Frank Yang“Thanks for coming out on such short notice.” It was hard to tell if Win Butler was smirking when he said this, midway through the first night of Arcade Fire’s surprise two-night stand at the Music Hall in Toronto this past Friday night. After all, they had given the city just over 48 hours notice that these performances would be happening – though they did offer teasers throughout the week – prompting a mad scramble of canceled plans and fake sick days so that fans could line up for the one-per-person admission wristbands that only went on sale the day of the show.

It was the latest in a series of warm-up shows for the band, starting last week with a private house show in Montreal, through a couple of theatre shows in Sherbrooke, Quebec and a free parking lot performance in Longueuil, all serving to get the band back in game shape and build anticipation for their third album The Suburbs, due out August 3. Of course, accomplishing the latter didn’t require much effort on the band’s part save to announce that the record actually existed – since wrapping up their tours in support of 2007’s Neon Bible, the Montrealers have done remarkably well at keeping out of the public eye and secretive about what they’d be doing next and when.

The need for a retreat following Neon Bible was understandable. It was a tremendously heavy record, both from the weight of expectations as the follow-up to the universally-praised Funeral and its thematic burdens, being informed by the very height (or depths) or the Bush years. The resulting combination of ambition, angst and anxiety made for an album that tried to be grander than its predecessor and while it had more than its share of moments, ultimately came feeling insular and leaden and a relative disappointment. So while the first samples of The Suburbs that were released a couple of weeks ago didn’t immediately induct themselves into the Arcade Fire songbook hall of fame, they did seem to indicate that the band were taking a looser, more spontaneous approach to their songwriting – certainly a good start.

Which brings us back to Friday night and a familiar band in a familiar setting. It was at this same Music Hall on the Danforth that the Arcade Fire played a now-legendary three-night stand just over half a decade ago, and their first time back since their two nights at Massey Hall in May 2007. But rather than fill the bill with warm-up acts that would become huge themselves, this time out it was just Arcade Fire… and a thousand people who’d been waiting a long time to see them again. And at 8:30PM sharp, there was the roar of the audience as the band took the stage, the whoosh of seats being evacuated as the audience rushed the stage and the sound of Arcade Fire breaking into the aptly-named new composition “Ready To Start”… and we were off.

Though the 90-minute set would be heavily loaded with new material, it was well-sequenced to keep interest and energy up – the atmosphere was electric for the propulsive opener and then the even more driving (and familar via the single) “Month Of May”, but with the familiar opening chords of “Neighbourhood #1 (Tunnels)”, the crowd found another level of freak out. And so the show went – a brace of new songs and then a handful of classics, providing ample opportunity to compare and contrast the songs that will comprise The Suburbs with the old stuff. What I noticed most about the new material was that it felt less epic in scale, but deliberately so – as though they decided in writing that constantly trying to outdo themselves was the wrong way to go. The songs were more focused on finding a groove and riding that rather than attempting to jump the tracks at a certain point to grab sky, and had a more classic rock vibe about them – don’t expect the Springsteen comparisons that cropped up with the last record to go away. The lack of the big, anthemic moments might have disappointed some, but it really did feel as though the band had unclenched and were feeling more comfortable in themselves – it’s probably not a coincidence that Neon Bible‘s black uniform stage garb had been traded in for something in a lighter shade of blue. And while there were some obvious standouts in the new stuff – both “Modern Man” and “Rococo” had people in the audience looking at each other and nodding, “yes” – odds are The Suburbs will end up being a grower, and in the long run I think that’ll be for the best.

Time will tell how much truth there is in that statement, but what is not up for debate is that the show came to a head with what has always been and always shall be their coup de grace, their finishing move – the back-to-back body blows of “Neighbourhood #3 (Power Out)” and “Rebellion (Lies)”. All the momentum that had intensifying up through the night, all the energy that had been pent up since the band finished touring Neon Bible, all the anticipation that had been building since their last Toronto show, came to a head with that finale and simply exploded, with the shockwaves carrying through the encore of “Keep The Car Running” and, of course, “Wake Up”. Though the song implies beginnings, here it was a fitting ending to the night. That Arcade Fire are a great band and an important band is not in question, but time away can dim the memory; this show was an intense and extraordinary reminder of why.

There’s more reviews of the show at The Globe & Mail, The Toronto Sun, eye, The Toronto Star, CTV, Pitchfork and Spinner. Arcade Fire return to play the Toronto Islands on August 14.

