So a weirdo and a softy walk into a bar...

Possibly the weirdest song I have, both musically and based on a video my father described as "sick," and most definitely not in a good way. And he's maybe only said that about 3 things in my life...all of which I can't remember right now. The song has a Middle-Eastern feel to it, but starts with what sounds like African tribal chanting; take that as you may.

I watched the video before I heard the song itself, and I'm not one to watch videos much in the first place. Just to let you know however, the video will give you much more to visualize whenever you hear the song by itself afterwards.

And I won't lie: I frankly have no idea what they're saying for most of the song.

Omar K - Rainbow Arabia

MP3 / youtube

Now this one I've had even longer, but I still remember the first night I heard it. Put it on repeat until the late hours of the morning, and it never lost its feel. Beautiful singing by Lykke Li; the way she drags out her word endings is such a hard thing to put into words. 

It's like slowly pulling sand out of an ocean, then letting it flow back through your hands to where it came from. (Writing and re-writing that sentence took me nearly as long as the song itself.) Kleerup provides a pulsating beat to keep the song moving, but the strings add an element of class to the whole thing.

Until We Bleed - Kleerup & Lykke Li

Going for a dip...

...with the Great Lake Swimmers. This is a great outfit out of Ontario; it's mellow, mid-tempo acoustic music, with great melodies by frontman Tony Dekker. It's got a sparse/spare feeling to the arrangements, but the atmosphere of their music is what a lot of people pick out. Talks of recording in grain solos and ancient castles will do that.

There's great pop sensibility to the tracks, and even some folk (banjo anyone?) creeps its way into the music. Dekker's delivery has a tone of seriousness to it, but it can't help mask the sadness that seems to come from his voice. It's endearing and draws you in in a way.

From their latest release, Lost Channels:

Pulling On A Line - Great Lake Swimmers

And from the earlier Ongiara:

Your Rocky Spine - Great Lake Swimmers

And if you just can't get enough of them, here's the Great Lake Swimmers in a podcast session for CBC's Radio3 (a great source for alternative Canadian music by the way):

CBC Radio 3 Session (mp3 link)

An introduction to Emil & Friends

I'm sorry, but I can't help but think of Emeril Lagasse when I see this band/group/ensemble/outfit's (who really knows? they're a mysterious bunch) name. It's just this mental image of a chef on a guitar and a mixboard in the kitchen - apron, white hat and all.

This is crazy creative music as far as I'm concerned. Emil & Friends just seem to come out of left field on these songs, and it's refreshing, exciting, and out of the ordinary in a good way.

"Fire Flower" is the song that first introduced me to the group (thanks to the blousesydney blog for that one), and it was the heartfelt guitar plucking that caught my attention from the start. Of course the song progressed, and admittedly I felt the sombre mood didn't help my opinion of them much. However, my interest had been piqued.

Fire Flower - Emil & Friends

This was followed many months later by a re-working (more cover than remix) of the effervescent "Sleepyhead" by Passion Pit. Though the ever-so-catchy "ahhh-ahh-ahh-ahhhhhh-ah-ah-ah-ah-ah-ah-aaaaah" remained intact, the acoustic take and the sleepy lyrics (Passion Pit's mistake of the year? a song titled "Sleepyhead" from a singer ready to bust the roof off with a voice that would wake a rooster) really helped accentuate an already-great tune for me. It was so laid back, so cool; so sure of itself, yet with the fragile voice of something ready to break down.

Sleepyhead - Emil & Friends

The quintessential piece of the puzzle is Emil & Friends' brilliant remix of Little Boots' "New In Town." I'd already heard and been impressed by the Fred Falke and Drop The Lime remixes, but this one brought something completely new to the table. Heavily Vocoder-ed lyrics, an electro beat ready for the dancefloor, and a jumpy song that had about 4 or 5 distinct sections, that somehow all melded together for one energetic blast of music. Throw in the slashing guitar solo, and it's a sonic buffet of cliches and music styles, all fitting together in a way they really shouldn't. And it works.

