her at FME earlier this month, so it wasn’t surprising that she had assembled a new band for the occasion. And while I didn’t recognize them at first, they were actually all familiar faces – Dan and Daniela from Snowblink on one side of her, AroarA (aka Andrew Whiteman from Broken Social Scene and Ariel Engle) on the other, forming a pretty formidable guitarmy with the added firepower of four-part harmonies. And this goes to what I’d said earlier about her creativity. No one would have said boo if Feist had just performed a couple songs from Metals solo – Feist solo is far from a simple, strummy affair – she instead went out and enlisted a new batch of players and rearranged the songs yet again for maybe a one-off performance. And while the other Metals shows were hardly polite, polished affairs, this was a raw, forceful performance that had the record had this kind of energy, even fewer people would be taking issue with its Polaris win.

And the win. Feist may genuinely not have expected to win – she’d later say she, like so many others, expected Grimes to take it – she reacted pretty quickly to the announcement of her name by Tim Kingsbury and Jeremy Gara of Arcade Fire, repping last year’s winners, and immediately ducked under her table.

Recovering gracefully, she accepted the giant novelty cheque and opened her acceptance speech with the pullquote-ready soundbite, “This was my worst fear”. It’s unclear if she meant public speaking – you’d think she’d be used to having an audience by now – or actually winning the Polaris. The latter would be understandable for as much as Feist is generally universally respected in Canadian music, she’s committed the cardinal-to-some sin of being successful and as soon as her name was announced, you know the “she doesn’t need the money” comments began to swirl. Which, of course, is absolutely no one’s business but hers, but in the post-gala press conference she mentioned that at least some of the winnings would go to support the fight against the Melanchthon mega-quarry north of Toronto. See, there’s an upside when someone who doesn’t necessarily need to pay off van repair bills and bar tabs comes into the prize money.

In any case, the Polaris win is a very nice punctuation point on Feist’s year of Metals, and I’ve no doubt she’ll wear the title of reigning Polaris champ well. And if you don’t like it, just wait twelve months – there’ll be a new musical injustice for you to rage about.

Canada.com, Exclaim, Torontoist, Rolling Stone, Spinner, and The Globe & Mail were all on hand to cover the proceedings, and The Grid has documented the evening in animated .gif form.

Photos from the evening are below, and if you needed a refresher as to the what of the shortlist, I’ve got that too.

Photos: The Polaris Music Prize 2012 Gala @ The Masonic Temple – September 24, 2012

Cadence Weapon / Hope In Dirt City (Upper Class Recordings)
MP3: Cadence Weapon – “Conditioning

Cold Specks / I Predict A Graceful Expulsion (Arts & Crafts)
Video: Cold Specks – “Blank Maps”

Drake / Take Care (Universal Republic)
Video: Drake – “Marvin’s Room”

Kathleen Edwards / Voyageur (Maple Music)
MP3: Kathleen Edwards – “Change The Sheets”

Feist / Metals (Arts & Crafts)
Video: Feist – “The Bad In Each Other”

Fucked Up / David Comes To Life (Matador)
MP3: Fucked Up – “The Other Shoe”

Grimes / Visions (Artbus)
MP3: Grimes – “Oblivion”

Handsome Furs / Sound Kapital (Sub Pop)
MP3: Handsome Furs – “Repatriated”

Japandroids / Celebration Rock (Polyvinyl)
MP3: Japandroids – “Younger Us”

Yamantaka//Sonic Titan / YT//ST (Psychic Handshake)
Video: Yamantaka // Sonic Titan – “Hoshi Neko”

BlogTO grabbed a pre-gala interview with Fucked Up.

DIY has a chat with Grimes.

Spinner talked to Yamantaka//Sonic Titan about the whirlwind of acclaim that brought them from obscurity to the Polaris shortlist, and Pitchfork points to a stream of the band covering David Bowie as a bonus track attached to a new compilation from Paper Bag Records. As part of their 10th anniversary celebrations (which kick off Thursday night at The Great Hall for three evenings and at which new signees Yamantaka//Sonic Titan play Friday), they’ve assembled a tribute album to David Bowie’s The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders of Mars – itself turning 40 this year – and it’s available for free download. And while this comp would be noteworthy fun simply for existing, it’s actually really good. Like REALLY good. Listen to it while you read this piece at The National Post about the decade of Paper Bag.

