djchampion.netCanadian Musicfest is almost upon us and, while I’d intended to hold off on preview-y things till next week, some of this just won’t keep. Actually, it probably would, but I needed something to post today and this needed to go out… so.

I’ll start, actually, with some giveaways. The typical way of doing CMF/CMW is via the wristband, which grants access to many of the clubs throughout the week, so long as it’s not at capacity, and in recent years the whole “limited wristbands” policy – which had been laughably token in the past – has gotten much better so that if you’re up for some late Winter club hopping, it’s a good value. Of course, for some the too-ing and fro-ing isn’t their idea of a fun time, so picking a spot and camping out is the way to go. For them, and courtesy of LiveNation and The Musebox, I offer the following giveaways for a pretty wide cross-section of acts coming to town next week for the festival.

Who: Champion & His G-Strings
What: Montreal dance/rock multi-threat showcases his latest album, Resistance
When: March 11, 2010
Where: The Guvernmnet
How: Three pairs of passes to give away – email me at contests AT chromewaves.net with “I want be a Champion” in the subject line and your full name in the body before midnight, March 8
Video: Champion & His G-Strings – “Alive Again”

Who: Postdata
What: Soul-baring, stripped-down solo project from Wintersleep frontman released self-titled debut in January
When: March 12, 2010
Where: The Music Gallery
How: Three pairs of passes to give away – email me at contests AT chromewaves.net with “I want be see Postdata” in the subject line and your full name in the body before midnight, March 8
MP3: Postdata – “Tobias Grey”

Who: Boats
What: Winnipeg quirky-pop quartet will release Cannonballs, Cannonballs on May 1
When: March 12, 2010
Where: Rancho Relaxo
How: One pair of passes and a copy of the CD to give away – email me at contests AT chromewaves.net with “I want be ride Boats” in the subject line and your full name and mailing address in the body before midnight, March 8
MP3: Boats – “Chrome Eyelids”

Who: Milow
What: Belgian singer-songwriter does the sexy-sensitive thing on acoustic guitar.
When: March 13, 2010
Where: The Drake Underground
How: Three pairs of passes to give away – email me at contests AT chromewaves.net with “I want be see Milow” in the subject line and your full name in the body before midnight, March 8
MP3: Milow – “You Don’t Know”

Not giveaways but still CMF-relevant:

Spinner, Subba-Cultcha, The Line Of Best Fit, The Brooklyn Rail and The Quietus interview The Besnard Lakes, whose new record The Besnard Lakes Are The Roaring Night is out on Tuesday and currently streaming at Spinner. They play an in-store at Criminal Records on March 10 at 6:30PM and the Horseshoe on March 11 at 12:10AM.

Stream: The Besnard Lakes / The Besnard Lakes Are The Roaring Night

Chart tries to get The Wooden Sky excited about playing Canadian Musicfest by asking them stock questions. They play the Horseshoe at 11PM on Saturday, March 13.

Spinner talks to Fucked Up about their plans for SxSW and make a guest list for Pitchfork. They’re at the El Mocambo on March 10 to kick off CMF and have also made some very early demos from CIUT, the University Of Toronto radio station, available to download for free.

The Brock Press has an interview with The Acorn wherein frontman Rolf Klausener discusses their new record No Ghosts, set for release in June. They are at Lee’s Palace on March 12.

Plants & Animals have released a first video from La La Land, due out April 20. They play Lee’s Palace on March 12 and the Indie Awards on March 13.

Video: Plants & Animals – “The Mama Papa””

NOW puts Zeus on this week’s cover. They’re playing an instore at Soundscapes tomorrow at 6PM and will be at Lee’s Palace on March 10.

Ca Va Cool interviews The Balconies while Toro has a studio session. They’ve got an in-store at Criminal Records on March 12 at 6PM and play the Horseshoe at 9:20PM on March 13.

eye and The Brock Press have features on Born Ruffians, who will release Say It on June 1. They’re at the Opera House on March 14.

And not participating in Canadian Musicfest but still Canadian music:

Owen Pallett has released the first official video from Heartland and has made available for sale the complete orchestral score of the album – perfect for aspiring Owen Pallett cover orchestras. The Line Of Best Fit has an interview with Pallett, who plays the Queen Elizabeth Theatre on April 8.

Video: Owen Pallett – “Lewis Takes Off His Shirt”

Chart has details on the sophomore effort from Tokyo Police Club, entitled Champ and still awaiting a release date.

