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Monday, October 31, 2005
quickie: trolling through the pop world...
Apparently, this is the album cover for the new Lindsay Lohan disk, titled Raw (or something to that effect, I'm squinting at the jpeg and can't make out the full title). I don't have any comments or commentary about the album to offer. I just wanted to post a picture of LL on this blog for once not looking totally strung out. HA!
Sidebar: I will give anyone out there 10 Canadian dollars if they can convince me that Miss Lohan knows the actual meaning of that Japanese Chinese character projected across her back. Don't her marketing and PR staff know that white girl pop acts incorporating elements of Asian culture into their schtick is sooooo 2004?
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In other pop news, ex-Blink 182 front man, Tom DeLonge, was recently interviewed by MTV. He discussed his next band/project/whatever, Angels & Airwaves. In the interview he states that his new band will "change the face of popular music for years to come".
35 year-old mall-punker, please.
Tom continues:
"I knew that Angels was going to be the biggest band in the world. We knew that we were the only band that could do something like that. Besides someone like Coldplay, I don't know of any rock bands that could do that. We want to take this project to that Police level, that Joshua Tree level."
Coldplay. The Police. U2. These are the bands which DeLonge attempts to parallel his not yet released material with. Bands which - for the most part - had career paths which saw them create uninteresting, uninspired, middle of the road fodder. "Change the face of popular music"... as if. It's unfortunate that Tom DeLonge has confused bands which are brandable and create radio friendly unit shifting songs with bands that are progressive/revolutionary and actually shake up their genre or even their listener. But whatevs, I'm sure this won't come back to bit him in the ass at any point in the near future.
elsewhere
ryan adams has a podcast?! | the combover is a fantastic idea
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Sunday, October 30, 2005
Halloween recap...
I'm please to report that the Sandy Cohen's Eyebrow costume was a huge hit - it went off like GANGBUSTERS, son. A very huge thank you goes out to Tk (aka the strung out Mary-Kate Olsen) and to Nick (aka the Hairy Man Fairy) for being far more creative than me and fashioning a custom costume for me out of fun fur, a cardboard box, and duct tape.
We threw a houseparty on Saturday night, everyone in attendance went all out on the costumes (that Quagmire costume pictured above was custom made). Good stuff.
The funny thing about the party was that at midnight, we collectively wrapped up the night, and then went out to another party. So the 25 - 30 of us hopped into taxi cabs, and hit a party just off Granville towards the airport, at a random house mansion (complete with tennis courts, and a 5 acre back yard). I don't know who from our possie had the invite to this party (or who the hosts were for that matter), but I'm glad we went. This party had about 300 people in the place, complete with DJ's spinning uptempo electronica goodness, a chill-out room with a live band. Needless to say, we collectively went bonkers (and I, brilliantly, left the digi-cam at home). A quick tip to the single dudes out there: next Halloween create your own Sandy Cohen's Eyebrow costume and go out in it. Forget Top Gun flight suits, this costume is the new chick magnet. When you walking a room wearing this thing and people freak out, come up to you and ask to be in a photo with you, and then proceed to pet you. Boo-yaa?!
elsewhere
costume consulting with halloween unlimited
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Thursday, October 27, 2005
the vanmega guide to better living: Halloween edition...
At the vanmega world headquarters we don't need a calendar to remind us that Halloween is approaching, we simply need to check our webstat referrer logs. Since the kids of vanmega have had a very long-standing and very strange penchant for turning EVERY party into a costume party, web traffic spikes right before Halloween as people feverishly search for the *perfect* costume idea.
As a public service to those attempting to comb through the endless post and photo archives of this website, here's a summary of some costume highlights, with respective pros and cons.
Costume Idea #1: Top Gun Flight Suit
Pros: Instant chick magnet. Good costume ventilation.
Cons: Huge cost to create (we paid $130 each for suits + decals). Due to it's awesomeness, you'll want to where this costume over and over again, in turn, your friends will eventually hate you ("Oh, you're wearing that again?!").
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Costume Idea #2: Mary Kate and Ashley Olsen
Pros: Nothing.
Cons: Everything.
