wednesday wake up call

"Talking In Your Sleep" by Tony Dekker, taken from his solo record, Prayer of the Woods, available now via Nettwerk & Weewerk Records.

tuesday wake up call

New Great Lake Swimmers video for "The Great Exhale".

thursday wake up call

This is pretty awesome: Great Lake Swimmers performing "Easy Come, Easy Go" in front of the Beluga tank at the Vancouver Aquarium!



"Easy Come, Easy Go" is from GLS' latest release, New Wild Everywhere, stream the entire record here.

tuesday wake up call

New Great Lake Swimmers record New Wild Everywhere is out today!



If you are in Toronto, the band with be doing a free in-store at Sonic Boom @ 6 pm.

monday wake up call

To readers in Alberta, Manitoba, Ontario, PEI, Saskatchewan, Happy Family Day!



"River's Edge" by Great Lake Swimmers is from Lost Channels, out now via (weewerk).


To US readers: Happy Presidents' Day!



"A More Perfect Union" by Titus Andronicus is from The Monitor, out now via XL Recordings.

happy earth day!!!

Happy Earth Day everyone!!!!! I found this perfect video on YouTube by ContinoBricchio linking two beautiful Great Lake Swimmers songs, "The Animals of the World" and "Put There by the Land" along with clips from BBC's Planet Earth!

happy canada day!

Hey everyone, HAPPY CANADA DAY! To celebrate, here are some of my favourite songs from the past year or so by Canadian artists:

The Acorn: Slippery When Wet from No Ghost
Born Ruffians: Retard Canard from Say It
Diamond Rings: All Yr Songs from Diamond Rings/PS I Love You Split 7"
Great Lake Swimmers: River's Edge from Lost Channels
The Hidden Cameras: Underage from Origin:Orphan
Japandroids: Art Czars from Art Czars 7"
Propagandhi: Dear Coach's Corner from Supporting Caste
Timber Timbre: We'll Find Out from Timber Timbre

...and The Thermals: Canada, they are not Canadian, but it’s a wicked song about Canada!

you've got to live live live and love love love

Watch this mind-blowingly gorgeous video for Great Lake Swimmers' "River's Edge" created by Nir Ben Jacob:

new gls ep

Great Lake Swimmers will be releasing a new EP entitled Song Sung Blue on December 22nd. Head over to The Deadbolt to stream the entire EP.

happy bachelor day

Patrick Wolf’s new record, The Bachelor came out today in the UK! Go buy it from you local record stores.

Battle [wicked-cool song]
Hard Times (Alec Empire Remix)



In other news, the NXNE 09 preview video is up, this year's line-up looks promising!




Check out Bat For Lashes' video for "Pearl's Dream":




Lastly, watch Vimby Backyard Session With Great Lake Swimmers below:

new gls!

Head over to Stereogum to download "Pulling On A Line", the new single off the forthcoming Great Lake Swimmers record, Lost Channels.

nxne08, day 3 (part ii)

Great Lake Swimmers — June 13 @ Reverb

The Besnard Lakes — June 13 @ Lee's Palace

We Are Wolves (Special Guest) — June 13 @ Sneaky Dee's

new gls

Head over to Great Lake Swimmers' MySpace to hear a new track entitled "Song Sung Blue".

i've been under the ground, eating prayers from this old book i found

Great Lake Swimmers have released a free 5-song live EP from their sold-out show at Toronto's Church of the Redeemer back in April 14, 2007. The show featured backing vocals by the lovely Basia Bulat and strings by the virtuoso Owen Pallett. Don't forget, Great Lake Swimmers are playing for FREE at Criminal Records in Toronto this evening (7:00pm) and at Phoenix Concert Theatre on Saturday.

Moving Pictures Silent Films (Live) [wicked-cool song]
Various Stages (Live) [wicked-cool song]
I Am Part Of A Large Family (Live) [wicked-cool song]
Put There By The Land (Live) [wicked-cool song]
There Is A Light (Live) [wicked-cool song]
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buy Great Lake Swimmers albums here

new florists chinese pop demos

The Florists have create a new MySpace account featuring four rough demos, check them out here!

The Florists - Stolen Love [super-wicked-cool song]


In other news, Jamie T begins his first US tour tonight in New York:

09.13.07 - New York, NY @ Bowery Ballroom (18+)
09.14.07 - Brooklyn, NY @ Sound Fix Records (free all ages performance solo-acoustic at 6pm)
09.15.07 - Philadelphia, PA @ North Star (21+)
09.18.07 - Chicago, IL @ Schubas (21+)
09.19.07 - Minneapolis, MN @ 7th Street Entry (18+)
09.22.07 - Seattle, WA @ Crocodile Cafe (21+)
09.23.07 - Portland, OR @ Doug Fir Lounge (21+)
09.25.07 - San Francisco, CA @ Slim’s (All ages)
09.26.07 - Los Angeles, CA @ Troubadour (All ages)

Jamie T - Sheila [wicked-cool song]

buy Panic Prevention here


Lastly, Great Lake Swimmers will be performing live at Criminal Records in downtown Toronto for free on Thursday, September 27 at 7pm!

Great Lake Swimmers - Changing Colours [wicked-cool song]

buy Ongiara here

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i will never see the sun

Here are the pictures from the Great Lake Swimmers show at the Church of the Redeemer on last Saturday.

