Elliott Brood: "Not on the list? Kinda pissed."

A quick note to let you know that Ottawa-based i (heart) music has put out its second annual list of the "Hottest" bands in Canada... quotation marks because, as the poll demonstrates, the word "hottest" might just be among the most subjective terms in the English language.
Right up there with "no I will not make out with you." Oh, right, like you would have figured that one out.

Anyway, dial613 did the patriotic duty of contributing to the list. You can have a look at the whole thing here.

So what do you think?
Who would you have liked to see on/removed from/moved up/moved down the list?
Which Ottawa acts should be on there, and where should they be ranked?

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The laser pointer: good clean fun, but only for 119 days.

Very quickly:

• 120 Days are from Norway. Their name references the amount of time it takes for a laser pointer to cause complete blindness in an eye when being directed straight at the pupil.**
• Greg Keelor is the guy who sings but is not Jim Cuddy in Blue Rodeo.
  
• André Ethier fronted the dearly departed The Deadly Snakes, and has performed and recorded with Peterborough collective The Silver Hearts.
  

The rest of the week will be up Wednesday, but only if you keep your fingers crossed.
Which shows will you be laser pointing at this Monday thru Wednesday?

Mon - 10.30.06
120 Days with Embassies Of Denmark*, The Undead, Out Reason, at Zaphod's
-->mp3's available over at i (heart) music
Regulations with The Sweet Janes*, at End Hits

Wed - 11.01.06
Greg Keelor (CD release) with The Sadies and André Ethier, at Barrymore's

* denotes local act
** lie

PS Ottawa XPress has put out its annual "Best Of Ottawa" survey, have a look.

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"(To) all the sniffling indie kids: Hold Steady!"

This week, the $75 000 dollar men play what will arguably be one of the biggest 'indie' shows this city has ever seen. No no, not The Soft Disaster, but rather Death Cab For Cutie, that band indie kids everywhere love to hate to love. And though the band has been constantly accused of playing too large a part in the increasing commodification of indie-rock, it's just pretty much impossible to ever be/stay mad at Ben Gibbard... 's glasses.

By contrast, The Hold Steady, that raucous indie-rock band that indie kids everywhere love to actually love, play Zaphod's on Sunday. This is a show you're supposed to go to and tell everybody how you swear you had their great new album, Boys And Girls In America, on pre-order before anybody even knew it was coming out, and that you also have their first, the awesome Separation Sunday. And then somebody tells you that their first album was actually The Hold Steady Almost Killed Me. And then, while stifling tears, you pull out your most obscure band pins and try to poke that jerk's eyes out.

Ok, uh, other notables coming to town are Priya Thomas, who indie-rocks out like few others can; Raising The Fawn, featuring members of Broken Social Scene, with locals The Soft Disaster also on the bill; and geez, there's a lot of others. More legendary punk comes to town via The Subhumans, the Black Sheep Inn hosts interesting alt-country band Ox, and Sarah Harmer, one of the best female voices in Canada, plays two shows.

What shows are you most looking forward to this week?
Want to put the 'argu' in 'arguably' and throw out a 'bigger' (as in popular, I guess) indie name that's come to town?
If you had to choose just one Sarah Harmer show, which one would it be, and why? (five-paragraph essay format, please)

Mon - 10.23.06
Twelve 34* with Cue Madison, Eppiphane*, at Zaphod's

Wed - 10.25.06
Priya Thomas with Chet, Away Ri'O, at Zaphod's
-->stream tracks at website and myspace, including She Said (Why Were We Born)
Raising The Fawn with In-Flight Safety and The Soft Disaster* at Café Dekcuf

Thurs - 10.26.06
The Diableros with Uncut, at Zaphod's
Ox with Adam Puddington, at The Black Sheep Inn
Sarah Harmer, at Capital Music Hall