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Costume Idea #3: Mugatu (Will Ferrell from Zoolander)
Pros: Unique costume. Instant good-time laughs with you and your good-times buddies.
Cons: Cotton wool glued to your face. The need to call in a favor from Nicole Ritchie in order to borrow her sunglasses.
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Costume Idea #4: Produce Clerk From A Grocery Store
Pros: Super low-cost costume (assuming you spent 4 soul sucking years as a produce clerk as a teenager, and for some reason still have the uniform handy). Great excuse to grow a creepy moustache.
Cons: Carrying around celery or egg plant costume props will prove fatal if you're trying to chat up the ladies, as you'll soon find vegetable props begin to stink.
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Costume Idea #5: "Cabbage-Head"
Pros: This costume requires 2 things: A cabbage, and a permanent ink jiffy marker (for the accompanying goatee).
Cons: You need to get blindingly drunk before you'll think going with this costume is a good idea.
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Costume Idea #6: A "Sexy / Naughty / Dirty" Detective
Pros: Simplicity - Take one old detective costume (borrow it from your brother, ladies!), remove pants, replace with mini skirt, take shirt, fold up to reveal mid-riff, add fishnets or some other form of hooker-esque leggings, and... BOOM - you're a sexy slutty detective!!!
Cons: You're a slutty detective!!!
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Looking forward to this year's Halloween nonsense...
What the hell are you being for Halloween?
I'll give you a preview of my costume. Some say it's the best costume yet. Behold:
No, no, I'm not going as The OC's Sandy Cohen. Look closer...
That's right, I'm going as Sandy Cohen's eyebrows. Brilliantness is in the house. Feel free to steal this idea, and if you do, send in pictures.
elsewhere
the a.v. club's definitive Halloween playlist | say no to Halloween
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Calgary girl does good...
Brooklyn Vegan and Chromewaves are reporting that due to scheduling conflicts between the 1,024 members of Broken Social Scene, the band is beefing up their roster for their upcoming tour, by adding vocalist Lisa Lobsinger. Interestingly, enough, Lobsinger is from the Calgary-based band, Reverie Sound Revue (who split up last summer).
Funny thing, I don't recall ever hearing a peep about RSR back when I lived in Calgary and spent my time playing in multiple (although shitty) bands. Hmmm.
Regardless, this addition to BSS is important to note, as we all know, it's rare when Calgarians take their music places. So congrats, Lisa Lobsinger.
This should be an interesting addition to the BSS team, although it nearly kills all hopes of seeing Feist or Emily Hanes perform with the collective when they come through Vancouver next month. Ah well... I actually saw an all male line up of BSS in the spring of 2004, and it was still pretty kick ass. Hell, they even sung Feist's part from "Almost Crimes" in a high falsetto.
elsewhere
my review of the above-mentioned 2004 BSS show at Cord Magazine
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Tuesday, October 25, 2005
most succinct prison break update ever, plus some other stuff...
1. Someone should just hurry up and shank this guy with a shiv already.
2. I did not see the plot usefulness of this kid coming. He's gonna make Season 4 of 24's Behrooz Aziz look like a whiney retard (more so). Nice work, assembled team of Fox scriptwriters.
3. Separated at birth: Dr. Sara Tancredi and vanmega's New Year's 2005 snowboard trip attendee, Angie.
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Not even remotely related.. here are some very hyper links:
- This may, in fact, be the best piece of street graffiti ever.
- Vancouver concert listings just announced: The Roots add a second (early) show on Nov. 9, Morcheeba play Dec. 5. Both gigs are at The Commodore. Hillary Duff and her ill-fitting veneers play the Pacific Coliseum, and no one wants to come with me to the show. What gives, hipsters?
- Singer-Songwriter, Jay Burns has just released his latest album, Letters: Vol. 1. For those who like to try before they buy, there are three full length mp3's for free download (all highly recommended), and of course the full album is also available for sale. Also, check out his bio, note who's referenced in the pull quote. Ha!
