NEWS BITES : Hawksley Workman releases 'Milk,' The Mountains & the Trees dates, K-Os announces 'Anchorman Mixtape' and more!

Hawksley Workman will release Milk, the follow-up to his Polaris long-listed Meat, on August 10 2010. The album, which thematically is linked with lust of all sorts, features collaborations with Tosha Dash (Candy Coated Killahz), Ali Shaheed Muhammad (A Tribe Called Quest) and Shad, who makes a cameo appearance on the track "Some People."

Hawksley Workman - "Not Your Parents' Music":



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The Mountains and the Trees, born Jon Janes, will be gracing us Vancouverites with his presence this Thursday. Below are his upcoming tour dates as he heads out west and back, and then flies across the pond for some European dates. His debut full length, I Made This For You, will drop August 10 2010.

22 July - Vancouver, BC @ Little Mountain Gallery with The Wilderness of Manitoba
24 July - Mission, BC (House Show) with The Wilderness of Manitoba
27 July - Edmonton, AB @ Haven Social Club with The Wilderness of Manitoba
29 July - Bruno, SK @ All Citizens Shop with The Wilderness of Manitoba
30 July - Saskatoon, SK @ Caffe Sola with The Wilderness Of Manitoba
31 July - Winnipeg, MB @ West End Cultural Center with The Wilderness Of Manitoba
1 Aug - Gimli, MB @ Islendingadagruinn
5 Aug - Ottawa, ON - Blackbox Concert Series @ Cube Gallery with Daniel Romano
11 Aug - Windsor, ON @ Phog Lounge with The Wilderness Of Manitoba
12 Aug - Toronto, ON - Summerworks @ Lower Ossington Theatre
14 Aug - Saint John, NB @ Fundy Fog Festival
18-22 Aug - Woody Point NL @ Writers at Woody Point
9 Sept - London, ON @ Borderline with Elliot Brood + Ladyhawk
11, 12 Sept - North Dorset, UK @ End of the Road Festival
24 Sept - Hamburg, Germany @ Reeperbahn Festival
25 Sept - Leipzig, Germany @ Paris Syndrom
28 Sept - Reutlingen, Germany @ Better2Gether

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K-Os will be releasing an album named Anchorman Mixtape August 6, 2010 online and in what he dubs the "Motown Model" approach, which includes several physical singles over a span of time. These tracks will be posted in full here for a limited time.
The first singles released will include "Faith," a collaboration with Drake, and "BlackWater," a collaboration with Sebastien Grainger. "BlackWater" will also appear on Playlist for the Planet, a music project sponsored by the David Suzuki Foundation as part of its 20th Anniversary celebrations.

Track list:

Start Me UP
SheClipse
Faith (featuring Drake)
Big City
BlackWater (featuring Sebastien Grainger)
Holy Cow
The Lonely Ones
Beauty Is A Loaded Gun
I Wish I Could Believe
Dance In Your Car

Here's K-Os' latest video for "Zambony" from his current album Yes!.



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Mishka, raggae/surf-rocker hailing from the Caribbean islands, will be playing a show at Vancouver's Venue night club on August 12, 2010.

NEWS BITES : June 4, 2010

FREE STUFF
Audio Blood does North by North East Festival! Get a FREE MIXTAPE including artists such as Dinosaur Bones and Leif Vollebekk.

On top of that, Audio Blood is celebrating NxNE by throwing a free, invite-only party at the top of the CN Tower with The Balconies (one of my favourite finds this year), Hollerado and The Meligrove Band playing. Go to their website to win tickets!


NEW MUSIC
Arcade Fire has The Suburbs, due August 3rd, up for pre-order. All orders, whether digital, CD or vinyl,  come with instant downloads of the two already released singles "The Suburbs" and "Month of May."

Mother Mother is in studio finishing their upcoming album following the huge success of their sophomore album O My Heart. It's due out in early 2011. In related news, they suddenly became a lot more prolific (and friendly-sounding) on Twitter.

Sam Roberts is in studio as well with their upcoming fourth studio release following Love at the End of the World. Unfortunately, some personality conflicts in studio.

St. John's The Mountains & The Trees, otherwise known as Jon Janes, will release his first full-length I Made This For You on August 10 after critical praise for his EP Hop, Skip & A Jump.

Pre-order Stars' upcoming release The Give Ghosts on iTunes in deluxe and you will also get The Séance EP, which includes tracks remixed by the Album Leaf, Montag and Of Montreal - as well as other bonus singles.

REVIEWS

Rah Rah's new album Breaking Hearts is thoroughly enjoyable and all-around stronger than their first release. Their indie pop polish, combined with their tendency of using pop rocks and confetti cannons in their live shows, don't fully conceal their old souls and turns of cynicism. The elaborate album artwork involves some unfortunate passengers falling off the side of a boat and being torn apart by sharks. hmm.

Shad's newest release TSOL sees him solidifying his formidable position in the Canadian hip-hop scene, which involved selling out his (adopted) hometown show in Vancouver last night at the Biltmore Cabaret. The quick rhymes and clever word play, not to mention profound lyrics which touch on everything from politics to the origins of his name, would satisfy the most elitist of English majors. I see it on the Polaris short list.

Jamie Lidell, UK-based soul/funkster loads latest release Compass with grimy, experimental explorations of how technology expresses, however inadequately, sexuality and desire. It leaves you hot and bothered and a bit agitated, kind of like waking up with your lover on a stuffy summer day. This latest effort is joined by friends such as Feist, Beck, Gonzales and members of Grizzly Bear and Wilco. One of my favourite tracks off the album, "I Wanna Be Your Telephone," is below.


I Wanna Be Your Telephone from Jamie Lidell on Vimeo.

TOUR DATES
Two Hours Traffic from P.E.I. have released 2009's Territories internationally, more specifically in Australia and in the U.S. They will be touring Oz with Dead Letter Chorus.

Said the Whale announces all-ages tour dates on top of their Malahat Revue tour dates with Hannah Georgas, Jeremy Fisher and Aidan Knight.

MISC.

Voting is open in NxEW's 2nd Annual Shadow Polaris Prize.

Contribute to the newly established Canadian Music Wiki, brainchild of Amanda Ash working with CBC Radio 3 and the UBC School of Journalism.