Convicted genre-transgressor k-os (September 2 @ CNE) wishes that he knew Natalie Portman. Is she in Toronto for TIFF? Can somebody make this happen for the guy? After navigating some mid-career controversy, the Torontonian crossover maestro has spent the past few years doing that other thing musicians do — you know, making songs. His next album, slated to be released in 2012, boasts as its title one of the most amusing Dylan puns we’ve heard lately: Black on Blonde. What’s next, Highway 401 Revisited? (Sorry.)
Peter Bjorn and John (September 2 @ Lee’s Palace), best known as the cackling folk purveyors who brought you the most annoying song of 2006 disguised as the cutest song of 2006 (otherwise referred to as that whistling hipster song) will be lugging their burlap sack of pop gems to Toronto this week. It’s the perfect opportunity to a) tell your friends that you’re busy with work and sneak off to indulge your musical sweet tooth or b) impress that girl with the square-framed glasses you’ve had a crush on.
Is it still cool to like Neil Young? We feel like our friends might mock us for caring, but director Jonathan Demme (whose last feature-length, Rachel Getting Married, demonstrated a keen ability to be extremely moody for 114 minutes straight) will premiere the third film in his Neil Young trilogy at TIFF this year. The film will feature reverb-y concert footage from Massey Hall, spliced with scenes of Neil Young touring Ontario (and, hopefully, not saying anything quasi-racist).
And, finally, after delivering a shimmering pair of sold-out gigs at the Phoenix (which we reviewed, i.e. slobbered with blatant music-geek hyperbole, here), Beirut’s Zach Condon is gracing the cover of this month’s Exclaim. Condon scuffs his baby-faced image by discussing skateboarding, the difficulty of putting words to his music (he’s elsewhere admitted to not being much of a “lyrics guy”) and generally not liking authority figures. Down with the man.