Wednesday, January 31, 2007
i will kill again
Speaking of domestic releases, Amy Winehouse's Back in Black gets one on March 13th.
Speaking of March 13th, The Long Winters are at Richard's on that day.
The Frames are supposedly at the Plaza on April 12th, although the astute among you will note that this is the same day as the Constantines/Jon Rae/Ladyhawk show at the Plaza. More Cowbell has the rest of the dates, and they don't leave a lot of room for rescheduling around the 12th, so I'm going to go ahead and assume they'll be in a different venue on that day. I've never been that hot on the Frames records, but they were great at Sasquatch a couple of years back.
Sparta is at the Commodore on March 30th with Moneen
The Icarus Line gets the opening nod for Wolfmother on February 22nd.
Uffie is now at the Lamplighter. She still can't rap. (thanks Shea)
Schedule Two just put up a bunch of live Hold Stead videos.
now playing: Bikini Kill - Jet Ski
feed a fire
Promo Pile: Vol. 1
Women and Children - Paralyzed Dance, Tonight
Women and Children's bio reads like an atlas, with the group's four members coming from disparate locales, and the band's core of Kevin Lasting and Cheryl Serwa seemingly participating in endless jetsetting. It's fitting then, that while Paralyzed Dance, Tonight is grounded in the folk tradition, the 14 tracks tend to be all over the map.
It sounds thrown together. Some of the songs sound off the cuff. Some of the tracks end on bum notes that weren't edited out during mixing and mastering. And there certainly isn't any easily discernible theme that lends itself to any sort of album length cohesion. But in spite - or perhaps because - of the aforementioned elements, it's a surprisingly enjoyable 40-minute listen.
Kevin and Cheryl take an equal share of the vocal duties. Generally speaking, I'm a sucker for complimentary male/female vocals, but while the tracks that feature complimentary crooning are still quite good, the songs that feature a lone singer fare the best.
It's probably also correct to call it "freak folk." And while I like my share of that scene, those two words also often evoke thoughts of not having enough drugs to possibly make the song in question enjoyable. Luckily, that's not the case at all with Women and Children.
In retrospect, when you break it down on paper (or in cyberspace) this record has nearly everything going against it, but somehow ends up being rather wonderful. That probably speaks to the value of music criticism, but that's another discussion for another time.
download: Women and Children - Born TP
download: Women and Children - My Bad
On an unrelated note, you've got another 24 hours to click on the sidebar so you can pick up a copy of that k-os picture disc.
now playing: Women and Children - Oranges
Sunday, January 28, 2007
new wave jacket
Polysics probably aren't the type of band you'd want to see every day. There's certainly a bit of a shtick going on (the uniforms, the sleeves of the uniforms tearing away, the props, etc) and shticks get tired if you see them again and again. On the other hand, it seems like the band never run out of energy, and unbridled enthusiasm rarely gets tired. Considering the fact that Friday's show was their first in Vancouver, and probably their last for a decent amount of time, there was nothing to complain about.
As mentioned, the band was amped to be playing, and the crowd (which looked pretty sizable) was equally excited to see the Japanese new-wavers do their thing. "Coelkanth is Android" was massive, and their double time, vocodered lead vocals version of "My Sharona" was awesome. Any article about Polysics mentions Devo, and the comparison is certainly valid. The band bring up their affection for them constantly, and Hiroyuki Hayashi looked right at home in the Devo hat that an audience member threw on stage (seriously, that happened), but they don't share their idols meticulous and razor sharp execution. There's a rough edge and a loose vibe to Polysics and they where it well.
I made it to the show when Fun 100 were finishing their last song, which was unfortunate. I figured they wouldn't start til 8, and made it in just after. I was mistaken.
After Polysics, I made it down to the Columbia for the Paper Cranes at 1/2 Alive. Either hipsters don't like new wave bands getting in the way of their DJ nights or the venue shift from Limerick Junction to the Columbia threw some people off, because the place was uncharacteristically 1/2 full. Attendance aside, the Cranes played a pretty tight set, balancing songs off of their EP with some new ones that point to a equally strong new release in their future.
Oh... and the Columbia renovated, sort of. The floor is new and, more importantly, it sounds like they upgraded the sound system a bit.
Tapes N Tapes are at the Plaza on May 6th.
VFest is coming to Vancouver on May 20th and 21st. I bet Brandon Flowers is totally pissed that My Chemical Romance get top billing over his Killers. Maybe he'll start a feud. Maybe they'll fight! That still wouldn't make this worth attending. Last year TO got the Flaming Lips, Broken Social Scene (who were a last minute fill in for Massive Attack), Phoenix, the Raconteurs, Gnarls Barkley, the Strokes, among others. This year in Vancouver, Billy Talent is the third biggest draw at this point.
Discobelle has a radio rip of the new Justice single, "D.A.N.C.E." It's pretty massive.
now playing: Justice - D.A.N.C.E. (radio rip)
Friday, January 26, 2007
we never really knew eachother anyway
The guys talked about how their forthcoming tour will work with a plethora of great organizations, as well as a ton of other things that they're doing to do their part (and probably more) to help out the environment. They also talked about the benefits of file sharing, followed their management's lead and spoke out against suing downloaders, came out against DRM, in favour of fair use, and talked with Strombo about selling their music via flash drive.
I'm still a fan of good ol' compact discs, but a USB drive definitely bridges the gap between a CD and a downloaded purchase. You don't get liner notes like a CD, but it's a reusable storage device (for a couple bucks more than the median price of an empty drive). And while it's not waste free like a download, there's extras that you certainly aren't getting on iTunes.
I still don't think much of their music, but if more artists dealt with the business side of music this way, it'd be a great thing. And, especially when it comes to the dinosaurs that run the industry, it often takes the bands that move units to incite change, so my hat goes off to them (not that they need that, as their millions of dollars can by dozens more hats. Of course they wouldn't, because the sustainable man doesn't need that many hats).
Perhaps that was all old news to you, but if not, you can check out the video here.
In less heartwarming news, the roof is coming down at the Plaza of Nations. Since the roof was deemed unsafe, this is in and of itself, a good thing. However, all of the tenants - save for the Edgewater Casino - have been told to hit the road, and the city is down another venue. The place always had crap sound, but it was an all-ages venue, and Vancouver is sadly lacking those. The city's said they're "committed to building a long term, permanent, covered venue," but with the glacial pace of politics, don't hold your breath for a replacement anytime soon... unless it's needed for the Olympics or something.
So, even though it was a pretty mediocre venue, you've got to have a favourite Plaza of Nations memory, right? Mine's definitely Beck on the Midnight Vultures tour.
There's still tickets to the original date (on February 7th), but a second Of Montreal show's been announced for February 8th. Trevor Risk spins to get you warmed up on both nights.
Leeroy Stagger is in UBC's Gallery Lounge on February 1st for the low low price of... free! Matt Hopper supports.
Matthew Dear is playing Lotus on the 31st (I think that's for sure now). This proves that Chris is almost always correct when it comes to these things, and I should probably take his word instead of official places like an artist's booking agency.
Brooklyn Vegan reports (via Billboard) that the reunited Police are rehearsing for their upcoming reunion tour at North Van's Lions Gate Studios. It's a bit strange to rehearse on a sound stage, but maybe it's easier to keep a low profile there? Even though Sting has used his solo career to completely obliterate the aura of cool that surrounded his old band, a warm-up gig in town would be pretty mind blowing.
Large Hearted Boy is celebrating his 5th year anniversary by giving away 50 CDs.
Since Rob is doing show listings this week, I'm going to take a page from his book by letting you know that Pinder updated.
now playing: Spank Rock feat. Amanda Blank - Blow
Wednesday, January 24, 2007
congress of spring
Kaiser Chiefs are at the Commodore with the Walkmen and the Little Ones on April 24th.
DJ Champion is at Richard's on March 26th. He'll have fellow Quebecois, Malajube, in tow, with locals You Say Party! We Say Die! opening up the evening. (thanks to Shea for the last two)
Peeping Tom (featuring Mike Patton) are at the Commodore on April 22nd. (thanks to Pinder)
Now for some bad news. The next two Wednesday shows at the Other Space (tonight and next week) are cancelled and Mt. Eerie will be the last show that Golden Family United will be putting on there. There were multiple reasons for the decision, but a notable factor was the venues proximity to the Q.E. Theatre meaning sound had to be kept unreasonably low. On the bright side, Liam and Jack now have more time to focus on Yukon (who play CJSF's ANZA Club soiree on February 9th).
I picked up a ticket for the Cons show, and was a little baffled when the ticket came with "99.3 the Fox Presents" plastered on it. Far be it from me to claim that I understand the motivations of big radio, but I always assumed that you might want to play a band's songs in place of the shitty jock rock and mall punk that clogs your station's playlist if you were going to "present" one of their shows.
