Featuring Bowie on Bowie, The New Pornographers are raising money for good causes and Crtstal Castles get a slap on the wrist at Glastonbury

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Subscribers to the Daily Mail, like my little sister, got one hell of a treat in the Sunday edition - a CD of David Bowie’s all-time career best tunes as chosen by the man himself. Big surprise; some of them are pretty obscure tracks you can’t get through the standard greatest hits collections. Big bonus, extensive liner notes written by Bowie as well.
 
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Featuring Devo vs. McDonald’s, Nine Ince Nails gets physical and your chance to play with Coldplay

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Devo are furious over New Wave Nigel, an American Idol-themed McDonald’s Happy Meal toy. Devo bassist Gerald Casale, who designed the famous Devo energy dome chapeau, says the design is trademarked and patented, and no one approached the band for consent. “Plus, we don’t like McDonald’s,” says Casale, “and we don’t like ‘American Idol,’ so we’re doubly offended.”
 
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Featuring Shawn Fogel and Radiohead

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Friend of gitpop Shawn Fogel has been busy in the studio lately with producer Peter Katis (Spoon, The National and Mates of State) working on a follow-up to last September’s One Day in the Desert EP. The record is slated for release in early 2009, but you can get a sneak peak by downloading this MP3 - “The Fight at the End of the Tunnel.” Also, if you happen to be in New York City on Monday night, you might want to go to The Mercury Lounge (217 E Houston) where Shawn will be playing with Eef Barzelay (of Clem Snide), Ferraby Lionheart and Brian Bonz. Tickets are $12.
 
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Featuring RJD2, The Shins, a Huey Lewis tribute album and more kid’s stuff!

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There was no daily dose yesterday. Sorry, but my internet was down most of the day. It pretty much crashed right after the podcast went up.
 
I just wanted to give a big shout out to my recent visitors from the UK (hello), Germany (guten Tag) and Australia (g’day).
 
Also, The Travelling Band contest is now closed. Congrats to the winners!
 

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Tomorrow night I’ll be taking in RJD2 at the Jazz Fest (it’s not all jazz). He’s giving his band the night off so he can kick it old school with four turntables! Look for pictures and a review on Thursday. [Update: June 26 - Photos were not allowed for RJ's set, so the review won't have any pics of him.]
 
The Shins have decided to no longer be a Sub Pop band. The next record will be see frontman James Mercer’s label, Aural Apothecary, covering pressing and ditribution, allowing the band to own their own masters, with “a label partner that will assist with additional marketing, radio, and various costs,” according to the bands manager, Ian Montone. That partner could very well end up being Sub Pop, though. Says Megan Jasper, Sub Pop’s general manager, “we’d love to continue working with them.”
 
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Featuring Dr. John, Michael Franti and Spearhead, Bill O’Reilly (I sh*t you not), The Creaky Boards vs. Coldplay and Motley Crue (again, not kidding)

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I picked up my media pass for the Toronto Jazz Festival Today. Going to check out Dr. John tonight!
 
Michael Franti and Spearhead won’t be unleashing their new album until September, but their new video for the track “Hey World (Remote Control Version)” can be seen at Spinner right now. If you like the track enough to buy it through iTunes, click here.
 
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Featuring Richard Underhill, lo-bat et al vs. Crystal Castles, Santo Gold vs. Santogold, Sigor Rós, Weezer and Biz Markie

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I was reading the National Post today (they gave me one when I went for an oil change), and was pleasantly surprised to see friend of gitpop Richard Underhill talking about the etiquette of after hours jazz jams: “If someone requests ‘Summertime,’ of course, that’s a $50 surcharge for everybody in the band.”
 
Crystal Castles have finally responded to allegations of sample theft (some of which were made by me). Apparently they’ve made peace with all artists involved and are organizing a compilation of their fave 8-bit tunes to be released on their label. Still no official word from lo-bat (all attempts to email him for comment resulted in bounced messages).
 
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Featuring Tom Waits, Radiohead, Bob Geldof, Bono, Tokyo Police Club, J. Lo, Bad Religion and Joe Strummer

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Well, it looks like MP3s are slowly killing the radio stars, as music sales fall to their lowest level in over twenty years. It’s the end of the world as we know it, and I feel fine.

Pitchfork has some pretty awesome photos of the first night of the Tom Waits “Glitter and Doom” tour. I hope he comes to Toronto. I haven’t had a chance to see him since Mule Variations, and I was in the second last row of the balcony (and it was still an awesome show).

 
Radiohead have narrowed down the finalists for their animated video contest. You can find out more details at the band’s MySpace page.
 
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Without a doubt, it’s going to be a hot weekend for music in Toronto. There’s that one certain music festival that everyone’s talking about, but there’s also something else you should be aware of - the Better Reasons Festival at the Tranzac (292 Brunswick); a very cool fund-raiser for a very cool cause.

The three-day pay-what-you-can event will raise money for Sketch, a Toronto-based group that creates art making opportunities for street-involved, homeless, and at risk youth.

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Are local chip-pop darlings Crystal Castles a couple of common crooks? If you ask Belgian producer Lo-bat, the answer could surprise you.

It would appear that local duo have raised hackles within the Creative Commons community, who allege that the Toronto musicians violated Lo-bat’s rights when they sampled his song “My Little Droid Needs a Hand” outside the provisions of Creative Commons licensing.

The song in question, “Insecticon,” is currently listed on the band’s label’s MySpace page as CC vs. Lo-Bat, but that wasn’t the case when the track first surfaced, and to many this doesn’t go far enough.

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The second annual Toronto Freedom Festival is happening this Saturday (May 3) in Queen’s Park North, with a jam packed program including the local celebration of the tenth annual Global Marijuana March. And somewhere in the middle of all the pot revelry you’ll find a lot of free music.

The “Live Free” main stage cranks up the generators at 11:30 AM with lots of local acts like live hip-hop crew Down With Webster, reggae collective House of David Gang, Ko Kapches, God Made Me Funky, disco revivalists King Sunshine, instrumentalists Chameleon Project, deadheads Gratefully Dedicated Soundsystem and the incomparable Whitey Don, as well as a surprise special guest (you’ll just have to wait and see). Indie rockers Robotman from Scarboroough, recent winners of a contest at sonicbids.com that would allow a lesser known local a chance to play the festival, will play the last set of the evening.

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