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Tuesday, October 7, 2008 

i married in the sun...

Guess what... despite what it may seem, this blog isn't dead. I've just been away and been busy... really busy. Tk and I got married a week ago, far away, in the sun. It was 100% awesome. As a guy, I never thought I'd gushingly describe a wedding as "awesome"... but it really was. Sure people tend to fixate on things like table cloths, custom vows, or how pretty the bride was (she was flawlessly pretty b.t.w)... but the thing that blew me away was the overwhelmingly positive energy of having most of my close friends and family in the room. I've never experienced anything like that.

I was gonna write up a massive post on the whole thing, but I'm bagged... turns out planning a party for 85 people over a period of 6 months is draining.

Since this is a faux-music blog I should point out the songs used highlighted during the day:

Wedding Party entrance at the ceremony: Jose Gonzalez - Heartbeats

Bride entrance at the ceremony: Bright Eyes - First Day Of My Life

Song played as pronounced married: Grand Archives - Torn Blue Foam Couch

First dance: New Pornographers - Go Places

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Also, yes, I owe you a mixtape. Also, I've gotta integrate my tumblr account with the dot com site since that's where I'm spending a lot of my time posting. All of this very soon. Patience is sexy.

elsewhere

three terrible, terrible movie devices

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Thursday, September 11, 2008 

begin like a violin, end like leviathan...

elsewhere

dustinland: the music nerd's burden

Labels: fake dj'ing, mp3

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Monday, September 8, 2008 

september mixtape = good to go...

I don't know if it's a back to school thing or just some random coincidence, but there are a lot of new albums out right now. This is always a good thing 'cause tours always follow the album release.

Either way:

• click here to access this month's mix

Oh, on a nerdy note, I've installed that self-hosted version of muxtape (which rules, by the way) so the mix can be streamed here.

elsewhere

restart: laptops go live

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Tuesday, September 2, 2008 

reviewed: the stanley park singing exhibition w/ the new pornographers, black mountain, stevie jackson, etc...

This show was, obviously, a lot different than the Lerche show we saw 2 nights ago... but was a gooder (even, if grossly under-attended). This was the first year The Singing Exhibition had been put on. It was charity event pulled together by the New Pornos. Rumor is that this is going to become an annual event.

We arrived a bit late and were only able to catch the second half of the Sunday line up. Stevie Jackson started out a bit rough, performing solo. In the latter part of his set he moved into a full band set up and the music was significantly more interesting. Dude was on some old school Elvis Costello type vibe. Black Mountain stood out like sore thumbs compared to the rest of the line up, but killed it doing the dark metal/acid rock thing. This was the first time I'd seen Black Mountain live - which I realize is a major Vancouver scene foul - and was totally impressed.

The New Pornos closed out the night and reaffirmed that they're my favorite band around. This particular show was a touch sloppy, but this wasn't a bad thing. Everyone on stage seemed relaxed. It felt like a home town show, performed for friends. Oh, and we got Neko Case and Dan Bejar on stage for the entire set. Well, at least Neko. Either way, WIN.

elsewhere

How Will The Superfluous Character On The New 90210 Die?

Labels: reviewed

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Sunday, August 31, 2008 

reviewed: sondre lerche w/ sylvie lewis at st james hall...

Perhaps one my favorite things about being a music dork is how easy it is to go through a phase or to get deep into a certain style or sound. Maybe it was the warm weather, maybe it was subconscious decision to stop taking things so seriously... but, this summer I spent a lot of time listening to wonderfully braindead hip hop, breezy R&B, and all sorts of electro. This isn't a bad thing, but the 6 string guitar in my living room has gathered a lot of dust as of late. I spent years singing and creating music (for better or worse) and opted to temporarily forget that in exchange for something a little more reckless and celebratory.

Saturday night, thankfully, reset all that. I was reintroduced to melody, sophistication, and how flat-out amazing one person and a guitar can be. I really missed that.

The whole show was kinda surreal. St James Hall in Kits is trapped in a time warp. It's an old, tiny, converted church, complete with creaky chairs and poor ventilation... but, the sound is outstanding, there's no way you can't pay undivided attention to whoever's on stage. Not that either act needed help.

Sylvie Lewis opened, accompanied by only her acoustic guitar and worked through a set of songs which I'd describe as half folk/half jazz driven (you might not agree, but that's ok). Either way, she was a delight complete with hyper-charming banter. She spent the entire set knocking the crowd out... in only the most gentle of ways.

Sondre Lerche was nuts. There's countless reviews about this guy online, which all seem to focus on his writing, his candor on stage... which is fine... but the thing that just killed me was the control this guy had of his guitar. Switching between an acoustic a barely distorted electric, he owned every line of every song by constantly flipping the dynamic of his guitar and his voice. He'd bait and switch... muting and pulling in quiet when expressing anger, playing to a point of nearly going horse during times of joy. He was performing alone on stage, but it packed the urgency and punch of a full band.

Inspired and amazing. I've missed you beautiful guitar music. It's good to have you back.

elsewhere

Nardwuar vs. N.E.R.D

Labels: reviewed

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