BEST DOUBLE BILL....EVER!!!!


Frank over at Chromewaves made me the happiest boy in the world today by posting news that two of my favourite bands are touring together this spring. Xiu Xiu and Sunset Rubdown are heading out on a tour together, stopping in Toronto at Lee's Palace on April 12, 2007. Tickets, $13, are on-sale now here. I'm sure you can also snag them at Rotate and the Horseshoe, but don't wait, because this one will sell out for sure.

Ps. Let's pray that the show isn't moved to a larger venue. I'm excited about seeing both bands in such an intimate setting :)

TOP 10 TUNES OF 2006

Blacking Out The Friction's favourite songs from the past year. Follow the song links to listen or see the video for the given song. Some are live performances, some are actual music videos. Enjoy.

10. Beirut - Postcards From Italy

9. The Lovely Feathers - In The Valley

8. Band Of Horses - The Funeral

7. Mew - Why Are You So Grave?

6. Tokyo Police Club - Nature Of The Experiment

5. Fergie - Fergilicous

4. Hot Chip - Over and Over

3. Dangerous Muse - Give Me Danger

2. TV On The Radio - Wolf Like Me

1. Peter Bjorn and John - Young Folks

1-866-NEON-BIBLE

Check out Scott Stereogum's post in regards to a NEW ARCADE FIRE SONG!!!! Download it at his site. Apparently if you call the number above and key in 7777 you can hear the tune over the phone.

Or just head over here and download Intervention. It appears to be an MP3 made from a radio broadcast from the BBC. All I can say about the song is that it lives up to the high expectations set by Funeral. It is beyond epic, the pipe organ and choir backing vocals gave me shivers. I'm sure indie-rock elitists will snub their new record because they've gotten too big, but fuck them. This song is incredible.

I was able to get two tickets to the Saturday night show in Montreal. Looks like all five shows were sold out (through Admission.com) in about three minutes and every retailer in the city is completely sold out. According to the promoters of the shows, 50 tickets will be available each night at the door, so kids, put on your parkas, gloves and mits and get there early. These shows are already shaping up to be the must see events of 2007.

DON'T GIVE ME EVOLS!





My favourite British comedy Little Britain is back in the UK for a two part holiday special. My favouritest character Vicky Pollard is set to be arrested and thrown in a Thai jail, only to be rescued by her mom, who's being played by Dawn French. Soooo looking forward to this, let's hope it doesn't take too long to be released on DVD in North America. If you haven't seen the show, check out clips on YouTube or head over to your local video store and rent it.

Source...es

In other Lil Britain news, who knew that they made action figures and talking plush dolls of the characters??? I'd kill for a set of Andy and Lou action figures. Yeah I know!

Watch the best of Vicky Pollard on YouTube.
Watch another great clip here.

QUICK BITS:

M. Ward is heading out on a solo-acoustic tour in the new year. He's stopping in Toronto on January 27th for a 19+ show at the Mod Club. Pre-sale tickets available now here. Tickets are $18CAD, no word on local on-sale date.

As pointed out by Frank and Mike, The City Of Toronto has booked a couple decent bands to play Nathan Phillips Square during Wintercity 2007. Sloan play on January 27th and The New Pornographers play February 3rd.

Arcade Fire have scheduled a five-night residency at the Ukrainian Federation in Montreal from Febuary 6th to the 10th. Tickets $25 on sale tomorrow at 9am through Admission. I'm trekking down for at least one show (Saturday night), possibly two (Friday night). It's been noted that more Canadian dates are in the works, but I think it'll be great to catch them in their hometown. And I'll still probs. catch them in Toronto.

SO THEY SAY (IN THE CITY)

Forward, Russia!
December 1, 2006
Horseshoe Tavern

I can't believe it's taken me so long to review this show. I've tots. been slacking but it has a lot to do with the season and holiday commitments. I don't remember specific things about the show, so that should give you a idea. It was good. They played the hits, and the hits sounded a lot different live than recorded. Less post-punk dancey, much more punk and aggressive. Kudos to the girl drummer, as sexist as it sounds, I really didn't have high hopes for her. But she was freakin' amazing. Such a short set though, what's with the Brits coming over and selling us short. Lily Allen did it back in October, and now Forward Russia does the same by playing for just over 40 minutes. Apparently, the singer's voice was strained, but dude, if this was NYC, you wouldn't have done that.

Would I see them again, probably not. But they were entertaining (oh, and so was the really drunk girl beside me that asked the singer why she wasn't allowed to smoke in the venue. Classy.)

UPDATE: Johnny Boy sent me this link. You can download Forward Russia! and Black Hat Brigade's entire sets in .flac format. And the sound quality is excellent!