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I should also point out that the king of all things fun, Zeb, rolled into Vancouver this past weekend. Shit was fantastic. We haven't seen the guy since our trip to the Gorge in the Summer of 2004, but the reunion went off like we'd been hanging out full time ever since. We tore up Kitsilano, each had 7 bites of food followed by 67 vodkas, and took 100 photos to document it all, and I - being brilliant - lost the photos when I reformatted my laptop on Sunday. All I can do to remedy this lack of photographic evidence is create a crappy MS paint drawing (uh, see above)... Also, I guess I can post a snippet from the email Zeb sent me post-Vancouver trip:
"Hey, had an AWESOME time. Thanks for the goodness. Caught my flight alright. Did you get me text? ---> I got searched at the airport security because they found a dinner knife and fork in my jacket pocket!!!... Remember that?! How hysterical is that? My first reaction was 'I've been framed!'"
Good times.
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Friday, October 21, 2005
the october mixtape is hot to go...
Just in time for the weekend, the latest vanmega mixtape is ready for download. 18 tracks of the latest and greatest. This mix is a gooder... it starts out with straight up the indie-esque rock, then almost teeters over into the realm of cabaret pop, finishing up with some electronica-ish stuff.
Boo-yaa, bass in your face, and so on.
As always the posting of the mixtape is a very limited time offer, so get it while the getting is, in fact, good. Feedback is always encouraged.
- Click here to go get the october mixtape.
Then burn or sync the tracks, and rock the mixtape from beginning to end in the order suggested. Do this while you get ready to go out tonight. Werd.
elsewhere
not so family friendly full house out takes | hey dj, fuck you
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Thursday, October 20, 2005
Calgary boy does good...
True Story – a few summers ago team vanmega went out for drinks one night. In this particular evening in question we were out at the Mortal Coil having some drinks post-Neil & Nick’s wedding. Eventually we drank all the booze at The Coil, and the clock began to approach 3am. As Sea Bass, Booksey, et al closed down the bar for the night the team parted ways and Me, Dave, Casha (impromptu visit style!), and Sock stumbled on to 17th Ave with plans of hitting the Wicked Wedge for some pizza.
While at the Wedge we noticed a bit of a crowd on the sidewalk. There were 20 or so people gathered around this guy playing guitar and singing. What was kinda strange was the guy was mic’d up (rare for buskers, especially this late at night), and in addition to guitar and vocals, he was playing drums with his feet. What was even more strange was the fact that even though he was kinda doing a one man band thing, it wasn’t cheesy or tacky (I recall a the performance of a Pixies cover). What was even more strange than all that was the mob of 20 people surrounding him we clapping, and dancing and carrying on.
You have to understand, in Calgary, at 3 in the morning, that kinda spontaneous joy on the streets doesn’t happen. Ever.
Fast forward to this morning, stereogum posts a gushing blurb about a singer/songwriter named Chad VanGaalen. Turns out that Chad was the above-mentioned busker and a Calgary boy. It also turns out that he’s got an album out and is signed to Sub-Pop (home to the likes of Death Cab Fer CutiePostal Service, Iron & Wine, oh and that silly little band, Nirvana), and about to tour all over North America.
Nice work, local boy.
I love that another Calgary based musician is actually getting out there and wrecking shop. I think this brings the total number of Calgary musicians who have taken their craft to an international level up to 6: Wil, Tegan, Sara, Feist, Chixdiggit, Jann Arden and now Chad VanGaalen.
Here are a couple of Chad VanGaalen mp3’s via his official websites:
- Chad Van Gaalen - Echo Train [mp3]
- Chad Van Gaalen - Clinically Dead [mp3]
- Chad Van Gaalen - Somewhere I Know There Is Nothing [mp3]
elsewhere
using an excel spreadsheet as music synthesizer | pumpkin 101
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Wednesday, October 19, 2005
weekend warning...
Hey kids, team vanmega highly recommends that you head over to The Backstage Lounge on Granville Island to check out Andy Collins' gig this Saturday night (Oct 22nd). As you may already know, Mr. Collins is favorite of ours and we're always happy to go out, support, get hammered, and sing along off-key.
But ferreals, it should be a good time. We'll be there (with Zeb!). For those uninitiated, head over to Andy Collin's myspace space, and stream/download a bunch of his songs. He sounds a lot like British Sea Power, but more on the singer/songwriter tip.
