FilterTokyo Police Club are not a band you’d expect to announce an ambitious covers project. Not to say that they haven’t reinterpreted someone else’s song before – I’ve not heard it but I’m sure it’s happened – but they haven’t really made doing so “their thing”, so to speak. Well not until now. Last month, they announced their intention to record and release ten covers over ten days, one from each of the last ten years, and document the process via Polaroids and Polaroid.com.

Random on so many levels, and yet now that it’s done and the results a matter of public record, I have to say that I’m quite enjoying the results. The song selections are relatively obvious but not cliched (okay, the Kelly Clarkson maybe) or ironic (okay, the Miley Cyrus) and cover a decent range of genres, and TPC’s sound isn’t so unique that they can’t tackle most pop songs without rendering them unrecognizable. They strike a pretty good balance between remaining faithful to the original and still sounding like Tokyo Police Club – in fact, I’ll go a bit further and say that this set presents a much rangier and versatile TPC than their own albums have.

But if it wasn’t obvious, I’m a soft touch for cover versions so cheers to Tokyo Police Club for making up, taking up and beating the challenge. For their next little project, I suggest they pay tribute to a fellow 905 musical icon and try to rhyme the world in 80 days.

They’ve made all the tracks available to download, but if you don’t want to commit you can also stream it all at Soundcloud. And if you want to follow the actual internet release tour – each song was premiered at a specific website – and read some of the accompanying commentary, head over to any and all of Entertainment Weekly, Alternative Press, Mashable, Spinner, The AV Club (double-shot here) and Filter (another double shot). “Party In The USA” didn’t seem to get a proper premiere, but whatevs.

MP3: Tokyo Police Club – “Southside” (Moby cover)
MP3: Tokyo Police Club – “Sweetness” (Jimmy Eat World cover)
MP3: Tokyo Police Club – “Under Control” (The Strokes cover)
MP3: Tokyo Police Club – “Since U Been Gone” Kelly Clarkson cover)
MP3: Tokyo Police Club – “Little Sister” (Queens Of The Stone Age cover)
MP3: Tokyo Police Club – “Long Distance Call” (Phoenix cover)
MP3: Tokyo Police Club – “All My Friends” (LCD Soundsystem)
MP3: Tokyo Police Club – “Kim And Jessie” (M83 cover)
MP3: Tokyo Police Club – “Strictly Game” (Harlem Shakes cover)
MP3: Tokyo Police Club – “Party In The USA” (Miley Cyrus cover)
Stream: Tokyo Police Club / 10 Days, 10 Covers, 10 Years

Keeping in the Canuck covers theme, check out this video of Evening Hymns trying on a little Tom Petty for size. Their new album of original material Spectral Dusk is due out this Fall – I expect formal details to be announced soon. ‘Cause it’s already Fall.

Video: Evening Hymns – “Learning To Fly”

Southern Souls has branched out from just videos to include editorial content, like this interview with Neil Haverty of Bruce Peninsula. The topic at hand being, of course, their second album Open Flames, which is due out October 4. They play a release show at Lee’s Palace on October 27.

Though their second album Tosta Mista has been out since late July, Hooded Fang are only now getting around to organizing an official release party. It’ll be a Wavelength Presents joint and happen September 24 at the Academy of Lions Crossfit Gym – how rock’n'roll is that – on Dundas West near Dovercourt, tickets $10 in advance.

MP3: Hooded Fang – “ESP”
MP3: Hooded Fang – “Den Of Love”

The Stool Pigeon and Beatroute talk to the Lightman twins of Tasseomancy. They have a release show for Ulalame at The Great Hall on October 20 and open up for Austra at The Phoenix on December 1.

Miracle Fortress has assembled some “what I did on my Summer vacation”-style films for the first video from Was I The Wave?.

Video: Miracle Fortress – “Miscalculations”

The Line Of Best Fit is streaming Memoryhouse’s revisited debut EP The Years, out next week. Now that their local dates opening up for Peter Bjorn & John are done, I expect confirmation that they’re doing the same for The Radio Dept at The Mod Club on November 17. If not, then perhaps a hometown release show of their own is in the works? The Milford Daily Times has an interview with Evan Abeele of the band.

Stream: Memoryhouse / The Years

Toronto country-rock stalwarts Cuff The Duke have commandeered The Horseshoe for the weekend of November 25 and 26 to celebrate the release of their new record Morning Comes, out October 4.

MP3: Cuff The Duke – “Standing On The Edge”
Video: Cuff The Duke – “Standing On The Edge” (Paper Bag sessions)

Beatroute interviews The Besnard Lakes, who will be at Lee’s Palace on October 13.

