For the past 3 years, writers of Trendwhore along with the who’s who of the Canadian blogosphere contribute to i(heart)music’s annual “Hottest Band In Canada” poll. The rules are simple,
1) Interpret “Canadian” however you wish;
2) Interpret “hottest” however you wish — whether as best, or most hyped,
or most popular. It’s totally up to your interpretation.
3) You can vote for either bands or individual artists.
Head over to i(heart)music and find out who made it this year.
Trendwhore writers lists will be posted later today for you to judge.
I’ve been trying to write a review for the new Ume EP which is so good but I couldn’t find the time. So I would just recommend going to see them at Casa on the 24th and watch them WAIL!
Besides the showcases above there is also a Franco showcase at 3PM at Petit Campus and more, check out schedule here. Tickets for these showcases seem to be a “? For Mystery”, the ticket link on the main website has no info or is a horrible riddle. I did some snooping around Admission and Ticketpro and only found a link to the afternoon Franco showcase. More on this as I unwrap the riddle!
Oh yeah… SURPRISE GUESTS!
UPDATE:
Metropolis showcase (M pour Metropolis) tickets here.
The Raveonettes are currently on tour supporting their new album, “In and Out of Control” (buy at Insound) and will be playing Club Soda tomorrow night (October 21st) with The Black Angels. Tickets for the show are still available online here and locally at Atom Heart, Cheap Thrills, L’Oblique and the Club Soda box office. Check out the new video for ‘Last Dance’ (from ‘In and Out of Control’) below.
Ottawa’s own Dirty Donny is coming all the way from San Francisco to do a three day art-punk party in Montreal, Ottawa, and Toronto this week. Donny has done work for everyone from Vans to Metallica, so come and check it out. A better bio from his website:
“Dirty” Donny Gillies grew up in Ottawa Canada skating, drawing and
listening to punk and Metal. He cut his artist teeth razor blade sharp
designing album covers and posters for underground rocks best. These
days donny resides in San Francisco California as a full time artist.
There really isn’t anything Donny hasn’t painted on or done work for.
His art is spread wide across Lowbrow, rock and skate circles with projects ranging from Toys and decks to paintings, hot rods and recocord cover art for companies like Vans, Fender, Dunlop and Kid Robot not to mention his extensive work for rock legends Metallica, just to name a few.
The shows are being headlined by local punk recluses the Million Dollar Marxists. The Marxists only come out to play a couple times a year these days (GAGA Weekend) so it’s not a show to be missed. Word on the street is that the equally reclusive the Fucking Machines will be opening in Ottawa as well - it will be a great night to drink beer and make bad decisions.
Dirty Donny Tour Dates:
Thursday, Oct 22nd - Montreal, Green Room
Saturday, Oct 24th - Ottawa, Babylon
Thursday, Oct 29th - Toronto, Bovine Sex Club
A few days ago, we had the pleasure of chatting with Joel Passmore of the Regina-based indie rockers Rah Rah. Having just played Pop Montreal, these guys are putting the finishing touches on their next record. In the interview, we talk about NAFTA, home made videos, and cheerleader’s skirts. Enjoy!
FYI: Rah Rah are playing Casa Del Popolo tomorrow night (Monday, October 19th) and the following night (…Tuesday, Octerber 20th for those not paying attention) at L’Hemisphere Gauche with Slow down Molasses
The Arctic Monkeys are touring and stopping here in Montreal on December 14th for a night at the Metropolis. Tickets for the show will be going on sale October 22 at 12PM EST and will cost you around $27,50. You’ll be able to find these tickets either here or here (no word yet).
The Monkeys also unveiled a new video for the next single off Humbug, “Cornerstone”. Far more minimal their “Crying Lightening” video. Check it out below.
Arctic Monkeys - Cornerstone
The “Cornerstone” single will be released on 10″ record with three brand new b-sides December 8 via Domino.
As I took my bike to work this morning I thought of my old man, “its colder than a step mother’s kiss out” he would say on mornings like this. This year I’ve been in the shoes of the grasshopper, doing anything but thinking about Winter and now its here and I’m scared to death. I’ll be spending the weekend begging the ant for food and shelter for the rest of you here is the show breakdown for this cold heartless weekend.
Post Pop Montreal there has been a lot of attention on local boys Parlovr. SPIN gave them a nod, they are opening the We Are Wolves show tonight at Le National and have been remixed by Gobble Gobble take a listen:
As 2009 draws to a close I often find myself contemplating the inevitable “Top n Albums of 2009″. Its more work than one expects. How will January’s albums stack up against Decembers? Who the fuck knows, I’ve got two months to deal with it, and it will take all that time to formulate an equation that will determine my year end list. One album that is currently in nomination is Girls‘ Album. Don’t let the uncreative title fool you, Album is track for track solid gold. Its one of those albums thats easy to relate to on first listen, lots of summer time fun and lots of heartbreak. But there is some darkness lurking in those songs. That deep darkness has a lot to do with Girls frontman, Christopher Owens storied past with The Children of God Cult. Owens escaped the cult at 16, fled to Texas hitchhiked to New York and then ended up as a painter in San Francisco where he joined Ariel Pink finally forming Girls in 2006.
Girls will be playing at Il Motore next month (November 9th to be precise) with New Jersey’s Real Estate. Tickets are available at Casa Del Popolo and online here. Don’t miss out on what has all the ingredients to be a “show-of-the-year” contender.