Owen Pallett, aka Final Fantasy joins the band.

she was stretching her arms

Watch the new Great Lake Swimmers video for "Backstage with the Modern Dancers" below.



Backstage with the Modern Dancers [wicked-cool song]
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out this week

The best records of the year are out this week...

Good Shoes: Think Before You Speak
An excellent debut by this very young band from Morden, London. Think Before You Speak is full of power-pop-rock songs from start to finish! Oh... I really need to give this record its own post...

Nazanin [wicked-cool song]
All In My Head [super-wicked-cool song]
Never Meant To Hurt You [wicked-cool song]
Things To Make And Do [wicked-cool song]

buy Think Before You Speak here


Great Lake Swimmers: Ongiara
Yet another astonishing record by Great Lake Swimmers... really, is Tony Dekker capable of writing a bad song?

Backstage with the Modern Dancers [wicked-cool song]
There Is a Light [wicked-cool song]
Put There by the Land [wicked-cool song]

buy Ongiara here


Klaxons: Myths of the Near Future
One of the most important records of the year is finally out in North America... now you don't have to pay $30+ for an import!!! (or in my case, $50 for a vinyl import)

Golden Skans [super-wicked-cool song]
Magick [super-wicked-cool song]

buy Myths of the Near Future here

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the wind was our violin

Great Lake Swimmers has a new home.

from Hands In Dirty Ground [EP]
Song for the Angels (Miracle Version) [super-wicked-cool song]
Hands In Dirty Ground [wicked-cool song]
I Saw You In the Wild (Live, recorded at Knust, Hamburg) [wicked-cool song]

from Ongiara
Your Rocky Spine [super-wicked-cool song]
Changing Colours [super-wicked-cool song]

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Ongiara hits stores in two days! ...and don't forget, the band will be touring in Canada, the U.S. and Europe this spring, see dates below.

Mar. 15 Montreal QC @ Casa Del Popolo
Mar. 16 Wakefield QC @ Blacksheep Inn
Mar. 17 Kingston ON @ The Grad Club
Mar. 23 Hamilton ON @ Pepper Jack's
Mar. 24 Brantford ON @ The Ford Plant
Mar. 25 Sault Ste Marie ON @ Loplops Gallery Lounge
Mar. 27 Winnipeg MB @ West End Cultural Centre
Mar. 28 Saskatoon SK @ Amigo's
Mar. 29 Edmonton AB @ Starlite Room
Mar. 30 Calgary AB @ Liberty Lounge
Mar. 31 Canmore AB @ Canmore Hotel
Apr. 5 Vancouver BC @ Richard's on Richards
Apr. 6 Victoria BC @ Lucky Bar
Apr. 12 London ON @ Aeolian Hall
Apr. 14 Toronto ON @ Church of the Redeemer (two shows, at 6:00 and 9:00 pm)
Apr. 19 Diksmuide, Belgium @ 4AD (with Krakow)
Apr. 20 Liège, Belgium @ Soundstation
Apr. 21 Evreux, France @ Labordage
Apr. 22 Brighton, UK @ The Hope
Apr. 23 Newcastle, UK @ Cumberland Arms
Apr. 24 Hull, UK @ The Adelphi Club
Apr. 25 Newport, UK @ Le Pub
Apr. 26 Bristol, UK @ St. Bonaventures
Apr. 27 Manchester, UK @ Kro Bar
Apr. 28 Exeter, UK @ Cavern Club
Apr. 29 London, UK @ The Luminaire
May 2 Münster, Germany @ Gleiss 22 (with Mark Gardener)
May 3 Leuven, Belgium @ STUK - (with Whip)
May 4 Nijmegen, Netherlands @ Merleyn
May 5 Hasselt, Belgium @ Playfestival (with Krakow)
May 6 Utrecht, Netherlands @ Ekko (with Krakow)
May 7 Brussel, Belgium @ AB-Box (with Magnolia Electric Co.)
May 8 Amsterdam, Netherlands @ Paradiso
May 9 Hamburg, Germany @ Knust
May 10 Malmo, Sweden @ Inkonst
May 11 Oslo, Norway @ Rockefeller (with Built to Spill)
May 12 Stockholm, Sweden @ The Last Waltz / Berns
May 13 Gothenburg, Sweden @ Woody West / Pusterviksbaren
May 14 Berlin, Germany @ West Germany
May 15 Koln, Germany @ Tsunami Club
May 17 Groningen, Netherlands @ Vera

i traced my finger along your trails, your body was the map, i was lost in there

Question: Is Great Lake Swimmers capable of making a bad record? Answer: No, probably not ever! If you are a frequent reader of this blog, it is pretty clear that Great Lake Swimmers’ self-titled and Bodies and Minds are among my favourite records of recent years. GLS will release their third full-length entitled Ongiara in Canada on March 27. Naturally, I am already addicted to the new record! Once again, the album features beautiful country-folk style music and not to mention, Tony Dekker’s signature majestic vocal... yes, majestic! Now with three remarkable full-lengths, GLS is slowly becoming one of my favourite bands!

Your Rocky Spine [wicked-cool song]
Backstage with the Modern Dancers
Put There by the Land [wicked-cool song]
Where in the World Are You
Passenger Song [wicked-cool song]
I Became Awake [wicked-cool song]
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***links to some songs were removed in respect of the band and their affiliates; as a result, please do not ask for a repost of the songs. thank you.

Ongiara comes out on March 27, go here for more information on the record