This Week in Music rounds up the latest news, releases and concerts coming to Toronto.

IN THE NEWS

Kanye West postpones Toronto tour dates

In perhaps the least surprising news to come out of the last week, Kanye West has postponed the two Toronto dates of his Yeezus tour until late December. Originally, West was scheduled to play the Air Canada Centre this Tuesday and Wednesday, but due to "routing logistics," the dates have been changed to December 22 & 23. While this is undoubtedly an annoyance for anyone who was looking forward to seeing West and opener Kendrick Lamar this week, at least Toronto is getting rescheduled dates: the Montreal show has been cancelled altogether. The Yeezus tour, Kanye's first solo affair in five years, has been marred by technical problems, postponements, and cancellations. You can read all about it (and keep an eye on the status of those rescheduled Toronto dates) at West's official website.

THIS WEEK'S HOT TICKETS

TUESDAY NOVEMBER 12 / GWAR / THE PHOENIX / 410 SHERBOURNE / $34 / ALL AGES

a href="http://www.gwar.net/">Gwar is one of those bands that you have to respect on a purely artistic level. The music itself is pretty bad — but that's the point. The onstage personas of the band members are ridiculously over the top — but again, that's the point. Gwar is all about lampooning the genre of heavy metal and society in general, and in this respect, they succeed on all levels. And they have an absolutely diehard following, so it's safe to say that the Phoenix is going to be rammed for this one.

THURSDAY NOVEMBER 14 / THE DEEP DARK WOODS / THE GREAT HALL / 1087 QUEEN W / 19+

It's been a long time since I featured a decent alt-country show as a Hot Ticket, and there's no better time than this week, when Saskatoon's The Deep Dark Woods hit the stage at the Great Hall. This is a band that has mastered slow, dark, and sorrowful country music — if you're into it, there are few bands out there that do it better. This show gets my highest recommendation for the week.

RECENTLY ANNOUNCED CONCERTS

• TASHA THE AMAZON / PARTS & LABOUR / NOVEMBER 15 / 10PM
• ELTON JOHN / AIR CANADA CENTRE / FEBRUARY 6 / 8PM
• PAUL SIMON & STING / AIR CANADA CENTRE / MARCH 1 / 8PM
• WE ARE SCIENTISTS / LEE'S PALACE / APRIL 22 / 9PM

WHAT WE GOT UP TO LAST WEEK

• The top 20 Toronto music videos of all time
• Holy Ghost! haunt The Hoxton (for a night)
• My Bloody Valentine crack the Kool Haus in half
• 10 can't-miss hip hop shows coming up in Toronto
• Chance The Rapper leaves the Danforth wanting more
• The top 10 Toronto punk bands of all time
• Canadian connections shine at Bon Jovi's ACC show

Photo of Gwar courtesy of Stuart Sevastos on Flickr.