RSS Reads for June 16-30

In honour of Canada Day and Independence Day, I’m bringing you tons of music news! Happy birthday Most Of North America!

Canadian Music Goodies:

Zeus, photo by Chris Marshall

Paul McCartney has asked Joel Plaskett and Wintersleep to play for him in Halifax. So wishing I could go!

Arcade Fire are working on their new album, and it may be out soon.

Zeus have announced a July residency at the Dakota Tavern – be sure to check them out with Bahamas, Gentleman Reg and The Golden Dogs.

The Dirty Projectors were on their way to Toronto when they were involved in a serious car crash. Fortunately, they’re all okay, and this blogger is crossing her fingers that when they come back to Toronto, they’ll play somewhere bigger so she can get a ticket in time!

Buck 65 made three new albums, and you can download them all for free.

Ellen Page decided to cover Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believing”….

Exclaim! have come out with a report card – if you’re a band and want to know if you can cut it in the biz, turn to this mag for your answers.

In a strange and not-thought-out move, Metric have bashed big bands at Glastonbury because they feel they’re only in it to make money. Yes, that’s true, but it’s hard for me to really listen after you just made a huge stadium album and went all big on the charts.

American Music Goodies:

Spoon, photo by Stephanie Black

Spoon just released a last minute (announced) EP.

NPR take a peak into the workings of the Monsters of Folk.

And to go hand-in-hand with that news bit, My Morning Jacket are taking a hiatus.

I’m sure by now we’ve all heard about the woman who was ordered to pay almost $2 million US for downloading 24 songs.

Trent Reznor has admitted how much he loves Grizzly Bear. Success for the indie world!

In a hilariously ironic move, Amazon accidentally offered 30 albums including by Kings of Leon, Coldplay, Bruce Springsteen and Lily Allen for just 29 pence (British) – that’s about a buck each.

Recently fans at Glastonbury were kicked out with the Swine Flu, there was also a dead body found on the Bonnaroo site.

Old people are critiquing Fiery Furnaces, Wilco and more.

Andrew Bird is going on a mega tour with the likes of St. Vincent, Blue Roses, Death Cab, Decemberists and Ra Ra Riot.

British Music Goodies:

Kate Nash, photo by Clare Nash

Yes people are getting caught for illegal downloading, but at least the music biz is still attempting to keep up with a downloading deal.

Phil Spector requested an iPod in prison. Hey, how bad could that be?

Kate Nash has made a power pop team in Metronomy.

Antony and the Johnsons are covering Beyonce. And all hell breaks loose.

Mark Ronson’s latest project is Sean Lennon.

Further proving their insanity, the British people had a boy trade an iPod for a tape player.

Other European Music Goodies:

Jens Lenkman, photo by Erica Kahr

A French artist is doing something really awesome with a Rubik’s Cube.

Poor Jens Lenkman has caught the Swine Flu!

How did you like this edition of RSS Reads? Leave your opinions in the comments, email me, or tweet at me!

RSS Reads For: June 5-15

Here is enough music news to keep your appetite at bay — this week we’ve got a ton of music industry headlines, and none of them are bad! How great is that?

But first, here’s some awesome random stories:

Congrats to CBC Radio 3 for going 100% Canadian!

Just in time for all the Polaris hype (long list out today!) Chad Vangaalen has been leaving tracks and trails to his new alter ego, Black Mold.

As for something that’s been really covered this week, it’s Julie Doiron Day.

1,623 Canadian guitarists failed to break a Guinness World Record – and it’s just all too ironic they were set to play a song called “Helpless” – but hey – we’re still proud!

Le Tigre are back …. and working with Christina Aguilera? This could actually be quite an interesting record.

Remember Jesse Sandoval? No, you probably don’t. He was recently kicked out of the Shins, but made light of the situation by… opening a food cart. Well it turns out that this food cart is quite the serious business. Also props to MTV and Pitchfork for figuring out he wasn’t the first to do this. Poor Sandoval.

Kenny Loggins is rewriting Feist’s “1, 2, 3, 4″ for a kids album. That’s totally cool unless it’s one of those creepy kids albums you see commercials for when little girls are gyrating singing “I’m Not a Girl, Not Yet a Woman.”

