Frank YangWednesday night’s in-store at Criminal Records had something for everyone. For The Besnard Lakes, it was an opportunity to refine the translation of their just-released new record The Besnard Lakes Are The Roaring Night into live performance before setting out on a world tour that would take them and their much-anticipated new album across Europe and North America. For those in attendance, it was a chance to be amongst the first anywhere to hear the new songs live and in an intimate – and free – setting, without having to endure the crowds that would surely be jamming the Horseshoe last night at their official Canadian Musicfest last night. Win-win.

That said, the brightly-lit retail outlet was an unusual setting for a band as much about atmosphere as the Besnards. Partway through the set, bassist Olga Goreas mentioned how much she was missing their signature smoke machine and a little bit of that probably would have better set the mood for the show, through which the audience sat almost too-respectfully silent on the floor of the store. Instead, all the mood would have to come from the music – epic in scope and massive in weight and probably requiring more hands to reproduce live, not less. Yet the departure of keyboardist Nicole Lizee after the touring cycle for The Besnard Lakes Are The Dark Horse was done left the band as a four-piece and as such, frontman Jace Lasek had to augment his guitar-playing and pedal-stomping with laptop and keyboard duties. And while they probably could have gotten away with simply playing louder, the extra care taken to reproduce the fullness of the Roaring Night material was appreciated.

The set was made up mostly of new material which, with the record having been officially available for less than 48 hours, was probably unfamiliar to much of the audience but they did throw the fans a bone with a single number off of Dark Horse before going even further back – I assume from their debut Volume 1 – for a closing number that sounded almost completely unlike their present-day material. It wasn’t the most engaging Besnard Lakes show I’d ever seen – as befit a dress rehearsal of sorts, they were concentrating more on the playing than the performing – but I’m sure that by the time they return to town, with The Roaring Night fully road-tested, it’ll be something to behold. And there’ll be the smoke-machine.

Spinner, Chart, The Montreal Gazette, hour.ca, The List, The Montreal Mirror, CBC and NOW all have feature pieces on the Besnard Lakes.

Photos: The Besnard Lakes @ Criminal Records – March 10, 2010
MP3: The Besnard Lakes – “Albatross”
MP3: The Besnard Lakes – “And You Lied To Me”
MP3: The Besnard Lakes – “For Agent 13″
Video: The Besnard Lakes – “For Agent 13″
Video: The Besnard Lakes – “Devastation”
Stream: The Besnard Lakes / The Besnard Lakes Are The Roaring Night
MySpace: The Besnard Lakes

Spinner talks to Think About Life, who play Lee’s Palace tonight at 1AM.

John O’Regan of Diamond Rings graces the cover of this week’s eye, who also talk to his bandmate in The D’Urbervilles, Tim Bruton. Diamond Rings the Silver Dollar tonight at midnight, while The D’Urbs are up at 10PM at the Garrison.

Torontoist questions Dan Mangan, who plays the Courthouse tonight at 11PM, Criminal Records tomorrow at 6PM and the Horseshoe on April 22.

eye takes a look inside the apartment of Rural Alberta Advantage frontman Nils Edenloff. It’s okay, they were invited. Spinner settles for a chat.

The Toronto Star, Lucid Forge and Torontoist talk to Woodhands, who have just announced they’ll be playing tonight (!) at Wrongbar as a last-minute CMF addition – tickets are $12.50, on sale now.

Chart interviews The Balconies, whom they’re rightly declared a hot act. Witness the hotness at the Horseshoe Saturday night at 9:20PM

The Sadies will release their new album, entitled Darker Circles, on May 18. Live dates are sure to follow, but I’m going to go out on a limb right now and say they’ll be at the Horseshoe on December 31.

The National Post Q&A’s Great Lake Swimmers.

The Weakerthans will celebrate the release of their live CD/DVD set Live At The Burton Cummings Theatre on March 23 with an in-store performance at Sonic Boom on March 24 at 5PM. Maybe they can play in front of the Burton Cummings vinyl section. They’ve also got a date at the Queen Elizabeth Theatre on May 26.

MP3: The Weakerthans – “Plea From A Cat Named Virtue”
Video: The Weakerthans – “Tournament Of Hearts” (live)

Popolio has a quick interview with Ume. They’re playing Eastbound & Down during SxSW at 2:05PM.

Filter and Michigan Live talk to Ted Leo. The Filter piece is a two-parter.

