Matias CorralIt gives me great comfort to live in a world where Ted Leo & The Pharmacists continue to put out records. When it comes to marrying punk fury with pop hooks and striking the right balance of lyrical cynicism and optimism, all served with a good dose of humour and via a relentless work ethic, there’s few better or more consistent. With the release of his newest record The Brutalist Bricks tomorrow, he cements that opinion even further into fact.

Like pretty much everything Leo has ever put out, Bricks is loud, punchy and pogo-friendly with a couple moments of acoustic thoughtfulness to punctuate proceedings, but within the frame of reference of his discography, it stands apart for a couple reasons. His last effort, 2007’s Living With The Living, was a sprawling effort both in length and stylistic forays and while you hate to suggest that ambition or experimentation are bad things, it didn’t have the impact or staying power as his prior works. And whether the follow-up is a reaction to that or not, Bricks is both tighter-sounding and more focused and possibly Leo’s most outright rocking effort since 2003’s Hearts Of Oak. It’s a comparison which makes it worth noting that Bricks is the first record to be recorded as a four-piece since Hearts, though once-and-again Pharmacist James Canty’s guitar is a decidedly more in-your-face presence on the new album than Dorien Garry’s keys ever were.

Stepping back to regain perspective, Bricks nestles quite comfortably alongside its fellows – if you were to randomly grab a Ted Leo record to spin and came up with this one, you wouldn’t be at all disappointed. It also won’t likely be anyone’s long-term go-to Pharmacists record – all in all, Hearts Of Oak and The Tyranny Of Distance remain his finest moments – but as a reminder that the world is a better place with Ted Leo in it and making music, it does quite nicely.

The Brutalist Bricks is streaming in its entirety over at Ted Leo’s MySpace and Spinner just posted an Interface video session with the band.

MP3: Ted Leo & The Pharmacists – “The Mighty Sparrow”
MP3: Ted Leo & The Pharmacists – “Even Heroes Have To Die”
Stream: Ted Leo & The Pharmacists / The Brutalist Bricks
MySpace: Ted Leo & The Pharmacists

Annie Clark of St. Vincent tells Spinner about her contributions to Together, the new New Pornographers record, due out May 4.

Eater talks about the joys of being full of stomach with The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart.

Headlights have released a new video from Wilderness

Video: Headlights – “Secrets”

Black Book talks to Zooey Deschanel and Matt Ward of She & Him, who will release Volume 2 on March 23.

The Independent profiles Joanna Newsom, in town at the Phoenix this coming Saturday night, March 13.

Spinner talks to Ume about gearing up for this year’s SxSW.

If you, like me, are going to miss all three of Dan Mangan’s upcoming shows at Canadian Musicfest this week – Thursday night at The Great Hall, Friday night at The Courthouse and Saturday’s in-store at Criminal Records – take heart: he’s already scheduled a return engagement for April 22 at the Horseshoe, tickets $12.

MP3: Dan Mangan – “Road Regrets”

Aussies An Horse are looking to make my first post of the year even more correct, having scheduled another Toronto show for April 26 at The Garrison. They’ll release Beds Rearranged, a remix EP of last year’s Rearrange Beds, on March 23.

MP3: An Horse – “Postcards”

Caribou have announced a massive world tour to go along with the April 20 release of Swim. Toronto can catch them on May 3 at The Phoenix.

Video: Caribou – “Odessa”

Vancouver disco duo Fan Death will bring their debut EP A Coin For The Well to Wrongbar on May 21.

MP3: Fan Death – “Cannibal”

PopMatters pays tribute to the late Mark Linkous of Sparklehorse while Blurt reprints an interview with him regarding the Dark Night Of The Soul project, which will finally see an official release this Summer. Hopefully the almost-completed last Sparklehorse record will eventually see the light of day as well. So immensely saddened by Linkous’ untimely passing.