See you there... Andy's on stage at 10. There are other bands on bill before and after.
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Unrelated - Here are some very hyperlinks:
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Tuesday, October 18, 2005
now that's not what I call music, vol #947...
I've been all for the mash-up movement that's gone from obscure to MTV fodder over the last 5 years... And I've been a big supporter of the remix since I was a cut-and-scratch turntable DJ on college radio in the mid-90's... but sometimes you gotta know when to draw the line.
Case in point: Stars' Ageless Beauty CD single.
The single includes a remix of the title song, done by fellow Arts & Crafts label-mates, The Most Serene Republic. On paper, this seems like a wonderful idea - both bands are totally pleasing in their own right - but when this remix came to life things got fugly and got fugly fast. Lots of people describe the original version of the song as "a perfect pop masterpiece", while none of the people who describe the song like this actually know what the hell they're talking about, they are quite right... the original version of this song is beautiful, well made, and nicely meshes no-nonsense rock with synthy-styled pop and co-ed harmonies. The MSR remix, strips the song of all these merits, and replaces them with some sort of alt-country meets um-pa-pa band mess. Some say there hasn't been such a musical clusterfuck since that Sufjan vs Kanye Zombies Walk mash-up.
Anyways, you play Judge Judy:
- Stars - Ageless Beauty (TMSR Remix) [mp3]
-or-
- Stars - Ageless Beauty (Original Version) [mp3]
Related: We just picked up tickets for the Stars show at the Commodore on Nov 21st. You should too. Shit's gonna be wild (assuming there are no attempts at creating any impromptu remixes of anything). Word on the street is that Amy Millan is "crush-worthy"... oh and their latest disk comfortably sits on my list of top 3 CDs of 2005.
Sorta-Related: A new vanmega mixtape will be posted by the end of the week.
elsewhere
postage paid envelope revenge | 100% pure steven seagal juice
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Sunday, October 16, 2005
so... is this place rain-screened?
A reader writes:
"Hey, awesome website. I'm still not sure what it's actually about but, it's cool. It's about the only site I've been able to find with streaming radio that isn't censored by our crappy nanny net. I'm currently a soldier in the US Army deployed in Iraq. Been here since December of last year! How fun is that?"
Apparently, the vanmega radio is the new Adrian Cronauer meets Mark Hunter. Ahem... I kid, I kid. Either way, I now feel the need to keep the content on the media player (more) constantly updated.
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CL: To the people at my gym...
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MP3: Death From Above 1979 on the remix tip.
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Brilliant idea: Go to the recently announced ALL AGES Broken Social Scene show on Sunday, November 13th at the Commodore Ballroom. Why? The grown up's-only show is sold out, and with the early afternoon start time of the all ages show, one could go to the show, rock out, and be home in time for a pre-dinner nap. The only downfalls - an unneeded sense of being out numbered and generally of touch with the youth of Granville street, and a mitigated ability to drink booze during "Major Label Debut".
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Related: Non-Broken Social Scene Arts & Crafts Albums - the 666.8 Pitchfork Conspiracy.
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A fact you're not interested in: After going to 20+ open houses, I now believe that I can smell the fear of young (i.e. under 35 years old) real estate agents. If I ask you a question that requires a binary yes/no answer, and you reply with a "well sooooooorta", the gig is up.
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1-800-Got-Junk: Started in Kitsilano? A $100 million dollar company? Holy Crap.
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Boo-Yaa: Team Vancouver gets a very special, very impromptu, visitor this upcoming weekend. Hint. Needless to say, we're gonna go off like a girls gone wild video. So pumped. Now... we... just... need to get through the next 5 days of work.
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Friday, October 14, 2005
hey you, nice work...
To round out the week, here are some very hyper links in an always pleasing bulleted format:
- Kelly Clarkson's Since U Been Gone turned into a squeaky-clean corporate powerpoint presentation. This, my friends, is brilliant.
- 3 highly recommended, guilt-free, music downloads:
- Ladytron - Destroy Everything You Touch [mp3]
- The Ladies And Gentlemen - Stay [mp3]
- Cat Power - The Greatest [mp3]
- Video montage: Quagmire's Greatest Hits.