New In Town (Emil & Friends Remix) - Little Boots

United States of Canada

Doesn't it have a better ring to it than "...America"? I guess if we lost the war of 1812 we might have a chance at it, but I'm not gonna complain.

And oh yeah...we won that war by the way.

I have so many good Canadian groups and songs to share, but I'll save the majority for a nice little (big) Canada Day post.

Til then, a fun remix by Montreal wunderkind CFCF. Of his genres on myspace, he lists "Regional Mexican." I dunno about that one, but the piano on this remix makes it worthwhile for me:

Justice - D.A.N.C.E. (CFCF Remix)

(Just a note: I switched to box.net for my uploads...a little cleaner and hopefully more convenient than zhare, and in the next bit I'll probably upgrade my account so everyone can get direct links to the songs)

Ain't Neva Gotz Originality

I'm only giving the hypem.com link (through PrettyMuchAmazing.com...who in a shameless plug, I designed the banner for) to this song, because I don't even consider it worth a download.

U Ain't Neva Gotzz Ask is Lil Wayne, Kanye, T.I. and Jay-z trying to rekindle that "Swagga Like Us" magic. But rarely is a song by a group of artists as good the second time around if they had a big hit to precipitate the follow-up. And I think that's exactly the sum of this song. The only part I like (other than a few clever rhymes here and there) is the re-take on the George Michaels song for the chorus...something borrowed usually sounds good in rap.

That being said - it's definitely not cool to borrow your own damn lines for a rap. T.I. couldn't think of a line to start his verse off with apart from the one he already had on "I'm A King"? Jay-Z couldn't sum up a killer ending to the song, instead choosing to borrow his own lines from "Mr. President"?

Take a listen if you're morbidly curious:

U Ain't Neva Gotzz Ask (hypem link)

EDIT: Guess what? Turns out the entire thing is just a mash-up made up totally of old verses. In that light...it's a decent song, and makes the sample use for the chorus all that much better - it's words are the only original part of the song now.

Saying so much with nothing at all

You Could Easily Have Me by Metronomy is a song I always come back whenever I've got my mp3 player going in the car, because it makes for such good driving music that you can turn up loud and have no qualms about doing so. It's got a hard-driving (get it? umm, yeah) beat, and I read that Metronomy's opened up at least one show with this one (for all I know, it could be his go-to song), so it's got that kind of feel to it.

Anyways, the most striking thing about the song for me is that there's such a strong of feeling and mood conveyed, but you don't need any words to get the sense of either one. It's presented so well by the music itself - tell me you don't feel a sense of urgency or tepidness listening to this song. Plus, it just shouts "driving song" to me, from the way the beat chortles like an engine running.

Take a listen for yourself:

Metronomy - You Could Easily Have Me

Dinosaur, Jr - They're good...they're coming here

The lineup for the Virgin Festival in Halifax is out for this year, and it looks better than I thought they hinted at:

http://www.google.com/hostednews/canadianpress/article/ALeqM5jXYSuyKd7V0XVpdIkTNHGkjf3UpQ

As that says, there's gonna be more acts announced later, but for now I definitely wanna check out Metric, Plants and Animals, Hey Rosetta!...and these guys:

Dinosaur, Jr - I Want You To Know

click this link (you can preview + download it)

With any hope, they'll have another SummerSonic this year and the amount of good music coming to town over the next few months will easily double.

Some Points on Music

My own thoughts of course.

I'm a fan of music, but not of headphones. Music is an element of the world around you, not an insulation from it.

Listen to tons of different music, even if it's crap. Yeah, you don't have to listen to the whole song, but give it a chance. It helps you define what you really do like and strengthen your opinions of music in general.

You're gonna change your taste in music numerous times in your life. Don't be embarrassed by what you used to like, and definitely don't be embarrassed by what you like right now. People might put you down for it, but remember that at least some other people all over the world are bound to like the same thing too. And obviously the people making the music.

I'm a music collector and appreciator, much like the art kind. I know how to play the instruments you had in band class and that's it. I wish I could play the drums well, or the guitar, but I can't. Just because you can't play music doesn't mean can't like it. But I imagine it wouldn't necessarily be in the same way as a musician might.