Frank YangIf you were at The Garrison on Friday night and felt a sense of deja vu, it was with good reason. Though the occasion was the third anniversary party for Toronto label Out Of This Spark, you might have also been at the second anniversary party a year ago at The Tranzac which featured 3/4 of the same performers in The D’Urbervilles, Forest City Lovers and Jenny Omnichord, or maybe the Evening Hymns release show in December, or perhaps at the Summerworks show in August which showcased The D’Urbervilles and Forest City Lovers, both separately and together. Maybe you were at one of these shows. Maybe you were at all of them. I was, anyways, and so trying to write this one up without overtly repeating myself is a bit of a challenge. But here we go.

As with last year, Jenny Omnichord (née Mitchell) was batting leadoff, armed with a couple of her namesake electronic instruments and a brace of odd and entertaining songs and banter. Her stuff was unapologetically twee and childlike, but also with a distinct streak of black humour running through them. Not necessarily the sort of stuff I’d listen to on my own, but as a way to kick off an evening, you could do far worse.

Following her were Evening Hymns, who’d crafted one of my favourite records of last year in Spirit Guides and while many artists spend their careers trying to capture the energy of their live show on record, the challenge of Evening Hymns is how to recreate the scope and grandeur of the album on stage. They came close at the record release show, but that required something like a dozen players and liberal use of smoke machines. This time out, they were a compact five-piece unit less concerned with recreating the songs as they were recorded than rendering them as best they could with what they had, and by and large it worked. While it was clear there was still some gelling necessary before they’d be at their best, all the parts needed to do these songs justice were in place – if this is the unit to take Spirit Guides on the road and out into the world, then it’s in good hands.

Much of the appeal of Forest City Lovers is their understatedness, and the way their melodic folk-pop insinuates itself into your mind subtly, rather than jump all about in your face. That said, it’s been quite nice to see them becoming more engaging and extroverted with each show and release of new music without losing those qualities – in particular, the two sides of their recent “Phodilus and Tyto” 7″ don’t even clock in at seven minutes, but offer a very exciting look at where their third album, currently being recorded, could be heading. Goodness knows they were the highlights of their live set, and considering the selections from Haunting Moon Sinking and The Sun And The Wind were no slouches, that’s saying something. The new record is easily one of the local releases I’m most looking forward to this year.

Considering how quickly frontman John O’Reagan’s Diamond Rings electro-pop solo project has taken off, it would be understandable if he opted to shelve the rock keep the eyeshadow on all the time. But happily, the man can multitask and The D’Urbervilles are wrapping up work on a new record and a number of new tunes were showcased in their set. Each time I see them, I further appreciate how they manage to evoke New Wave-ish/dance-rock touchstones without sounding like every other New Wave-ish/dance rock acts. Their set was short, punchy and would have been a fine cap to the evening and a testament to the quality of talent on the label, but they weren’t quite done yet.

As they did at the Summerworks show, the encore for the entire night brought Jenny Omnichord, Forest City Lovers and The D’Urbervilles out on stage together to perform one each of their songs in massive lineup-style. It wasn’t quite the prepared reimagining of the material as they’d done in August, but still good fun to see and hear regardless. And then they were done.

Narratives and Singing Lamb also have reviews of the show. Many of the performers are in action again over the next while – Forest City Lovers frontwoman Kat Burns is opening up solo-style for Asobi Seksu at the Drake on February 1, Evening Hymns are at the Music Gallery on February 10 as part of Wavelength 500 and The D’Urbervilles are opening up for Fucked Up at the Opera House on February 26.

