Ladyhawk are back. No, the other Ladyhawk.

KillbeatIt was pretty fun times to be an artist named for (or almost named for) a Matthew Broderick vehicle back circa 2007/2008. Pip Browne was turning heads with her hooky, ’80s synthpop-referencing tunes from all the way in New Zealand as Ladyhawke and in Canada, four guys were making a name for themselves with hooky, ’70s bar rock-referencing tunes from all the way in Kelowna. Hard to confuse the two (unless you were the guys in this story), but it was interesting that both were active at the same time and then basically disappeared around the same time in 2009, neither taking advantage of the other’s inactivity to increase their Ladyhawk/e identity mindshare.

But while Ladyhawke’s disappearance was because of a prolonged process of recording album number two, Ladyhawk went on a proper hiatus after finishing with their second album Shots, with frontman Duffy Driediger putting together a new outfit in Duffy & The Doubters, bassist Sean Hawryluk pulling time in Baptists, and drummer Ryan Peters and guitarist Darcy Hancock recording as SPORTS. Fast-forward to 2012, though, and they’re back. Both of them.

Ladyhawke released Anxiety back in May, and Ladyhawk will let their third album No Can Do out of the pen on October 9. Note how the two records look nothing alike and most certainly don’t sound anything alike (a track from the new record is available below for reference). Possibly creating some genuine confusion is the fact that both artists are touring North America this Fall, though fully a month apart. Toronto gets Ladyhawke (the feminine article) September 15 at The Hoxton, and Ladyhawk (the band of bros) on October 25 at The Horseshoe ($15 in advance). I suppose it’s conceivable that you could get those two venues mixed up, but I really hope you don’t. Unless you’re the guys from London.

MP3: Ladyhawk – “You Read My Mind”

It’s a little bit of Montreal in Toronto on November 15 when Plants & Animals and Parlovr play The Great Hall, tickets $15.

MP3: Plants & Animals – “The End Of That”
MP3: Parlovr – “Pen To The Paper”

The Weeknd are making it a three-day weekend stand at The Sound Academy, adding a third show for November 4 to go with the November 2 and 3 ones that are presumably just about sold out.

MP3: The Weeknd – “Life Of The Party”

Pitchfork has got a new song from Yamantaka/Sonic Titan, recorded for Adult Swim’s Singles Series, available to download. And if you’ve had trouble finding their YT/ST album in stores – despite it being Polaris shortlisted, they’ve been label-less since March – fear not; they’ve just signed to Paper Bag Records, who will be reissuing it and making it available pretty much everywhere on September 11.

MP3: Yamantaka//Sonic Titan – “Lamia”

Torq Campbell of Stars gets all fired up about topics political with The Huffington Post. Their new record The North is out September 4 and they open up for Metric at the Air Canada Centre on November 24.

Claire Boucher – aka Grimes – also has some thoughts on politics of the Russian variety, which she shares with NME. She has two nights booked at Lee’s Palace on September 21 and 22 and has just released another wacky-ass video from the Polaris shortlisted and heavily-favoured Visions.

Video: Grimes – “Genesis”

The Line Of Best Fit talks to Jonas Bonnetta of Evening Hymns.

Talk Rock To Me chats with You Say Party, who will be back in action at The Great Hall on September 29.

Also playing that Paper Bag anniversary show at the Great Hall on the 29th are Young Galaxy; Stephen Ramsay discusses with Spinner the changes of direction that will come with their next album when it comes out next year.

Exclaim has details on the second of Gentleman Reg’s digital Leisure Life EPs, the second of which will be out on September 4. A track from it is available to stream courtesy of Ion.

Stream: Gentleman Reg – “Make It Better”

CBC Music gets some tips on eating on the road from Great Lake Swimmers’ Tony Dekker.

Frank YangI’m not really one for the mid-year list, but when the good folks at Hype Machine and BBC 6Music ask you nicely to round up your top artists of 2012 for just such a status report, you can’t really say no. And they specified “artist” and not “album”, otherwise this would be mostly wrong. Anyways.

1. The Afghan Whigs – Yeah, they’ve only released one piece of music this year – and a cover, no less – but they’re the big American alt.rock reunion band of 2012. And despite having gone through high school/college when they were in their prime, I never gave them a passing listen until this year and so, making up for lost time, each of Gentlemen, Black Love, and 1965 have been in heavier rotation in 2012 than pretty much anything else. I guess you need to be of a certain age to properly appreciate where they’re coming from.

MP3: The Afghan Whigs – “See And Don’t See”

2. Allo Darlin’ – The Aussie-fronted Brits released their second album Europe this Spring and a finer collection of indie-pop you’re not likely to find this year. Its got heart, hooks, and Go-Betweens references; anyone who assumes from surface appearances that it’s twee or slight or doesn’t contain a depth of emotion just isn’t listening.

Video: Allo Darlin’ – “Capricornia”

3. Yamantaka//Sonic Titan – Even though I didn’t write about this Montreal art collective/project until I explained why they found their way onto my Polaris Prize ballot with their debut YT//ST, they’ve been spending a lot of this year convincing me to overcome my skepticism at their high-concept blend of metal/prog/jazz/opera and accept that it is, in fact, as original, interesting, and out and out rocking as they intend it to be. And don’t get me started on the live show.

Video: Yamantaka // Sonic Titan – “Hoshi Neko”