Final Fantasy has a new video.
If you haven't been down to a record store in the last two days, you might want to do that soon. Tuesday was the first "big" day for new releases in 2007. Of Montreal (yay!), the Shins (yawn - well, for the Shins), Julie Doiron (yay!), and Deerhoof (haven't heard it) all hit store shelves. If nothing else, that Of Montreal disc is probably a shoe-in for nicest packaging.
Speaking of new music, if you dig around on the net, you'll find some pretty sweet previews of the new Andrew Bird, Bright Eyes, and !!! discs. For anyone who has their hands on the Bright Eyes EP already, who's singing on the third track?
Finally, file it under "rumour" for now, but I got pretty reliable word that we can expect the Arcade Fire in town around late-April/early-May. No idea about the venue/tickets/anythingelse at this point. Expect a Portland show as well, but no Seattle date if you're the superfan roadtripping type.
now playing: Bright Eyes - Cartoon Blues
Tuesday, January 23, 2007
i just kick it from my head
download: Vanilla Ice vs. Ratatat - 17 Years, Baby (From Blown Speakers Remix)
The Appleseed Cast are at Richard's on April 10th.
Matthew Dear might be coming sometime. Chris (who is quite reliable for such things) says he's playing the 31st. His booking agent says March 10th, but they used to say March 20th. The venue website and his official page currently have no info.
As you've probably readelsewhereeverywhere by now, the Coachella line up is out. When you go to bed tonight make a little wish that the Jesus and Mary Chain play more dates up the West Coast.
now playing: the Jesus and Mary Chain - Just Like Honey
Monday, January 22, 2007
heaven only knows
Contest: k-os Vinyl Giveaway
The folks over at EMI hooked me up with three copies of that pretty looking k-os 12" up there. The picture disc collects the lead-off single from Atlantis: Hymns for Disco, plus three more tracks from his latest long player. If you'd like to adorn your record player (or, alternately your wall) with one of these, just send me an e-mail at "quinn.omori AT gmail" with your name and mailing address and the subject "give me that sweet looking k-os record" before the end of the month (the 31st at midnight).
And to spice things up a bit, why not tell me either of the following things:
1) Your favourite rebellion (since his last disc was Joyful Rebellion)
2) Your favourite fictional locale (y'know, like Atlantis)
I'll pick three winners at random, who'll be notified by email. Oh, and I don't know how much of the readership here is from distant locales, but you've got to be in Canada (or at least have it shipped to Canada).
Here's the full tracklist for the 12":
Side A: 1. Electrik Heat-the Seekwill 2. CatDiesel
Side B: 1. Sunday Morning 2. Born to Run
You can stream both track ones at k-os' official site (along with 1-minute samples of the rest of the tracks from the album) and catch the video for "the Seekwill" right here.
now playing: Wilco - In a Future Age
Saturday, January 20, 2007
sea of blasphemy
now playing: Manic Street Preachers - Mausoleum
Friday, January 19, 2007
there you stood on the edge of your feather
Emily and the Soft Skeleton ran through Knives... in sequence, which was predictable (although "Mostly Waving" featured a snippet of "House of the Rising Sun"), but somehow rather appropriate. The three member band (that featured Sparklehorse collaborator Scott Minor on drums) did a great job recreating the album's instrumentation, with Todor Kobakov somehow managing to fill in for a section's worth strings and horns with a rack of keyboards and effects. Kobakov also ran the videos - cut together from Guy Madden films - that ran behind Emily for the duration of the gig.
I was a bit lukewarm on the prospect of a seated show at the Commodore, and while a place like St. James Hall would've been preferable, the attempt to turn the Ballroom into a theatre actually worked fairly well. The music had a very "close" sounding quality to it, and aside from the chatty assholes that haunt the back of the Commodore, the atypical show arrangement lent an intimacy to the show that was quite fitting.
If you haven't given her solo joint a couple of spins, don't take my initial words as a reason to stay away if/when she makes a return appearance in Vancouver. Take them as another reason to pick up the record.
Since they played the whole album for the main set, the encore consisted of Emily turning out a wonderfully low key cover of Buffalo Springfield's "Expecting to Fly." They were super anal about photos, but I did manage to grab just the audio of the rendition on my camera.
download: Emily Haines - Expecting to Fly (Neil Young Cover - live in Vancouver 1/18/07)
A couple of show announcements...
Shout Out Out Out Out, who were so good last September that they made you forget how crappy their band name is, are at the Columbia for 1/2 Alive on March 23rd.
And... micro house hero, Matthew Dear is spinning at Lotus on March 20th.
Thursday, January 18, 2007
piracy funds terrorism
I don't write a lot about the goings on in the rap game, mostly because, despite my semi-avid fandom, I don't really feel all that qualified. I'm sure Graham will chime in shortly in a much more informed and eloquent way, but I had to add my two cents as well. The question is, where does one even begin with this?
For those of you who haven't already read it elsewhere, DJ Drama and DJ Don Cannon have been arrested for "making and selling illegal CDs," namely the much celebrated Gangsta Grillz series. For the uninitiated, these aren't just collections of bootleg tracks thrown together and sold. The mixtape is part of hip hop culture. Amongst rappers it's a universally accepted way for up and comers to get their name out and for established rappers to release freestyles, remixes, dis tracks, and to generate hype for forthcoming releases. It's that last motivation that also led to labels embracing mixtape culture, and thus they've become an important part of the larger marketing machine. DJs are regularly sent exclusive content, pre-release tracks, etc to fill out mixtapes and help labels create a street level buzz for their next big rap release.
So, while this latest action falls right in line with the type of things the major labels - via the RIAA - have been doing for the last several years, it's particularly insidious, since they've targeted a part of the industry underground that they've actively encouraged.
The saddest part about this is that it honestly doesn't shock me much.
In related news, the Lefsetz letter email of the day talks about the lack of competition amongst the majors and their unwillingness/inability to innovate.
And so I make my CanCon requirements, Metro reports on how the Tories' copyright amendments would radically change what constitutes fair use. You can email Heritage Minister Bev Oda at Oda.B@parl.gc.ca to tell her what you think of the plans. Hopefully she ends up going the way of Sam Bulte after the next election. (Metro link via Beyond Robson)
CocoRosie is at Richard's on May 5th. If you go make sure you ask Bianca Casidy if she's still a racist bitch.
Wolfmother are at the Forum on February 22nd.
CJSF is having a party! No Luck Club, Yukon, and Great Aunt Ida help SFU radio celebrate at the ANZA Club on February 9th.
The Glenn Kotche/Nels Cline show has been moved to February 22nd, and also from the Media Club to Richard's.
Oh, and those mixes are both back up on ZShare so they should be working. I'm taking them down in a week, so if you want them grab them. Also, if I get sued next make sure you donate to the Quinn Omori defence fund.
Finally, I will leave you to contemplate the fact that while the talented Trevor Risk will be a fine opener for Of Montreal on February 7th, two days later in Seattle, Kevin Barnes and company get support from both Ariel Pink and the Blow. Considering that it's also the Plaza vs. the Showbox, that one might be worth a drive. Note to the kids in the audience: the Seatown show is also all ages. Note to the adults in the audience: you can also drink with ID, because our Washington neighbours don't have archaic drinking laws.
now playing: Elevator to Hell - A-Void the Out-Side
Tuesday, January 16, 2007
where have all the rude boys gone?
Pollstar has the Books penciled in for an April 25th date at Richard's.
Shins tickets are on sale on Thursday morning for $34.50... before charges. I dig the Shins, but that's a bit pricier than expected. Think I'll skip.
Brooklyn Vegan reports that Land of Talk scored an American record deal with the Rebel Group, who'll release their fabulous debut EP (which you should pick up right now, if you don't own it) stateside on March 20th.
The Clips (definitely not to be confused with everyone's favourite coke rappers) emailed to let me know they're playing a show on January 20th at the Lamplighter with Trembling (who have a really hard name to google).
That last mixtape link is back up.
Finally, congrats to Kat, who won the Emily Haines tickets. I actually know Kat, but I assure you that it's just a coincidence that she won. In fact, Trevor from Last Gang picked the winner. Thanks to Last Gang for providing the prize and to everyone who entered.If you missed out, there are still tix available at all the usual outlets. edit: apparently, it's sold out.
now playing: Bright Eyes - Landlocked Blues
Monday, January 15, 2007
be quiet and drive
I'll Make You a Tape (Vol. 4)
download:commuting in silence sucks
Following Friday's post, here's side B of the mix I made for my friend Rob to throw on a tape to soundtrack his commute. Apparently that's a photo of Burnaby, so it might be exactly what Rob sees every weekday morning. How's that for (pseudo)realism?