Photos: The D’Urbervilles, Forest City Lovers, Evening Hymns, Jenny Omnichord @ The Garrison – January 22, 2010
MP3: The D’Urbervilles – “Dragnet”
MP3: The D’Urbervilles – “Spin The Bottle”
MP3: The D’Urbervilles – “Hot Tips”
MP3: Forest City Lovers – “Scared Of Time”
MP3: Forest City Lovers – “Oh Humility” (live)
MP3: Evening Hymns – “Dead Deer”
MP3: Evening Hymns – “Broken Rifle”
MP3: Evening Hymns – “Cedars”
Video: Forest City Lovers – “If I Were A Tree”
Video: Forest City Lovers – “Pirates”
Video: Forest City Lovers – “Song For Morrie”
Video: Forest City Lovers – “Please, Don’t Go”
MySpace: The D’Urbervilles
MySpace: Forest City Lovers
MySpace: Evening Hymns

Speaking of Diamond Rings, the final seven copies of their split-7″ with PS I Love You – which with a “Best New Music” honorific for each of its sides may well be the best-reviewed piece of music in the history of Pitchfork, at least from a linear or temporal density perspective – are now up on eBay with new hand-screened arwtork and signed by the artists, and with proceeds of the auction going to Haitian relief efforts. Diamond Rings also has a couple of Canadian Musicfest showcases announced – March 11 at the Garrison and March 12 at The Silver Dollar – to go with their February 11 show at the Steam Whistle Roundhouse for Wavelength 500.

MP3: Diamond Rings – “All Yr Songs”
MP3: PS I Love You – “Facelove”

Pitchfork has details on the new album from Caribou, entitled Swim and due out April 20 – get the first MP3 in exchange for your email address.

Woodpigeon has paid tribute to the passing of Kate McGarrigle with a cover of what is probably their most famous song to those of a certain generation who grew up watching NFB shorts – “The Log Driver’s Waltz”. Woodpigeon plays the Drake Underground on February 11 and have an in-store at Soundscapes on February 14.

MP3: Woodpigeon – “The Log Driver’s Waltz” (live)

Celebrate the release of Basia Bulat’s new album Heart Of My Own today with a stunning performance of “The Shore” for Le Blogotheque’s Takeaway Shows, video sessions and interviews at Baeble Music’s Guest Apartment and interviews at The National Post, Canadian Press, Exclaim and Ca Va Cool.

Macleans has made available online the feature piece on Owen Pallett that came out of the multi-part interview posted at Radio Free Canuckistan last week. Pallett also plays cover boy of this month’s Exclaim, which I’ll link up when it goes up later today is live. He plays the Queen Elizabeth Theatre on April 8.

Southern Souls have posted a video session with The Balconies. They’re at the Drake Underground on February 10.

Kelowna.com talks to Joel Plaskett. He and the Thrush Hermit reunion are at Lee’s Palace on March 26 and 27.

Soundproof has an interview with Amy Millan, who is putting the solo thing on the back burner this year with both new Broken Social Scene and Stars records in the works.

Singing Lamb chats with Ohbijou’s Casey Mecija.

Those disappointed by the collateral damage from Fanfarlo’s canceled show last December will be pleased to know that the opener, Freelance Whales, will be joining the previously-announced Cymbals Eat Guitars tour and be at the El Mocambo on April 6. Express Night Out and The AV Club have features on the band, whose debut Weathervanes is getting a re-release on March 16.

And the best news of yesterday was that The National’s new album – previously rumoured to be entitled Shine but currently nameless – will be out in May and they’ll be on tour shortly thereafter with a Toronto date at Massey Hall on June 8. Massey Hall. This will be majestic. Ticket presale goes this morning at 10AM – your password is “bloodbuzz” – with tickets ranging in price from $32.50 to $53.50.

Frank YangAs is becoming something of a tradition for me, I once again spent Thanksgiving this year at a show rather than with family (we got together earlier in the weekend so stop judging me), though it was with a sort of extended family – labelmates in Loney Dear and Asobi Seksu (both on Polyvinyl) and country(wo)men in Loney Dear and Anna Ternheim (all Swedes). Yeah, that’s sort of a stretch but whatever.

