Plants and Animals hit the West coast

Fresh off their first European jaunt, Plants and Animals are set to make another round of great first live impressions, this time on the U.S. west coast. The short tour starts next Monday in Seattle, where they'll also be appearing live on KEXP (12 noon Pacific time), performing a few songs and chatting with Cheryl Waters. Do to fan-driven demand, they've also added a show in Phoenix at the tail-end of the tour. They'll be back in Canada in time for Canada Day on July 1st for a gig at Habourfront in Toronto.

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Behind Miracle Fortress's "Have You Seen In Your Dreams"

If you haven't already seen the wonder-video that is Sinbad Richardson's take on "Have You Seen In Your Dreams", you should. For those who are curious about its actual creation, Sinbad has a little piece in the newly-launched Savfaire magazine all about it.

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Plants and Animals to play Central Park with the National, Yeasayer

Concert in the park! Plants and Animals are adding at least one more fun outdoor show to their summer festival itinerary this summer, and it's a fun one. On August 4th they'll be in some very good company at Central Park's Summerstage, where they'll get things rolling for a night of music that will also feature The National and Yeasayer.

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Patrick Watson to play KARKWATSON shows in June

Anyone who's seen Patrick Watson perform live knows that the four-piece put on an amazing live show, often changing song-arrangements on a dime, extending parts, and generally exploring the big musical soundscapes they're able to create. Well that whole spirit of their performance is going to be taken a step further when they team up with fellow Quebec artists Karkwa in June for some 9-piece action. You can expect some Patrick Watson songs, some Karkwa songs, but probably a whole lot of crazyness in between. They play June 12th in Quebec City, and June 13th and 14th at Le National in Montreal.

After these shows Patrick Watson will be playing a handful of European summer festival dates, and spend the rest of the summer recording the follow-up to 2006's Close to Paradise.

See the shows section for more Karkwatson and festival information.

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Listen to 'The Sound' from Human Highway's upcoming record....

Pitchfork has a stream of one of the many lovely songs that pack Human Highway's Moody Motorcycle, which Secret City will be releasing this August. It's awesome. Once you've given a bazillion listens you can hit Human Highway on Myspace or Facebook, too. And keep watching all these spaces for more moody motorcycle music....

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Plants and Animals on the Canadian summer festival circuit

Plants and Animals will be playing on a bunch of big, sunny, outdoor stages across Canada this summer. The quintessential summer festival band? You'll be able to decide for yourself as they hit summer faves like Hillside, Ottawa Blues, Wolfe Island, Salmon Arm, and play some home-province stages at Osheaga, in Quebec City, and at FME Abitibi. They'll also be making the trek all the way up to Yellowknife to get some fresh air at the Folk on the Rocks Festival. More to come, too!

The band does part one of their summer U.S. tour starting next week in Philadelphia. All details can be found in the shows section.

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Secret City to release Human Highway this August

Secret City is pumped to announce that it will be releasing Human Highway’s Moody Motorcyle in Canada on August 19th. The project is the new collaboration from two of Canada’s most-loved troubadours: Jim Guthrie and Nick Thorburn. The album will be simultaneously released by Seattle’s Suicide Squeeze label in the US.

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Plants and Animals to play a bunch more US dates

Plants and Animals will be hitting both coasts of the USA as the summer months creep in, starting with a string of dates in the North East in May. In June they'll be off to the West Coast for their first ever shows out there, including stops in Seattle, Portland, San Fran and LA.

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Secret City featured on CBC today

With the whole home-grown roster in action tonight (Plants and Animals are in Minneapolis, Patrick Watson & Miracle Fortress are sharing a bill at Scala in London), CBC.ca has a piece about the label on the front page of their arts section today.

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Parc Avenue out in the USA next week...band head West through Canada

People everywhere seem to love Parc Avenue, and on March 25th, people in the USA can go to stores and buy copies of it. Meanwhile the band is headed West for a string of more Canadian shows that will take them out to Vancouver and back.

The album is also avaible across North America on iTunes and eMusic. A really nice gatefold 2LP is coming, too, but we're taking our time with that one and getting it right, because this album deserves it. Check back soon or sign up for our newsletter for official updates on the catalog and release-territories.

If you haven't already checked out Plants and Animals (or Secret City), by all means do so now, and feel free to start with Parc Avenue...it's a whale of a record.

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Miracle Fortress in the U.S., Patrick Watson in Europe, to play together in Germany, Copenhagen, Amsterdam, UK

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Plants and Animals SXSW schedule...

After rocking CMW (and CBC's Q; grab the podcast here!) last weekend in Toronto, Plants and Animals are on their way down to Austin, Texas where they'll make at least three appearances at SXSW. They are thus:

March 14th
Homeslice Pizza (Party) @ 12:45pm (afternoon)
1415 South Congress

March14th
Maggie May's (M for Montreal - Official Showcase) @ 11pm
323 East 6th Street

March 15th
Urban Outfitters (Party) @ 3pm
2406 Guadalupe St. (behind the UO)

Come check them out if you're in town....

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Miracle Fortress double feature!

Yup, that's right...the fountain of joy that is Five Roses keeps on gushsing, this time in the form of not one, but two marvelous music videos. Though "Have You Seen In Your Dreams" (directed by Sinbad Richardson here in Montreal) and "Maybe Lately" (directed by Daniel Stafford-Clark across the pond) were each created independently of the other, we think you'll agree they play of each other rather nicely. Enjoy!