Research the music you like. Find out who makes it and who influences it. Wikipedia is your friend. Have something to talk about when you talk music. The only downside is finding out the people who make the music you like are a.) ugly b.) dead c.) a computer. But even then a.) you don't have to see them unless they're live b.) Tupac still puts out much more than his fair share c.) there's nothing wrong with electro.

Discover the HypeMachine. Sure it's full of remixes and a hell of a lot more dance/electro than is healthy for anytime that isn't a Saturday night out on the town, but it's a hell of an aggregator. You know what's new, what's popular, you don't have to download anything, and you can search some band's entire discographies if you want to get a taste for them. Bookmark it: hypem.com

Read blogs. Of course this ties in with hypem.com, but get out on your own, find music blogs you like, that are a bit out of your range, and that keep current. Check out rollingstone.com, pitchfork.com, nme.com, all the mainstream music sites. Make yourself knowledgeable. The radio is alright, but you're getting maybe 2% of what's really out there. Especially in Canada.

If you really like music, buy it. I'm not saying go out and download singles, but if you really love an artist, get out and buy their new album, and most importantly, catch their show if they come through town. Nothing makes you appreciate music more than live performances.

Sure your iPod is nice, but that's music you know you like. Don't play the shit out of it. Expand your tastes, keep finding new music and don't get complacent.

Personal feeling 1: rap really is going down the shitter. Hip-hop is close behind.

Personal feeling 2: noise rock is actually good.

Personal feeling 3: repetitive dance music makes for good, mindless background noise for writing.

Personal feeling 4: really good dance music makes you feel like...you guessed it. Dancing. If you want that Saturday night feeling on a boring Tuesday afternoon, get out and find some good bangers.

Personal feeling 5: current artist's interpretations of the 80's are much better than the actual 80's were.

Personal feeling 6: Old Kings of Leon is much better than new Kings of Leon.

I already mentioned Pitchfork. Sure it has its criticisms, but it's refreshing. You don't get a lot of ass-kissing, and when you do (and you're smart) you can pick it out. They're harsh, but if something is really so bad, give it a listen and see if it's justified. If you like it, pitchfork can go suck it. But guess what? Would you have even known about them if not for pitchfork? Probably not.

Remixes are rarely better than the originals. But when they are, they're pretty freakin' good.

Listen to at least a bit of old music. It's nice to know the roots and how we got to where we are.

That's all I've got for now.

Death Cab Concert Review. Mega Post.

Sooo, while it's still fresh in my mind...and I smell like crowded concert...

Alysse won VIP tickets, so we got to go early around 5 to the sound check. There was maybe 30 of us max there. We got to go in, right up to the stage, Death Cab played 3 songs I'd personally never heard, but they sounded good. Only downside was the mixing drowned out Gibbard's voice if you were too close, so standing further back woulda made it sound a little more balanced. The other thing was that depending on where you stood, you seemed to get only that bass or guitar's speaker. We were in the middle and it was nothing but bass.

Got to meet the band about 5 minutes after that. During the sound check everyone seemed really awkward, like we didn't know how to act. That was the weird thing about having so few people there: you don't really get that "concert" kinda feel. Anyways, we lined up, got to shake hands with all the band members, got our pics with them. Great guys, real laid back, introduced themselves and everything. Told the bassist I liked his beard haha.

After that we got to chill in the VIP lounge, got a wicked little buffet and everything. The Rogers people were there to whore out their new phones and the prizes you could win for texting...lucky us, we've been Telus customers for years. There were two girls there that for God-knows-why, changed their outfits in between the sound check and the concert. Go figure. Another couple there had won tickets from Nokia to fly down for the concert, plus they got a new phone.

We got to watch everyone line up, starting around 6:30-7 I guess. Shitty day outside, overcast, and it didn't seem like they even opened the Dal SUB, so everyone had to wait outside no matter how early they got there. Recognized a few people in line, til it started curving around the block. We heard there were 1000 tickets up for grabs...I heard 150 before that somehow, dunno where or why or when though. Judging from the venue (McInnes room upstairs SUB) 1000 was NOT happening.