Photos: Arcade Fire @ The Music Hall – June 11, 2010
MP3: Arcade Fire – “Keep The Car Running”
MP3: Arcade Fire – “Black Mirror”
MP3: Arcade Fire – “No Cars Go”
MP3: Arcade Fire – “Wake Up”
Video: Arcade Fire – “Neon Bible”
Video: Arcade Fire – “Black Mirror”
Video: Arcade Fire – “Neighbourhood #2 (Laika)”
Video: Arcade Fire – “Neighbourhood #3 (Power Out)”
Video: Arcade Fire – “Neighbourhood #1 (Tunnels)”
Video: Arcade Fire – “Rebellion (Lies)”
MySpace: Arcade Fire

Broken Social Scene’s Brendan Canning Chart engages in some trash talk with Olympic gold medalist rower Adam Van Koeverden in advance of their charity soccer game during NXNE which pits musicians against pretty much everyone else in support of Right To Play. Broken play the Toronto Islands the day before, June 19.

On Milwaukee, The Montreal Mirror, JAM, Winnipeg Free Press, hour.ca, Uptown and The Toronto Star profile The New Pornographers, coming to town for a show at the Sound Academy this Tuesday, June 15.

The Ottawa Citizen talks to Sloan, who are headlining the free Friday night show at Yonge-Dundas Square for NXNE this week.

Stars have begun streaming their new album The Five Ghosts in full over at NPR. It’s officially released as of next Tuesday.

Stream: Stars / The Five Ghosts

The Ottawa Sun interviews The Balconies, who are playing the top of the CN Tower on Wednesday night for NXNE and then on Saturday night in the Distillery District as part of the Wine & Spirit Festival. The former is invite-only but the latter is free to all.

Filter and The Gauntlet get to know Born Ruffians.

NOW, The Hamilton Spectator and See talk to Shad about his music while The National Post prefers to get his take on the NBA playoffs.

Mat DunlapIt might be Canada’s sixth-largest city, but any burg whose downtown core is a shopping mall is likely to rank a bit low on the cultural export scale. Which is why even though The Meligrove Band is now officially based in Toronto, Mississauga should take every chance to celebrate the quartet’s Peel region roots.

And they should get more opportunities now that the band is gearing up to release their first record in four years – 2006’s Planets Conspire was their last communique – with their fourth full-length, entitled Shimmering Lights and due out on September 21 via Nevado Records. It will be preceded on August 24 with a 7″ single of “Halflight”, which stands as evidence that the time away hasn’t dulled their knack for big power pop that’s hooky, punchy and with just the right bit of angry and angsty. Shimmering Lights should put the Meligrove Band right back in the ranks of the unfairly underappreciated bands in Canada. Hey, there’s worse places to be.

The band have two gigs coming up for NXNE: an opening night show at the top of the CN Tower on Wednesday, June 15 – enter to win admission and an open-to-everyone show on closing night, June 19, at Wrongbar with Les Savy Fav.

MP3: The Meligrove Band – “Halflight”
MySpace: The Meligrove Band

Stars are gearing up for the June 22 release of The Five Ghosts by offering another couple of new songs for download – one here, one over at My Old Kentucky Blog. Amy Millan talks to Black Book about the new record.

MP3: Stars – “We Don’t Want Your Body”

Details have emerged about the new Black Mountain record and are succinctly collected – with thumbs up-worthy album art – at Pitchfork. Wilderness Heart will be out on September 14 and the first MP3 is available to download at Jagjaguwar in exchange for your email. They play The Horseshoe on July 23.

Carl Newman of The New Pornographers talks to Chart about making Together; they play the Sound Academy on June 15 and your opportunity to win passes lasts another couple days.

The Riverfront Times talks to Dan Snaith of Caribou.

And while first ballots for this year’s Polaris Music Prize were due as of midnight last night – I’ll go over my picks in an upcoming post – another Can-rock poll closed this weekend; that choosing this year’s inductees to the (Canadian) Independent Music Hall Of Fame. Joining last year’s winners Eric’s Trip and Rheostatics are Sloan and Shadowy Men On A Shadowy Planet. And while I nominated Shadowy Men, it’s Michael Barclay who eloquently made the case for them as worthy inductees – do read his bit at the HOF website.

Video: Sloan – “Coax Me”
Stream: Shadowy Men On A Shadowy Planet – “Having An Average Weekend”

And a couple show announcements – Beth Orton is hitting the road Stateside despite not having released a new record since 2006’s Comfort Of Strangers and will be at the Mod Club on August 12, tickets $25 in advance.

Video: Beth Orton – “She Cries Your Name”

Menomena have laid out their Fall tour in support of their new record Mines, due out July 27. Look for them at The Mod Club on September 28.