- Call it a comeback: After a brief disappearance from the interweb, She Hates My Futon is back online (but still not finished). If for some reason you have NOT read the awesomeness that is Futon yet, it's essential that you cancel all the meetings you have booked for the day, close your office door, and get reading.
- Vocalists revealed: I have reason to believe that the lead singer from Clap Your Hands Say Yeah is not some Williamsburg hipster, rather it's Adam Sandler from the Happy Gilmore years. Don't believe? Check out some live mp3's.
- List-city: The most interesting pieces of pop music trivia that you know (that are 100% false)
- Blog quote of the week:
"I would volunteer for The Children's Wish Foundation, but I doubt a kid with cancer's dying wish is to learn how to make mixtapes." via Pinder.
(I should quickly point out that, yes, I do realize I've referenced Pinder in 3 consecutive posts, and no, vanmega.com is not the unofficial deftone.com fan club... it's just the guy updates once every 6 weeks... you gotta strike while the iron content is hot. Or something.)
Enjoy yer weekend, y'all(s).
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Wednesday, October 12, 2005
regarding the new video iPod...
Innovators and Early Adopters rejoice! Apple announced the release of a new version of their iPod device this morning. The most obvious attribute change is the iPod's ability to play high quality video content on the device.
There's a lot of cool ideas being brought to life with this new version of the iPod, were seeing a greater level of media convergence, movement one step closer to the notion of a "universal device" which would allow for the user to access and communicate all forms of media on demand, and clearly the iPod is furthering it's foothold as a disruptive technology.
However, I'm still not sold on the content/iTunes side of the business model. With the new iPod comes the release of iTunes 6. This version of iTunes will allow for the sale of video content, specifically original content from Pixar, episodes of current ABC TV shows, and music videos. All of these video files will be sold for $2 each (which is double the cost of an audio file on iTunes)
I have no issue with the made-for-iPod Pixar content. I have some reservations about the ABC programming (TV shows are financed by ad dollars, and further supplemented by the consumer in a more abstract way through payment to cable TV subscription services). What I have real issue with is requirement for the iPod/iTunes user to pay to see music videos.
For real, music videos are 3-5 minute commercials for an artist's latest CD. Labels often employ millions of dollars to create long-play video advertisements, usually giving up on creative or artistic treatmentw and instead employing commerce-centric peripheral route appeals (flashy colours/vehicles, boobies, etc.) to manipulate consumer interest in CD purchase. To go a step further, numerous videos employ product placement advertising - be it for a clothing label, or another artist - within the video (which is already an advertisement).
While I have no issue with any of these marketing tactics (hell, from a business point of view some of these videos are brilliantly executed), I have MASSIVE issue with Apple/the labels trying to convince me to PAY to see these videos/commercials. Do they think we as consumers are retarded? (Wait... don't answer that). This is the equivalent of Pepsi Cola trying to charge me money for a sticker with their logo on it, or Juicy Fruit Gum trying to make me pay to hear their jingle. This revenue stream is totally assbackwards, and clearly not sustainable. I won't even get into how bad most music videos are these days.
I don't know, maybe I don't see the long term vision associated with the for-pay music video content. Someone school me on this, if they see otherwise.
elsewhere
45RPM | eyes of laura | OMG! pinder actually updates!
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Monday, October 10, 2005
long weekend goodness...
Weekend was a gooder: Convocation, QT with the family, Mushgiving 6: drinking by 2, in bed by 11. Goodtimes, yo.
For those who are here for the band geekery, Blown Speakers has a M.I.A concert recap. Pinder may eventually have an Arcade Fire recap.
elsewhere
ronald mcdonald gets a makeover | men who look like kenny rogers
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Saturday, October 08, 2005
fun with virus, spyware, laptops and such...
Very quick post...
Despite the fact that I keep my online connectivity fairly secure, it appears my laptop fell victim to the Trojan Vundo virus at some point in the last few days. From what I understand the virus is a trojan that also contains adware that causes endless popups to be displayed. If you have Norton Antivirus (which I do) you don't just get popups, but also get an endless stream of system locking warnings from Norton saying it stopped the trojan (however, it can't fix it) every 1 - 2 seconds. Awesome.