Fri - 10.27.06
These Arms Are Snakes with Mouth Of The Architecht, Young Widows, at Babylon (5pm)
Clothes Make The Man with The Love Machine*, at Babylon (10pm)
-->The Love Machine - We Are Squirrels And This Is Nuts (website, myspace)
Sarah Harmer, at Capital Music Hall
The Subhumans with The Riptides, Four-Stroke*, at Maverick's
We Are Wolves with Crystal Clyffs, Daiquiri, Place*, at Zaphod's

Sat - 10.28.06
Death Cab For Cutie with Ted Leo & The Pharmacists, at The Civic Centre
-->Ted Leo & The Pharmacists - Me & Mia (website, myspace)
-->Ted Leo & The Pharmacists - Timorous Me
Jambands.ca Halloween Party ft. Inglewood Jack*, Souljazz Orchestra*, and The Tad Hackish Band*, at The Bytown Tavern
Johnny Ballistic & The Crackband* with The Ashley Newall Band*, at Zaphod's

Sun - 10.29.06
The Hold Steady with Sean Na Na, at Zaphod's
-->The Hold Steady - Chips Ahoy! (website, myspace)
-->The Hold Steady - Your Little Hoodrat Friend
-->The Hold Steady - Positive Jam

* denotes local act

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The Bridegroom are all about the ladies.

Friday night, consider going over to Babylon to see Ottawa's experimental-indie noisemakers The Bridegroom. The band, who've been around the scene for a few years now, includes members who do double-duty in other local acts such as For The Mathematics and Relief Maps.
It's a benefit show for a women's abuse group, so you can see good local music and be a good person at the same time, how convenient. Listen for some new material, too. The Ether open, there'll also be an art auction, $7 ($5 with a canned-food product), 8 PM.
-->The Bridegroom - Frankfurt
-->The Bridegroom - Prophets, Profits & Wolves

You may also want to go hear Eastborough, another local band releasing their first recording at Zaphod's. The Murder Plans and Tamsen & Elliott warm up the crowd, $6, 8 PM.

The Bridegroom on:

the internet
myspace

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The Cape May be really happy to see you at the show.

Quick hits:
It's Calgarian tag-team action at the Black Sheep Inn tonight, featuring city- and label-mates Chad VanGaalen and The Cape May. $10 advance, doors at 9.
-->Chad VanGaalen - Graveyards (sweet and haunting, just a beautiful mixture)
-->The Cape May - Spring Flight To The Land Of Fire (dark and sprawling indie folk)

Also, some band named Propaghandi is playing at the Capital Music Hall tonight. From what I know, they are from India and sound like The Weakerthans. Though you might know them better as EMMEFFINGPROPOGHANDI. Locals The Bella Bombs open, $15 advance, 7:00 PM doors.

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Henri Faberge & The Adorables wrestle their way into Zaphod's on Tuesday.
(credit: Andrew Carver, NatCapRock)

This week in Ottawa, the dial613 Factory computer is broken. But what do you care? Well, it means you're going to have to find those k-os mp3s all by yourself. So sorry. Next time, dial613 will be sure to use one that is capable of withstanding the pressure that comes with being a blogging computer. Like maybe one with Grillz or something. Make computers tougher, is that not what they do? They should.
But some mp3's are up, thanks to a great person. Thank you sir.

Anyway, Tuesday's show with Henri Faberge & The Adorables, The Bicycles, and Relief Maps should be really great. Last time M. Faberge was in town, it was an all-out melée on the stage that spilled onto the floor, which, unfortunately, was pretty much empty. There probably won't be so much room to move this time, though, seeing as how both Faberge and The Bicycles have released albums in the last month or so to a whole mess of sugary adoration.

This week's local highlight comes on Saturday at Zaphod's, where blues-rockers The Coggs headline with The Watters Brothers and the cleverly-named Brad Sucks, who has guarded himself against insults/criticism, because they would just seem like a typo when written ("Brad Sucks sucks"?). But more importantly, it would be a lie.. go to his website and grab an entire album, I Don't Know What I'm Doing, for free, and see for yourself.