Oh, and to the other Rob, thanks for the hosting offer, but I like to stick to YSI (annoying registration and all) so I don't have to remember to take the links down later (and I will forget). Speaking of registering, if you don't want to do that, hit up BugMeNot.
The mix:
1. Arcade Fire - No Cars Go
2. the Breeders - Drivin' on 9
3. Belle and Sebastian - I Love My Car
4. the Fiery Furnaces - Straight Street (Eleanor Solo)
5. Radiohead - Killer Cars (Thom Solo)
6. Lucinda Williams - Car Wheels on a Gravel Road
7. Sarah Harmer - Silver Road
8. Catatonia - Road Rage
9. Elastica - Car Song
10. Kanye West - Drive Slow (Remix feat. T.I.)
11. the Hold Steady - Southtown Girls
now playing: Land of Talk - new song (live in Kingston)
Friday, January 12, 2007
milkrun
Viva Voce are opening for the Shins.
Head over to I (Heart) Music, where Matthew's posted Ladyhawk's Radio 3 Session from last year. I'm pretty psyched to finally hear a recording of my favourite Ladyhawk tune ("Faces of Death").
Bloc Party tix go on sale tomorrow at 10am at TM.
Finally, my friend Rob was telling me how he now drives to work and only has a cassette player in his car. And also noted that all the mixes I post are CD, not tape length. It was Rob's birthday yesterday (happy birthday, dude!), so here's a mix that'll fit snugly onto one side of C-90. Side B (which is actually themed) is coming on Sunday.
download:Rob's Birthday Mix
Tracklist:
1. Vanilla Ice vs. Ratatat - 17 Years, Baby (From Blown Speakers Mix - sure, let's call it that)
2. Justin Timberlake vs. Muse - Supermassive Back Hole (the Olympian's Remix)
3. Daft Punk - Human After All (Red Foxx's Spankbastian Remix)
4. Sebastian - Ross Ross Ross
5. Lil Jon & the East Side Boyz - Get Low (Tyler Fedchuk's 1/2 Alive Remix)
6. Uffie - Hot Chick
7. Curtis Mayfield - Move On Up (DJ Ayres Baltimore Club Remix)
8. E-40 - Tell Me When to Go (Nick Catchdubs & DJ Ayres Baltimore Club Remix)
9. Spank Rock - Bump
10. Rick Ross vs. Simian Mobile Disco - Hustlin' Hustler (Cadence Weapon's Hi-Speed Edit)
11. Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Cheated Hearts (Peaches Remix)
12. Bloc Party - Helicopter (Weird Science Remix feat. Peaches)
13. The Rapture - Whoo! Alright-Yeah... Uh Huh (Simian Mobile Disco Remix)
14. Daft Punk - Technologic
15. Justin Timberlake - My Love (Low Budget's Pawtry Mix) (unmastered)
16. MSTRKRFT - the Looks
17. Dsico, That No-Talent Hack - When You Gonna Love Me?
18. !!! - Heart of Hearts
19. Hot Chip - Over and Over
now playing: Ladyhawk - Faces of Death
Thursday, January 11, 2007
troubled waters
Menomena is at Pat's on February 3rd. I slept on I Am the Fun Blame Monster, but I just finished penning a review of their newie, Friend or Foe (out on the 23rd) for Color, and I've got to say that if it weren't too early to make such statements, I'd tell you right now that it's a contender for record of the year. You can stream it over at their label site.
Final Fantasy and Smoosh are tipped as openers for Bloc Party on March 12th. Bloc Party in a venue that restricts your ability to dance = not good. Final Fantasy in a theatre = awesome. And Smoosh, how can you say anything bad about those kids?
Blonde Redhead are at the Commodore on April 20th.
Blood Meridian are at the Railway on February 16th with Mohawk Lodge, Octoberman, and Tailor Island.
Tenacious D are at Queen E on February 20th. Tragically, the $50 price tag is probably the funniest part of the whole event.
Thanks to Chris for pointing out that there's no way that Sebadoh and Badly Drawn Boy can both be headlining a show at Richard's on March 3rd. The latter has been rescheduled to March 27th. You can get refunds up until that date or, alternately, the old tickets are good for the new show.
On a completely unrelated note, this weather is waaaaaaacccccckkkk.
now playing: the Breeders - Drivin' on 9
Wednesday, January 10, 2007
somebody put something in my drink
If you've never seen Trapped in the Closet - or worse, if you've heard part of it and never seen it - you might be wondering just why the hell you should. If you have seen R. Kelly's self-proclaimed magnum opus, than you're already aware of the accidental genius that lies within this DVD's twelve chapters. For those of you in the former two groups, just trust me when I say that if this isn't the greatest music video of all time, it's surely the funniest. And while the level of comedy is already high enough to split your sides, anyone who's stumbled home from a bar on a Saturday night and found themselves in hysterics during SNL (like recently, since it's become tragically unfunny) knows that alcohol certainly lubricates your funny bone. With that, I humbly present...
The Trapped in the Closet Drinking Game
Take a drink anytime...
- a word echoes
- a word is rhymed with itself
- someone other than R. Kelly pulls out a weapon
- someone makes a phone call
- it's revealed that someone is having an affair
- there's a plot twist that's been foreshadowed previously
- someone asks "what the fuck?"
- R. Kelly pulls out his beretta
- someone threatens to shoot someone else
- a man physically or verbally threatens to assault a woman
- someone is "up in" something
Take two drinks anytime...
- someone knows something that they can't possibly know already
- someone mentions Paje's club (by name or otherwise)
- someone is smoking
- someone shoots a gun
Finish your drink anytime...
- R. Kelly is actually in a closet
- R. Kelly breaks the fourth wall
Finish the case/bottle anytime...
- R. Kelly pees on an underage girl, because you're watching the wrong video.
Edit:
Optional Rules:
- Take a shot when the word "pears" is sung (thanks Rob)
- Waterfall* whenever Robert goes all Xtina on a word that ends a chapter
now playing: Women and Children - A Bigger Graveyard
*everyone has to keep drinking until the last person stops.
Tuesday, January 09, 2007
what it is
The full bill for Thursday is: Ladyhawk, Sports, and Whyte Hott
now playing: Pride Tiger - Sweet Dreams
Monday, January 08, 2007
phantom limb
PFork reports that Matt Tong is healed up and ready to head out on the road. Bloc Party hits the Orpheum on March 12th.
April 12th brings what will surely be one of the best triple bills of the year to Vancouver. One of my favourite live bands ever, The Constantines, descend on the Plaza with ex-Vancouverite Jon Rae (and his River) and local favourites, Ladyhawk.
Rollie's retiring from blogging to focus on the rap game (I hear he's pretty good at that). Check out Cadence Weapon's last blogger hurrah all this week as he reveals his top 100 songs of 2006 (complete with downloads). If the free (and awesome) music doesn't entice you, I assure you that it's worth clicking that link just for the sweet pic of DJ Weez-l riding a fake bear.
If you want a preview of the upcoming Emily Haines show, you can catch her concert from the 9:30 Club in DC on Wednesday at 6:30(ish PST) live on NPR. Alternatly, if you're into something less live and more Canadian, check out this streaming footage of Emily in Toronto last year. Oh, and don't forget that you can win free tickets if you click on that link in the sidebar over there. (thanks to Stefan for the second link)
Finally, from the Jarvis Cocker camp, comes the details on his new single "Don't Let Him Waste Your Time." And just what will adorn the b-side on CD2? No, not a studio outtake, but Jarv reading the Grimm's Fairytale, the Mouse, the Bird, and the Sausage. Fun for the whole family.
now playing: Menomena - West
run for the cover of bunkers and basements
Speaking of MySpace, if you head over to Ladyhawk's you'll find that Duffy has kindly posted the lyrics to the songs off of their record (and then some) and also revealed that their new EP (now titled Fight for Anarchy) is due out this spring!
Uffie is at the Royal Unicorn Cabaret on February 14th with Feadz behind the decks. Nothing screams V.D. like really bad rapping. Feadz pre/post-set DJ magic might be good enough to spark a dance inspired romance though.
Simon from Jump + Dash (who were pretty good at Shindig) emailed to let me know that they're playing a show on January 19th at Pat's. The National Shield headline and It's a Living Thing and Huge Manatease round out the bill.
Headless Ponch directs us to YouTube, where the Arcade Fire have revealed the tracklist for Neon Bible via an infomericial featuring "Juno Award winning guitarist, Richard Perry." If you for some reason missed this everywhere else it was reported, you should also probably know that "Black Mirror" is now streaming from the band's official site.
