I was in dire need of a rock and roll soul cleanse, so I headed out to the Horseshoe last night to catch a few of my favorite locals acts. I had a late conference call, so I missed opener The Matthews Brothers , but made it just as The Warped 45s started their set. I was pleasantly surprised to see that the Horseshoe was at about three-quarters capacity. Lots of fans out to support the local acts, plus a bunch of grumpy Leafs fans, with a few noticeably double fisting bottles of beer. [...]

Happy Canada Day to my Canadian peeps! This US ex-pat has to go to work.... boooo! For those of you in the Toronto area, I highly recommend that you get off of your lazy ass and get down to the Harbour Front (notice Canadian spelling) for a free show by out heroes The Sadies . Whoo-hoo! For those of you not in the GTA, have a great day, and rock out to this track from one of my favourite (Canadian spelling) Canadian groups and one of the best albums of 2009. [...]

One of the problems you can run into sometimes when you write a music blog and work at a radio station is that there is often just too much music to listen to. E-mails, direct mails, download sites, promoters, other blogs... there's a lot to keep up with. I'm not asking anyone to feel sorry for me... it's a nice problem to have... I'm just trying to explain why it can take something like six months for me to finally get around to writing about an album like Let's Just Stay Here from Carolyn Mark and [...]
What a strong year for music! I've had a hell of a time narrowing down my list this year. Once I got it down to my top 30 albums , it took me forever to parse it down to ten. One thing that I noticed about my particular list is that it really leans heavily towards the country/folk-ish albums. I'm usually a big indie rock geek, but for some reason none of the rock releases that professional critics are lauding this year really did anything for me (e.g. Grizzly Bear, Phoenix, Animal Collective, etc.). [...]

Much like Kasey's two sentence reviews, I thought I'd bang out a couple of pieces that have been floating around in my Google Docs account in various forms of incompletion and combine them into one post instead of just deleting them. Sometimes it's hard to find something to say about every. single. cd you like, but I'll usually at least give it a shot. These are those shots: PETE BERNHARD - STRAIGHT LINE Pete Bernhard is one third of the phenomenal [...]
Here's the latest of our sporadic round-ups of new and recent discoveries.We posted about the new EP from Loch Lomond recently, and they have also made a track from their new split 12" with Builders & Butchers available. It is called Field Report and is another top notch track that has been on heavy rotation here at MM. They can always be relied upon for a great lyric and they don't disappoint

Carolyn Mark is my new hero. I'd never seen her live before she and NQ Arbuckle played a double, actually triple, bill at the Dakota Tavern in Toronto on Thursday, October 22. The Dakota is exactly the kind of place you want to see this show. Its like a dusty Texas saloon, only downtown in a major metropolis. The capacity is maybe 200, and it was only two-thirds full that night, the second night of their CD release party for Let's Just Stay Here . [...]
Carolyn Mark is unfortunately best known for her work with Neko Case. Actually, it seems like every artist who works with Neko Case -- be it Ms Mark, Jon Rauhouse, the New Pornographers, or the Sa... Continue reading "Rock of Pages: Terrible Hostess Volume II" >
"let's just stay here" kam mitte oktober auf mint records heraus: carolyn mark - all time low am 24.11. erscheint "big deal. what's he done lately?" und wir krachen uns schon einmal ein wenig warm (wird es plagiatsvorwürfe geben?): brimstone howl - suicide blues "sunset/sunrise" ist der aktuelle output der band aus seattle und erschien auf hardly art , wir hören [...]
Roctober continues tonight and tomorrow night with Carolyn Mark and NQ Arbuckle performing their new album Let's Just Stay Here at the Dakota Tavern. I haven't heard very much of this album yet, but what I have heard I have liked very much. The album has a cover of Justin Rutledge's "Too Sober to Sleep" which I am dying to hear. I really like both of these artists individually, and together they sound fantastic. All Time Low.mp3 Buy (Maple Music): [...]
Know what we say to the above sign? "Child please!" We've got more than enough free and legal MP3s to go around this week, so come on and click through the following selection of songs and compilations with zero guilt - they're just looking for new hard drives to call home. As always, some are EAR FARM favorites, some might be more your bag than ours, all are free for you to enjoy... just click the band name for the band's site and the song name for the MP3. EAR FARM: free free, setting [...]
As previously reported Canadian roots artist Carolyn Mark will be releasing her new album Let's Just Stay Here on October 20th. Now we've got the first single from the album. Listen to it here:"All Time Low"- MP3Carolyn Mark's websiteCarolyn Mark's Myspace