THEY WON'T F**K US OVER
You know how bands these days love to put out records… see them take off, then 8 months later re-release the record with bonus sh*t etc... blah blah blah.
Well, like we needed another reason to love THE NATIONAL... in advance of their upcoming European tour, the band is re-releasing Alligator with a 5 track bonus disc of b-sides, remixes, live tracks. And if you already bought the best album of 2005 (*hint* it was Alligator), you can download all of the bonus tracks free of charge right here: http://www.beggars.com/features/thenational/
Here's one:
The National - Secret Meeting (remix).mp3
PS: check out these really cool performance clips of THE NATIONAL, shot and edited by Vincent Moon last December.
The National - live at la Guinguette
PPS: don't you dare miss THE NATIONAL in concert when they come to Montreal (March 21st) and Toronto (March 22nd) later this month.
Posted by Geoff M at 03:05 PM | Comments (0)
February 16, 2006Janet's Ultimatum
I just read that Janet Jackson has been given an ultimatum by her label to shape up or they won't release her new album. Granted this could all be rumours but still I am amazed at how this lingering pressure to be a size zero pervades the music industry. When you see the Lohan's and the Duff's there are some obvious transformations to the extreme skinny side. Even Missy appears to have succumbed to pressure (her face looked superimposed onto someone else's body in sections of her "Lose Control" video)
Yes we all know the reality of the kind of body image ideal that sells... but why do so many people buy into it? Let's make the cadaverous look so '05 and hopefully have more realistic body images be represented in '06.
Some people might say "well who cares about Lindsay or Hilary they are just vacuous pop tartlets" -- but regardless of musical taste, the issue is the unreasonable pressure to look a certain way, which is widely condoned and is definitely sending out the wrong message to young women out there. Which makes me wonder (I know I’m going back in time a bit here!) if icons like Odetta, Janis Joplin, Mama Cass, Aretha Franklin and Etta James would have any hope in today’s music biz. Would they even get signed?
Just thinking... or ranting...
Posted by Robert at 05:47 PM | Comments (1)
February 15, 2006ONLY BUILT FOR CUBAN LINX 2
I think we're all aware of the magnitude that Raekwon's OBFCL had on rap in 90's. So with that being said, I'm pretty sure you seen this rumored track listing for OBFCL2 also, if not enjoy and wish that it’s true!
1."Still Striving" (intro)
2."Mudd Time" - produced by Heatmakerz
3."CriminologyRap" - produced by Rza - fea. Ghostface
4."Stitches" - produced by Rza
5."Blood on Chef's Apron" - produced by Rza - fea. Ghostface & Masta Killa
6."In" - produced by MF Doom
7."Geometry"(Math) - produced by Alchemist
8."Farewell" (skit)
9."Wu York Post" - produced by True Master - fea. Ghostface,Inspecta Deck,Cappadonna & Masta Killa
10."A Junkies Wife" - produced by Rza
11."No love" (skit)
12."Heart Attack" - produced by Mizza
13."Just enough" - produced by 9th wonder
14."Bam Blam" - produced by Havoc - fea. Busta Rhymes
15."Corny niggas"(skit)
16."Lex & Rae" - produced by Inspecta Deck
17."Skeletor" - produced by Alchemist - fea. Ghostface
18."Before the Future" - produced by Crummie
19."Knowledge God" (reissue) - produced by Rza
20."IceVille" - produced by True Master - fea. Ice Water Inc
21."Stitches pt.2" - produced by Rza - fea.Methodman & StreetLife
22."On my way back" - produced by Heatmakerz fea. Jagged Edge
23."Blood on Chef's Apron" (outro)
While your still salivating from the mouth about the track listing for the Chef's next meal, I heard that rae and killah priest might be town for the CMW's. I'll post up more info once I get details.
Lastly, I think all the heads been going through their vinyl and CD collections trying to find whatever dilla has done. If you're not familiar with Jay-Dee's work I suggest you take a listen to this courtesy of DJ Emskee and hiphopmusic.com and after that go cop donuts!
