Pick of the week 2: Zunior (the little digital music store).

I'm sitting at my dining room table, my laptop in front of me, taking notes on photocopies of YMCA documents from 1918. Although the contents of the reports, letters, articles, and other materials is potentially interesting---I'm learnin', after all---the note-taking process is tedious, and there's no end in sight to all the work I have to do to get through all this paper. Because taking notes doesn't require as much concentration as other tasks, I'm listening to music which I do it. Right now, the Swede Jens Lekman, but earlier I was on a Toronto indie folk-tinged kick: Forest City Lovers, Great Lake Swimmers, Basia Bulat, The Wooden Sky, Timber Timbre, and others. It reminded me that a lot of the music I listen to every day isn't available in physical form outside Toronto. If Canadian indie music is your obsession---like it is mine---your one-stop digital shop for a lot of great music is Zunior. The website's team is really on top of all things indie in this country. This website has been growing in recent months, with the addition of new features like live recordings over at Zunior.tv. I've been downloading the free Zunior compilations for over a year now, and have discovered some great bands through it. So, cheers to Zunior! It's my download site of choice for legal music. It's where I got my virtual hands on the $100 disk, one of my favourites of 2008.

Pick of the Week 1: Tranzac (me) / Ketch Harbour Wolves (The R.O.B.).

Me and some folks over at the Toronto Music Blog Collective are starting a new series: Pick of the Week. The plan is for each participating blogger to choose something relevant---album, band, show, whatever---each week to share with our readers. Here's my first one.

This weekend I'm recommending the Tranzac Club. On Friday, there's a semi-formal dress Rock 'n' Roll Anniversary in the Main Hall with Mantler, Gravity Wave, and Wax Mannequin. Or else Nick Rose and The Stables in the front room. Come Saturday, spend the afternoon with Hexes & Ohs, Winter Gloves, Green Go, Sports: The Band, and Maylee Todd. Amazing! And at night celebrate Out of This Spark's anniversary with the record label's artists, including Forest City Lovers, The D'Urbervilles, Timber Timbre, and Jenny Omnichord. Pretty much anything going on at Tranzac this week, and every week, will add goodness to your musical diet, and will leave you feeling superior, like you're in on a well-kept secret. The Tranzac is a musician's venue more than any other place.

And here's Rob's:

1. Let me take the opportunity to tell you how great it feels to be a syndicated columnist... it feels great.... really really, great (it should be noted that any future reading of "great... really really, great" should be read as Toby from Seinfeld - the heckler who Jerry heckles back in "The Fire").

2. You know what else is great... really really, great? Ketch Harbour Wolves and their debut EP Dead Calm Horizon.

3. They sound like, I think, a really cool combination between this year's it band Fleet Foxes and the under appreciated Scottish band Frightened Rabbit (who you might note is one of Allan's favs). The EP, which is a total of 7 songs, is incredibly solid from beginning to end, and I think you'd be hard pressed to find a wasted minute in the 28 minute (29 if you round up) recording... which, sadly, makes it a minute too short to be eligible for the Polaris Prize.

4. It was 1c on my Best Albums of '08, but I'm definitely not alone in thinking they are... wait for it... great... really really, great. It was Herohill's favourite EP of the year, i(heart)music's favourite recording of the year, and Sean from Everything is Pop recently sent me a note thanking me for the recommendation. Basically, people who like music really like this album, and I think each of us had a different favourite song - or at least posted a different song.

5. I went to go see them live last Saturday and were good, not great, just a little messy in spots. And I felt terrible about writing that since: a) I really think the band is terrific; b) I typically feel really bad about saying bad things about small bands; c) I don't want to discourage anyone from going to see them, because they are still worth seeing, and d) Jon (from the band) sent me an email after I posted the review thanking me for writing a fair and "even handed review". That said, I now think: e) Jon and the guys are pretty chilled out and seem like really good dudes, and; f) are on their way to be a formidable live band, which, I suspect will be a chilling live experience once it all comes together.

6. The most insane thing? They're giving their entire EP away for free.

7. At the show I bought a t-shirt and its really slick. American Apparel black with shiny-metallic gold lettering gold and logo (to the best of my knowledge they're not available anywhere on-line). Awesome. Now all I need is metallic gold pants to wear it with.

8. My two favourites:

"So Long to the Ground" and "Letters" (for mp3s go here).