Finally, check out Coke Machine Glow's new podcast, if only for Cadence Weapon covering Chad VanGaalen and Ladyhawk covering Joel Phelps.
now playing: Pavement - Unseen Power of the Picket Fence*
*for the record, "Circus Envy" is probably my least favourite song.
Thursday, January 04, 2007
trash flavored trash
I decided to pay for the extended warranty on my iPod, and was a bit confused when I put in my order and was told that it would be shipped to me.
About a week goes by, and I receive the above package in the mail. The actual box, which was about the size of an iPod box, was in the larger cardboard box, which was then stuffed with paper. The innermost box had one sheet of paper with the code to register the extended warranty and a booklet outlining the warranty.
I don't really care about the $6 shipping, but I'm a bit pissed that they created so much unnecessary waste and physically shipped something (most likely by air, as it was fast) that they could've e-mailed to me. You'd think a computer company would know about a .PDF file for the booklet. You'd also think a company that likes to tout itself as forward looking and modern would... I dunno... give a crap about the environment.
Shows...
Neko Case is at the Commodore on February 13th with the Crooked Fingers' Eric Bachmann. If I'm not mistaken, it's also the first time in awhile that Neko has played a venue here that doesn't end up pushing the ticket prices into the $35 range.
Great Lake Swimmers are playing Richard's on April 5th. They're still playing the Gallery at UBC the day before (for half the price in a room less than half the size), but the latter is a closed show for students only.
The Awkward Stage are at the Railway on January 12th with Mohawk Lodge, Romance and the Choir Practice.
Lions in the Street are at the Plaza on January 11th. Chris from the band dropped me a line to say that the band are heading down to SXSW and will hopefully have their legal/label woes worked out this year. Hopefully the latter means a full-length release could be coming sooner rather than later as well.
Neil Hamburger is at Pat's on January 17th with Hugh Phukovsky. Graham relayed to me that he got so drunk at a fairly recent Hamburger performance in Australia that he ended up heckling. Neil, however, did not respond by directing a racial tirade towards Graham. I'd say that means he has a ways to go before he truly achieves his goal of becoming the world's worst comedian.
Catlow is at the Railway on the already busy date of January 18th. Amy Honey supports.
The Buttless Chaps are doing a two night stand at the Railway on January 19th and 20th.
Electric 6 are back at Richard's on April 23rd.
Hot Loins are handling opening duties at the Deerhoof show along with blackblack.
And last, but most certainly not least, if you haven't checked PFork today, you should know that Wu-Tang is back!
now playing: No Doubt - Sunday Morning
Wednesday, January 03, 2007
winning
photo: Candace Meyer (via Last Gang Records)
Contest: Emily Haines & the Soft Skeleton Ticket Giveaway - January 18th @ the Commodore
The fine folks over at Last Gang Records want you to check out Emily Haines & the Soft Skeleton for free!
Regular readers of this blog will probably remember me singing the praises of Emily's solo debut, Knives Don't Have Your Back before. In fact, it was one of my favourite records of 2006. If you've given it a quick spin and written it off, I highly suggest giving it a few more tries. I hate to use the term "grower," but after coming away feeling lukewarm after my first listen, I found myself getting pulled in further and further with each play. Alternately, if you're already sold on the record, you don't need any convincing to check out the show.
To enter just send your full name to pickme@lastgangrecords.com with the subject line "Emily Tickets From Blown Speakers" before January 15th at noon PST, and you'll be entered to win a pair of tickets to Emily's January 18th show at the Commodore. Sorry to any under-agers, but the show is 19+, so you have to be at least the age of majority to enter the contest. But...
The kids out there still have a week to win a chance to check out the show's soundcheck. Send an email to the same address up there with your name and age and the subject line "Emily Tickets, Vancouver" (no adults). This one has nothing to do with this blog, but I'm always a fan of anything that gets our underage friends out to see live music, so I thought I'd throw up a reminder.
If you're in the dark on this fine record, you can check out "Dr. Blind" below.
download: Emily Haines & the Soft Skeleton - Dr. Blind (via Last Gang)
watch: Emily Haines & the Soft Skeleton - Dr. Blind (quicktime) (via Last Gang)
now playing: Idlewild - Finished It Remains
over and over and over again
Things I slept on until 2006 was over:
Peter Bjorn and John - Writer's Block
Coincidentally, this little pop gem finally gets a NA release next month.
Killer Mike - That's Life
I know Chuck D is out on tour with Flava Flav and Prof. Griff between whatever terrible reality TV show that Flava Flav is currently taping, but Killer Mike might've been the only rapper in 2006 to actually channel what PE was doing circa 1991.
download: Killer Mike - That's Life (via Pfork)
Amy Winhouse - Back to Black
I didn't really pay much attention to Amy Winehouse, after brushing aside "Fuck Me Pumps" as well sung, but a touch gimmicky (read that title again - can you really blame me?). With that in mind, I was very pleasantly surprised when I took up a recommendation from the comments of my year-end list of albums (thanks Matt!) and gave Back to Black a spin. I've been on a bit of a soul kick lately, and what jumped out of my speakers fit that frame of mind perfectly. The record sounds like it fell straight from 50's heaven (or maybe, Brooklyn). And while that was a bit of a shock considering Amy's a slight, British 22 year-old, the lyrics are exactly what you'd expect from a witty, badass, British 22 year-old. The best of old and new then.
Asobi Seksu - Thursday
With all due respect to Asobi Seksu, when I get a hankering for the kind of musical dish that they're serving up, I generally just put on Loveless. This track still isn't "Only Shallow," but it's pretty goddamn good.
download: Asobi Seksu - Thursday (via MySpace)
Stuff (mp3s) that I posted last year that people seemed to enjoy, that haven't/won't be released commercially:
Chan Marshall shills for different things:
Diamonds:
How Can I Tell You (Cat Stevens Cover) (ZShare)
How Can I Tell You (Cat Stevens Cover) (YSI)
Cell Phones:
Hanging on the Telephone (Nerves Cover) (ZShare)
Hanging on the Telephone (Nerves Cover) (YSI)
Financial Services:
Somewhere (Leonard Bernstein Cover) (ZShare)
Somewhere (Leonard Bernstein Cover) (YSI)
According to Matador, there are no plans to release full versions of any of these, and in the case of "How Can I Tell You" (at least), Chan only recorded the portion of the song that features in the commercial.
Metric plays songs for the radio:
Live on MPR (Emily and James acoustic):
1. Ending Start
2. Interview 1
3. Monster Hospital
4. Interview 2
5. Live it Out
download: Metric - Live on MPR (4-10-06) (.zip)
Acoustic for Rolling Stone (just Emily and James again):
download: Metric - Between the Bars (Elliott Smith Cover)
If any of the links expire email me. If you leave a comment on the entry from months ago, chances are that I won't read it.
now playing: the Constantines - On to You
i will kill again
Pfork reports that Jarvis Cocker is at the Commodore on May 1st for (currently) one of only five North American dates. Take that Toronto and MidWestern America! I'm pretty goddamn psyched for this. The former Pulp frontman's solo debut also gets a domestic release on April 3rd.
Speaking of domestic releases, Amy Winehouse's Back in Black gets one on March 13th.
Speaking of March 13th, The Long Winters are at Richard's on that day.
The Frames are supposedly at the Plaza on April 12th, although the astute among you will note that this is the same day as the Constantines/Jon Rae/Ladyhawk show at the Plaza. More Cowbell has the rest of the dates, and they don't leave a lot of room for rescheduling around the 12th, so I'm going to go ahead and assume they'll be in a different venue on that day. I've never been that hot on the Frames records, but they were great at Sasquatch a couple of years back.
Sparta is at the Commodore on March 30th with Moneen
The Icarus Line gets the opening nod for Wolfmother on February 22nd.
Uffie is now at the Lamplighter. She still can't rap. (thanks Shea)
Schedule Two just put up a bunch of live Hold Stead videos.
now playing: Bikini Kill - Jet Ski
Labels: jarvis, show announcements, white rappers
feed a fire
You may recall that a couple months ago I resolved to take a page out of Frank's book and put aside Sunday for a little cleaning, by writing up something from the growing stack of records that sits beside my computer. Obviously, I haven't been very good about keeping with that plan, and frankly, there are a lot of Sundays where there's something else to write about instead (ie. a show from Saturday night). So rather than set aside a certain day of the week, I'm going to throw up reviews on days like today, when there's not much else to say. Generally speaking, I'm going to ignore things that I out and out dislike, so you can expect that any record that comes under the "promo pile" heading falls somewhere between "pretty good" and "great" in my humble opinion.
