In this edition: Info on forthcoming releases from Jason Collett and Born Ruffians, Diamond Rings' copyright squabble with Sony BMG, Our Lady Peace announce special Canadian tour, Protest the Hero transcribe Fortress for guitar tab book, Bucky Awards dominated by West Coast artists and details on Hard Caliber, the new project featuring members of Boys Night Out and Love You To Death.

Plus: a delicious mix of videos and MP3 downloads from Collett, Great Lake Swimmers, The Tragically Hip, Ohbijou, Bahamas, Elliott Brood, D-Sisive, The Hoa Hoa's, Junior Boys, Broken Social Scene with Andy Kim, and Beck with Feist and Nels Cline.

Jason Collett Preps New Album for March Release
Collett has been keeping busy with his Annual Basement Revue at the Dakota Tavern this month, and his schedule shows no sign of freeing up in 2010. Rat a Tat Tat is his fifth studio effort and will hit stores and digital outlets on March 9, 2010 through Arts & Crafts. Though the eleven-song album won't be out for well over three months, fans can exchange their email address for an MP3 of the new song 'Love is a Dirty Word' over at the A&C site.

Diamond Rings & Colin Medley vs. Sony BMG & Youtube
Diamond Rings (John O'Regan) and filmmaker Colin Medley found themselves in a legal bind early last week when music industry giant Sony BMG had the duo's hit video 'All Yr Songs' pulled from Youtube without any sort of pre-emptive warning. Sony Canada says they have no idea what happened, but the situation was quickly resolved and the video rightfully restored. Still, no official reason for the copyright claim has been given, and O'Regan encourages kids to "stay vigilant" while surfing the "wild world wide web", cause you never know when a corporate giant will try and steal your hard work.

Beck, Feist & Nels Cline (of Wilco) - 'Weighted Down (The Prison Song)' [Skip Spence Cover]

Andy Kim, Broken Social Scene & The Beauties - 'Rock Me Gently' (Live from Andy Kim Christmas Show)

Born Ruffians Say It on Sophomore LP
Stereogum recently enlightened fans with a title and release date for the Ruffians' forthcoming album. Vocalist Luke LaLonde details the temporary loss of one third of the group, as well as several insights into their more pop-oriented follow up to 2008's Red, Yellow & Blue. Say It is currently in the process of being mastered at Rusty Santos' studios in Brooklyn, NY. This is easily one my most anticipated albums of 2010.

The Hoa Hoa's - Postcards (Live from Sonic Boom)

Southern Souls presents: Ohbijou - 'Jailbird Blues'

- The technical mayhem of Protest the Hero's meticulous guitar work has been transcribed to paper by Luke Hoskin and Tim Millar. The band are creating and self-distributing the Fortress Guitar Book through their website, offering fans the opportunity to master their work.

- Our Lady Peace are gearing up for a tour in which they will recreate Clumsy and Spiritual Machines in their entirety on two separate nights. Each night will also feature a collection of songs from their entire back-catalogue. Tickets are on sale now for the pair of Toronto dates at Massey Hall on March 12th and 13th.

- Though Burlington's Boys Night Out reunited for a show in October, it looks as though the future of the band remains uncertain. In addition to the hilarity that is Skittlebrau, BNO singer Connor Lovat-Fraser has started yet another band alongside BNO guitarist Jeff Davis and Scott Komer, member of Love You to Death (formerly known as The Pettit Project). You can check out five songs via Hard Caliber's minimalist myspace page.

- CBC Radio 3's Bucky Awards were given out this past weekend honouring nine Canadian independent artists from across the country including Dan Mangan, Sloan, Joel Plaskett, Mother Mother, Said the Whale & more.

D-Sisive - Live on Talk Show Night

Audio / Downloads
- Elliott Brood stopped by HearYa to record a five song session for free download, featuring 'T-Bill,' 'Garden River,' 'Chuckwagon,' 'Edge of Town' and 'Riding in Time' (MP3s in ZIP).
- Bahamas CBC Radio 3 podcast from Hillside 2009 (MP3, OGG).
- Ohbijou are giving away their unique cover of 'Last Christmas' for free download through their website (MP3 in ZIP).
- The Tragically Hip have made a full 27-song live set available for free streaming via Youtube. The set was filmed during the summer of 2009 in Abbotsford, BC and features a plethora of Hip favourites, including 'Grace, Too,' 'Ahead By a Century' and 'New Orleans is Sinking.'
- Great Lake Swimmers have posted the title track from their forthcoming EP for free stream - a cover of Neil Young Diamond's 'Song Sung Blue':

Junior Boys - 'Bits and Pieces'

Best-Of Lists
- Owen Pallett (Final Fantasy) offers up his top ten albums of 2009 to Filter, featuring freak-folk like tUnE-yArDs, chamber pop like St. Vincent and Kanye's favourite Taylor Swift, amongst others. You know you have eclectic tastes when you have Mariah Carey and Tyondai Braxton (of Battles fame) on the same list.
- Fucked Up offered up their predictably erratic and hilarious top ten of 2009, featuring video clips from The Horrors, Fever Ray, Kate Stelmanis, Deadmau5 & many more.
- Spinner listed their 'top ten Canadian releases of 2009', featuring Junior Boys, Alexisonfire, Japandroids, Drake, K'Naan, Metric, the Handsome Furs & many more. Their 'top ten Canadian albums of the 2000s' list has been narrowed down to ten choices, including Final Fantasy, Fucked Up, the Constantines, Feist, Broken Social Scene & more. Really, no Funeral?

On blogTO last week
- Jennifer profiled busker/harpist Derick Greenly.
- Joe had a quick phone conversation with Eric Howden of Raised By Swans and met up with rockers Clothes Make the Man at Sneaky Dee's.
- Ivy covered Telephone Explosion's second anniversary party featuring Sun Ra Ra Ra, Actual Water, Holy Cobras and Demon's Claws.
- I checked out the first of the Constantines three tenth-anniversary shows at Lee's, where Attack in Black and John K. Samson of the Weakerthans opened up.

News Round-up by Matthew McAndrew. Lead photo from Robin Sharp's interview with Diamond Rings.