We got to go in for the show earlier than everyone else cause of VIP, so we got front row views, but it was further back than sound check. The place started to fill up pretty well, but definitely didn't stretch to the back, and there was maybe 500 there, not even close to the 1000 available. It started getting pretty hot, but I couldn't leave my spot to get water cause I was sure to lose it. I ended up being second row with my friend Jocelyn in front of me. Pretty much 5 feet from the stage either way.

After about half an hour of waiting for the opener to show up, The Midway State finally got on stage. The time seemed much shorter either way though, they had two screens up from projectors with 4 texts showing at a time from everyone in the crowd who submitted one. Pretty funny ones, pretty lame ones. Lots of marriage proposals. Not many screams of "Yes!"

Frankly, The Midway State wasn't all too bad, but all their songs sounded the same. The lead singer was totally overdramatic...and his afro was appropriately inflated to match. They had a pretty good instrumental opener, they seemed happy to be there, but the songs just weren't doing it for me. There was no subtlety at all; they played every song hard, there was tons of noise and guitar and drums filled every noise crevice; no silence to kind of absorb it in. 

I really think the lead singer ruined them for me either way: drama queen, and his voice always sounded strained and like he was gonna cry, but in a really wussy way. The other part I really didn't get was the guitarist: they gave him a solo basically every song, no matter what. He ripped pretty well, but there was one particular solo I remember that was absolute shit; like literally it contained every single thing I hate when it comes to guitar. Low note to low note, chords that were really sad and didn't mesh well...think of something absolutely horrible and melodramatic from the worst 80's rock song you can think of, and then imagine this guy playing it. It was not only bad, but he repeated the same progression. Not impressed.

Anyways, they did their big song "Never Again" then I think one more about rain and why the girl didn't love him. Boo-hoo. I don't think they're going anywhere really; it'd be nice to have them make me eat my words, but I could care less.

Anyways, Death Cab came on after like a half hour of the crew playing around with the drums and the keyboards and guitars. What was the point of the sound check? Don't ask me. They had the set list up on one of the speakers and me and the people beside me tried for a solid 5 minutes to zoom in and find out the order, but the most we figured was that "Cath" was smack dab in the middle. I had a strong feeling they'd open with "I Will Possess Your Heart" cause of the awesome long intro which builds really well and takes a solid 5-6 minutes. Nope.

Ben came out solo with the acoustic and started strumming "I Will Follow You Into The Dark". The crowd went crazy and everyone knew the words which was awesome; especially big cheer when he sang "from Bangkok to Calgary". By the way, if I haven't mentioned yet, everyone was crammed together, the boards were bouncing underneath our feet, and it all smelled like sex. Don't ask. We all belted that song out anyways, but Gibbard never really looked amused. In the back of my mind by the way, I'm comparing this whole thing to The Weakerthans show I saw the other weekend. The whole show, their lead singer was happy to be there and looked amused/bemused by the whole idea of the show and everyone there to watch him/them. That didn't seem evident with DCFC; I think they've been doing it for too long in too many places to really be excited anymore.

Each time a new song would start, Ben would look at the set list and nod at everyone else. There wasn't much interaction during songs other than the bassist turning and playing facing the drum set for half of each song, and Gibbard exchanging awkward stares with the drummer. The other guitarist Chris was off in his own world on the far end (I was standing exactly between the lead singer and bassist, about 7 feet from each...Ben was sweating profusely and it was whipping off him onto the stage every time he twisted his body in the his awkward little high-stepping/prancing around the stage. Strange, but hey, he can have some eccentricities, he's allowed) and he seemed to be singing Ben's parts occasionally, though there was no mike around him to be heard.

