FacebookI am going to go out on a limb and say that Fetus Dreams, the debut full-length from Toronto’s Heartbeat Hotel, is the best free complete album you can and should download today. And not just because all it’ll cost you is 78 MB of hard disk space and a half hour of your time

The ambient/electro psychedelic pop of Fetus Dreams has got some of that meandering Grizzly Projector Collective vibe that the kids are so into these days – probably a selling point for some but not really for me – but they maintain focus sufficiently to make sure that the pop side of things doesn’t take a back seat to the trippy. There’s a few punchy guitar rock moments that speak to the shoegazer in me but what I find most compelling is how they manage to so effortlessly evoke the golden era of Elephant 6, particularly the Olivia Tremor Control camp, without sounding like they’re trying. In fact I would be surprised if asking them whether they preferred the songs of Will Cullen Hart or Bill Doss was met with a blank stare (though I also wouldn’t be surprised if the had a shrine erected to them in their rehearsal space).

Point being, while they don’t necessarily transcend their influences, they use them well while hanging onto their own personalities. They’re on to something and that something is good. There’s no local dates on the horizon but I’ll be keeping an eye out.

MP3: Heartbeat Hotel – “Fins Of A Shark”
MP3: Heartbeat Hotel – “Walls Of Dry Clouds”
MP3: Heartbeat Hotel – “The Hello Barrel”
Album: Heartbeat Hotel / Fetus Dreams
MySpace: Heartbeat Hotel

The Georgia Straight profiles Wolf Parade.

Radio Free Canuckistan offers some ruminations on hanging out with Arcade Fire on the (figurative) eve of release of The Suburbs while The New York Times has a feature and Exclaim talks to bassist Tim Kinsbury. The official release date is this coming Tuesday but local retailers appear to have the go-ahead to start selling the double-vinyl this weekend. Arcade Fire play the Toronto Islands on August 14 and their show at Madison Square Garden next Thursday will be streamed live on YouTube starting at 10PM EDT, and the show will be directed by Terry Gilliam – which means you can expect a giant foot to come down and crush the band at the climax of “Power Out”.

The Sadies have released a new video from Darker Circles. They join Arcade Fire on the Island on August 14.

Video: The Sadies – “Cut Corners”

Sarah Harmer has released a new video from Oh Little Fire

Video: Sarah Harmer – “Captive”

FFWD profiles Dan Mangan.

Chart talks to Mark Hamilton of Woodpigeon about his upcoming record(s). The vinyl edition of Balladeer, which was originally released as a companion disc to this year’s Die Stadt Muzikanten, now exists and will be available for sale soon. Woodpigeon play a noon-hour show at Yonge-Dundas Square on October 6.

Jason Collett will make up for his cancelled show at Mod which was supposed to happen last week with a solo acoustic date at the Church Of The Redeemer on November 11, part of his coast-to-coast “Undressed Tour”.

MP3: Jason Collett – “Love Is A Dirty Word”

Spin asks Metric where they got their name. Metric explains.

They were originally supposed to unveil a new video from Forgiveness Rock Record, but Broken Social Scene have decided to keep that under wraps until next week. PitchforkTV has your BSS video fix, though, as the band is featured in the debut of a new interactive multi-camera video session series called POV.

The Line Of Best Fit and A Pocket Full Of Seeds talk to Tokyo Police Club. There’s also a video session with the band at Baeble Music.

Born Ruffians tell Chart that they dig Bill Murray. And if you do too, then this interview at GQ and this bit of satire (yes) at Christwire. Because they’re funny.

Black Mountain are sharing a couple MP3s from the forthcoming Wilderness Heart, out September 14.

MP3: Black Mountain – “Hair Song”
MP3: Black Mountain – “Old Fangs”

Boise Weekly talks to The New Pornographers’ Carl Newman.

Caribou talks to aux.tv whilst dropping a new video from Swim.

Video: Caribou – “Sun”

Spinner talks to Holy Fuck.

Pitchfork is streaming Fucked Up’s new epic-length single “The Year Of The Ox”, which will be out on 12″ come September 28.

