Cameron WittingIt doesn’t seem like much of a selling point to be the drummer in the band that’s generally held to be a pseudonym for the songwriter and frontman. But for Sean Carey, who works under the name of S. Carey, the Bon Iver connection is much more than a marketing angle.

While Carey’s debut solo effort All We Grow wasn’t recorded in solitude, ensconced in a rural Wisconsin cabin – it was assembled piecemeal over time between tours – it taps into a similar emotional wellspring as For Emma, Forever Ago. Built on layers of Carey’s gentle vocals and wrapped in gently insistent piano motifs, stark yet complex percussion and raw guitar work, All We Grow is hypnotic, meditative and suffused with a serene sort of longing. It’s the sort of record that could simultaneously lull you to sleep while reminding you of an unshakeable ache in your heart.

Many found For Emma an unbearably beautiful record – I wasn’t one of them. I liked it and certainly understood what people found so emotionally resonant about it, but it didn’t strike that chord in me like it did others. All We Grow, on the other hand, hits much closer to the mark. If Justin Vernon makes the next Bon Iver record into more of a band-crafted affair and Carey can contribute some of the depth that he’s infused his own work with, the results could be devastating.

The Daily Iowan talks to Sean Carey, who is currently on tour and will be at the Horseshoe Tavern in Toronto this Sunday, December 19. Tickets for the show are $11.50 in advance but courtesy of Collective Concerts, I’ve got two pairs of passes to give away for the show. To enter, email me at contests AT chromewaves.net with “I want to see S Carey” in the subject line and your full name in the body. Contest closes at midnight, December 16.

MP3: S. Carey – “In The Dirt”
MP3: S. Carey – “In The Stream”
Myspace: S.Carey

Mark Kozelek finally returns to Toronto – he cancelled his last scheduled visit in June of 2008. This time, he’s scheduled to play Lee’s Palace on March 22 as part of a solo tour supporting Sun Kil Moon’s latest Admiral Fell Promises.

Le Tigre spinoff MEN have assembled a North American tour in support of their next record Talk About Body, due out February 1. Look for them at Wrongbar in Toronto on March 21.

The Los Angeles Times finds out just how close Warpaint came to calling it quits before breaking out with their debut The Fool.

The Daily Yomiuri chats with Owen Pallett and eye gets some insight into the scoring of the New York Times’ “14 Actors Acting” videos that made the rounds last week.

Prefix talks to drummer Arlen Thompson of Wolf Parade.

OMG Blog has an interview with Liz Phair.

Stereogum gets a status report on the next Death Cab For Cutie record, which will carry the name Codes And Keys and be due out in the Spring of next year.

Not content to be known for records, rock operas and possibly plays, Colin Meloy of The Decemberists talks to Spinner about his literary ambitions – his novel Wildwood is currently in the editing stage. The new Decemberists record The King Is Dead is out on January 18 and they’ll be at The Sound Academy on February 1.

Pitchfork talks to Belle & Sebastian leader Stuart Murdoch about his upcoming book/memoir The Celestial Cafe, due out in early 2011.

James Allan of Glasvegas talks to NME about their old drummer’s departure, their new drummer’s arrival and their second album, which is targeted for a late 2011 release.

There was some disappointment when it was revealed that The Radio Dept.’s forthcoming Passive Aggressive compilation wouldn’t be a total rarity treasure trove as originally hoped, but a mix of singles and b-sides that would be of limited value to people who’d collected the band’s one-offs over the years. That disappointment has been allayed some with the announcement that the collection will be released on double vinyl in an edition limited to 2000 pieces and available for pre-order exclusively from Insound. I will leave you all to claim the other 1999 yourselves. The set is out January 25 and they play Lee’s Palace on February 7. And they have a new video.

Video: The Radio Dept. – “Never Follow Suit”

The Dø have put out a video from their new EP Dust It Off.

Video: The Dø – “Slippery Slope”

Spin hangs out with Grinderman during their North American tour.

Natasha TyleaWhen Baltimore duo Wye Oak first came onto the scene in 2008 with their debut If Children, I felt they had all the necessary traits to attain most favoured band status – gorgeously melodic and melancholic songs built on a solid foundation of noise and twang – but didn’t pull it together quite enough to knock it out of the park. That they would do so, however, was a question of when and not if.

“When” would be the very next year with their much more dynamic and assured second album The Knot, which delivered on all the promise of the debut and then some, and this year’s My Neighbour/My Creator EP which affirmed that though they’d arrived, they weren’t slowing down even a little.

