BMFA

I haven't had a chance to give Martha Wainwright's debut self-titled album a proper listen since I picked it up on the first day it was released last month. Casual listens of her album haven't resulted in the same sort of euphoria I got when I first heard her sing backup on her brother Rufus' "April Fools". I'll give it time I guess, and I'm sure I'll come around. In any case, her song "Bloody Mother Fucking Asshole"[mp3] is a great song, and no, not because of the title. She's playing in Toronto at The Mod Club on June 9th and will be opening for Loretta Lynn at Massey Hall on July 22nd, by the way. Martha Wainwright'll be on MPR 89.3 The Current today. You can listen online. Pitchfork reviews her debut self-titled album. The Chicago Sun Times also has an a article on the singer. 2 fives has a short writeup on Martha plus photos, mp3 links and every other related link you'd be interested in. [photo from http://../]

The new online issue of Exclaim! is now up where among other things you can read their cover story on Sleater Kinney.

Dissolve Into Molecules has a good review and some pretty photos of Sunday night's Kaiser Chiefs/Ok Go show at The Mod Club in Toronto.

The Siren Music Festival has announced an initial lineup and Canada's own The Dears will take part this year. And considering the obscure lineup so far I'd have to guess that the headliners could be The Dears, but it 'll probably be Spoon.

The Celebrate Toronto Street Festival lineup has finally been announced. Not much music-wise I'm terribly interested in seeing I'm afraid. The Bicycles are scheduled to play a 12 noon set and Shawn Hewitt & the National Strike are scheduled for 7 pm at the Midtown Mix Stage at Yonge and Eglinton - the date on the website for both sets says Saturday July 9th which I think is mistake since earlier on on the same webpage the July 9th lineup was already indicated - I think both acts are schedule for the following day which is July 10th. I've e-mailed Toronto Special Events requesting them to verify the information.

The Yonge-Dundas Square has updated its calendar of events. Among many events scheduled, a good one'll be Lily Frost who'll be playing an hour set on June 8th at 12:30 pm, which is perfect since I work just down the street from the Square. The Friday Night Funk series also looks interesting, with upcoming performances by Lal and The Quartertones.

Here's a torrent[flac] of a live show of Feist performing solo in Rotterdam.

A torrent of a video file of The Arcade Fire's appearance on Late Night With Conan O'brien has just been reseeded so catch it while you can.

And now, concerts, concerts, and more concerts! Upcoming Toronto shows include[info from Pollstar]:

-> The Constantines with openers Kinski and Oakley Hall will be at Lee's Palace on August 20th.

-> Secretly Canadian's Early Day Miners will be at The Casbah in Hamilton, ON on August 20th and Memorial Centre in Brockville, ON on August 21st. Opener for both shows is Windsor For The Derby.

-> The bossa-nova-meets-post-punk cover band Nouvelle Vague will be at The Rivoli on September 16th.

-> Astralwerks artists Royksopp will be at The Opera House on September 20th.