vanmega.com » home
Tuesday, November 28, 2006
i am everyone with a blog in vancouver...
- bla bla bla bla blizzard continues...
- bla bla bla bla drinking water safe again...
Come on, internet... if there's one thing modern media demands it's that we live in a perpetual state of fear. Why report on resolution and the obvious? Why is no one speculating what next week's new lower mainland natural disaster will be? (note: we're now averaging one every 9 days).
My guess: the snow will melt so rapidly that vancouver proper will suffer massive flood damage. Some how the 2010 Olympic budget over-run will increase. Also, Christmas will be canceled.
I've been trapped indoors too long.
elsewhere
"do we really need people from Yaletown pretending they live in LA?"
[ perma-link |
]
Saturday, November 25, 2006
reviewed: shaun verreault & wil at the pit pub...
No surprises here… the Shuan Verreault / Wil solo double header was fantastic.
Shaun played the first set, which was a mix of tracks from the Daggerlip Sketches and old WMM standards. Dude made the idea of live performance seem almost too easy; at one point while singing he put down his guitar, took off his coat, picked his guitar back up, silently tuned his guitar from an open to standard configuration without stopping the song or losing step. Moves like that set the standard for his set... I won’t even try to pick out a highlight, because every note that came out the PA system was inspired.
The Wil portion of the performance was surprisingly good. There’s been a bit of talk that more recent Wil shows have been a bit slow in the punch... a bit tired in delivery. Things were downtempo, but the spark was still there. My only complaint might be that the volume on his pedal rig seems to have gone way up, resulting in a thick reverbed wall-of-sound feel to his guitar work. I think the hyperactive Wil shows of yester-year are gone… but with that that said, he announced at the show that his new album will finally get released early next year... and I’m excited about this. Why? Cause when we did a feature interview with him for Cord Mag, he described the feel of his next disk as something similar to Ryan Adams Demolition. Now the slowdown gets awesome.
elsewhere
scissor kick | 80's trash mash | last christmas
[ perma-link |
]
Thursday, November 23, 2006
3 things...
Are those stereogum guys on the crack?! A Jack Black backlash?! Getouttahere. I had some reservations that modern day Tenacious D movie might not be able to sustain the awesomeness of the original HBO TV shorts 5 years later, but I'm no longer worried. Why? Because the movie soundtrack is true to form Tenacious D non-sense. Case in point:
---
Wow. That new Bloc Party disk is phenomenal. The band seems to have found the perfect balance between sticking with a sound that works and production experimentation. Some folks might say that the whole "big city life" theme is a bit too literal, others might say that the slowed overall tempo is a bit off-putting. But come on… after a couple of listens, you’ll forget about all that. Plus, the drumming is bonkers end to end.Between the release of this disk, the shins disk, and LCD soundsystem disk, early 2007 will be fantastic.
---
I really slept on that Handsome Boy Modeling School disk that came out 2 years ago. First listens didn't go over too well with me, so I forgot about it. Shuffle on the ipod just got me back up on it. Behold, the first song with Cat Power I actually like:
sidebar: johnny p and Dan the Automator (pictured on the right) = the same guy! Or at least they have the same moustache coach.
elsewhere
I'll bet $10 that the RIAA doesn't like ritmono
[ perma-link |
]
Tuesday, November 21, 2006
zune marketing: 10 drink minimum...
Fun facts from SF Gate's "Name that Zune":
- "60 Ph.D. linguists in 39 countries [were] tapped to provide insights into the latest brands in music and video entertainment and to give suggestions as to words, word parts, sounds and metaphors that might be applied to [Microsoft's] 'next generation entertainment system'"
- "[Zune] needed a small name [they] considered 3,500 candidates with seven or fewer letters. And sometimes rhymes work best: 'Zune's similar sound to 'Tunes' made a great connection for us,' [the branding agency] said. "
- "[the branding agency] also likes the buzz Zune gets from 'z,' and that it's a fun-sounding name. "
- "The buzz of the sound 'z' makes it one of the most energetic in the language... the letter z's current popularity in respellings like "boyz" and "antz" lends a youthful irreverence... Zune could pass for a casual abbreviation, in the same way that 'zza stood in for pizza with some people 10 years or so ago. Zune is clearly a fun kind of name."
Nevermind analyst coverage, no need to wait for post-Christmas sales figures: I can tell you right now, Zune is fucked just based on the rationale which drives the branding alone.