So expectations for album number three are pretty damn high, and we’ll find out if they’ve been met or exceeded come March 8, when Civilian is released. Falling short is not an option, and from the sounds of the first released MP3 – the title track of the record – there’s no worries on that count. It encapsulates everything that’s great about Wye Oak, starting out quietly folkish, and led by Jenn Wasner’s vocals, builds into an epic guitar freakout that should seem otherworldly given the song’s starting point but feels perfectly natural. Am I keen on this release? Yes.

Merge has details on the album and Winter tour dates, which will include a February 1 appearance at The Sound Academy in Toronto in support of The Decemberists.

MP3: Wye Oak – “Civilian”

And speaking of The Decemberists: while their next album The King Is Dead, out January 18, is apparently a step back from the high concept folk-rock opera of The Hazards Of Love, Colin Meloy’s apparently not done telling stories in song. In conversation with Billboard about the new record, Meloy mentions that he’s talked to a Broadway director about a future project.

Shearwater, with whom Wye Oak toured with when they visited back in the Spring, will be heading into the studio to make a new record this Spring but first, Matablog reports via a note from Jonathan Meiburg that they’ll be playing their last three releases – Palo Santo, Rook and The Golden Archipelago, aka “The Island Arc” – in order and in their entirety at Austin’s Central Presbyterian Church on January 15. I usually have a baseline state of mind of wishing I was in ATX, but I’d especially like to see that – for those of us who can’t, though, Matador has assembled a digital sampler from the three records just to remind us what we’ll be missing. Thanks. The Oklahoma Daily talks to Meiburg about islands.

MP3: Shearwater – “Red Sea, Black Sea”
MP3: Shearwater – “Sing, Little Birdie”
MP3: Shearwater – “The Snow Leopard”
MP3: Shearwater – “South Col”
MP3: Shearwater – “Castaways”
MP3: Shearwater – “God Made Me”

Superchunk make their long-awaited return to Toronto tonight, and the local media is ready to greet them. eye sends Nick Hune-Brown of local popsters Hooded Fang to interview ‘Chunk guitarist Jim Wilbur and also talk to drummer Jon Wurster about how he spent his hiatus. NOW and aux.tv also get to chat with Wurster. The Detroit News has a piece with frontman Mac McCaughan.

NYC Taper has got audio of Jeff Tweedy’s solo show in New York earlier this week available to download.

Low are giving away a live EP in exchange for your email address. A fine way to get reacquainted before their new record C’Mon arrives early next year.

The first MP3 from J Mascis’ forthcoming solo acoustic record Several Shades Of Why is now available to grab over at Sub Pop. The record comes out March 15 and it looks as though he’ll be at Canadian Musicfest in Toronto the week before.

The New York Times has assembled fourteen short films of actors… acting, soundtracked by Owen Pallett. It’s cooler than I make it sound. Some background on the project at their Lens blog.

NOW dedicates this week’s cover story to The Sadies, who continue their tradition of ringing in the New Year at the Horseshoe this coming December 31. The Press has a conversation with drummer Mike Belitsky.

The Line Of Best Fit and The New Zealand Herald chat with Carl Newman of The New Pornographers.

And also at The Line Of Best Fit is a new Oh! Canada compilation, this one extra special as its a holiday-themed one with a tonne of exclusive seasonal tracks by folk like Basia Bulat, Woodpigeon and Evening Hymns. Even if you don’t like holiday music – and between you and me and the internet, I don’t really – it’s a must-have.

Jess BaumungToronto’s Tranzac may have been founded as the gathering place for the Toronto Australia New Zealand Club, but for the city’s musical community its role extends far beyond a place to discuss the mysteries of the Coriolis effect. It’s also one of the city’s all-ages venues and as such, has been both an incubator for many of Toronto’s up-and-coming acts and a low-key stop for bands touring through town.

