Spent a weekend in Montreal. Finally burned my copy of the Broken Social Scene record so that I can listen to it (stripped of asinine copy protection) in my walkman, and listened to that for most of the trip up. On the way back, The Dears were my soundtrack. Both felt too noisy on the bus - the crowdedness and white noise and bad head-rests had already put me in a bad mood, and the records felt almost oppressive. I tried putting on some quieter stuff, though (Will Oldham, Julie Doiron,) but simply felt bored. Boo.

On the plus side, this evening I downloaded an mp3 rip of an Iron & Wine radio performance on KCRW's "Sounds Eclectic". KCRW is like the most amazing radio station in the world, it seems, playing deliriously good music - including stuff from NPR and CBC. The rotten part is that it's based out of California.

On the bright side, thanks to the magic of the Internet, you can listen to KCRW - and the station's archives - from as far away as snowy Canada. It's in RealAudio, but the quality is pretty good, and the stream is nice and secure. The Sounds Eclectic Archives are amazing: cool tracks, and in-studio performances by acts such as Bright Eyes, the Flaming Lips, Beck, the Flaming Lips with Beck, Damien Rice, and more. You must must must listen to the best bit of the Iron & Wine set: "Upward over the Mountain." It was the finest track off his (excellent) record to begin with, but this version has even more of the slow-growing urgency... If you like sad and quiet acoustic stuff - Nick Drake, Simon and Garfunkel, Bonnie Prince Billy, etc. - you'll love it.

On Friday, I was checking to see which shows were listed in Montreal over the weekend. Browsing Montrealshows' May listings, I was gobsmacked to see that Gomez was playing (!!!!). It had somehow slipped under my radar... Of course, by 'somehow,' I mean that they're opening (inexplicably) for Ben "Gwyneth Paltrow's Ex-Boyfriend" Lee, and I hadn't exactly researched that show in depth.

Regardless, this is Gomez (!!!). The Beatles aside, Gomez was my first favourite band, and though In Our Gun was a muddle, their first two records are thick, bluesy masterpieces. Julian - who is still climbing ropes and washing bathrooms with toothbrushes at boot-camp - is going to be so disappointed when he finds out he's missed them - they've been on our "Will Travel To See" list for years, now (along with Songs:Ohia, Radiohead and Sigur Ros).

Anyway, tix are at the Cabaret (good), only $16 or so (good), but the show is this Wednesday night (bad). I have work till 4, and work the next day. I could still make it (and come home in the earlyearly morning), but things are further mitigated by my sister's return to Canada after three months in Europe, that same night. She'd probably understand if I was absent, however - it is Gomez, after all.