Amy Millan Tour Dates Announced

Amy Millan is touring Canada in September and October in support of her new album 'Masters of the Burial' but for those of you still buzzing from Saturday's Broken Social Scene show, Amy will be doing a free show at Harbourfront on July 25 with Gentleman Reg! You can download "Bruised Ghosts" from Amy's new album from Quick Before it Melts (along with a track from Zeus).

Amy Millan - Skinny Boy



Saturday July 25th, 2009 Toronto, ON Harbourfront Centre
Wednesday September 30th, 2009 Montreal, Canada Ukrainian Federation
Thursday October 1st, 2009 Peterborough, ON Montreal House
Saturday October 3rd, 2009 Kingston, ON The Grad Club
Wednesday October 14th, 2009 Toronto, ON The Mod Club
Sunday October 18th, 2009 Winnipeg, MB West End Cultural Centre
Monday October 19th, 2009 Saskatoon, SK Amigo's
Tuesday October 20th, 2009 Calgary, AB The Marquee Room
Wednesday October 21st, 2009 Edmonton, AB Myer Horowitz Theatre
Saturday October 24th, 2009 Vancouver, BC Biltmore Cabaret

The Goods on the Broken Social Scene Show: The Day the Main Stream Media Died

Jello Biafra, lead singer of the Dead Kennedys and founder of Alerternative Tentacles (amoung other things) once said "Don't hate the media, become the media". It is one of the founding principles of this site. The reality is that the internet has been 'becoming the media' for more than a decade, but today I think marks the turning point. Last nights Broken Social Scene show will likely turn out to be one of the most significant Canadian concerts of the decade yet there was no coverage at all from the main stream media. There was, in fact, very little coverage at all and what there was clearly demonstrates the shift.

According to Google, as of this hour there have been four blog posts about the show, including one from this blog. One of the blog posts was from a photo blog and there were, in addition to a horde of posts on twitter - three pages of videos on YouTube already - by next week you will probably be able to watch the entire show from several different angles.

As I said at the outset though, according to Google News there has been to date no mainstream press coverage at all no stories from the CBC, the Toronto Star, the Globe and Mail, the National Post, CTV, City or anywhere else for what will be remembered as one of the most significant concerts of the decade. Even CBC Radio 3 didn't list it in their top 5 gigs of the weekend - granted it was a busy weekend, but this show should have warranted making it a top 6 - just for the day.

Regardless of the main stream media ignoring the story though here are the goods:

Roundletters on the Harbourfront Broken Social Scene show.

Ryan O Photo has the pics from BSS @ Harbourfront

More Notes From Underground (usually a political blog) on the BSS show.

And Now, the Video!!



Broken Social Scene - Bandwitch (LIVE)



Broken Social Scene: KC Accidental. Harbourfront. Toronto. July 11.



Broken Social Scene - 7/4 (Shoreline) ft. Feist (Live) @ Harbourfront Centre 7/11/09



Broken Social Scene - Gimme Sympathy LIVE @ Harbourfront



Feist & Kevin Drew (Broken Social Scene) Duet - Medley (Live) @ Harbourfront Centre 7/11/09



and much much more

Last Waltz for Broken Social Scene ?

Broken Social Scene is obviously not going away, from what I understand there is a new album in the works but it's questionable whether or not we'll ever see so much of the Broken Social Scene crew on stage at the same time again. In attendance were the usual core of BSS - Kevin Drew, Brendan Canning, Justin Peroff, etc., as well as Feist, Metric's Emily Haines and James Shaw, Charles (Happiness Project) Spearin, Jules Penner, Andrew (Apostle of Hustle) Whiteman, Jason Collett, Amy Millan, Even Cranley, Lisa Lobsinger and more.

The show was not just a gift to the city of Toronto or a BSS reuinion though. It was also a film shoot for This Movie is Broken, Bruce McDonald's upcoming film about the band and the set list would serve as a good intro the the music of Broken Social Scene and the spinoff bands it produced - from Broken Social Scene favorites like "Fire Eye'd Boy" and "KC Accidental" to Metric hits like "Give Me Sypathy", Jason Collett's "I'll Bring the Sun" and Feist's "I Feel It All."

It all had a very "Last Waltz" feel to it, but it is clearly not an 'end'. Perhaps though it was a celebration of what's been and a launching point for what's to come. It's doubtful that we'll see such a collection of Broken Social Scene members on one stage again, at least not for a long time, but all of it is moving on. Broken Social Scene is still going, adding new members and spinning off new bands and Metric, Stars, Amy Millan, Jason Collett, Charles Spearin, Apostle of Hustle, Feist and others are all going strong, producing new material and continuing the BSS tradition. As I understand the concept this is what was always intended. Broken Social Scene produces albums under that name, but each of the parts, each of the other bands and all of their current, former and future members are all a part of the Broken Social Scene. There is no 'end' to it, even if the faces continue to change.

It should be an amazing film.

(Sadly I wasn't in a position to get any good film or video from the show for you, but based on the number of cameras I saw there should be plenty available soon.)

Amy Millan Album Details Announced

Acclaimed solo artist and Stars vocalist Amy Millan is set to release her new album 'Masters Of The Burial' on September 8. Today Arts and Crafts released a track listing for the album - which is kinda mean since we can't actually hear any of it yet - but it's Amy Millan, it will be brilliant and will get people talking about Polaris 2010 before Polaris 2009 has even been announced (it's pretty much on the long list without even hearing it.)

If you absolutely can't wait and are, or can be, in Toronto July 25 Amy will be playing a free show at the Harbourfront Centre, with labelmate Gentleman Reg. A fall tour is in the works and will be announced shortly.

The track list goes:

‘Masters Of The Burial’
1. Bruised Ghosts
2. Low Sail
3. Old Perfume
4. Towers
5. Day To Day
6. Bury This
7. Finish Line
8. Run For Me
9. I Will Follow You Into Dark
10. Lost Compass
11. Bound

Ottawa Folk Festival Adds Joel Plaskett to Great Lineup

Music lovers in Ottawa know that the Ottawa Folk Festival's summer event is a fantastic way to get exposed to great music in a gorgeous setting and to participate in plenty of hands-on, interactive musical activities.

Readers of this blog know that Joel Plaskett has been getting rave reviews as he plows accross Canada supporting his latest release, "Three". We are most excited Plaskett has been added to this year's lineup at the Ottawa Folk Festival, which takes place August 21 - 23, 2009.

There are plenty of other great Canadian acts performing as well, such as Bruce Cockburn, Amy Millan, the Sadies, the Good Lovelies, Mr. Something Something, Steven Page and many more. Check out the full line-up here, and be sure to attend one of Canada's best music festivals.