Despite the virus being around for a while, my google sleuthing tells me that a lot of people recently were hit by the virus over the last week. I'm willing to bet that a bunch of you may fall victim to the virus too - not from visiting this website, or communicating with me via email, messenger, etc... but if it can happen to me, it can happen to you.
Norton's downloadable fix doesn't work. Trust me, I tried it over and over and over. However, following these instructions will fix things lickety split. Effective 15 minutes ago, my laptop is all squeaky-clean and has been given a clean bill of health.
Know you know, and knowing's half the battle, etc.
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Thursday, October 06, 2005
reviewed: Rob Wilson at The Red Room, New Buffalo / Jason Collett / Feist at The Commodore Ballroom
Last night me and Tk put on our fancy pants (uhhh... fancy distressed denim?) and hit the town... on a school night, no less. We ended up catching 4 bands in a span of 4 hours. I've said it before and I'll say it again, this city is RAD.
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Robert Wilson at the Red Room
We started out the night by checking out Rob open for Dan Bern. Rob put on a really solid solo set. The nice thing was that the initial vibe of the crowd was mellow and attentive. People were actually sitting on the floor (campfire style, yo). The tricky thing is that as the set progressed the hardcore Dan Bern fans came trickling in and they were painful... at best. These were the 40-something types, who clear hadn't been to a show in ages and showed no understanding of concert etiquette. These were the folks who felt it was ok to stand in the crowd in circles and talk as loud as they could about shit like their golf games or their trials and tribulations with their spouses. They also felt it was ok to stand in line at the bar for 5 minutes, and then when it was their turn to place their order, they'd ask the bartender to recite their drink list and then say stuff like "Ohhhhhhh... do you have any other honey brown ales? What kind of red wines do you have?"
I'm digressing, but Rob's performance was lovely and soulful and stuff. Go to his official website, and get some mp3s and check the his concert listings, he has gigs coming up, and there are rumors he may open for Jason Mraz in November.
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New Buffalo at the Commodore
To be honest, me and Tk were getting our drink-on at the back of the venue, didn't pay much attention. From what I understand, New Buffalo [mp3s] is an Australian group, it kinda sounded like melodic shoe-gazing stuff... but I'm not sure that's what I'm supposed to hear. Anyways...
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Jason Collect at the Commodore
AWESOME CITY!!! So wonderful. Despite the fact that Mr. Collett is lumped in the indie-hipster Broken Social Scene set, and despite his stylish throwback cream coloured 3 piece suit, Jason Collett really is a modern day Blue Rodeo. Honestly. He threw down a set of consistently captivating melodic songs complete with singalongy choruses and the like, all delivered in a very genuine and kinda heartwarming way. In addition to the solid live show, his latest disk, Idols of Exile is a totally solid piece of work (It's on my top 10 disks of 2005, foshure)
Added bonus #1: Collett's band has a bass player with a moustache the likes of which most of us would never have the balls pull off. Also, his lead guiatist would randomly take on tendencies of Gene Frenkle.
Added bonus #2: Feist came on stage and sang the duet part to "Hangover Days". Sorry, no live sound clip, but here's the studio version of the duet:
Jason Collett - Hangover Days [mp3]
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Feist at The Commodore
I don't even know where to begin with this one. Feist is a talent. She's barely 5 foot tall, yet can fill the room with just her voice. At times she sounds like a Ella Fitzgerald-esque jazz singer from the 40's, but somehow makes it all sound current and relevant. Plus, she can rock the guitar. Her best work was on her full-size Gibson, where her playing style would jump back and fourth between muted percussive stuff during the verse and the roar open with screaming riffery during the chorus. But the end of the show she had every single person in the packed room eating out of the palm of her hand, hanging on her every word.
Word.
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BONUS REVIEW - Last night's Arcade Fire show at The Mac Hall Ballroom in Calgary
Via Dave's email:
"Holy Krap, I want to make sweet sweet love to Arcade Fire, that show was nothing short of brilliant."