Promo Pile: Vol. 1
Women and Children - Paralyzed Dance, Tonight
Women and Children's bio reads like an atlas, with the group's four members coming from disparate locales, and the band's core of Kevin Lasting and Cheryl Serwa seemingly participating in endless jetsetting. It's fitting then, that while Paralyzed Dance, Tonight is grounded in the folk tradition, the 14 tracks tend to be all over the map.
It sounds thrown together. Some of the songs sound off the cuff. Some of the tracks end on bum notes that weren't edited out during mixing and mastering. And there certainly isn't any easily discernible theme that lends itself to any sort of album length cohesion. But in spite - or perhaps because - of the aforementioned elements, it's a surprisingly enjoyable 40-minute listen.
Kevin and Cheryl take an equal share of the vocal duties. Generally speaking, I'm a sucker for complimentary male/female vocals, but while the tracks that feature complimentary crooning are still quite good, the songs that feature a lone singer fare the best.
It's probably also correct to call it "freak folk." And while I like my share of that scene, those two words also often evoke thoughts of not having enough drugs to possibly make the song in question enjoyable. Luckily, that's not the case at all with Women and Children.
In retrospect, when you break it down on paper (or in cyberspace) this record has nearly everything going against it, but somehow ends up being rather wonderful. That probably speaks to the value of music criticism, but that's another discussion for another time.
download: Women and Children - Born TP
download: Women and Children - My Bad
On an unrelated note, you've got another 24 hours to click on the sidebar so you can pick up a copy of that k-os picture disc.
now playing: Women and Children - Oranges
Labels: biting chromewaves, promo pile, women and children
Sunday, January 28, 2007
new wave jacket
Polysics probably aren't the type of band you'd want to see every day. There's certainly a bit of a shtick going on (the uniforms, the sleeves of the uniforms tearing away, the props, etc) and shticks get tired if you see them again and again. On the other hand, it seems like the band never run out of energy, and unbridled enthusiasm rarely gets tired. Considering the fact that Friday's show was their first in Vancouver, and probably their last for a decent amount of time, there was nothing to complain about.
As mentioned, the band was amped to be playing, and the crowd (which looked pretty sizable) was equally excited to see the Japanese new-wavers do their thing. "Coelkanth is Android" was massive, and their double time, vocodered lead vocals version of "My Sharona" was awesome. Any article about Polysics mentions Devo, and the comparison is certainly valid. The band bring up their affection for them constantly, and Hiroyuki Hayashi looked right at home in the Devo hat that an audience member threw on stage (seriously, that happened), but they don't share their idols meticulous and razor sharp execution. There's a rough edge and a loose vibe to Polysics and they where it well.
I made it to the show when Fun 100 were finishing their last song, which was unfortunate. I figured they wouldn't start til 8, and made it in just after. I was mistaken.
After Polysics, I made it down to the Columbia for the Paper Cranes at 1/2 Alive. Either hipsters don't like new wave bands getting in the way of their DJ nights or the venue shift from Limerick Junction to the Columbia threw some people off, because the place was uncharacteristically 1/2 full. Attendance aside, the Cranes played a pretty tight set, balancing songs off of their EP with some new ones that point to a equally strong new release in their future.
Oh... and the Columbia renovated, sort of. The floor is new and, more importantly, it sounds like they upgraded the sound system a bit.
Tapes N Tapes are at the Plaza on May 6th.
VFest is coming to Vancouver on May 20th and 21st. I bet Brandon Flowers is totally pissed that My Chemical Romance get top billing over his Killers. Maybe he'll start a feud. Maybe they'll fight! That still wouldn't make this worth attending. Last year TO got the Flaming Lips, Broken Social Scene (who were a last minute fill in for Massive Attack), Phoenix, the Raconteurs, Gnarls Barkley, the Strokes, among others. This year in Vancouver, Billy Talent is the third biggest draw at this point.
Discobelle has a radio rip of the new Justice single, "D.A.N.C.E." It's pretty massive.
now playing: Justice - D.A.N.C.E. (radio rip)
Friday, January 26, 2007
we never really knew eachother anyway
I caught Ed Robertson and Steven Page of Barenaked Ladies on the Hour tonight, and came away rather impressed.
The guys talked about how their forthcoming tour will work with a plethora of great organizations, as well as a ton of other things that they're doing to do their part (and probably more) to help out the environment. They also talked about the benefits of file sharing, followed their management's lead and spoke out against suing downloaders, came out against DRM, in favour of fair use, and talked with Strombo about selling their music via flash drive.
I'm still a fan of good ol' compact discs, but a USB drive definitely bridges the gap between a CD and a downloaded purchase. You don't get liner notes like a CD, but it's a reusable storage device (for a couple bucks more than the median price of an empty drive). And while it's not waste free like a download, there's extras that you certainly aren't getting on iTunes.
I still don't think much of their music, but if more artists dealt with the business side of music this way, it'd be a great thing. And, especially when it comes to the dinosaurs that run the industry, it often takes the bands that move units to incite change, so my hat goes off to them (not that they need that, as their millions of dollars can by dozens more hats. Of course they wouldn't, because the sustainable man doesn't need that many hats).
Perhaps that was all old news to you, but if not, you can check out the video here.
In less heartwarming news, the roof is coming down at the Plaza of Nations. Since the roof was deemed unsafe, this is in and of itself, a good thing. However, all of the tenants - save for the Edgewater Casino - have been told to hit the road, and the city is down another venue. The place always had crap sound, but it was an all-ages venue, and Vancouver is sadly lacking those. The city's said they're "committed to building a long term, permanent, covered venue," but with the glacial pace of politics, don't hold your breath for a replacement anytime soon... unless it's needed for the Olympics or something.
So, even though it was a pretty mediocre venue, you've got to have a favourite Plaza of Nations memory, right? Mine's definitely Beck on the Midnight Vultures tour.
There's still tickets to the original date (on February 7th), but a second Of Montreal show's been announced for February 8th. Trevor Risk spins to get you warmed up on both nights.
Leeroy Stagger is in UBC's Gallery Lounge on February 1st for the low low price of... free! Matt Hopper supports.
Matthew Dear is playing Lotus on the 31st (I think that's for sure now). This proves that Chris is almost always correct when it comes to these things, and I should probably take his word instead of official places like an artist's booking agency.
Brooklyn Vegan reports (via Billboard) that the reunited Police are rehearsing for their upcoming reunion tour at North Van's Lions Gate Studios. It's a bit strange to rehearse on a sound stage, but maybe it's easier to keep a low profile there? Even though Sting has used his solo career to completely obliterate the aura of cool that surrounded his old band, a warm-up gig in town would be pretty mind blowing.
Large Hearted Boy is celebrating his 5th year anniversary by giving away 50 CDs.
Since Rob is doing show listings this week, I'm going to take a page from his book by letting you know that Pinder updated.
now playing: Spank Rock feat. Amanda Blank - Blow
Wednesday, January 24, 2007
congress of spring
Awhile back, I reviewed a record by Roger Dean Young and the Tin Cup for Discorder. It was a bit of a novel experience, as I could find very few words about it on the internet, which is a rarity these days. It was also quite a pleasant surprise. It was another pleasant surprise to receive an email the other day from Roger's Canadian record label, who graciously let me know that he's playing a show this Saturday at the Western Front (303 E. 8th). Unfortunately, I can't check out the show, but if you have an appreciation for folk, I suggest that you do. Looks like a great venue as well, and the evening offers my favourite show locale combination of being all-ages and also licensed. Drs at 7:30pm, Show at 8:30, cover is $8.
Kaiser Chiefs are at the Commodore with the Walkmen and the Little Ones on April 24th.
DJ Champion is at Richard's on March 26th. He'll have fellow Quebecois, Malajube, in tow, with locals You Say Party! We Say Die! opening up the evening. (thanks to Shea for the last two)
Peeping Tom (featuring Mike Patton) are at the Commodore on April 22nd. (thanks to Pinder)
Now for some bad news. The next two Wednesday shows at the Other Space (tonight and next week) are cancelled and Mt. Eerie will be the last show that Golden Family United will be putting on there. There were multiple reasons for the decision, but a notable factor was the venues proximity to the Q.E. Theatre meaning sound had to be kept unreasonably low. On the bright side, Liam and Jack now have more time to focus on Yukon (who play CJSF's ANZA Club soiree on February 9th).
I picked up a ticket for the Cons show, and was a little baffled when the ticket came with "99.3 the Fox Presents" plastered on it. Far be it from me to claim that I understand the motivations of big radio, but I always assumed that you might want to play a band's songs in place of the shitty jock rock and mall punk that clogs your station's playlist if you were going to "present" one of their shows.
Final Fantasy has a new video.