If you were wondering, “hey – why does Los Angeles get a special intimate preview of Metals and not, oh, Feist’s hometown?” then relax… or get more agitated. Exclaim reports that the Glenn Gould Studio at the CBC’s headquarters will host a very special concert on October 8 – just four days after the album’s release – wherein the singer will be joined by such guests as Jeff Tweedy, Ed Droste, Bry Webb, Joel Gibb and Doug Paisley. Tickets for the show are only available via a CBC Radio 2 contest but is open to all residents of Canada and will include airfare and accommodations if you hail from outside the Toronto area. If you are local, well maybe they’ll splurge for a cab. One-way.

Frank YangBruce Peninsula’s Fire Sale comeback campaign, announced back in April, served many purposes. Besides helping to build anticipation for the band’s long-awaited second album Open Flames, out October 4, it re-established in no uncertain terms why they were one of Toronto’s most unique and promising bands before they were sidelined by medical drama in the late part of last year, but also served to introduce a considerably different lineup from the one that recorded their debut A Mountain Is A Mouth. Through its run, the Fire Sale took a scenic route through the songbooks belonging to themselves and others and much of the journey was documented on video, both in the studio and the street, and last Thursday night the trip brought them to the Lower Ossington Theatre as part of the Summerworks Music Series.

Leading off the night was Jennifer Castle, who used to perform as Castlemusic but opted to switch to her own name and apply that name to her latest record, Castlemusic. And it’s a name that’s had the fortune to be associated with some high-profile acts, with Castle having provided backing vocals to records from Fucked Up and when I saw her open for Constantines, for whom I saw her open back in May 2008. But anyone who based expectations of what she’d sound like based on her friends would have been way off base – rather than fist-pumping rock, Castle’s repertoire consisted of a spare folk-blues sound built on her somewhat stream of consciousness songs, delicately warbled vocals and a simple guitar style for which the found sounds of her Harmony hollowbody being handled – neck bends, string resonances and whatnot – were as essential as anything she played deliberately.

I’d seen Bruce Peninsula live a whole whack of times from their earliest days back in 2007 and around their debut’s release in early 2009, but it had been over two and a half years since we last crossed paths. So for that reason as well as myriad others, it was good to see the band again – numbering nine with some new faces in the mix – and frontman Neil Haverty front and centre looking hale and healthy for this, their second show following an extended break (the first was in June for NXNE).

Calling Haverty the frontman might not be quite correct, though, at least not anymore. Whereas on the Mountain material his gruff vocals still led the band, it was pretty evident from the new material and overall stage dynamic that the landscape of the Peninsula had changed somewhat. Not just in Mischa Bower taking more vocal leads, but the musical arrangements were more intricate and considered – even on the older material – and though it’s presumptuous to suggest that these changes come down to one new individual in a band this size, I was hearing a lot of Daniela Gesundheit’s work in Snowblink coming through. This wasn’t to say that the rough, elemental energy that so defined the band early on was completely tamed – Haverty still contributed some crowd-rushing and mic stand-abusing antics to the show – but they’re a much more refined-sounding collective now and I think they’re all the better for it.

NOW also has a writeup of the show. Their next hometown show comes October 27 at Lee’s Palace.

Photos: Bruce Peninsula, Jennifer Castle @ The Lower Ossington Theatre – August 11, 2011
MP3: Bruce Peninsula – “Light Flight”
MP3: Bruce Peninsula – “The Swimming Song”
MP3: Bruce Peninsula – “Crabapples”
MP3: Jennifer Castle – “Powers”
MP3: Jennifer Castle – “Neverride”
Video: Bruce Peninsula – “Salesman”
Video: Bruce Peninsula – “Leaves”
Video: Bruce Peninsula – “The Swimming Song”

BlogTO talks to one of the new Bruce Peninsulans, Tamara Lindeman, who will release Everything Was Mine, her second solo as The Weather Station, on August 16. She has a show at 720 Bathurst on the 19th and plays a Soundscapes in-store on August 30.

MP3: The Weather Station – “Everything I Saw”

Rolling Stone has premiered the video for the PS I Love You starring Diamond Rings single “Leftovers”. PS I Love You play The Great Hall on October 1 while Diamond Rings is at The Mod Club on October 3.

MP3: PS I Love You (featuring Diamond Rings) – “Leftovers”
Video: PS I Love You (featuring Diamond Rings) – “Leftovers”

NPR is streaming the first single from Feist’s new album Metals, due out October 4. She plays Massey Hall on December 1.