There’d been some vagueness about the precise order of the sets – the infamous co-headline situation again – but it was certain that Ternheim would be first up. I’d listened to a few of her records including her latest, Leaving On A Mayday, and her songs, filled with that distinctly Swedish sort of melancholy, were of the sort that could easily go from small and folkish to big and orchestral and still sound right. So I was curious to see which direction she’d take them in a live setting and the answer, of course, was both. She started her set in solo acoustic fashion, showcasing her stark yet evocative voice to the dead silent room (it wasn’t especially full, no, but still) and then brought out a keyboardist for the second song to accompany her while she set the guitar down. She was then joined by Loney Dear’s band for the remainder of her performance and as striking as she was on her own, the bigger sound definitely won the day. The extra players gave her a rhythmic backbone and more importantly, a sweeping, dramatic dynamicism that honestly didn’t come across on record. Her set was woefully short due to being held-up at the border and generally getting lost, but if you consider the purpose of opening sets as to surprise and tantalize for more, then it was mission accomplished.

The question of whether Asobi Seksu would close the show or not was an ongoing one since it was announced, at least between me and myself. On one hand, they probably had the larger fanbase than Loney Dear and in terms of pacing, their deafening strobe-powered attack would be more logically suited to sending people home in a daze. On the other, this was their third show in Toronto in just over seven months so that fanbase’s attendance might not be such a given, particularly on a holiday, and considering their next record Rewolf was an acoustic affair and one that they’d already performed live, perhaps they would be keeping things more low-key? As it turned out they were indeed on second and no, they weren’t intending to turn down. As such, their set was much like the one at the El Mocambo back in March, mixing up the older, poppier songs with the Hush material, which still hasn’t really won me over. So familiar, yes, but still entertaining and actually a welcome jolt of energy for the night.

I think I was too harsh on Dear John when I wrote it up way back in January. Yes, it doesn’t stray far, either sonically or songwriterly (that’s a word now), from Emil Svanangen’s previous works under the Loney Dear marque, but I’m seeing now that’s because he’s fixated on capturing one specific mood or theme in music and much of what he creates are attempts to perfect it. Thankfully, his elusive goal is the moment where angst turns into elation and the sense of uplift that results and he expresses it with orchestral pop music. Of course. This was Loney Dear’s first stop in Toronto in a couple of years and a make-up for a failed attempt to visit back in May when their van broke down en route. And while that show at Lee’s in June 2007 was hardly a sell-out, those who were in attendance remember it fondly.

And those who were at the Horseshoe on this holiday Monday would likewise take away some warm memories of another wonderful show. Re-reading my review of the Lee’s show, I find myself at risk of repeating myself, but it bears repeating – Svanangen’s live band really took his songs to another level, deftly adding more bits of musical flourish and detail than four people with just two hands each really had any business doing in real time. And as such, they managed to recreate the richness of his compositions while still recasting and reconfiguring them enough to feel quite new. Particularly essential was backing vocalist Malin Stahlberg, who in addition to handling keys, guitar and percussion, sang most of Svanangen’s falsetto parts with more strength and bearing, and amazingly handled all of the tongue-twisting bridge of “I Am John” while Svanangen took the easy, “nah nah nahs”.

But as great as the band is, it’s still all about Svanangen. His permanently forlorn countenance is simultaneously at odds with yet perfectly suited for the sounds and songs he sings. Drawing material from across all his albums, the live setting proved a great equalizer for the production aesthetic of the recorded versions – the sparer arrangements of Sologne felt more fleshed out and Dear John’s mechanical aftertaste was made more organic, settling in that sweet spot that was Loney, Noir. The performance was splendid from the get-go but the undoubted highlight was when Svanangen stepped out to the front of the stage, unamplified, and sang (I think) “In With The Arms” to the house. Now he doesn’t have the most powerful voice, so it’s perhaps a good thing that the crowd was modestly sized and thus easier to silence, but doing that, and backed with Stahlberg’s harmonies, was simply perfection. In all, they played nearly 90 minutes including two encores though at no point in between did Svanangen leave the stage – no point going through the formality, we were going to keep them playing for as long as possible. And thought it finally did end, obviously, all three of Loney Dear’s last records have been a steady soundtrack for the days since the show. It makes my angst into elation and that’s just what I need right now.

