New Kara Keith Album March 4

Montreal via Calgary's Kara Keith is set to release her first full length CD "Vision's Fugitive's" is set to hit the world on March 4. The album was recorded at TheeMightyHotel2Tango in Montreal by Howard Bilerman. Billerman has previously recorded over 250 albums including titles by Arcade Fire, the Dears, Basia Bulat and Bell Orchestre.

Kara has previously enough to put some live tracks and songs from her self titled EP in the podsafe downloads, so if you don't know what she sounds like you might want to start here. The new album will be available via iTunes initially and hopefully on Zunior and other fine retailers (real and virtually) shortly after that.

You can sneak a listen to some stuff from the new CD at radio3.cbc.ca/bands/Kara-Keith/ and you can still grab the EP here.

Peripheral Visionaries: Young Galaxy's Blog and Mixtapes

Montreal's Young Galaxy has a blog up called Peripheral Visionaries (I'll get it in the aggregators soon).

Along with the new blog Stephen Ramsay (vocals and guitar for YG) is posting a monthly mixtape. It is not, like Herohill all Canadian indie stuff, but if you are interested in what Stephen R. likes and is listening to you might want to check it out. This months mix includes:

1. Primal Scream - Velocity Girl
2. The Wild Swans - Flowers Of England
3. Baxter Dury - Cocaine Man
4. Doug Randle - Coloured Plastics
5. Altered Images - I Could Be Happy
6. Visage - Fade To Grey (12" version)
7. Siouxsie and The Banshees - Painted Bird
8. The Sound - Counting The Days
9. House Of Love - Christine
10. David Holmes - I Heard Wonders
11. Orbital - Belfast
12. Equip - XXXO (Manchester, England 1983)
13. D. Lissvik - Track 6
14. Dubstar - St. Swithin's Day
15. Pale Saints - You Tear The World In Two
16. Ultra Vivid Scene - Mercy Seat

The first one (posted last month) features:

1. Captain intro
2. Robert Wyatt - At Last I Am Free
3. Freur - Doot Doot
4. Ben Watt - Lucky One
5. Force Of Nature - Static
6. The Associates - White Car In Germany
7. The Chills - Pink Frost
8. The Durutti Column - Sketch For Summer
9. Rubies - Room Without A Key (Studio Version)
10. The Cocteau Twins - Ella Megablast Burls Forever
11. OMD - Of All The Things We've Made
12. Colin Blunstone - Smokey Day
13. John Cale - Ship Of Fools
14. Moby Grape - I Am Not Willing
15. The Cryin' Shames - Please Stay
16. Martina Topley Bird - Lying
17. Vincent Gemignani - Ophis Le Serpentaire
18. Skip Spence - All Come To Meet Her
19. Susanna And The Magical Orchestra - Believer
20. The White Birch - Your Spain
21. Baikonour - Hoku To Shin Ken

Young Galaxy: Hipsters Are Annoying

Steve from Young Galaxy posted a new note to their Myspace just to let everyone know that the band was still around and has been working on a new album that they hope to release in the new year. Steve also did everyone the favor of pointing the way to an Adbusters article that "had me raising my fist in appreciation". The article is called Hipster: The Dead End of Western Civilization and goes something like:

"We’ve reached a point in our civilization where counterculture has mutated into a self-obsessed aesthetic vacuum. So while hipsterdom is the end product of all prior countercultures, it’s been stripped of its subversion and originality."

You really should read the whole article. Of course, if you like the article and want more you can still visit the original hipstersareannoying.com and even pick up one of these



Happily they can now be seen fairly regularly on the streets of Toronto.

Young Galaxy - Come and See

Happy Birthday To Indyish

Indyish, a Montreal based "network of independent artists working in music, film, fashion, fine arts, and publishing" officially turns two on Saturday.

From theHour.ca

Indyish is an artistic community billing itself as "a loose affiliation of folks who make stuff." The stuff in question is pretty much anything, from clothes to jewellery to reading material to music and performing arts and more. While that might seem a little grassroots-y, Dickens explains that as Indyish has aged, it has adapted. "We are a social network and broadcast hub for independent artists."

To celebrate their birthday, the folks at Indyish are throwing a party at the Sala Rossa (4848 St-Laurent, Montreal) this Saturday, Aug. 9 featuring a sampling of the artists on its roster.

Among the performers will be Orillia Opry, Magnetic Hill, Etheral Tribal,
Storyteller Bruce Beaton and Patrick Krief (ex of the Dears) will be teaming his epic Black Diamond Bay band up with members of the women’s choir Choeur Maha.

It's all pay what you can, so if you're in Montreal (or have just decided to be) stop by and help them eat the cake!

RVT: Ghislain Poirier - Hit & Red

New Video from Montreal's Ghislain Poirier for the song 'Hit & Red'.

Montreal, Vancouver and How-To sections added

I've been busy working on the site today. There are new aggregators for Vancouver and Montreal (I'm looking at other cities and more will follow at some point). There is also a new How To section, fairly small for now but it will grow and will be dedicated to tutorials on how to...all kinds of stuff. Stay tuned!

