Sarah Bowles

Including a return to North America for the first time in a couple years from Brighton, UK’s premiere electro/indie/hip-hop/dance/rock party-all-over outfit The Go! Team. Their third record Rolling Blackouts will be out on February 1 and while their official tour itinerary only goes as far as the end of March and doesn’t cross the Atlantic, a Toronto show at the Opera House on April 10 has just been announced (tickets $23.50), so expect more dates to be announced in the coming days. Spinner has an interview with chief songwriter Ian Parton about the shift in lyrical direction on the new record, while samples of said album can be had via the video for the lead track and the stream of next single “Buy Nothing Day” – featuring vocals from Best Coast’s Beth Cosentino – over at The Guardian.

Stream: The Go! Team – “Buy Nothing Day”
Video: The Go! Team – “T.O.R.N.A.D.O.”

Also coming to town, fond of exclamations and parties are Vancouver’s You Say Party – though apparently the “!” was dropped in their recent name change – and Montreal’s Young Galaxy, whose new record Shapeshifting has got a lot of folks talking in advance of its February 8 release. Both are at Lee’s Palace on March 4, tickets $15.50 in advance.

MP3: You Say Party! – “Laura Palmer’s Prom”
MP3: Young Galaxy – “Peripheral Visionaries”

BBC Sound of 2011 shortlistee Anna Calvi will be in town for Canadian Musicfest with a showcase at Wrongbar on March 11. Her self-titled debut will be out on March 1.

MP3: Anna Calvi – “Jezebel”

Destroyer’s new record Kaputt is out on January 25 and though the tour dates with The War On Drugs are still patchy, there will be a show at Lee’s Palace in Toronto on March 31, tickets $15 in advance.

MP3: Destroyer – “Chinatown”
MP3: The War On Drugs – “The History Of Plastic”

They don’t really have a lot in common, but that’s not stopping …And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead and Surfer Blood from teaming up for a tour that stops in at Lee’s Palace on May 3. Trail Of Dead’s new album Tao Of The Dead will be out on February 8 and Surfer Blood will be putting out an EP sometime this year before getting to work on their major label debut.

MP3: Surfer Blood – “Swim”

The new British Sea Power record Valhalla Dancehall is up and streaming in its entirety at The AV Club, one week before it’s January 11 release.

Stream: British Sea Power / Valhalla Dancehall

NPR is streaming the whole of The Decemberists’ new album The King Is Dead two weeks before its January 18 release date. The band play The Sound Academy on February 1.

Stream: The Decemberists / The King Is Dead

Also up at the NPR has also got a new song from R.E.M.’s forthcoming Collapse Into Now, which continues to confirm that this record might well be pretty good. It’s out March 8.

There will be a new Strokes record in March. BBC says bassist Nikolai Fraiture says so.

Titus Andronicus have blogged a farewell to their founding bassist Ian Graetzer, who amicably left the band as of this weekend.

Specifics on the new Okkervil River record are still forthcoming, but Pitchfork reports that the first single “Mermaid” will be out on February 8 on 12″.

Laundromatinee has got a video session with Son Volt.

NYC Taper is sharing a recording of the Drive-By Truckers’ New Year’s Eve eve show in New York. The Philadelphia Inquirer and The Boot talk to Patterson Hood about their new record Go-Go Boots, which will be out February 15.

Nick Helderman

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.

MySpace

But what was more interesting was the fairly extensive list of artists already confirmed to play CMF/CMW/whatever the weekend of March 12 to 14, and I’m especially pleased to see that London’s 6 Day Riot are coming back to town. They beguiled this past June at NxNE and should do much the same on the return engagement, though I hope they’re prepared for a decidedly different climatological experience this time around. They’ll be spending the first bit of the new year in the studio recording album number two, so I look forward to hearing some new material.

And on the domestic side – it is a Canadian music fest, after all – expect appearances from Basia Bulat, Chad Van Gaalen, Angela Desveaux, Gentleman Reg, Human Highway, Malajube, The Acorn and The Rural Alberta Advantage, amongst many others.

Not playing this fest but hopefully coming to town sooner rather than later regardless are Woodpigeon – they’ll be releasing Treasury Library Canada on February 3 and have made available an MP3 both from it and the companion/bonus album Houndstooth Europa. They’ve also made a new video.

MP3: Woodpigeon – “Love In The Time Of Hopscotch”
MP3: Woodpigeon – “Oberkampf”
Video: Woodpigeon – “A Moment’s Peace for Mary Christa O’Keefe”

Toronto-based label Out Of This Spark will celebrate its second anniversary with a show at the Tranzac on January 10 featuring their entire lineup, which is to say The D’Urbervilles, Forest City Lovers, Timber Timbre and Jenny Omnichord. Admission is $8 with a canned food item, $10 without. And the same bill will be at the Albion Hotel in Guelph on January 16.

NME, Paste and Pitchfork talk to Win Butler about the new Arcade Fire film Miroir Noir, available now digitally and by the end of March as a DVD.

To mark the peculiar happening of “Halleleujah” placing both #1 and #2 on the UK singles charts this week (the former a cover of Jeff Buckley’s version of the song by some pop poppet, the latter Jeff Buckley’s version of the song), The Scotsman has a feature on Leonard Cohen and The Telegraph a list of the 20 most interesting things about the song that will pretty much ensure that Lenny’s financial troubles are a thing of the past.

Austin’s …And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead will release The Century Of Self on February 17 and roll into Lee’s Palace on March 4, tickets $18.50.

That same day, February 17, Ben Folds is at the Kool Haus, $30.50 in advance.

Witch, who are notable largely for the fact that their drummer is one J Mascis, have a date at the Horseshoe on February 20. Tickets $10.50.

So Much Silence has graciously ripped an acoustic Hold Steady session at KEXP for your listening pleasure.

John Darnielle is offering up a handful of unreleased and really old Mountain Goats tracks for download in the spirit of the season in hopes you’ll “pay it forward”, as they say. If looking for a cause, may I suggest a donation to the Humane Society of Durham, which tragically burned down last week. Goodness knows they need the help right now.