Stream: Yamantaka//Sonic Titan – “John, I’m Only Dancing”

Crystal Castles have released a new video from their still-untitled third album, due out sometime in November. And speaking of November, their November 3 4 show at The Kool Haus is now happening on November 4 3; all tickets are still valid for the new date. And I’ve probably not helped the confusion at all. Sorries. Update 2: Pitchfork reports the album will be called (III) and will be out November 5.

Video: Crystal Castles – “Plague”

Spin has premiered a new video from Caribou extra-electronic side-project Daphni whose debut album Jialong arrives October 16.

Video: Daphni – “Pairs”

Rolling Stone has premiered the first video from Neil Young & Crazy Horse’s new album Psychedelic Pill, and no – they’re still clearly not allotting much budget to their videos in Neil’s camp. We won’t be seeing anything of the calibre of “Wonderin'” anytime soon. The album is out October 30 and they’re at the Air Canada Centre on 19.

Video: Neil Young & Crazy Horse – “Walk Like A Giant”

PenguinThe 2012 Polaris Music Prize gets awarded tonight, so in honour of the occasion, here’s a bunch of maple-flavoured content led off by a Canadian icon who hasn’t lived in Canada in some 40-plus years. Yeah!

If you have some time to kill and an interest in who Neil Young is circa 2012, you could do worse than to spend it with this feature piece at The New York Times. It covers his current relationship with alcohol and drugs – there is none – as well as his new record with Crazy Horse, Psychedelic Pill, his new digital audio format Pono, and why he decided to write an autobiography after insisting that he never would. Those memoirs, Waging Heavy Peace, comes out tomorrow – September 25 – and Psychedelic Pill is due out a month later on October 30. Neil leads the band into the Air Canada Centre on November 19.

Following up with news blips from some shortlisters, both this year and past… Feist may be ramping down the touring in support of last year’s Metals, but she’s ramping up the session videos – there’s a Les soiree de poches set at Le Blogotheque and From The Basement

CBC Music talks to Yamantaka//Sonic Titan, who also have some new music to hear in the form of their soundtrack contributions to the Mark Of The Ninja video game. They play The Great Hall this Friday night for PBR10.

Stream: Yamantaka//Sonic Titan / Mark & Blade

Spinner talks to Kathleen Edwards about her Polaris odds.

NPR has a w World Cafe session and BlogTO an interview with Cold Specks.

Fucked Up tells Spinner they’d like to have Drake up there with them for tonight’s Polaris performance. They won’t, but they’d like it.

Metro talks to Tony Dekker of Great Lake Swimmers.

The Boston Globe profiles Metric.

Julie Doiron has announced a new studio album in So Many Days, due out October 23. She’s released a first MP3 from the record and will be playing live on October 14, opening for Ben Gibbard at the Danforth Music Hall, and then October 30 at The Mod club supporting Grapes Of Wrath.

MP3: Julie Doiron – “By The Lake”

Spinner talks to The Sadies about backing Neil Young on their contribution to 2010’s Garth Hudson Presents: A Canadian Celebration of The Band. Yeah, two years ago. Whatevs.

You Say Party! talk to Exclaim and The Vancouver Sun about their return to active duty, starting this Saturday night at The Great Hall for PBR10.

Olenka & The Autumn Lovers have readied a new mini-album entitled Hard Times, and given it an October 2 release date. You can stream one of the new songs now.

Stream: Olenka & The Autumn Lovers – “Don’t Make Sense”

The Bomber Jacket talks to Kat Burns of Kashka, playing a record release show for her debut Vichada at The Drake on October 5.

BrooklynVegan has an interview with METZ, who’ve released a second MP3 from their self-titled debut. It’s out October 9 and they’re at The Horseshoe to mark its release on October 12.

MP3: METZ – “Wet Blanket”

A second MP3 from A.C. Newman’s forthcoming Shut Down The Streets is available to download. It’s out October 9 and he kicks off the tour in support of it October 21 at Lee’s Palace.

MP3: A.C. Newman – “Encyclopedia Of Classic Takedowns”

Toronto’s July Talk – whom you may recall impressing me at at CMF earlier this year – have put out a video from their self-titled debut album, due October 16.