There's a classic article about Adidas' sustained success with the shell toe sneaker. The jist: consumers keep buying the shoe because the consumers created and shaped thier own idea that the sneaker was cool. Adidas purposefully never pushed messages explicitly detailing the coolness of their product. We're seeing the exact opposite with the Zune; use of the word "buzz" to repeatedly describe the product, declaration that the letter "z" is "fun"... let's not even start to explore the whole 10 years outdated pizza = 'zza reference. Kowabunga, dude.
This article reveals those responsible for the marketing of MS' venture into "next generation entertainment system[s]" (sidebar: WTF?! does that mean?) have no idea what (1) they're talking about, (2) what the consumer identifies with. This really is too bad... I wanted to see Apple's face legit competition going forward. Why? Competition would force further innovation on Apple's part, and we'd see further evolved products come to market, and come to market quickly.
elsewhere
reviewed: lcd soundsystem's sound of silver
[ perma-link |
]
Sunday, November 19, 2006
weekend recap: get up way too early and over-exert yourself edition...
Hey, I ran in the Fall Classic race at UBC today. Good times... well, except for the rain, and the cold, and the periodic foot numbness. Actually, I can't complain... it was 96 times more sane than the sun run, and I'm super happy with my race time.
In the weeks prior to the race, I was obsessing about creating the perfect hour long running mix. I tried playlists, I tried DJ sets like Girl Talk's Night Ripper, I even tried beat mixing my own sets using mixmiester. None of these really did it for me (note: they were all good for running purposes, but they weren't great... and let's face it, we get obsessive about music around here). In a last minute move I ran with the Crystal Method's Drive: Original Run mix (commissioned by Nike, just like what they did with LCD Soundsystem a little while ago). Yes, I'm well aware that the Crystal Method aren't remotely the bees knees, but let me tell ya something... that mix is PERFECT for distance running. It's generic, building, tweaky electronica, and the result feels like being trapped in a video game or in a shoot 'em up scene from a movie the entire time you run. So best! You start and your brain doesn't find a reason to stop. Highly recommended.
The mix is one continuous 45 minute track... so I'm not posting the thing here. You can check it out on iTunes here... or if you're a total pirate I'm sure you could find it on bit torrent (cough, cough)
elsewhere
mp3: paul barman's gettysburgh address tribute | lego bands
[ perma-link |
]
Thursday, November 16, 2006
threat down?
By now every vancouverite and their purse size dog has seen this. For those too lazy to click: it rained sideways non-stop for two days, disturbing local drinking water reserves. We're now advised to boil our drinking water until further notice. If you don't, there's a slight chance you might get... uhh... the trots.
This warning came out about 8 hours ago and from what I've seen we're fucked if a real disaster ever comes our way. Like right totally fucked.
Case in point: the local IGA at 6pm. It's about 3 steps away from a scene from Mad Max. The parking lot is a fire hazard and at double capacity, people are pushing past people just to get into the building. It gets even better once inside; signs are posted everywhere, sanely explaining the city's water situation and ways to manage... though no one's reading them. All forms of bottled water are sold out (obviously), but people still hang around the large bare aisle (just in case?). The store has stationed a clerk in the aisle to handle customer questions. Dude is worn out, he's gone from helpful to exhausted and straight into rage. He's screaming (really) at people before they even make eye contact with him. This sends the customers into hysterics, and they start screaming back with real fear in their voices saying things like "How can you be out of water?! What will we do?!". Ummm... what you do is boil a pot of tap water for 1 MINUTE, then get on with your evening, and watch this whole thing pass by brunch o'clock on Saturday.
Or if you're remotely resourceful, you walk across the street to the gas station where they're fully stocked with various brands of ice cold water. I'mjustsayin.
Either way, if a tsunami or, oh I don't know, a Korean nuke hits Vancouver don't make plans to be all Red Dawn rugged and tough it out in the city we're hooped.
elsewhere
season shot with flavor | pixelated GI Joe
[ perma-link |
]
Tuesday, November 14, 2006
fastest prison break update ever...
2 things:
- Who does this tiny man think he is? I'm about 99% sure that I can take him... so much so that I would fight his condescending ass if I ever saw him on the street (you know, since Mahone wont). Yeah, I realize that this requires the lines between TV and reality are blurred, but whatever, it's on.
