Peaches

Sorry for disappearing yesterday! I was going to post a news update but ended up going to Darrelle London’s CD release party instead. Great artist; definitely worth checking out if you’re into Regina Spektor or just cutesy, piano driven melodies. Check out some tunes on her MySpace now!

Now to make up for yesterday, here’s a super-sized news update!

SHOWS ANNOUNCED:
The Dears @ Mod Club (April 30th, $20)
Robyn Hitchcock & The Venus 3 @ Mod Club (April 16th, $20)
TV On The Radio @ Sound Academy (June 2nd)
Wavves @ Sneaky Dee’s (March 31st)
The Whip, Late of the Pier @ Kool Haus (April 10th)
Tricky, Natalie Stewart @ Mod Club (April 2nd, $29.50)
Bruce Peninsula @ Lee’s Palace (March 28th, $8.00)
The Prodigy @ Kool Haus (March 25th, $30-40?)
The Constantines, The Weakerthans, The Waking Eyes @ Phoenix *3rd Show Added* (April 2nd, $25)
Rye Rye @ Circa (February 27th)
Gravity Wave, Paul Banwatt @ The Boat (March 3rd)
Damien Jurado, Laura Gibson @ Drake Hotel (April 14th)

Great Bloomers, whose debut album Speak of Trouble will be out on April 21st, will join Sports (The Band)and Boys Who Say No at the Drake Hotel on February 26th as part of the venue’s 5th year anniversary. Doors will be at 8:00 pm and the event will be FREE.

Other shows that’ll be part of the Drake’s anniversary series will be Mike Simonetti, Mikey Apples and Steve Yanko (TOMORROW NIGHT), Bonjay and Young Flux (March 5th), and Lee Douglas and Jaques Renault (March 12th).

Also, opening for Ladytron and The Faint at the Phoenix on April 6th will be Telepathe and a FIGO DJ set.

Opening for Mates of State/The Black Kids at the Phoenix on April 10th will be Sunbears!

Planning on trekking to the Air Canada Centre for Kings of Leon? Well here’s more of an incentive – The Walkmen will be opening for them!

If you’re looking for a show tonight, The Peter Elkas band will be playing with Zeus and The Golden Dogs at the Dakota Tavern as part of “Gods Dogs and Fire Logs” Wednesdays at the venue. Doors are at 10:00 pm!

Wanna just sit at home instead? Well here’s some suggestions of what you can watch and/or listen to:

The big news of yesterday must be the release of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs’ new single, “Zero”. Stream it now on their MySpace! Exciting? I thought so!

Lily Allen was recently on Leno and performed her latest single, “The Fear”. Watch here!

Ra Ra Riot has a new video out for “Can You Tell”. Watch here!

Download and listen to the Air France remix of the Friendly Fires’ “Skeleton Boy” here!

The lovely Deradoorian (from the Dirty Projectors) have a new song out called “High Road”. Download and listen here!

The Decemberists also have a new one out called “The Hazards of Love 1 (The Prettiest Whistles Won’t Wrestle The Thistles Undone)”. You can stream it on their MySpace!

If that’s not enough, Peaches has finally announced a new album entitled I Feel Cream, coming out on May 5th. That sentence sounded weird, didn’t it. Download new tracks from the album here!!!!

Also, here’s the tracklisting:

I Feel Cream:
01. Serpentine
02. Talk To Me
03. Lose You
04. More
05. Billionaire
06. I Feel Cream
07. Trick Or Treat
08. Show Stopper
09. Mommy Complex
10. Mud
11. Relax
12. Take You Out

I think that’ll be it for now!

Happy listening!!

Musically,
Melody

The National

So according to a sign I passed the other day at the nearby Metro, apparently Monday was Family Day. Who knew? I certainly didn’t, but it seems like kind of a bogus holiday to me anyways. Wasn’t Valentine’s Day on Friday enough for people? Anyways, I hope you enjoyed the day with your families, having dinner and whatever else good families do together. I personally have no idea what my family did three provinces away in Nova Scotia but I hope they enjoyed themselves. It’s reading week at Ryerson and residence has turned into a ghost town, but so far I’ve been keeping busy with my new job at Standard Pizza & Pasta Bar (check it out if you’re on College Street and you need a bite before checking out a show at Sneaky Dee’s or The Whippersnapper Gallery), sleeping (not quite as much as I’d like), drinking (but of course) and listening to some great new music.

I have a lengthy list of upcoming shows that I want to attend, but I’m not entirely sure if I will be in Toronto after second semester. First and foremost would be The National appearing at the Kool Haus on May 21st. Normally I would recommend that you go out and buy tickets, but I’m going to do the opposite and say you don’t want to go see this amazing band. Not at least until I get mine anyway (I’m kidding by the way – get them fast, because they’ll be gone soon). For those of you hungry for some new material from the Brooklyn band, they contributed a track called “So Far Around the Bend” to the compilation Dark Was The Night, which is in stores now. Produced by members Aaron and Bruce Dressner, and featuring songs from the likes of The Decemberists, Grizzly Bear, Feist, Arcade Fire, TV On The Radio’s Dave Sitek, Andrew Bird and others, the double cd/triple vinyl/download will benefit the Red Hot Organization. Red Hot is an international charity dedicated to raising money and awareness for HIV and AIDS through popular culture, and the list of artists involved is an indie rock fan’s wet dream, so support a good cause and pick it up. Apparently Barack’s down with The National as well, as he used the band’s songs at several campaign events and during his inauguration.