The Toronto Star talks to Daniel Lanois about the new Neil Young record, which he is producing. He intends to premiere some of the new songs at Nuit Blanche in October. The Guardian also has some details on the forthcoming Archives : Volume Two due out… oh let’s not even play that game.

Scott Pilgrim Vs The World director Edgar Wright is the cover story in this month’s Exclaim and CTV has a feature piece on the comic. And head over here for a sweet Google Maps mashup of Scott Pilgrim’s Toronto.

Ryan MarrToronto’s Forest City Lovers began essentially as a pseudonym for singer-songwriter Kat Burns, and while ably assisted by members of Toronto’s burgeoning music community her debut The Sun & The Wind was accordingly spare, but still gave hints to her broader pop ambitions. 2008′s Haunting Moon Sinking found Forest City Lovers no longer a pseudonym but a proper band and accordingly, it was a much fuller and rangier affair with a few moments of pure pop bounce amidst the more contemplative numbers. It made clear that talent-wise, Forest City Lovers had the potential to be one of the city, if not the country’s, finer pop bands though to make the grab for that brass ring seemed at odds with the understated charm that seemed to be such a fundamental part of their appeal. How would they reconcile that, if at all?

The answer comes in the form of Carriage. Their third album, released this week, is the sort of record that you always hope that a band you believe in will make, but don’t really expect for fear of being disappointed. Somehow Forest City Lovers have managed to make a game-changer of an album without actually changing their game – the core of their sound, Burns’ insightful and evocative lyrics delivered with her gentle, hint-of-smoke vocals, are intact and front and centre but this time out they’re cast against type in some big pop arrangements and damn if they don’t more than rise to the challenge.

Bookended by different versions of both sides of last year’s Phodilus and Tyto 7″, Carriage comes with a wealth of fresh ideas and it seems the more unexpected the turn, the more rewarding the outcome. Perhaps the best example of this is the confidently off-kilter “Minneapolis”, whose two minutes and forty seconds boasts one of the most infectious choruses you’re likely to hear anywhere this year. It’s pretty much the sort of song that you’d have thought Forest City Lovers would be great at but never would have expected them to write, and that feeling of both surprise and satisfaction permeates the record. The presence of new drummer Christian Ingelevics is surely a big part of the album’s heightened energy – he’s certainly brought such to their live show – and perhaps the decision to work with an outside producer for the first time is also part of it, though the record still maintains much of the of intimate, unvarnished vibe of the earlier recordings. But I think that most of the growth on Carriage can be attributed to a band that was simply ready to take that next step and decided to make it a huge leap forward. So very, very rewarding.

I Heart Music also has a review of the album and is offering a download of “Minneapolis”, also his pick as the key song on the record. Exclaim couples their review with a quick interview and Soundproof, The National Post and Chart have features on the band. Forest City Lovers start a three-week North American tour this weekend and will play a hometown record release show at the Great Hall on August 12, preceded by an in-store at Soundscapes on August 10, before heading back out on the road in September.

MP3: Forest City Lovers – “Light You Up”
MP3: Forest City Lovers – “If I Were A Tree”
Video: Forest City Lovers – “If I Were A Tree”
MySpace: Forest City Lovers

Left-field Vancouver art-poppers Apollo Ghosts are touring their Polaris Prize-nominated album Mount Benson right across Canada and are making two stops in Toronto – on July 27 for an in-store performance at Criminal Records at 7PM and then after hitting the east coast, will double back and wrap things up on August 6 at Sneaky Dee’s with Dog Day.

MP3: Apollo Ghosts – “Coka Cola Admen”
MP3: Apollo Ghosts – “Things You Go Through”

The Take interviews The Balconies.

Chart talks to The Sadies, who will ring in Canada Day with a free show at Harbourfront Centre tonight.

Great Lake Swimmers have released a new video from last year’s Lost Channels.

Video: Great Lake Swimmers – “River’s Edge”

Also with a new video are Black Mountain, whose Wilderness Heart is out September 14. They’re at the Horseshoe on July 23.

