Toronto singer/songwriter Jonas Bonnetta is the creative force behind Evening Hymns , a loose-limbed, loosely structured amalgam producing earthy, stark and spacious indie folk as clear and bracing as the Canadian winter sky. Forthcoming spring album Spectral Dusk follows up the acclaimed 2009 debut Spirit Guides , an album filled with songs about the felling of trees and rural life steeped in the closeness of nature (one track feature the sound of falling rain). Judging from excellent lead track "Asleep In the Pews", Bonnetta (above with Hymns-mate Sylvie Smith) is ratcheting [...]

Eure Band des Jahres: Bon Iver (Foto unter CC-Lizenz von Flickr-Nutzer starbright31 ) Traditionsgemäß gab es auf diesem Blog auch im gerade vergangenen Jahr wieder die Möglichkeit für die Leser, bei unserem Jahresrückblick mitzumachen und uns ihre Meinung zu den besten und schlechtesten Platten des Jahres kundzutun. Die Ergebnisse davon wollen wir euch nicht vorenthalten. Alben des Jahres: Wie sehr sich trotz ähnlich gelagerten Musikgeschmäckern doch die persönlichen Alben des Jahres unterscheiden können, sieht man an dieser Abstimmung. 88 vierschiedene Platten wurden insgesamt [...]

Words // Adam Sharp Scott did a little 'catch-up' post last week, and I figured I should probably do the same since it's been awhile since I've shown my face (or, you know, my name) around here. Just because I haven't recommended anything recently doesn't mean there hasn't been anything worth listening to. Here's what I've been into lately. 'Highway Cars' - Desert Noises These kids (seriously, they all look [...]

Aaron Miller There's no shortage of variants on the sentiment that good things come to those who wait, but in the case of Toronto's Darcys , keeping the faith would have been trying for the most steadfast optimists. The specifics of their long, four-year gap between their debut Endless Water and their self-titled follow-up - out today - are still best documented in this Toronto Star feature from back in March, which is also approximately when I got a finished copy of the record to preview. To [...]

Canada's Evening Hymns caught the attention of many with their 2009 debut album, Spirit Guides , a folk album that exudes a woeful kind of peacefulness. They are now offering their first single "Asleep in the Pews" from their upcoming album Spectral Dust as a free download on their facebook page . Following their recording of the album on tumblr was a wonderful grouping of pictures from a one room cabin in the woods in a middle of a snowy [...]
![Acoustic Waves with Evening Hymns, Snailhouse and The Mountains and the Trees [PHOTOS]](http://cdn.elbo.ws/posts/3767345_lg.jpg)
Here are the photos from the Acoustic Waves Series that took place at the GCTC on September 25, 2011. Playing at the show was: Evening Hymns Snailhouse The Mountains and the Trees

Here is part II for Friday and Saturday on what shows I will be checking out at Pop Montreal . Friday - September 23, 2011 12pm to 5pm DJ Tim CO-OP @ Nouveau Palais (281 Bernard O) 1pm Symposium - Voices on Voices with Tune-Yards 8pm Touchy Mob @ Ukrainian Federation Alternative options can be: Cousins @ Casa del Popolo, Sandman Viper Command @ Les 3 Minots [...]
I figured it might be good to see these storytellers in action. Visit The Iceberg for more stories. Happy Friday! Video : Youth Lagoon – "Montana" + " A Song & A Memory " by Trevor Powers of Youth Lagoon. Video : Evening Hyms – "Learning to Fly (Tom Petter Cover) + " A Song & A Memory " by Jonas Bonnetta of Evening Hymns. [...]

Filter Tokyo Police Club are not a band you'd expect to announce an ambitious covers project. Not to say that they haven't reinterpreted someone else's song before - I've not heard it but I'm sure it's happened - but they haven't really made doing so "their thing", so to speak. Well not until now. Last month, they announced their intention to record and release ten covers over ten days, one from each of the last ten years, and document the process via Polaroids and Polaroid.com . [...]

Rob Fournier Five years is no small amount of time with regards to most things of a human scale, but for an artist following up a promising debut album, as Halifax native Rebekah Higgs was for her 2006 self-titled effort, it's an extraordinary wait. But Higgs wasn't idle in that time releasing a mini-album of heavily synthesized dance music as Ruby Jean & The Thoughtful Bees in 2009, and now with that itch scratched - at least for now - she's finally back with her second pop album, Odd Fellowship . [...]