Stream: Feist – “How Come You Never Go There”

The Telegraph talks to the Butler brothers in profiling Arcade Fire.

Tony ParkFor the past month and a half or so, those given to keeping an eye on The Rural Alberta Advantage have watched with curiosity as the band has released a three-part series of video vignettes documenting the making of the second official video from their sophomore effort Departing for the song “Muscle Relaxants”. Not unusual in and of itself except for the fact that the video itself hadn’t been released yet. So rather than eliciting reactions of, “oh that’s how they did that”, they were met with reactions more along the lines of, “what on earth are they doing?”. What could be discerned, given the swimming pool setting, was that it’d be something aquatic in nature and possibly involved drummer Paul Banwatt and a giant inflatable turtle.

All was revealed yesterday, however, as Rolling Stone premiered the finished clip and it’s a rather stunning black-and-white short featuring the band cavorting, slow motion-style, underwater as musical instruments or parts thereof float around them. The inflatable turtle, sadly, didn’t appear to make the final edit but you can’t have everything. It’s quite a contrast from the simple, stripped down live performance vid that came out in the Spring around the same time as the album’s release – part of a series of low key, on-location videos shot by the folks at Southern Souls – but it just goes to show, whether hanging out in the back room of a bar or being artfully dunked at the bottom of a pool, The RAA are great.

Video: The Rural Alberta Advantage – “Muscle Relaxants”

Bruce Peninsula have also revealed something new of themselves via video with the final (?) installment of their Fire Sale series leading up to the October 4 release of Open Flames. It’s the second original song to be premiered in the series and seems to confirm that the new record is coming from a decidedly different place than A Mountain Is A Mouth. To hear more, catch them at Summerworks at the Lower Ossington Theatre tonight or if you have to miss it – a doctor’s note will be required – they’re at Lee’s Palace on October 27.

Video: Bruce Peninsula – “Salesman”

Miracle Fortress will be headlining Summerworks on Friday night and he doesn’t come empty-handed, either. Following last month’s give away of a couple tracks from the abandoned Hoop Dreams sessions, Graham Van Pelt has put together another digital single consisting of two tracks from the Was I The Wave? sessions that didn’t make the album cut. And if that’s not enough, head over to Laundromatinee for a video session and accompanying downloadables.

MP3: Miracle Fortress – “Tropic Of Canada”
MP3: Miracle Fortress – “Seabird”

Memoryhouse are warming up for the September 13 re-release of their The Years EP with a new download and video for the song “Quiet America”, as well as a bit of commentary. The band are opening up for both of Peter Bjorn & John’s shows at Lee’s Palace on September 2 and 3 and if you notice they’re listed as support for The Radio Dept’s Fall tour right up until the November 17 Toronto show, I’m guessing the remainder of those dates will become official just as soon as the PB&J dates are done. Swedes love the Memoryhouse, I guess.

MP3: Memoryhouse – “Quiet America”
Video: Memoryhouse – “Quiet America”

Pitchfork’s Surveillance video series follows Diamond Rings around, spycam-style, as he washes up and plays a song shirtless and acoustic in his hotel room like no one is watching. As I’m sure he does. There’s also an interview at John Just Said It. He’s at The Mod Club on October 3 with Twin Shadow.

Colin Stetson has released a new video from his Polaris-shortlisted New History Warfare Vol 2 – Judges. He’s at The Drake on August 26.

Video: Colin Stetson – “The Stars In His Head”

Salt Lake City Weekly talks to Katie Stelmanis of Austra. They play The Phoenix on December 1.

Bloginity has details on a new Tokyo Police Club project that will see the band cover ten songs from the past decade and release them, one per day, over the end of August/start of September. There’s all sorts of other details about taking Polaroid of the sessions and premiering the songs at various media outlets, but that’s the upshot.

Summerworks
What: Summerworks
Why: Celebrated long-running theatre festival that added a musical component four years ago.
Who: In its short run, Summerworks already counts some of the cream of the current Canadian musical crop as its alumnus – this year’s class seems certain to add to that list. For specifics, keep reading.
When: There will be six nights of live music double-headers running over the course of the festival’s week-and-a-bit duration, with the night-by-night breaking down as follows – there’s also opening and closing parties on the 4th and the 14th.