Video: Black Mountain – “Old Fangs”

The Line Of Best Fit talks to Mark Hamilton of Woodpigeon. They’ll be back in town on October 6 to play a free noon-hour show at Yonge-Dundas Square.

Washington City Paper and Philadelphia Weekly talk to Carl Newman of The New Pornographers, whose performance in Washington DC last week is available to stream over at NPR.

Pornographer going solo Kathryn Calder has released another MP3 from her forthcoming debut Are You My Mother?, out August 10.

MP3: Kathryn Calder – “Arrow”

CBC, Chart and Exclaim interview members of Stars. They are at Massey Hall on October 23.

John O’Regan of Diamond Rings offers The Line Of Best Fit a guide to his Toronto.

The Vancouver Sun talks to Shad, who’s at the Kool Haus on October 1.

Clash interviews Emily Haines of Metric. The video for their Twilight theme song is now available to swoon at. They’re at the Molson Amphitheatre on Friday, July 9

Video: Metric – “Twilight (All Yours)”

Supporting Metric on that show are Holy Fuck; hour.ca has an interview.

Rae Spoon will release Love Is A Hunter, the follow up to 2008′s excellent Superioryouareinferior, on August 17 and the first MP3 is available to download.

MP3: Rae Spoon – “You Can Dance”

The Hidden Cameras will play two intimate shows at the Lower Ossington Theatre on August 5 and 6 as part of the Summerworks theatre and film festival. According to Chart, they will be taking the opportunity to reimagine their last album Origin: Orphan as a theatrical work. Tickets for the shows are just $10.

MP3: The Hidden Cameras – “Walk On”

Half of this Take-Away Show with Land Of Talk was posted a couple weeks ago but the second video posted at Le Blogotheque, presumably a track from Cloak & Cipher, is the real jaw-dropper. So very excited for this record, which will be out August 24.

Exclaim talks to members of Wolf Parade.

PunkNews interviews Mike Haliechuk of Fucked Up.

Harbourfront Centre’s Love Saskatchewan festival will feature free performances from Rah Rah and Library Voices on July 23 and July 25, respectively. And with lots of Saskatchewan-related goodness in between.

Tourisme Montreal talks to Basia Bulat, who was there last week for the Montreal Jazz Festival.

Wired interviews Scott Pilgrim director Edgar Wright and star Michael Cera. Hilarity ensues. Pitchfork also talks to Broken Social Scene’s Brendan Canning about their contributions to the film soundtrack.

The National Post examines the state of the Summer concert season.

Happy Canada Day, everyone. I am marking this auspicious occasion by leaving the country. I’m off to New York City for an extended long weekend – I think these are called vacations. We’ll see how it goes.

Frank Yang“Thanks for coming out on such short notice.” It was hard to tell if Win Butler was smirking when he said this, midway through the first night of Arcade Fire’s surprise two-night stand at the Music Hall in Toronto this past Friday night. After all, they had given the city just over 48 hours notice that these performances would be happening – though they did offer teasers throughout the week – prompting a mad scramble of canceled plans and fake sick days so that fans could line up for the one-per-person admission wristbands that only went on sale the day of the show.

It was the latest in a series of warm-up shows for the band, starting last week with a private house show in Montreal, through a couple of theatre shows in Sherbrooke, Quebec and a free parking lot performance in Longueuil, all serving to get the band back in game shape and build anticipation for their third album The Suburbs, due out August 3. Of course, accomplishing the latter didn’t require much effort on the band’s part save to announce that the record actually existed – since wrapping up their tours in support of 2007′s Neon Bible, the Montrealers have done remarkably well at keeping out of the public eye and secretive about what they’d be doing next and when.

The need for a retreat following Neon Bible was understandable. It was a tremendously heavy record, both from the weight of expectations as the follow-up to the universally-praised Funeral and its thematic burdens, being informed by the very height (or depths) or the Bush years. The resulting combination of ambition, angst and anxiety made for an album that tried to be grander than its predecessor and while it had more than its share of moments, ultimately came feeling insular and leaden and a relative disappointment. So while the first samples of The Suburbs that were released a couple of weeks ago didn’t immediately induct themselves into the Arcade Fire songbook hall of fame, they did seem to indicate that the band were taking a looser, more spontaneous approach to their songwriting – certainly a good start.