Posted by Manny at 06:45 PM | Comments (0)
February 14, 2006Heart
Yes, it’s Valentines Day… and no doubt, indie-rockers (let’s not count out our parents, siblings and my aunt) will be 'love-making' to the music of our favorite romantic pop collective Stars - on this, the heartiest day of hearts. And so, when better to offer some new news on the band…
Item 1: Stars recently told Much that acclaimed video artist Chris Mills is making a movie about the recording of Set Yourself on Fire! Amy said the film would involve a cartoon version of the band going to a red house on a hill, where Stars recorded the album. Anyone who attended one of the band’s 6 sold-out shows at Lee’s Palace in December would have noticed the multiple cameras on hand for the shoot. (PS: they were also shooting a video for next single, The First Five Times)
Item 2: Stars siren Amy Milan will release her long-awaited solo debut on May 27th (a Saturday?), presumably through Arts+Crafts. The news comes from an interview with Denver based, Westword.com, which also reports that Stars’ co front-person Torquil Campbell is working on another record with his side project, Memphis. Which means: no new Stars record in 2006.
And now the fun stuff…
Holiday track / Your Ex-lover is Dead b-side / Pogues cover:
Stars - Fairytale of New York
Full live video concert from Amsterdam
(click on ‘search’ and scroll down to Stars : 29-8-2005)
Live KEXP radio performance from April 2nd 2005
Posted by Geoff M at 05:12 PM | Comments (0)
February 13, 2006Who Is Gnarls Barkley?
A few weeks ago the lineups for Coachella were announced, and among the Franzs and Depeches and Scissors and Yeahs was an act I didn't recognize - Gnarls Barkley. But holy shhh was I ever excited when some strategic Googling revealed that Gnarls Barkley is secretly composed of Danger Mouse and Cee-Lo Green!
Manny had heard about this collaboration a while back, but it was news to me. Pants-wettingly exciting news.
You know Danger Mouse – he did that Grey Album LP mashup of The Beatles' White Album and Jay Z's Black Album and he produced the latest Gorillaz disc, Demon Days. He also did that brain-flipping Danger Mouse & Jemini disc in 2002, and the Mouse and the Mask DangerDoom collab with MF Doom in late 2005. All good stuff!
And Cee-Lo? Wild. They call Mariah "The Voice" because she has a 5-octave vocal range, but Cee-Lo's soulful, sometimes-rhymin' r'n'b throat makes a good case for a definitive nickname of his own. He's one of the co-founders of Goodie Mob (who are supposedly working on a reunion record), and his 2004 solo disc Cee-Lo Green is the Soul Machine is a total soundtrack for spring porches.
When they activate their Wonder Twins powers, well...just give these tracks a listen. "Crazy" is at the top of my playlist, and "Untitled #5" (these are early mixes) has more surprises than a hunting trip with Dick Cheney.
Gnarls Barkley - "Crazy"
Gnarls Barkley - "Untitled #5"
Posted by Jose at 05:43 PM | Comments (0)
February 12, 2006Hip-Hop's Finest
R.I.P. J-Dilla
(1974-2006)
Posted by Manny at 12:15 PM | Comments (0)
February 09, 2006The Arctic Monkeys Conundrum
So Hannah just handed off the Arctic Monkeys record to Geoff. He’s going to take a listen to find out what all the fuss is about (you already know the story – young British band builds hype online, teases fans with downloads, gets signed to Domino, sets record for fasting-selling debut album in UK chart history with roughly 360,000 LPs sold during first week).
I heard the singles in late 2005 and didn’t expect much fuss at all about this band. To my ears they were The Libertines 2.0, with lyrical themes culled from The Streets and The Police (with a generous dash of whingy teen angst). Nothing groundbreaking, nothing special. I deleted the tracks from my playlist, imported the Kano record Manny burned for me, made some blueberry pancakes and promptly forgot they existed.
But then Everything People Say I Am, That’s What I’m Not was released and people starting losing their minds.
Like Geoff, I was curious about the Arctic Monkeys’ success – an indie act moving that many records so fast? It took the Arcade Fire over a year to sell that many copies of Funeral - so I borrowed Kristine’s copy of the disc to give the band another chance. Surely 360,000 British people couldn’t be wrong?
Turns out they could. I was seduced by the spurious “if it sells, it must be awesome” argument. But shoot, I should know better. Just look to the last fastest-selling debut album in UK chart history; it wasn’t the Beatles, it wasn’t U2, it wasn’t even Coldplay – it was Hear’Say. You know Hear’Say…no? They won the 2001 edition of British reality series Popstars, and their debut album sold about 306,000 copies in its first week. They have since disbanded.
While I – along with most of the office – am still a little confused by the Monkeys’ status as the most immediately popular British group since Hear’Say, I have a theory that may explain it: The Arctic Monkeys are to indie rock as Nickelback is to grunge.
