Dears New Album in October

From the Dears Myspace Blog comes word that the next Dears album "Missiles" is coming in October. I strongly enourage any Dears fans to read the full post for some history on this album, the Dears, info on their label switches (no more Arts & Crafts) and why the Dears are once again a 2 piece. The album, I can tell you already, will be brilliant, all of the Dears albums always are, regardless of (or maybe in part because of) the trials along the way.

New Dears Album Almost Ready

According to Natalia Yanchak's Blog the new Dears album is at the point where a band would ordinarily start sending out promo copies, except to avoid having the music available on file sharing sites before it's available anywhere else, the Dears aren't going that route.

"On Tuesday, Murray and I embarked on an Ontarian adventure. We drove down to play the record for some people. This album is precious to us, and we would be totally devastated if our past year’s work was misused or stolen from us. So we never sent out any CDs to anyone, and in fact the only way anyone who didn’t play on the record can hear it is to come to one of our impromptu board room meetings for a listening session. We came to Toronto to play it for friends and also some industry types: at least, the ones who were open to the idea of a listening session. We would gather people together, put the CD on the stereo, then leave the room. After 58 minutes we’d come back, reclaim the CD and that’s it. That’s how we’re rolling: no burns, no iTunes imports, no files somewhere on a server. No ripping, burning, leaking or stealing allowed until we’re ready. Because we know it’s going to happen eventually — we’d just like to be involved when it goes down. Call us crazy, but these songs are the keystone, our main conduit keeping us connected with our fans, and we want to enjoy that communication, not live in fear of it."

Patrick Krief: New Stuff April 26

Patrick Krief reports that the new album is done and will be unveiled, along with his band's official name, at Lion D'OR on April 26.

"Lion D'OR is one of Montreal's finest venues. We're bringing in a special line up to try and emulate what happened on the record. The line up will consist of the 4 of us plus 2 cellos, 1 violin, an extra guitarist, Saxophone, Trombone, and two back up singers. People will be coming on and off stage for certain songs.This is probably the only time we'll ever play with this line up. We're pretty excited about it. "

In related news the Dears new CD is also close to ready.

Breaking Links: Sunday, December 9

Natalia Yanchak has another update on the new Dears album that's in the works.

"Murray moved the recording into another studio. Today he finishes working there, and he’s completely exhausted. The other day he was lying on the couch, barely awake, saying: “It’s weird being so tired and so inspired at the same time.” The songs are perpetually shape-shifting, taking new unexpected directions with every element he adds."

The Chart Readers Poll is up but most of the categories are pretty lame.

400 P.E.I. Households enter their 6th day without power.

"Heavy, wet snow and driving winds in the storm late Monday night and early Tuesday morning led to more than 350 power poles coming down. At the worst point, on Tuesday, power was knocked out to as many as 16,000 households."

A plan to eliminate tariffs on green technology has fallen apart in Bali.

"U.S. and European trade officials hoping to open a new front in the global warming battle have failed to win approval for a proposal to eliminate tariffs on environmentally friendly technologies."

Aids Wolf has some video, interviews, reviews and other misc. up on their blog.

RVT: The Dears - White's Only Party

Breaking Links: Wednesday, November 21

The End of America Alternet interview with Naomi Wolf (Thanks CBC Radio 3)

Canadian records an album every week for a year via Chart

Sign out of Facebook before making online purchases. An article from the Globe and Mail about Facebook's new tracking and consumer reaction.

CBC Television has presented it's Winter schedule. You can watch Video of that Presentation Here and find out what they have in store.

The Dears have new stuff on the way and while anyone in their right mind is automatically excited about that, the fact that the Dears themselves seem really and I'm mean really, really excited about it makes the waiting almost too hard.

Sears is suing Ryerson because they want more publicity fin exchange for their donation. Personally I don't even want to know the facts. The thought of a multi-billion dollar American corporation suing a university over something like this means that Sears joins the Gap on the list of places I won't be shopping in the foreseeable future.

Breaking Links: The First One

These are busy days for me, and even on less busy days there is always so much more that I want to comment on than I really have time to, so sometimes I'm just going to post a bunch of stuff together without much commentary - news, blogs, and whatever else I decide to add...

Telefilm Funding Frozen - Canadian box office receipts down in 2006

R3TV Episode 28 - Episode 28 of what should be a TV show: The Halifax Pop Explosion with a video from Pride Tiger.

The Blood Lines are giving away CDs in celebration of their WCMA win.

Junior Pantherz Go Old School With Vinyl Release - Saskatoon Star Phoenix

Natalia Yanchak of the Dears on the Environment and Big Brother

Jason Collett is getting ready to take up a three week residency at the Dakota Tavern in Toronto with undisclosed "suprise guests"

Torontoist on when historic churches go condo - people say the west has no moral compass but we most certainly do, it's currently trading at $1.04 against the US dollar!

Saskboy on why Ottawa doesn't want you to have a made in Canada Electric Car - we're already making them, they are selling in the US and Mexico and cost about $14k Canadian but Transport Canada says you can't have one.

If you love Toronto you'll love this shot from daily dose of imagery

Have a free MP3 from the Diableros

Alberta increases oil royalties - wealthy oil men everywhere cry, then decide they still want the oil.

The Dears New Everything & Natalia's Blog

According to their MySpace Blog the Dears are hard at work on "new everything" which includes a new album! I mention this not only to get you excited about a new Dears album, but so I can mention that Dears keyboardist Natalia Yanchak's Blog has been added to the CanBlogs.

Patrick Watson Doesn't Poo Clouds But...

In a country as musically rich and diverse as Canada, even to be nominated for the Polaris Prize is a huge achievement. The Polaris prize is, in my view, the greatest musical honour in Canada. It is not run by the record industry. Sales, marketing, and location have no bearing on the outcome. The prize is voted on by 170 (ish) music journalists - people who love music so much that they have devoted their careers to it.

So, with all of that in mind congratulations to the Arcade Fire, the Besnard Lakes, the Dears, Julie Doiron, Feist, Junior Boys, Miracle Fortress, Joel Plaskett, and Chad VanGaalen on being nominated - I'm sure that all of them will see another Polaris nomination at some point in their careers.

Most especially congratulations to Patrick Watson for actually taking the thing home. If, like most of the world, you couldn't be at last night's Polaris award show - check out the Radio 3 Podcast from it with performances from the Besnard Lakes, Eric's Trip, Julie Doiron, Miracle Fortress, the Joel Plaskett Emergency, Chad VanGaalen and Patrick Watson.