Toronto Unplugged

The Coalition of Independent Music Stores (CIMS) is a group of some of the best independent music stores in America. CIMS maintains an ongoing list of the top album sales from these record stores in America.. This CIMS Chart is always an interesting reflection of what is selling in the great record stores across the land.
Released just last week (on the 22nd) Tokyo Police Club’s new album Elephant Shell has broken through and occupied the 11th spot on this diverse and top quality list. The Toronto band has always attracted attention with their high energy shows, their …read more

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After a three year recording hiatus – during which he played two historic concert series in NYC and LA devoting one evening each to his Jam, Style Council, and solo catalogs, and earned Lifetime Achievement honors at the 2007 Brit Awards, among other highlights – Paul Weller returns on July 22 with 22 Dreams, his ninth solo album and the most ambitious of his career.
22 Dreams is not a return to form. It is not “Weller’s best record since [fill in your favorite album here.]” It is a complete flowering of every musical impulse this artistic polymath has previously …read more

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b5media’s Music Channel is pumped to announce the launch of two new blogs by two very talented bloggers.
Launched just in time to provide exclusive coverage of SXSW in Austin Texas, new b5media blog Austin Sound Check has quickly become a major draw for the channel. Austin Sound Check will cover the infuencial and breaking music scene of Austin Texas. The blog is headed by Austin Music specialist Ana Wolken.
A Texan by birth, but St. Louis-raised, Ana Wolken has been in and around the Austin music scene since returning to the Lonestar State in 2000. You are just …read more

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Foxboro Hot Tubs Fans….
Foxboro Hot Tubs new single, “The Pedestrian“, from their upcoming full length album, is now available for download at on their website courtesy of Jingle Town Records. You can download the new single at 320k MP3s; the highest quality available, direct from the band.
The Band will be announcing tour dates shortly and there will be some cool shows in Toronto.
While the band’s history is, as yet, unknown, they are comprised of the members of Green Day who are, according to rumors, performing “garage” music under the side project name.
Gotta love this new wave of music promotion. …read more

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Liam Finn seems to be one of those people who genuinely wants to meet you. He wants to entertains you with his music and he is using music to propel his journey to all of the nooks and crannies of the gigging world.
Liam just sent an update of where he’s at on tour. Here is is…
I am in Seattle at the moment… preparing for what looks like it’s going to be a pretty spesh couple of weeks. My shows supporting Eddie Vedder begins on this coming tuesday in Vancouver, and we make out way down the …read more

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Alright fellow guitarists, Weezer’s Rivers Cuomo wants fans to “come up with some chords, yo,” for a song tentatively titled 80’s Rock.  
Rivaldinho (Cuomo) will be using YouTube in an attempt to collaborate with songwriters online.
Rivers released a solo album in December 2007 entitled Alone: The Home Recordings of Rivers Cuomo, which featured home demos that Cuomo had recorded from 1992-2007.
So here is a plan for tonight…indulge in some libation and help write the next hit for Cuomo.  If all goes well, maybe you too can be a recluse rock star.

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Earshot Media is happy to announce that The Raconteurs‘ new album, Consolers of the Lonely, will be available for download through www.theraconteurs.com starting at 12 am EST tonight. At midnight EST you will be able to visit the site, choose your territory and download the album in a matter of minutes.
Don’t want to download? You can pick up the album at your favorite retailer starting tomorrow.
The Raconteurs pioneering ‘fans first’ concept allows everyone to experience the album at the same time. Check it out…it is sure to be a solid album.

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Couple solid shows that have just been announced…
If you’ve missed MGMT on their previous Toronto jaunts, this upcoming MOD CLUB show will be a good chance to catch them as they hit the tipping point. MGMT will be at the MOD CLUB on Tuesday April 15th – Tickets are only 11 beans.

As we’ve mentioned before, The Opera House is a fantastic spot to catch an energetic show and Tokyo Police Club always lives up to that bill. TPC will rock the Opera House on Friday May 2nd – Tickets are 16 bucks
Great spring shows…check em out.

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Working away today listening to CBC Radio 3 and caught their live feed from SXSW.
Grant Lawrence was on site (or was he…) at the outdoor stage at Emo’s.
Radio 3 shot the feed through all the snow to us Canadians. The line-up was canuck heavy and featured….
The Most Serene Republic from Milton, ON – proud home of astronaut Chris Hadfield…you will be reminded of it everywhere in Milton
The Shout Out Louds from Stockholm Sweden (not sure how many astronauts have come from Sweden…feel free to weigh in)
One of …read more

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It’s always fun watching bands creep into stardom. Bell X1 have been making music for years. Their latest (and third) album Flock was just released in North America and is quickly getting passed around with praise.
The band’s name (the merit often debated) derives from the film and book The Right Stuff. The Bell X1 was a supersonic research project and designed to be the first aircraft to breal the speed of sound. The band was drawn to it for it’s “naive discovery”
Jet setting from Ireland, the band is currently playing the El Mocambo and I expect …read more

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