Patterson Hood of Drive-By Truckers talks to Spinner about their next-next record, which will follow next week’s release of The Big To-Do with Go-Go Boots before the year is out. The Truckers are doubling up their next visit to Toronto with two nights at Lee’s Palace, April 6 and 7.

Spinner talks to Centro-Matic.

My Morning Jacket drummer Patrick Hallahan tells Spinner he’s glad the band took a break.

The Scotsman interviews Spoon, who are at the Sound Academy on March 29.

Spin checks in with The Thermals, who are in the studio working on their next album Personal Life, due out September 7.

Rolling Stone has words with Midlake. They play The Mod Club on May 25.

Sharon Van Etten talks to Spinner. She is at the Horseshoe on April 5.

hour.ca interviews Joanna Newsom, who plays a sold-out show at The Phoenix on Saturday night.

She & Him are the subject of features at Spinner and Billboard. Volume 2 is out March 23 and they play The Phoenix on June 9.

Soiree de poche has a video session with Beach House, who have a sold-out show at The Opera House on March 30 and are also playing the Toronto Islands Concert on June 19.

Blurt and Spinner have features on Wye Oak, here opening up for Shearwater on April 1.

Spinner talks to Phantogram, who will be at Supermarket tonight at 1AM.

Spin has debuted the video for the title track of Black Rebel Motorcycle Club’s new album Beat The Devil’s Tattoo. They are at The Phoenix on April 1 and again on April 11.

Video: Black Rebel Motorcycle Club – “Beat The Devil’s Tattoo”

Echo & The Bunnymen are sharing another track from their latest record The Fountain. They are at The Phoenix on April 23.

MP3: Echo & The Bunnymen – “Proxy”

Serena-Maneesh will release their new album S-M 2: Abyss In B Minor on March 23 and are not only streaming the whole thing, but they’ve debuted a new video over at Stereogum. They will be at the Great Hall on April 2.

Video: Serena-Maneesh – “I Just Want To See Your Face”
Stream: Serena-Maneesh / S-M 2: Abyss In B Minor

Swedish folk sister act First Aid Kit have set a North American tour for June and will be at the Rivoli in Toronto on June 12. Their debut Drunken Trees came out last year.

MP3: First Aid Kit – “I Met Up With The King”
MP3: First Aid Kit – “You’re Not Coming Home Tonight”

Shout Out Louds have released a new mini-documentary about the making of their latest record, the just-released Work. They play the Mod Club on May 8.

Video: Shout Out Louds “At Work”

Drowned In Sound has posted the first of a multi-part interview with Jonsi. Go is out March 23 and he plays the Sound Academy on April 30 and May 1.

Under The Radar interviews The Mary Onettes.

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.

Out Of This SparkAnniversaries are those sorts of things that seem to keep coming around – every year or so, by my count – and so it is that just twelve months following their last “happy birthday to us” thrown down, Toronto label Out Of This Spark is doing it again. To mark their third anniversary, Out Of This Spark is commandeering The Garrison next Friday night, January 22, and putting on a show, Little Rascals-style.

On the bill will be The D’Urbervilles, Forest City Lovers, Evening Hymns and Jenny Omnichord – and yes, three of the four played last year’s show. It’s not an expansive roster, folks. Both The D’Urbs and Forest City Lovers are readying new records for 2010, Evening Hymns are still celebrating the late 2009 of their wonderful Spirit Guides and Jenny Omnichord’s last release was 2008’s Charlotte Or Otis: Duets For Children, Their Parents, And Other People Too.

Tickets for the show are $8 in advance and $10 at the door, but consider this your personal engraved invitation – courtesy of Out Of This Spark, I’ve got a pair of passes to give away for the show so if you’ve always dreamt of saying, “I’m on the list”, email me at contests AT chromewaves.net with “I am out of this spark” in the subject line and your full name in the body, and get that in to me before midnight, January 20.

MP3: The D’Urbervilles – “Hot Tips”
MP3: Forest City Lovers – “Scared Of Time”
MP3: Evening Hymns – “Broken Rifle”

Grand CrewSo everybody’s holidays going well? Been catching up with friends and family, perhaps indulging in a little post-holiday retail therapy? That’s largely been my last few days, and in between all that, watching lots and Lost and lots of television. So in the spirit of that sloth, here’s some stuff for y’all to watch – particularly if you, like me, are stuck at work this week.