I personally have fond memories of seeing Beach House’s first show here in November 2006 with about a dozen people in the building’s front room, an intimate performance from then-reigning Polaris winner Final Fantasy in February 2007, a matinee throw-down to maybe 30 people by Matt & Kim later that May, the release show for Evening Hymns’ debut Spirit Guides just last Fall – a lot of great stuff has gone down in that room

And, like many/most/all things run for love over profit, it needs money. The hows and whys of its finances go well beyond its role as a music venue, but needless to say if the city were to lose the venue, it’d be poorer for it. So with an eye towards doing what they can, a number of bands are returning to their roots over the next couple months by holding some fundraiser shows. On November 19, Rock Plaza Central will come out of their vague hiatus for a show of their own songs and collaborations with other city musicians – tickets $12 in advance, $15 at the door. The following evening, November 20, Ohbijou will hopefully offer a preview of their forthcoming third record in what is, I believe, their only hometown show of the year. Support comes from Lisa Bozikovic and tickets are $15 in advance, $17 at the door. And a couple weeks later, $100 will get up close and personal in the venue’s tiny Southern Cross Lounge, supported by Doug Paisley – tickets $12 in advance, $15 at the door.

So whatever incentive works for you, be it the opportunity to see some acts who’ve generally graduated to playing bigger rooms in more intimate environs or just helping out a local cultural hub while getting some entertainment out of the deal, hit up one/some/all of these shows if you can. It’s the right thing to do and the easy way to do it.

MP3: Ohbijou – “Black Ice”
MP3: Rock Plaza Central – “Handsome Men”

Vancouver’s Yukon Blonde will be making the most of their stop in Toronto on their Fall tour, adding an in-store performance at Sonic Boom at 3:30 on November 6 before their show across the street at Lee’s Palace later that night with The Wooden Sky. Admission to the in-store is free with a donation of canned good.

MP3: Yukon Blonde – “Wind Blows”

NYC Taper is sharing a recording of Diamond Rings’ short set at CMJ in New York last week. He’s the subject of feature pieces in The Toronto Sun, Vancouver Sun, Montreal Mirror and Queens Journal.

Uptown and The Gateway get into the head of Owen Pallett.

Liz Powell tells Spin how Land Of Talk got their name.

Look At What The Light Did Now, the documentary film on Feist, is still without a Toronto screening date and it appears that fans might get to watch the film in the comfort of their own homes before they see it in a theatre – Exclaim reports that the DVD edition of the film will be released on December 7 and come with a 13-track bonus CD. Just in time for Christmas – fancy that.

Daytrotter has posted up a session with Tokyo Police Club.

aux.tv asks Hallowe’en-related things of Fucked Up’s Damien Abraham.

NOW devoted this week’s cover story to visiting Vancouverites Black Mountain.

The Take and Sticky talk to Dan Mangan while eye tries to figure out why he’s so darned popular.

This weekend, The Toronto Star ran a terrific feature about the realities of being a touring musician in Canada – the main feature is worth a read, as are the side-pieces including a Q&A with Dallas Good of The Sadies, the collection of touring stories, collection of road-related health risks and piece on the problems with not being on the road.

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 YangThere’s been no secret about where, were I a betting man, my money would have gone in guessing who’d walk away with the 2010 Polaris Music Prize last night. From my first ballot through the announcement of the short list right up through yesterday, I’ve been pulling for Shad’s TSOL and amongst my informal polling, that seemed to be the consensus choice. Well if there’s one thing that I should have learned by now is that the Polaris will always surprise you. And surprised would be the best word to describe my reaction when Damian Abraham of Fucked Up – last year’s surprise winner – announced the $20,000 prize and accompanying year in the spotlight would go to Montreal’s Karkwa for their record Les Chemins De Verre.

It’s a record that I listened to a moderate amount in the course of my juror duties, but had only made it as far as my “I should listen to this more when I have the time” list. And since the members of this year’s grand jury obviously spent much more time with the record, it’s apparently an album that merits that further attention. It’s not as though it’s inaccessible, beyond the language thing (it’s all in French if that wasn’t clear) – it’s beautifully melodic, dynamic and expertly performed atmospheric rock that certainly doesn’t require a working knowledge of the language to enjoy. In fact, that aside, it’s probably one of the more conventional yet interesting records on the short list – but I had assumed that being virtually unknown outside of Francophone Canada before their Polaris nomination, they didn’t really stand a chance.

Well, I clearly underestimated both the record and the jury because after hours of deliberations, they came to a decision that should put to rest at least one of the complaints constantly leveled against the Polaris Prize – that it’s inherently biased towards English Canada and any Francophone artists included are there on a token basis. Well Karkwa just took twenty thousands tokens to the bank and the honour of having crafted the best album in Canada in the past year – congratulations to them. Yes, they’re still all white men who play guitars but one complaint at a time, alright?