Video: July Talk – “Paper Girl”

Both Spinner and A Heart Is A Spade have feature interviews with Diamond Rings, who’s just announced a cross-Canada tour in support of Free Dimensional, out October 22. The Toronto date comes November 29 at The Mod Club, tickets $18.50.

MP3: Diamond Rings – “I’m Just Me”

The Wooden Sky offers a feature piece on The Wooden Sky, who will be at The Phoenix on December 1.

Rich Aucoin has a fancy new Beach Boys-saluting video from his album We’re All Dying To Live. Toro and The Halifax Chronicle-Herald also have interviews.

Video: Rich Aucoin – “Brian Wilson is A.L.i.V.E.”

Loud & Quiet, The Calgary Herald, and aux.tv have interviews with Purity Ring.

aux.tv investigates the new “weird Canada” music scene bubbling up around the country.

The Globe & Mail examines how far the Polaris Prize has come in the past seven years, and what it now means for Canadian music

And a moment of silence for Sam “The Record Man” Sniderman, who passed away yesterday at 92. I spent much of my youth and my youthful allowance in his stores. Wait, did I say silence? I mean LOUDNESS.

Michael HalsbandTwenty is a nice round number for an anniversary, and Sloan marked their two decades as a band in fine style last year, releasing the milestone-referencing Double Cross and touring a career-spanning set more extensively than they have in some time. Fifteen is also a pretty solid number, so when they busted out a One Chord To Another recital for last year’s Fucked Up-sponsored fundraiser, it could also be seen as marking an occasion.

Twice Removed, however, only turns 18 this year (“only”… everyone who remembers buying a copy new put up your hand – congratulations, you’re old) so unless they’re celebrating the record’s ability to vote or fight in a war, it’s curious timing for a deluxe reissue and commemorative tour, though it’s worth noting they already did this at least once back in 2010 for Halifax Pop Explosion – celebrating the album’s legality to drive a car? But one of the perks of having been around as long as they have is they don’t have to justify themselves to anyone, so if Sloan wants to put together a super-fancy deluxe box set and tour across the country playing the album in full – plus other hits, don’t worry – who’s anyone to question it? Certainly not me.

This is a record, remember, that was twice voted the best Canadian album of all-time by Chart readers (in 1996 and 2005) but as adored as it became, when it was first released it confounded pretty much everyone (and eventually got them dropped from their major label deal), so definitively did it ditch the shoegrunge of their debut Smeared for much cleaner, classic pop styles. I personally remember listening to the radio at a Summer job in 1994 (painting a warehouse – fun!) and hearing the DJ declare they were about to play the new Sloan single; that was “Coax Me” and I swear another two or three more songs played before I realized that that moody, chiming, Byrds-y/Beatles-y throwback number from about 15 minutes ago was the song I’d been waiting for. And, eighteen years later, I’ve finally gotten around to learning to play it on guitar. Not nearly as difficult as I thought it was.

The first batch of Twice Removed dates started out west but only took them as far as Chicago; the second leg has now been announced and in addition to covering a lot more of the northeastern United States in October, a string of November dates covers southern Ontario and wraps up November 22 at The Phoenix in Toronto. Tickets for that are $26.50 in advance and go on sale this Saturday.

The Nelson Star has an interview with Jay Ferguson about the process of digging through the Sloan archives for the Twice Removed reissue set. They’ve also been posting video footage from the era at their YouTube channel.

Video: Sloan – “People Of The Sky”
Video: Sloan – “Coax Me”

The Darcys are also revisiting a classic album live, but it’s not one of theirs. Having released their interpretation of Steely Dan’s Aja at the start of the year, they’re now going to take it on tour. Exclaim has their Autumn itinerary, which wraps on November 10 at Lee’s Palace, tickets $10.

MP3: The Darcys – “Josie”
MP3: The Darcys – “Josie (Vol 2)”
Video: The Darcys – “Josie”

The Luyas are part of the PBR10 celebrations at the Great Hall in a couple weeks – they’re playing the Saturday night, September 29 – but with a new album in Animator due out shortly after on October 16, a tour of their own is in order – Exclaim has the dates, including a November 7 date at 918 Bathurst.

MP3: The Luyas – “Fifty Fifty”
Video: The Luyas – “Fifty Fifty”

Another recent Paper Bag Records signing also playing the PBR10 shows – they’re up Friday night – are Yamantaka/Sonic Titan. They’re this week’s NOW cover story, and are also going to be at Wrongbar November 12 supporting Lydia Lunch; tickets $25. And oh, they also need your help in creating a Yamantaka/Sonic Titan video game – of course you should support this.