Grand Crew is a site based out of France that I hadn’t heard of until last week, when they began spreading the word that they had a beautifully-shot, wonderfully recorded and intelligently-presented – check out the timeline/song-selector at the bottom – multi-camera concert of a solo Mountain Goats show in Paris from October of this year. John Darnielle and company have yet to tour The Life Of The World To Come up this way – hopefully in the new year – so until then, this recording will have to suffice. And wholly impressed by this show, some digging through the archives revealed similarly high-quality performances from The Big Pink, The xx and Micachu, amongst others. Worth taking some time out to enjoy, and that club looks beautiful to shot in – tasteful smoke machine, front-lighting… my shutter button-finger is getting twitchy.

The Big Pink are at the Mod Club on March 24. The xx are at the Kool Haus on April 20.

Video: The Mountain Goats @ Point Ephémère, Paris – October 13, 2009
Video: The xx @ Point Ephémère, Paris – April 29, 2009
Video: The Big Pink @ Point Ephémère, Paris – April 29, 2009
Video: Micachu & The Shapes @ Point Ephémère, Paris – April 21, 2009

Also coming out of Paris are a couple more noteworthy performance courtesy of La Blogotheque – a Take-Away Show from The Antlers and a Soiree de poche (pocket evening?) from The Dodos.

A bit closer to home, Southern Souls have posted a new performance from Diamond Rings, who you have no shortage of opportunities to see live over the next while – he’s performing at the big Tranzac New Year’s Eve throwdown happening, um, New Year’s Eve at the Tranzac, then opening up for Owen Pallett at the Mod Club on January 12 then at the Roundhouse on February 11 as part of Wavelength 500. And now’s as good a time as any to remind you that The D’Urbervilles, aka Diamond Rings’ rock’n'roll outfit, are playing The Drake Underground tonight as part of What’s In The Box. Spinner talks to John O’Regan about how things are coming with The D’Urbs’ next record.

And finally, Ohbijou stopped in at Toro Magazine’s studios for a video performance of “Jailbird Blues”.

Frank YangPeople traditionally go to great lengths to avoid getting a lump of coal for Christmas but there’s something to be said for getting a big pile of rock for the holidays. And it was rock – and lots of it – on offer Saturday night at the Horseshoe for Jingle Bell Rock, an evening presented by promotions company Audio Blood Media and media partners aux.tv and Exclaim. The lineup featured four bands from the Audio Blood roster – Oh No Forest Fires, Make Your Exit, Clothes Make The Man and The Balconies. The opener and closer were personal live favourites so even though I didn’t know the middle acts at all, odds were pretty good that it’d be a great show.

I’d seen The Balconies a couple times since they moved to Toronto from Ottawa and began gigging their asses off, and they’ve yet to deliver anything but a cracking good set. As always, the power pop of their self-titled debut was lean and lethal and the trio had energy and charisma to spare, rewarding those who’d had the foresight to show up early with a terrific set. I was recently asked in a sort-of poll for a UK website what my Canuck tip for 2010 was – I went with The Balconies, calling them “an inevitability” (do I need quotes to quote myself?). This show was a reminder of why. Their next local gig is January 6 at Supermarket.

From there it was into the, “…and you are?” portion of the night. Clothes Make The Man were certainly keeping in the rock theme of the night, perhaps moreso than any of the others. You had to feel for frontman Ryan McLennan’s vocal cords, so throat-shredding and raw was his delivery but even so, was still able to carry a melody and even convey some gentleness when called for. Which, honestly, wasn’t that often – the quartet was here to be loud and heavy and just tuneful enough. Mission accomplished.

Make Your Exit had a decidedly different mandate, playing the role of sensitive, jam-friendly collective for the evening. Their set was all grand arrangements, emotive melodies and layered harmonies – enough to put most of those around me into a collective swoon but leaving me largely umoved. Certainly I was able to appreciate the musical ability on display, objectively, but any grab for the heartstrings missed the target. Hey, win some, lose some.

Oh No Forest Fires were, as the kids say, made of win and provided just the jolt of energy I needed to make it through the remainder of the night. Led by frontman and human superball Rajiv Thavanathan, their gleeful, ADD-addled prog-punk had the band bouncing around the stage as the blew through material from their debut mini-album The War On Geometry which, in the spirit of the season, they were offering for free to anyone who asked for a copy. Also festive was their set’s finale, which saw the Horseshoe stage being swarmed by most/all the other bands and those who put on the show for a madcap Christmas medley of “Silent Night” and “Feliz Navidad” that would have made Jose Feliciano proud… assuming he’s secretly a musical anarchist. A fitting cap to a holiday celebration the way they all ought to be – sweaty and ear-bleeding.