Aaron Hayward & David Homer Though it was only on the calendar for barely two weeks last Spring - it was cancelled almost as soon as it was announced due to scheduling issues with their Lollapalooza appearance - the prospect of an Empire Of The Sun show in Toronto clearly got some people excited. And why not - though not exactly household names in North America, the glam-synth-pop outfit led by Luke Steele, known to some for his other band The Sleepy Jackson , are veritable superstars in their native Australia thanks to their [...]
There were a few things I was scared of as a kid. My grandfather was one of them. I wasn't scared of most insects; in fact I used to catch all sorts of buggers like dragonflies of all different types, crickets and beetles, but I would cringe at the sight of praying mantises. I was also scared of saint statues for fear that they would suddenly come to life. I take up after my grandfather in that we are both in charge of laundry. I used to watch my grandfather hand-wash all our clothes, [...]

Jessica Eaton Though they should be - and probably are - at work on their next album, a follow-up to last year's The Besnard Lakes Are The Roaring Night , Montreal's Besnard Lakes have put together a little something something that will not only slake their fans' appetite for some new outer space-scale rock, but give them an excuse to get out of the studio and back on the road for a spell. On September 20, they'll release You Lived In the City , a new 123 EP that [...]

Now that North by Northeast 2011 is over, it's time to reflect over the good, the bad and the sweaty. Here's a recap of what I experienced over those four days. Wednesday I quickly figured out this time around (I've been attending NXNE three or four years now) that even if you make a schedule with who you plan on seeing, it can change for factors other than the music. I was originally going to see Pat Jordache – an experimental guy from Montreal whose album I've been digging lately – but I ran into [...]

Toronto - This is part 2 of Stacey's NXNE highlights. For part one, click here . Sweatiest show Sheezer at Sneaky Dee's. Without a doubt. We were completely jammed like sardines (they had to have been breaking fire code), primed for a good time after great sets from The Ruby Coast , Paper Lions and Great Bloomers . Every single person was an exuberant fan, joyfully singing every word to every song, jumping along so hard that it made the floor feel like it was going [...]

So, here's the deal. A few days ago I was informed that my squad will be leaving the relief effort on the 22nd (This upcoming Wednesday). This is good for you because: A) The Indie Sabbath will be back in full force sooner than planned, bringing you that same material that has been described as "Cooler than a polar bear's toe nail" and "So fresh it'll turn your chest into a pair of class cutters." B) [There is no B. Actually there are practically no Bees anymore either . [...]

Toronto - Last night's North by Northeast 's Out of This Spark showcase was three hours of beauty. The early show of Snowblink , Evening Hymns and Forest City Lovers showed off their immense talent at the Music Gallery, which is inside of the St. George the Martyr Anglican Church. It was the right venue for such a show, minus the extreme humidity, but this all made for something I was glad I saw, especially when these are three Toronto bands I've been meaning to see for a while. Each set was [...]

Anton Corbijn It only took about six minutes via Twitter to announce the forty albums long-listed for the sixth edition of the Polaris Music Prize , we'll have the next three weeks to argue over their relative merits and come July 6, when the ten record-strong short list is announced, another couple months to hash those out before the September 19 gala in Toronto when a yet-to-be-determined grand jury declares their pick for the best Canadian album of the past year. And there's more at stake this year than in the past, [...]

Michelle Ford Another year, another NXNE , another NXNE preview post. I'll apologize in advance if this one's a little less thorough or exploratory than previews past, as travels and general business has taken up time that would usually be spent cruising band websites and Myspaces Facebooks, Bandcamps and Soundclouds. But I can offer one unconditional endorsement for the coming week, and I'd like to think it's not a wholly obvious one: Vancouver's Louise Burns . Her debut Mellow Drama came out a couple [...]
Here is part 2 of who I shall see at NXNE 2011. This being Thursday June 16, 2011. Things are starting to pick up that night. Again I am too overwhelmed on who to see! 7PM Snowblink at The Music Gallery Hopefully I will try to catch their set but I have to go to a interview at around 7:30pm. 8PM Ruth Minnikin at Dakota Tavern [...]