Friday, August 5 – Hooded Fang, Steven McKay
Saturday August 6 – Bonjay, Lioness
Wednesday August 10 – Great Bloomers, House League (featuring members of Forest City Lovers, Matters, Evening Hymns and more)
Thursday August 11 – Bruce Peninsula, Jennifer Castle
Friday August 12 – Miracle Fortress, Ruby Coast
Saturday August 13 – Green Go, Powers
Where: The Lower Ossington Theatre in Toronto (19+)
How: Tickets for each show are $10 in advance but courtesy of the festival, I’ve got three pairs of passes to a show of your choice to give away. To enter, email me at contests AT chromewaves.net with “I want the Summerworks” in the subject line and your full name and the show you’d like to attend in the body. Contest closes at midnight, August 4.
What else: BlogTO has previewed some of the acts performing at this year’s festival.

MP3: Bruce Peninsula – “Light Flight”
MP3: Hooded Fang – “ESP”
MP3: Miracle Fortress – “Miscalculations”
MP3: Jennifer Castle – “Neverride”

Chloe AftelWhilst at the closing sale for the now dearly departed Criminal Records this past weekend, I found amongst the remaining stock a copy of Papercuts’ latest LP Fading Parade. Already having the CD, I suggested a friend pick it up and when asked, not unreasonably, what it sounded like, I was at a loss and don’t think I came up with anything more articulate than, “it’s good” – hey, I don’t always think fast on my feet. Unsurprisingly, the sales pitch failed but happily, the album found a good home not long afterwards with another acquaintance. Having had a little more time to think on it though, I’d like to take another shot at the “what’s it sound like?” inquiry.

Papercuts were an unknown to me before Fading Parade, which is their fourth album but their Sub Pop debut so score one for the benefits of bigger labels. But all you really need to know about them is that a) they’re from San Francisco and b) they is essentially a he – one Jason Robert Quever – and his lovely and gentle pillow of a voice. Actually that’s too reductive. As central as Quevers’ breathy vocals are to the Papercuts sound, also crucial are the wistfully longing melodies he delivers with it and the sonic aesthetic that he surrounds it all with – an aesthetic built on reverbs precisely set so as to cushion all of the intricate instrumental arrangements but not obscure the detail and delicacy of it all.

Clearly atmosphere matters, but I still don’t quite get all the shoegaze namedrops that pop up in their press – if you were looking for English DNA in their sound, it’d look more Sarah Records than anything else. But if forced to come up with a single reference point, I’d probably go with The Shins, albeit less folksy and more elegantly baroque. Which now that I think about it, isn’t very Shins-y at all. Okay, how about this – Papercuts’ Fading Parade? It’s good.

The Line Of Best Fit welcomed Quever to their studio for an acoustic video session.

MP3: Papercuts – “Do You Really Wanna Know”
MP3: Papercuts – “Do What You Will”
Video: Papercuts – “Do You Really Wanna Know”
Video: Papercuts – “Do What You Will”

Dazed has an interview with Antlers while Wears The Trousers points to a studio video of the band performing “Hounds” with Nicole Atkins guesting on vocals.

Epitonic and Spectrum Culture talk to Erika Anderson of EMA.

Check out a track from Wild Flag’s forthcoming self-titled debut, due out September 13. They play Lee’s Palace on October 11.

MP3: Wild Flag – “Romance”

A new track from tUnE-yArDs’ WHOKILL is up for grabs and there’s also a KCRW session over at NPR. They play Lee’s Palace on September 24.

MP3: tUnE-yArDs – “Powa”

Head over to Soundcloud to hear a three-track sampler of the new Ivy record All Hours, due out September 20.

The Mountain Goats have released a new video from All Eternals Deck.

Video: The Mountain Goats – “Real Estate Sign”

MPR has an interview with Fleet Foxes.

Exclaim talks to Eric Bachmann about the Archers Of Loaf reunion.

Bob Mould talks memoirs with eMusic.

Stereogum has marked the 10th anniversary of The Strokes’ debut album Is This It by compiling Stroked, a tribute album to said record with contributions from the likes of Peter Bjorn & John, Owen Pallett and The Morning Benders, amongst others.

Their fire sale over and done with, Bruce Peninsula have finally come clean with details on their second album – Open Flames will be out on October 4, and will follow it with a Fall tour that includes a hometown show at Lee’s Palace on October 27. And if you don’t want to wait that long to see them and hear the new stuff – and why would you – remember they’re playing the Lower Ossington Theatre on August 11 as part of Summerworks.

MP3: Bruce Peninsula – “Light Flight”

Playing that same stage and festival on August 6 are Hooded Fang, who’ve marked the release of their second album Tosta Mista this week by talking to aux.tv and Exclaim and streaming the whole album online.

Stream: Hooded Fang / Tosta Mista