Illustration by Johnnie Cluney

The group’s five-song set featured a few tunes from its latest album The Moonlight Butterfly as well as an oldie “The Argument” from 1997’s The Fawn.

The Sea and Cake’s set is solid with plenty of upbeat pop grooves. Specifically “Up on the North Shore” sounds like it would have been this year’s high contender for sparkling summer jam with its perky rhythms and swirling waves of guitar tones that sound oh so much like whales speaking to each other.

You can stream The Sea and Cake’s entire set right now or download it for free in 128K MP3 format at Daytrotter.com.

If you’re in need of a The Sea and Cake fix, the band conveniently wraps up its North American tour at Chicago’s own Empty Bottle on Saturday, December 17. Tickets are $18.

And this time around, as Pitchfork reports the local post-rockers have recorded a score for the new film Lovely Molly, which is directed by Eduardo Sánchez, who is best known for co-directing the late 90′s uber cheese-factor horror flick Blair Witch Project.

But don’t think the title Lovely Molly indicates happier movie. IMDB.com’s plot synopsis for the film describes it as, “A horror/thriller centered on one troubled young woman and the evil power that exists inside of her.”

And, according to Pitchfork, the films producer, Gregg Hale, had this to say about Tortoise’s soundtrack:

“Tortoise’s music is able to morph and change in a way that really accentuates the twists and turns in the Lovely Molly story” … “We had tried to work together in 1999 (on Fox’s sort-lived ‘Freakylinks’ TV series) and it didn’t pan out, so I was thrilled to have another chance to collaborate with them.”

Lovely Molly will premiere on September 14 at the 2011 Toronto International Film Festival.

Finally, expect Tortoise to return to town soon as John McEntire tells Pitchfork that they’re planning more touring ahead and the slim possibility that they’ll start recording a new album this winter.

Expect Sea and Cake and Tortoise member John McEntire to be busy on tour.  Having produced the latest Broken Social Scene album Forgiveness Rock Record, which was partly recorded at Soma Studios in Chicago, McEntire quickly became an unofficial member of BSS. Sam Prekop, singer for The Sea and Cake, also contributed to Forgiveness.

In addition to announcing The Sea and Cake’s support, BSS provided details on screenings of “This Movie is Broken.”  Directed by Bruce McDonald, the film captured the band last summer at the Harbourfront Centre in Toronto.

The film will open June 25 in Toronto and Vancouver, with pre-screenings in New York on June 11 and 17 at 92Y Tribeca, and in Toronto on June 17 at Royal Cinema.

Trailer:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=RdBnwF1UjVA

Broken Social Scene play the Pitchfork Music Festival on Friday, July 16, their only American date until August 28 in St. Louis.