Which brings us back to Friday night and a familiar band in a familiar setting. It was at this same Music Hall on the Danforth that the Arcade Fire played a now-legendary three-night stand just over half a decade ago, and their first time back since their two nights at Massey Hall in May 2007. But rather than fill the bill with warm-up acts that would become huge themselves, this time out it was just Arcade Fire… and a thousand people who’d been waiting a long time to see them again. And at 8:30PM sharp, there was the roar of the audience as the band took the stage, the whoosh of seats being evacuated as the audience rushed the stage and the sound of Arcade Fire breaking into the aptly-named new composition “Ready To Start”… and we were off.

Though the 90-minute set would be heavily loaded with new material, it was well-sequenced to keep interest and energy up – the atmosphere was electric for the propulsive opener and then the even more driving (and familar via the single) “Month Of May”, but with the familiar opening chords of “Neighbourhood #1 (Tunnels)”, the crowd found another level of freak out. And so the show went – a brace of new songs and then a handful of classics, providing ample opportunity to compare and contrast the songs that will comprise The Suburbs with the old stuff. What I noticed most about the new material was that it felt less epic in scale, but deliberately so – as though they decided in writing that constantly trying to outdo themselves was the wrong way to go. The songs were more focused on finding a groove and riding that rather than attempting to jump the tracks at a certain point to grab sky, and had a more classic rock vibe about them – don’t expect the Springsteen comparisons that cropped up with the last record to go away. The lack of the big, anthemic moments might have disappointed some, but it really did feel as though the band had unclenched and were feeling more comfortable in themselves – it’s probably not a coincidence that Neon Bible‘s black uniform stage garb had been traded in for something in a lighter shade of blue. And while there were some obvious standouts in the new stuff – both “Modern Man” and “Rococo” had people in the audience looking at each other and nodding, “yes” – odds are The Suburbs will end up being a grower, and in the long run I think that’ll be for the best.

Time will tell how much truth there is in that statement, but what is not up for debate is that the show came to a head with what has always been and always shall be their coup de grace, their finishing move – the back-to-back body blows of “Neighbourhood #3 (Power Out)” and “Rebellion (Lies)”. All the momentum that had intensifying up through the night, all the energy that had been pent up since the band finished touring Neon Bible, all the anticipation that had been building since their last Toronto show, came to a head with that finale and simply exploded, with the shockwaves carrying through the encore of “Keep The Car Running” and, of course, “Wake Up”. Though the song implies beginnings, here it was a fitting ending to the night. That Arcade Fire are a great band and an important band is not in question, but time away can dim the memory; this show was an intense and extraordinary reminder of why.

There’s more reviews of the show at The Globe & Mail, The Toronto Sun, eye, The Toronto Star, CTV, Pitchfork and Spinner. Arcade Fire return to play the Toronto Islands on August 14.

Photos: Arcade Fire @ The Music Hall – June 11, 2010
MP3: Arcade Fire – “Keep The Car Running”
MP3: Arcade Fire – “Black Mirror”
MP3: Arcade Fire – “No Cars Go”
MP3: Arcade Fire – “Wake Up”
Video: Arcade Fire – “Neon Bible”
Video: Arcade Fire – “Black Mirror”
Video: Arcade Fire – “Neighbourhood #2 (Laika)”
Video: Arcade Fire – “Neighbourhood #3 (Power Out)”
Video: Arcade Fire – “Neighbourhood #1 (Tunnels)”
Video: Arcade Fire – “Rebellion (Lies)”
MySpace: Arcade Fire

Broken Social Scene’s Brendan Canning Chart engages in some trash talk with Olympic gold medalist rower Adam Van Koeverden in advance of their charity soccer game during NXNE which pits musicians against pretty much everyone else in support of Right To Play. Broken play the Toronto Islands the day before, June 19.

On Milwaukee, The Montreal Mirror, JAM, Winnipeg Free Press, hour.ca, Uptown and The Toronto Star profile The New Pornographers, coming to town for a show at the Sound Academy this Tuesday, June 15.