Bradley’s Almanac is sharing MP3s of a show in Allston, Massachusetts from the tour in May of this year. The Justice and The AV Club have interviews with Anna Ternheim.

Photos: Loney Dear, Asobi Seksu, Anna Ternheim @ The Horseshoe – October 12, 2009
MP3: Loney Dear – “Ignorant Boy Beautiful Girl”
MP3: Loney Dear – “Airport Surroundings”
MP3: Loney, Dear – “I Am John”
MP3: Loney, Dear – “A Few Good Men”
MP3: Asobi Seksu – “Suzanne”
MP3: Asobi Seksu – “Me & Mary”
MP3: Asobi Seksu – “Familiar Light”
MP3: Asobi Seksu – “New Years”
MP3: Asobi Seksu – “Thursday”
MP3: Asobi Seksu – “Sooner”
MP3: Asobi Seksu – “Walk On The Moon”
MP3: Anna Ternheim – “What Have I Done”
MP3: Anna Ternheim – “To Be Gone”
Video: Loney Dear – “I Was Only Going Out”
Video: Loney Dear – “Airport Surroundings”
Video: Loney, Dear – “I Am John”
Video: Loney, Dear – “Saturday Waits”
Video: Asobi Seksu – “Transparence”
Video: Asobi Seksu – “Me & Mary”
Video: Asobi Seksu – “Thursday”
Video: Asobi Seksu – “Goodbye”
Video: Asobi Seksu – “Walk On The Moon”
Video: Anna Ternheim – “Today Is A Good Day”
Video: Anna Ternheim – “Summer Rain”
Video: Anna Ternheim – “Girl Laying Down”
Video: Anna Ternheim – “Shoreline”
Video: Anna Ternheim – “To Be Gone”
Video: Anna Ternheim – “I’ll Follow You Tonight”
MySpace: Loney Dear
MySpace: Asobi Seksu
MySpace: Anna Ternheim

Headlights, who were left playing on their own at the Rivoli in May when Loney Dear’s van broke down, have released a new video from new album Wilderness.

Video: Headlights – “Get Going”

The Swell Season’s new record Strict Joy is streaming at NPR in advance of its October 27 release date. They play Massey Hall on November 3. The Khaleej Times has an interview.

Stream: The Swell Season / Strict Joy

Singing Lamb talks to An Horse, who’ve just released a Daytrotter session and are playing at the Sound Academy tonight in support of Silversun Pickups.

The National Post talks to Wilco’s John Sitrratt while The AV Club gets Jeff Tweedy to respond to some of the random stuff written about him on the internet. They play the second of their two nights at Massey Hall tonight.

Singing Lamb and Metromix interview Grand Archives, who have released a new video from Keep In Mind Frankenstein. They’re at the Mod Club tonight.

Video: Grand Archives – “Oslo Novelist”

The Quietus talks to Bob Nastanovich about the upcoming Pavement reunion and confirms it’s a one-off with no new material. It gets started in Aukland, New Zealand in March of next year.

Paste chats with John Darnielle of The Mountain Goats. And note that copies of The Life Of The World To Come via ThinkIndie will come with a digital 13-track album of demos for the record.

The Pitch has an interview with Flaming Lips drummer Kliph Scurlock. It’s weird that the drummer is officially not Steve Drozd, considering he’s an amazing drummer. But whatever.

Stereogum gets a progress report on the new Caribou record.

Mew have set a date for the Mod Club on December 6.