I'd say they played 15 songs? and I knew around 6-7...one of the few who seemed to recognize a song they said came off their first album "Something About Airplanes". I think it was "State Street Residential" but no one seemed to know it and it's pretty dark and cynical sounding anyways, not really sure why they played it. You could tell the songs everyone knew and loved though, like "Summer Skin" and "Sound of Settling" which was upbeat and one of the highlights of the show. They never really slowed it down much, though when they did get around to IWPYH, the intro was nice and long, the effects were great, and it was very true to the album version. That's the one thing about DCFC though, they're not really about the effects, just straight up two guitars, a bass and drums (plus piano for some songs and a little drum-machine thing for others). Respectable and really well done, but nothing out of the ordinary. 

My favorite part of the whole concert though was them playing "Cath". They rocked it really hard, the sound was awesome and very true to the real thing...but sadly, two things happened. Not many people seemed to know it, and this was the time they started handing out water to anyone who needed it. Distracting, but I still had a blast during that song.

They didn't talk much in between songs, but they made sure to thank us for having them (greeted to raucous applause) and wondered why the didn't come earlier. I think the more the show went on, the louder we cheered and the more we appreciated them. When he announced the last song and finished...I have literally never heard anything louder in my entire life. The cheering, the screaming, the yelling, the whistling, the clapping, the "en-core!"s the "death-cab!"s, the insanity of it all...my eardrums have never felt like that, ever. We must've cheered our hearts out for a solid 3 or 4 minutes. We knew they were coming back anyways, but that didn't stop us from going berserk. It was astounding really.

It was just Ben again I think who came out. Right now, I honestly forget what song he started with though. They played about 4, maybe 5 songs. I was blown away though by the closer, "Transatlanticism". I've never heard it before, but the progression between the awesome start of Ben playing piano and the timbre in his voice, that great acoustic feel, his bandmates standing around taking it all in, giving their guitars a strum here and there for atmosphere...then him getting back to his guitar, the song picking up, and them just absolutely rocking it out for a solid 2 minutes instrumentally and the awesome, repetitive "I need you so much closer". It was easily the most "into" a song any of them were. The bassist was thrashing, getting on his knees at the end...the drummer was murdering the set, the cymbals were flying, it was just awe-inspiring. I caught myself actually exhaling when it was all done, one of the best musical experiences of my life. It really brought the concert up a notch in my mind and it was an amazing close to it all.

Overall, it wasn't one of the better concerts of my life. I frankly even had more fun at The Weakerthans. The main reason? I knew going in Death Cab isn't necessarily the best group to watch live; their music is great to listen to at home, chill to, really take in and appreciate the lyrics. It's not the best at a concert, where the words are drowned out and some of the music is too soft to even bob your head to. When they played their "rock" songs, you could see the energy pick up, and you have to wonder why they don't give that to all their songs. Even when it came to singing and the lyrics, you could FEEL it when John Sampson was singing, no matter what it was. You could feel the pain or the joie de vivre in his voice and you could see it in his face. That wasn't always there with Death Cab, which I felt took away from it a bit. I dunno if that's just how their show is all the time, or if it was just this one.

Disclaimer: I didn't buy the tickets. Alysse won them. There's at least 10-15 bands I'd put ahead of Death Cab that I'd love to see live, so this was more of a "they're in town, it's once-in-a-lifetime, why not?". I did come away impressed, but only by Death Cab though, not in terms of them compared to other bands I've seen live. Overall? 8.2/10 if I had to put a number on it. Would I pay $400 like I heard some people did though? Never.

Kanye West - Graduation Reviews

My breakdown, agree with me or not, but I'll let you know that Kanye's CD's are the only ones I buy when they come out and I've given College Dropout and Late Registration multiple spins over the years:

Good Morning - Starts off too slow, never really picks up into a banger. Jay-Z's part is alright at the end, coulda used even more of him.

Champion - Nice uptempo beat, alright synth I guess, but the repeating sample infringes on Kanye's voice a bit.

Stronger - The most original song on the album, and even though it doesn't feel authentic cause it's become whored out as a single, it sounds even better on the album cause the techno contrasts so well with the rest of the soul-sample songs.

I Wonder - When this beat drops in, it's great. It's a solid song but nothing spectacular or special. I do like his staggered delivery though.