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Plants and Animals at CMW, SXSW

Fresh off Parc Avenue's first week in Canadian stores, Plants and Animals will be hitting up Canadian Music Week in Toronto on Thursday (March 6th) at the Horseshoe Tavern, and will follow that up with an appearance at SXSW in Austin next week. See the shows section for details..

Parc Avenue has burst out of the gates here and has a lot of folks saying awfully nice things about it. The album will be out in the U.S. on March 25th.

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Welcome to the new website!

Well if you're reading this you're also seeing our brand-spanking new website. There are still some things we're ironing out, some things we're going to add, and some things we haven't accounted for...but for the most part, you probably get the idea. Cool, huh? Plants and Animals (whose Parc Avenue dropped in Canada yesterday) have also relaunched their band site. It's a weblebration!

A couple things to note: if you're seeing www.secretcityrecords .net in your address bar, fret not. That's only temporary until we get a few more things moved. You can leave your bookmarks at www.secretcityrecords.com. If you notice any problems or are having trouble with anything, let us know!

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Parc Avenue is out today in Canada!

Plants and Animals much anticipated full length release, Parc Avenue, is in stores today across Canada. You can also grab it at iTunes Canada , where "Bye Bye Bye" is being offered as the free single of the week. If you're in Montreal, might we recommend heading on over to Phonopolis (on Parc Avenue!) to pick up a copy? There's a wild re-creation of the (already wild) album cover in the store window. You can't miss it. There will also be plenty of copies at La Sala Rossa tonight, where the band will be launching the record along with lots of surprises. We're super proud of this one. Spend a little time with "New Kind of Love" and we think you'll see why.

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PARC AVENUE coming soon, available for pre-order, tons of Plants and Animals tour dates, and more...

Hmm, where to begin? Well, for those of you late to game: we're pumped to be releasing PARC AVENUE—the full length debut from Montreal trio Plants and Animals—in Canada on the 26th. It's available for pre-order from us, here, right now. And speaking of us, here, Secret City Records.com will be relaunching completely very shortly to coincide with Parc Avenue's release. It's gonna be purdy. The band is doing a whackload of shows in support of the album across Canada, starting next Thursday in Toronto. We'll be doing a special album launch at La Sala Rossa in Montreal on the day it comes out, too. They'll also be doing a bunch of stuff at SXSW in Texas (the album drops March 25th in the U.S.). Check the shows section below for more.

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Miracle Fortress to tour U.S. and Europe; might we recommend FIVE ROSES for your Valentine?

Those initiated into the church of Five Roses know that's its a beautifully cohesive song-suite—with atmospheric bombast and pop hooks of all kinds—that gets better with each listen. Not a day goes by that we don't hear from someone who's just discovering this record for the first time and expressing their undying love for it. In that spirit, if you're looking for something new and lovely to bless your valentine with (or better yet, with which to bless yourself, because hey, true love starts ...

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Plants and Animals to play five shows in the US next week

Plants and Animals were pretty much born for the road. And starting next week, you're going to be seeing a lot more them on it. Parc Avenue doesn't drop in the USA for a couple months, but folks south of the border won't have to wait that long to hear these songs. The band hits Boston, Baltimore, Brooklyn, Philly and NYc starting on Wednesday. Check their band site, soon to be relaunched (like this one!), for details.

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Plants and Animals' opus Parc Avenue to hit streets starting February

This is a big one. Plants and Animals long-awaited full length opus, Parc Avenue, will hit the streets on Feburary 26th in Canada, and March 25th in the USofA. We'll be announcing dates on both sides of the border soon with lots more to say about the record. We're also preparing for a re-launch of this here SCR.com, long in need in of an overhaul. We've been busy trying to get records out, but it's time we did our virtual little home here a bit more justice. We think you're gonna like it. Stay tuned!

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Secret City roster on tour!

Hey folks, Secret City is on tour in November in a big way, and most of it gets going tonight, with Plants and Animals starting their cross Canada tour in Toronto, and Miracle Fortress with Stars out in Seattle (they'll be going west to east with them in Canada through the month). Plants and Animals are on the Canadian east coast next week, and then hit the road west with Patrick Watson on November 28th. The Watson boys are just back from Europe and embarking on long awaited Canadian dates...their first since taking home this year's Polaris Prize, and last shows before they hunker down to record the follow-up to Close to Paradise. Check the shows section below for details.

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Patrick Watson wins Polaris Prize

Wow. Well. Secret City's Patrick Watson took home Canada's Polaris Prize last night, and we're pretty much speechless. We were thrilled as it is when both they and Miracle Fortress made the shortlist amidst some very good company. To see Patrick, Simon, Mishka and Robbie walk away with the Prize was something else. There were some amazing records up the award, many of which we at Secret City are huge fans of...so all we can say at this point is a really humble thanks.

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More award nominations for Patrick Watson

The praise just keeps coming for Patrick Watson and Close to Paradise, with an event-topping six GAMIQ nominations coming in this week. The newly minted GAMIQs are awarded to independent Quebec artists, picking up where the MIMIs left off. Patrick Watson is up for "Artist of the Year", "Songwriter of the Year", "International Career", "Show of the Year", "Breakthrough Artist of the Year" and "Best Indie-Pop Album". All these awards are partially determined by public voting, so by all means, go and vote!.

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