Jonathan TaggartSaying I was a bit award-ed out following last week’s Polaris Prize gala would be something of an understatement, so the ceremonies for the Verge XM Awards the following night were largely ignored around these parts. But that doesn’t mean the results weren’t of interest – okay, Alexisonfire winning album of the year was of zero interest, but the declaration of Vancouver’s Dan Mangan as artist of the year certainly drew a double-take. This response had nothing to do with Mangan or his work, simply the fact that it’s a pretty heady honour to bestow on someone who’d only released his new album Nice, Nice, Very Nice a little over a month prior, though that was preceded by the Roboteering EP in the Spring. The whys and wherefores of that do interest me, but we’ll set that aside for now and just consider the record.

And it’s a good one. On the surface, it’s a tuneful collection of roots-rock/pop, hummably melodic and understatedly orchestrated, but what’s most compelling is the narrator that Mangan inhabits in his songs. Though his likeable rasp implies a certain forthrightness of character, that he’s the sort of guy who tells is straight and like it is, lyrically he’s much slipperier. Sardonic observer of the world around him one moment, absurdist storyteller the next, but I suppose when done right the two really aren’t all that different. You’re never sure if Mangan is telling tall tales or pouring his broken heart out because he does both with a twinkle in his eye; the unreliable narrator, the court jester, or just the guy perched on a barstool, it doesn’t really matter – there’s as much cosmic truth as fiction in these songs and either is where you find it. And if you’re just looking for some great songs, they’re here too. Artist of the Year still strikes me as a bit premature, but if Mangan is still finding himself up for awards in a year’s time or so, it wouldn’t surprise me a bit.

Mangan kicks off a cross-country tour this week and will be in Toronto in a couple weeks on October 16 for an in-store at Criminal Records on October 16 at 6PM and a gig proper at the Rivoli that night. Then it’s off to the UK and Europe. Okay, maybe he’s having a really good year after all. There’s features on Mangan at The Georgia Straight.

MP3: Dan Mangan – “Road Regrets”
MP3: Dan Mangan – “Robots”
Video: Dan Mangan – “The Indie Queens Are Waiting”
Stream: Dan Mangan / Roboteering
Stream: Dan Mangan / Nice, Nice, Very Nice
MySpace: Dan Mangan

As promised, Sloan are giving away a new song. “Take It Upon Yourself” is a Chris song that sounds like a Jay song (it’s the piano) and is available for frees in exchange for your email address.

Note that the Rural Alberta Advantage show originally scheduled for November 4 at Lee’s Palace has been moved to November 20 – tickets for the former date are still good. There’s an interview with frontman Nils Edenloff at The Maneater.

Forest City Lovers have completed their first 7″ single, available to pre-order now in advance of its November 10 release. Something to hold you over until they release album number three next year.

Portions of the Caribou Vibration Ensemble performance at All Tomorrow’s Parties NY have been made available to stream or download at the Free Music Archive, with word that a full live album may be forthcoming. The Toronto show was amazing – I expect this was nothing less.

MP3: The Caribou Vibration Ensemble – “Skunks”
MP3: The Caribou Vibration Ensemble – “Barnowl”
MP3: The Caribou Vibration Ensemble – “Brahminy Kite”
MP3: The Caribou Vibration Ensemble – “A Final Warning”

Handsome Furs have set a date for Lee’s Palace on December 5, tickets $15. No occasion, just bringing some rock.

MP3: Handsome Furs – “I’m Confused”

NPR has a World Cafe session with The Jayhawks.

Spinner has another video taken from the forthcoming live R.E.M. album Live At The Olympia, out October 27.

Video: R.E.M. – “Man-Sized Wreath” (live)

Long-time R.E.M. sideman and once-and-future Posie Ken Stringfellow has a new band of Norwegians called The Disciplines. It’s got a garage-ish bent, but there’s no suppressing Stringfellow’s canny pop sensibilities. They’re heading out for a North American tour next month, including a stop at the Velvet Underground in Toronto on October 22 ($8 in advance), and are also looking for places to crash in many of the cities on the itinerary and a Vox AC30 amp to borrow.

