Antony finally makes the cover of a major US publication. Magnet's year end wrap up is on newsstands now. Also available is Spin, with the Killers on the cover. They were named Band Of The Year by the mag, which is strange only because they usually are a little more on the ball in terms of newer bands. It must be due to Ultra leaving the publication. Brandon and Co. have been nominated for three grammy awards. Oh and Ps. I really dislike Spin's new format. It's almost unreadable.

For The Records has news and an approximate time frame for the Belle And Sebastian/New Pornographers tour.

Now Magazine and EYE Weekly! have published their year end lists.

I have been diligently working on my year end lists, I'm almost done, check back within the next couple days for the conclusion of my Top 25 Albums of 2005, Top 15 Singles of 2005, and Top 5 concerts of 2005 (in and around Toronto).

Via Brooklyn Vegan, check DoCopenhagen's list of top 50 music videos of 2005. And you can watch all 50 on the site. My pics on his list would include: The Decemberists, Antony and the Johnsons, CocoRosie, Arcade Fire and Tom Vek.

OH! And according to the Arts & Crafts site, Stars are playing on Febuary 18th at Winterlude in Ottawa.

I guess that's it.
Peace out MothaTuckers.

M E R R Y XMAS F R O M DEATH CAB


I received this photo as an email this morning.

WE U S E TO B E FRIENDS


I've mentioned before that Veronica Mars, UPN's cult teen drama featuring a brainy, cute high school dectective is my most favouritest show currently in production and still airing (although not in Canada). God bless television torrents and our new Oppo DVD player that plays .avi files. I picked up season one after catching a couple episodes last summer when they aired on CTV here in Toronto (Frank at Chromewaves turned me on to the show via posts on his blog). The writing AND acting on the show is incredible, what other teen show deals with rape, incest and murder all in the pilot episode. And to boot, they have a wicked cool music supervisor who spins all the coolest indie rock bands (Dandy Warhols We Use To Be Friends is the show's theme song). Courtney from the Warhols has made a guest appearence at the karaoke bar wheret V.Mars works, Kevin Smith (the director) did a walk-on as a clerk in a convenience store, Spoon's Britt Daniel is slated to be on an upcoming episode and two of contestants from America's Next Top Model (Naimah and Kim) did guest slots on episodes in season two. EVERYTHING about this show is amazing. The storylines are complex and nail-biting. It keeps you on the edge of your seat at all times. Sometimes I wish that I could be the male version of V.Mars.

Creator Rob Thomas recently answered a bunch of questions from fans of the show for TV Guide. Follow the link to see what he had to say about the second half of season two (which will air starting in January on UPN).

WARNING:Tons of secrets from the season two storyline are revealed via the Q&A. If your waiting for the DVD box to find out what's up in season two, don't follow the link!!!

In related news, Kirsten Bell (V.Mars herself) is set to star in an American re-make of a Japanese horror film titled Kairo. The N.A verison is titled Pulse , is being directed by Jim Sonzero and also stars Ian Somerhalder (from Lost, The Rules Of Attraction). The film is scheduled for a 2006 release.

T H E NEW Y E A R

Tons of shows have been confirmed for the new year:

January 4, 2005 - NEKO CASE Rivoli. $20 at RT, SS, HS, TM. (There has been a ton o'Toronto blogger controversy about this show as ticketmaster had it billed as a Matt Pond PA show, see comments at Mike's For The Records relating to this show, and at Chromewaves)

January 12, 2005 - IMOGEN HEAP El Mocambo. $15 at RT, TM.

January 14, 2005 - WE ARE SCIENTISTS w/ Oxford Collapse, The Diableros. Horseshoe. $12 at TM

January 26 & 27, 2005 - CONSTANTINES & DEADLY SNAKES Horseshoe. $17.50 at HS, RT, SS, TM

January 31, 2005 - LOW Lee's Palace. $18.50 at RT, SS, HS, TM.

Febuary 6, 2005 - THE JUAN MACLEAN Horseshoe. $13.50 at RT, SS, HS, TM.

Febuary 11, 2005 - MATT POND PA w/ Dios (Malos) . Mod Club. $12.50 at RT, ST, TM.

Febuary 23, 2005 - ANIMAL COLLECTIVE Lee's Palace. $15 at RT, SS, HS, TM.

March 11, 2005 NADA SURF W/ Rogue Wave Lee's Palace. $15 at RT, SS, HS, TM.

March 14, 2005 - STEREOLAB Phoenix. $21.50 at RT, SS, HS, TM.

May 2, 2005 - THE BOOKS Lee's Palace. $13.50 at RT, SS, HS, TM.

Eye Weekly has published their list of the best concerts of the year (my list will be up by year's end). Check the link to see what shows their writers loved (ps. The Bloc Party show at the Opera House was also one of my favourite shows, even though I was sick as hell that night.)

Now Magazine reviews one of the Stars shows last week and also lists the best "peace" songs of all time (I can't imagine how they got Xiu Xiu's Support Our Troops on the list. Genius.)

That's it for now.