If you haven't been down to a record store in the last two days, you might want to do that soon. Tuesday was the first "big" day for new releases in 2007. Of Montreal (yay!), the Shins (yawn - well, for the Shins), Julie Doiron (yay!), and Deerhoof (haven't heard it) all hit store shelves. If nothing else, that Of Montreal disc is probably a shoe-in for nicest packaging.
Speaking of new music, if you dig around on the net, you'll find some pretty sweet previews of the new Andrew Bird, Bright Eyes, and !!! discs. For anyone who has their hands on the Bright Eyes EP already, who's singing on the third track?
Finally, file it under "rumour" for now, but I got pretty reliable word that we can expect the Arcade Fire in town around late-April/early-May. No idea about the venue/tickets/anythingelse at this point. Expect a Portland show as well, but no Seattle date if you're the superfan roadtripping type.
now playing: Bright Eyes - Cartoon Blues
Tuesday, January 23, 2007
i just kick it from my head
Ratatat are at Richard's on March 28th with 100 Days and Despot.
download: Vanilla Ice vs. Ratatat - 17 Years, Baby (From Blown Speakers Remix)
The Appleseed Cast are at Richard's on April 10th.
Matthew Dear might be coming sometime. Chris (who is quite reliable for such things) says he's playing the 31st. His booking agent says March 10th, but they used to say March 20th. The venue website and his official page currently have no info.
As you've probably read
now playing: the Jesus and Mary Chain - Just Like Honey
Monday, January 22, 2007
heaven only knows
Contest: k-os Vinyl Giveaway
The folks over at EMI hooked me up with three copies of that pretty looking k-os 12" up there. The picture disc collects the lead-off single from Atlantis: Hymns for Disco, plus three more tracks from his latest long player. If you'd like to adorn your record player (or, alternately your wall) with one of these, just send me an e-mail at "quinn.omori AT gmail" with your name and mailing address and the subject "give me that sweet looking k-os record" before the end of the month (the 31st at midnight).
And to spice things up a bit, why not tell me either of the following things:
1) Your favourite rebellion (since his last disc was Joyful Rebellion)
2) Your favourite fictional locale (y'know, like Atlantis)
I'll pick three winners at random, who'll be notified by email. Oh, and I don't know how much of the readership here is from distant locales, but you've got to be in Canada (or at least have it shipped to Canada).
Here's the full tracklist for the 12":
Side A: 1. Electrik Heat-the Seekwill 2. CatDiesel
Side B: 1. Sunday Morning 2. Born to Run
You can stream both track ones at k-os' official site (along with 1-minute samples of the rest of the tracks from the album) and catch the video for "the Seekwill" right here.
now playing: Wilco - In a Future Age
Saturday, January 20, 2007
sea of blasphemy
Apparently I'm an idiot, because I've had the Black Lips show listed for January 19th for the last month. It is, in fact, tonight.
now playing: Manic Street Preachers - Mausoleum
Friday, January 19, 2007
there you stood on the edge of your feather
Knives Don't Have Your Back is a bit of a slow burn. So while I thoroughly enjoyed myself tonight, if you were to show up at one of Emily Haines' concerts unfamiliar with her solo stuff, I'm not sure if you'd leave a convert or not. That's not a knock against the music. On the contrary, I quite like the fact that Emily's solo venture lacks the immediacy of her work with Metric. There's not a lot of bells and whistles, but there is quality songwriting, and in this case, it takes some time to sink in. For those who've spent some time with the record (which seemed like most of the sell out crowd at the Commodore), the performance was well worth the ticket price.
Emily and the Soft Skeleton ran through Knives... in sequence, which was predictable (although "Mostly Waving" featured a snippet of "House of the Rising Sun"), but somehow rather appropriate. The three member band (that featured Sparklehorse collaborator Scott Minor on drums) did a great job recreating the album's instrumentation, with Todor Kobakov somehow managing to fill in for a section's worth strings and horns with a rack of keyboards and effects. Kobakov also ran the videos - cut together from Guy Madden films - that ran behind Emily for the duration of the gig.
I was a bit lukewarm on the prospect of a seated show at the Commodore, and while a place like St. James Hall would've been preferable, the attempt to turn the Ballroom into a theatre actually worked fairly well. The music had a very "close" sounding quality to it, and aside from the chatty assholes that haunt the back of the Commodore, the atypical show arrangement lent an intimacy to the show that was quite fitting.
If you haven't given her solo joint a couple of spins, don't take my initial words as a reason to stay away if/when she makes a return appearance in Vancouver. Take them as another reason to pick up the record.
Since they played the whole album for the main set, the encore consisted of Emily turning out a wonderfully low key cover of Buffalo Springfield's "Expecting to Fly." They were super anal about photos, but I did manage to grab just the audio of the rendition on my camera.
download: Emily Haines - Expecting to Fly (Neil Young Cover - live in Vancouver 1/18/07)
A couple of show announcements...
Shout Out Out Out Out, who were so good last September that they made you forget how crappy their band name is, are at the Columbia for 1/2 Alive on March 23rd.
And... micro house hero, Matthew Dear is spinning at Lotus on March 20th.
Thursday, January 18, 2007
piracy funds terrorism
I don't write a lot about the goings on in the rap game, mostly because, despite my semi-avid fandom, I don't really feel all that qualified. I'm sure Graham will chime in shortly in a much more informed and eloquent way, but I had to add my two cents as well. The question is, where does one even begin with this?
For those of you who haven't already read it elsewhere, DJ Drama and DJ Don Cannon have been arrested for "making and selling illegal CDs," namely the much celebrated Gangsta Grillz series. For the uninitiated, these aren't just collections of bootleg tracks thrown together and sold. The mixtape is part of hip hop culture. Amongst rappers it's a universally accepted way for up and comers to get their name out and for established rappers to release freestyles, remixes, dis tracks, and to generate hype for forthcoming releases. It's that last motivation that also led to labels embracing mixtape culture, and thus they've become an important part of the larger marketing machine. DJs are regularly sent exclusive content, pre-release tracks, etc to fill out mixtapes and help labels create a street level buzz for their next big rap release.
So, while this latest action falls right in line with the type of things the major labels - via the RIAA - have been doing for the last several years, it's particularly insidious, since they've targeted a part of the industry underground that they've actively encouraged.
The saddest part about this is that it honestly doesn't shock me much.
In related news, the Lefsetz letter email of the day talks about the lack of competition amongst the majors and their unwillingness/inability to innovate.
And so I make my CanCon requirements, Metro reports on how the Tories' copyright amendments would radically change what constitutes fair use. You can email Heritage Minister Bev Oda at Oda.B@parl.gc.ca to tell her what you think of the plans. Hopefully she ends up going the way of Sam Bulte after the next election. (Metro link via Beyond Robson)
CocoRosie is at Richard's on May 5th. If you go make sure you ask Bianca Casidy if she's still a racist bitch.
Wolfmother are at the Forum on February 22nd.
CJSF is having a party! No Luck Club, Yukon, and Great Aunt Ida help SFU radio celebrate at the ANZA Club on February 9th.
The Glenn Kotche/Nels Cline show has been moved to February 22nd, and also from the Media Club to Richard's.
Oh, and those mixes are both back up on ZShare so they should be working. I'm taking them down in a week, so if you want them grab them. Also, if I get sued next make sure you donate to the Quinn Omori defence fund.
Finally, I will leave you to contemplate the fact that while the talented Trevor Risk will be a fine opener for Of Montreal on February 7th, two days later in Seattle, Kevin Barnes and company get support from both Ariel Pink and the Blow. Considering that it's also the Plaza vs. the Showbox, that one might be worth a drive. Note to the kids in the audience: the Seatown show is also all ages. Note to the adults in the audience: you can also drink with ID, because our Washington neighbours don't have archaic drinking laws.
now playing: Elevator to Hell - A-Void the Out-Side
Tuesday, January 16, 2007
where have all the rude boys gone?
Ted Leo hits Richard's on April 18th with his Pharmacists in tow. Pfork has the first taste of Living with the Living, Ted and RX's forthcoming long player. I'm digging the hint of twang in that guitar riff.
Pollstar has the Books penciled in for an April 25th date at Richard's.
Shins tickets are on sale on Thursday morning for $34.50... before charges. I dig the Shins, but that's a bit pricier than expected. Think I'll skip.
Brooklyn Vegan reports that Land of Talk scored an American record deal with the Rebel Group, who'll release their fabulous debut EP (which you should pick up right now, if you don't own it) stateside on March 20th.
The Clips (definitely not to be confused with everyone's favourite coke rappers) emailed to let me know they're playing a show on January 20th at the Lamplighter with Trembling (who have a really hard name to google).
That last mixtape link is back up.