Photos: Oh No Forest Fires, Make Your Exit, Clothes Make The Man, The Balconies @ The Horseshoe – December 12, 2009
MP3: Oh No Forest Fires – “Robin The Boy Wonders”
MP3: Oh No Forest Fires – “It’s Not Fun And Games Until Someone Loses An Eye”
MP3: Make Your Exit – “Through The Winter”
MP3: Clothes Make The Man – “Telescopes”
MP3: The Balconies – “Serious Bedtime”
MP3: The Balconies – “300 Pages”
MP3: The Balconies – “Smells Like Secrets”
Video: Clothes Make The Man – “Privy”
Video: Clothes Make The Man – “Singles Only”
MySpace: Clothes Make The Man

Since this has started out as a sort of holiday post, now’s as good a time as any to round up some of the many, many, many seasonal musical giveaways that seems to be popular right now. Lucky Soul have gathered all the artists on their own Ruffa Lane label to give away a Christmas tune. They’ve themselves done a cover of Mud’s “Lonely This Christmas”, Montt Mardié has discoed up Wham!’s “Last Christmas” while Swedish glammers Napoleon and London folkies Grantura offer original compositions. Lucky Soul’s second album A Coming Of Age is currently on target for a March 2010 release.

MP3: Lucky Soul – “Lonely This Christmas”
MP3: Montt Mardié featuring Le Sport & Mr Suitcase – “Last Christmas”
MP3: Napoleon featuring Ali Howard – “Midnight Train to Arhus”
MP3: Grantura – “Holly”

Dean & Britta are giving away both sides of their 2008 Christmas single, a cover of Roger Miller’s “Old Toy Trains” and “(S)He’s Coming Home” by The Wailers. And as an early Christmas gift to longtime fans, The Line Of Best Fit reports that all three Galaxie 500 albums will be reissued on March 22 of next year by Domino Records in deluxe CD format, each album featuring a bonus disc previously released by Rykodisc on its own, and on heavy 180-gram vinyl. More immediately gratifying these interviews with Dean Wareham and Britta Phillips at Ladygunn.

Anni Rossi is offering a special gift to those who sign up to her mailing list; Future Sounds reports said gift is an EP of Christmas tunes, one of which is “Silver Bells”.

MP3: Anni Rossi – “Silver Bells”

Jason Lytle is celebrating the holidays by giving away a free EP at his Bandcamp site.

Ear Farm has curated a terrific album of holiday tunes featuring artists such as Asobi Seksu, Sharon Van Etten and Julie Doiron, and is selling it for a paltry $5 with all proceeds going to benefit the Association to Benefit Children.

Looking past Christmas – as in the day after – the Drake Hotel has released the lineup for their annual “What’s In The Box?” Boxing Week concert series. As always, cover is $5 and some of the performers helping make sure those of us still working through the last week of December are bleary-eyed and unproductive are The D’Urbervilles, By Divine Right, Pick A Piper and many more.

Also hosting a series of shows that week with a food drive angle is The Garrison – specifics are still forthcoming but a list of some of the bands participating has gone up over at Stille Post.

Toronto label Out Of This Spark will make the end of the holidays and return to the humdrum of the working week a little more bearable on January 22 when they hold their third anniversary bash at the Garrison. The bill will feature The D’Urbervilles, Forest City Lovers, Evening Hymns and Jenny Omnichord – a lot like this year’s lineup.

Looking a little further ahead, New York synth-pop duo Phantogram will be at the Drake on February 20, tickets $10. Their debut full-length Eyelid Movies will be out on February 9 of next year.

MP3: Phantogram – “When I’m Small”

The Morning Benders will return to the Drake Underground, where they played in February, on April 14 as part of a North American tour in support of their new album Big Echo, out March 9. Tickets for the show are $11.50.

MP3: The Morning Benders – “Waiting For A War”

Yeasayer, who are directing all their website traffic to the one specially set up for their new single “Ambling Alp”, will be at Lee’s Palace on May 1 in support of their new album Odd Blood, out February 9. Tickets $18. There’s an interview with singer Chris Keating at BBC Radio 1.

MP3: Yeasayer – “Ambling Alp”
Video: Yeasayer – “Ambling Alp”