That is to say, much like there would not be multiplatinum stadium grunt-growlers Nickelback without a popular-acceptance trail blazed by Nirvana and Pearl Jam, there would not be the Arctic Monkeys without the critical approval and mainstreaming of indie guitar bands like The Strokes, The White Stripes and Franz Ferdinand.
As Geoff pointed out, a similar argument could be made for the pop-punking of emo, wherein bands like Fall Out Boy follow Death Cab For Cutie’s lead and reach a wider audience than their genre predecessors with a more accessible sound, one which falls on now-familiar ears.
Or else it’s just a regional thing; Robbie Williams is deified in Britain, but here he’s “that guy who sings ‘Rock DJ’.”
Posted by Jose at 06:55 PM | Comments (1)
February 09, 2006FLASH OFF!
Hold on – in order to read this post you have to go to blah blah blah and download blah blah blah and install blah blah blah – then you can read this lousy post.
Surely I’m not the only one who is getting sick and tired of those overdone flash websites, that take forever to load, make it difficult to access content and for the most part look as cool and sleek as a f**kin’ wood paneled station wagon.
Alight fine, those old station wagons are starting to look cool again… but you get my gist, right? I hit the wall this morning when I went to the website of Seu Jorge, a musician and songwriter that I’ve come to appreciate for his soft voice, nice melodies and knack for re-interpreting Bowie songs in Portuguese. Seu’s flash and tech-heavy website though, couldn’t be any further from the mood his music evokes. I’ve got a pretty speedy machine here at work and even with Flash already installed, the clunky website took forever to load.
Of course, I’m only using Seu’s site as an example for the numberless pointless overblown Flash websites crowding the web and sucking up bandwidth.
Someone who’s actually putting Flash technology to good use however is The Raconteurs – the new project from Jack White and Brendan Benson. Their awesome new recently launched site takes us back to days of C-prompts and floppy discs (the big ones!!!), employing some Flash wizardry that doesn’t even allow us to use our mouse...
Check out a couple of tracks from their debut 7 inch, due out March 7th in North America. The Raconteurs debut full-length is scheduled to come out in May.
The Raconteurs - Steady As She Goes
The Raconteurs - Store Bought Bones
Posted by Geoff M at 05:32 PM | Comments (0)
February 08, 2006Clap Your Hands Say Interweb!
Do you remember…
Back in the day when the biggest problem the majors had to deal with was dual cassette decks? Kids were snapping up dual-decks and blank tapes by the dozens. Of course, the majors feared that their grip on the industry would implode from all the copying and copying and copying – when in reality, the kids just wanted to make mix tapes. (I can’t imagine growing up without my dual-deck and collection of mix tapes!).
With blank cassette tapes and dual-decks, the majors also feared the rise of the bootleg industry; people making unauthorized live recordings (yikes!), and not buying studio recordings (at heavily inflated prices). Of course, this didn’t bust the industry either.
In 2006, things are obviously quite different. The threat of illegal copying is still present, but instead of trying to stop it, the majors have wised up and focused on other concerns, like illegal downloading. They’ve also wised up by offering consumers better value for their dollar, making CDs more affordable (for the most part) and by adding bonus CDs and extra content to CD packages. The majors have also hit back at the bootleggers by releasing more live recordings, realizing that there IS a significant market and money to be made – especially though DVD.
Now... after all that reminiscing, I’d like to offer the example of the ideal band of the 21st century - Clap Your Hands Say Yeah. The story of how they sold more then 25,000 records out of their Brooklyn apartment last summer is now the stuff of legends. They did it all without having a label, based on an avalanche of good word of mouth and what every indie band needs these days even more than a new touring van – a killer review from Pitchfork. And as the story goes, almost overnight, CYHSY became one of the hottest indie bands in North America, selling out shows everywhere they went. Sensations like CYHSY will no longer be a rarity in the digital age of downloading and interwebs and myspaces and what have yous.
And so with great pleasure, I offer a link to a fabulous LIVE concert recording (don't worry, it was authorized) of Clap Your Hands Say Yeah (via the excellent music blog Largehearted Boy).
Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, live in concert - January 31st 2006.
Posted by Geoff M at 12:32 PM | Comments (0)
February 07, 2006it's been a while...
since i last blogged. was busy working on the election coverage for much, but here I am back in the fold of our favourite show, the newmusic, and glad to be around the team again.
just did an interview with yellowcard last week. the guys are really down to earth and very open and accessible to their fans... their manager told me they've been on a crazy promo schedule, they actually had to cancel a show just to get a day off. must be hard to have a camera and mic around you all the time. say what you will but these rock bands really do earn their keep... full days of interviews, photos, live shows. still, not a bad gig if you can get it!
two things i'm really looking forward to in the next little while...
one of my favourite singers, beth orton is coming to canada, so will be great to catch her live. she's really shy, but great voice, great tunes and great lyrics. best album of hers is still "central reservation" but also check out the ep "best bit" if you can, it's really good.
and rumour has it that our own hannah sung is getting some serious gold and swarovski crystal grills... should give kelis a serious run for her money!