Good Life - Wow, this is by far my favorite on the album. T-Pain doesn't annoy or dominate the track like he usually does on songs he's on. The chipmunky sample sounds great and the beat is one of the few that sounds happy on the album, which is something it's really missing, in the Gold Digger/Touch The Sky vein of his other songs. Feels longer than it actually is, but I could listen to a 5 minute version of this and still love it.

Can't Tell Me Nothing - This is where the album starts to drop off a bit, in theme and actual quality of the songs. The sample is overpowering and annoying, Jeezy seems really outta place, and he should've at least given him a verse (which is the other thing lacking from the album, more guest spots, it's not really a hip-hop album if there's not someone else on every second song).

Barry Bonds - Kind of a Drive Slow vibe anyone? That's what it reminds me of. I have to agree with a lot of the reviews I read before listening to the album, the fact that this is more appropriate for a mixtape. The puns are really good of course, but he used that same sample of "wheh-wheh-wheh-wheh" on the "This Ain't A Scene..." remix. Weezy's also done much better work.

Drunk and Hot Girls - Funny song, I'll give him that much. I read somewhere though that this song would sound much better at twice the speed, so I'd love to see a remix. The part where he makes fun of the girl's singing is the best for me.

Flashing Lights - Grew on me a bit, and reminds me of "Bring Me Down" from LR, except it eases in instead of dropping in. The mix of beats is really good, and I think overall he shoulda kept stuff more uptempo like he does here. Dwele definitely has the best cameo here aside from T-Pain and John Mayer. One of the better songs on the album and where it starts to pick up again.

Everything I Am - Cool style mixing Toomp's scratching with the soul, and this one reminds me of Last Call in a way. I'm a chump for any hip-hop with a piano anyways. Great message too.

Glory - Feels like Mo-Town to me, and it sounds great. He shows off a bit of the cockiness and has some fun in this one too, so I liked that about it. The sample really does it for me too, even though it loops kinda loud, it's girly enough that it doesn't interrupt his flow if you know what I mean.

Homecoming - This one really took me by surprise, I didn't know he was gonna re-use "Home", cause I remember that track from about 2 years ago and I loved it. For some reason both choruses killed it, whether it was that older sample or Chris Martin, who does a great job here too. The saloon piano? Pure genius, I don't even know where he got the idea, but it's really original and actually works out well.

Big Brother - I get the idea behind it, but it sounds like a muted version of a Jay-Z song, and it's nut-riding at its finest. His acclaim for Jay shoulda ended with "Last Call", where he pretty much explained the relationship as well as anyone woulda cared to hear. Kinda gets annoying too and drags on, and it comes to a point with the "No way jose" line that's really annoying.

*Bittersweet - Now why the hell wouldn't this be on the North American release? I'd call it my favorite on the album, but I can't really since it wasn't released with it. Could've easily replaced "Big Brother" as the last track or even came after it. Fits the theme of the album great, Mayer is great on the chorus, Kanye has some great, great lines (my favorite being "you talk about her family, her aunt's and shit/and she say "Mahfucka, your mama's a bitch") and the way the beat fades out at the end is a much better finish than Big Brother.

As for the other songs left off the NA release, I haven't heard them, so I can't say anything.

University

Whooo, first day and it's already going great. Every class is supposed to be 75 minutes long, but I took a microeconomics course with the "best professor you'll have" (it was on ratemyprofessors.com) and he was not only letting people in late, but he told us our textbooks were useless (a waste of reading and basically a $150 dictionary, which I'd thankfully not spent yet) and that we didn't have to take either mid-term, making our final worth 100%. Best of all, he let us out of 8:30am class after 20 minutes, and told us to "enjoy our first day of university".

It's much better than I thought in the first place, I've seen enough of my friends, and the atmosphere here is great. For anyone who's currently in high school, and relishes that kind of freedom, it's about tenfold here. You don't have to go to any classes, and you have more than ample time in between them. Best of all, I have every Friday off, and we're one of the few universities to have that.