NXNE How-To Guide: Day Three

Music

The options for plunking yourself in one venue and checking out a full showcase are ripe again tonight. Lee's Palace is the place to mingle with your fellow blog-buzz fiends for the double whammy of rightfully hyped Los Angeles noise punks Mika Miko and No Age, plus yet another special headliner and his rumoured BBQ Show (9 p.m.). The Whippersnapper Gallery flaunts its knack for tastemaking and guarantees a sizable crowd with the whirlwind pop spectacle of Toronto's own Spiral Beach; Brooklyn, NY's Matt & Kim; and possible festival dark horse (anyone? No?), Bloomington, IN's Prizzy Prizzy Please (7 p.m.). Pop Montreal gives us a fall festival teaser with a solid night featuring the dark and dancy sounds of their own Hexes & Ohs and Zeroes plus the lo-fi garageabilly fun of Red Mass at the Silver Dollar Room (8 p.m.). Finally, over at Sneaky Dee's, Atlanta, GA's mildly offensively named all-girl punk band The Coathangers open up a raucous show that also includes Montreal's Aids Wolf and Brooklyn, NY's Pterodactyl. This is also your second chance tonight to catch Mika Miko (or be really wild and crazy and see them for the second time)—they're on at 12 a.m. and are followed by the jangle-snarl of London, U.K.'s The Homosexuals and the melodic synth-core (which is way better than it probably sounds) of Brooklyn, NY's Team Robespierre.

Photo of Brent Randall courtesy of Killbeat Music.

The East Coast has given us a lot over the years, from their delicious crustaceans, to beer, and of course, great music, some of which graces NXNE with its presence tonight. Some Haligonian highlights sprinkled around town include Brent Randall and his Pinecones and their CBC-praised Brian Wilsonesque orch-pop at the Cameron House (9 p.m.), and the captivating Rebekah Higgs doing her very best Daft Punk as Ruby Jean with her Thoughtful Bees at The Drake (12 a.m.). Step off the mainland and visit PEI's Boxer the Horse at The Painted Lady—which happens to be off the festival mainland all the way over at Dundas and Ossington (9 p.m.).

Photo of the Rural Alberta Advantage by sevennine from the Torontoist Flickr Pool.

If you're more inclined to wander where your heart and your trusty show guide take you, a veritable grab-bag of treats awaits your eager ears as well: the best post-work and pre-party bet is with MapleMusic's Six-String Happy Hour at Montana where you'll be treated to free acoustic performances from recent Saddle Creek signees The Rural Alberta Advantage and The Great Bloomers (4 p.m.); Guelph, ON's newest all-ages champions Hooded Fang get cozy in The Dakota's consistent hotbed of NXNE activity (9 p.m.); Parlovr bring their weirdo Pixies-meets–Arcade Fire (be still our hearts!) gig to the Supermarket (9 p.m.); and check out Bionic (and the beard!) for a dose of classic live rock club...rock at the El Mocambo for an end to your regularly scheduled music programming. Then go find the bands that play at 3 a.m. and the bars that serve until 4 a.m. and maybe you will even live to tell us about it.

Of course the three biggest buzz-words in town tonight are Change, of, and Heart, and every music geek over the age of twenty-five will be elbowing their way to the front of the Horseshoe to sink their steel teeth into this one. Sir Ian Blurton summons past band members to join him in proving that he truly is our very own indie-rock royalty and most definitely worth the Shoe's notorious NXNE lines (12 a.m.).

Film

For those with afternoon time to fill (luckies!), you might want to go hang out with the brothers of seminal punk band Youth Brigade and learn some music history in Let Them Know: The Story of Youth Brigade and BYO Records (1 p.m., NFB Cinema). And Johnny Cash at Folsom Prison has its Canadian premiere tonight; through still images, audio excerpts, and interviews with real live attendees, it depicts the events that led to the show and the course of Cash's career after (7 p.m., Bloor Cinema).

Tomorrow: how our back is holding up. Happy scheduling!