Posted by Robert at 03:30 PM | Comments (0)
February 03, 2006älska är all
HEADS UP.
HOT concert announcement for GTAers and Montrealers - Sweden's latest awesome musical export 'LOVE IS ALL' (älska är all for those who speak Swedish) are making their maiden voyage to Canada this March.
In addition to a gaggle of SXSW shows, Love Is All will play just 6 North American dates, including March 21st in Toronto (at 'best venue in town' Lee's Palace) and March 22nd in Montreal (at the also awesome La Sala Rossa).
Love Is All's debut record 'Nine Times That Same Song' is not yet available in Canada, but you can order it from the kind folks at insound.
New to Love Is All? Check out these tracks...
Love Is All - Make Out Fall Out Make Up
Love Is All - Felt Tip
Love Is All - Turn the Radio Off
Posted by Geoff M at 01:20 PM | Comments (0)
February 01, 2006Now, More Than Ever
A word or two about one of my favorite Canadians…
For some time now, I’ve been making the argument that Jim Guthrie is the best guitar player in Canada. Sure there are others who might be better “technical” players, or who can do scales backwards and blindfolded – but few can challenge Jim and his knack for guitar licks, leads and loops. (Jim often performed his first two records “A Thousand Songs” (1999) and “Morning Noon Night” (2002) with the sole accompaniment of a Sony Playstation, which provided loops and backing tracks).
Trust - from the album "A Thousands Songs"
Days I Need Off - from the album "Morning Noon Night"
His guitar work in Royal City blows my mind and his songwriting chops, especially as demonstrated on his third record, “Now, More than Ever” (2003) prove that he has an amazing sense for lyrics, verse and production.
Bad Luck - from the album "Alone at the Microphone"
You Are Far(do you exist?) - from the album "Now, More Than Ever"
Jimmy’s been away for a while. It’s been over two years since “Now, More than Ever” was released – and to say that I’ve missed him would be an understatement.
Earlier this winter, Jim Guthrie resurfaced in the form of a jingle for the Capital One credit card company. You know, “Hands in my pockets, hands in my pockets, hands in my pockets…” I recall humming the jingle after I first heard it, unaware that it was Jim who’d drilled the little ditty into my head. A few days later, a friend forwarded me a link to his website where Jim was offering a full version of the song as a free download. Finally, relief.
Jim Guthrie - Hands In My Pockets
And more relief is on the way. Jim has joined forces with two of the merry men from the defunct outfit “The Unicorns” for their new project “Islands.” While the debut “Islands” record isn’t scheduled to hit stores till April, we can rejoice in the fact that Metric have tapped the young, still unproven (though undoubtedly awesome) band to open for them on their upcoming North American tour.
Thanks Jimmy! See you soon.
Islands' Canadian dates with Metric:
Feb. 24 - Toronto, ON - Kool Haus
Feb. 25 - Toronto, ON - Kool Haus
Feb. 26 - London, ON - Centennial Hall
Feb. 27 - Kitchener, ON - Elements Nightclub
Feb. 28 - Kingston, ON - Grant Hall
March 1 - Montreal, QU - Metropolis
March 2 - Peterborough, ON - Club Vibe
March 3 - Ottawa, ON - Surface
March 4 - Ottawa, ON - Surface
Posted by Geoff M at 05:29 PM | Comments (0)
February 01, 2006OPRAH WILL CRUSH YOU!
I think everyone is now afraid of Oprah after last weeks grilling of James Frey. I can't help to feel a little bit sorry for the guy, but then again he kinda of deserved it. Anyways, things heat up this Friday with the big 'O' because Dave 'I ran out on a 50 mil television deal' Chappelle is set to make an appearance and chat about where the hell he's been.
Hopefully one of Oprah's lackeys will tell her to make mention of that hilarious Chappelle theory that ended up being a promotional tool for some film being done by one of his co-writers.
With that being said, I'm kinda of hoping that Oprah puts the pressure on Dave this Friday, it was 50 million dollars man!
Posted by Manny at 12:24 PM | Comments (0)