Oh, and some neat miscellaneous happenings this week in town:
a) The Perpetual Motion Roadshow, an indie press touring circuit featuring slam poetry and some tunes. October 20th at Venus Envy, pay what you can.
b) The OneWorld Film Festival, a showcase of social justice-focused documentaries and speakers, film-makers, and maybe a bit of music too. October 18th and 20th at Library and Archives Canada.

Which show(s) are you most looking forward to this week?

Tues - 10.17.06
Henri Faberge & The Adorables with The Bicycles and Relief Maps*, at Zaphod's
-->Henri Faberge & The Adorables - Ventriloquist Love (myspace)
-->The Bicycles - Gotta Get Out (website, myspace)
Sparta with Sound Team and Viscera's Recital*, at Babylon
k-os, at Capital Music Hall

Thurs - 10.19.06
Chad Van Gaalen with The Cape May, at The Black Sheep Inn
-->The Cape May - Spring Flight To The Land Of Fire (website, myspace)
Matthew Barber & The Union Dues with James McKenty & The Spades, at Zaphod's
Propagandhi with GFK and The Bella Bombs*, at Capital Music Hall

Fri - 10.20.06
The Bridegroom* with The Ether, at Babylon
Eastborough* (cd release) with The Murder Plans and Tamsen & Elliott, at Zaphod's

Sat - 10.21.06
Anagram (cd release) with The Creeping Nobodies, at End Hits
Blackie & The Rodeo Kings (cd release) with Brian Byrne, at Barrymore's
The Coggs* with The Watters Brothers*, Brad Sucks*, at Zaphod's
-->The Coggs - Toothache (website, myspace)
-->Brad Sucks - Making Me Nervous (website, myspace)
The Jimmy Swift Band with Dave Lauzon*, at Babylon

Sun - 10.22.06
AIDS Wolf with Fucked Corpse, City Of 100 Spires*, at Zaphod's
Peter Katz with Andrea Revel, at The Black Sheep Inn (4pm start)

* denotes local act

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...will be up Monday night/Tuesday (no shows on Monday).

Meanwhile, Drag The Dot.

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"And then the penguin said, 'No, you give me your hand!!' lol"

Local indie-alt outfit For The Mathematics release their shiny new EP We Impend at Barrymore's tonight, which serves as the follow-up to their 2004 debut The New Science, which got major campus radio play and put the band on the map. Though touring for three years and playing 100+ shows probably helped that, too.
You can go preview the first single off the EP, "A Versus", on their myspace; the play count for it is currently at 1337, neato. And you can grab another mp3 from the new release in the post two below this one.
-->For The Mathematics - Delay The Fiasco

Fellow Ottawans Embassies Of Denmark and Bangkok open, tickets are $6 advance and $8 at the door.

For something on the lighter side, you can go watch locals Stairwell K play their last show as a band at The Rainbow, with Donkeypunch openning.
Or, if you're up for the drive, you could head down to The Black Sheep Inn to see some "South Asian electronica" courtesy of Toronto's LAL, who share the bill with another Toronto band, genre-benders Stop Die Resuscitate.

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Just a friendly reminder that Jon-Rae & The River, a Torontonian band via Vancouver, play Zaphod's tonight. Their gospel-tinged Canadian folk music features plenty of operatic screaming from a man who, at first glance, looks like he couldn't shout down a mute. It's nicely balanced, though, by some really sweet (as in "Aww, that's so sweet"; not "Dude!!! SWEET!!") balladry full of strumming and Hallelujah's and backup female harmonics.
-->Jon-Rae & The River - Just One More

Opening for JR (that's what his buddies call him) is Woolly Leaves, a.k.a that guy from The Constantines. You know, Whil? No, not that one, the one who plays keyboard. No, I don't remember if he has curly hair or not. It might be brown. Yeah yeah, he spells it Will too. Now you know? Maybe? Whatever, dial613 doesn't have any mp3's, but the new album Quiet Waters sounds pretty good, you can hear a bit of it over at the myspace.

