Nick HeldermanI’d honestly thought I’d have been able to build a post around the Torontontario V Fest announcement this week. All signs pointed to them finally coming clean about the when, where – already a poorly kept secret, sure – but more importantly the who. And yet here we are at Friday with no official word, just seven weeks out from when it’s all supposed to go down (August 29 and 30 at Burl’s Creek near Orillia, Ontario) and so instead of reporting facts, I will delve into the rumour mill for goodies. Though when it comes straight from the artist’s mouth, it probably counts as somewhat more than rumour. I refer, of course, to the fact that Nine Inch Nails has decided that Bonnaroo would not mark their final live North American appearance, as originally intended, and instead will do a few more dates including a headlining slot at the Ontario edition of V Fest. And in addition to NIN, a few other acts came to light this week though nothing major: Thunderheist, Trouble Andrew (does his presence imply Santigold? I can’t imagine anyone would want him on his own), and though not confirmed, I don’t think it’s any big secret what the August 30 “TBA” for Toronto on the Pet Shop Boys’ Fall itinerary means.

So yeah. Another week, another non-announcement. On the plus side, it’s evident that they’re trying to put together something really good and the last Canadian V of the Summer will have a bona fide, big-time headline act – I wouldn’t call myself a fan of Trent but there’s no arguing his stature – but on the downside, even a leak this size hasn’t been enough to prod them into announcing anything, which to my paranoid sensibilities doesn’t necessarily bode well for the rest of the bill. But it’ll come, and until then, I’m going to engage in more rampant and unfounded lineup speculation while clearing out a big old pile of links and stuff.

Paste talks to Bowerbirds about their second album Upper Air was released this week. Daytrotter and They Shoot Music have also released sessions with the band – audio and video respectively – who are on the road to support. They’re not doing anything August 29 or 30, but do have a date at Sneaky Dee’s next week on July 14 so it’s unlikely they’re playing V Fest.

Magnet’s “Wrens Watch” feature has coaxed another new song demo MP3 from Wrens, who continue to work on their follow-up to Meadowlands. It’s conceivable that they could make the trek up here for V – the calendar is clear – but probably haven’t been invited.

Pitchfork has the first taste of Bonfires On The Heath, the new album from The Clientele, out October 6. They played V Fest back in 2007 and while I’d love to see them again, they’re already making a short North American trek this month and probably won’t be back till the Fall.

MP3: The Clientele – “I Wonder Who We Are”

Editors’ Tom Smith keeps up the sci-fi soundtrack talking points in discussing their new record In This Light And On This Evening, out September 21, with NME. The band also played V in 2007 and would certainly be welcomed back, but are probably going to stick to Europe for the Fall before coming to North America to promote.

The Line Of Best Fit talks to Yo La Tengo – their new record Popular Songs is out September 8. They’ve got a November European tour scheduled – they could do North America before that, but probably no dates before the record is released.

Ca Va Cool has an interview with Telekinesis’ Michael Benjamin Lerner. Their calendar is clear for late August but they’re far too small to be added to a festival bill when they’re not already touring through the region.

Wheat are offering a new MP3 from their forthcoming album White Ink Black Ink, due out July 21. Odds of playing V? Less than Telekinesis.

MP3: Wheat – “Changes Is”

The Bird & The Bee have a new video from Ray Guns Are Not Just For The Future. They have nothing on the schedule, and I’d personally love to see them again in any setting. But they are probably not playing V.

Video: The Bird & The Bee – “My Love”

Jenny Lewis has released yet another new video from Acid Tongue. Why ask why? She’s finishing some US tour dates and is in Japan in early August. Maybe she can come to Toronto in late August.

Video: Jenny Lewis – “See Fernando”

NPR interviews Steve Earle. He’s at Massey Hall on Saturday, which really precludes his playing V in August. Not that he probably would anyways.

PitchforkTV is streaming the Townes Van Zandt documentary Be Here To Love Me for the next week. I saw this film at TIFF 2004 and it’s a lovely work. It’d be quite a coup if V got Townes to play, but I’m not holding my breath.

Video: Be Here To Love Me

The Denver Post interviews Son Volt’s Jay Farrar. They’re touring from July through early August, then picking up again second week of September. Don’t see them interrupting the downtime to trek up here to play in front of, well, people who probably aren’t fans. The NIN and Son Volt fanbase Venn diagrams don’t overlap much.

American Songwriter has excerpted a portion of their cover feature on Wilco, The Boston Globe has an interview with Jeff Tweedy and The Boston Herald talks to Nels Cline about his role in the band. They’re in Dublin on August 28. Probably not in Toronto on August 29 or 30.

