26 Oct. - the Pledge Drive show + Toronto show

...and boy is my jaw sore. Anyhow, here's what you heard between the pitches:

My Bloody Valentine – When You Sleep - Loveless - Sire
the Organ – Even in the Night - Thieves - Mint
Beach House – Gila - Devotion - Carpark
Antony and the Johnsons – Shake That Devil - Another World - Secretly Canadian
Leh-Lo – Zigzag - Zig-Zag - TFM Music Group
Mercury Rev – Snowflake in a Hot World - Snowflake Midnight - Yep Roc
Modernboys Moderngirls – Where's Your Boyfriend? - I Might As Well Break It
Peter Murphy – All Night Long - Love Hysteria - Beggars Banquet
Maps – You Don't Know Her Name - We Can Create - Mute
Infighter – Out of Range - s/t
The Smiths – Paint a Vulgar Picture - Strangeways, Here We Come - Sire

Many, many thanks to Vas for stepping up and not making me yammer on all alone.

Also, you lucky people in Toronto (Why are you lucky? Because you're in Toronto!) can see Infighter at the Mod Club this Thursday, Oct. 30. Do make the most of this opportunity, won't you?

Pledge Drive

Next week will feature the Pledge Drive Edition of DiS. CJAM is seeking to raise $25k this year, and that's simply to maintain current operating levels - no super raises for the staff or anything like that. The Drive will be on from Oct. 24 to Oct. 31 - that's right, Halloween.

Pledge now at www.cjam.ca or call (519) 971-3630 (CA) or (313) 963-6112 ext. 3630 (U.S.) during the Drive week. Donate, it's good for the soul.

19 Oct. set

Rufus Wainwright was excellent last night. Played a nice mixed set, voice and playing were spot on (with the exception of one guitar slip up, which he eloquently played off).

The Besnard Lakes – And You Lied to Me - Volume 1
Rufus Wainwright – Cigarettes and Chocolate Milk - Poses - Dreamworks

The Manhattan Love Suicides – Detroit Diesel - Burnt Out Landscapes - Magic Marker
Darker My Love – Northern Soul - 2 - Dangerbird
The Black Angels – Deer-Ree-Shee - Directions to See a Ghost - Light in the Attic
The Jesus and Mary Chain – Just Like Honey - Psychocandy - Rhino

Loquat – Comedown's Worse - Secrets of the Sea - Talking House
Leh-Lo – An Apology - Zig-Zag - TFM Music Group
Arctic – Anything More - Today Brought Me Here - Board of Records

Bombthebass (feat. Mark Lanegan) – Black River - Future Chaos - K7
iNSiDEaMiND feat. Sarah Sayeed – Whispering Through Windows - Scatterpopia - Public Transit
Ulrich Schnauss – Between Us and Them - Far Away Trains Passing By - Domino

Dreamtiger – Heard Inside the Sun - Glisten - Purr Factory
Mañana – Make a Tiger - Interruptions - Rodeostar
The Legends – He Knows the Sun - Public Radio - Labrador
The Hoa Hoas – Yellow Jacket - Sonic Bloom

Final Fantasy – Horsetail Feathers - Plays to Please - States Rights
Pas/Cal – Summer is Almost Here - I Was Raised on Matthew, Mark, Luke & Laura - Le Grande Magistery
Belle and Sebastian – Jonathan David - Push Barman to Open Old Wounds - Matador
The Magnetic Fields – Papa Was a Rodeo - 69 Love Songs - Merge

Pulp – Do You Remember the First Time? - His 'n' Hers - Island

Björk – Isobel - Post - Elektra

12 Oct. set

-Monkey is Damon Albarn's new project. It's fairly awesome.
-It took a while, but I'm really liking British Sea Power's latest.
-Richard Hawley is fucking amazing.