But first on stage is Ottawa's The Soirée, who are quietly making some noise, both literally and figuratively. They've got a new record about to come out, and last dial613 heard, their material was sounding very tight.. both literally and figuratively.
-->The Soirée - Turn This Car Around (I will pull over right this minute and do it, I swear)

Alternatively (pun intended!), you can go on over to Maverick's and get your thrash on at the Ottawa instalment of Exclaim's Aggressive Tendencies Tour, which features Pelican, a Chicago band whose throat fire will surely beckon your thaw. That's probably deeper than I realize. I hope so, anyway.

BONUS:
-->The Cars - Just What I Needed (covered by Jon-Rae & The River, mp3 in last post)

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Jon-Rae & The River wash up at Zaphod's on Thursday, hopefully without any of that gross sea foam stuff.

Because of the long weekend, there's no accompanying text here for now. But, with luck, it will come in small nuggets as the week goes.

But it's clear that dial613 is most looking forward to Jon-Rae & The River this week, who are opened for by Woolly Leaves and locals The Soirée, who turned in a great set at Irene's not too long ago.

Oh yeah, and check out the handy-dandy new Google calendar button at the top of the show listings. If you use gmail, it'll really come in handy, as it lets you import the dial613 show listings straight into your own account's calendar. If you don't have a Google account, well.. it's just an all-around good-looking button, so maybe you can just reward it for that.

What show(s) will you be going to see this week?

Monday - 10.09.06
The New Pornographers with Immaculate Machine and Novillero, at Capital Music Hall
-->Immaculate Machine - Death Of A Rockstar (website, myspace)

Tuesday - 10.10.06
East Village Opera Company, at Barrymore's

Wednesday - 10.11.06
CMHA Charity Concert ft. City Of A Hundred Spires*, Danger Danger Mammoth Hunter*, Place*, Smoke Judo*, Glenn Nuotio*, at Babylon
Patrick Watson with Amos The Transparent*, at Zaphod's

Thursday - 10.12.06
Pelican with Daughters and KENmode, at Babylon
Jon-Rae & The River with Woolly Leaves and The Soirée*, at Zaphod's
-->Jon-Rae & The River - Two Hands (website, myspace)
-->Jon-Rae & The River - Just What I Needed (cover of The Cars)
-->The Soirée - Airplane (website, myspace)

Friday - 10.13.06
Camp Best Friends* with Word People, at Babylon
For The Mathematics* (cd release) with Embassies Of Denmark* and Bangkok*, at Barrymore's
-->For The Mathematics - This Transient (website, myspace)
LAL w/ Stop Die Resuscitate, at The Black Sheep Inn
Stairwell K* (final show :( ) with Donkeypunch*, at The Rainbow

Saturday - 10.14.06
The Acorn* with Tusks, at Babylon
Jolie Holland with David Dondero, at Barrymore's
Sloan with Yoko Casiono, at Capital Music Hall
-->Sloan - Everything You've Done Wrong (website, myspace)
-->Sloan - The Lines You Amend
Small Sails with Tallships*, at End Hits

Sunday - 10.15.06
Ultimate Power Duo with Everything At Once, at Zaphod's

* denotes local act

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Starting tonight, 333 musical acts of all sorts descend upon Montreal for the POP Montreal festival, including the likes of Joanna Newsom, Portastatic, and Sunset Rubdown. That's just the tip of the iceberg, too.. there's 330 others, remember?

Of those 333 acts, a mere 4 are from Ottawa. This means Ottawa accounts for 1.2% of POP Montreal's acts, which, intriguingly, is the same percentage by which Quebec's Jobboom Index rose at just about this time in 2002. Coincidence? dial613 thinks not.