The Ottawa Citizen talks to Sloan, who are headlining the free Friday night show at Yonge-Dundas Square for NXNE this week.

Stars have begun streaming their new album The Five Ghosts in full over at NPR. It’s officially released as of next Tuesday.

Stream: Stars / The Five Ghosts

The Ottawa Sun interviews The Balconies, who are playing the top of the CN Tower on Wednesday night for NXNE and then on Saturday night in the Distillery District as part of the Wine & Spirit Festival. The former is invite-only but the latter is free to all.

Filter and The Gauntlet get to know Born Ruffians.

NOW, The Hamilton Spectator and See talk to Shad about his music while The National Post prefers to get his take on the NBA playoffs.

Mat DunlapIt might be Canada’s sixth-largest city, but any burg whose downtown core is a shopping mall is likely to rank a bit low on the cultural export scale. Which is why even though The Meligrove Band is now officially based in Toronto, Mississauga should take every chance to celebrate the quartet’s Peel region roots.

And they should get more opportunities now that the band is gearing up to release their first record in four years – 2006′s Planets Conspire was their last communique – with their fourth full-length, entitled Shimmering Lights and due out on September 21 via Nevado Records. It will be preceded on August 24 with a 7″ single of “Halflight”, which stands as evidence that the time away hasn’t dulled their knack for big power pop that’s hooky, punchy and with just the right bit of angry and angsty. Shimmering Lights should put the Meligrove Band right back in the ranks of the unfairly underappreciated bands in Canada. Hey, there’s worse places to be.

The band have two gigs coming up for NXNE: an opening night show at the top of the CN Tower on Wednesday, June 15 – enter to win admission and an open-to-everyone show on closing night, June 19, at Wrongbar with Les Savy Fav.

MP3: The Meligrove Band – “Halflight”
MySpace: The Meligrove Band

Stars are gearing up for the June 22 release of The Five Ghosts by offering another couple of new songs for download – one here, one over at My Old Kentucky Blog. Amy Millan talks to Black Book about the new record.

MP3: Stars – “We Don’t Want Your Body”

Details have emerged about the new Black Mountain record and are succinctly collected – with thumbs up-worthy album art – at Pitchfork. Wilderness Heart will be out on September 14 and the first MP3 is available to download at Jagjaguwar in exchange for your email. They play The Horseshoe on July 23.

Carl Newman of The New Pornographers talks to Chart about making Together; they play the Sound Academy on June 15 and your opportunity to win passes lasts another couple days.

The Riverfront Times talks to Dan Snaith of Caribou.

And while first ballots for this year’s Polaris Music Prize were due as of midnight last night – I’ll go over my picks in an upcoming post – another Can-rock poll closed this weekend; that choosing this year’s inductees to the (Canadian) Independent Music Hall Of Fame. Joining last year’s winners Eric’s Trip and Rheostatics are Sloan and Shadowy Men On A Shadowy Planet. And while I nominated Shadowy Men, it’s Michael Barclay who eloquently made the case for them as worthy inductees – do read his bit at the HOF website.

Video: Sloan – “Coax Me”
Stream: Shadowy Men On A Shadowy Planet – “Having An Average Weekend”

And a couple show announcements – Beth Orton is hitting the road Stateside despite not having released a new record since 2006′s Comfort Of Strangers and will be at the Mod Club on August 12, tickets $25 in advance.

Video: Beth Orton – “She Cries Your Name”

Menomena have laid out their Fall tour in support of their new record Mines, due out July 27. Look for them at The Mod Club on September 28.

MP3: Menomena – “Five Little Rooms”

Jason CrepsThe first thing you notice about The New Pornographers’ latest album Together is the unison electric guitar and cello line that opens the first track, “Moves”. The second thing you notice is that you probably didn’t notice it at all. The band who first burst onto the scene at the turn of the century with the giddily live wire Mass Romantic transformed themselves from power-pop to orch-pop over the course of their five albums in the past decade that the strings and orchestral flourishes that permeate Together don’t seem at all out of place whereas they’d have had trouble finding the space to be heard amidst the cranked electric guitars and keyboards of their debut.