We Are Wolves - Fight and Kiss

The new video from Montreal's We Are Wolves once again brings together the classic music video elements of models and water! If you're not a fan of models and water - it's still amazing dance music!

We Are Wolves - Fight and Kiss

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.

Black Halos Robbed in Montreal

The epidemic of gear theft coninues this time it's the Black Halos and Montreal (again). According to the Black Halos Myspace Blog on Sunday night theives stole their Van, Trailer, all of their gear, merch and CDs. Below is the info in it's entirity:

Black Halos Gear, Merch and CD`s all stolen


Black Halos Gear, Merch and CD..s all stolen

Last night in Montreal our van and trailer was stolen with all our our gear, merch and CD..s. None of these items are insured.

Below is a list of gear that was stolen. PLEASE WATCH FOR ANY OF THESE ITEMS on the internet or at pawn shops.

Please also note we had close to 400 CD..s stolen with our merch. IF YOU SEE THE CD..S ("WE ARE NOT ALONE") FOR SALE ON ANY WEBSITE OTHER THAN HISTORY MUSIC, PEOPLE LIKE YOU OR ACETATE SITES PLEASE E-MAIL US.

PLEASE RE-POST THIS EVERYWHERE YOU CAN
Rob..s

Ludwig 4 piece drum set Red Glitter Metal Flake

24 inch Bass drum w/ Black Halos front head logo
14 inch Rack Tom
18 inch Floor Tom
14 x 6.5 inch Dunnett custom metal snare drum (personally autgoraphed by Dunnett on inside of shell)
DW 5000 double chain drum pedal
3 Pearl strait cymbal stands
1 Pearl high hat stand
24 inch Paiste 2002 Ride Cymbal
14 inch Zildjen Z series high hats
18 inch Zildjen A series Rock Crash
19 inch Zildjen A series Rock Crash
16 inch Zildjen A series Rock Crash
Yamaha snare stand
Pearl rack tom mount stand

All drums are in hard shell black cases all with yellow Black Halos logo on them

Johnny..s

two guitars in red/silver aluminum road case. guitar one: 1960 Gibson
les paul( sunburst finish). it has been re- finished on the backside
of the neck by the head-stock. it's dis-colored there.
guitar two: white, Sparrow rat-rod ( looks like a les paul). has a
black pic guard and has the black halos logo lettering on the
body.skull and wings on the back of body.
one,Bogner guitar head. 100 watt model ( the Ecstasy) black , with no handle.
one, Fender 4/10 deville guitar amp. black/silver
one orange tool box full of guitar cords/ guitar strings/ three
guitar effect's pedals.
pedals from orange box: 1.) vox wah-wah ( silver/blk)
2.) boss, super distortion (yellow)
3.) custom red/black distortion
pedal. (turbo tube screamer)
one suitcase with guitar effects pedal board. pedal 1.) bogner foot controller

2.) boss tuner (white/black

3.) morley a/b amp switch

4.) boss super phaser (green)

5.) digitech wah pedal ( red/black)
two guitar stands, one holds 3 guitar/ the other holds 5.

Adam..s

1 Black Custom made Sparrow primitive 335 Electric Hollowbody guitar. No Serial Number
name ....Vanessa.... painted on headstock . Silver Skull and Wings Art work on front of guitar.
Silver Black Halos Logo painted on back of guitar.

1 Black Custom made Sparrow primitive 335 Electric Hollowbody guitar. No Serial Number
Blue with Purple Detailed graphic artwork.

1 modified Peavey 100 watt Classic Guitar Amplifier Head. See Band Manifest for Serial Number
Tweed in Colour with Leapard Print Fabric on Front. Various stickers and Tape.

1 Black Scuba zip off BackPack.
Contains the following guitar items.

1 Blue MXR 10 band EQ guitar effect box.See Band Manifest for Serial Numbers
hardwired powercord attached had pink tape on it

1 modified Blue MXR 10 band EQ guitar effect box. Serial number not available.
no powercord attached. switch installed. had pink tape on it.

1 white Boss TU-2 guitar tuner. See Band Manifest for serial number.

3 black 18 ft guitar cords
1 black 2 ft gtr cord
1 tweed 18 ft guitar cord
2 blue 6 inch guitar cords
1 black 3 ft speaker cord
approximately 7-10 packs Ernie Ball Guitar Strings
1 pack of 50 sparrow guitar pics

1 Black 4x12 Trayner Guitar Speaker Cabinet

JR..s

Fender Precision Bass. Sunburst finish with black pickguard.
SKB Fender hardshell case.

Rickenbacker 4003 Bass. Jet Glo (Black) finish with black Pickguardian
custom pickup cover.
Rickenbacker hardshell case.

Gallien-Krueger 800RB bass head.

Traynor TC810 bass cabinet

Proco Turbo Rat distortion pedal

Boss TU-2 Cromatic Tuner

Black bag with pedals also had items below.
2 Yorkville 20" patch cords (angled end)
1 Yorkville 10" patch cord
2 packs medium L&M bass strings.