So if you're heading east for the festival, go cheer on the home team:

Thurs. October 5
Weapons Of Mass Seduction - 8 PM at Saphir, with The Trigger Effect and Dead Messenger
-->tracks streaming on myspace
The Soft Disaster - 9 PM at Casa del Popolo, with Dog Day, Doris Day, and Kill The Light
-->The Soft Disaster - Nothing Returns (website, myspace)

Sat. October 7
HiLoTrons - 12 AM at Mile End Cultural Centre, with Pop Levi, Dishwasher, and the Patients
-->HiLoTrons - Science Fiction Music (website, myspace)

Sun. October 8
The Acorn - 10 PM at Casa del Popolo, with Schooner and Carolyn Mark
-->The Acorn - Guilt Trip Fashion (website, myspace)

Go ahead and drool at the rest of the schedule. And if there's an act that you'd want to see but can't, then take a glance at the (613)shows listings to the right; many of the shows at the festival have an Ottawa date, too.

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Akron/Family play at the First Baptist Church on Friday

This Sunday at Zaphod's, there's yet another indiescene veteran in town(in addition to Yo La Tengo last week), Giant Sand. The 20+ year-old Tucson indie rock band features Howe Gelb, who has an unlikely number of Ottawa connections: his latest solo album, 'Sno Angel Like You, was inspired by a winter-time trip to Ottawa and a Bluesfest set at a church with local singer-songwriter Jim Bryson and gospel choirs. Not only was the album inspired by Ottawa, but it also features locals Jeremy Gara (of The Arcade Fire) and the Voices Of Praise choir. It's all really a very cute story... you can read it in storybook form here.
Opening will be two bands out of Denmark, but most notably Under Byen, who have gotten plenty of press since the tour started. But they'll be hard pressed to gain the title of dial613's favourite Danish musical export.

Lots of great out-of-town Canadian talent stops by too, including Cadence Weapon, Great Aunt Ida, Hylozoists, Julie Doiron, Sloan, and Tokyo Police Club. If you haven't heard any of the above acts before, follow the links below (or google) to their websites and hear more.

Other notables include blogger-slobbered Beirut, enigmatic art-rock(?) quartet Akron/Family, and Ottawa favourites HiLoTrons, who play a curious set at an odd choice of venue, The Black Sheep Inn. Interesting...

What shows have you circled on your calendar this week?

Mon - 10.02.06
Mayor McCa (cd release), with Rhume* (solo), at The Clocktower Brew Pub

Tues - 10.03.06
KRS-One, with Vocode, Dee Jay Framed, D-Mas, at Babylon
ladyfest: Julie Doiron, with TunaHelpers, Kelsey McNulty*, at Club Saw
-->Julie Doiron - Dance All Night (website, myspace)

Thurs - 10.05.06
Beirut, with Animal Hospital, at Zaphod's
-->Beirut - Scenic World (website, myspace)
Great Aunt Ida, at End Hits
HiLoTrons*, with Naim Amor, Marianne Dissard, at The Black Sheep Inn
-->HiLoTrons - Look, Wow (website, myspace)

Fri - 10.06.06
Akron/Family, with Born Ruffians, at First Baptist Catholic Church
-->Akron/Family - Dylan Pt. 2 (website [psst.. it's OttAwa], myspace)
Kingston Fog*, with My Architects, Approaching Zero, Lucky Ron*, at Zaphod's
-->Kingston Fog - Astronaut (website, myspace)

Sat - 10.07.06
Cadence Weapon, with Tokyo Police Club, at Zaphod's
--> (website, myspace)
Hylozoists, with The John Henrys*, All Of Your Friends, My Architects, at Barrymore's
-->Hylozoists - The Fifty-Minute Hour (website, myspace)

Sun - 10.08.06
Giant Sand, with Under Byen, I Got You On Tape (7pm doors), at Zaphod's
-->Under Byen - Legesag (website, myspace)
-->Under Byen - Af Samme Stof Som Stof

* denotes local act

BONUS:
-->Howe Gelb (of Giant Sand) - But I Did Not
-->Aqua - Cartoon Heroes

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