Does anybody else other than me find the pairing of British wannabe-goths The Horrors opening for garage rockers The Kills on their upcoming tour, a little strange? I mean, not to hate on The Horrors – the music video for “Sheena Is A Parasite” is awesome in a completely creepy way, but I think they are trying too hard and completely ripping off The Damned, The Cure, and several other bands before them. However if you want to check out both bands (plus Nashville’s Magic Wands, they’ll be playing at the Phoenix on May 7th. The Kills were one of my favourite discoveries of last year and Midnight Boom was one of my favourite albums of 2008, so I’m going to do everything in my power to get into this 19+ show. I also may or may not have a crush on raven-haired frontwoman Allison “VV” Mosshart.

On the other hand, a double bill of Ladytron and The Faint playing at the Phoenix on April 6th? Fantastic! I picked up my ticket the other day, and I think that both bands complement each other perfectly. Both bands are promoting new relatively albums - Ladytron’s Velocifero and The Faint’s Fascination came out recently – but I think that I am most excited to see the latter. I even made a list of reasons why you should check out The Faint, in case you haven’t already.
1. They hail from Omaha, Nebraska of all places.
2. They’re friends with Conor Oberst (Bright Eyes), who was once a member of the band.
3. They write and perform ridiculously, catchy dance-punk songs like “Cars Pass In Cold Blood” and “The Geeks Were Alright”, which was remixed by Brits Does It Offend You, Yeah?.

Can a Yeah Yeah Yeahs tour date in Toronto be that far off? The first single “Zero” from their upcoming third album It’s Blitz! is finally online, and it sounds pretty damn good – if you liked their Is Is EP, than you will definitely like this track. As mentioned in a recent post, the album is scheduled to drop on April 14th – start getting psyched.

On a closing note, let me leave you with The Mae Shi’s tribute to Christian Bale’s life and his recent freakout, the aptly titled “R U Professional”. Hopefully it’ll put on a smile on your face – I know it did for me.

Cheers,
Max

Camera Obscura

For those university students reading this, you’ll understand that reading week is next week (which I’m actually going to spend…reading. And writing. And looking for a job. Fun?) So in light of that, I apologize if I’m not posting as much this week as I’m trying to really buckle down and engage in this “school work” business. Sounds…difficult. Anyway, I’ll make it up next week! Exciting plans are coming up for the Lamb, trust me!

Here’s some news that you’ll need to know for now!

Los Campesinos have just announced a Toronto show at the Opera House on April 1st! More details to come!

Need a Grammys recap? Well Stereogum is nice enough to provide us with “just the good parts”. Read and watch here! In relation, I don’t normally use “WTF” in a sentence or conversation anymore (at least not seriously), but WTF.

For the teenager inside you that is still disappointed that the Blink-182 reunion at the Grammys did not include a live performance, here’s some reassuring news that they will eventually play live in a city near you soon! According to Spinner, the trio are going back into the studios for a new album which will lead to a world tour. I think I can finally put Meet the Barkers out of my head…once Muchmusic stops airing that shit. Which they won’t. But they eventually stopped airing Newlyweds, so there’s hope, right?? …Sorry, that got off topic.

As previously announced, Ladytron are returning to Toronto for a show at the Phoenix on Monday, April 6th (Facebook event here – The Faint will be on at 9:00 pm, and Ladytron at 10:45 pm, according to the schedule). They have also just released a new video for “Tomorrow”. Watch here!

You Ain’t No Picasso has a new track from Camera Obscura!! “My Maudlin Career” is the title track from the band’s upcoming album, out April 21st. Go here to download the track!

Other Upcoming shows:
Presidents of the United States of America @ Lee’s Palace (April 21st, $20.50)
Junior Boys, Max Tundra @ Mod Club (March 28 ALL AGES, March 29 19+)

Also don’t question, just vote (FOR WOODHANDS).

That’s it for now!

Musically,
Melody

Ladytron

Quick announcemnents!

Ladytron are returning to Toronto on April 6th at the Phoenix, co-headling The Faint. If you missed their free show during the summer at Harbourfront, I recommend you go to this show. Further details TBA; tickets go on sale next Friday, February 13th.

Also, according to NME.com, Coldplay will be back in the summer on July 29th.

Kings of Leon are also coming back to Toronto on April 21st…at the Air Canada Centre?

Two final thoughts:
1) Someone please fund the “Send the Singing Lamb to the Vancouver Olympics!!” fund. Please? This is why.
2) Lil Wayne = weird, yet mildly entertaining.

That’s it for now; more posts this weekend!

Musically,
Melody