Tokyo Police Club have announced a holiday season show at The Sound Academy on December 15, tickets $22.50 general admission and $35 VIP.

MP3: Tokyo Police Club – “Party In The USA”

Beatroute interviews Fucked Up, who’ve got something cool planned in the way of shows come November. Mike Haliechuk gives Exclaim a tease about their Long Winter concert series which kicks off November 9.

CBC Music is streaming the whole of The Wilderness Of Manitoba’s new album Island Of Echoes before its release this coming Tuesday; they play a record release show for it at Trinity-St. Paul’s on October 26.

MP3: The Wilderness Of Manitoba – “Morning Sun”
Stream: The Wilderness Of Manitoba / Island Of Echoes

Neil Young & Crazy Horse have given Psychedelic Pill, their second album of 2012, a released date of October 30 – Rolling Stone has details. Neil and the boys are at the Air Canada Centre on November 19.

Snowblink have premiered a new video from Inner Classics over at The Guardian. And if you’ve ever wanted a Snowblink-powered musical therapy session… well you can. Yeah. They’re at the Bicycle Music Festival at Christie Pits tomorrow evening at 6:30PM and play their official record release show at The Music Gallery on September 27.

Video: Snowblink – “Black & White Mountains”

JAM talks to Torq Campbell of Stars while The Olathe News, The Herald Sun, and Toledo Free Press have features on Metric. They both play the Air Canada Centre on November 24.

CBC Music asks Japandroids to list his five favourite records of the past 20 years. They play The Phoenix on December 12.

Frank YangWe’ve certainly come a long way since late Summer, 2009 when Diamond Rings was that curious synth-pop side-project from the guy who fronted local garage-rock fixtures The D’Urbervilles (now Matters). That infectious Summer song turned into a breakout debut album in Special Affections that would take John O’Regan, his guitar and laptop and unicorn tapestry, on a glitter-and-eyeshadow-fuelled journey around the world. Quite a tale, and one that had many anxious for the sequel.

That part the second officially arrives with the release of Free Dimensional on October 23, but a small audience of industry types and fans got a sneak preview last Thursday night at the Drake Underground with a showcase that wrapped up a short US tour to road-test the new material and band. Yes, that’s right – the days of Diamond Rings being just O’Regan juggling guitar, vocal, laptop, and dance duties are a thing of the past as he’s recruited a backing band and dressed them up in matching caps, jackets, and sunglasses. The move may dismay those who loved the resolutely DIY solo setup, but it was the logical thing to do – being forced to restrict his songwriting to what he could reasonable recreate onstage on his own would have been creatively limiting and there really doesn’t exist a live act that’s not better with a full band. Fact.

O’Regan really benefitted from being freed up to fully inhabit the frontman role and decked out in an impressively shiny white leather jacket and matching jeans – oh the things you can buy with major label money – was all choreography, guitar riffs, and audience invasions – it might have been a bit familiar to those of us who’d seen The D’Urbs live, but in the Diamond Rings context made for a solid step up in live presentation. Also familiar to D’Uberville followers was Tim Bruton on guitar, though his crossover status was only a temporary one as O’Regan mentioned this would be his last gig with the band. One expects that someone else will don his coat, cap, and shades, though, because in addition to taking some of the workload off of O’Regan’s generously-padded shoulders, they really made the new material sound good – perhaps more conventional with the guitar, synth, and (electronic) drums setup, but more immediate and engaging.

Hearing how the Special Affections material would sound so arranged would have to wait for a more conventional show, as their half-hour set was all about previewing Free Dimensional. And while Diamond Rings fans who were won over by his distinctive baritone, future-first style, and danceable anthems are well attended to, long-time fans might be pleasantly surprised how much O’Regan allows his rock roots – impeccably coiffed and styled they might be – to show. At its best moments, which proudly echo the likes of Pet Shop Boys or New Order in their shine and sparkle, songs like “Runaway Love” and “I’m Just Me” make you wonder what The D’Urbs might have sounded like had O’Regan brought them along on his glam-synth journey rather than taking it solo. We might yet find out, as Matters is still technically an ongoing concern, but it’s hard to imagine O’Regan being able to trade in his Diamond Rings outfits back in for the plaid shirt and Jays cap too soon.

