Kids Are The Same

I read an article in Boston's The Weekly Dig about their hometown indiepop trio Pants Yell! Their sound is reminiscent of classic early-80's indiepop influences, something I'd explored in the mid-90's to some extent during my "indiepop phase". Pants Yell! are a great reminder of why I'd gone through an indiepop phase in the first place. With a knack for a good pop melody backed with simple pop instrumentation, they're far less cloying than I'd expect. Thank God. I wish I'd become familiar with them sooner because they recently played a gig in Toronto at White Orchid this past July 13th. Their most recent album, their second, "Recent Drama" is out now. You can sample some of the band's music by downloading some mp3's or heading over to the band's MySpace site. Skatterbrain has an mp3 of the band covering a Jens Lekman song.

Brooklyn Vegan has an update of Phoenix tour dates including a date in Toronto at The Mod Club on September 8th(the day before their set at the Toronto Virgin Festival at Olympic Island on September 9th).

There are some new Yo La Tengo tourdates, with some US east coast dates in September and west coast dates in October. The sole Canadian date is in Vancouver, BC at Richards on Richards on October 14th. I'm hoping they'll swing back east to Toronto after that. In the meantime, there's a new mp3 available from their upcoming album "I am Not Afraid of You, and I Will Beat Your Ass" which will released on September 12, 2006:

MP3: Yo La Tengo - "Pass the Hatchet, I Think I'm Goodkind"

According to the Horseshoe Tavern's website the openers for controller.controller's shows at the Horseshoe Tavern on September 21st and 22nd will be Vancouver's You Say Party! We Say Die!, who are currently in the midst of a whirlwind, worldwide tour according to their MySpace site. Tickets for the Horseshoe Tavern show are $12.50.

NOW speaks with Toronto's Barzin who expresses that the experimentation of sound he got sucked into during the recording of his second album "My Life In Rooms"(released on Weewerk) is something he's now over. Anyone go to his show at the Rivoli on Thursday night(July 27th)?