Ahoy mateys. Some catchup news!
I've heard Rides Again mentioned time and time again the last few years; the Ontario band will soon put out their latest album Into Existence next month, and for the last two years these cats have been touring with a high school motivational-speaking outfit, playing tons of shows early in the morning. That is strikingly different from most of their peers, worthy of a mention. To hear their shizzle, hit up their Myspace. [chartattack]
Wintersleep will, on October 2nd(that's shaping up to be a big release day, by the way), release Welcome to the Night Sky, their third album - and their first with an actual title. Titles or not, their first two efforts of roots rock, acoustic shimmering and haunting vocals have been sublime. Check out chartattack's interview! The band plays Barrymore's here in Ottawa October 20th, and I'm gonna do my damndest to be there.
I stole the album from my girlfriend's radio station a month ago: Patrick Watson won this year's $20,000 Polaris Music Prize, the second annual award(last year's inaugural winner was Final Fantasy's Owen Pallet), for his album Close to Paradise. Thankfully, the prize is some big money, because Watson and his bandmates wrecked a tour van in the United States last year, and a bill from Budget Rentals had just come in at around sixteen grand. Ouch. That leaves Watson and his compatriots four thousand to play with. Congratulations!
Suppose we should mention it, just 'cause everyone else is: Kanye West's new record Graduation Day is killing his counterpart 50 Cent's Curtis in sales; Fitty had said he would retire if Kanye beat him. Well, Kanye annihilated him. Fitty? Over to you.
On a related note - Kanye's DJ A-Trak(what up Montreal) will accompany Ye himself on Saturday Night Live this weekend, September 29th. One of two reasons to watch - the other? Weekend Update. Of course.
Optimus Prime, one of the baddest mofos ever, could be back on the big screen with his Autobot homies as soon as the summer of 2009; directors Bay and Spielberg(no first names necessary, are there?) have both reportedly expressed interest in creating the sequel. [Relevant]
A quick shout-out to some dudes who crashed at my place earlier this year after a show: Arkansas/Houston/California act Spoken's new self-titled album hit store shelves yesterday; do yourself a favour and cop that quick.
I personally use another photo-storage service online, and this makes me glad I do: a Texas family has sued Virgin Mobile after a photo was lifted from a Flickr account without consent and used in an ad campaign. Hooray for big business.
Not two months after the release of their major-label debut(the superior Singularity), Mae have announced the departure of their keyboardist and bassist, who've left to do the married-man thing. The band will soldier on, and will head on tour with Motion City Soundtrack and Anberlin this fall. [AP]
Fall Out Boy covered Green Day's seminal '90s anthem 'Basket Case' live in the Philippines last week. I report this for no other reason than my longtime fanboy-dom concerning Green Day.
This one is a stunner: founding drummer Daniel Davison has decided to leave Norma Jean, citing personal and spiritual differences with the rest of the band. I have to thank him here for arranging the one and only interviewinterview we've done with NJ(and the much-missed Beloved!).
Another '90s hardcore legend has announced a one-off reunion show: Indecision will play the Knitting Factory in NYC November 18th. Indecision later gave birth to, among others, Most Precious Blood, two of whose alumni will perform. [SPB]
Not to be outdone, Sex Pistols will reunite for a November 8th show at the Brixton Academy in Old Blighty(better known as London, England), in honour of the 30th anniversary of Never Mind the Bollocks.
Essential Listening for today, September 25th, is a band I met in the press tent at Cornerstone Festival months ago; tonight, I finally got around to listening to their EP, and it's been blowing me away. Check out The Separate. Reminds me a lot of Gin Blossoms crossed with Copeland, Jimmy Eat World and The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus. Well played.
An album that thoroughly surprised me during a late-night Wii marathon last weekend was the new covers album from New Found Glory. While From the Screen to Your Stereo Vol. 1 featured poorly-picked songs, Vol. 2 features great tunes in their own right(most of them, anyway), redone as only NFG can. Terrific.
Prayers and thoughts go out to the family and friends of an unnamed 20-year-old man who died Monday night during a Smashing Pumpkins show in Vancouver; reports indicate the fan was either crowdsurfing or moshing, and police do not suspect any foul play. [RS]
An enormous treat for fans of perhaps the best band in Canada: The Weakerthans have made their entire new album Reunion Tour available online - and the first song alone references such disparate entities as sweetdisaster's home province of Ontario and actress Jennifer Jason Leigh. Amazing.
Posted by mike at September 26, 2007 11:52 PM