Something awesome happened this week and that’s the Monsters of Folk. Minus the craptacular name, it’s the “supergroup” formed between Conor Oberst, Jim James, M Ward, and … who’s that other guy? Mike Mogis.

And here’s all the music industry news:

North by East West will be creating a musician 911 list.

Polyvinyl is trying to save 10,000 CDs from a terrible fate.

Want to know how to have great success at your band’s merch table?

Vinyl sales are up 50%?!?!

The National Post has got a good look out for this week’s upcoming festival NXNE, by way of 4 different industry types.

That’s it for this week’s music news.

This week, keep an eye out for all of my North by Northeast (NXNE) updates here and on Twitter.

RSS Reads for: June 1-5

It’s been a great week of music news! Now I may not have as many stories for you as in the past (aw hell you don’t look at them anyway) but the ones I do have are pretty interesting.

It goes something like this: Marilyn Manson + Jason Mraz + Santigold + Beth Ditto = ridiculousness. And that’s not all. Pretty much every story I’m bringing you today has a touch of crazy. I love it!

Let’s see. This week I’m going to give you the news in a ridic-o-meter from 1-10. Starting with the least ridiculous…. if that’s possible.

Actually …. it is.

(Sidenote … was just searching for a picture on Google of ‘ridiculous’ and … so much fun! Have you done it yet? Do it now.)

1. The movie 500 Days of Summer is coming out soon, along with their incredibly indie/hip soundtrack. The only reason this made my list is because a) I’m excited and b) the ridiculousness lies in the narrator of the trailer.

1: The National are going to be working on yet another visual project (they’re friends/contributors of the great Yellow Bird Project) but this time with Matthew Ritchie, named “The Long Count”. The Dessner brothers will be given a 12-piece orchestra (mom, I’ve always wanted little men playing violins!)  and will be creating pieces based on ideas such as the 1976 World Series and a Mayan myth. Wait… this story just got a little more ridiculous! Let’s bump it up to 2.

Here’s another 2. It’s pretty harmless and actually cute, but … Stars’ Torquil Campbell welcomed his new baby daughter into the world the other day. And what is her name? Ellington Beatrice Pepper Campbell. What on earth will her nickname be?!

Alright — there were two very bittersweet posts from NPR this week. First, (ridic-o-meter says “2″) there’s a really good feature on Beth Ditto and how she’s seen in the public eye. It’s sad, it’s proud, it’s nostalgic! It’s a lot of emotions rolled into one blog. Phew! But what’s more sad is their grief-post (ridc-o-meter “10″ – for the subject is near and dear to all of us music-lovers) on the death of the music press. Two music magazines bit the dust this week – JazzTimes and Performing Songwriter.

2: Grizzly Bear, who are actually playing in Toronto tonight (and I’m dying inside that I don’t have a ticket, DYING!) had an impressive accomplishment this week when their album Veckatimest debut at Number 8 on the Billboard charts! I’m happy for them. Even though the chart is infiltrated with pop music (which only makes me think of this now).

Okay… getting into more ridiculous stories now.

4: Form 696 in London is here to stay, says policeman! I know this story well because I wrote an article about it when I was in London, and I know how ridiculously people are taking it over there. OUTRAGE. Form 696 is a form that was passed that has police regulating events/big concerts in London. Apparently, said a policeman to me, it’s not even about smaller concerts – which is what everyone thinks it’s about. Anyways, there’s probably a lot of uselessly angry people in London right now fuming about this story. Sigh. Makes me miss that city a bit.

5: The amazingness that is the Sasquatch dancing guy went viral this week. Well deserved. Now let me get out my slow clap.

6: Santigold, who Sasquatch man was dancing to, is involved in a little bit of a scuffle in the music industry. Turns out her label is attempting to block a mixtape that was made in the States devoted to “Southern rap vocals”. Sigh – let the artist love the South! Kidding…

7: James Murphy decided to explain everything he went through at the MTV Awards…. and it was great. “i, as a person, am oddly frightened (i’m saying frightened here–not intimidated) by jim carey.”

