Welcome to my weekly roundup of inexpensive indie(ish) musical happenings in downtown Toronto, all for $10 or less. If I'm missing something you think I should list, or you have any comments, let me know. I star (*) shows that most interest me. Like this list? Join my Facebook group to get my weekly Toronto indie music listings. Subscribe to my podcast (or download the episodes) here , or through iTunes . The latest ones are here . [...]
It may feel a little early for this sort of thing, but we on the Amazon music team have pooled our collective knowledge and taste to determine the best music of 2009. We spent 2009 soothed by Neko Case 's wail, moved to dance by Yeah Yeah Yeahs ' turn towards big beats, intrigued by Somali hip-hop Troubadour K'naan, and ready to hear three key words from neo-twangsters the Avett Brothers . On the songs side, French popsters Phoenix went nutty for a composer and [...]

Blk Jks Play Spaceland On Thursday Nights like Thursday are just a cruel joke to live music fans. It's another insane week of shows - old legends, new legends, 90's heroes and current Pitchfork darlings. I caught Polvo last Saturday. The problems I had with their set list a few months back at the Echoplex were corrected. Great set. They played everything I wanted to hear. Monday 10/12/09 [Pick of the Night] Light FM [...]

Now in Print / Literature Duncan Wilder Johnson's How I Fell In Love With Punk Rock "Think spoken word has to be about sensitivity and women's issues? Think again, Duncan Wilder Johnson is a spoken word artist and he's pretty metal." - San Francisco Weekly NOW IN PRINT: Boston Author [...]
Richard Jankovich is a producer from Los Angeles who goes by the name Pocket . He is also the front man of electronic pop outfit the Burnside Project who have put out two excellent albums; 2003's The Network, The Streams, The Harmonies and 2005's The Finest Example is You. Under the Pocket name, Jankovich has has remixed Beck, Radiohead, Kristin Hersh, Of Montreal, Elk City, Joanna Newsom, Mendoza Line, Dirty on Purpose, Eskobar, Cat Power and others, always with groovy results. [...]
Here we are, facing the LCD display armed only with Diet Dr. Pepper and Orbit chewing gum, culled from the discount bin at the local Jackson's convenience store. It's some months after promising a new post, and we're ready to get back into this gig. Word of mouth tells me that the fan-base of Beat City Radio has been steadily growing and old listeners are loyal ones. One of the biggest complaints I've received is the lack of online playlists and podcasts. So, let's give 'er another shot and kick this thing off the ground. Below you'll [...]
Two weeks in a row! See, I wasn't just talkin' when I said the fix was back! With so much music to catch up and so much more to share, it's hard for me to choose a place to start. I did just pick up the new Wilco album, so, maybe you'll see me review that in the future...who knows? At any rate, lets get this party started. Iglu & Hartly - In This City (2008, Echo Park, California) Iglu & Hartly met at the University of Colorado at Boulder, Colorado [...]

I know it's been ages since I've posted on here. I'm not really sure what my plans are for the blog at this point. In the meantime, here's something that's been floating around on the one decent radio station we have around here in Cincinnati. That's right. Shoutout to WLHS 89.9 Lakota Radio . If only my high school had a radio station like you... I have no idea who Elk City are, and I don't know what kind of band they are. But I do know that I just might like their [...]
Today All Day Event Twin Cities Jazz Festival @ Mears Park 12:00 PM ART SOUP FESTIVAL (ELK RIVER, MN) 3:00 PM The Decemberists / Calexico / Yeasayer / Solid Gold @ Rock The Garden 8:00 PM Red Pens (CD RELEASE) w/ Sharp Teeth, The Vignettes [...]

Annie's is constantly cementing their status as the best no-bullshit punk and metal venue in the city, pulling together a Saturday night bill with a little something for everyone. Tarrakian kicks things off, representing for the stoner/doom contingent, and the thunderous quartet is well poised to follow Saviours wake, out of Oakland and onto bigger things. I first heard them while on unrelated business at Soundwave Studios - Siren-song ten-ton riffage was bleeding out in the hall and eventually enticed me into banging on the door of their practice space and soliciting identification. They gave me a sticker. [...]

Annie's is constantly cementing their status as the best no-bullshit punk and metal venue in the city, and they pulled together a powerhouse weekend bill with a little something for everyone. Tarrakian kicked things off, representing the stoner/doom contingent, and the thunderous quartet did much to please the reddened eyes and ravaged ears of that subgenre's faithful contingent. I first heard them while on unrelated business at Soundwave Studios-siren-song ten-ton riffage was bleeding out in the hall and eventually enticed me into banging on the door of their practice space and soliciting identification. They gave me a sticker. [...]