Diamond Rings has another local appearance on September 9 at the Sony Centre as part of Elton John’s Fashion Cares extravaganza, but those waiting for a regular, proper show will have to wait until they’re done supporting Stars across the US in September and October, but the fact that those dates wrap up right before the new record comes out can’t be a coincidence. Hometown record release show, anyone?

Exclaim was also on hand (and enjoying the hors d’oeurves), The Globe & Mail and Seattle Weekly have interviews and Boing Boing just made one of the songs from the new record available to download.

Photos: Diamond Rings @ The Drake Underground – August 23, 2012
MP3: Diamond Rings – “I’m Just Me”
MP3: Diamond Rings – “Mellow Doubt”
MP3: Diamond Rings – “Something Else”
MP3: Diamond Rings – “Wait And See”
MP3: Diamond Rings – “All Yr Songs”
Video: Diamond Rings – “I’m Just Me”
Video: Diamond Rings – “You And Me”
Video: Diamond Rings – “Something Else”
Video: Diamond Rings – “Show Me Your Stuff”
Video: Diamond Rings – “Wait & See”
Video: Diamond Rings – “All Yr Songs”

Speaking of Stars, their new album The North is up to stream over at NPR. It’s out September 4 and they open up for Metric at The Air Canada Centre on November 24.

MP3: Stars – “Hold On When You Get Love And Let Go When You Give It”
MP3: Stars – “The Theory Of Relativity”
Stream: Stars / The North

Pitchfork talks to A.C. Newman about his new solo record Shut Down The Streets. It’s out October 9 and he plays Lee’s Palace on October 21.

Spinner chats with Dan Mangan and The Calgary Herald talks to Nils Edenloff of The Rural Alberta Advantage. The two of them play The Danforth Music Hall on October 25.

Halfway House has a video session with Patrick Watson, back in town at Massey Hall on December 6.

Rolling Stone compiles what is known about the next Neil Young & Crazy Horse album Psychedelic Pill, which is due out sometime in October. They are at The Air Canada Centre on November 24.

And not that you should need extra incentive to support HeroHill in his Ride To Conquer Cancer, but the good people at New Scotland Records are giving away to one donor a prize pack consisting of their full label catalog on CD *and* vinyl and with everything that Joel Plaskett is involved in autographed by the man himself. It’s a hell of a prize and oh yeah, you’re also helping fight cancer. You know, cancer. That thing that sucks incredibly hard.

Norman Wong/Jules SchillIt’s a real puzzle to me why Toronto’s Snowblink aren’t huge, and I mean huge in relative Canadian indie terms, not absolute household name terms, I’m not delusional. Their 2011 debut Long Live was an unqualified art-folk jewel, as simple and homespun as it was rich and complex, and not content to simply let the record speak for itself, they also toured it across North America and Europe, supporting not only some A-list Canadian talent but Wilco’s Jeff Tweedy on his Spring 2011 solo tour. All of which is to say that people saw them, and they’re not difficult to fall for, so why aren’t the duo of Daniela Gesundheit and Dan Goldman discussed with the same breathless enthusiasm as some of their peers?

Perhaps all that effort should be considered set up, and their forthcoming sophomore effort Inner Classics will be the record that knocks everyone down. I’ve not yet heard the record but based on the two tracks from the album already offered as a preview – “Black & White Mountain” was teased back in June and “Unsurfed Waves” was made available yesterday – it’s reasonable to say that this record will take everything that was great about Long Live and make it even better. Gesundheit’s voice is as delicate and crystalline as ever, but sounds more musically forceful and demanding of your attention without losing the laid-back vibe that come with Gesundheit’s Californian roots.

Inner Classics is out September 11, and while Snowblink have already offered a hometown preview of the new album in opening up for Cold Specks last week and will do so again as part of the Bicycle Music Festival at Trinity-Bellwoods on September 15 at 6PM, the proper release show for the new album will come on September 27 at the perfectly suited Music Gallery. It’s part of a series of shows that covers various points around the continent – full dates are available at Filter. Post City has an interview with Gesundheit about the new record.

MP3: Snowblink – “Unsurfed Waves”
MP3: Snowblink – “Black & White Mountains”

Canadian indie rock icon Ian Blurton has reformed his first and most famous band – Change Of Heart – for a handful of live dates in support of their long-overdue compilation album There You Go ’82-’97. It’s out September 18 and they play The Horseshoe on October 5, tickets a far too reasonable $12.