Montreal dad-rockWilco fans can rejoice because 2010 will have Chi-town’s finest playing the beautiful L’Olympia February 27th. Ottawa fans fear not March 1st Wilco has a date at the National Arts Center. Pre-sale begins Wednesday October 21st at 10AM via FrontGate for both shows. More information here and here.
Toronto trio, The Rural Alberta Advantage are hitting the road mid November with 2 dates in Montreal. You might recognize RAA from the Harper minivan mixtape.
Rural Alberta Advantage Tour Dates:
11 Nov Casbah Hamilton, Ontario
12 Nov Zaphod’s Ottawa, Ontario
14 Nov Grad Club Kingston, Ontario 18 Nov Club Lambi Montreal, Quebec
19 Nov M For Montreal Festival Montreal, Quebec 20 Nov Lee’s Palace Toronto, Ontario
21 Nov Call The Office London, Ontario
11 Dec The Parish Austin, Texas
12 Dec The Cavern Dallas, Texas
15 Dec Bootleg Theatre Los Angeles, California
16 Dec The Bottom Of The Hill San Francisco, California
18 Dec Backspace Portland, Oregon
19 Dec Vera Project Seattle, Washington
8 Jan Terminal 5 New York, New York
The Rural Alberta Advantage - Edmonton (Harper Family pick)
I’m going into the woods, naked and barefoot to hunt a turkey. For those of you that are not doing the same here are some shows you can check out this weekend in Montreal. Leave a comment if I missed something or come join me on the turkey hunt.
Subpop, in celebration of the 10 year anniversary of Nirvana’s Bleach will be releasing a deluxe edition that will hit stores November 3rd. It will include previously unreleased live tracks of their February 9th 1990 show at Pine Street Theatre in Portland. This will bring you back:
Vampire Weekend sold out Le National last night. Trendwhore writer and all around great person AnnA Chiggo spoke with them yesterday, about teaching, haters and the new album. Contra will be released January 12th, but you can get a tease right now:
Pop Montreal day 3, I begin to develop a slight cold. I trudge through it. First stop was Green Room to check out The D’Ubervilles singer Johnny O’s solo project, Diamond Rings. Having heard only the dynamite pop hit “All Yr Songs” I braved the mystery. Simply put, O is a stage commander. Like the lovechild of Ziggy Stardust and Ian Curtis, Johnny awkwardly danced and crooned the sweaty crowd with back-beat help from his iPhone (or iTouch). Second stop was down to Divan Orange to check out the Coathangers/No Gold/Japandroids show, but it was already at capacity early in the night. Third stop, Bar St-Laurent II home of the deep stage to check out Regina’s best musical act Rah Rah. Those youngersters put on a solid performance. Much tighter than I saw them early this year at The Green Room. However kids there is no need to switch instruments every song is there? Later this week AnnA Chiggo will have an interview with Rah Rah where they will discuss more about Pop Montreal and much much more. Final stop was at Lambi to check out the disappointing set of Chain and the Gang. A poor mans King Khan. What a rip off.
In anticipation of their upcoming album Contra, Vampire Weekend are in town tonight to play Le National. You should go see them! Yesterday, we had the pleasure of sitting down for a chat with vocalist Ezra Koenig and bassist Chris Baio and … surprise, surprise! We have the entire interview for you right here. During the interview, both Ezra and Chris took part in a Draw-Off that resulted in wonderful expressionist art pieces that will be part of a private collection in Montreal from this point on. They are included below for your amazement.
Eloquent and engaging, Ezra and Chris were gracious conversationalists. Despite several distractions in the background, these guys remained amicable, friendly, and enthusiastic.
But enough preamble - be our guest and just click play.
Its 10 o’clock in the morning, my head is throbbing and I’m so weak I can barely make a fist, this is Day 2 of Pop Montreal. My plan last night was to catch Screaming Females at La Sala Rossa but the Habs/Leafs game kept me at Barfly longer than I expected. No self respecting Habs fan leaves a game early. When those clowns from Toronto left the ice, defeated, I headed down to the Mint/Kelp Records showcase at Petit Campus. Edmonton’s Hot Panda and Ottawa’s Andrew Vincent played to a small group of people that seemed terrified to step on the dance floor. Though the crowd wasn’t there, Vincent and Panda put on solid performances all the same. After that I dragged my girlfriend up to Sala Rossa to check out AIDS Wolf and Red Mass. AIDS Wolf were AIDS Wolf, loud and in your face (literally). Red Mass…… great!
Pop Montreal started last night. I spent my night back and forth between Sala Rossa with the Shattered Records showcase and Lambi with Brooklyn bros Ninjasonik and Matt & Kim. Sweaty night. Ninjasonik take first prize for showmanship hands down. Nobunny was tight, his current backing band works better than the Smith Westerns (surprisingly). Jay Reatard was wild and the pit was violent. Check out the stills and movements below (also with Reatard setlist goodness).
STILLS
The Useless Eaters
Ninja-fucking-sonik!
Jay Reatard
MOVEMENTS
The Useless Eaters
Nobunny
Jay Reatard
Jay Reatard Setlist
An Ugly Death
Nightmares
Fading All Away
It Ain’t Gonna Save Me
Trapped Here
Greed Money Uesless Children
All Over Again
I Know A Place
I’m Watching You
It’s So Easy
Not A Substitute
My Shadow
Oh It’s Such A Shame
See/Saw
Hammer I Miss You
Faking It
A Whisper
Let It All Go
]
