Start Choppin'

PopMatters speaks to Lou Barlow on the Dinosaur Jr reunion. I still haven't made up my mind about going to their upcoming Toronto show at The Phoenix. Tickets go on sale at the usual Toronto outlets tomorrow morning. At one point in the mid-90's I had a number of their CD's(both the major label and indie ones) but ended selling 'em. The indie CD's I found had some moments of melodicism but I couldn't always come to terms with the amount of sonic sludge found on some of these early releases. The major label albums "Green Mind", "Where You Been?" and "Without A Sound" were more up my alley and had some sparkling melodies. Still I ended up selling them because over the course of an album I still found them inconsistent. I think I ended up re-purchasing "Without A Sound" for $3, although I'll be darned if I can find it right now amongst my piles of CD's. Maybe I should just invest in "Ear Bleeding Country" and be done with it.

Amazon.com has an mp3 of "Freak Scene" available for download and tonnes of multimedia are also available over at www.freesofree.net(registration required).

Check out Dinosaur Jr News for, well...it speaks for itself.

Aversion reports on the new Posies album entitled "Every Kind of Light" being released June 28th through Rykodisc. The 2005 version of The Posies have picked up a new rhythm section including bassist Matt Harris (Oranger) and drummer Darius Minwalla (Preston School of Industry).

Billboard reports that indie record label Secretly Canadian will be converting its DVD distribution division, Blank Stare, into a full-service DVD imprint. Blank Stare will be releasing a couple of documentaries in the future including "Why Should the Devil?", which is a 94-minute examination of the Christian rock subculture(featuring performances by the likes of Pedro the Lion,Cool Hand Luke and the Danielson Famile) and "The Shield Around the K: The K Records Story" a 1991 documentary about Olympia, Washington-based indie label.

The Shins speak to chartattack about their success and a new album that'll likely be released next year.

Pitchfork reports on Keren Ann's North American tour dates. Nice to see that Haligonians get a chance to see the lovely Ms. Ann on July 17th at The Commons Room. Of course, us Southern Ontario-ans are spoiled and get two opportunities to see her: July 25th at The Toronto Downtown Jazz Festival, Nathan Phillips Square[Toronto Star stage] and July 26th at Olympic Island opening the festivities for the co-headlining Broken Social Scene/Modest Mouse show. Pitchfork also mentions Keren will appear on CBS' Early Show on June 4th so mark those calendars.

Hamilton, ON's Junior Boys will be playing a live session for KEXP, tomorrow(May 28th @ 1pm PST).

By the way, saw Ms. Leslie Feist at Soundscapes today. That is all.