MP3: Menomena – “Five Little Rooms”

Jason CrepsThe first thing you notice about The New Pornographers’ latest album Together is the unison electric guitar and cello line that opens the first track, “Moves”. The second thing you notice is that you probably didn’t notice it at all. The band who first burst onto the scene at the turn of the century with the giddily live wire Mass Romantic transformed themselves from power-pop to orch-pop over the course of their five albums in the past decade that the strings and orchestral flourishes that permeate Together don’t seem at all out of place whereas they’d have had trouble finding the space to be heard amidst the cranked electric guitars and keyboards of their debut.

But sophisticated sonic accouterments aside, Together is still arguably their liveliest record since Electric Version, successfully recovering from the rather staid Challengers. Taken in the context of their career arc, that last record can now be regarded as more of a transitional record which tried to move away from the hepped-up pop of their earlier records and pulled a little too far in the other direction. Together strikes a much more comfortable balance, balancing the likes of “Your Hands (Together)”‘s amplified rock with the more stately pace of “Valkyrie In The Roller Disco”. Having noted those differences, it’s also important to note that which remains the same as on all other New Pornographer records – Carl Newman’s unerring ear for melody, Neko Case’s wonderful vocals and Dan Bejar’s requisite two wildcard songs though his contributions this time around are possibly his most straightforward compositions ever – still the highlights, but also a solid reminder that the world needs a new Destroyer record sooner rather than later.

Carl Newman has been quoted as saying that he knew that Challengers was going to be the band’s “backlash record”, even before it was out – maybe that’s why he made a record so worthy of backlash, so those of us disappointed wouldn’t have to work so hard to find reasons to feel that way. The good news is that the backlash has passed and with Together, The New Pornographers have made their rebound record.

The New Pornographers are currently on a cross-Canada tour – with the full band – and will be at the Sound Academy in Toronto for an all-ages show on June 15 with The Dodos and The Dutchess & The Duke. Tickets are $28 in advance but courtesy of Collective Concerts, I have two pairs of passes to give away for the show. To enter, email me at contests AT chromewaves.net with “I want some New Pornography” in the subject line and your full name in the body, and have that in to me before midnight, June 11. And yes, I will check through my spam filter for entries, just in case.

There’s interviews with Carl Newman at The Star Phoenix, The Edmonton Journal, The Gateway and Canada.com as well as a list of songs that influenced Together at The Calgary Herald.

MP3: The New Pornographers – “Your Hands (Together)”
Video: The New Pornographers – “The Crash Years”
Video: The New Pornographers – “Your Hands (Together)”
MySpace: The New Pornographers

Forest City Lovers have announced a full mostly Canadian tour (there’s one Chicago date) for the month of July to mark the June 29 release of their third album Carriage. After they return from out west, they’ll play a homecoming release show on August 12 at The Great Hall accompanied by Gentleman Reg and Carmen Elle, preceded by an August 10 in-store at Soundscapes. They’re also playing the LEAF celebrations at Wychwood Barns on June 11.

MP3: Forest City Lovers – “Light You Up”

The Toronto Star examines the low-key appeal of Shad, who is also featured by The Gauntlet, The Leader-Post and The Times-Colonist. He plays the Opera House on June 12; passes to the show are up for grabs.

The Fly has another video session with Born Ruffians; those guys will unplug for anyone with a video camera! There’s also interviews at The Seattle Times and Metro.

In town for two intimate nights at The Drake Underground this coming Friday and Saturday, Robyn Hitchcock has added an in-store at Sonic Boom on June 12 at 4PM to his itinerary. It goes without saying that this is going to be worth seeing.

Spinner has an Interface session with Two Door Cinema Club, who will follow up last month’s sold out gig at Wrongbar with a show at The Phoenix on October 25.

MP3: Two Door Cinema Club – “Something Good Can Work”

Paste catches up with Laura Marling.

Pitchfork talks to Aaron Dessner and Matt Berninger of The National. They open a two-night stand at Massey Hall tomorrow evening.

Though Bono’s bad back has forced Interpol to cancel their dates opening up for U2, they’ve still given their fans something to get excited about by announcing that their fourth album would be self-titled and out in mid-September and the replacement for departed bassist Carlos Dengler would be former Slint guitarist (and hired gun for too many acts to name) David Pajo.

Spinner, The Boot, Charlotte Observer and The Huffington Post talk to Tift Merritt about her new record See You On The Moon, an MP3 from which you can download over here.