7: The Grammys have ditched the “Best Polka Album” award from their roster. Thats… too bad. No really. They’ve also ‘merged’ a lot of awards. Really … talent should not be merged! This also kind of relates to that Southern mixtape a little bit. Also – what am I SERIOUSLY going to laugh at while watching the Grammys now? Oh wait …

9: Jason Mraz decided to go all all-mighty and preach about how much toilet paper you use. Seriously? This is almost as bad as every song title on his first album. You know what I mean.

9: Michael Jackson is upset that he’s playing 50 shows in London. He says he probably won’t be well enough to do them all. Hm … I think something’s missing. Oh wait … right …. common sense!

and last but not least, news from this morning. A good ol 10: Marilyn Manson cries after being denied drugs. Oh… so good! This could haunt him for a while, and I never thought anything could haunt that man. (Also inside the story, the NME reports “Will.i.Am will never make another solo album …. shame. Wait… he has a solo album?! Oh god… and Britney Spears wants to meet the Queen. LET HER.)

Alright, that’s that! Hope you enjoyed your weekly dose of RIDICULOUS.

Should the ridic-o-meter stay? Do you want to defend Manson? Discuss TV music awards? Or maybe just argue a little bit about Form 696? Well then, you have a few options! You can email Jess at roundletters@gmail.com, tweet her @comfortinwords or just leave a comment in the comment section.

RSS Reads for: May 25-31

I find it strange that when I get around to doing these news lists, I see trends in my Reader of certain bands or people for the week. It’s usually about more than one thing. Does this often happen, where musicians purposely release a heapful of news in the matter of a week? Wouldn’t you want to kind of span it out a bit? Maybe it’s just one of those things like if you hear a certain word you don’t usually here and then all of a sudden you hear it everywhere (oddly, my most recent example is ‘mat-leave’).

Anyways, here’s the noteable news of the past week. It was actually a pretty slow news week minus Cadence Weapon’s achievement and just typical concert listing releases, etc. However, I did find some good ones, so keep reading!

RSS Reads for: May 14-22

It’s time for RoundLetters’ picks on what made the most interesting headlines and gossip in music news this week.

Image courtesy of Exclaim.ca

There’s actually some really interesting ones that aren’t just headlines. Such as Amanda Ash‘s achievement on CBC Radio 3. She created a radio doc about female musicians, and it’s already sparked incredible interest across Canada. Amanda, you were only there for just over a week, and you’re their most outstanding intern! Congrats.

Another Canadian journalist making light in the music biz is Stuart Berman. With his recent book out, This Book is Broken, he’s making waves throughout the publication outlets and most definitely Broken Social Scene fans. There’s been many articles and interviews, but I think this made-up set list with the National Post is a good one.

North by East West is a new Canadian music blog that’s rising fast. It’s great to see how fast it’s going, as that’s a pretty hard feat these days. (Tell a blogger bout it!) Ah, share the wealth! Anyways, here’s their comprehensive list on the just released Hillside Festival performences.

Okay, probably the most hilarious news of the week is my last bit of Canadian information: ol’ Jimmy Brooks from Degrassi: The Next Generation is really in for it with the vulnerable pop princess Rihanna. I think all of Canada is rooting for Drake on this one.

Alright, moving right along to the states is this bit of indie-lush news: a member each of Syracuse-based Ra Ra Riot and Boston-based Vampire Weekend are joining forces for a great Discovery. This sounds pretty exciting, and it will inevitably gain a lot of popularity within the next few weeks.

My last bit of American news is good and bad at the same time. If you haven’t heard of everything that’s going on with The Shins at the moment, let’s recap. They’ve moved from Sub Pop to James Mercer’s own label, Mercer then dropped two of his band mates for more famous ones, and now what’s a lonely musician to do? Start a taco stand in Portland, Ore. Hey, at least he’s no Marty Crandall.

Moving over to the East, we’ll find yesterday’s news of Jens Lenkman releasing new summer material on his website and today’s hilarity but scarity of Paul McCartney’s freak out over Google Streetview near his Abbey Road home.

Questions, mistake-finds or want to send me a virtual pat on the back? Just email Jess at roundletters@gmail.com. And you can always also follow her on Twitter, @comfortinwords.

RSS Reads ; a couple months of catch up

Alright, so I’m veeeeery behind on my RSS Reads section for you guys, but a lot has happened in the past couple months and by golly, I’ll report it back to you!

Hold on to your headphones!