
Frank Yang Who: Forest City Lovers , Snowblink , Snailhouse , Bocce , Kite Hill , Richard Laviolette , Octoberman , The Meek, Jenny Omnichord What/Why: Local label Out Of This Spark is turning five years old in 2012, and they're marking a half-decade of discovering, incubating and launching some of the area's best new talent the way any good anniversary should - with family, friends and a tonne of great music. Details on the event over here [...]

Todd V Wolfson I feel that I should say up front that any reservations I have about Kathleen Edwards and her work are entirely my own issues. Since her 2002 debut Failer , I've enjoyed her honest, roots-rock fare but always felt like I expected more from her creatively even though across her first three albums, she'd never shown any signs that she had ambitions beyond being a good singer-songwriter. That said, the fact that she spent her downtime following 20082s Asking For Flowers [...]
Folksy Toronto art rock outfit (or is it arty Toronto folk rock outfit?) Snowblink have a sweet new video. It's for the track "The Tired Bees" from their 2011 debut album Long Live . Check it out here:
![Snowblink – The Tired Bees [Music video]](http://cdn.elbo.ws/posts/3979031_lg.jpg)
Snowblink is one of my favorite acts you have to see live. Last year their album " Long Live " was re-released worldwide and opening up to acts like Jeff Tweedy, Owen Pallett and Ohbijou. While no word on when Daniela Gesundheit and Dan Goldman will return to the studio and make a new album. Why not check out their music video to " The Tired Bees ". Directed by Carla Susanto . It is a beautiful animated music video.

Frank Yang I like a break as much as the next guy - believe me - but coming up on two and a half weeks since I'd been to a live show and with the January concert calendar looking pretty sparse by any measure, I was getting pretty anxious to go and see something. Happily, it was Wavelength to the rescue. I hadn't been to a showcase in almost two years - certainly not since they wrapped the weekly series and went to the intermittent schedule - but their first presentation of [...]

Daniel Boud If the ubiquity of decorations, lights and carols wasn't enough of a hint, let me be the one to break it to you - like it or not, the Christmas season is upon us. And with the holiday season comes Christmas concerts and performances, but if Handel's Messiah or The Nutcracker Suite aren't your speed, local hardcore heroes Fucked Up would like to offer you an alternative - a complete album recital of David Comes To Life . As touring commitments for [...]
![Canada Day Maple Sugar Song Circle [Photos]](http://cdn.elbo.ws/posts/3560413_lg.jpg)
This is where I spent my Canada Day this year. I went up to Jacques-Cartier Park for this great Songwriter's Circle by CBC Radio . The Canada Day Maple Sugar Song Circle was broadcast live. This year the singers featured were: Daniela Gesundheit ( Snowblink ) Graham Van Pelt ( Miracle Fortress ) Liam Corcoran & Alec O'Hanley ( Two Hours Traffic ) [...]

Evan Dando & Juliana Hatfield: photo by Michael Ligon I stayed surprisingly true to my original picks for this night of NXNE . And making the most of my Priority Plass(thanks NXNE), I hit the night hard. Kicking off the night early, I hit The Music Gallery to take in the 7 pm set of Toronto-by-way-of-California band Snowblink . I arrived just after the band had started it seemed with most of the pew seating occupied so I took to the right side of the [...]

Frank Yang One perennial highlight - okay, for two years - of my SXSW adventures was throwing day parties where we could invite Japanese Action Comic Punk outfit Peelander-Z to wreak havoc. So it was nice to see that not only were the Peelanders in town for NXNE , but they had an all-ages afternoon show scheduled at Sneaky Dee's on the Saturday. I guess Toronto's still getting used to the idea of having shows when it's still daylight out, because the gig was only attended [...]

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, [...]

I'll be leaving in approximately three hours from Cleveland, weaving my way through the northern scenic regions of Pennsylvania until I finally hit the brakes in Buffalo. After a bout with a basket of chicken wings, the lady and I are headed into the land of Ice Hockey and Rush. We're having a layover in Niagara. I hear them falls are romantic. In any event, by my calculations, this is at least a good 7-8 hours worth of road-trippin' over the next 24 hours. I can't be the only one hitting the open road today/tomorrow with [...]
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 [...]

I'm completely pumped to finally see the multilingual circus show of We Are Wolves . They're playing in the 1 AM slot at The Legendary Horseshoe Tavern on Wednesday night. By this time, I'm bound to be messy and in need of a cane. Many will point to Total Magique as the band's sophomore upswing, but I absolutely think 2009's Invisible Violence is extremely underrated. See our writer Justin's thoughts about the album in December of 2009 by clicking [...]

Daniela Gesundheit en Dan Goldman komen uit de Canadese stad Toronto. Ze noemen zich Snowblink. In de Verenigde Staten toerden ze met stadgenoot Owen Pallett . Hun album Long Live staat vol met lieve liedjes. MP3: Snowblink - The Tired Bees Snowblink op Myspace Subscribe in a reader

Daniela Gesundheit en Dan Goldman komen uit de Canadese stad Toronto. Ze noemen zich Snowblink. In de Verenigde Staten toerden ze met stadgenoot Owen Pallett . Hun album Long Live staat vol met lieve liedjes. MP3: Snowblink - The Tired Bees Snowblink op Myspace Subscribe in a reader

Andre Guerette I have a confession to make; I lied to you. Or more accurately, I misled you. When I wrote up Miracle Fortress' performance at Canadian Musicfest last month , I made it out that I was as in the dark about what Graham Van Pelt had in store for album number two as most everyone else, and that my insights were based entirely on the show. This was not true. In fact, I'd gotten advanced a copy of Was I The Wave? a week [...]

photos by Dominick Mastrangelo , words by Rachel Kowal Though I can't comment on the first opener, Baby Alpaca, since I didn't get to see them play, the remaining artists on last Thursday night's bill at Glasslands were united by dark undertones and beautiful vocals - a winning combination in my book. I knew I recognized the name Angel Olsen , but it wasn't until I arrived at the venue that I suddenly remembered that [...]