Video: Tift Merritt – “Mixtape”

Pitchfork has details on the new Thermals record Personal Life, due out September 7.

youarestars.comUsually, the process goes that a band releases a record, then tours it, and then if it’s done well and seems like it can be squeezed a little longer, puts out a companion album of remixes and b-sides. Stars appear to be set on doing things, if not in reverse, then in an order of their own choosing, convention be damned.

Shortly after making public the June 22 release date for their fifth album The Five Ghosts, the band announced that they would tour said record extensively before it was out – first with a series of Canadian club dates wherein they performed the new album in its entirety as the main set before dipping into the back catalog for the encore, and then with a moderately-sized American tour running through June, where they would again be showcasing a record that no one had yet heard.

And this week, they announced that the remix portion of the album cycle would also be starting before the album was released. They’ve set up a website wherein fans can play with a real-time remixing widget for the new song “We Don’t Want Your Body” and also download the base tracks from which they could make their own remixes and submit them for harsh judgement by the band. The one found most worthy will be showcased on the band’s website along with whatever “it seemed clever at the time” internet handle it was submitted under.

But all this preamble aside, the record will actually be coming out in a few weeks and as such, a number of fancy pre-sale options are available, the fancy-pantsiest of which is a $100 boxed set that presents the album on six coloured 7″s in a handcrafted wooden box and with a bunch of digital goodies including a remix EP entitled The Séance with the new songs given a do-over by REAL remixers, like The Album Leaf and Of Montreal.

One thing the band are doing that’s typical is offering a pre-release MP3 and making videos, both of which you can hear and see below. And they’re giving interviews, as proven by this conversation with Amy Millan at Cleveland Scene. And they’ll be touring more through the Summer festival season and into the Fall, probably looking forward to seeing fans singing along with the songs instead of staring blankly.

MP3: Stars – “Fixed”
Video: Stars – “Fixed”

Tokyo Police Club are also putting out a new record soon – next week, to be exact – and they’re building anticipation the old fashioned way (old fashioned by 2010 standards, anyways) with an advance stream of Champ over at Exclaim until its release on June 8, though they’re also doing competitions (challenge to band at stuff) and fancy presale packages (get a hoodie!) – details on their website. They also talk to Exclaim about the new album which, I’m not too proud to admit, is much better than I had expected it to be – more mature-sounding, yet just as energetic and hooky. Not an easy balance to strike. Looking forward to hearing it live when they play the Molson Amphitheatre on July 8 supporting The Flaming Lips and Spoon.

Stream: Tokyo Police Club / Champ

Both aux and Grand Crew have acoustic video sessions with Born Ruffians – okay really just guitarist Luke Lalonde – in Toronto and Paris, respectively. Lalonde also gives an interview to Beatroute, teams up with bassist Mitch Derosier for their feature at I Like Music and prodigal drummer Steve Hamelin chats with Spinner.

Chart talks to Dallas Good of The Sadies. They play a free show at Harbourfront Centre on July 1.

Carl Newman of The New Pornographers talks to Beatroute about Together while Kathryn Calder discusses the album art with Spinner. They play the Sound Academy on June 15 and have just released a fun new video.

Video: The New Pornographers – “Crash Years”

The New Current caught up with The Rural Alberta Advantage while they were in the UK to play The Great Escape.

Soundproof talks to Joel Plaskett about the now-over Thrush Hermit reunion.

Frank YangTruth be told, I don’t really like listening to Fucked Up. This isn’t any sort of comment on them in particular, just the fact that hardcore – their genre of choice – has never done much for me though if I were given the choice of current hardcore acts to listen to, I’d certainly choose them. If The Chemistry Of Common Life was Fucked Up’s Zen Arcade, then let me know when they release their Candy Apple Grey.

That said, I am a big fan of how they’ve become unlikely but excellent musical champions and ambassadors for Toronto at home and abroad, how they’ve used their elevated profile as reigning Polaris Prize winners to shed light on important social issues and their ridiculously entertaining and intense live shows. The hometown pride and sense of community was in full effect this past Friday night when they played a free show in the atrium of the Toronto Reference Library. That’s right, a free hardcore show in the lobby of a public library – no tickets, just show up – as part of the Toronto Public Library’s Make Some Noise Take Some Noise program, which makes sure that the library system is well-stocked with local and Canadian music, holds periodic concerts and workshops to engage the community with their local scene and generally be awesome.