- What's the deal with Fox TV shows having these mysterious puppet master bad guys who INSIST on wearing douchey bluetooth ear pieces (see also: Graham from 24)? I mean, I've accepted product placement as a fact of life, but what I can't accept is bad product placement... wireless ear pieces already have a slimey enough stigma, what brand manager wants to further reinforce this AND add a whole new layer of pretentiousness to it?
elsewhere
i'm tired of sony's bullshit | instructions
[ perma-link |
]
Sunday, November 12, 2006
my weekends have become the fodder of legends...
No gigs & no shows for me this weekend. Instead, I went to 5 (five!) DVD retailers looking for that new fangled 20th edition of Transformers: The Movie which was released earlier this week. Turns out the lower mainland is SOLD OUT of the DVD. What?!? Really?!? Is the market for this really that big?
Hi, I'm reaching dork territory.
Here come some non-dork, non-animated robot-related musical goodies:
[ perma-link |
]
Wednesday, November 08, 2006
holyfuckingshit!!!
Make sure you take time out of your busy day today to binge on cake... vanmega.com turns 6 years old today.
SIX. WOW... and WTF?!?!
Who would have thought that a website that was made over a lunch hour as a means of sharing pics from WBG 2001 would sustain itself this long? (related sidebar: well done WBG 2006)
Yup, we've been online and around way longer than things like flickr, myspace, ipods, terrorism, and pics of "fat britney", etc... not that we've done anything as interesting as those things (well, except for myspace).
Either way, thank you to everyone who's read, contributed, commented on the 31,829 (I'm not kidding) posts we've thrown up over the years.
elsewhere
extratasty | showcase of depravity
[ perma-link |
]
Tuesday, November 07, 2006
question of the day...
Who's aging least gracefully: Vince Vaughn or John Mayer?
elsewhere
catlow featured on the new pollution
[ perma-link |
]
Monday, November 06, 2006
november mixtape = ready to go...
Well internet pals, here's the final mixtape of 2006. As always, December's virtual tape will be replaced with the annual vanmega audio almanac mail out bonanza because I have way too much free time.
Couple of points about a couple of the tracks found on the tape:
- Until now, I haven't been 100% sold on Cadence Weapon... dude's always been good... but nothing's grabbed me... that was until I heard his cameo on this Robotville track.
- Turn On Me is by far my favorite track off the new Shins disk... too bad the real disk isn't out for over 2 months... 'cause the whole thing is magically delicious.
- The Awkward Stage track, West Van Girl, (which, yes, I realize was last week's free download on iTunes) is required listening for every Vancouverite out there. I read somewhere that it's "Candle In The Wind for the indie set"... which is so out of touch and inaccurate (note to the copy writer: just because there's a piano, doesn't mean that parallels to Elton John should be made). The song is more like a Lower Mainland-centric Uptown Girl (note to me: stop making references to Billy Joel)
As always mixes are posted for a limited time. Go get it.
elsewhere
this kid fresh mix is bonkers | (w)rapping paper
[ perma-link |
]
Thursday, November 02, 2006
software songs...
Guess what?! I made a mash-up:
Look at me, I'm in touch with youth culture! Look at me, I'm taking part in trends 6 years after they start! Woo!
But ferreals, I made this track with the previously discussed MixMeister Fusion. I can't say enough good things about this program. I'm hoping that with a bit more tweaking I can get it to start doing my laundry or something for me... because there isn't too much that it can't already do.
elsewhere
CBGB's is OMFUGGED | myspace band of the week
[ perma-link |
]
Wednesday, November 01, 2006
vancouver concert listings: yay!
Hey, thanks to Shea for commenting and letting us know that Shaun Verreault and Wil are performing at the Pit Pub on Thursday November 23rd. If your blog reading/remembering skills are strong, you know that the Shaun/Wil double bill came through in February. I can even begin to put words together to explain how amazing that show was/this show will be. This is a must see gig for those who adore guitar wizardry... you know, for those who'd rather see stripped down musical talent than, say, a band wearing bird wings or something.
No, I didn't just take a jab at Sufjan.
Last time Shaun toured with Wil he sold copies of The Daggerlip Sketches at the gigs . The disk is just Shaun + an acoustic + and an hour of studio time. The result is brilliant. Here's a track:
I'm hoping he'll be selling the disk. Only 200 copies were originally printed.
elsewhere
hottest bands in canada v 2006 | tony pierce
[ perma-link |
]
![vanmega [v5] : what's a wamp wamp?](http://www.vanmega.com/index_files/full_header.jpg)
