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It's a few days after Sunday's incredible performance by The Cure. This would be the 5th time I've seen The Cure and I must say probably the best set list I've ever been privileged to hear. Wai Bong Ng said in his review of the NYC Curiousa event that "unlike many other bands, The Cure is always great live"... True!

I'll start from the beginning:

Canada is quite a large place to stuff into one music scene, so we're not quite sure how they do it. Regardless of the geographical size... being a indie musician in Canada generally means you've played on the records of at least two other bands. Case in point, breakthrough artists last year Broken Social Scene contains members of neu wave act 'Metric', indie pop band 'Stars' and sonic explorers 'KC Accidential' to just name a few. Metric vocalist (and guest vocalist for BSS), Emily Haines used to sing in 'Stars' and Metric guitarist and songwriter Jimmy Shaw grew up with the 'Stars' frontman Torquil Campbell and also plays with 'Memphis'. Confused?

You'll be more confused at the end of the month, as we're about to get yet another grouping of these well talented musicians. Up until now, Memphis has remained a side project of Stars antagonist, Torq. After the 2002 release of a brilliant 5 song EP, A Good Day Sailing (Le Grand Magistery), things just sort of fell to the way side until Torq gave a call to Memphis co-conspirator Chris Dumont last spring. Finally, after well over a year in the making (recording in Vancouver and beyond, mixing in Montreal and chaos everywhere in between) the duo is set to release their debut album, 'I Dreamed We Fell Apart' on August 31. I'd keep an eye out for this newest formation of Canadian indiepop kids, as we've been hearing quite a bit of praise about this material.

And... just to make this juicier you can now listen to two tracks on the Paper Bag E-Card... 'The Second Summer' and a spirited rendition of the Pet Shop Boys classic 'Love Comes Quickly'. Enjoy!

You can't go see Slowdive play live anytime soon, but you can check out Rachel Goswell. The former Slowdive and Mojave 3 girly takes to the road in the US this week in support of her first solo album, "Waves are Universal". The album, released on Beggars Banquet/4AD, was co-written with Joe Light and produced by David Naughton to praise from several critics...

"Waves Are Universal proves that Goswell can carry a whole record on her own without any trouble. " - All Music Guide
"Each song is meticulously constructed, and feels like a musical soundtrack to lush, magical worlds -- from the sound effects of birds chirping on "Gather Me Up," to the strings gently floating on the sunrise-glare of "Thru the Dawn" and "Hope," a Beth Orton-esque pastoral country strum." - Billboard

And not so much praise from others...

"From an album I expected so much of, this is a frankly dire effort. She totally overdoes the 'twee' effect, tries to over-instrument her songs to divert attention from her lacklustre melodies and has obviously spent no time whatsoever on the lyrics." - BBC Collective
"Goswell deserves praise for putting together a solid album that could appeal to both fans of her previous work and others; this is no rank piece of collector bait. But having at long last stretched her compositional and performing muscles, let's hope next time she builds on the stronger songs here." - Stylus Magazine

Regardless of the mixed reviews, live performances by Ms Goswell are a rare thing on this side of the Atlantic (or actually any side)...

Man, this is becoming a rough week. One of the brightest new stars in progressive house, Adam Spears aka Starkid, was killed over the weekend in a car wreck in his native Texas. The Starkid single "Crayons" (Release Records) was one of the most well-known progressive house tracks of the past year and has been prominent on Global Underground mix discs and in live sets from the likes of Paul Oakenfold and others. Spears, a charismatic kid who posted frequently on dance music message boards and forums under the alias "Jeyjeydigga," was one of leading new producers on the scene and had his hands in several current projects. Known for pushing the boundaries with his mixes, bootleg sets can be found across the internet that showcase Spears' talent at adding artists like Dntel and Radiohead alongside more traditional club fare. A memorial site is being constructed at longlivestarkid.com. Release Records has given permission for the original version of "Crayons" to be openly shared and downloaded in Starkid's memory, so look for it posted on many dance music sites right now. A remix of "Crayons" will be released later this year on Release, with all proceeds going to his family. The saddest bit? Spears was just 18 years old.

Sad news. A posting on the band's official website confirms that THE BETA BAND are to split following an autumnal UK farewell tour. The group, critically acclaimed but commercially ignored, cites just that reason for their breakup: "Sadly, eight years of hard work and critical acclaim but little return in terms of commercial success inevitably takes its toll and a group decision was made to finally lay the band to rest."

The band are still following through with plans to release a retrospective DVD in 2005, while Beta frontman Steve Mason has already announced plans for a solo career, as well as the continuation of his King Biscuit Time side project.

The music buying public has seen quite a few re-releases and compilations as of late of the early 90s shoegazing "scene". None has been quite as puzzling as the forthcoming 2 disc compilation of Slowdive material 'Catch The Breeze' due out on Sanctuary in the UK on September 24. From some reports the band (now either gone solo or members of Mojave 3) have been actively participating in the release process, and yet other reports claim the band has absolutely no say in this? With no news from Sanctuary yet, it's hard to tell... but we can tell that with this compilation joining Best Of's from Ride, Chapterhouse, House of Love and Curve... it looks like someone's out to show the kids of today why we were staring at our shoes in the first place. We've got a preliminary tracklisting for you that you can argue it's contents over with other Slowdive fans on the Mojave 3 Msg Boards...

OZMA, the band that started off sounding a LOT like Weezer and now only sound a LITTLE like Weezer but in a fairly good way, have split. A post on the band's forum over at Ozma Online from the band's frontman, Ryen Slegr, announced their split... and it didn't sound like a particularly happy one, either. Fairly sad news, as the band were just beginning to mature musically, as evidenced on their (now final) 2003 album, "Spending Time on the Borderline." G'bye, Ozma, and best of luck to future projects.

In what has to be a historically unprecedented phenomena, Ticketmaster has dropped ticket prices and removed their service charges and 'convenience' fees. Before you get too excited, we can only see that they've done this for one show... the Curiosa Festival's date in suburban Chicago (Tinley Park to be precise). What does this mean? The Cure, Muse, Cooper Temple Clause, Interpol, The Rapture, Mogwai and more for $15. Not $21.89 with service charges, not $27.38 with 'convenience' fees but a flat $15.00. Don't believe that Ticketmaster could ever do something this cool? Check out the Lawn Ticket Special.

UPDATE: Sorry all... Ticketmaster have already taken the offer down.

Are you sick of the Jay Z mash ups? DJ Danger Mouse's Grey Album opened up the floodgates of copycats which include Jay Z remixed with Metallica and Weezer. Now there's one more to add which remixes Jay Z's Black Album with Pavement's classic Slanted and Enchanted. The Slack Album available for download now. I can't imagine any repeated listening, it's a cool novelty but nothing exceptional. It's still worth downloading.

Oh those pesky Frenchmen, AIR are headed back stateside for a few dates with Frenchwoman/Englishkids STEREOLAB. Still in support of their latest album, Talkie Walkie, Air will be playing with Stereolab for three September shows in San Diego, Santa Barbara and Los Angeles. The last date with Stereolab will ALSO be the debut of the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra as members of the AIR entourage. Roger Neill (who worked with Air on 10,000 Hz) will be conducting the LA based orchestra. Dates can be found in our tour section and keep an eye out as more bands are expected to be added to the bill.