As for the gala itself, it did a fine job of keeping the hundreds in attendance at the Masonic Temple in Toronto entertained whilst the 11 men and women of the grand jury went about their duties. For the second year, they had all ten nominees on hand to perform and though no one went as all-out with hijinks or antics as they did last year, all of them made splendid arguments for why they belonged on the short list and why after all the debate and discussion over who should and should not win the prize, it’s nice to just sit back and appreciate the depth of musical talent this country has to offer.

One of the big guns of the short list kicked things off, Broken Social Scene something like a dozen members strong opening the show with the rousing instrumental “Meet Me In The Basement”, which functioned as a sort of theme song to the evening. Their set was followed by The Sadies and a demonstration of why, powered by the Good brothers’ absurd guitar-slinging and spiritually bolstered by Dallas sporting Tommy Hunter’s suit borrowed from the CBC, they’re one of the country’s most fearsome live acts.

At this point, thing shifted both geographically (to Acadia), linguistically (regional dialect Chiac) and stylistically (hip-hop) with Radio Radio. I’ve made no secret that they were my least favourite of all of the shortlisters and I’d be dismayed if they actually won, but will freely admit that they delivered a good, fun and energetic performance with the three of them trading off MC duties whilst backed by a couple members of Karkwa. Entertaining? Sure. Best album in the country? No. The performance then swung out west for Dan Mangan, who couldn’t help but deliver one of the most understated performances of the night – his singer-songwriter fare is about intimacy, not grand gestures – not even when bolstered by strings, horns and handclappers. He did, however, stage the closest thing to an audience invasion the night would see when he pulled his mic stand into the audience and climbed onto a table to lead the singalong finale to “Robots”. At first I thought he had invaded another nominee’s table as a challenge, but it turned out to be his own. Which, I suppose, was the only nice thing to do.

It seemed as though Montreal’s The Besnard Lakes were the only act to play just one song but technically, “Like The Ocean, Like The Innocent” is a two-parter – it just happened to be an epic space-rock jam that gave Jace Lasek a chance to show off his guitar chops and guitar face. Karkwa – who would in less than an hour become the talk of the town, if not country – followed with a pair of songs that you didn’t need to understand to appreciate, showcasing their impressive musical chops and probably had more than a few people wondering, “who are these guys and why haven’t I heard of them before this?” – soon to be a moot question.

It was about this time that word began circulating a winner had been selected, just when Owen Pallett – winner of the inaugural Polaris Prize a half-decade ago – was up next. His horn-augmented performance that reaffirmed him as one of Canada’s premiere musicians in the pop music sphere, his two selections from Heartland veritably crackling with creativity and imagination. Shad’s performance also crackled and, featuring a guest spot from Broken Social Scene’s Lisa Lobsinger on “Rose Garden”, certainly looked like a champion up there, closing out with a freestyle that could have been cheesy but was instead wholly inspiring.

Though arguably the most successful act on the short list, Tegan & Sara kept their set intimate with just the two sisters backed up by Pallett, who continued the trend of nominees guesting with other nominees Canada, eh? I’d not paid much attention to Tegan & Sara since their debut arrived with no small amount of hype and didn’t do anything for me, but they really did sound great up there and their banter was as entertaining as advertised. And finally, there was Caribou who, along with his sizable band all dressed in white, closed things out with a well and proper disco party although no one actually got up to dance (there wasn’t a lot of room). Like every act before them, they presented a strong case for why they should be dubbed owners of the best album in Canada, even though it had already been decided by a group who saw none of their performances.

But in the end, it was Karkwa, who were stunned and humbled and gracious as they were declared the winners by last year’s prom queens Fucked Up – an unexpected but worthy choice which should make for some interesting debate and discussion in the coming days and months. I personally had no dog in this race, my part in the process was done with the submission of the second ballot months ago. What I mainly got out of it – besides an evening of entertainment and a late night of photo processing and writing – is the certainty that with the Polaris, the best strategy appears to be as unknown as possible, somehow sneak onto the short list, be hardly rated to win by anyone and then walk away with the cash while the heavily favoured stand around and shrug. I think the only year that a dark horse didn’t take the prize was Caribou, which means that I had the honour of being part of the most predictable grand jury so far… yay us?

Check out photos from the gala below and watchables and listenables from the shortlisted albums after the jump.

Photos: Polaris Music Prize Gala 2010 @ The Masonic Temple – September 20, 2010

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