NPR is streaming Sonic Youth’s recent show in Washington DC. They’re playing the Vancouver V Fest but having just played Toronto last week, I don’t expect a return engagement so soon.

Spinner gets Metric to recount their run-in with Spinal Tap at Stonehenge after Glastonbury this year. Metric are seemingly playing every other V in the country, I give them very good odds for being at the Toronto edition. Spinal Tap just did the “unwigged” thing at Massey Hall, but doing V – in character, of course – would be kinda great. Their new record is Back From The Dead.

Malajube have a new video from their Polaris-nominated album Labyrinthes. Their schedule is clear, they could be at V.

Video: Malajube – “Luna”

The Scotsman talks to Dean & Britta. I don’t think their 13 Most Beautiful… Warhol soundtrack show would work too well on a big outdoor stage.

Mew are releasing their new album No More Stories… on August 25 and have already been tapped to play some of Nine Inch Nails’ other “final” shows – why not this one? Spinner has an MP3 from the new record.

MP3: Mew – “Repeaterbeater”

PitchforkTV is running video of Fleet Foxes’ performance from Pitchfork Festival last year. Obviously they do the festival thing, but with an August 4 date at Massey Hall, a V slot is unlikely.

But for everyone who had tickets for that Fleet Foxes show and were crushed that it meant missing the Yeah Yeah Yeahs show at the Kool Haus that same night, rejoice! A second Yeah Yeah Yeahs show has been added for August 5, same venue. Tickets $32.50, on sale today at 10AM. And yes, this pretty much guarantees that they won’t be at V – that is, if being at Reading/Leeds across the Atlantic wasn’t guarantee enough.

Off The Beaten Tracks gets an acoustic video session out of The Thermals. They’re in Europe through mid-August. Swinging by Toronto en route back to Portland seems improbable.

Decider and Austin360 have features on Spoon. Besides their own Spoon-fest in Austin this weekend and performance at the Wanderlust yoga/music festival in Lake Tahoe at the end of the month, they’re not doing much. They could be playing V.

Contact Music has an interview with Glasvegas – they’re one of many bands at Reading/Leeds the weekend of V, so are obviously not playing Toronto. What’s more curious is the routing of their mid-September tour supporting Kings Of Leon, which puts them in Long Island on the 14th, Montreal on the 16th, Ottawa on the 17th, Hamilton on the 19th, London on the 20th and Detroit on the 22nd. Obviously this leaves many opportunities to make a Toronto stop, and yet there currently is none. As I said, curious.

Daytrotter has a session with Ida Maria, who seems awfully reluctant to make her Toronto debut. She’s on tour in North America till early August and then will be back for Monolith in Denver in mid-September. Obviously a lot more dates would have to surface to keep her on the continent from late August till then, but I can see it happening.

NPR is streaming a radio session with Phoenix. They’re playing V in the UK the weekend before the Ontario edition, and are back in September for a string of dates including Monolith and ACL. Odds of them playing our V are slim to none.

The List talks to St Vincent’s Annie Clark, who is at the Horseshoe on August 8 and will consequently not be at V Fest.

And while I know it’ll never happen, I would love beyond words for Superchunk to come and play V Fest. Or play anywhere nearby. This acoustic version of “Detroit Has A Skyline Too” came from a recent radio session. Loverly.

MP3: Superchunk – “Detroit Has A Skyline” (acoustic)

The Boxer Rebellion, who made headlines by charting in the top 10 on iTunes’ charts with the wholly independent release of their second album Union, will be at the Mod Club on August 8 – tickets $11.50. Though they’d probably fit the V demographic, this show means they’re unlikely to be there.

Video: The Boxer Rebellion – “Evacuate”

Either of these bands – …And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead and The Secret Machines – would be a decent addition to a festival bill, but they won’t be to V because they’ve got a date at Lee’s Palace on September 22 – tickets $18.50.

MP3: The Secret Machines – “Dreaming Of Dreaming”
MP3: The Secret Machines – “Atomic Heels”

You know, this little “who’s playing V” meme turned out a helluva lot more tiring than I expected. Whew.

Frank YangIf there’s an advantage to writing about the same band for the third time in the span of a month, it’s that rather than try and lay down some background, I can just point you here and here and voila – you’re up to speed. If there’s a disadvantage, it’s completely running out of things to say. But I’ll soldier on.

