Results tagged “thedears”

This Monday, September 24, the winner of the second-annual Polaris Prize will be announced at a gala event at the Phoenix. There will be stars, musical performances, free food and drink, and, unfortunately, you are probably not invited. Given to the best Canadian album of the past year, and awarded solely on artistic merit, the $20,000 prize is getting handed to someone (probably Feist) at a media and invite-only event. (Torontoist was graciously invited, but we're not sure if we'll be there to cover it yet.) This year's shortlist––which we spent a midsummer day covering––is heavy on the rock and light on everything else, with The Arcade Fire, The Besnard Lakes, The Dears, Julie Doiron, Feist, Junior Boys, Miracle Fortress, Joel Plaskett Emergency, Chad VanGaalen, and Patrick Watson all getting nods.

Photo of Cadence Weapon by David Topping.

"Do you trust your friends? Would you let them redecorate your apartment, or do your homework for you? Would you let them buy your groceries? Would you leave them in charge of your kids? And if you did, what would they change?"

Being in a band isn't all glamour and sexy stage moves. One of the big disadvantages of the musician's life is that people are always stealing your stuff. Sometimes it's a crumb bum nicking a guitar for a quick buck down at the pawnshop. Other times, it's a fan hoping to grab a little piece of the magic. (Guitarist Steve Jones claims to have started the Sex Pistols with instruments plundered from Roxy Music's van—and they were his favourite band.)

We're a little late with this week's music listing--blame the election! Er, okay, maybe someone just got immersed in learning a bit of Flash and let it slip. It won't happen again.

If you're not completely burnt out from Nuit Blanche, there are plenty of quality shows to check out this week, including Joanna Newsom, Massive Attack, and Myspace darling Lily Allen. Alternatively, you Hip fans can skip out on the live music this week and save up your change for all four (yes, FOUR) of the recently announced shows at the Phoenix a few weeks from now. Can Gord Downie and pals really justify the $60 admission fee these days? Could they ever? On a similar note, Guns N' Roses are coming to the ACC in November -- should they be asking fans to shell out up to $85 to see a bloated Axl Rose trying to slither around the stage, caterwauling 'Sweet Child O' Mine'? Wouldn't that just be painful to watch? Are we asking too many questions? Okay, we'll stop.

Just about one year after the last major Toronto (areaish) concert, Richard Branson announced that the Toronto Islands will host the Virgin Festival over a weekend in early September. This is the first time the Virgin Festival crosses the pond outside the UK. Note that this is the first time that Centre Island will be closed to the public.

No wonder The Dears are so mopey -- they've been touring the world for a solid two and a half years (!!), promoting the same damn album. And still with that CD, , is a brand new (after a few stutters, out today till the 17th) video for "22: The Death of Romance." The vid is animation and concert footage created by fellow Montreal Kinoceros. Also of note, Cocteau Twin Simon Raymonde remixed this track for single release. Watch the video on MySpace.

Japan will get a dose of Cancontent this weekend, when Broken Social Scene, The Dears, Stars, Death from Above 1979 and Metric drop in on Osaka and Toykyo for a mini-tour called "Canada Wet." Why is the tour called Canada Wet? We cannot tell you. Perhaps Emily Haines plans to throw out a case of bottled water, in keeping with her behaviour at the Mod Club show, when a crowd-pacifying maneuver was required. Wet or dry, the concert is a hard-slogged venture, come to fruition thanks to Nori Tsuzuki, a Japanese music promoter who has been trying to get such a show on since participating in a CMW panel in 2004. From Jam Canoe:

"We were confident that the market was ready for the name of 'Canada' and have decided to use the name everywhere to prove our vision. We feel that the people in the industry was not ready to use the name 'Canada,' but not the audience. With all the incredible buzz going on with Canada Wet, we think we have successfully changed the image of Canada and Canadian music in our market."

, given to Torontoist for review, contains scant amounts of the aforementioned ingredients. Not to say this is the Vince Carter of Mountain Goats albums - it's a good album and will receive a generous mark in our review - but there is a certain weirdness that plagues Mr Darnielle's most emotional output.

Quite a kafuffle was made of the "Montreal scene" this past Sunday in the New York Times, so much so that media everywhere are clamoring to keep up with the revelation. But to those in the know, both the Times article and a similar Spin article are somewhat suspect. When Times writer David Carr describes The Dears as goth-pop, fails to identify Nicholas Diamond of the Unicorns or places commas in between the 'yeahs' in the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, he is either doing word-of-mouth research or just carelessly name-dropping. Carr also misses the point on the Stills - stating that Montrealers hate the Stills when really everyone hates the Stills. The real danger of the New York Times piece, however, is that Sunday readers like my father may be tempted to actually listen to Les Georges Leningrad. No, but the REAL danger is that whatever musical "scene" or community in Montreal may be ruined by trend-sniffing industry louts who read said articles and look for the next "thing."

Craig Coles, Indie Label Owner and Musician