Marshall AngusChristmas may be a distant memory now – it was a whole WEEK ago – but the giving continues thanks to Can-indie supergroup Novels. The outfit, comprised of Tokyo Police Club keyboardist Graham Wright, Born Ruffians guitarist/singer Luke Lalonde, Will Currie of The Country French, Ex-Po’s Dean Marino and Jay Sad, have completed their self-titled debut – though at five songs and not even 12 minutes in length, perhaps novella (or short story, or paragraph) would be a better name – and are looking to get the word out by not only giving it away as a free download off their website, but encouraging people to burn CDs, hand them out, leave them in conspicuous places…

And if you’re the sort who takes anonymous discs you find in a phone booth or jammed under your front door and were to pop it into your CD player, you’d hear a short and snappy collection of tunes, made familiar and distinctive by Lalonde’s yodel, Currie’s fancy piano work and everyone involved’s cumulative pop savvy. It doesn’t manage to be more than the sum of its parts but it’s friendly and fun – that all involved are having a blast is clear – and should tide fans over as they await the new, as-yet untitled TPC record and Born Ruffians’ Say It, both due out in the early part of next year.

The Toronto Star talks to Wright about the one-day recording session which yielded Novels, videos of which you can watch here.

MP3: Novels – “Mr. Foster’s Teenage Daughter”
MP3: Novels – “This Wouldn’t Be The Last Time”
ZIP: Novels / Novels

Woodpigeon have posted up a live and demo versions of Bjork’s “Aurora”. Their new album Die Stadt Muzikanten is out January 12 and they play the Drake Underground on February 11. New Canadian Modern has an interview with Woodpigeon violinist Foon Yap.

MP3: Woodpigeon – “Aurora” (live)
MP3: Woodpigeon – “Aurora” (demo)

JAM interviews Malajube bassist Mathieu Cournoyer.

Clash puts Los Campesinos! guitarist Tom Campesinos! and Broken Social Scene leader Kevin Drew on the phone with one another. The new Los Campesinos! record Romance Is Boring is out February 1.

The Scotsman talks to Adam Thompson, frontman of We Were Promised Jetpacks.

The Guest Apartment has a video session and interview with Peggy Sue, whose debut album Fossils And Other Phantoms is set for an April 2010 release.

The AV Club goes digging through Clientele frontman Alisdair Maclean’s music collection. The Clientele have a date at the Horseshoe on March 19.

The Line Of Best Fit polled a variety of Canadian artists and at least one blogger (ahem) for their thoughts on the year that was and the one that might be in Canadian music.

jinglebellrock.caA little too much going on right now for proper posting, so you’ll forgive me if I just ride out the next couple days by partaking in the spirit of the season and giving some stuff away? But good stuff coming, I just need to work on it.

Jingle Bell Rock is the creatively-named tour featuring Can-indie luminaries Metric, Tokyo Police Club, The Dears and Sebastien Grainger & The Mountains on a ten-date mission to rock out, spread holiday cheer and raise funds for a range of worthwhile charities in the process. Things kick off with a two-night stand in Toronto at the Sound Academy on December 12 and 13, head west for single-night engagements in Winnipeg, Saskatoon and Edmonton before going two-fer in Calgary and wrapping up with a triple-shot in Vancouver from December 21 to 23.

And, courtesy of Filter, I’ve got passes to give away to not one, not two, not three, but four of the shows. That’s one pair for each Toronto show and two of the three Vancouver dates (it would have been a solid run of both cities but they went off and added the third Van-city show). So if you want to go to any of the above, email me at contests AT chromewaves.net with “I want to Jingle Bell Rock in Toronto/Vancouver on December 12/13/21/22”, where you only include the city and date you’re looking for. For the Toronto dates, get entries in to me before midnight, December 9. Vancouverites, since you’re three hours behind anyways, you have until December 16 to get me your entries in. Lollygaggers.

And enter for multiple dates if you like.

Update: Hey, powers that be wanted the names sooner rather than later, so I closed the Toronto leg of things a bit early. And I’ve moved up the deadline for the Vancouver dates If you were waiting to enter… well damn, I have no idea why. Sorry.

MP3: Metric – “Monster Hospital”
MP3: Tokyo Police Club – “In A Cave”
MP3: Tokyo Police Club – “Juno”
MP3: The Dears – “Disclaimer”
MP3: Sebastien Grainger & The Mountains – “American Names”
MP3: Sebastien Grainger & The Mountains – “By Cover Of Night (Fire Fight)”
Video: Metric – “Monster Hospital”
Video: Metric – “Poster Of A Girl”
Video: Metric – “Empty”
Video: Tokyo Police Club – “Graves”
Video: Tokyo Police Club – “In A Cave”
Video: Tokyo Police Club – “Tessellate”
Video: The Dears – “Money Babies”