“Summertime and the living is easy…” Well there’s no doubt that summer is finally upon us, and so far I’m finding it pretty easy to settle into a routine of getting up around noon, spending lazy afternoons downtown, and attending shows late into the night. Last night I caught a solid double bill of Scottish noise rockersMogwai and The Twilight Sad at the Phoenix, after interviewing The Twilight Sad’s lead singer James Graham. Saturday night, one of my friends came downtown for her 19th birthday, so on a whim I ended up catching a high-energy USS show (including backup dancers and a cover of Outkast’s “Hey Ya!”) at the Sound Academy. Since I’m living in Toronto this summer until at least the beginning of July – and possibly longer – I’ve made it my personal mission to discover all that this city has to offer. And while eventually I’ll have to pick up more shifts at my restaurant (hey, those $6.50 drinks at the Phoenix don’t pay for themselves), in the meantime I’ve been conducting interviews and checking out concerts, so keep checking the Lamb daily for new stuff. Here’s some news!

For the past week I haven’t been able to stop listening to the new Black Lips album, and I couldn’t be more excited for their not one, but two appearances at NXNE this June. One of those appearances will be a free show at Dundas Square on June 18th, with Burning Brides and Melissa Auf Der Maur. And as much as I dislike the Atlanta quartet’s self-referential “flower punk” tag, their latest album 200 Million Thousand, definitely draws on influences as diverse as 60s pop, R&B and soul. The standout track for me is the slow-burning, drugged-out “The Drop I Hold” with lead singer Cole Alexander delivering drawling lines like “Ain’t got no money, but the gods make it fuckin’ rain”. The band recently got together in Austin with Wu-Tang’s GZA for a performance at SXSW, which resulted in the rapper contributing some bars to make a great song even better. Listen to the collaboration via the Vice Records website here.

Bloc Party have a new video for the Armand Van Helden “Signs” remix. Myself, I’m personally not a huge fan of the song, and the remix itself isn’t that special, but damn if this video sure isn’t a mind fuck.

Speaking of bizarre music videos, here’s one that’s strangely artistic and non-cliche for a hip-hop video, from New York’s Christian Rich. The song is called “Famous Girl” and the masks in this video remind me of that band The Sound Of Animals Fighting. Unfortunately, the song still sucks.

King Khan and the Shrines will be performing live at the MTV studios on May 11. For free tickets to the taping call 1-888-491-6888, or email liveaudiemce@mtv.ca.

Back in October, I got a chance to interview former Ryerson student Gavin Gardiner, who is the lead vocalist of a Toronto folk-rock band called The Wooden Sky. After opening for the likes of The D’Urbervilles, Mother Mother and Wintersleep, the band will finally be back in Toronto on May 22 for a show at The Music Gallery.

That Fleet Foxes show at Massey Hall that I reported on a week ago now has a date. If you’re a fan of the Fleet Foxes, or Swedish psychedelic-rockers Dungen who will be opening for the band, mark August 4th on your calendars.

Don’t look now, but there is a new Toronto music scene poised to make waves in the upcoming months. The defining characteristics of this scene? Noise, noise and more noise. Noise rock bands from the United States such as No Age and Times New Viking have gotten increasingly popular over the last few years, but now there are bands north of the border making this lo-fi, feedback and distortion-heavy music. Two new Toronto bands that are leading purveyors of this sound are Pirate/Rock and Little Girls. Pirate/Rock are an unsigned duo, but thanks to love from EXCLAIM! and their recent sold out EP Desert Eagle, they might not stay that way for much longer. Little Girls is actually a side-project of Pirate/Rock’s Josh McIntyre and I recently got the chance to check them out at Sonic Boom. I have to say that I was quite impressed by the band’s energy and McIntrye’s droning voice, which reminds me of Joy Division’s Ian Curtis (who isn’t a bad person to be compared to vocally, right?), and I’d advise you to check these guys out especially if you are fans of Austin’sThe Black Angels. Both bands have upcoming shows in Toronto, check their MySpaces for all the details.

Finally, if you are looking for a great show this weekend, The Kills will be playing at the Phoenix this Thursday. These guys are one of my favourite bands and they are supposed to put on a great live show – tickets are still available for $18.50 at the usual record stores, or $20 at the door. Also, on Saturday, rapper k-os will be bringing his “pay-what-you-can” show (as a poor university student, I’m a strong advocate of this concept) to the Kool Haus – be sure to get there early, because this show will get crowded quickly. Check one, or both shows out – myself, I’ll probably be at the Kool Haus with some friends.

Cheers,
Max