Sunday night was the long-awaited album release party for Bruce Peninsula’s debut A Mountain Is A Mouth and there was simply no better place to be than the Polish Combatants Hall, and that includes in front of a television watching the Academy Awards (though Hugh Jackman’s opening song and dance number was pretty awesome). The hall was decorated with all manner of fake foliage, giving the environs a sort of nature-themed senior prom feel, and filled rows of chairs to accommodate the sold-out house. Indeed, there was an unmistakable sense of occasion in the air.

Considering many of the Bruce Peninsulans do duty in other bands, it wasn’t surprising that one of them would be tapped to open things up – this time, it was recent addition Daniela Gesundheit and her band Snowblink. Although an almost completely unknown quantity to myself and everyone I asked, after seeing them play there’s little chance anyone will soon forget who they are. By means of instruments both conventional and not – I don’t know the last time I saw someone play glasses onstage – she and her shifting lineup of musical compatriots put on a performance that transformed the stage setup into nothing less than an enchanted, fairy tale forest. More descriptively, they crafted ethereal folk-pop that reminded of St Vincent with a dash of Feist, but were entirely their own thing. Utterly beguiling.

This gave middle act Alex Lukashevsky, he of Deep Dark United and writer of the songs on Final Fantasy’s recent Plays To Please EP, a tough act to follow and at least as far as showing me something I’d never seen before, he succeeded. Lukashevsky himself didn’t do anything especially unusual, delivering rough-hewn folk-blues songs via acoustic guitar, but with his two bandmates providing almost orchestral accompaniment with just jazz vocal lines, they took on a theatrical aspect that was certainly unique. I don’t know that I’d find Lukashevsky’s unadorned solo work all that compelling, but definitely enjoyed the live performance.

There’s not a lot I can say about Bruce Peninsula live that I haven’t said before. This show wasn’t necessarily a better performance than any of the others I’ve seen them give – this is not a slight, as all their shows have been pretty incredible – but as mentioned earlier, the context of the night made it extra special. It was a celebration of friends and family, of fans gained by fervent word of mouth, of a band with a sound that manages to be fresh and distinctive while also feeling as old as the earth itself and of a record that implausibly manages to capture it. And with all that going around, it’s no surprise that the band was extra boisterous as they hollered like wild men and sang like angels through pretty much their entire repertoire, welcoming back departed members to join in one more time and filling their spectral songs with joy and life. A remarkable evening.

Chart also has a review of the show. RCRDLBL has some more background on Snowblink and an MP3 to download. Bruce Peninsula play again on March 28 at Lee’s Palace.

Photos: Bruce Peninsula, Alex Lukashevsky, Snowblink @ The Polish Combatants Hall – February 22, 2009
MP3: Bruce Peninsula – “Crabapples”
MySpace: Bruce Peninsula
MySpace: Snowblink

SoundProof talks to Angela Desveaux. She plays the Gladstone on March 12 for CMW.

MP3: Angela Desveaux & The Mighty Ship – “Sure Enough”

NPR is currently streaming the whole of Neko Case’s Middle Cyclone for the week leading up to its release next Tuesday. Her show in Amsterdam this past Sunday was supposed to be streamed live on FabChannel but had to be cancelled due to illness. It’ll be made up this Summer. Neko plays two sold-out shows at Trinity-St Paul’s on April 17 and 18.

Stream: Neko Case / Middle Cyclone

The little digital music store that could – Zunior.com – is celebrating its fifth anniversary as the finest online shop for Canadian music this year, and are celebrating with a party. Thick Specs has details on the show which will take over the Tranzac on June 27 and feature performances from Forest City Lovers and The Violet Archers, among many others. Tickets are $10 and on sale now at Zunior (duh) and advance purchases come with an MP3 compilation of rarities from the artists playing the show. And if you didn’t know, they offer free weekly MP3 mixes via the widget dealie over there on the right. Go get. And check out some recent interviews with Forest City Lovers at The Charlatan and The Silhouette.

MP3: The Violet Archers – “Sunshine At Night”

Keane have made a date at the Sound Academy for May 23. Support will come from Mat Kearney and The Helio Sequence.

Billboard has lineup details for this year’s edition of Edgefest, taking place June 20 at Downsview Park. Acts this year will include Metric, k-os and The Stills.

People will be digging out their threadbare Pretty Hate Machine and Ritual de lo Habitual t-shirts and pretending it’s 1990 again when the Nine Inch Nails/Jane’s Addiction tour rolls (creaks?) into the Molson Amphitheare on June 23. Full dates at The Music Slut.

Daytrotter welcomes Nellie McKay to their studios for a session. Naples News has an interview.

Happy 9th birthday to Bradley’s Almanac, who is marking the occasion by sharing a live Bedhead show circa 1998.