But sophisticated sonic accouterments aside, Together is still arguably their liveliest record since Electric Version, successfully recovering from the rather staid Challengers. Taken in the context of their career arc, that last record can now be regarded as more of a transitional record which tried to move away from the hepped-up pop of their earlier records and pulled a little too far in the other direction. Together strikes a much more comfortable balance, balancing the likes of “Your Hands (Together)”‘s amplified rock with the more stately pace of “Valkyrie In The Roller Disco”. Having noted those differences, it’s also important to note that which remains the same as on all other New Pornographer records – Carl Newman’s unerring ear for melody, Neko Case’s wonderful vocals and Dan Bejar’s requisite two wildcard songs though his contributions this time around are possibly his most straightforward compositions ever – still the highlights, but also a solid reminder that the world needs a new Destroyer record sooner rather than later.

Carl Newman has been quoted as saying that he knew that Challengers was going to be the band’s “backlash record”, even before it was out – maybe that’s why he made a record so worthy of backlash, so those of us disappointed wouldn’t have to work so hard to find reasons to feel that way. The good news is that the backlash has passed and with Together, The New Pornographers have made their rebound record.

The New Pornographers are currently on a cross-Canada tour – with the full band – and will be at the Sound Academy in Toronto for an all-ages show on June 15 with The Dodos and The Dutchess & The Duke. Tickets are $28 in advance but courtesy of Collective Concerts, I have two pairs of passes to give away for the show. To enter, email me at contests AT chromewaves.net with “I want some New Pornography” in the subject line and your full name in the body, and have that in to me before midnight, June 11. And yes, I will check through my spam filter for entries, just in case.

There’s interviews with Carl Newman at The Star Phoenix, The Edmonton Journal, The Gateway and Canada.com as well as a list of songs that influenced Together at The Calgary Herald.

MP3: The New Pornographers – “Your Hands (Together)”
Video: The New Pornographers – “The Crash Years”
Video: The New Pornographers – “Your Hands (Together)”
MySpace: The New Pornographers

Forest City Lovers have announced a full mostly Canadian tour (there’s one Chicago date) for the month of July to mark the June 29 release of their third album Carriage. After they return from out west, they’ll play a homecoming release show on August 12 at The Great Hall accompanied by Gentleman Reg and Carmen Elle, preceded by an August 10 in-store at Soundscapes. They’re also playing the LEAF celebrations at Wychwood Barns on June 11.

MP3: Forest City Lovers – “Light You Up”

The Toronto Star examines the low-key appeal of Shad, who is also featured by The Gauntlet, The Leader-Post and The Times-Colonist. He plays the Opera House on June 12; passes to the show are up for grabs.

The Fly has another video session with Born Ruffians; those guys will unplug for anyone with a video camera! There’s also interviews at The Seattle Times and Metro.

In town for two intimate nights at The Drake Underground this coming Friday and Saturday, Robyn Hitchcock has added an in-store at Sonic Boom on June 12 at 4PM to his itinerary. It goes without saying that this is going to be worth seeing.

Spinner has an Interface session with Two Door Cinema Club, who will follow up last month’s sold out gig at Wrongbar with a show at The Phoenix on October 25.

MP3: Two Door Cinema Club – “Something Good Can Work”

Paste catches up with Laura Marling.

Pitchfork talks to Aaron Dessner and Matt Berninger of The National. They open a two-night stand at Massey Hall tomorrow evening.

Though Bono’s bad back has forced Interpol to cancel their dates opening up for U2, they’ve still given their fans something to get excited about by announcing that their fourth album would be self-titled and out in mid-September and the replacement for departed bassist Carlos Dengler would be former Slint guitarist (and hired gun for too many acts to name) David Pajo.

Spinner, The Boot, Charlotte Observer and The Huffington Post talk to Tift Merritt about her new record See You On The Moon, an MP3 from which you can download over here.

Video: Tift Merritt – “Mixtape”

Pitchfork has details on the new Thermals record Personal Life, due out September 7.