Finally, congrats to Kat, who won the Emily Haines tickets. I actually know Kat, but I assure you that it's just a coincidence that she won. In fact, Trevor from Last Gang picked the winner. Thanks to Last Gang for providing the prize and to everyone who entered.
now playing: Bright Eyes - Landlocked Blues
Monday, January 15, 2007
be quiet and drive
I'll Make You a Tape (Vol. 4)
download:
Following Friday's post, here's side B of the mix I made for my friend Rob to throw on a tape to soundtrack his commute. Apparently that's a photo of Burnaby, so it might be exactly what Rob sees every weekday morning. How's that for (pseudo)realism?
Oh, and to the other Rob, thanks for the hosting offer, but I like to stick to YSI (annoying registration and all) so I don't have to remember to take the links down later (and I will forget). Speaking of registering, if you don't want to do that, hit up BugMeNot.
The mix:
1. Arcade Fire - No Cars Go
2. the Breeders - Drivin' on 9
3. Belle and Sebastian - I Love My Car
4. the Fiery Furnaces - Straight Street (Eleanor Solo)
5. Radiohead - Killer Cars (Thom Solo)
6. Lucinda Williams - Car Wheels on a Gravel Road
7. Sarah Harmer - Silver Road
8. Catatonia - Road Rage
9. Elastica - Car Song
10. Kanye West - Drive Slow (Remix feat. T.I.)
11. the Hold Steady - Southtown Girls
now playing: Land of Talk - new song (live in Kingston)
Labels: mixtapes
Friday, January 12, 2007
milkrun
The Paper Cranes show is at the Columbia not Limerick Junction. The latter's closed for renovations that weekend, so 1/2 Alive is moving venues temporarily. (via ChalkedUp)
Viva Voce are opening for the Shins.
Head over to I (Heart) Music, where Matthew's posted Ladyhawk's Radio 3 Session from last year. I'm pretty psyched to finally hear a recording of my favourite Ladyhawk tune ("Faces of Death").
Bloc Party tix go on sale tomorrow at 10am at TM.
Finally, my friend Rob was telling me how he now drives to work and only has a cassette player in his car. And also noted that all the mixes I post are CD, not tape length. It was Rob's birthday yesterday (happy birthday, dude!), so here's a mix that'll fit snugly onto one side of C-90. Side B (which is actually themed) is coming on Sunday.
download:
Tracklist:
1. Vanilla Ice vs. Ratatat - 17 Years, Baby (From Blown Speakers Mix - sure, let's call it that)
2. Justin Timberlake vs. Muse - Supermassive Back Hole (the Olympian's Remix)
3. Daft Punk - Human After All (Red Foxx's Spankbastian Remix)
4. Sebastian - Ross Ross Ross
5. Lil Jon & the East Side Boyz - Get Low (Tyler Fedchuk's 1/2 Alive Remix)
6. Uffie - Hot Chick
7. Curtis Mayfield - Move On Up (DJ Ayres Baltimore Club Remix)
8. E-40 - Tell Me When to Go (Nick Catchdubs & DJ Ayres Baltimore Club Remix)
9. Spank Rock - Bump
10. Rick Ross vs. Simian Mobile Disco - Hustlin' Hustler (Cadence Weapon's Hi-Speed Edit)
11. Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Cheated Hearts (Peaches Remix)
12. Bloc Party - Helicopter (Weird Science Remix feat. Peaches)
13. The Rapture - Whoo! Alright-Yeah... Uh Huh (Simian Mobile Disco Remix)
14. Daft Punk - Technologic
15. Justin Timberlake - My Love (Low Budget's Pawtry Mix) (unmastered)
16. MSTRKRFT - the Looks
17. Dsico, That No-Talent Hack - When You Gonna Love Me?
18. !!! - Heart of Hearts
19. Hot Chip - Over and Over
now playing: Ladyhawk - Faces of Death
Thursday, January 11, 2007
troubled waters
In another blow to Vancouver's live venue situation, the Marine Club has closed. Beyond Robson's intrepid reporter, Sean Orr, reports that the building that houses the room is going to be torn down in the coming months. Three guesses as to what ends up getting built in its place.
Menomena is at Pat's on February 3rd. I slept on I Am the Fun Blame Monster, but I just finished penning a review of their newie, Friend or Foe (out on the 23rd) for Color, and I've got to say that if it weren't too early to make such statements, I'd tell you right now that it's a contender for record of the year. You can stream it over at their label site.
Final Fantasy and Smoosh are tipped as openers for Bloc Party on March 12th. Bloc Party in a venue that restricts your ability to dance = not good. Final Fantasy in a theatre = awesome. And Smoosh, how can you say anything bad about those kids?
Blonde Redhead are at the Commodore on April 20th.
Blood Meridian are at the Railway on February 16th with Mohawk Lodge, Octoberman, and Tailor Island.
Tenacious D are at Queen E on February 20th. Tragically, the $50 price tag is probably the funniest part of the whole event.
Thanks to Chris for pointing out that there's no way that Sebadoh and Badly Drawn Boy can both be headlining a show at Richard's on March 3rd. The latter has been rescheduled to March 27th. You can get refunds up until that date or, alternately, the old tickets are good for the new show.
On a completely unrelated note, this weather is waaaaaaacccccckkkk.
now playing: the Breeders - Drivin' on 9
Wednesday, January 10, 2007
somebody put something in my drink
If you've never seen Trapped in the Closet - or worse, if you've heard part of it and never seen it - you might be wondering just why the hell you should. If you have seen R. Kelly's self-proclaimed magnum opus, than you're already aware of the accidental genius that lies within this DVD's twelve chapters. For those of you in the former two groups, just trust me when I say that if this isn't the greatest music video of all time, it's surely the funniest. And while the level of comedy is already high enough to split your sides, anyone who's stumbled home from a bar on a Saturday night and found themselves in hysterics during SNL (like recently, since it's become tragically unfunny) knows that alcohol certainly lubricates your funny bone. With that, I humbly present...
The Trapped in the Closet Drinking Game
Take a drink anytime...
- a word echoes
- a word is rhymed with itself
- someone other than R. Kelly pulls out a weapon
- someone makes a phone call
- it's revealed that someone is having an affair
- there's a plot twist that's been foreshadowed previously
- someone asks "what the fuck?"
- R. Kelly pulls out his beretta
- someone threatens to shoot someone else
- a man physically or verbally threatens to assault a woman
- someone is "up in" something
Take two drinks anytime...
- someone knows something that they can't possibly know already
- someone mentions Paje's club (by name or otherwise)
- someone is smoking
- someone shoots a gun
Finish your drink anytime...
- R. Kelly is actually in a closet
- R. Kelly breaks the fourth wall
Finish the case/bottle anytime...
- R. Kelly pees on an underage girl, because you're watching the wrong video.
Edit:
Optional Rules:
- Take a shot when the word "pears" is sung (thanks Rob)
- Waterfall* whenever Robert goes all Xtina on a word that ends a chapter
now playing: Women and Children - A Bigger Graveyard
*everyone has to keep drinking until the last person stops.
Tuesday, January 09, 2007
what it is
Correction: Pride Tiger aren't playing on Thursday at the ANZA (sorry for any confusion). They are playing February 24th at the Cobalt.
The full bill for Thursday is: Ladyhawk, Sports, and Whyte Hott
now playing: Pride Tiger - Sweet Dreams
Monday, January 08, 2007
phantom limb
I was just about to whine about the fact that the Shins have three days off between Boise and Seattle, which is the perfect amount of time to cross the border and play here. And lo and behold, Pollstar reports that James Mercer brings his merry band of pop craftsmen to the Commodore on February 19th. I'm not really overwhelmed with Wincing the Night Away, but this is probably still going to be a great show.
PFork reports that Matt Tong is healed up and ready to head out on the road. Bloc Party hits the Orpheum on March 12th.
April 12th brings what will surely be one of the best triple bills of the year to Vancouver. One of my favourite live bands ever, The Constantines, descend on the Plaza with ex-Vancouverite Jon Rae (and his River) and local favourites, Ladyhawk.
Rollie's retiring from blogging to focus on the rap game (I hear he's pretty good at that). Check out Cadence Weapon's last blogger hurrah all this week as he reveals his top 100 songs of 2006 (complete with downloads). If the free (and awesome) music doesn't entice you, I assure you that it's worth clicking that link just for the sweet pic of DJ Weez-l riding a fake bear.