And now, the show:
Monkey – Heavenly Peach Banquet - Journey to the West - XL
Brightblack Morning Light – Heavenly Buffalo - Motion to Rejoin - Matador
Economics – Hands on My Shoulders - s/t
Labradford – Disremembering - Prazision LP - Kranky

Mogwai – Batcat - The Hawk is Howling - Matador
Clinic – Harmony - Walking with Thee - Domino
British Sea Power – Waving Flags - Do You Like Rock Music? - Rough Trade
The Museum Pieces – Avalon Sank - Philadelphia - Youth Club

Klaus Schulze and Lisa Gerrard – Liquid Coincidence 4 - Farscape I+II - SPV

Wire – Circumspect - Object 47 - Pink Flag
My Brightest Beast – Nervous (single version) - Nervous EP – Random Sound
Inspiral Carpets – This is How it Feels - Life - Mute
Mercury Rev – Senses on Fire - Snowflake Midnight - Yep Roc

Richard Hawley – Baby You're My Light - Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist soundtrack – Columbia
Leonard Cohen – Famous Blue Raincoat - Songs of Love and Hate - Sony
Emm Gryner – Symphonic - Asian Blue - Dead Daisy
Ian Brown – Time is My Everything - Solarized - Fiction

Sebastien Grainger & the Mountains – By Cover of Night (Fire Fight) - s/t - Outside
The Hoa Hoa's – The List - Sonic Bloom
My Favorite – Burning Hearts - The Kids are All Wrong EP – Double Agent
Echo & the Bunnymen – Seven Seas - More Songs to Learn and Sing - Rhino

Galaxie 500 – Ceremony - On Fire - Ryko

5 Oct. set + recommendations

This one ended up being more downtempo than I'd originally planned, but these things happen sometimes.

Saw Glasvegas in Philadelphia last Tuesday night. Simply amazing - the band was tight as hell and pulled off a huge sound for being a basic four piece in a pretty tiny venue. I'm really hoping they catch on in North America soon, because they're a great band the deserves it.

Speaking of, Vancouver natives the Awkward Stage produce some damn catchy neurotically angsty pop, and will be at the Phog Lounge in Windsor on Sat. the 11th.
Deastro is a Detroit-based electronic pop artist worth checking out, and will apparently not be at the Phog on Friday the 10th (that's what happens when you read old ads), but will be at the Lager House in Detroit on the 7th.

Also, a new Phonogram series is in the works for a December release, bringing my two biggest nerd obsessions (music and comic books) together. It doesn't hurt that writer Kieron Gillen is a music journo who knows way too much about the British pop scene and artist Jamie McKelvie's work is simply perfection.

And now, the set:

The Awkward Stage – Anime Eyes - Slimming Mirrors, Flattering Lights - Mint
Deastro – An Empty Park Meets Personified Silence - Young Planets
The Gothic Archies – Crows - A Tragic Treasury - Nonesuch
Hello, Blue Roses – Shadow Falls - The Portrait is Finished and I Have Failed to Capture Your Beauty - Locust Music

Modernboys Moderngirls – Where's Your Boyfriend? - I Might as Well Break It
Klaxons – Two Receivers - Myths of the Near Future - Geffen
Au Revoir Borealis – Breeze in the Tree - Dark Enough for Stars - Utter East
Suede – The Wild Ones - Dog Man Star - Columbia

Bloc Party – Biko - Intimacy - Vice
Lush – Last Night - Lovelife - 4AD
As the Poets Affirm – Awake Chaos - Awake
Elias – Sinking Ships - Blow Away EP

Antony and the Johnsons – Twilight - s/t - Secretly Canadian
Rufus Wainwright – Chelsea Hotel No. 2 - Leonard Cohen I'm Your Man soundtrack - Verve
David Bowie – Warszawa - Low - Ryko
UNKLE feat. Ian Brown – Be There – single – Mo Wax

Ride – Like a Daydream - OX4: The Best of – Creation
Morrissey – I Just Want to See the Boy Happy - Ringleader of the Tormentors - Attack
Babybird – You're Gorgeous - The Brit Box - Rhino
Adorable – Sunshine Smile - Against Perfection - Creation

Projektor – Blue Ocean - Red Wolf Glass - Endearing
Diamond Sea – Jailbreaker Blues - s/t EP
My Dad Vs. Yours – Canyons (Grand or Otherwise) - Winning Hearts and Minds

Joy Division – These Days - Substance - Factory