F A I R Y T A L E OF T O R O N T O



In a recent interview with Under The Radar magazine, Torq Campbell said "I think that the role of musicians, like all artists in society, is to help people see the beauty of their own lives". This is exactly what he (and his band, Stars) did for me on Saturday afternoon. Johnny and I took in the Stars show/X-Mas party at Lee's Palace, opting to attend the all-ages show due to the chance of a freak storm (which came a few days earlier) that December notoriously brings to Toronto. Arriving at the venue at ten to four, I was somewhat dumbfounded to find a sign out front announcing that the band's start time had been pushed up an hour to 4pm. We high-tailed it into the venue, ran by the merch table, then found a close spot to the right of the stage. Only then did I realise that the band had transformed the usually dank/dirty venue into a cozy, warm Christmas-themed environment. The venue was decorated by local artist Chris Mills, who has directed videos for bands on the Arts & Crafts roster. There was a beautiful back drop behind the band depicting a winter scene, numerous small trees hanging from the ceiling, projections of traditional Canadianna winter scenes on three of the walls, and Christmas lights hanging across the front of the stage and on the band's equipment. It was nothing short of magical.
The band hit the stage at about 4:20pm and launched into What The Snowman Learned About Love. They setlist was a perfect mix of material from Set Yourself On Fire and Heart, with a couple obscure b-sides thrown in. The setlist was as follows:

The Snowman Learned About Love
Set Yourself On Fire
Elevator Love Letter
Reunion
The Woods
Sleep Tonite
Soft Revolution
What I'm Trying To Say
One More Night
Ageless Beauty
Umbrellas
Big Fight
Georgie
Your Ex-Lover Is Dead

Encore
Going Going Gone
First Five Times
Calendar Girl
A Fairytale In New York

The band has really benefited from the last year and a half of touring. They have come together live and with the addition of a girl on violin, and a guy on saxophone (this time wearing a Radiohead Amnesiac t-shirt), they sounded better than ever. Like "For The Records", the pinnacle of the show for me was during "Ex-Lover" when Amy sang "The scar is a fleck on my porcelain skin", everything for a split second felt perfect, everyone in the audience from the under-agers up front to the aging hipsters at the back had huge smiles across their faces. It was a moment that Torq speaks of where music helps us understand the beauty in life.

My pictures didn't turn out the greatest, I couldn't get close enough to the stage to reap the benefit of the stage lights, so they are kind of dark. Regardless, I've posted the best of the lot.




Thanks, Torq, Amy, Chris and Evan for the best musical Christmas gift I could have ever asked for.

Check these links for other reviews from Stars six night stand at Lee's:
A Soundtrack For Everyone
Just Keep Bloggin'
SuckingaLemon
For The Records

>>>Update: Check the link to read Chart Magazine's review of the show. It's not the most glowing review, but you must remember, this is a magazine that has actually put Nickelback on their cover (Yikes!!!)

M E M O R I Z E THIS C I T Y



Vancouver's The Organ has finally gotten the U.K. press that they have deserved all along. The Guardian polled a slew of popular bands on their picks for the next big thing. Nick Hodgson of the Kaiser Chiefs had this to say about the girls:

"The Organ, from Canada. We did some gigs with them in the States early this year and they blew me away. They're all girls, and they sound like the Cure with Debbie Harry on vocals".

The one thing that he missed was that the girls are excellent live, super hot and can play their instruments like biatches. Follow the link to see who other bands nominate to hit it big this coming year. In related news, the band has also signed to Too Pure in the U.K. Grab That Gun will be released in the U.K. and Europe in Febuary 2006.

THEY DON'T L O V E YOU LIKE I L O V E YOU




According to MTVNews and Pitchfork, The Yeah Yeah Yeahs second album will be a conceptual record about Ms. O's kitty cat. Titled, Coco Beware (yup, like the wrestler with the parrot), it was produced by Sam "Squeak E. Clean" Spiegel, who previously collabrated with Karen on a track that was used in an Adidas commerical directed by her boyfriend, Spike Jonze (Squeak is also Jonze's little brother). Coco the cat was rescued by O from the streets of South America, and the upcoming album will supposedly tell the story of the cat's travels. The band is also holding an album-art contest via NME, fans can enter their artwork to be used in the packaging of Coco Beware. More details here. Coco Beware's tentative release date is set for March 2006. A full scale world tour is in the works in support of little Coco.

In the same interview, Squeak also alluded to the release of a Karen O solo project sometime in 2007 that will feature a bunch of superstar guest appearences.

Karen O feat. Squeak E Clean - Hello Tomorrow

COME O N ALEX Y O U CAN D O IT



Last night, The Wedge (MuchMusic) debuted a whole wack on new videos. First up was Arcade Fire's Neighbourhood #2 (Laika). Check out the video here. The video was directed by Josh Deu, a founding member of the Arcade Fire who is no longer in the band. Exclaim has a very comprehensive piece about the origins of the band here. Tiny Mix Tapes has another detailed interview with Win and Reg here. The video stays much in the same vein as Neighbourhood #3 (Power Out), it follows Alexander through enviroments of buldings, fires and hot air ballons. Keep your eyes peeled for band members floating by in the background.

Next up was Stars' new clip for "Your Ex-Lover Is Dead, which has been my favourite Stars song since the release of Set Yourself On Fire. Something about the girl/boy vocal exchange makes my insides turn to mush and smile like an idiot. The video can be viewed here. I came across a post on the Stars messageboard on the Arts&Crafts website revealing that there will be no opening band for the six upcoming Toronto shows. According to Patrick from Arts&Crafts, the shows are not going to be typical gigs, but will be a festive celebration among friends. The band will be playing extended sets (horrrrray!!) and be djing prior to their sets (hello disco dancing!!).

The Wedge also debuted Wolf Parade video for Shine A Light. Check it here. The four heads thing kind of freaked me out. Check out their myspace for new tour dates.

Broken Social Scene's Kevin Drew gives Harp Magazine a tour of "his" Toronto here.