Video: The Disciplines – “Best Mistake”
Video: The Disciplines – “Yours For The Taking (Smoking Kills)”

AZCentral talks to the other principal in the Posies, Jon Auer.

City Pages Q&A’s Built To Spill, whose new record There Is No Enemy is out next week and who have Lee’s Palace reserved for two nights, October 6 and 7.

Epigram Music talks to Sufjan Stevens about his BQE project, out October 20. He plays Lee’s Palace on Thursday night, October 1.

St Vincent’s Annice clark talks to Radar Online about her contribution to the soundtrack to New Moon, which I’m content to know nothing about save for one of the protagonists sparkles. Clark also gives an interview to The Vanguard.

There’s a new video for the Taken By Trees cover of Animal Collective’s “My Girls”, from her new album East Of Eden.

Video: Taken By Trees – “My Boys”

Blurt has a feature on Monsters Of Folk, who will be at Massey Hall on November 2.

Frank YangIt’s been almost a year since Caribou’s Dan Snaith walked off the stage, giant cheque in hand, having been crowned the 2008 Polaris Music Prize winner for his stunning record Andorra. But since then, things have been largely silent in camp Caribou since then, as Snaith was presumably hard at work on the follow-up record.

Then in May, word of a live show for the Fall. Not a tour, but the sort of special event that happens when Wayne Coyne of The Flaming Lips calls up and asks you to come out of hiding and play a show at an old country club in the Catskills, aka ATPNY. And as befits such an occasion, rather than just call up his usual co-conspirators and play a typical Caribou show, Snaith went through his rolodex, gathered together folks from Four Tet, Junior Boys and Enon, amongst many others, and essentially assembled a super-sized Caribou, an uber-Caribou – The Caribou Vibration Ensemble.

So while the ATP performance this past weekend in Monticello, New York was the big event, Thursday night’s show at the Opera House in Toronto was much more than just a dress rehearsal. The opening act for the evening however, Koushik, may have been. Though Koushik is billed as a downbeat electronic/pop/hip-hop artist, on this night he/they were essentially 3/4 of the Caribou Vibration Ensemble – of which Koushik Ghosh was part of – in jamming mode. Not jamming in the sense of everyone on stage trading solos, but more establishing a solid, unshowy groove and building simple melodies over top. They played pretty much straight through, trading instruments and letting things go where they would, then wrapping it after about 30 minutes – right about where hypnotic began to give way to tedious. Wise.

After about a half-hour intermission, Caribou took the stage, less a band than an orchestra with distinct sections (brass over here, massive percussion setup in the middle, strings in back, keys and electronics over here) and at a full fifteen members, dwarfed the nine-piece configuration of the openers. Now at this point, I have to offer context – or lack of. I’d only gotten into Caribou during the Polaris process last year, so I’d never seen them live and further had never really listened to any of the albums previous to Andorra, so frames of reference for the performance and reinvention of the songs is limited at best. But in this instance, I think that’s alright because doing things the way they were was entirely beside the point of the evening.

Across approximately 90 minutes and ranging through the two Caribou records and one Manitoba album, the Ensemble took Snaith’s already widescreen compositions and enhanced by an impressive light show, blew them up into IMAX-scale. Describable at various points thought the set – and sometimes within a song – as electronica, jazz, tribal, psychedelic or noise but never losing sight of the pop roots, the Caribou Vibration Ensemble was a sight to behold and a sound to be heard. The high points would have been the vocal numbers – a choral “Melody Day” and Jeremy Greenspan-sung “She’s The One” – had they been properly audible. Note to sound guy – when six people gather around the mics at the front of the stage, that might be a hint that you should turn them on in the PA. As it was, from up front they were still audible enough to impress but those should have been the show-stoppers.

