I was expecting something of an upset win at last night's Polaris Music Prize gala, and I suppose in a way that's exactly what happened. Arcade Fire taking the prize is certainly a well-deserved win, one that nearly anyone could have predicted after The Suburbs won just about every other award on the planet . It wasn't the grand surprise that Karkwa's victory last year was, and a part of me (and nearly every other blogger out there, it seemed) truly believed the jury was going to move in the same direction and deliver it to one [...]
The 2011 Polaris Muisc Prize gala is upon us. This being Soft Signal's first year meant it was my first go-around with the prize, and the first time people actually asked me how I thought this would all play out. I kind of kept out of the way of it, not having the time, experience, or language to properly talk about these albums in the context of the most important music prize in the country. Aside from my early picks with the long list —which weren't really predictions so much as who I'd [...]
A little last minute considering that the event is to take place in two days, but GWAR-B-Q has been moved to a new venue due to complications securing the correct permits and licenses. The show was originally going to take place at Hadad's Water Park, but now will be at Richmond, Virginia's National Theater. GWAR-B-Q planner ...
Seriously, is there anything Bruce Dickinson can't do? He's like a super hero! He can fly, he can jump, he can sing, he can handle a sword, he can inspire, he's a doctor, and he even has the tights to boot. The Press Association reported earlier that Iron Maiden front man Bruce Dickinson will be ...
Anthrax guitarist Scott Ian is set to appear in an upcoming webisode for AMC's The Walking Dead, posting on his official blog about his experience being morphed into a zombie. "My agent got the call asking if I wanted to come down and get made up to play a zombie in a webisode for AMC's ...
Iron Maiden frontman Bruce Dickinson is like the real life James Bond of metal. By night, he is the singer of one of the biggest heavy metal bands of all time, by day, he's an airplane pilot, champion fencer, actor, and now, you can call him Doctor. Dickinson received an honorary doctorate in music from ...
While speculation of Behemoth frontman, Adam "Nergal" Darski, joining the Polish version of "The Voice" has yet to be confirmed by official sources, it has been confirmed that Bruce Dickinson, of heavy metal legends Iron Maiden, was asked to join the UK version of the hit TV Show. However, Bruce had a thing or two ...
Just when you thought nothing funny would happen this weekend. TMZ reports that Michael Todd, bassist for Coheed And Cambria, was arrested in Attleboro, MA last night for armed robbery where he allegedly held up a Walgreens to score some Oxycontin. The real kicker here is that he allegedly wrote his demand on a cellphone ...
In a country that boasts of our first amendment, we've taken our liberties to speak, shred, and blast beat out - in the name of anti-clerical, anarchic causes, and pure metal blasphemy. This expression, anti-clerical, is far from confined to the states; we get such doses from the finest black metal bands of Finland, to ...
Polaris season is upon us once again. A good number of albums have been making lasting impressions since last June, and today the Polaris Music Prize revealed the long list of nominees for this year's award. Forty very talented, very deserving artists were announced, and in the coming weeks the jury will be cutting that down to ten. Since I'm not a member of the jury*, I'm relegated to just running down a wishlist of what my ballot would look like. It's really difficult to narrow it to just five picks, so I can only imagine the kind [...]
Now, it seems Slayer is always doing something to get themselves in the press - tabloids, magazines, clerical billboards, and banned from Los Angeles bus benches - but, how often does any of this leave them "speechless?" Slayer frontman Tom Araya was shocked when notified that he would be awarded the "key" to a little ...
Owen Pallett has had one heck of a 2010. His first post-Final Fantasy album earned a nod from the Polaris Prize, making that the second in his career. He toured the hell out of it, and earned himself a place on a heck of a lot of best-of, year-end lists. He composed 14 mini-scores for the New York Times Magazine 's "14 Actors Acting" feature, which is now online and can be viewed here . Then followed it all up with A Swedish Love Story , and now to round everything out, he's [...]
Add this one to the list of awesome Monday announcements. Vancouver harmonic pop-quintet Mother Mother took the day to break the news on their upcoming third LP, Eureka , due out March 15, 2011, via Last Gang Records . In the press release, Eureka is said to offer up an evolved version of the band, one laden with synth hooks that "run the electronic gamut." Although there's a pretty good chance you can count on the band's signature clever lyrics and intricate harmonies to be in full swing. The album was produced by frontman [...]
I've been waiting for this one for a while. 20082s Hometowns has been one of the most-played records in my collections in recent years. So much so that I actually managed to wear out the CD (well, the digipack) and had to buy another one. I was also lucky enough to catch these guys performing four (four!) times this year, so it's safe to say that I'm a pretty big fan. Yesterday, The Rural Alberta Advantage announced their sophomore record, "Departing," that will drop on March 1 via Paper Bag Records . When [...]
Fresh off their nationwide tour with Stars , Young Galaxy are gearing up for the release of their third full-length, Shapeshifting , coming February 8 via Paper Bag Records . No track list has been released yet, but the band is already offering up a sampling. You can head over to Paper Bag's Soundcloud page to hear "Peripheral Visionaries," a hypnotic, slow-burning number that builds into a some big hooks. Shapeshifting was produced by the multitalented Dan Lissvik, of the Swedish duo Studio (among other things). Hear "Peripheral [...]
Earlier this week, CBC Radio 3 released the nomination lists for their annual Bucky Awards, which celebrate the best in independent Canadian music, and usually focuses on the indie pop that makes up pretty much all of the station's playlist. The winners are selected by fans and listeners, and you can head on over to the CBC Radio 3 website to vote for yourself . The awards are spread out over ten categories: Best Song, Most Canadian Song, Best Live Act, Best Reason To Learn French, Sexiest Artist, Best New Band [...]
Finally. It's been three long years since we last heard from The Details, one of the best acts making music in Winnipeg these days. Since they released their exceptional Draw A Distance. Draw A Border. LP way, way back in 2007, The Details have toured back and forth across the nation a few times since then, and found some time to record their sophomore record earlier this year. Yesterday, the band announced the release of The Original Mark EP , a five-song collection that is built on two cuts from their yet-to-be-named upcoming full-length, including [...]
On Missiles , The Dears found themselves stripped down to the bare essential. That included leaving behind all but core bandmates/bedmates Murray Lightburn and Natalia Yanchak to pen the entire record themselves. It resulted in a lot of lonely sounding anthems, a sound that came through even with the band touring. Loneliness can get a little...well, lonely, after a while, which might explain the much larger group-dynamic they took when creating their upcoming Degeneration Street LP. In the press release, the album "finds Murray Lightburn, Natalia Yanchak, [guitarist] Patrick Krief, [guitarist] Robert Benvie, [bassist] [...]
In an interview with TheAge.co.au yesterday, Bono revealed that the band are working on three different albums, the first of which will be a Danger Mouse produced joint. Iiinteresting... Read the Article
Responsible listeners everywhere picked up The National's High Violet way back in May, sending the record into a top ten debut on the charts [in what would be end up being the worst week in album sales]. It garnered massive praise from critics, earning the coveted Best New Music endorsement from Pitchfork and is currently sitting with an aggregate score of 84 on Metacritic. In short, it's really, really good. To celebrate the success, the band is releasing an expanded edition of album that features the original LP on one disc, and [...]
Soft Signal
METAL Injection Blog
SquirrelFood.net
![Niki & The Dove - The Fox [OFFICIAL VIDEO]](http://cdn.elbo.ws/youtube/l2f6UbMnlq4_130.jpg)
Karmin – “Broken Hearted” and “I Told You So” 2/11 SNL
The Best Whitney Houston Covers: A Tribute
