The Rock ‘n’ Roll Revival Hour: Elliott BROOD, Eight and a Half, The Darcys, Bidiniband and Beck’s remix of Feist

One tough Brood

January is a sad time for live music fans in the city: tour dates shrivel up like George Constanza after a long day at the pool. One local band is putting in the time to generate some hype for the upcoming United States release of its latest album. Elliott BROOD will be playing a string of Ontario and Quebec dates this month, not in Toronto of course, but if you’re keen, they will be playing in nearby locales.

Their new recording, Days Into Years, which has garnered some positive reviews — even landing on a few best-of lists for 2011 — will hit stores south of the border on Feb. 28. If you’re new to the band, follow the link here to download the Paperbag Records sampler and check them out.

Eight and a Half debut release pushed back

Those eagerly awaiting the debut album by Eight And A Half will have to wait a little longer as the release date has been pushed back to April 10, according to the band’s website. The band, featuring members of Canadian indie stalwarts The Stills and Broken Social Scene, released the song “Scissors” a few months ago, and people ate it up (check it out below).

The band has released a few American tour dates and the track listing for the new album. With the band living in Toronto, expect some local shows to be announced in due course. In a recent Post City interview, Dave Hamelin, ex-frontman for The Stills, said the band is in Toronto rehearsing and working on some new material already. And, surprisingly, he also confessed that he’s never been asked about the end of The Stills, it just sort of happened.

“There were a lot of things going on,” he explained. “A lot of things going wrong, but it is over now.” And although he does expect to be seriously scrutinized given the high-profile pedigree of the band, his strategy is a simple one.

“We’re just going to bypass that completely.”

Okay, good luck with that.

Scissors by Eight and a Half

Plaskett people

Prolific and talented East Coast songster Joel Plaskett is back to work this week launching a new album, Scrappy Happiness, in conjunction with CBC Radio. Each week beginning Tuesday, Jan. 10, Plaskett, along with his band The Emergency, will record a new song and then release it on Rich Terfry's Radio 2 Drive program at 5:15 EST. In addition, there will be assorted social media do-dads to add to the experience. The album will officially be released on March 27, and Plaskett heads out on tour the following month landing at Toronto's Queen Elizabeth Theatre on May 18 and 19. All the details on the CBC release can be found here.

Feist-Beck-istan

Remix alert: Beck has put together a killer remix of Feist’s big hit, “How Come You Never Go There.” Listen, and learn.

How Come You Never Go There (Beck Remix) by Feist

The Darcys hitch ride on Arkells’ tour bus

Toronto band The Darcys are heading out on the road to support U.K. rockers Bombay Bicycle Club along with Hamilton-based hotshots Arkells who, by the way, recently destroyed a perfectly good Hall & Oates song along with Lights (and no, “destroyed” is not hip lingo). Full carnage below. The Darcys’ new album is still available absolutely free of charge from the Arts & Crafts website here.

 

Album of the week: In The Rock Hall by Bidiniband

It’s hard to know what to expect from the talented Dave Bidini and his outfit — well, other than something good. In The Rock Hall, to be released Jan. 24 on Pheromone Recordings, is a big-time rock record at times, and a decidedly Canadian indie rock experiment reminiscent of his work with Rheostatics at others. Luckily, both work just fine. It kicks off in a big way with the decidedly cool and riff-tastic “I Wanna Go To Yemen.”

After the grand opening, it is a bit up and down. Musically, it is tight. And Bidini is at his best when he just lets the music do the talking. On one standout, “Eunoia,” Bidini plays up the Canadiana to great effect. The song was inspired by the landmark Canadian poem by Christian Bok, and includes a reading from the poem leading into a sprawling 10-minute song. “Eunioa” is followed by “Earth,” which could be the best song on the album because Bidini just lets it all hang out and seems very at ease. Lyrically and musically, it is a superior effort. Check out Bidiniband on Jan. 24, when they play a three-hour gig at The Dakota Tavern.

Listen to the opening track “I Wanna Go To Yemen” at CBC Radio 3 here.

Rock ‘n’ roll tweet of the week

Kathleen Edwards (@kittythefool), Jan. 5: “I would have gone on a twitter rant too, but Kanye West stole all my ideas, dammit!”

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