06-19 Toronto, Ontario -- Toronto Island
06-22 Vienna, Austria -- Flex Club
06-23 Zagreb, Croatia -- T-Mobile INMusic Festival
06-24 Munich, Germany -- Backstage Werk
06-26 Birmingham, England -- O2 Academy
06-27 Pilton, England -- Glastonbury Festival
06-28 Manchester, England -- Academy 2 ^!
06-29 Nottingham, England -- Rescue Rooms ^#
06-30 London, England -- HMV Forum ^#
07-02 Helette, France -- Euskal Herria Zuzenean
07-03 Belfort, France -- Les Eurockeenes
07-04 Feldkirch, Austria -- Poolbar Festival
07-05 Frankfurt, Germany -- Mousonturm ^%
07-06 Hamburg, Germany -- Uebel & Gefahrlich ^#
07-08 Liege, Belgium -- Les Ardentes Festival
07-09 Sheffield, England -- Corporation
07-10 Kinross, Scotland -- T in the Park
07-11 Punchestown, Ireland -- Oxegen Festival
07-16 Chicago, IL -- Pitchfork Music Festival
07-25 Taipei, Taiwan -- The Wall
07-27 Singapore -- Esplande Concert Hall
08-01 Woodford, Australia -- Splendour in the Grass ~
08-02 Melbourne, Australia -- The Corner ~
08-03 Melbourne, Australia -- The Corner ~
08-04 Sydney, Australia -- The Metro ~
08-06 Auckland, New Zealand -- Transmission Room
08-07 Wellington, New Zealand -- San Francisco Bath House
08-28 St. Louis, MO -- Lou Fest
09-08 Pittsburgh, PA -- Byham Theater *
09-09 Asheville, NC -- Orange Peel *
09-10 Raleigh, NC -- Hopscotch Festival
09-11 Richmond, VA -- The National *
09-13 Washington, DC -- The Warner Theatre ^
09-14 Philadelphia, PA -- TLA ^
09-17 Boston, MA -- House of Blues ^
09-18 New York, NY -- Central Park, Rumsey Playfield ^
09-20 New Haven, CT -- Toad’s Place ^
09-21 Northampton, MA -- Calvin Theater ^
09-22 Burlington, VT -- Higher Ground ^
09-24 Ithaca, NY -- State Theater ^
09-25 Buffalo, NY -- Town Hall ^
10-01 Ann Arbor, MI -- Michigan Theater
10-03 Milwaukee, WI -- Pabst Theater ^
10-04 Minneapolis, MN -- First Avenue ^
10-06 Winnipeg, Manitoba -- Burton Cummings Theatre ^
10-07 Saskatoon, Saskatchewan -- Odeon ^
10-08 Calgary, Alberta -- MacEwan Hall ^
10-09 Edmonton, Alberta -- Winspear Centre ^
10-10 Kelowna, British Columbia -- Community Theatre ^
10-12 Victoria, British Columbia -- Element ^
10-13 Vancouver, British Columbia -- Commodore ^
10-14 Vancouver, British Columbia -- Commodore ^
10-15 Seattle, WA -- Paramount Theatre ^
10-16 Portland, OR -- Crystal Ballroom ^
10-19 Los Angeles, CA -- The Wiltern ^

^! w/ Dan Mangan
^# w/ Here We Go Magic
^% w/ Midlake
* w/ The Wooden Birds
~ w/ Bear Hug
^ w/ The Sea and Cake

Photo Credit: Anna Maria Cerniglia

The band recently signed to Relapse Records and will release their debut, titled Turning Lead Into Gold With the High Confessions, this summer. According to the article, a rep from Relapse describes the band’s sound as…

“…a real heavy, psychedelic rock.”

Awesome.

Additionally, Shelley will perform with White/Light at the Museum of Contemporary Art on March 20, and they’ve even collaborated with noisy Chicago rockers the Disappears on a single that will soon be released by Sixgunlover Records.

You can catch White/Light the throughout the entire month of March at MCA performing with guest musicians including not only Shelley, but Tortoise’s John McEntire, Disappears, Tim Kinsella and more as part of an interactive art installation and music performance. Details can be found at MCAChicago.org.

For the follow-up to its 2005’s self-titled album, Broken Social Scene jumped at the chance to work with Tortoise multi-instrumentalist John McEntire. The new, as-of-yet untitled album, was recorded in part at McEntire’s Soma Studios in Chicago and Giant Studios in Toronto, which is owned by former Death From Above 1979 vocalist Sebastien Grainger and Metric guitarist Jimmy Shaw.

In a recent interview with Pitchfork, BSS leader Kevin Drew discussed what it was like to record with McEntire, who is now considered a member of the revolving door collective.

Johnny is very, very different. Very quiet. He lets you figure it out. Sometimes we would bust into tunes and be like, [takes deep breath] “OK, let’s see what he thinks about this one.” We didn’t really know how he was feeling about everything for a little while. Then one night a couple of us went out for drinks with him and at about the fourth drink in he started opening up and telling us what he thought about the songs. It became a trend. And then it became sort of a joke– a band member would come up to me and be like, “I’m really tired and I can’t go out tonight but would you ask John how he felt about my part in this song?” [laughs] I consider John a good friend now and I’m happy to say he’s joining the band. Obviously, he’s still got Sea and Cake and Tortoise– but when he’s free, he’s going to come out and play with us. I’m just trying to live my teenage dreams over here, and this was definitely one of them.

The Chicago connections don’t end with McEntire’s contributions. McEntire’s bandmates, Sea and Cake vocalist Sam Prekop and Tortoise bassist Doug McCombs, can also be heard on the album.

The new Broken Social Scene album is slated for a May 4 release on Arts & Crafts.