Remixer and producer Pocket has just announced the next installment in his latest project — a full-length's worth of singles featuring a lineup of both legacy musicians and newer artists, all of which will be released digitally and individually throughout 2009. The next single, "Hear In Noiseville" featuring Steve Kilbey (The Church) is set for a July 21st release, and will feature remixes by MetroB & Mazlope, Alien Skin and Peter Flowers. The single will also be accompanied with b-side "Break Your Heart Wildly" feat. Kimi Recor (Lilofee). The second single in Pocket's series, "Sampo" featuring Yuki Chikudate (Asobi [...]

Some Pixies fans will tell you this album invented alternative rock. Others will say it invented indie. Regardless, what remains clear is that Doolittle helped is still revered by musicians today. Every indie band seems to have a Pixies cover up their sleeve, if their original songs don't already sound like Pixies covers in the first place. From the opening riff of "Debaser" through the loud-soft "Gouge Away," it's a classic for anyone who wants to understand the past twenty years of music. Rogue Wave – Debaser [...]

Four years ago at this time, this blog was only a few months old and I'd never heard of Spencer Krug. I had only recently fallen in love with The Arcade Fire , a band that would go on to win the Vague Space song of the year of 2005 for "Neighborhood #1 (Tunnels)", the inaugural year of the prestigious award. As the story goes, at Spencer and Dan Boeckner's first gig together, back in 2003 in Montreal, Win and Regine from Arcade Fire were in the audience. It went so well that the old friends from [...]
Like this list? Join my Google Group to get my weekly Toronto indie music listings. Or, the Facebook group . Subscribe to my weekly podcast (or download the episodes) here , or through iTunes . Or just listen to the latest one, and all the other ones, at Zygiella . Make sure to check the rest of this blog for show reviews and photos, giveaways, and downloads. Welcome to my weekly roundup of inexpensive indie(ish) musical happenings in downtown Toronto, all for $10 or less. If I'm missing something [...]

Richard Jankovich AKA Pocket is undertaking a large pop music experiment as 2009 rolls along: releasing a wealth of singles and remixes--both digitally and physically. May brings the second Pocket-produced single, "Sampo," featuring Yuki Chikudate, better known as the lovely chanteuse who fronts Asobi Seksu . Just hit up Pocket's website to nab the track and find out more about the monthly singles project. "Sampo" will be available for download for free throughout the month, with the physical edition, featuring due next Tuesday (May 12th) the talents of Lorraine Lellis (Mahogany, Somnambulants) [...]

"I miss the honest life we used to lead/scraping up odd jobs so we could see/a movie the next town over" Just when I thought I was beginning to understand the function and process of poetry I happen to come across a book that completely changes my thought process. Poetry, even when collected into book form, is not supposed to tell a story. Poetry is suppose to caress topics, and sweep up snapshots of events in metaphors. Shaindel Beers' debut collection, A Brief History in Time , achieves something more profound. Shaindel manages to tell [...]

Faunts Feel.Love.Thinking.Of Friendly Fire (2009) Download: "Hurts Me All The Time" Recently the norm for electro-pop outputs has been to fall back on deceptive noise and feedback to add false depth to the songs. Canada's Faunts have ably avoided these trappings and assembled a well crafted and toughtful album with Feel.Love.Thinking.Of. The band was formed in Edmonton in 2000 by brothers Steven and Tim Batke. Their first offering was the well-received 2005 release High Expectations/Low Output. [...]

Another post about Funky Monkey and a first for Acid Ted. Funky Monkey was Mark Brown (working with Gerard Johnson (of The Syn and collaborator with Saint Etienne )). He released stuff on his own Funky Inc. label in the 1996-1999 period. I know absolutely nothing else about him. And his name doesn't give much to go on. In 1999, he released his best album "Superfox". This was a concept album (I know, I know, bear with me) about a prostitute who kills her pimp/sugar daddy. The inlay [...]

Monday, April 20 Gary War , The Beach Eagles , DJ John Barera at ZuZu! (FREEEEE, 10:00, 21+) Gary War is part of that whole scuzzzzz rock stuff like Ty Segall, Wavves, Vivian Girls and the like and he's just as awesome as the rest. The Beach Eagles are a local band that go by the name of Headband except tonight it's "headband with wooden guitars. same olde character assasination rock, now without the pill overdoses." Promises to be fun, if nothing else. And hey. Ya can't [...]