PLEASE RE-POST THIS EVERYWHERE YOU CAN

IF YOU HAVE ANY INFO ABOUT ANY OF THESE ITEMS PLEASE CONTACT DANNY CAMEO

dannycameo@shaw.ca

(604) 781-2075

Montreal's New Film Factory

Via Art Threat: Montreal's Main Film has launched The Film Factory:

"... a year long program whereby Main Film provides the environment, the tools and training for artists to undertake artistic risks in the development, exploration, and experimentation of their own artistic practice of film as an art form.

Main Film is an "artist-run centre for independent filmmmakers." A complete list of the rules, qualifications, equiptment and facilities available and application forms are available on their website at mainfilm.qc.ca.

Stills Back in the Studio

Via Their Myspace blog the Stills are back in the studio working on album #3. I don't know, and can't imagine just where their studio is

The air is warm and misty in here. You can drink rain water from the jungle vines hanging off the walls, you can make yourself drunk all day. Which is a good thing, because we were warned several times about venturing outside. Dirt dogs, rust-bug sickness contamination, live downed power lines everywhere, and frequent broken glass storms. And the sun never comes up and the moon is always full and bloody. So we'll just have to bunker down here and make this record diligently while we wait for signs that we head out.

They've also announced a few upcoming dates, sadly none of them in Canada.

March 5 – Philadelphia @ Johnny Brenda’s

March 6 – Pittsburgh @ Diesel Club

March 7 - Hoboken, NJ @ Maxwell's

March 8 - New York City @ Bowery Ballroom

They are also amoung the Canadian Bands appearing at this years SXSW (along with the Choir Practice, the Blood Lines, and many others that I can't remember or have forgotten about. I hear lots of good things about SXSW, sadly because it's in Texas I won't be going (probably ever.)

Howard And Desmond

From CBC Radio's Wiretap.

Poor Jonathan Goldstein. One day he's going to snap and kill Howard.

RVT: The Winks - Live at Casa Del Popolo

The Winks live at Casa Del Popolo in Montéal. More from the Winks available at thewinks.net

Coming in 08: Kara Keith

Great timing! Yesterday I posted a video from Calgary's Kara Keith and today I got a message from her:

She has just set up her New Music Canada page with a brand new song (Visions Fugitives) that she recorded at the Banff Centre.

Also her label Saved By Radio is going to release her self titled EP in January. In May she's headed into the Hotel2Tango studio in Montreal to record a new album with Howard Bilermen (who has also worked with groups like the Arcade Fire and Wolf Parade) and says she'll be taking the "pop orchestra" that she's assembled in Banff with her to Montreal.

Remember the name, I think you'll be hearing it alot by the time 08 is done.

United Nations HQ in Montreal?

Via Metroblogging Montreal: According to La Presse the Canadian government has "informally proposed" moving the UN's headquarters to Montreal.

Given that there has always been a large contingent in the US, including it's current President, that didn't like the UN's headquarters being in New York this is more of a possibility than you might think. Someone certainly put some work into it: The complex would be larger than the current UN complex (65 Acres instead of 7) and would cost roughly the same as the current proposed renovations. Have a look at the models here to give you an idea of what it would look like.

RVT: Chromeo - Needy Girl

From Montreal, here's Chromeo.

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.

Some Quick Notes: Toronto, Montreal, Guelph, Saskatoon and China

I'm off to do some volunteer work at the TIFF here shortly, so I don't have alot of time to devote to any of these subjects but quickly..

Montreal is getting reading for the launch of Spacing Montreal. It is a free/pwyc event so if you're available this Sunday, definitely worth checking out.

Guelph's Hillside festival has been over for awhile, but when there's recording equipment around nothing is really completely over (ask Richard Nixon)!
Radio 3 has just released a Special Edition Hillside Podcast featuring The Dears, Angela Desveaux, Shad, Emily Haines and Do Make Say Think so if you were there, have another souvenir, if you weren't - now you can be, kinda.

China is where Saskatoon's The Blood Lines are and while Maygen Kardash reports some trouble getting regular computer/internet time, they will have some tales to tell when they get home.

Toronto ... is still TIFFland - off to plug FWC!

Monthly Mess in Montreal

If you live in Montreal and don't know about Indyish yet, then congratulations on coming out of your coma, glad you're feeling better.

Indyish's Monthly Mess V is Tomorrow night at the Main Hall, 5390 St-Laurent in Montreal. The mess will feature, amoung other things

Music by The Subcollisions
Read an interview with a few of The Subcollisions by euphoreador
Music by The Darling DeMaes
Read an interview of Erik Virtanen of The Darling DeMaes by euphoreador

We have the Tribal Ethereal dance troupe
The erotic readings of Laura Roberts, the editor of Black Heart Magazine
The painter that will be painting the event and inviting all to help him out and paint with him, Cristian S. Alaus, he also has a short film to contribute
The Comedy of John McNeish-Hastings
We have multiple short films as well by,
Raimundo Morte
Howard Siroky

Go here for more details.