If you want a preview of the upcoming Emily Haines show, you can catch her concert from the 9:30 Club in DC on Wednesday at 6:30(ish PST) live on NPR. Alternatly, if you're into something less live and more Canadian, check out this streaming footage of Emily in Toronto last year. Oh, and don't forget that you can win free tickets if you click on that link in the sidebar over there. (thanks to Stefan for the second link)
Finally, from the Jarvis Cocker camp, comes the details on his new single "Don't Let Him Waste Your Time." And just what will adorn the b-side on CD2? No, not a studio outtake, but Jarv reading the Grimm's Fairytale, the Mouse, the Bird, and the Sausage. Fun for the whole family.
now playing: Menomena - West
run for the cover of bunkers and basements
Ladyhawk is at the ANZA on the 11th with Pride Tiger and Sports. I didn't know about Pride Tiger being on the bill until I went over to Chalked Up, and now wish that I was not working on Thursday night (twice as much, because I also want to head down to the Plaza that night for LitS), but hopefully I can book it down to some show in time. According to Ladyhawk's MySpace message, the show is "in support of Budgie's Burritos," which seems like a weird thing to have a benefit for, but perhaps there's some situation that I don't know about.
Speaking of MySpace, if you head over to Ladyhawk's you'll find that Duffy has kindly posted the lyrics to the songs off of their record (and then some) and also revealed that their new EP (now titled Fight for Anarchy) is due out this spring!
Uffie is at the Royal Unicorn Cabaret on February 14th with Feadz behind the decks. Nothing screams V.D. like really bad rapping. Feadz pre/post-set DJ magic might be good enough to spark a dance inspired romance though.
Simon from Jump + Dash (who were pretty good at Shindig) emailed to let me know that they're playing a show on January 19th at Pat's. The National Shield headline and It's a Living Thing and Huge Manatease round out the bill.
Headless Ponch directs us to YouTube, where the Arcade Fire have revealed the tracklist for Neon Bible via an infomericial featuring "Juno Award winning guitarist, Richard Perry." If you for some reason missed this everywhere else it was reported, you should also probably know that "Black Mirror" is now streaming from the band's official site.
Finally, check out Coke Machine Glow's new podcast, if only for Cadence Weapon covering Chad VanGaalen and Ladyhawk covering Joel Phelps.
now playing: Pavement - Unseen Power of the Picket Fence*
*for the record, "Circus Envy" is probably my least favourite song.
Thursday, January 04, 2007
trash flavored trash
I decided to pay for the extended warranty on my iPod, and was a bit confused when I put in my order and was told that it would be shipped to me.
About a week goes by, and I receive the above package in the mail. The actual box, which was about the size of an iPod box, was in the larger cardboard box, which was then stuffed with paper. The innermost box had one sheet of paper with the code to register the extended warranty and a booklet outlining the warranty.
I don't really care about the $6 shipping, but I'm a bit pissed that they created so much unnecessary waste and physically shipped something (most likely by air, as it was fast) that they could've e-mailed to me. You'd think a computer company would know about a .PDF file for the booklet. You'd also think a company that likes to tout itself as forward looking and modern would... I dunno... give a crap about the environment.
Shows...
Neko Case is at the Commodore on February 13th with the Crooked Fingers' Eric Bachmann. If I'm not mistaken, it's also the first time in awhile that Neko has played a venue here that doesn't end up pushing the ticket prices into the $35 range.
Great Lake Swimmers are playing Richard's on April 5th. They're still playing the Gallery at UBC the day before (for half the price in a room less than half the size), but the latter is a closed show for students only.
The Awkward Stage are at the Railway on January 12th with Mohawk Lodge, Romance and the Choir Practice.
Lions in the Street are at the Plaza on January 11th. Chris from the band dropped me a line to say that the band are heading down to SXSW and will hopefully have their legal/label woes worked out this year. Hopefully the latter means a full-length release could be coming sooner rather than later as well.
Neil Hamburger is at Pat's on January 17th with Hugh Phukovsky. Graham relayed to me that he got so drunk at a fairly recent Hamburger performance in Australia that he ended up heckling. Neil, however, did not respond by directing a racial tirade towards Graham. I'd say that means he has a ways to go before he truly achieves his goal of becoming the world's worst comedian.
Catlow is at the Railway on the already busy date of January 18th. Amy Honey supports.
The Buttless Chaps are doing a two night stand at the Railway on January 19th and 20th.
Electric 6 are back at Richard's on April 23rd.
Hot Loins are handling opening duties at the Deerhoof show along with blackblack.
And last, but most certainly not least, if you haven't checked PFork today, you should know that Wu-Tang is back!
now playing: No Doubt - Sunday Morning
Wednesday, January 03, 2007
winning
photo: Candace Meyer (via Last Gang Records)
Contest: Emily Haines & the Soft Skeleton Ticket Giveaway - January 18th @ the Commodore
The fine folks over at Last Gang Records want you to check out Emily Haines & the Soft Skeleton for free!
Regular readers of this blog will probably remember me singing the praises of Emily's solo debut, Knives Don't Have Your Back before. In fact, it was one of my favourite records of 2006. If you've given it a quick spin and written it off, I highly suggest giving it a few more tries. I hate to use the term "grower," but after coming away feeling lukewarm after my first listen, I found myself getting pulled in further and further with each play. Alternately, if you're already sold on the record, you don't need any convincing to check out the show.
To enter just send your full name to pickme@lastgangrecords.com with the subject line "Emily Tickets From Blown Speakers" before January 15th at noon PST, and you'll be entered to win a pair of tickets to Emily's January 18th show at the Commodore. Sorry to any under-agers, but the show is 19+, so you have to be at least the age of majority to enter the contest. But...
The kids out there still have a week to win a chance to check out the show's soundcheck. Send an email to the same address up there with your name and age and the subject line "Emily Tickets, Vancouver" (no adults). This one has nothing to do with this blog, but I'm always a fan of anything that gets our underage friends out to see live music, so I thought I'd throw up a reminder.
If you're in the dark on this fine record, you can check out "Dr. Blind" below.
download: Emily Haines & the Soft Skeleton - Dr. Blind (via Last Gang)
watch: Emily Haines & the Soft Skeleton - Dr. Blind (quicktime) (via Last Gang)
now playing: Idlewild - Finished It Remains
over and over and over again
Ok, last 06 recap post, I promise...
Things I slept on until 2006 was over:
Peter Bjorn and John - Writer's Block
Coincidentally, this little pop gem finally gets a NA release next month.
Killer Mike - That's Life
I know Chuck D is out on tour with Flava Flav and Prof. Griff between whatever terrible reality TV show that Flava Flav is currently taping, but Killer Mike might've been the only rapper in 2006 to actually channel what PE was doing circa 1991.
download: Killer Mike - That's Life (via Pfork)
Amy Winhouse - Back to Black
I didn't really pay much attention to Amy Winehouse, after brushing aside "Fuck Me Pumps" as well sung, but a touch gimmicky (read that title again - can you really blame me?). With that in mind, I was very pleasantly surprised when I took up a recommendation from the comments of my year-end list of albums (thanks Matt!) and gave Back to Black a spin. I've been on a bit of a soul kick lately, and what jumped out of my speakers fit that frame of mind perfectly. The record sounds like it fell straight from 50's heaven (or maybe, Brooklyn). And while that was a bit of a shock considering Amy's a slight, British 22 year-old, the lyrics are exactly what you'd expect from a witty, badass, British 22 year-old. The best of old and new then.
Asobi Seksu - Thursday
With all due respect to Asobi Seksu, when I get a hankering for the kind of musical dish that they're serving up, I generally just put on Loveless. This track still isn't "Only Shallow," but it's pretty goddamn good.
download: Asobi Seksu - Thursday (via MySpace)
Stuff (mp3s) that I posted last year that people seemed to enjoy, that haven't/won't be released commercially:
Chan Marshall shills for different things:
Diamonds:
How Can I Tell You (Cat Stevens Cover) (ZShare)
How Can I Tell You (Cat Stevens Cover) (YSI)
Cell Phones:
Hanging on the Telephone (Nerves Cover) (ZShare)
Hanging on the Telephone (Nerves Cover) (YSI)
Financial Services:
Somewhere (Leonard Bernstein Cover) (ZShare)
Somewhere (Leonard Bernstein Cover) (YSI)
According to Matador, there are no plans to release full versions of any of these, and in the case of "How Can I Tell You" (at least), Chan only recorded the portion of the song that features in the commercial.
Metric plays songs for the radio:
Live on MPR (Emily and James acoustic):
1. Ending Start
2. Interview 1
3. Monster Hospital
4. Interview 2
5. Live it Out
download: Metric - Live on MPR (4-10-06) (.zip)
Acoustic for Rolling Stone (just Emily and James again):
download: Metric - Between the Bars (Elliott Smith Cover)
If any of the links expire email me. If you leave a comment on the entry from months ago, chances are that I won't read it.
now playing: the Constantines - On to You