The undercard for the night was almost as far from screaming hardcore as you could get – local country-rock outfit $100, themselves 2009 Polaris Prize long-listers for their debut Forest Of Tears. On record and live, they’ve always come across to me as a decent but not especially exciting act – good at what they do, but not really bringing anything fresh to the table. That general opinion hasn’t changed much, but their set was more entertaining than I remembered them being and the material they introduced as new had more immediacy and personality. And points to singer Simone Fornow for pointing out, while introducing their ode to the bleakness of work “Fourteen Hour Day”, that the Reference Library’s many floors overlooking the atrium would offer librarians an easy way out. A bleak sentiment, but pretty hilarious in context.

Given the disparity in styles between the two acts, it’s not surprising that there was some audience turnaround between sets with some folks who’d been sitting genially at the foot of the stage for $100 wisely decamping for somewhere more out of the line of fire. Wise, because when Fucked Up finally got up there, pretty much all hell broke loose in the very best way. I don’t know if anyone thought that their fanbase might have gotten tamer what with having (marginally) more mainstream exposure, but even though there were many, like me, who’d probably never be at another hardcore show in their lives, the kids crowdsurfing, stage-diving and generally going batshit. It was the sort of thing you’d normally only expect to see in such a locale after some breaking and entering, but this was an officially sanctioned and sponsored event. By the library.

There was a relative lull about mid-set where they invited some strings onstage and frontman Damian Abraham – by this point half-naked as always – set up behind a lectern for the epic-length “Year Of The Ox” but that just gave the audience an opportunity to catch their breath and when the band revved back up, so did the crowd. Despite being knocked down a couple of times, I managed to hold my position at the front side of the stage for most of the show but eventually had to pull back when my camera lens was knocked off the body – that’s not supposed to happen – and ceased functioning. A casualty of rock’n’roll – if you’re gonna go, that’s the way to do it (actually it’s just going to be in the shop a couple weeks). Anyways, from my final vantage point on the perimeter, watching the final throes of the chaos, I couldn’t help marveling – again – that this was happening in the public library. Sometimes – okay, lots of times – I love this city.

Exclaim rounds up what’s coming up for Fucked Up – a Fall tour with Public Enemy and new album entitled David Comes to Life in October chief among them, while Vue, See and Uptown ran features on the band when they were out west a couple weeks ago.

Photos: Fucked Up, $100 @ The Toronto Reference Library – May 28, 2010
MP3: Fucked Up – “Neat Parts”
MP3: Fucked Up – “No Epiphany”
MP3: Fucked Up – “Twice Born”
Video: Fucked Up – “Black Albino Bones”
Video: Fucked Up – “Crooked Head”
MySpace: Fucked Up
MySpace: $100

Interview talks to Emily Haines of Metric. They’re at the Molson Amphitheatre on July 9 and have released a new video from Fantasies.

Video: Metric – “Stadium Love”

Spinner, The Winnipeg Free Press, Whistler Question and Pique talk to Shad about his new record TSOL. He plays the Opera House on June 12 and has a new video. Yes.

Video: Shad – “Rose Garden”

Stereogum gets a status update on the new Black Mountain album from Amber Webber. It may or may not be called Wilderness but it will definitely be previewed when they play the Horseshoe on July 23.

Carl Newman of The New Pornographers gives Chart the incredible true origin of their band name – and it’s not the Jimmy Swaggert quote that’s usually cited. They’re at the Sound Academy on June 15, and as a sidebar, New Pornographers vocalist/keyboardist Kathryn Calder has a solo record coming out entitled Are You My Mother? on August 10.

MP3: Kathryn Calder – “Slip Away”

NPR talks to Win and Will Butler of Arcade Fire about their new record The Suburbs, coming August 3. They play the Toronto Islands on August 14.

Dallas Good of The Sadies talks to JAM and The Winnipeg Free Press while brother Travis chats with The Vancouver Sun. They play a free show at Harbourfront Centre on Canada Day, July 1.

NOW and Exclaim have interviews with Born Ruffians, whose new record Say It is out tomorrow.

Audio Blood Media is kicking off NXNE this year in style – and altitude – with a show on the observation deck of the CN Tower featuring The Meligrove Band, Hollerado and The Balconies. Admission is by contest only – enter here.

Also happening during NXNE is the release of the new Diamond Rings single, which will happen at his June 18 show at Wrongbar. Pitchfork, however, has a streamable preview of the new track – “Show Me Your Stuff” – right now.

And to double back on the “things about Toronto that are awesome/things that happened in the Toronto Reference Library” tip… new Scott Pilgrim Vs The World trailer! Book six – Scott Pilgrim’s Finest Hour – is out July 20 and the movie opens August 13. Midnight opening night screening – who’s in?

Trailer: Scott Pilgrim Vs The World