Those complaints aside, it was still a wholly impressive and memorable evening and I can only imagine how terrific their set was at ATP – surely standouts of an absurdly stacked lineup. And now Snaith returns to crafting the third Caribou record and the rest of us return to waiting patiently, though he’s already on record as saying it will be a departure from the classic pop of Andorra. Holding up this experience as a benchmark for future Caribou live performances is also probably unreasonable, but that’s fine – it works quite well as one of those unique experiences that I feel lucky to have been able to witness. eye and Exclaim have reviews of the show while NOW was on hand to catch some video.

Photos: The Caribou Vibration Ensemble, Koushik @ The Opera House – September 10, 2009
MP3: Caribou – “Melody Day”
MP3: Caribou – “Barnowl”
Video: Caribou – “She’s The One”
Video: Caribou – “Melody Day”
Video: Caribou – “Irene”
Video: Caribou – “Hummingbird”
MySpace: Caribou
MySpace: Koushik

And to anyone who enjoyed – as I did – watching Caribou’s touring drummer Brad Weber beat the tar out of his kit for both the Caribou and Koushik sets, note that he has his own band in Pick A Piper and they will be at the Horseshoe this coming Friday, September 18, as part of the 100th show celebrations for local promoters No Shame. Also playing are Green Go, Ruby Coast and The Skeletones Four. This is something you should attend.

Land Of Talk have released a new MP3 from their forthcoming Fun & Laughter EP, out October 13. It dost scorch.

MP3: Land Of Talk – “May You Never”

The Hidden Cameras have finally added the hometown finale to their massive Fall tour in support of new album Origin:Orphan, out September 22, by scheduling what’s sure to be an over-the-top show at the Opera House on December 5.

Video: The Hidden Cameras – “In The NA”

And if you don’t want to wait till Winter for a little Hidden Cameras fix, consider heading out to James St in Hamilton come October 9 for Supercrawl, a combination street fair, art show and music festival that will be headlined by the aforementioned Hidden Cameras and also feature performances from Ohbijou and many more. And it’s an excuse to go to Hamilton. Who doesn’t want to go to Hamilton?

A whole mess of new videos meeting Can-con requirements hit the web last week. Great Lake Swimmers released a new one from Lost Channels. There’s features on the band at The Courier-Journal and Nashville Scene.

Video: Great Lake Swimmers – “Still”

ChartAttack talks to Amy Millan about her new solo record Masters Of The Burial, out next week, as well as what’s going on with her bands Stars and Broken Social Scene. She plays the Mod Club on October 14 and has a new video from her new album.

Video: Amy Millan – “Bury This”

Also with a new vid are Cuff The Duke, who’ve got a two-night stand at the Horseshoe on October 16 and 17. There’s interviews with the band at Metro and The Corrie Tandem.

Video: Cuff The Duke – “Promises”

Oh No Forest Fires went wandering in a Newfoundland forest and refrained from setting any fires, instead they shot a live video. They’re part of a stacked bill at Lee’s Palace next Friday night, September 25, with The Balconies, Fox Jaws and Whale Tooth.

Video: Oh No Forest Fires – “New Cove Road Back Home” (Live in a Forest)

ChartAttack spends some time with Two Hours Traffic. They’ve got a gig at Lee’s Palace on October 16.

Threadless has a video interview with t-shirt models The Rural Alberta Advantage, and they’re also asking for help to name a new song.

The Line Of Best Fit declared last week Bella Union week, in honour of the UK label who brings the likes of Ohbijou and The Acorn to adoring British masses, and in an apparent show of solidarity with the label’s website, which went AWOL, TLOBF too went offline. But they’re back now and I can point you at a few of the features they offered including a guide to west Scotland from My Latest Novel, an interview between label boss Simon Raymonde and Midlake (new album forthcoming entitled The Courage of Others) and Ohbijou have put together a “get to know Canada” crossword puzzle. Of course, Line Of Best Fit readers are already well-acquainted with the Great White North thanks to their series of Oh! Canada posts and mixes, the fourth volume of which is now available to download.