Toronto Unplugged

NXNE Preview | My Morning Jacket | Ladyhawk

by Mike on June 4th, 2008

North by Northeast (or NXNE) is an annual four-day live music and film festival and music conference in Toronto, Ontario held the second weekend each June. This year’s Festival will run from June 12th - 16th.

It began in 1996 and was patterned on the South by Southwest festival in Austin, Texas. Each year, three-dozen music venues host hundreds of bands from Canada, the United States and all over the world. Each music venue hosts five bands a night (9 p.m. onward), and the majority of the venues are grouped along downtown Toronto’s Queen St. West, College St. West, and the Bloor St. Annex.

The music conference at NXNE runs for three days at the Holiday Inn on King Hotel which serves as Festival HQ. NXNE delegates, panelists and bands playing the festival are able to participate in discussions, songwriter round tables, keynotes, demo listening and peer critiquing, legal clinics and the very helpful peer mentor sessions. The NXNE conference panels are held Friday and Saturday, and aim to foster a professional environment where musicians, artists and music industry reps can network and share ideas within their field.

This year’s line-up is solid to say the least. Perhaps the most anticipated gig will take place on closing night at the Kool Haus where My Morning Jacket will play the evening of June 16th.

My Morning Jacket’s new album Evil Urges will be released on June 10th - just before the start of NXNE. MMJ frontman Jim James says this about the album,

“There’s a theme of moral confusion that runs through the whole record,” says Jim James, explaining the title of the band’s new album, Evil Urges. “The world today is such a confused place. Things that people think are good values are obviously twisted, but there are other things considered evil that obviously aren’t. There is real evil out there, but Evil Urges is about how all of these things that you’ve been told are evil really aren’t, unless they’re actually hurting something or somebody.”

Alongside My Morning jacket at NXNE is a slew of incredible Canadian bands including: Moneen, The Stills, We Are The Take, The Coast, Spiral Beach, Ladyhawk (at the Shoe - sure to be a killer gig) and many more.

For the entire Festival lineup, visit the NXNE Band Schedule

Image Credit: Newscom

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POSTED IN: Breaking Artists, Canadian Music, Indie Music, Music in Toronto