It's that time of year again, music buffs.
Canadian Music Week, the nation's largest and longest running music festival, kicks off tonight and runs until Saturday in various venues (more than 40) across downtown.
Now in its 25th year, the festival features a renowned industry conference, a trade exposition, several awards ceremonies and, of course, a huge lineup of live music showcases, with more than 500 participating bands, attracting artists and concert-goers from across the world.
The CMW festivities kick off tonight with the 7th Annual Independent Music Awards, a.k.a. "The Indies," featuring performances from the Neverending White Lights, The Stills, Cadence Weapon, Wolfmother, Rough Trade, Priestess and Hellogoodbye. Top nominees include St. Catharines screamo outfit Alexisonfire and AOF guitarist Dallas Green's solo side project, City And Colour. Other side-project nominees include Amy Millan of Stars fame and Emily Haines & The Soft Skeleton -- the Metric frontwoman's piano-driven spin-off. Also nominated are Toronto rocker Danko Jones, Mississauga indie-popsters the Meligrove Band, Montreal faves The Dears, Edmonton's dance-rock troupe Shout Out Out Out Out and Toronto punk rockers Hostage Life.
Festival buzz is high for a special performance from seminal hip-hop group Public Enemy at The Docks on Friday night. Rapper Chuck D is also confirmed as a keynote speaker at the CMW conference on Saturday.
Other buzz-artists slated to perform this week include Apostle Of Hustle, The Junction, DJ Champion, Cadence Weapon, C'Mon, In-Flight Safety, ohbijou, Serena Ryder, Mute Math, Peter Elkas and The Cinematics.
Festival wristbands, $35, are available now through all Ticketmaster and TicketBreak outlets, by phone at 416-870-8000 or 426-640-0966 or online at ticketmaster.ca or ticketbreak.com. Some shows only accept a limited number of wristbands at the door, check cmw.net ahead of time for details.
And see tomorrow's Sun for our festival best-bets in The Scene .
