Upcoming album releases
Local indie rockers DD/MM/YYYY will release Black Square on February 17 through We Are Busy Bodies. The album is the third release for the Toronto natives, who are celebrating with a North American tour. Catch their hometown show April 16 at Lee’s Palace.
March 3 marks the release of Middle Cyclone, the latest from New Pornographers’ chanteuse Neko Case. Due to mass critical acclaim for her 2006 album Fox Confessor Brings the Flood, hype has already built for the new LP, which includes collabs with Calexico, Sarah Harmer, and her New Pornographer bandmates. Catch Neko Case at Trinity-St. Paul’s United Church on April 17 and 18. Both shows are all-ages.
Maritime celebrity and Canadian icon-in-the-making Joel Plaskett will release an ambitious triple album on March 24 entitled Three. Plaskett’s obsession with numerology dominates the release, which is comprised of three discs with nine songs each. Plaskett plays Massey Hall on May 23 with his band, the Joel Plaskett Emergency.
Mark your calendars for April 14, the return of Metric. It’s been a long four years since Live It Out dominated the airwaves, so the there’s a lot riding on the band’s new effort, Fantasies. Trust grooves from Emily Haines and co. will get Torontonian fangirls back on the dance floor.
Campus Theatre Showdown
Catch three nights of student works onstage at the 16th annual U of T Drama Festival. Featuring eight original one-act plays written by U of T students, the festival runs January 31 to February 2, and closes with an awards ceremony on Saturday evening. Get the scoop on all the shows in The Varsity’s February 1 issue.
But the festival faces stiff competition from UC Follies’ production of Urinetown: The Musical, running from February 5 to 14 at Hart House. When a town is ravaged by a water shortage, a legislative ban is placed on private toilets, and much hilarity and questioning of authority ensues. This fully student-funded musical is presented by the UC Follies, whose goal is to challenge the belief that student productions are often unprofessional. With the amount of hype they’ve received from the mainstream media, we’re inclined to believe them. Tickets are $12 for students and can be purchased at www.uofttix.ca.
