Torquil Campbell or Stars on Special Radio 3 Podcast

Torquill Campbell of Stars, Dead Child Star, and Memphis takes us through a semi-autobiographical trip on this Special Edition CBC Radio 3 podcast. He talks about his musical history and the friends he met along the way and plays some music to go along with it all. Included are bits and pieces about (and songs by) Stars, Metric, Broken Social Scene, the Dears and others.
Listen Here

or Download it and take it with you.

Amy Millan covers Death Cab for Cutie

Over at Stereogum they've posted a great countrified cover of Death Cab for Cutie's "I Will Follow You Into The Dark" done by Amy Millan from her forthcoming album "Masters Of The Burial"!

You should really go grab it!

The Goods on the Broken Social Scene Show: The Day the Main Stream Media Died

Jello Biafra, lead singer of the Dead Kennedys and founder of Alerternative Tentacles (amoung other things) once said "Don't hate the media, become the media". It is one of the founding principles of this site. The reality is that the internet has been 'becoming the media' for more than a decade, but today I think marks the turning point. Last nights Broken Social Scene show will likely turn out to be one of the most significant Canadian concerts of the decade yet there was no coverage at all from the main stream media. There was, in fact, very little coverage at all and what there was clearly demonstrates the shift.

According to Google, as of this hour there have been four blog posts about the show, including one from this blog. One of the blog posts was from a photo blog and there were, in addition to a horde of posts on twitter - three pages of videos on YouTube already - by next week you will probably be able to watch the entire show from several different angles.

As I said at the outset though, according to Google News there has been to date no mainstream press coverage at all no stories from the CBC, the Toronto Star, the Globe and Mail, the National Post, CTV, City or anywhere else for what will be remembered as one of the most significant concerts of the decade. Even CBC Radio 3 didn't list it in their top 5 gigs of the weekend - granted it was a busy weekend, but this show should have warranted making it a top 6 - just for the day.

Regardless of the main stream media ignoring the story though here are the goods:

Roundletters on the Harbourfront Broken Social Scene show.

Ryan O Photo has the pics from BSS @ Harbourfront

More Notes From Underground (usually a political blog) on the BSS show.

And Now, the Video!!



Broken Social Scene - Bandwitch (LIVE)



Broken Social Scene: KC Accidental. Harbourfront. Toronto. July 11.



Broken Social Scene - 7/4 (Shoreline) ft. Feist (Live) @ Harbourfront Centre 7/11/09



Broken Social Scene - Gimme Sympathy LIVE @ Harbourfront



Feist & Kevin Drew (Broken Social Scene) Duet - Medley (Live) @ Harbourfront Centre 7/11/09



and much much more

Last Waltz for Broken Social Scene ?

Broken Social Scene is obviously not going away, from what I understand there is a new album in the works but it's questionable whether or not we'll ever see so much of the Broken Social Scene crew on stage at the same time again. In attendance were the usual core of BSS - Kevin Drew, Brendan Canning, Justin Peroff, etc., as well as Feist, Metric's Emily Haines and James Shaw, Charles (Happiness Project) Spearin, Jules Penner, Andrew (Apostle of Hustle) Whiteman, Jason Collett, Amy Millan, Even Cranley, Lisa Lobsinger and more.

The show was not just a gift to the city of Toronto or a BSS reuinion though. It was also a film shoot for This Movie is Broken, Bruce McDonald's upcoming film about the band and the set list would serve as a good intro the the music of Broken Social Scene and the spinoff bands it produced - from Broken Social Scene favorites like "Fire Eye'd Boy" and "KC Accidental" to Metric hits like "Give Me Sypathy", Jason Collett's "I'll Bring the Sun" and Feist's "I Feel It All."

It all had a very "Last Waltz" feel to it, but it is clearly not an 'end'. Perhaps though it was a celebration of what's been and a launching point for what's to come. It's doubtful that we'll see such a collection of Broken Social Scene members on one stage again, at least not for a long time, but all of it is moving on. Broken Social Scene is still going, adding new members and spinning off new bands and Metric, Stars, Amy Millan, Jason Collett, Charles Spearin, Apostle of Hustle, Feist and others are all going strong, producing new material and continuing the BSS tradition. As I understand the concept this is what was always intended. Broken Social Scene produces albums under that name, but each of the parts, each of the other bands and all of their current, former and future members are all a part of the Broken Social Scene. There is no 'end' to it, even if the faces continue to change.

It should be an amazing film.

(Sadly I wasn't in a position to get any good film or video from the show for you, but based on the number of cameras I saw there should be plenty available soon.)

Amy Millan Album Details Announced

Acclaimed solo artist and Stars vocalist Amy Millan is set to release her new album 'Masters Of The Burial' on September 8. Today Arts and Crafts released a track listing for the album - which is kinda mean since we can't actually hear any of it yet - but it's Amy Millan, it will be brilliant and will get people talking about Polaris 2010 before Polaris 2009 has even been announced (it's pretty much on the long list without even hearing it.)

If you absolutely can't wait and are, or can be, in Toronto July 25 Amy will be playing a free show at the Harbourfront Centre, with labelmate Gentleman Reg. A fall tour is in the works and will be announced shortly.

The track list goes:

‘Masters Of The Burial’
1. Bruised Ghosts
2. Low Sail
3. Old Perfume
4. Towers
5. Day To Day
6. Bury This
7. Finish Line
8. Run For Me
9. I Will Follow You Into Dark
10. Lost Compass
11. Bound

Stars Campbell Welcomes Daughter

With Father's Day just a few days away Torquil Campbell of Stars and Memphis and his wife, actress Moya O'Connell have given birth to a daughter Ellington Beatrice Pepper Campbell according to Jeffrey Remidios of Arts and Crafts. Congratulation to the new parents and happy birthday Ellington!



Stars - Sleep Tonight

Indie Rockers and Others Fill Cameras for Charity

Some of your favorite Canadian indie rockers and other celebrities have filled disposable cameras to support DOXA. DOXA is a documentary festival presented by the Documentary Media Society of Vancouver. To raise funds the festival (who's 2009 fest. launched on Friday) is auctioning off some used single use cameras. Those cameras were filled by Jason Collett, Bob Wiseman, the Weakerthans, Ladyhawk, Tegan Quinn, Stars, Nardwuar the Human Serviette, Great Lake Swimmers, Veda Hille and even CBC folk like Peter Mansbridge, Mary Walsh, George Stromboulopoulos, Colin Mocherie, Brent Bambury and Ian Hanomansing.

So what's on the cameras? What did they take pictures of? They're not saying but bidding on all the Cameras opened on Friday and will continue until Sunday May 31, 2009.

the Yellow Bird Project: Indie Rock T-shirts for Charity

The Yellow Bird Project sells t-shirts, but not just any t-shirts. They sell unique t-shirts that you won't find at shows. T-shirts designed by prominent indie rockers with the proceeds going to charity.

Just today there is a new shirt from the Dears the shirt was designed by Natalia Yanchak and Murray Lightburn's three year old daughter Neptune. Proceeds from the shirt go to the Pablove Foundation, which is dedicated to helping children fight cancer with love.



While you are lookling at the shirt you can also grab a free MP3 of the acoustic version of 'Whites Only Party'.

Then you can go check out shirts by the Stars, the New Pornographers and Immaculate Machine, K-Os, Broken Social Scene and others.