Stream: Change Of Heart – “There You Go”

If you were ever wondering what garage-pop from Vermont sounded like, King Tuff and their self-titled debut debut is the answer, and if you wanted to know what they looked like in person, then The Garrison on October 12 is the place to be. Tickets for that are $13.50 in advance. The San Francisco Examiner, Weekly Alibi, and LA Weekly talk to frontman Kyle Thomas.

MP3: King Tuff – “Keep On Movin'”
MP3: King Tuff – “Bad Thing”

Paste has the full tour itinerary for Death Cab frontman gone solo Benjamin Gibbard – not Ben, notice – and it curiously contains an isolated October 14 date at the Danforth Music Hall in Toronto, just a couple days before Former Lives is released on October 16. Tickets for that range from $25.50 to $35 in advance.

MP3: Death Cab For Cutie – “The Employment Pages”

The Flying Lotus show originally scheduled for October 13 at the Hoxton has moved through both space and time and will now take place on October 15 at the Danforth Music Hall. Complex and Spin have interviews with the producer.

MP3: Flying Lotus – “Between Friends”

The Heartless Bastards are back in town at Lee’s Palace on October 24 in support of their latest effort Arrow. Tickets for that are $18 in advance. News OK, News Journal, and Spokesman Review have features on the band.

MP3: Heartless Bastards – “Parted Ways”

Rose Cousins, last seen in these parts in May celebrating her third album We Have Made A Spark, will be back on November 3 for a performance at the Glenn Gould Theatre, tickets $29.50. The Boston Globe has an interview with Cousins.

MP3: Rose Cousins – “The Darkness”

In further proof that The Weeknd has gotten over his crippling shyness – he seemed mighty comfortable onstage at Osheaga – he’s scheduled not one but two dates at the Sound Academy for November 2 and 3, tickets $34.50 for general admission and $75 for VIP.

MP3: The Weeknd – “Wicked Games”

Though the biggest room they’d played in Toronto to date, Japandroids proved in June that they were already too big for Lee’s Palace so for their return engagement, they’ll be at the much bigger Phoenix on December 12, tickets $18.50 in advance. Pitchfork has the rest of their end-of-year tour dates and also have premiered the new video from Celebration Rock.

MP3: Japandroids – “The House That Heaven Built”
Video: Japandroids – “The House That Heaven Built”

Spinner and Exclaim talk to Britt Daniel and Dan Boeckner of Divine Fits about their debut album A Thing Called Divine Fits, out August 28. They’re at Lee’s Palace on September 5.

Exclaim examines the career of Cat Power, whose new record Sun is out September 4. She is at The Kool Haus on October 20.

Hitfix talks to Bob Mould about his new album The Silver Age, out September 4.

Aimee Mann has released a video for the title track of her new album Charmer, which is out September 18 and behind which she’ll be at the Danforth Music Hall on November 6. Rolling Stone talks to her about the new record.

Video: Aimee Mann – “Charmer”

MTV gets to know The Rural Alberta Advantage just a little bit; they’re at the Great Hall on September 28 and The Danforth Music Hall on October 25.

CBC Music has some video clips of a session Diamond Rings – now a band and not just a man – performed for KCRW, previewing material from Free Dimensional well ahead of its October 23 release date.

Under The Radar, Tone Deaf, and The Age interview Josh Tillman of Father John Misty, in town at Lee’s Palace on October 27.

A release date has been given to the third part of the Guided By Voices 2012 reunion trilogy; The Bears For Lunch will be out on November 12.

Rolling Stone talks to Frank “Poncho” Sampedro of Neil Young & Crazy Horse, who as it turns out didn’t spend all their recent time in the studio jamming out the standards that would become Americana – an album of original material built on the trademark Crazy Horse sprawl should be out in October under the title of Psychedelic Pill, meaning that they’ll be able to draw on both when they play the Air Canada Centre on November 24.

Exclaim talks to Purity Ring.

Malajube have released a video for the title track of last year’s La Caverne.

Video: Malajube – “La Caverne”

Blurt talks to Steven MacDonald of Redd Kross.

Billboard checks in with My Morning Jacket to see how crowdsourcing the set lists on their current tour is working out.