Via Julie's email:
"They are rad. I love the melodramatic guy in the back that bangs things and waves flags and seems to be in a constant trance. Girl 1 on violin makes me want to learn that instrument, and girl 2 has so much talent - I think more than she knows what to do with. Highly enjoyable."
Bless.
elsewhere
rabies: the musical | the world's shittiest mixtape
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Monday, October 03, 2005
trip-hoppers do the darndest things...
From the Morcheeba page at Wikipedia:
"Morcheeba... consist[s] of Paul Godfrey (DJ), Ross Godfrey on guitar and keyboards with Daisy Martey as the primary vocalist fronting the band. Martey joined the band in 2005, [and] is the successor of Skye Edwards as the main vocalist of the band.
However, as Skye Edwards and her voice had become a very integral part of the Morcheeba sound in the minds of many of the band's fans, the rather abrupt switch to a new lead singer has met with mixed reactions, including criticisms that the "new" Morcheeba is no longer as electrifying in person. Perhaps because of this, the Godfrey brothers have very recently replaced Daisy with yet another singer - Jody Sternberg - for their live performances. Current speculation is that Daisy has been dropped completely as lead singer with the band taking on a direction akin to that of Zero 7, another electronica group that relies not on any single lead person but a rotating and ostensibly more flexible assortment of vocalists".
With that said, I can tell you that Morcheeba's latest album, The Antidote, came out last week in Canada and the US. Who knows who actually is singing?! Either way, the album is good... but then again, that's what I think of every Morcheeba album. That it simply is "good", not great, not bad, just good, accessible, down-tempo, electronica-esque stuff. I've heard some other people make comparisons of the new vocalist's sound and style to that of Beth Orton, but that simply isn't the case. To me, it seems she's quite similar to the original, Skye Edwards. So much so, that if you're not really paying attention the change isn't that evident.
Yup, I'm pretty sure the Morcheeba purists will be sending me hate mail in the next 10 seconds.
Either way, here's a samplin':
Morcheeba - Wonders Never Cease [mp3]
True Story: Last time Morcheeba played in Vancouver, the lead singer at the time (Skye Edwards) was feeling all rock star-ish and took a pull off some random audience member's reefer cigarette. Clearly, not familiar with the potency of BC bud, Edwards became instantly and totally stoned, and sat at the side of the stage for 3 - 4 songs trying to come to her senses as the band played on without here. I don't know why people call her performance "electrifying", homegirl nearly passed out! Classy, to the max.
elsewhere
notes for a ghostbusters sequel | I am a nerd, this excites me
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Sunday, October 02, 2005
this week is bonkers...
If you're in vancouver (or can quickly hop on a plane and get to vancouver), this week is the the week to skip work. Come on... call in sick, tell your boss you have the bird-flu or something to that extent. There are some seriously good shows going this week:
- Sunday has the National and Clap Your Hands Say Yeah at Sonar
- Monday has Death Cab for Cutie at the Commodore.
- Tuesday again has Death Cab for Cutie at the Commodore. Tuesday also has Franz Ferdinand with TV on the Radio and Cut Copy at the Orpheum. Franz Ferdinand will also be doing an autograph session at the Robson St. HMV prior to the show at 6pm.
- Wednesday has Feist with New Buffalo and Jason Collett at the Commodore. Wednesday also has Dan Bern with Robert Wilson at the Red Room.
- Thursday... well... I haven't seen any shows listed that tickle my fancy for Thursday night. I suggest staying in and doing laundry, eating a tub of chunky-monkey, and watching 7 of 9 on the O.C. That last sentence with rich with sarcasm.
- Friday has M.I.A. at the Commodore. Friday also has The Arcade Fire with Wolf Parade at the PNE. Sophie's Choice for the iPod demographic!
Such a week... line ups like this justify the massive cost of rent etc in vancouver (I should note that it DOES NOT justify ticketmaster's racketeering-esque convenience charges). With that said, we're taking it easy and will only be checking out the Feist show. With that said, I'm pumped to see her for the first time.
In the interm, let's enjoy some mellow-gold:
Feist - When I was a young girl [mp3]
elsewhere
work for it | four word reviews | engrish
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