Time Of The Season

It finally appears concert festival season in and around the GTA is shaping up:

The Brampton Indie Arts Festival taking place at Rose Theatre goes down February 13 to 15 with these year's featured musical acts including Nadja, Born Ruffians, Forest City Lovers, Claire Jenkins, Spiral Beach, Sandro Perri, The Bicycles and iNSiDEaMiND. View the program here. Ticket info here.

The Wavelength 8th Anniversary concert festival happens in several venues in Toronto from February 14 to 17 - stay tuned for more details, but The Music Gallery have already confirmed they'll kick things off on February 14 with a show which'll feature large band troupe Bruce Peninsula, with female minimalist post-punk trio Huckleberry Friends and more.

Following in March, Canadian Music Week takes place in various venues throughout Toronto from March 5 to 8. Big name highlights include a reunion(?) of The Breeders who'll be playing the Phoenix on March 8 - tickets $28.50 with limited CMW wristbands / passes accepted. The New Pornographers, Tokyo Police Club, Lowest of The Low and The Cliks will be playing The Indies awards show at Canadian Room (inside Royal York Hotel) on March 8, tickets $25 Advance / $35 Door and limited CMW wristbands / passes accepted. Up-and-coming Jason Collett will be at Lee's Palace on March 6, tickets $15.00. As a special bonus, The Hives/The Donnas show at Kool Haus on March 3 will accept all CMW wristbands / passes. Otherwise, check out the still-in-the-works schedule - most of the artists are relative unknowns to me but it should be fun exploring. I've come across a few artists that I think I want to check out - the shoegazey Helsinki outfit Pooma(whose MySpace says they'll be playing on March 6, venue TBD) for one are terrific from what I've heard of them so far.

The relatively new Pitter Patter Festival, a multi-venue, multi-city(although mostly in Toronto) festival is happening March 27 to 30 with a whack load of bands confirmed so far. Keep checking the Stille Post thread for updates.

Turntablist Kid Koala was recently added to the DJ Shadow/Cut Chemist bill coming to the Phoenix on January 30[details here].

A Beach Boys tribute night is in the works for the Silver Dollar on February 5 - keep up with updates over at Stille Post, but some notables confirmed so far to participate include The Bicycles and Laura Barrett.

Metric return for a hometown gig at Sound Academy on February 7[via Emerge].

Indie-folk-rocker Jeff Lewis, who's opening for Super Furry Animals at The Mod Club on February 20, will precede that show with a free instore at Soundscapes on February 19 at 7 pm[info].

Baby Eagle brings his acoustic strummings and fractured vocals to the Dakota Tavern in Toronto on February 26 - Jim Bryson will also be there. Brother and sister Jill and Matthew Barber will be heading out on a cross-country tour together which will stop in Toronto at the Rivoli on April 4. Matthew's new record "Ghost Notes" is out through Outside Music on March 4 and he's in the midst of a Sunday night residency throughout January at Jane Bond Cafe in Waterloo, Ontario[tour date info via Outside Music].

Via rootmeansquare, Chromewaves-fave Headlights, plus openers Evangelicals, will stop in Toronto for a show at the El Mocambo on March 2, tickets $10.00, while those masked Brits Clinic will be at Lee's Palace on May 11, tickets $15.00.